The Daily Worker Newspaper, May 12, 1931, Page 4

PY 4 4 °° Publishes py the Comprodatly Publishing C6., Inc., Galle except Sutday, at 50 RAR * Page Four 1ath Street Address and New York City N. ¥. Telephone Algonquin 7956-7, Cabl mail all checks to the Daily Worker, 50 East 13th Street, New York, N. ¥. “DAIWORK.” rkey & r5a- A. F. ot L. Sold Out Wright Aero- By mail everywhere: One year. $6; six months $% F> SUBSCRIPTION RAT ai eee coe two months, $1: excepting Boroughs thas plane Strike ained the fidence the des Industrial 1 Wages Are Cut. On November 1, 1 roductio workers the regu f the wor up. Connoly use there were m Id take the ions in the n not to st unemployed who we The M. T. I. 1 not aggressive and fai L. as agents of passed wit to fight agai Three weeks later s introduced the bonus and group incentive system which makes one worker the foreman of the other. The scheme was as follows: The whole plant would be di- vided into groups of 5, and if anyone in the group would produce less than 60 units the whole group was to receive a 15 per cent cut and an additional 15 per cent wage cut if any wo the group would produce one scrap out of 60 units. In this way the efficiency engineers who come from Detroit try to do away with foremen and have the workers speed each other order to make more millions for the owner Even the president of the company, G. W. Vaughn, was forced to admit on the day of the strike that “the bonus and group incentive sy tem is really a speed-up plan by which workers would make more money (!) by produc~- ing more work.” Strike Against Speed-Up. This time the workers could not stand the at- tack of the bosses on their standard of living. Many departments went out on a spontaneous strike. 550 walked out. Several departments re- mained in the shop. Agents of the A. F..of L took the workers to the A. F. of L. hall and a meeting was held. Connoly addressed the meet- ing and told the workers not to get excited, to go home and sleep over the speed-up scheme. This was the second time that the fascist lead~ ership of the A. F. of L. played its strikebreak- ing role. Instead of sleeping over it, the next day the workers stopped all the workers with the exception of 4 departments which had the most skilled workers in them. Now, the A. F, of L. was forced to take leadership, in order to keep the Communists out of the picture. A Sell-Out Policy. What was the A. F. of L. policy from the first day of the strike? Firstly, they spread the idea among the strik- ers that since the plant is a government plant, the government will not accept motors produced by scabs, and that therefore the strike would end in 2 days. This at once made the workers pas- sive. They did not prepare themselves for struggle. Secondly, they proposed a strike committee of 3, to be composed of 2 strikers and Connoly. Thirdly, they prohibited mass picketing. Fourth- ly, they did not accept the floor workers who went on sympathetic strike. Fifthly, they did not elect a grievance committee. Sixthly, no at- tempt was made to call out the rest of the de- partments. Seventhly, no relief committee was organized. Eighthly, they spread the idea that they have contacts with high government offi- cials and that through them they would settle the strike quickly. Ninthly, that if the strikers will go with the Communists, they would be ar- rested and thrown %nto jail. Lastly, Connoly made press statements saying that “training new workers in the difficult work with the costly and complicated machinery would bea great disadvantage to the bosses.” All this humbug, this desire not to hurt the company, was presented to the strikers in order to kill their initiative, their desire to win the strike, ne s 's Wwasds e workers N. T. LL. Pressure. Not until the Metal Trades Workers’ Indus- trial League issued its leaflets and exposed all up in | cketing, stopping the rest of the depart- tion of a publicity committee, ls forced to enlarge the strike elect a relief and publicity was done by the pressure of 14 Thi: the workers excellent to stop any rat from going nt, but the officials of the A. F. of 1 id so scabs entered, Hun- he A, F. of L. fakers and pro- nd file strike committee, n to pour into Paterson from When Connoly was asked by re- his opinion in regards to the en- rikebreakers he declared: “I prom- peaceful persuasion upon the ers Will prevail.” The third week of 750 scabs were in the plant. Government—Strikebreaker, ‘The government played its strikebreaking role along with the A. F. of L. It placed an order on Jan. 14, 1931, for the amount of $44,675 as militancy of They were was only pa army air corps. Another order was placed Jan- 118 engines, at a cost of $855,574. ttered the illusion fostered by the fascist A. F, of L. misleader, that the government will not use products made by scabs. During the 5 months of the strike, the A. F. of L jid not once mention the strike in its publications. For this reason, many members of the A. F. of L. came from all parts of the coun- try to scab. During the entire strike period, no attempt was made to prevent scabs from going into the plant of the strikers. Many strikers grew disappointed and returned to work because of the treacher- ous role of the A. F, of L, Only 150 remained out Five dollars was collected from each striker for initiation into the A. F. of L. union. But when some of the starving families applied to the A. F. of L. officials in charge for help, they | were refused on the ground that they must be | 6 months in the union before they could receive relief. This discouraged the workers even more. Evicted Strikers’ Families. Many strikers’ families were evicted because they could not pay rent. Although the Workers’ International Relief offered to help the strikers, the strikebreaking strike committee forced the workers to deny the aid of the W. I. R. The A. F. of L. officials were plainly trying to starve the workers out in order to break the strike. Their strikebreaking work was successful. The A. F. of L. succeeded in killing the spirit and militancy of the workers in their fight against the bonus and incentive systém. The A. F. of L. proved again that it is a faithful servant of the bosses. mass picketing, no check up on the work of the strikers, by not organizing any relief, by not trying to prevent scabs from going to work, by issuing false promises of mediation by govern- ment and city officials, also tools of the bosses. The A. F. of L. took advantage of the discour- agement it spread and called off the strike, at the same time blaming the workers for the losing of the strike! After 5 months of planned and careful strikebreaking activity the A. F. of L. was finally able to sell out the strike. At the close of the strike, E. H. Donnigan, of the department of labor, stated: « . At a con- ference with Guy W. Vaughn, president of the firm, he’ promised that the workers could be employed at the plant by the usual method of application at the employment office.” What an achievement for the A. F. of L. That is what the A. F. of L, always tries to achieve for the workers: a complete subjection of the workers to the bosses by preventing arid killing strikes, “Best of Feelings.” ‘The fascist general organizer of the I. A. M, J. J. Connoly, said: “You fellows can return | with the best of feelings under the circum- stances, hoping that the strike will have the re- sult of bettering the conditions of the workers not only in the Wright but also in other shops in the community. ‘This is the way that the A. F. of L. fakers sold the strike of the Wright workers. The Wright workers have learned a costly lesson: that the American Federation of Labor is a strikebreak- ing and strike-selling agency. This should not prevent the Wright workers from organizing themselves. The Metal Workers’ Industrial League offers the type of organization neces- sary to carry on determined struggles against the bonus and incentive system and against wage cuts, etc. The Wright workers are urged to show their willingness to organize into mili- tant organizations, such as the M. T. W. I. L. For the 7 hour 5 day week. Against wage cuts and speed-up. For unemployment insurance. Against A. F. L. fascist strike breakers. For the revolutionary trade unions of the T. U. U. L. As a result scabs shortly filled the places | They did this by not conducting | Dean ot Exploiting Has to Leave His Pile es By ANNA ROCHESTER, Labor Research Association, #PORGE F. BAKER, who died the day after 4 May Day, wos looked up to by fellow capi- talists with reverential awe, as the head of the most profitable financial institution in the United States, When George F. Baker was iiving with his grandparents before the Civil War, he received the greaé inspiration of his career from an uncle who sat around all day while the rest of the family worked. Told that his uncle could do this because he “lived on interest,” the thrifty George made it his life work to live by finance. And how! No buccaneering against trusting investors; no splurging speculation; but a steady, canny, quiet drawing in of profits from other men’s work. The story is tied up with the record of the First National Bank of New York. It expresses the essence of capitalism. ‘The bank was organized in 1863. Baker got in on the ground floor because he had the right kind of friends and they had already given him a chance to prove that be had a sharp eye for money, In 1877, at the age of 37, he stepped into the presidency of the First National Bank. Prom then until his death he was not only the head of this aristocrat of banks (which accepts no deposits under $100,000), but a power second only to the House of Morgan. tion, the bank, through a stock dividend of 1,900 per cent, increased its capital stock from $500,000 to $10,000,000. Every old stockholder was. pre- sented with 19 new shares for each one that he owned before, ‘Then, just after the panic of 1907, Baker want- ed his bank to get into the great game of peddling stocks and bonds, but under the law this is a closed field of activity for national banks, So Baker had the bright idea of issuing another stock dividend—only 100 per cent this time—and organizing the First Security Co. of the City of New York, in which the stockholders would al- ways be identical with the stockholders of the First National Bank. Later other banks did this also, but the idea was Baker's, ‘This increased the profits of the stockholders and gave the bank a much closer relation with great industrial corporations. During the war, the Baker bank twins subscribed “liberally” to Liberty loans. But, in the words of the “Wall Street Journal,” “this patriotic attitude in no way militated against the bank as a money maker. Its record in this respect has been phen- omenal.” It certainly has. From 1912 to 1923, the total dividend paid by the bank and its Siamese twin, the First Security Co., ammounted only to 50 per cent a year, But for old stockholders cent | tion of a relief and grievance | tof the $1,420,000 program to equip the new | A F of L Misleader:—“I Want You te Help Me Organize the Miners” =~ ot Manhattan and Bronx, New York Ctiv Fureien one vear, $8- six manths $450. By BURCK stnisilatieatnealianiantpn carr LAN IXEN Wey The Coming Elections in Passaic By D. G. IN May 12 the elections for commissioners will take place. The two main boss parties, demo- cratic and republican, are not putting forth their official candidates, but throw their sup- port to the various “independent” candidates. The Communist Party of this city is putting forth its own working class candidates, Alex Bennett, Miriam Fireman and Simon Smelkin- son. Running on a so-called “independent” ticket is a manoeuvre on the part of the textile bos- ses who put them up as their candidates, The textile bosses feel that by running such “in- dependent” candidates, instead of official re- publicans and democrats, who have never done anything to help the workers anywhere, they can dupe the workers into believing that they are voting for men who have no allegiance to the bosses. In their platform the bosses “independent” candidates throw forth no planks for which the workers of Passaic should vote. In spite of the misery of the workers in Passaic, the boss can- didates offer the usual false, demagogic slogans of “clean, honest and sound government.” Clean, honest and sound government was of- fered the workers before. The result, however, of such government meant graft for the po- liticians, extra profits for the bosses and un- employment, wage cuts, starvation, speed up, part time work and suicide for the workers. When Commissioner Turner went into office he was without certain property. But now, at the close of his term, we find that he owns one of the largest laundries in the city. Com- missioner Johnson is unable to explain the ex- penditure of large amounts of money during his term of office. This graft goes on at the expense of the work- ers of Passaic. Each appropriation made in the budget finds thousands of dollars slipping into the pockets of the politicians. Each candidate of the bosses accuses the other of graft in order to “win” the votes of the workers and each one is correct in the accusation. Once in office we know that the “independent” candidates will continue to approve the cam- paign of the bosses to make the living condi- tions of the workers worse. Whereas several years ago one of Passaic's largest textile plants, the Botany, employed some 6,000 workers, today only 1,800 are em- ployed. What happened to the 4,200 that the Botany bosses threw out of jobs to starve? There is not a worker in a factory of im- portance in Passaic who has not suffered a wage cut, or has been terrifically speeded up. The average wage for women workers is 28 per hour and for men it is 40c per hour. Taking into consideration the fact that thousands are on part time work, one can readily see the awful impoverishment of the working class families. The city of Passaic, with a population of 70,000 primarily industrial, has 10,000 unemployed workers, The city officials not only did ex- tremely little to help them, but they refused to hear the delegation of the unemployed work- now planning to cut down the miserable charity ilies which receive it, The poor master of the city has arbitrary power to’ cut any one he wishes from the charity list. The charity consists in a $1-$3 slip siven to a family for the week. With this slip he must go to a specified store to exchange the slip for food. And this store charges higher prices than the rest. Negro workers are particularly discriminated against. For absolutely no reason Negro workers are turned away time and again when applying for charity “relief.” And if anyone is found to have worked even part of a day during the week, he is not given anything no matter how starved his family may be. Young workers are very hard hit by the city charity fake. Only those who have families are allowed to apply for the dole. This excludes hundreds of young unemployed workers from receiving even this measly relief from hunger. When workers’ organizations make a fight against such conditions we see that the bosses try to terrorize the members of the organizations and the workers by framing up their leaders on every sort of charge. When the National Tex- tile Workers’ Union in Paterson organized a strike against a wage cut, 5 of its leading mem- bers were framed up on a charge of first de- gree murder, In regard to unemployment, wage cuts, speed up, discrimination against Negro workers, the bosses candidates do not say anything. The Communist Party is the only party to which the workers can turn for an answer to ‘their problems, The Communist Party does not offer any promises. It condemns the fake pro- mises of the boss candidates as means of trying to fool the workers as to their actual situation and so to prevent them from organizing to do something for themselves. ‘The Communist Party states that only by or- ganizing ourselves into fighting organizations will we workers be able to solve our problems. In an organized way we must demand: the unconditional release of the 5 textile workers in Paterson and the 8 Negro boys in Scottsboro; immediate relief for the unemployed; full aver- aged wages to be paid by the bosses and city treasury as unemployment insurance; the 7 hour day and 5 day week without reduction in pay; full economic, political and social equality for Negro workers; the abolition of lynching of Ne- gro and white workers; death to the lynchers; the abolition of the Fish Committee and the immediate stopping of the deportation of workers. All these planks in the Communist Party platform are summarized in the slogan; For the Workers; Against the Bosses, This is the main issue in the election campaign, their original investment. Then the rate was pushed up still further, and from July, 1925, to and including April in this year of world-wide capitalist crisis and hunger, dividends were paid at the rate of 100 per cent a year, or 2,000 per cent a year on the original investment. In this bank, George F. Baker is supposed to have owned 15,000 shares, from which he re- ceived $1,500,000 a year in dividends. And this is only one of many corporations from which he was able to “live on interest.” At the height of his career, he was director in 43 corporations. Fellow-director and ally with Morgan in the U. S. Steel Corporation and the Pullman Co. he shared full responsibility for ruthless hostility when workers dared to organize or strike. He believed in exploitation of the workers and the piling up of wealth for owners of industry and banking. What the total value of the Baker estate will be is still unknown, Estimates run as high as $500,000,000. That the banker and his son, George F. Baker, Jr., were both among the 36 Americans who had net incomes of over $5,000,000 a year in 1929, is beyond question. Baker was not only a power in his bank and wide group of interrelated corporations. Quietly, behind the scenes, he had guided the American group which dominated the war settlements and insisted on the*payment of debts and repara- tions, Other figures loom large on the financial sereen, But baa death of the elder J. P. za The Lawrence Strike “The Lawrence strike, if all signs are not misleading, is the turning point in the develop- ment of the strike struggles,” writes Jack Stach- el in “Some Lessons of the Lawrence Strike”, which appears in the May COMMUNIST. The story of the strike, the mistakes made, the part- jal victory, and the next steps, as dascribed in the article, form a contribution of strike experi- ence that is of importance to every American worker, Writing of “The Crisis and the Strike Curve for 1930,” Phil Frankfeld compares strike stat- istics for 1927-28-29-30 with those for 1919-20, 21-22, analyzes the new tactics of the bosses, and points out that the bosses’ offensive first finds the workers hesitant, but as it sharpens in the crisis, soon meets with tremendous mass resistance, The article, in the May Communist concludes with an examination of the perspect- ives for strike struggles in 1931. Organize Unemployed Councils to Fight for Unemployment Relief. Organize the Employed Workers Into Fighting Unions, Mobilize the Employed and Unemployed for Common Strug- gles Under the Leadership of dole and cut down the number of the few fam- | ers at city hall on February 10 and are even | | consider this situation. | hood workers, to go to the city hall and to the | How to Fight tor Food tor Starving — Families | I. 1, Select a neighborhood in your city where | the poorest, most exploited workers live. Do not ' try to cover an area too large. Concentrate your | forces upon the area selected. Visit every work- | ers’ home, Ascertain, upon a blank provided | for the members of the unemployed branch, i cases of starvation, sickness because of insuffi- cient food, etc, Every visiting . commit tee must carry credentials from the unemployel council. The address of the unemployed council | or branch must be left in every workers’ home so that he knows where to call for advice and | to join. | 2. Having secured, through investigation, cases | of starving families, malnutrition, sickness be- | cause of insufficient food or bad housing, ill- ness of babies because of no milk, cases of | threatened evictions, issue a leaflet to the neigh- | borhood calling for a meeting of all workers to | Upon this leaflet state | that on such a street so many families were | | found without a loaf of bread in the house, upon ! do what they can to smash them. The bosses | such a street families are being threatened with | eviction, such a number of babies are getting no | milk, etc. At this meeting expose the employers | and their governments and make plain that the | unemployed workers must fight against the rich | bosses and their politicians for food for the starving families. Allow discussion at the meet- | ing so that the neighborhood workers can state | their point of view. Elect a committee, a large’ | delegation, mainly composed of the neighbor- rich corporations for whom the unemployed | formerly worked, to demand immediate relief. Make sure that this delegation has several able and capable spokesmen, 3. At this meeting organize a branch com- posed of unemployed workers in the neighbor- hood. Have representation from workers em- ployed in the shops in this branch, as well as from workers’ organizations that may meet in the neighborhood. Make plain why the unem- ployed must organize, and together with the em- ployed, fight the bosses and their government for relief and against wage cuts and speed-up. 4. If relief is given the starving families by the city government or some charity organiza- tion, demand that the workers in the branch distribute this themselves. If relief is given the starving families by the government, call an- other meeting of the workers in the neighbor- hood and inform them all that this relief was secured because the unemployed workers and employed workers, the unemployed council and branch fought for it, demanded it, that the struggle must be continued for adequate relief for all families, for unemployment insurance from the national government. Continue house to house investigations, increase the demands upon the city, 5. While the demands for food for starving families are being made upon the city govern- ment, it may be necessary to secure some food ; mentioned ad Bed Gate Dy: SORGR, Yengew, eed Cay, A Crossword Puzzle For the various folks that still think that the capitalist press h something because it “gives facts acc * we analyze a news dis- patch from Ca printed in the N. Y. Times of April 3 An excursion t arrying third-class Sengers and therefore made up of old, wooden coaches, took fire from a hot-box, it is said “three miles before it reached Benha It was traveling at 60 mi an hour. means that there were only three minutes be- tween the time the train took fire and the time it reached Benha Station—right? And it is said that “the station master at Benha flagged the express and halted it.” But in that three minutes, we are led to be. lieve, “the flames spread like lightening from the rear to the forward c: A panic broke out among the terrified passengers in A mad rush for doors and windows Passengers leaped from the windows of the flaming coaches"—and so on. Forty-five dead and forty- one injured. ‘Well, we have no dou ut that the Britis imperiglists who boss Egypt caused that ma ai » with their rotten old coaches for thir cla: passengers. But if all that’s said, could happen in three minutes, we'll eat your hats Don't ask us to explain it You Tell Em! “Daily Worker in your Saturday i: have just read an artolp ue of Red Sparks. the National Federation of Women’s Cl sed a resolution nt to deport and to jail all Americans dd sympathizers You say urging the bourgeois govern- all fo m n-born Cc amunists that are Communists too “My answer to t that they will have to build a thousand times more jails than they have now, and a thousand time: onger’ than hose they have now, to hold them all “Being an American, 2, and my family on both sides in this country for and also a member of the Communist I make this statement.—L.L.L., Unit 1 District 2.” We hope the comrade don’t let his enthusiasm for going to jail tributing any carry him to the point of con- assistance to those who may try to send him. In other are not de- manding the right, as “free. izens,” to go to jail. It has to be thrust upon us as an unwelcome honor. A Red in the bush is worth two in the cage, if we may mutilate the old adage. et er The New and the Popular Wee Willie, hail, ASSa. c: we aren't becoming infers that we are s servatism” and have something new.” From all this, words, we born American cit: he self-criti ly the ca burg Club's “come on card. himself loose from that bj fend” it; then swears hims into it again by j an undiscriminating defense of “popular” songs. Why are they “popular?” How did they get that way? Because they aid capitalism in keep- ing the workers’ minds off the class struggle; that is, they are the creation of the bourgeoisie for tying the workers to the bourgeoisie and its system of class exploitation—capitalism Now, though Wee Willic may never have heard of it, it is capitalism and its popular songs which are “old”; yet here he is, kowtowing in words to anything that is “new”—in defense of the old! And not only the old, but the rotten system of slavery. Is not capitalism popular? How else do you explain its power? And, if it’s popular, it’s good, eh? Perhaps the Daily Worker should print all the racy divorce stuff the tabloids do, To paraphrase Wee Willie against Wee Willie—“The workers will buy the Daily then, and read both the divorce scandal and our slogans.” ‘That's a bright idea we have met before and spent years in fighting to make ours a working-class paper and therefore a Communist paper. je swears he “don’t de- Wee Willie is enamored of worws. “New” means good. “Old” means bad. “Popular” things are just “popular” and that’s all. No class content is seen. Capitalism is old, com- pared to Communism. Let him grab that up like a hungry pup as a proof that Communism is O. K. But we'll remind him that fascism jj newer than Communism! So he's lost agai What's troubling Wee Willie is, we imagin( a rush of “vanguardism” to the head. ‘The “ol stringy walruses” in the Party, the “old fogiest don't savvy how to do things. Yep! We refus immediately for a few families who need help without delay. The branch in the neighbor- hood, with the help of employed workers, must then go to store keepers, merchants, workers’ organizations, and collect food for the starving families in immediate need. As these collections of food are made, the store keepers and others must be told that they are called upon to help because the rich bosses and their government are letting the unemployed workers’ families starve, It must constantly be emphasized that it is impossible for the employed workers, work- ers’ organizations, small store keepers to give adequate relief to the unemployed, that these can only help in certain instances, for certain short periods of time, that the immensely rich employers and their government must be made to pay for adequate relief for all unemployed. 6. The food and relief collected by a neigh- borhood branch, must be distributed by this branch, and in being distributed the starving families and workers in the neighborhood mus! be made aware that this relief is given as a symbol of solidarity between workers, But the families that receive the relief and the workers in the neighborhood must also be told that only a small measure of relief can be given by tho neighborinood branch and that the fight for adequate relief must direct itself against the rich bosses and their government, and against the capitalists and the rich corporations for ment, to be charmed because things are championed] as “new” or “popular.” We ask, first: What is their class content? ‘We might ask Wee Willie just what organ- izational results his Y. C. L. unit has right now from its use of his “popular song” idea, Did you get a single new member that remained as a class fighter? You just had a dance, didn’t you? applied in all our activities in the struggle for immediate relief for starving families. * Although necessary activities to struggle for ” direct relief for starving families of unemployed workers should be entered into more energetical- ly, we must not fall into the error of considering, this new task as the only task we have before ug and thereby discontinue all other forms of local struggles. The city governments, charity institutions, ete., are lessening the amount of relief which was given to unemployed workers} during the winter months, in some instances] cutting off relief altogether. ‘This calls for im- mediate local struggles against lessening relief, discontinuation of bread lines and flon houses. etc. While we organize our forces for house t house canvassing to ascertain cases of starving] and undernourished families, wo must a! hi tim? intensify all local struggles arainss hig? ‘rents, high food prices, against evictions. agal