The Daily Worker Newspaper, May 29, 1931, Page 6

Page Six 18th Street, New Tork City. AGdress and mail all checks te the Da o., Ine, dal Algonquin How to Organize to Fight Unemployment city Conventi and starvation was * hi carl for employment May 7. By this time our leading committees and. comrades and the Unemployed Councils ould have discussed the purpose of these in a most concrete manner ue calls for the election nis time the date of the city should have been es- must be held in every tter part of June or must be called in the be held on a Sunday, m. and should last into late afternoon, yes even into the evening For once we hope that the delegates that attend will actu participate in the conven- tion. This means in revi that we hope that leading comrades will not talk the conven- tion to death. Discussion, planning for ac- tivities, struggles, organization of the unem- ployed, must come in the main f the un- employed workers and other delegates present These city conventions must strike a broader base than any of our united front movements have had up to now. Delegates must be se- cured from a far greater number of A. F. of L. local unions, and committees of unemployed workers must visit A. F. of L. local unions to explain the purpose of the convention and re- quest the election af delegates. Other workers’ organizations which were never reached for for- mer united fronta must be visited. We must spréed beyond the usual organizations and faces we seo at most of these kind of gatherings we have had tm the pest. Delegates from employed workers in shops and factories should attend. And yet, when we consider the cooperation we: have the right to expect from our sym- pathetic organizations, that usually send dele- gates, we find that their cooperation seldom goes beyond the sending of delegates. At the cify conventions to fight unemployment and starva~- tion we must take a more healthy attitude to- wards these’ delegates from sympathetic organ- izations and towards the organizations they rep- resent. These delegates should be given an op~ portunity to state coneretely in what way their organization and its members can assist the un- employed in their struggles for immediate relief and unemployment insurance. For instance, methods must be devised to win the unemployed workers in these organizations as active mem- bers for our unemployed branches; the organ- ization should assist in establishing a neighbor- hood branch of unemployed workers in a certain territory where a number of tts members live; members of the lon should help col- lect food for si s the organiza- tion should pledge twelf te contefbute a certain fund for each month to help finance the work among the unemployed, etc. What, however, is of tremendous importance is the question of adequate représentation from the unemployed workers. It is of course, under- stood that all unemployed branches and the bread lines, Job agen: ete, in as well a&.unemployed workers who gather at fac- tories looking for work, uld be adequately represented. In view of the fact that the com- position of many of our unemployed branches in the larger cities is faulty (in some instances they are composed mainly of migratory workers workers without families or the membership is narrow, they have very few members, families of unemployed workers are not active, wives and unemployed women do not participate) we must ask ourselves the question: How: will the un employed workers and their families, how will the starving famil! voice tt demani place before the conven- tions their r rable conditions, their need for relief, th experiences with fake charities, etc. ‘The decisive section of st be composed of unemployed workers. It 1 he unemployed workers who must give the con vention leadership in the discussions-and de- cisions of the convention that pertain to fight- fgod and unemployment ir ce. To to the convention large numbers of unem- for ployed workers as delegates, to delegate most needy families in workefs’ neighborhoods to at- tend, to have seated in the convention the wives of unemployed workers and their children, this becomes an immediate and important task. We have this task, it must be accomplished it must not stand before us as an insoluable difficulty. In every few blocks in all workers’ neighborhoods, lea be issued stating ention and calling these few blocks to a of delegate: the purpose of the all workers within meet~ home, or on a street n these few blocks, or in a hall or very near to these few blocks. If can register the un- on @ fight for food for the before the meeting is called to elect delegates, then the workers will respond more readily to your Meeting. In electing dele- gates at these block meetings attention must be given to delegating at least one entire unem- ployed worker's family, a family typical of the suffering and hardship unemployed workers un- dergo. Delegates from among the wives of the unemployed workers and their children should be named. ‘These delegates must be provided with car- fare to the convention, with meals at the con- vention, and that they will be so provided must be indicated to them. Meetings must again be called to have them report to their neighbors and out of this must come a neighborhood branch, activity and struggle. In this way we will root our unemployed movement in workers’ neighborhoods. Securing an immense number of delegates from an immense number of block meetings will make it possible to elect an Un- employed Council at your city convention, which will actually represent the masses of unemployed in your city. TRADE UNION UNITY LEAGUE COMMITTEE FOR WORK AMONG THE UNEMPLOYED Alfred Wagenknecht, Secretary. How the Chicago police executed gangstecs wholesale for the benefit of Capone was pointed ont in previons articles. Fhe rise of gangsterism along with capitalism in the Graft and Gangsters By HARRY GANNES United States was traced. The previous ar- ticles showed how they flourished during the World War; became part of the bureaucracy of the A. F. of L. Al Capone and the Chicago City Government CARFACE” AI CAPONES spectacular rise cams with prohibition. Garigsterism was a plant firmly embedded in the soil of American capitalism long before Al Capone or prohibition merived on the scene. Gunmen found lucrative piekings in the trade unions; the newspapers employed them frequently. All leading capitalist corporations made free use of them. “At the same time all the capitalist political machines found them indispensible during elec- tion time. In every large city in the United States voting is done under the careful scrutiny of ‘the killers employed by the capitalist politi- cal.machines. Their function. however, is not merely to sit and watch. ‘The earlier American politicians centered their election campaign in the saloons and dives. Here they recruited their assistants. It was an easy ‘way of capturing ward elections; they were used by, higher politicians, judges, mayors, governors on up to the presidents. Once firmly entrenched, gangsterism and rowdyism became an accepted and: inseparable part of capitalist politics. A capitalist official elected with the help of gang- sters repays his supporters by many favors. This fortifies the gangs and makes them more power- ful weapons in his hands. The capitalist state finds one of its strongest pillars in the crim- inal and gangster element that grew out of American conditions and flourished with the rapid development of capitalism. Election Methods ‘The election methods used by this element are manifold. In Chicago they used the “short pen- cil” (a stub of a pencil concealed between the thumb and forefinger to mark ballots of an op- posing canditiate thus making them invalid); they stuff ballot boxes (throw in enough votes to elecet their candidates); gather repeaters (men who vote more than once); kill oppos- ing poil-watchers. In New York they are the “mechanics” of the voting machines to see that they register sufficient votes for either their republican or democratic employers. They do Plenty of slugging in New York but because ‘Tammany Hall is more efficient than Thompson and Company or the Cermak crowd of Chicago, they are not so quick on the trigger. The “Bloody Twentieth” In Chicago, Morris Eller, one of Thompson's leading cronies, assured his election by the simple process of executing his formost opponents. On April, 1928,.Octavius Grandy, a Negro opponent of the Eller faction was moved down by ma- chine gun fire. Eller’s ward was the scene of so many murders, kidnappings, beatings and maimings that it is now known as the “Bloody ‘Twentieth.’ Manny Eller, son of Morris, be- came @ judge in the Criminal Court where he passed on the crimes of his father’s political gunmen. He evicted many workers and failed thousands of others. Al Capone started his reign in Cicero, a sub- urb west of Chicago, where 40,000 workers slave for the Western Electric Co., a Morgan corpora- tion. Prohibition however, was like rich manure to the poisonous growth of gangsterism: It fed it, nurtured it, developed it into one of the leading businesses of American capitalism. At the inception of prohibition the existing gangs in all cities put their hand to earning an extra dollar by engaging in bootleggirig. At first there was a wild scramble. Bribery of government officials was not yet worked out to a system. It was haphazard. The field was crowded. Then there began a process of elim- ination. Capone Consolidated In Chicago the elimination took place first by ordinary shootings. Soon the field was re- duced to four or five gangs, each with its"poli- tical ‘alliance, with its big banking support, with its alliances in the Federal government prohibi- tion degartment. Capone decided that greater consolidation would mean greater profits, and with the help of his connections in the City Hall, the police department, the criminal court and the state’s attorney's office was able to liquidate nearly every one of his rivals. Capone's followers were the first to use machine guns as an efficient method of killing. “I Paid Him Plenty” ‘The “Bugs” Moran massacre was the final act in establishing Capone’s dominant place in the gangster and political world in Chicago. Capone bragged about his payment to the Chi- cago politicians. When Assistant State’s Attor- ney William H. McSwiggin was killed in Chicago in 1926, and suspicion turned to Capone, the multi-millionaire gangster replied: “I was no foe of McSwiggin. I paid him and I paid him plenty.” “If one thinks there {1s something ’ trivial about gang power,” said Edward D. Sullivan, authority on gangland, “let him bear in mind that Capone's men as early as 1926 netted $70,000,000 that year.” (N. Y. Times, June 27, 1930), Some put the estimate at $15,000,000 weekly. ‘Whatever the precise sum, it is a huge one, ranking on a par with the other big capitalist corporations. Prohibition has created one of the major industries in the United States, boot~ legging, which according to an ex-Federal pro- hibition head, does $3,000.000,000 business a year. Since all profits smell alike to the exploiters, and because the rate of returns is particularly high in this field, it has become a recognized industry with good banking, political and gang support. According to Albert R. Brunker, chairman of the Civic Safety Committee of Chicago (N. Y. Times, January 30, 1931), “Scarface” Al Ca- pone had 6,000 city, state and federal officials onhis payroll. As a sidelight he added that 80 per cent of the judges in Chicago were criminals and that it useless to attempt Successful prosecution of gangsters, Mr. Brun- s themselves participate and | the city convention | The meeting | | B. mall evervwhers: One y a: Manhation and Brana Se SUBSCRIPTION RATEW two months ar escepting Boroush® sig months, $459 a 33. PARTY LIFE The Relation of the Unemployed Cow By CLARA HOLDEN. (South Carolina) ‘HE Unemployed Councils should be more consciously valued and used as builders for our revolutionary unions, and as_ training grounds for future strike struggles. Workers will often join an Unemployed Coun- cil who feel they are not yet ready to join one of our unions. In a textile-town, such as Greenville, S. C., for example, the great ma- jority of white workers who join the Unem- ployed Council are mill workers. By visiting these workers, and explaining the National Tex- tile Workers’ Union to them, probably 90 per cent of them will come into the union. This is one simple and direct way of building the NTWU. Then general meetings can be called of all the mill workers who are members of the Unemployed Council, another of all the workers of a different industry, etc. the role of the respective unions explained, and mem- bers recruited in this way. But the Unemployed Councils have an even greater value to our revolutionary unions than that of recruiting grounds for new members. ‘The experiences gained by workers, as mem- bers of the Unemployed Councils, will be of the utmost importance in future strike strug- gles, Through the organizational activity of the Unemployed Councils, and through strug- gles for relief, against evictions, etc. leaders are trained. Mass demonstrations, hunger marches and parades train for mass picketing and mass meetings during strikes. Confidence in our leadership is gained. An understanding of the difference between our organizations and those of the A. F. of L. is established. And, most important of alll, is the political -training the workers get in the actual fighting for re- lief demands. When starving workers are re- fused relief by city, state or federal officials, by the charities, by the manufacturers and other capitalists; or when, through mass pres- sure, they can force relief from these officials, they get a training that will be of the greatest value during strikes. In Greenville, for example, the workers are already pretty wise to the line-up against us. The Committee, elected by the Unemployed Council members. Shortly afterwards, the two cil, saw two big mill owners sitting there as Council membres. Shortly afterwards, the two mayors—of Greenville, and West Greenville, where demands were also made—led the Ku Klux Klan in full regalia, who denounced the Unemployed Council and beat up some of the workers. Police officials state daily that the workers who join the Unemployed Council will never® get jobs, that no meetings will be held, that the organizers will be run out of town, etc. And finally, the frame-up and railroading to the chain gang, of the Trade Union Unity League organizer, has pretty well lined up, in- side and outside of the court room, all the ac- tors who are on one side of the fence. The link-up between the mill owners, KKK, police, and city officials of Greenville has been so plaihly Bonen out during the activity of ker, who though a capitalist “crime reformer.” is on intimate terms with Capone, went on to relate that he was told by the big shot himself that $6,000,000,000 graft went to government officials.” Capone estimates that $30,000,000 a year is paid for police protection in Chicago alone. He ought to know as he pays a great share of it. In 1931, at the pinnacle of his fame, recog- nized as a successful business man, friend of editors, judges, mayors, millionaires, Capone made a statement about his business principles. |. “Prohibition is a business-” he said. “A T do is to supply a public demand. I do it in the best and least harmful way I can. “I can’t change conditions. 1 just meet them without backing up. My customers include some of the finest people in the city, or in the world for that matter.” Capone was right when he said he was just @ business man among business men, working under conditions he did not create, but which grew up out of the very foundations of Amer- ican capitalism. But he was merely discreet when he said that “some of the finest people” were his “customers.” These fine bankers and exploiters are also “stockholders” in Capone's big business. TO BE CONTINU Conducted by the Organization Department of |] the Central Committee, Communist Party, U.S.A. ncils to Our Revolutionary Unions. the Unemployed Council, that there are prob- ably very few workers in Greenville not to if. On the other hand, certain conce-sic and gains have been made, and ceriain r activities have been started by the city, El | Red Cross, etc., due to the activity of the Un- Such political lessons that U rieyed Coun- cil members learn, in whatever |: ‘ity they are, willbe of the greatest value ¥ n they are later involved in strikes. If the Unemployed Councils are well organ- ized, strikers need have no fear of these work. ers taking their jobs, but will see that these unemployed workers and Unemployed Council members will help them win their strikes, by picketing, attending meetings, raising relief, etc. Having workers of’ all industries meet to- gether and struggle together in the same or- Sanization, the Unemployed Council makes each strike not an isolated affair, but the concern of all the workers in that locality. The unem- ployed and employed workers are closely linked up, because of the stagger system, which causes thousands of employed workers to be partially unemployed, and because of continuous lay- offs. The stretch-out also throws thousands out of work, Also, in workers’ families, where one 4 or more are working, there are sure to be some out of work. It is not necessary to “establish” unity of the employed and unemployed, as for example was tried in one city, where unem- ployed workers broke into shops to “unite” with the employed workers, and probably antagonized the employed workers, thinking the unemployed had come after their jobs! They are already united, whether they like it or not, and wage cuts, speed-up, unemployment, evictions, lay- offs, etc., affect both. However, the employed and unemployed should be organizationally closely linked up, by having représentatives from our unions on the Unemployed Council committees, and by. having Unemployed Coun- cil members on union and TUUL committees: In every locality, a joint TUUL comniittee of employed and unemployed should be established. ‘These organizational links would make it cas- ier for the workers‘to join in common strug- gles for relief and better. working conditions. The Unemployed Councils should be training schools for women workers. We are always talking of the need for organizing women work- ers, the need of having women’s departments in our unions, how to reach women workers, etc. Well, here is our chance. ‘actically every demand the Unemployed Councils’ make, are demands that are of special interest to women workers. Actually, the women, more than the men, feel the responsibility when there is no money to pay the rent. They worry more when the kids can’t go to school for lack of clothing. They suffer more when the kids are sick and they can’t pay a doctor or get medicine. And they get fighting mad when the kids go hungry. Not only the women mill workers, who are or Banized and activized during struggles of the Unemployed Councils; will be of great help to’ our textile unions, for example, but in times of strike, wives of mill workers, and other wom>n, who have been active in Unemployed Council work, can also be drawn in to\play an impor- tant part. In the South, one of the greatest problems is breaking down the wall of hatred and suspicion between the white and Negro workers. If white and Negro members of the Unemployed Coun- cils join in common struggles, it will -be the one biggest factor in building our revolutionary unions on a sound basis, of unity of black and white. Probably the outstanding thing that has made the Negro workers of Greenville have faith in the Unemployed Council, and to some extent lose suspicion of the white workers, is the fact that some white workers went to stop an eviction at a Negro worker's home. Also, several itmes all the white workers at Unem- ployed Council meetings voted to do so, should an eviction occur, In some textile centers, where the majority of mill workers are unemployed, the building of Unemployed Councils should be the major task of the National Textile Workers’ Union. In New Bedford, for example, thousands of mili workers are out of work, For two years the employed Council. During strike struggles, the mill workers will remember that these gains were mace, ana can only be made, because of | organization and mass press cr the workers. | with a smack, | pictures, but you don’t need them. “NO JOBS TODAY” . By HARRY GANNES. “ye jobs today!” That’s what the unemployed youth hear more frequently than anything else. Sometimes it the factory bull. Phil Bard, in his picture-pamphlet “No Jobs lay.” emphas what unemployment means to the young workers today—and he does it is emphasized with a kick by izes You look at the first page and see the Job- less young worker pore over the want ad: sheet. ‘There are few printed words along with these You read the life of every young worker in it. You see your own fruitless effort for work partrayed as you know it and as you felt it. The jobless youth by fhé' millions’ are being prepared for war. These young workers do not know from personal experience the horrors of the last capitalist war. Bard pictures one of the worker-victims of the last World War teks ing his story, and what he advises the youth to do in the next imperialist. war that the capi- talists are preparing right now. Decoration Day this year will be filled with a lot of war cries. The young workers will be plugged full of capitalist propaganda for war. This little pamphlet gives a sharp answer to the bosses’ war preparations and should be widely distributed. The main thing is that this little pamphlet, which sells at 5 cents, should be distributed by the hundreds of thousands among the young and adult workers. In aw, but telling words, Robert Minor introduces. Bard’s drawings and calls on. the young workers to rally behind the Young Communist League in the struggle against dying capitalism and the misery 1t causes the youth of the working class. . Workers! Join the Party of Your Class! Communist Party U.S A P. O. Bax 87 Station D. New York City. Please send me more information on the Com- munist Party. Name Veeeernenaeremeeenerecenseeeereeteeneres Address CIY -..reseoeesesececeveseer, State sessves -Mall this to the Central OMce. Communist Party, P O. Box 87 Station D. New York City Occupation + ARGV... Pe Sih ac Ae NIN ta AOS NEDA RL NTWU has been saying: “It’s impossible to Bele | By JORGE oR Play Ball Recently we listened to a report that men- tioned how the Labor Sports Union boosters got a movement started by just using a little imagination. Using your imagination is painful to some comrades, but it’s: very helpful in mak- ing the turn to new methods of. work—methods which break through the self-imposed isolation of our Party. Out to the street goes a young L. S. U. mem~ ber with a baseball and-bat. He whirls them as gaily as a cop docs-a nightstick, and—like the cop—looks for a victim. Another young fellow is spied leaning against a building doing noth- ing. “Hey! Catch this!” and the L. 8, U. com- rade tosses the ball. A game of catch follows and attracts another youth or two. The game is extended to bring them in, too. An ac§taintance is struck up, and the L. &. U. member tells the other fel- lows how there is a elub forming, and gets them into it in no time: That's what we call-playing ball! The exame ple ought to be useful.to thousands of mem- bers of the Communist: Party, some of whom are indifferent to other ‘workers( and not a few of whom act like non-Farty workers are pois- onous, something to be avoided.) We imagine that the Young Communist League should be given credit for hatching out the ideas and methods that are, like the above example, making the b. 8. U. something to be proud of, an organization really attractive to ma. The Y. C. L. should receive every support of all workers, and first,-of all from the members of the Communist Party., It is showing speed recently, and veally 4s making headway in smashing down the ingrowing sectarian ten- dency which kept it isolate from the working class youth, For example, on May 30, next Saturday, comes National Youth Day. And new methods are observable. In the old» days, if we recall, it was celebrated by some such thing as a very official meeting in a hall, whereat the Secre- tary gave a long speegh on every conceivable—< and some inconceivable—“task before us,” the latest letter of the Young Communist Interna- tional was read (Maybe!) and all was quite kosher—and utterly unknown to the young workers, ‘This year, National Youth Day 1s all feathered out! See what is going on in New York: A special train chartered! (What do you old roosters think about that!) It leaves Erie sta- tion on Jersey side at 12:30 p. m. for Passaic, where there are parades and speaking and sports. At 7 p. m. a boxing carnival at Bel- mont Park at Garfield, N. J. But that’s only one day! Next day, Sunday,-at.10 a. m. a Spartakiad opens at Ulmer Park, Brooklyn, an all day affair of track and. field finals, with a baseball game in the middle and a concert in #e eve~ ning! It seems that thfe Y. C. L. has learned the secret of how not: to make Communism odious: to the youth, All aboard for National Youth Day! nee ‘ dizg Ma. eee] Wait a Bit ’ . Just wait a bit and you'll hear the wind blow, when the lower ranks of the petty bourgeoisie and the thin but still numerous ranks of the straw bosses and higher paid workers begin to get nipped in Andy Mellon's tax trap. The news is being broken gently so far. Not higher taxes on the big incomes, says Mellon, but taxes on everybody of lower income. The N. Y. Times of Tuesday tells of it smoothly, like this: “The Administration would not be partial to an inereise. of existing rates, but would rather spread taxes-over a broader field, that is, set up a more diversified tax system.” Sounds nice, don’t it? Yes, it don’t! Not if you understand it. But the wiley Times con- tinues: “Tt is significant that officials have in mind a small gasoline sales tax and, perhaps, a res- toration of stamp or excise taxes might be worthy of consideration.” Oh, yes! But just the other day Hoover said that it.was impocsible to cure economic evils by legislation. Only herwas talking about unem- ployment, dodging the “demand for unemploy~ ment insurance at full. wages. ‘Taxes to feed starving workers are not on his program. But taxes to make war, to.buy bullets and poison gas to kill workers who object to starving, that is “sound legislation.” “~ Perhaps Mellon will put a tax on windows, one of the straws that broke the French camel's back and caused a revolution. Anyhow, wait @ bit and you'll hear a fearful clamor of protest when the tax collectors begin to work. Sain ae | / 2 i Pentecost—and Religious Racketeers Before our eyes there reposes a printed cir« cular letter, sent out by the St, Paul's Evane gelical Lutheran Church, 147 West 123rd St. New York City, and signed by the Rey. Fred H. Bosch, D.D., Pastor. It is dated May 12, and is addressed: “My¥ Dear Friend.” Red Sparks was not sent one, as such infernal scoundrels know that we are no friends of theirs. It.was brought in by some- body who received it through the U. S. mail, build mill locals.” For two years we have done nothing much but say that. For two years we have led no struggles whatever in New Bed- ford. The New Bedford workers, who have been amazingly loyal to the union under the circumstances, and who are militant, are un- doubtedly thoroughly disgusted with the inac- tivity of the NTWU. By organizing neighbor- hood branches of the Unemployed Council, and by fighting for relief demands, the New Bed- ford workers would undoubtedly rally to us again, and we would again have a strong, mili- tant organization. In Danville, also, the un- employed ex-strikers, sold out by the United Textile Workers, will without doubt rally to us by the hundreds, as soon as we cstablish an Unemployed Council of the NTWU. Let ug realize tle importance of the Unem- ployed Councils as builders of our revolutionary unions, and their function as political train- ing schools, whose lessons will be of the utmost value in fubure strike struggles, from which Mr. Fish has succeeded in barring some Communist papers. This “evangel,” Rev, Bosch, makes no bones about this racket. He writes about “the third great Christian festival, Pentecost or Whit Sunday.” \A small. pink envelope is enclosed, on which is printed: “My Pentecost Gift for My Giurch and Russian Relief.” The third Paragraph of the letter ought to be framed’ and hung somewhere,’ pos sibly along with its author. Here it is: “We are asking fora special, liberal dona i tion on that day, as the Holy Ghost may direct, for two purposes; first, our own church trease : ury, which needs strengthening; secondly, for the relief of our suffering and persecuted Lutheran brethren in Russia. Their condition is terrible; they’-are reaching their hands across the sea forhelp. We dare not disape point them. . About $70,009 are needed at once, When the donations are received, the chee | Council will decide how much shall be i for Russian relief, and how much we shall keep for ourselves," ant eel 4 \ = 7