The Daily Worker Newspaper, May 23, 1931, Page 3

_DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, SATURDAY, MAY MIAMI KU KLUXERS INCREASE JIMCROW TERROR IN SOUTH Stop Negro Workers in Car; KKK in Priestly Robes Warn Them to Obey “Rear Seat” Law Threaten to Drown Negro Workers If The) ' Dare to Go “Out of Bounds” Daily Worker :— = Miami, Florida. In this beautiful Miami, here every day is June except when it is cold, the Ku Klux Klan is still thriving. Tt does its dirty work, in the good 100 percent American fashion. The K. K. K. is still at work making the southern democracy safe for the white exploiting class. On the 13th of May, I saw 8 cars parked near a place on 10 P.C. WAGE CUT HITS POMERETTE GARMENT SLAVES -Piece Workers. Earn from $10 to $15 Per Week By L. NEUWHONER. NEW YORK, N. Y.—A 10 per cent wage-cut was effected among the week workers at the Pomerette Dress Co., 240 W. 40th St. This piece of bad. news was particularly shocking to a girl.who boasted of being a friend of the boss. She packed up and left the piace for good when her wages were cut from $35 to $31, ‘The piece-workers in this shop do not easn more than $10 to $15 a week and the speed-up is’the most vicious imaginable. Attacks Worker. ‘This place is conducted by Louis Cornman, who got himself a well- deserved slap in the face, from one working woman. Max Cornman, the brother to the boss, played the “hero” in defense of his brother by kicking the girl. Such brutality is common in the New York dress shops. Moscow Workers Build Free Land FormStudy Circles and Shock Brigades Dear comrades: ‘We have just received your letter. ‘We are struggling for socialism and are very sorry to hear such news from our foreign comrades. Our young socialist country does not want any war. We want t oshow to in- ternational proletariat the road which }- is leading to the happy life, ie. to the life that is free and joyfull. - We are surrounded by enemies, who are ready to crush the U.SS.R. every minute, but we believe in the con- struction of socialism» and we are building for the first time in history a New Country with enthusiasm. We know, that inside the countries, ruled by our enemies there are our fellow- working men, who are going to pro- tect us and would not allow to rise the bloody hand and smash down the U.S..R. and we do believe in it. ‘The building up of socialism is neces- sitating many hardships of its way. No Unemployment ®uch construction as Dneprostroy, Cumeztroy, numerous factories, works and railroads (‘‘Turk-Sib”) show that workers of the U.S.S.R. are able to tuild everything themselves. The my Bes? stake? enormous growth of socialism, liquid- ated entirely the unemployment, we have even a shortage of skilled work- evs. At the present our ‘slogan is: “The Communists must get hold of technical knowledge.” Cultural Circles At the enterprises we organize all kinds of circles where we. study in order to reach. higher. qualifications. ‘We send the best shock brigaders t othe colleges. We are.building up many colleges, high schools and pub- le schools . In our shop,, which was organized in 1930, we. declared our- selves shock brigaders - -and we carry on social competition’ in order to speed up the output of machinery. Our living conditions. are being steadily improved and we have now 1-hour day. After work we go to moving pictures or are doing some From the Shock Brigades of the Shop, “The First of May,” Moscow, USSR, ne SIGNATURES. . Editorial webb The workers in the Soviet Union are. anxious to receive letters from groups of work- ers in America telling about their conditions and le Get t little group together in your factory, your shop, your neighborhood, to correspond with the workets in the Soviet Union. The Soviet workers will be glad to answer you. Send your letters to the Workers Cor- respondence Dept., Daily Worker; 50 E. 13th St, New York, N. ¥. Learn the real truth about the So- viet Union. The workers themselves will tell the story, ‘the “causeway” where dredging is be- ing done. I first thought that they were workers’ cars. I soon learned my error. In those machines came the Ku Kluxers, dressed in their official re- galia, the priestly white robes. With their covered faces they exercised their American god-given right to teach their colored brothers the Christian spirit of “humbleness.” ‘These colored brothers and sisters are employed in the hotels and rest- aurants, where their white hers come during winter months to bask in the sun. These Negro workers are Poorly paid They live in the Miami hovels and shacks unsuitable for beasts. They go to work at the beach hotels. Force Negro Workers to Occupy Rear Seats ‘They have to cross the Biscayne Bay on the causeway in a street car that charges them 20 cents a day. ‘These Negro workers are forced to occupy the rear seats only. It seems that some Negro family occupied the wrong seats only and the anointed Kluxers could not forbear such in- fringements, “K-K.K. Threatens Negro Workers So at the entrance or exit to the “causeway” the Kluxers held up the street cars and lectured the. Negro passengers, telling them to be humble and to know their place. Other- wise the transgressors might be found drowned in the bay punctured by bullet holes. Thus the Jim Crow law must remain inviolate and holy. These fascists are American Mus- Solinis. They are a self-constituted government disregarding the laws of the constitutional capitalist govern- ment. Negro Workers Organize The twelve millions of Negro work- ers in this nation should use their energy and power to enforce their human and constitutional rights. This will be accomplished by joining the white workers in the Communist Party and its affiliated organizations and work until capitalism is de- throned and a Government of Work- ers and Farmers is established. —A Worker. CALIF. WORKERS PAID IN SCRIPT} Get Three to Six Days Work in Month By C. G. SAN DIEGO, Cal—During the re- cent election campaign here between the two capitalist political gangs, it was revealed that tens of thousands of the taxpayers money was wasted for unecessary political jobs and ctherwise by the supervisors of this county. While the grafters are fijting their pockets and thousands of dollars are paid to high salaried ccunty and weltare “workers” and othcr officials. the tens of thousands of unemployed workers here are barely existing. Hundreds of jobless workers have lost their homes because they could not pay taxes. The jobless workers pack the county welfare offices every day, many of them without a penny to their names and hungry and in need of immediate help, but the female autocrat in charge of the place for- ces them to wait hours and often tells them to come back some other day. Some of the single men who have lived here for years are given three days work,a month in the park and are paid, off in script—4 worth of grocereies for each day’s work. Married men with families get six days work a month at $4 a day in groceries, U. §. Worker Hits Anti Soviet Lies Elgin, Ml. Daily Worker: I have a cousin in Soviet Rus- sia, Moscow, getting 300 rubles per month, with room. He writes me that he is treated fine and that his foreman has lots of patience | with him. He has invited his! mother, father and sister to come over. If things were like the so- cfalists and their masters, the Wall Street robbers, say they are, |’ I am sure he would never invite his people to come over. Would a working-class son ask his folks to go where it is “so terrible?” I wonder if John Keider, the labor faker here in Elgin who is’ attacking the Soviet Union, would. say the above is not a statement ‘Worker Hails Stand of Theo Dreiser On Workers’ Struggle: Daily Worker: | Theodore Dreiser, in a recent is- j sue of the Daily Worker, is the | real thundering voice of the van- guard of the American intelligen- tzia nowfawakening from its long slumber. It is just the beginning of this awakening. More and more Drei- sers will find their voices and will blash forth indignantly the hor- rors, brutality and hypocrisy of | rotting and decaying American‘ capitalism and its numerous props, including the socialist party and the A. F. of L. Dreiser again proves himself to be the American Emile Zola, not only in literature but in social con- sciousness as we'l. His blast now reminds one of Zola’s “I accuse” in the Dreyfus . Now for more Dreisers in the U. S. A. —N. S. R. YOUNG WORKER TELLS OF OHIO HUNGER MARCH Young aa Marcher; Member of Family of 7; All Are ‘Reds’ Columbus, Ohio. Daily Worker: I am writing you a few lines to Jet you know about the trip to Co- lumbus and the experiences I have had all along the march. At Hamilton we had a meeting of 15,000 unemployed and employed workers, which was the best we hed. However, it was at Hamilton where we had the worst beds. We built them on rough boards, but there were so many skunks that we had to build a fire to keep them away. In order to have some fun, or perhaps. it was on purpose, they tied a skunk with a string and dragged it all around. I was the youngest mem- ber of the delegation to Columbus. We have seven in our family and all of us are class-conscious workers and Bolsheviks. We are very proud of it, too. I was working at a garage for the measly sum of $7 a week. I slaved from 12 to 14 hours a day. I de- cided to quit this speed-up place. My father is in debt heavily, because we are not working and we have to live. Norfolk Bakers Slave in Shops For $15 a Week 12 HY Day; aby Wk; In Va, Bakeries (By a Seaman.) . NORFOLK, Va.—The Model Bak- ery called up the Seaman’s Bethel Institute (commonly known as the Prostitute) a couple of days ago for a baker. The ysaid they wanted a first-class man, etc. There are quite a few men on the beach here, including a few ship bakers. One of them went down after the job. “Sure,” the boss said, “start right away.” But, as it is always good to look before you step, the seagoing baker asked how about the hours and pay. He was advised that if he would work 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, he would be rewarded at the end of each week with the large sum of $15. Denver Worker Get $2.23 for Weeks of Work On Railroad Denver, Colo. Daily Worker:— Today I applied for work at the office of the Denver and Salt Lake Railroad (known as the Moffat Road) and was offered the prevalent rate of pay, 34 cents per hour, for four days a week. I worked a week and here is the way it figures out: Earned . -$10.88 Board ... 1.35 Insurance . 1.00 Hospital Fee ...... 30 Balance $2.35 Permit me to remain, as ever, Yours for the revolution —A Worker. Unemployment Gaining in Spring Valley, Ill. Spring Valley, Ml. Daily Worker: The army of the unemployed is growing daily. Many workers here are out of jobs for a long time and more are released from jobs as the days roll by. They don’t know what. to do—how to get a living. I lost my job long ago. There are six persons in our family who have to live on my wife’s wages — four or five dollars a week, Even my wife's job is not steady. I don’t knok how I will be able to keep my kids in school. Send literature. I will talk to the workers about the class struggle. —A. K. “He who'has te youth has the future”—Liebknech’ ving. 23, 195. Cicero Workers Driven Preni Homes; IFARGO WORKERS WHO Live in Ovens and Eat Garbage Daily Worker:— It is the duty of every worker toj workers depend on There are about 50 workers living in the ovens and old shacks. These the food-stuff expose the horrible conditions thdt| which they pick up at the dumps. exist in the richest country in the|If anyone does not believe this state- world, ment let them go to the dumps I took this picture of the old rock-| Many of these workers carry an A quarry near 48th Street in Cicero,|F. of L. card too. Til. And as you can see the fellows have boarded up the old ovens. They have built shacks out of old boxes. Eat Garbage. Later on I will take a picture of the dump when the people from the Hawthorn District are picking food- stuff up at the dumps, right after the trucks have thrown them there. These workers have told me that if it were not for the dumps they would | not know what to do, I was born and raised in the U.S.A. and my grand parents were also, so it will be impossible for the capi- talists to call me an alien. —An Unemployed Worker. “War Result of Imperialist Conflict,” Says Young Worker. Urges “to Smash Boss War By Fighting the Bosses” I, a worker, young, strong, willing to work, am forced to tramp the streets idle. Forced to come home day after day, and live off the pitiful earnings of my father, who toils away his life in a bosses filthy sweatshop. Young, strong, willing to work and forced to live off the meager wages of a younger ELEVEN WORKERS HURT IN BLAST Two Dying As Result of Dam Explosion (By a Worker Correspondent) HONDO, Calif—The bosses are Hooverizing on wages, etc., but not on workers’ flesh and blood, at the $165,000,000 Boulder (Hoover) Dam site, judging from a Las Vegas, Nev., report. Two Near Death. ‘Two workers were near death and nine others were badly injured as a result of an explosion of dynamite, May 9th. The blast was even “un- expected,” they tell us. Tons of rock showered down upon the crew of workers of Six Rivers Co. at the Colorado River camp when the blast was set off without warn- No explanation of the sudden charge was given by the company. NAVY YARD LAYS OFF 80 WORKERS Phila Slave Mart Of- fers Fake Jobs (By a Worker Correspondent.) In going around looking for work I find that for every two who find temporary work twelve are laid off. I met a machinist at the Phila- Gelphia Navy Yerd who'told me that efter the big lay-off two months back there was also a wage-cut and that last week 80 more were laid off, which included himself. While down at the city slave mar- ket the other day I noticed that the blackboard was filled with “jobs” for the Navy Yard. I know from ex- perience that this is done to make it look like there are plenty of jobs while they are actually laying men off in the Navy Yard. They give you application blanks and tell you to fill them out and qualify for the Jobs which they promise to send you to, But they never send you. sister who sweats away her youth in a bosses’ hell hole. For this I thank you, “Glorious America,” for this and many others. For Mooney and Bil- lings, Sacco and Vanzetti, Imperial Valley, Gastonia, for Katovis, Levy and Gonzales.. Thank you, oh lords and masters for your evictions and breadlines, for the bullets and club- bing, for imprisonment and for Scottsboro and Paterson. Head Toward War. Imperialist powers must conflict in the race for foreign markets. The result is war, since war slaughters off the unemployed, creates a tem- porary labor shortage, and piles up wealth for the bosses. Soon....the drums will be beating; the bugles calling; the flags waving. The glib tongue orators will be stirring up patriotism and sending us to our death. And TI too will be called upon to make “my country” safe for god and Wall Street. What will I do then: Says Einstein, the pacifist and the socialist party.” Refuse to fight, fill the jails.” Fill the jails hell. We'll enlist and get our hands on the guns and then war is going to be hell. Hell for the bosses, the grafters and exploiters.” Yes, we the youth will not forget that we were up against in times of eapi- talist prosperity. We won't fill jails, Mr. Yellow Socialists and pink tea liberals; and neither will we use our weapons against workers. of another land. But we will follow the exam- ple of workers and farmers of a dif- ferent country. We'll use those weapons to bring about, a Bolshevik uprising in America and set up a US.S.R. right here in the U.S.A. And swallow that and see how you like it, Mr. Ham Feesh! —Young Worker. 685 Workers Fired By Tacoma Bosses (By a Worker Correspondent) TACOMA, Wash. — 685 workers were added to. the ranks of the un- employed. The St. Paul and Ta- coma Lumber Company layed off 85 workers on the first of the month and the St. Regis Pulp Mill shut down, 300 workers loosing their jobs. The Milwaukee R. R. shops layed off 300 workers. Shop Letters Are the Real Proletarian Literature (By a Prisoner in San Quentin) I find the letters from the shop in the Daily Worker a living, breath- ing, acting and forceful contribution to literature of the working masses. There you will find the true proletarian literature. Read over these letters. They are full of mistakes in grammer, but who the hell cares. Are we to guide our lives forever by the oppressing rules laid down by the bourgeoisie? Shall we raise a rumpus because a comrade forgot to cross a “T” or dot an “I”? We are in the field against the bourgeoisie and if we accept their literature or even their rituals for what constitutes good (?) literature we may as well accept capitalism and be done with it. Lenin said: “The proletariat will form its own code of vise and write its own literature and it will be the kind by and for the proletariat.” Take rant:— She knows how get the dishes, the grub, the coffee many rals, will de- at will be of, the women working in the restau- steps she takes to and the hardware. She knows the, backbreaking toil, the long hours, the scanty wages and the few tips she gets and if she wrote about it what a story it would make! I would read it and would know that it was written by a person who didn’t care if polite bourgeois read it or not, but who was telling a story for those of other industries to understand. And that would be dynamic, startling, moving proletarian literature. Writing that would stir the masses such as Upton Sinclair did in the Jungle. But Sinclair worked very little indatey, What could a worker do with that same theme after working several years in a packing house? He could do the same as you could do with your industry atid I could do withmine. DENVER WAR VET LEFT TQ STARVE ON CITY STREETS Denver Post: Offers to “Help” Providing Veteran Pays Cash Denver, Colo. Daily Worker: The other day I met a very shab- bily dressed man begging on the street. His name is Neil Davis, He is almost blind, is 34 years old and is a werld war veteran who was gassed. He has applied for a pension ever since the war, but he never got any, and, the way it looks now, he never will. His parents went broke by spending $1,800 on his eyes. I told him to go to the Denver Post and advertise the government rats, like other soldiers had done. He did this, and the Post told him to come back in 10 days, which he did. Then he was told that the only way that the Post could help him was for him to pay 10 cents a word for an advertisement that they would run for him. This is the paper that is supposed to be the people's friend —the paper “that has a heart.” Editorial Note:—This is just one of the thousands of cases of ex- servicemen being reduced to star- vation in capitalist America. Many of the ex-service men who have waited until now to apply for their bonuses are told by the gov~ ernment that they can draw no money for two years. These ex- service men need this money to buy food and clothes. We can force the government to pay these bonuses in full and at once by militant mass action of all the vet- erans. The ex-service men every- where should organize into the Ex-Servicemen’s League and fight for the payment of the bonus in full. Cut Wages 10 P.C. In Furniture Co. Worker Gets 63 Cents for 8-Hr. Work (By a Worker Correspondent) *ROCKFORD, Ill.—Mr. Hoover may- be hasn’t heard about wage cuts. But at the Rockford Furniture Com- pany, which is now working on gov- ernment orders, 13 hours a day, the wages were cut 10 per cent on May 1, Skilled cabinet-makers can’t aver- age even 25 cents an hour. The com- pany is putting out these orders so cheaply that further government or- ders are expected. We don't expect Hoover to do anything about it but we DO expect to build a real organ- ization inside of the Rockford Fur- niture Company and force a living wage out of the company. Spoke to one worker from the Scan- dia Furniture Company who got sixty three cents (no exegeration) for 8 hours work one day this week and got 80 cents for one day last week. ers at that he only works about 3 days a week. You don’t have to be unemployed to starve here! Furniture workers! Don’t believe those who say we can’t do anything about it. Join the Furniture Work- ers Industrial League. Organize and strike against wage cuts and starva- tion! Euild a Worcorr Group in your shop! Weile About yous struggles! REACHED PENSION AGE ARE FIRED BY CO. Armour and Commay Fires Workers in Order to Avoid Paying Pensions Aged Woman Forced to Work for $2 a. Week; Son Slaves On Farm for Board Daily Worker: Fargo, North Dakota After working for Armour Co., ever since this plant opened here in ment, the H. Stensatter was laid-off. Lay-off Worker to Avoid Paying Pension A few months more he would have been eligible for : No reasons were given for his dis- would be Armours. except notification longer required.” He is and always was a quiet and faithful worker, so for no other reason than to save their lousy “old age” pension and the fact that Stensatter is getting old he is discharged, like score of other workers at Armours during these few last months ion from Must Be Evicted from Co. House. I mention his case specifically be- cause of his high standing in this community and because it seemed he would be among the last to be laid off. Discharge from the plant. here means virtual eviction from the company owned houses, with the somewhat better advantages they of- fer over houses owned by other land- lords. So Stensatter has to move within 30 days, from the home he has occupied for many years and with very poor chances of getting other work. These capitalists like Armour can wreck workers’ homes over night. Aged Women Must Work for $2 A Week. Work has started on the new pav- ing on No. 10 highway. Every morn- ing there are masses of workers vain- ly and eagerly waiting to be hired at both ends of the work, here and in Fargo. A friend of the writer, jobless for months, finally went in- to the country and was allowed the privilege of working for his board by a farmer. He is a good hand, 20 years old. His aged mother sec- ured work in a house after much searching for $2 a week. Such are the things capitalism has to offer our best workers in the year 1931! FARGO WORCORR. SCRAP MEN AT 40 IN GENERAL MOTORS, PONTIAC Mich, Hunger March Arouses Interest; Many to Join Pontiac, Michigan. Daily Worker :— The conditions in Pontiac are worse than they ever were. Although I am not one of your family as yet, I intend to join you when you march through here to Lansing on May 27th. I have a lot of faith in your organization and I think you are right. General Motors Rule. The General Motors Corporation of this city rule the city. They make the laws here and the men in the factories are poorly paid. This com- pany bears down on the working man cruelly and rules with an iron hand. I worked on the chassis as- sembly line at the Oakland Motor Company and the speed-up was kil- ling. I got 50 cents an hour and the promise of a bonus, but all we got was promises; we never got the bonus. I went back there for a job recerttly and they told me that I am too old. I am 40. To Join Hunger March. I will be sure glad to see the Hun- ger March when it comes through here. I expect to see it good and strong, as everyone out of a job here is getting restless and I am sure many of them will drift into the line of march. This is the only way to force the bosses into submission and make them either give us work or wages, one or the other. —Auto Worker. Homeless Child Army Increases (By a Worker Correspondent.) LOS ANGELES, Calif.—We read a lot of lies in the capitalist press about homeless children in the Soviet Union after the world war, But what about the hobo children who are coming to Los Angeles every year? A higher total is ex- pected this year. According to an official report, the number rose 350 in 1930, Who knows the actual number of traveling and homeless children in the entire country? In Los Angeles, alone, 4,000 under the age of 16 were arrested last year. Such are conditions in the “richest” land in the world. Young workers, smash these con- ditions by building a strong Com- munist League! Force the rich government to feed and clothe these childre: Fight this jailing of homeless ¢ ren, that 1925 and for years under its former manage- Farmers Cooperative Equity Co. as.a, watchman, his ‘‘services” no WORCORR- BRIEFS WORCORR PHOTOS The Workers Correspondence Dept. needs more pictures. It is not only necessary that-we reflect conditions and struggles of the workers in writing alone, but we must become more active with the camera. When we organize our correspondence groups in the shops, neighborhoods, unions, ete., we should at once take steps to get a camera for the group and detail one of the comrades as the official group photographer. We know that itgis almost impos: sible for workers at this time to buy an expensive camera, but it is pos- sible for a group to raise enough money for an inexpensive camera that will take good clear pictures Now let’s get our groups together. Get a camera and elect an official photographer. Take pictures of the factory conditions, of the workers’ demonstrations and of the way workers are forced to live in capi- talist America. Illustrate your stories. Often a good: picture is a story in itself. The camera is an excellent vehicle for agitation ‘and propaganda. Send your photos to the Workers Correspondence Editor, Daily Worker. WHY THE SILENCE? Although the Workers Corres- pondence mail bag is getting heay- ier each day and contains news of the workers’ and poor farmers’ struggles from most of the impor- tant industrial and agricultural sections of the United States, there are yet many sections of the country that we hear very little from. Very little workers correspondence has come in in the last.month from North and South Carolina. The con- ditions of the textile and tobacco workers and the poor farmers in these two states are most appalling Jim Crowism is rampant there and starvation on account.of unemploy- ment is common among the work- ing masses. We'd like to hear from the Carolina tobacco’ and textile workers and poor farmers. Delaware, Alabama, Tennessee, Arkansas, S. Dakota,: Main, Missouri and Montana, have also been very silent lately. What's the matter? Get your pencils and pens busy, workers, Build little correspondence groups in these states. Write as you fight! INTERNATIONAL ‘LETTERS We have received in the last two weeks several ‘letters from workers and groups of workers the workers in the Soviet Union which we have forwarded to the Soviet workers who are anxious to receive them and who will answer them. This is a good’ Start towar¢é establishing real — internationa) working class relations and func- tioning correspondemce groups ir America. But in the last few days letters for the Soviet Union and the various capitalist countries have been coming in very slowly. We suggest that a.group of De- troit auto workers (we have not heard from these workers lately) get together and write a letter to the Amo auto workers in Moscow. A group of textile workers, say from Lawrence, Philadelphia. or Green- ville, S. C., should send in a letter for the textile workers itr Leningrad, Letters have come from the miners, building trades and steel workers, Two have come from the farmers, Marine, food, lumber, ‘railroad, shoz and needle workers have not writ- ten. These workers should get on the job. The workers in England, Ireland, France, Germany, India, the Latin American countries, etc., are anxious to develop correspondence relations with American groups. Now, work- ers, let’s write. Young Workers Slave 10 Hours Daily In Bogota Mills (By a Worker Correspondent) BOGOTA, N. J.—There is a paper miff in Bogota, N. J. by the name of Smith’s Paper and Cardboard Fac- tory where they enslave workers for 10 hours a day. They have to w night end day for starvation ws The yovny workers reecive caly cents per hour,