The Daily Worker Newspaper, May 15, 1931, Page 4

Page Four ea by the Comprodaily reet, New York City. 8 and mail al] checks to the Daily Worker. Ine ephone Algonquin 7956-7. Publishing Co. N. Y. Te Gally except Sunday, at 60 Bast Cable: 50 Cast 13th Street, New York, N. ¥, “DALWORE.® Dail orker Baty BEA SUBSCRIPTION RATES: By mail everywhere: One year, $6; stx months, $3; two meaths, $1; exetpting Boroughs ef Manhattan and Bronx, New York Ctiy, Fore; one year, $8- siz months. 34.50, Wall St. ( Gov't Delivers T. H. Li to Chiang KaiShek tor Execution By R. DOONPING. AS pees BLOODED m is being planned nent of Labor of the U. S. v the Chinese ek. The vic- 4i, Boxer indemnity student ese revolutionist and secretary of of the Anti-Imperialist of the United States. is Island at noon Friday, May d to leave the country the for Shanghai via San Francisco, or any other port in China there test chance for Li to escape fear- Under the conditions of the most brutal white terror in China, Li can be das dead as soon as he is on his way conside! to China as a deported revolutionist. le the case was pending, an application was filed with the Department of Labor de- ag the right of voluntary departure. ion was denied by the Departn n AY Labor subsequer Ww where t word is aw of cold-bloded mu: ordered by the immigration authorities | | n government. If not stopped by imperialist elements in America, the revolution~ ary movement will lose a most valuable leader, and one of its best fighters! Owing to the deepening of the crisis and | growing discontent of the masses, the campaign of terror of American imperialism against the revolutionary workers, especially Negro and for- eign born workers, is greatly intensified. The Scottsboro case, the Serio case, and the cases of Kenomatsu and Machado, all foreign-born work- ers marked for deportation, are all part of the same terrorist campaign of the boss class and its government, The growing instability of the tottering Chi- ang Kai-shek regime in Nanking gives fresh im- petus to his imperialist “Uncle” Sam to increase its te’ t attacks against the Chinese workers, ri is well as in China. Our answer orotest, mass demonstrations against this blooded attempt to murder T. H. Li, against ro case, and all such cases. We must x fight all along the lines, and, echo- nnons of the Red Armies in China, win! Capitalism Apologizes for Its. Existence By HARRY GANNES APITALISM is now forced to existence. Tons of newsprint of electrical energy via the radio being used to bolster up the faith of the masses in capital- ism. It is a hard job, but the theorists of the bosses are inventive and resourceful. They have ivid imagination. Secretary of the Treasury, Andrew Mellon, in speech before bankers assembled at the In- e tit Chamber of Commerce in Washing- ton said on May 5 that “capitalism is still in gize for its and mountains Bs 3 + with half an eye open can see the gangrenous decay of capitalism; he can see capitalism dead in one-sixth of the globe and a new socialist civilization grow out of it; the pre- a imperialist war to slaughter new poe he can see millions starving to death; parations ploiter quet of life. mistakes the second chil idhood of capitalism, the antics of decrepid old age, for “infancy And while Mellon sees this infant blood of millions of workers, growing and ad- vancing, other capitalist representatives admit more gloomy forebodings. For example, Melvin A. Traylor, leading Chicago banker, at the same meeting of the International Chamber of Com- merce, after viewing the bankruptcy of capital- ism, beats his breast and cried: “Why have we failed?” Quite an admission. “Why have we failed?” Lest any worker mistake what Mr. Traylor means by this deep concern, we must make it plain that banker Traylor doesn’t mean “Why hes capitalism failed to feed the masses.” Tray- lor is concerned about capitalism's ability to continue its ever-expanding process of squeez- ing profit out of the masses. Traylor, like all capitalist economists, is sorely puzzled. He says: “We had an industrial plant capable of supplying the satisfiable wants of our population,” then why don’t we produce? He answers his own question in this manner: “Then it was that we lacked foresight and a plan.” So, capitalism has no plan; and Traylor, seeking to revive the faith in capitalism's future, believes capitalism can have forestght and can evolve a plan. fed on the is quite a lot of talk about “planning” en and the A. F, of L. official- dom are very much worried about capitalism's fail because it can’t plan economy and make the two poles meet—production and consump- tion, Some capitalist economists talk about “planning.” The more the Five-Year Plan in the Soviet Union drives to success in the midst of the world capitalist crisis, the louder the pleas for “capitalist planning.” The liberals who yelp about “taking Commun- ism away from the Communists” in reality mean employing the idea of planned economy, grafting it onto capitalist anarchy by the bloody amal- gam of fascism. It is just as feasible to plan capitalism as to graft a dog’s head on an apple tree. Every nerve and fibre of capitalism shrieks against planning. Planning means the end of capitalism, and capitalism is not ready to com- mit suicide. The basis of private property, the whole ques- tion of the production for profit, the principle of the distribution of capital through competi- tion—the life blood of capitalism—are choked up in any effort to “plan” capitalism on any scale sufficient to make a ripple in its economic life. None know these facts better than the capital-- ists themselves; that is, those capitalists not forced to answer embarrassing quéstions in the class-rooms, Those at the helm of the profit- squeezing machinery, the “59” whose word is law, Jook upon planning as enthusiastically as a ku- lak views the success of Socialist collectives. We have the staid Commercial and Financial Chronicle (April 18, 1931) even quoting poetry to ward off this spectre of “planning.” They remind the misled capitalist scholastics who talk about “planning,” that “The best laid plans o' men and mice gang oft agley.” They wisely inform those who do not grasp the fundamental laws of capitalism that: “There is no way to bring conflicting, competing industries into a single ‘plan’.”. To bring home the lesson in a clearer and sharper manner they point out with a remarkable grasp of their class position that: “No ‘plan’ can reconcile our many contradic- tions and confusions.” ‘These practical men of capitalism who shy free from this oil-and-water theory of planned capitalism know that their profit-pumping sys- tem must be based on its anarchical foundation. PRE-CONVENTION DISCUSSION YOUNG COMMUNIST LEAGUE, U.S. A. Organizing the Youth of the Needle Trades By JEANETTE RUBIN. SONSIDERING the situation of the young work- © ers in the needle trades we have many times come to the conclusion that we have a wide field for organization. At present a continuous drifting into the in- dustry of Spanish, Italian and Negro workers is an important factor. These workers are most- ly young girls who have practically no traditions of organization, but at the same time are en- during miserable conditions. They receive at an average of $10-$12 per week for about 50 to @0 hours under inhuman speed-up. These young workers have not been corrupted through the company union and are ready to be organized. But what are we doing about it? ‘Through the last strike we came in contact with from 200 to 300 young workers and as a result of the strike a large number of these young workers are members of our union work- ing in our shops and enjoying the 40-hour 5-day week and $20 minimum wage. In some cases the young workers are getting $16 to $18 with ®@ clause in the agreement, between the union and the firm that their wages are gradually to increase until it reaches the maximum scale. In all these instances we are doing nothing. In this respect we do not even have the names and addresses of the young workers who are members of our union and are working in our shops. Since it is true that we have a very young and inexperienced comrade as youth organizer we can hardly blame her for our shortcomings, as she is a very hard worker and sincere com- rade. Under these circumstances not once were the young comrades called by the office staff nor the fraction executive to report what they are doing and the same applies to the district committee of the Young Communist League. The district committee of the League simply sat- isfied itself with mechanically assigning, in the shock plan, to a Bronx Unit that it be respon- sible to recruit five needle trades workers into the League. In many instances the unit organ- izers look down upon the comrades doing trade union work instead of pushing the comrades into trade unions. Up to date we have confined ourselves to a small number of comrades who continually have small committee meetings; in actuality getting ‘no resulta No attempt has been made to draw in those few comrades who at one time did come down to meetings and were involved in our gen- eral activity. For an example, the various com- mittees such as sports, social educational, etc., do not meet and are not involved in the mak- ing and carrying out of decisions. The Execu- tive made a decision to have a mass meeting in preparation for May Ist. So the Executive ran off the leaflets and the Executive distributed the leaflets and as a result very few more than the Executices came to the meeting. The immediate steps that must be taken are: 1. We must immediately set up youth trade groups in the dress and millinery trade, whereby we will be able to draw in again these comrades that used to carry on work, Also from a gen- eral group of the comrades in the other trades with the perspective of building up groups of the other trades. 2. The task of these groups to work out plans for their perspective trades and at once select a few buildings, preferably where the union is concentrating and where we have union shops, for concentration points. 3. That the union organizers in the various trades, while visiting the shops, take a registra- tion of all the young workers and that this registration be turned over to the youth depart- ment. Also that at every shop meeting a youth comrade be present to take up the youth prob- lems and see to it that the conditions of the young workers live up to the agreements. 4. The trade groups must make it their busi- ness to visit the young workers in our shops as well as the contacts on hand. ‘They must also keep them constantly informed through mail an dshop meetings of the various activity of the youth department. 5. The leading comrades in the union must demand, occasionally, a report from the youth department, and se eto it that they give the necessary guidance to the young comrades. 6. That the youth executive immediately work our a concrete plan on work for mobiliz- ing the young needle trades comrades for Na- tional Youth Day. 7, Last but not least, the district Bureau of the YCL should call in a few leading comrades of the fraction and take up the question of how systematically we should recruit members of the youth section into the League. wow o/s, ‘ a mighty mass protest on | the part of the workers, farmers, and all anti- | | i} | WAITING G FOR THE V. ICTIMS! a SPENDING MAY FIRST BEHIND PRISON BARS By J. Cc. “Come on, move along; where do you think you are? Get off that monument! It ain’t made for you guys to preach your doctrines from! Don't you know that monument is there in honor of the boys who gave their lives for their country, for free- dom and democracy!” Fight for Right to Talk. We insisted on our rights to speak from the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monu- ment, and to wé were “taken in.” ‘The crowd cheered us, and booed the cops. “You are charged with,” began the sergeant, “well, never mind what you are charged with, you will find out later, Put them in the cell, officer.” Into the Prison Cell. When entering the cell I found five Negro girls there who greeted me rather coldly, but we soon be- came good friends, “What you all in fo.” “Oh, for speaking at the May Day demonstration on the square.” “Well, I declare, they locked you up fo speaking to them people out there about May Day?” “They sure did,” said IT, and pro- ceeded to talk to the girls about May Day, about the nine boys in Scotts- boro who are facing the electric chair. The girls were interested, and soon began to ask all sorts of ques- tions. The discussion became inter- esting. Each began to relate prob- lems which faced them. The Girls Tell Their Story. “When I was 14 I worked as a housemaid. The lady she done paid me $6 a week. ‘I didn’t mind the hard work. I didn’t mind the heavy wash I had to do, nor the scrubbin of the floos in all the 8 rooms, for I ‘was young then and could do all sorts of hard work and was glad when I got my half day off on Wed- nesday, which I spent talking to the chauffeus on the block. What got me sore, was not the hard work, but the fact that she wanted me to scrub the pouch outside. I could not stand having the boys see me doing all that kind of work, so when I tells her this, she said: ‘Well, you can’t work here if you don't like to do that job.’ “Well, I looked for work till I had eaten up every penny I had; I didn’t want to go into the kind of life TI is leading now, but when I got hungry 80 that I could walk no more I went over to a man and asked him to get me something to cat, He bougth me a meal and asked me to pay for it. Well, that’s how I started into this game. Wish I had died before I did it. Can you all tell me how I can get out of it?” Charities Drive Girl to House, Another spoke: “When my man lost his job, and | Metal Miner’s NMU District | Convention Plans Fight could not support me and my two} babies, I tried to get me a job, I looked everywhere. I tried to get a job in an office (fo I knows how to do office work), I tried to get house-| work, or scrubbing, but everywhere I was told ‘no work.’ “So I goes into the sociatéd chari- ties. I told them I needs money to pay the rent. ‘Sorry, we can’t give you anything till we in- vestigate your conditions. When I told them the landlady was going to throw me and my, babies out of the room, these people said they have to| ‘investigate.’ So I waited, and waited, and no investigation takes place. “My babies hadn't whole day. more. Well, this mess. some day punish those that make life so miserable for us. But what’s the use hoping for God to do it; haven't we prayed, haven't our pa- rents prayed? Where did they land? Been poor and starving all their lives! He ain't going to do nothing for us; we will have to do it our- selves, like she tells us—organize and fight! “What do we get out of this kind of life we is living? No matter how much we makes a day, it all goes to the lady of the house. We just get our meals. I been in it since I was 14. I left ’em four times, but had to come back as I couldy’t get any- thing else to do. A colored girl ain't got no chance in this world. Oh, when are we going to get out of here?” Parade Passes Prison Portals. On the outside we could hear the crowd singing, cheering the parade as it passed. They were marching to- ward 55th St., leading the Hunger Marchers out of the city. The bosses were terror-stricken, They feared the organized strength of the working @iass. They felt in their bones their end was coming. The workers sang the “International.” It sounded like a funeral march to the boss class. They got furious and sent, the mounted police into the huge crowd. ‘Women and children were trampled upon, screams were heard, boos and cheers. ‘The workers urged the speakers to continue, “Don't leave the plat- form, we are with you and will stick with you.” Someone shouted: “Down with po- lice brutality! Long live the solidar- ity of the working class! Don’t dare burn the nine Negro boys in Scotts- boro.” ‘The parade was well on its way, the workers more militant than ever. eaten fg a T could not stand i any that’s how I got into Council Bluffs’ First May Day Parade fis HOM'at thas achho Sou Sn atte 456 Sire one alice and he Se gk a —pgaail| delegates came over 500 miles on bad I hopes the Lord win) IRONWOOD, Mich., May 14.—The third annual Metal Miners’ Con- vention of the National Miners’ Union, with 103 regular and frater- nal delegates from Upper Michigan copper and iron mines from the | Mesaba and Cajuna Iron Range in Minnesota, met in Ironwood. Some roads. The convention led the basis for future strike struggles in the metal mining industry in this coun- try. ‘Young miners, employed and un- employed, told stories of the 50 per cent unemployment that was forcing miners to abandon their homes, to see their families starve in the midst of millions upon millions of tons of ore and copper that they have dug out of the ground, making huge prof- its for the steel and copper trusts. The convention elected a new District Board and a Resident Board, centering their major atetntion on Strengthening the union into a strong fighting organization, Mine Committees. Most of the delegates came from locals based on mine and shaft com- mittees. They discussed the. problem of spreading further and deeper the influence of the union and rooting} it into the mines. The discussion exposed new speed- | up devices that are throwing more and more out of work every day, and impending new wage-cuts on top of the steady wage-cutting schemes which are already in use. The convention unanimously adopt- ed resolutions declaring solidarity with the nine victims of lynch jus- tice in Scottsboro, and of solidarity with the striking dock workers in Duluth. The resolution on the dock strike points out: “In order to win in the struggle against. wage-cuts, speed-up, etc., we must have our own committees on the job; in this your problem is the same as ours. As we build our mine committees in the mines it is for you to build the dock committees on the docks and the waterfront. “Your mass picket lines will be taken as examples for the coming Struggles of the workers in all fields. “This convention goes on record| with an appeal to all workers’ or- ganizations to support the United Front Relief Committee of the. long- shore strikers.” “Gio Ahead,” Gary Officials Answer Jobless Suicide Threat Relief Cut Off; Delegation Demands That More Be Given; Force Way Into Office; Rush Plans for State Hunger March GARY, Ind., April 27.—Protesting the closing off of relief on the excuse that all funds appropriated have been exhausted, a delegation of 12 Negro and white workers, men and women, from the Gary Unemployed Council went to the Calumet Town- ship trustees and demanded imme- diately the opening of the relief of- fice. Hundreds of workers are being refused relief now on the excuse that the appropriation for poor relief, for the month of April amounting to only $35,000, has been all given out. The state Icgislature several months ago passed a law stating that. the Township Advisory Board must decide each month how much is to be spent for poor relief in the follow- ing month. This law was passed in order to limit the unemployed work- ers to a diet of slow starvation. Start- ing out by giving an average of $15 @ month in groceries to each family, the trustee now refused to give more than $5 or $10 a month. On top of that a new plan of “forced labor” is now being introduced to make the workers work three days for a bas- ket of groceries. When the commit- tee came to the trustee's office they found dozens of workers waiting there who had been told that they could have nothing to eat. One woman with four children threatened to turn on the gas and kill her children and herself. She was told “go ahead and do it.” ‘When the delegation tried to enter the office they were stopped by de- tectives who tried to chase them away, finally seeing the angry mood of the workers, a committee of three were allowed to interview the trustee, Mrs. Wells. She was very angry at the nerve of the unemployed work- crs demanding more relief and want- ed to know why the unemployed When forced to admit that, there workers hadn't saved their money, not wait until May 1 for the next Srocery bill, she excused herself say- ing that she only had a certain amount to spend and it was all spent and she could do nothing about it. ‘The Gary Post Tribune stated Fri- day that 45 angry workers threatened to break into the trustee’s office un- less the trustee would listen to their demaiids. ‘The Gary Unemployed Council will go again to the trustees next week and will take with them hundreds of workers whose families are also abso- lutely without food. At the same time the Unemployed Council is mo- bilizing the workers for the May Day mass meeting at Turner Hall 114 St. and Washington. Also cars are be- ing arranged, delegations being elect- ed to go to Indianapolis on a hunger march starting May 2. Funds are badly needed for the hunger march, all workers and workers’ organiza- tions should send donations to the ‘Trade Union Unity League, 240 Ww. 15th Ave., Gary, Ind. Enforce “Voluntary” Wage Cut on Calumet City, Ill., Employes CALUMET CITY, Ill, May 8.—All municipal employes in Calumet City, Il, industrial suburb of Chicago, have been made to take a so-called voluntary cut in wages of 20 per cent. Firemen and policemen, who have been getting $160 a month, will now get $132, ‘The mayor of Calumet City, John Jaranowski, announced with a flour- ish, that he will take—in salary— only $2,000 instead of $2,500. ‘The municipal wage cuts are seen as forerunners of a general wage slashing campaign in the vertops fagtores and mila _, Maida. PARTY LIFE Conducted by the Organization Department of the Central Committee, Communist Party, U.S.A, Alibis By K. R. E can still notice in. our units that man) members do not do nearly so much work as they could. It is the habit of 50 per cenit of them to take things easy. Many attend only every other unit meeting, and during the two weeks that they take for themselves in this way, invent reasons for not doing any Party work for the next two weeks. They spend as much time in looking for excuses as it would require for doing, even mechanically, the work the unit requires. The units will have to expose a new excuse for the members not being active-in it. Some of those who continually refuse to do work in the unit explain that they must do work in the trade union, some declare that they have fraction meetings, some must attend meetings for the protection of the foreign-born, while others must work in more or less mysterious committees, which are often used as smoke Screens. Some comrades explain that those com- mittees give them tasks to do even on unit meeting nights. All of these must be exposed. First, the unit buro must inspect the alibis, to see if they are true; second, we know that no other meetings are arranged for the night of the unit meeting, so they should not prevent a@ 100 per cent attendance in the unit. Even if there were such meetings, they would not be as important as the meeting of the basic or- ganization, the unit. In addition to the old alibis (sick uncle, dy- ing ount, forgetting the address, lumbago, sprain- ing one’s wrist) these new ones have come up, and they must be kicked out without mercy, or the units will never be able to work with full force. As to those comrades that say their work in the mass organizations prevents attending unit meetings; the writer knows that these organiza- tions hold the work of the Party in high esteem, and so give Party members the opportunity to attend Party meetings. Besides, even if work is assigned for the unit meeting night, the Par- ty members must know how to give their as- signments to be done by the rank and file mem- bers of that organization. Comrades must stop making excuses ~ and | must start doing work instead. Those comrades | who are really active in the mass organizations | appear to have time to do unit work also, for they know the importance of unit work. Comrades who come to unit meetings display- ing a worn-out, exhausted figure due to work- ing “so much” recently, must take an example from them. Only by the unit buros inspecting and ex- posing the excuses that are used can we get rid of our bad tendencies. | Comment: Unit Buros should see to it that the District’s system of assignment of Party Tasks is put into practice in their unit and in theb Section generally. Under this system, comrades are assigned to work in a specific mass organization or in a specific phase of work of the Party itself as their main Party task, by the Section or District. Once this is done, the Unit Buro will know perfectly well what work each cormzade is doing besides his unit work; and in addition to this the Unit Buro has the duty of checking up thru the Section Committee and thru the fractions, and seeing to it that the comrades carry out their other task as well as their unit work. This system if properly put inte effect will end all alibis, QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Question—The awakening of the masses is developing upon correct lines in organizing various organizations, like the Ex-Servicemens League, the Unemployed Councils, and the Tenants League, etc. for the emancipation of the working class. Why in Yorkville between 100th St. and 86th St. is there no Unem- ployed Council, no Ex-Servicemen’s League, no Tenants’ League, or a workers’ community club. In this section the workers are ripe for or- ganization. You will get the support of many workers here.—A Comrade. eee Answer The question demands definite an- swer from the District and the Section. Why, when the workers are willing to join the -revo- lutionary movement and its organizations, are there none of these organizations in various parts of the City of New York and of other districts. ‘The work in the Harlem and Yorkville sections has been very weak. There has been only one Unemployed Branch in Harlem, and although this branch has done some good work, it har not spread out. At the present time, work is being started in various parts of Harlem, including the ter- ritory of which the comrade writes. A Tenant: League, based on the miserable conditions ir 99th St., and on some concrete cases, has beer formed in this territory. Unquestionably, 'Ten- ants Leagues and Unemployed Branches coulé be started in all sections, but there have been some obstacles: lack of leadership, plugging work, and of consistent activity. These are being ovet- come in part by the new form of work of the Unemployed Branches, which will lead to the es- tablishment of such organization in all parts of the city. We would suggest to the comrade to get in touch with the Unemployed Council at 16 W. 2ist St. or the Unemployed Branch at 353 Lenox Ave., which will help him in every way. And the comrade himself should do all he can to get things going. As to the Ex-Servicemen’s League, we face the same situation. There is a good branch in Lower Manhattan, and one was recently estab- lished in Harlem. The same obstacles to fur- ther development—lack of leadership. But the drawing in of new forces will help materially in the growth and spread of this organization as well, One little, yet very important correction in the comrade’s letter: The building up of the revo- luitonary crganizations of the working class is essential for the emancipation of the workers. But one thing is even more important and that, is the building of a powerful Communist Party for leading these organizations and the work- ers, organizers and unorganized, in the revolue tionary struggle. Only in this way will we ene sure the Proletarian Revolution. ' Ey 8 FEFESSF Bays a8 side Bes #3 trod of t the Gov