The Daily Worker Newspaper, August 4, 1931, Page 4

& Publishea by t y except Sunday, at 50,Hast Os ed 7s, SORT EUESCRIPPION ATESY ge ae Bite Four ) t x DATWORK.* i mail ‘One year, $6; six months, §3; two. Abr HY exeenune Sees "age { Fage Four New York, N. ¥. of Manhattan and Bronx, New York ¢ Foreign: one year, $8; six months, $4.50. _ Central _ Og e 2 ¢ 66 ” By BURCK Preparing the Hoover Coal HAVE A S-E-E-G-A-R! - ae < Conference By JORGE By BILL DUNNE A 4 pecifio strike- The “Strong Man” Idea that the ‘ HE Na’ expressed by A reader tells us that a friend of his is stuck ' common en s throughout on the notion that “if we had a president like ators, to the Ur - Andrew Jackson was, he would definitely assume eral public 3 she rer ; ee command of the U. S. army and navy and tell jollowed its pcteaating:, || 5 1) Puen viet mine ee iseaaetne ear Wall Street to go to hell and provide uneme J 25, ‘ine wo! 's ve rea Bs . ks ploy in: fag editorial in the Pitsburg para’ the latter “strikebreakers,” which they are not.’ : suet wom ye ide Ria i, eae During t ei be senna ae or not, but he certainly has capitalist ideas. Press looked see Bante ie yee His wish for a “strong man” for president ine happenin; Seaman ny ne oa han té dicates clearly that he thinks Hoover is a “weak thinking par PEN HETGe SAIC ana EE ak man,” supposedly awfully soft-hearted and wille Canonsburg bared cate te ae ke aniang? ing to give unemployment insurance, but that failed to bear d seaeote Wall Street won't let him. Which is horse National Miners mae Sees feathers! one pe and ebreakers. Hoover is “strong” enough and plenty—and tion. mn 1 i 7 oA | how! against the workers! No, it isn’t some Repeats off Amexica - 2) “They make demands upon coal operators stout Moses that’s needed, but a strongly or- habilitation of the coal that are absolutely impossible. ganized and revolutionary working class, backed too, The Pr r ting down to the nub of the ss has been I am writing you n sincere appreci news stories about the coal m: dent, United Mine Workers of America, Pitts- burgh District, in the “Letters From Our Readers” department, Pittsburgh Press, July 24. In settli Run strikes, instigat- ed by W s accepted wage scal in SO) non-t be- low those paid s and In- diana. Basic day , compared with $6.10, 1 le, and from msolidated Coal Comp ) —Business Week” “for July 14, “New Republic” for July 8, The cont igned by the UMWA with the Pittsburgh Terminal Coal Company provides a wage scale no higher than previously paid, and lower than that paid by some non-union operators.—Pittsburgh Post-Gazette editorial. . , To cle hington confer- ence of coal operators and the UMWA officials called by Secretary cf Commerce Lamont and Secretary of Labor Doak, with the agreement of President Hoover, the strike must be smashed. To smash the strike it is necessary to smash the National Mine: Union and eak up the d file committees its leadership and through of the miners for the traitor- ous ‘com, and their will to fight the starvation program of the coal operators, their agents and the starvation government of Hoover, find ready expression. That the proposed conference to which cperators have been invited, is a strike-breaking conference is shown by a wealth of evidence but none more significant than the fact that those Operators invited are, with some minor excep- tions, those whose major properties are in the big strike fields—Western Pennsylvania, Eastern Ohio, the Panhandle section of West Virginia— and those in fields where a strike is a matter of 25, days, as in Ceritral Pennsylvania. It is espe- from those fields where the NMU and the Miners National Committee of Unity and Action operators ar It is a lit too raw for Hoover adminis- tration to .attempt riot while the strike continues, to put over the UMWA as a miners’ organization wh n in the anthracite, long considered a Levy stronghold, the convention of District 1—the decisive district—breaks up three days running in hand-to-hand fighting between insurgents and the machine crew and a@ Hoover administration protege, Senator James J. Davis, gets tear gassed by a police bomb thrown to rout miners enraged by a long se- ries of betrayals; when in Illinois a meebig of 2,000 miners refuses let Lewis speak. as in West Frankfurt, July The UMWA is going to pieces before the eyes of its backers under the blows of mine work- @rs! The miners know nd welcome it. The Sole strength of the UMWA in the strike areas, is the support of the coal operators and the government—police, sheriffs, prosecuting attor- ney, courts, mine superintendents, fessional gunmen. This is its organizing staff. Conserip- tion of miners, not recruiting and enlistment is its tactic. As Fagan yelled as he retreated from a couple of thousand miners in Canons- burg: “You'll join the UMWA whether you like it or not.” If the UMWA to be saved as the fascist weapon of the coal capitalists, the strike and the NMU must be crushed. Orders to this ef- fect have’ gone out from Washington. This is the only conclusion that can be drawn from the events of the last few days. There is a uni- formity of poi:y and tactics on the part of the press, the coal] operators and city, county and state governments, that has been lacking up to the present time, and that shows central direc- tion. Let us examine some more of the statements contained in the Pittsburgh Press editorial from which we quoted above. It is impossible to reply to all the lies contained in this five hundred word editorial, in our limited space. The editorial is @ splendid example of what a liberal paper can 6 in the way of venomous distortion when con- fronted with sharp class issues and therefore forced to drop all its impartial camouflage and get right on the job for the lords of coal and steel. Exceptionally worthy of notice is the ac- knowledged kinship with the Civil Liberties Union—which is in favor of free speech for ev erybody, including coal company thugs and deputy sheriffs carrying UMWA cards—provid- ing it does not involve any fighting by work- ers, particularly Communist workers. The Press is glad to state that the Civil Lib- erties Union “found it necessary to rebuke” the NMU because members of the latter organiza- tion broke up a meeting of the UMWA strike- breakers. In this connection we will ask only ene question: How much space did the Scripps- McRae papers give to denunciation of the at- tack on the first convention of the National Miners Union in Pittsburgh in 1929, by UMWA thugs, deputy sheriffs, and coal and iron police. are leading the struggle that the coal invited when dozens of delegates were slugged and jailed? Leaving out of consideration for the moment. the attacks on Communism as a 5! a ‘4 stem of s0- | the shoulders of their |How to Collect Money for the| operato! they find it “ab- le’ to pay 55 cents per ton, work, to pay for all dead work, to weighmen to be elected by the min- y on the scales, 1 mine committees. cisive sections of d by the big bandits Mellon, Schwab, Farrell, Morgan. These are the op- he above demands “abso- these are the poverty strick- be ur Let i the coal indu: en billionai: s who own and rule America. The | steel trust, electric light and power trust, the | big railroads, Standard Oil, finance-capital— these are the poor operators for whom the press pleads. Itistruly liberal—with the labor power of the miners. 3) (They are) “‘enemies of every stable ele- ment in our present society, enemies of the best interest of the whole coal industry. and ene- mies especially of the Pittsburgh District, which has so much to gain from peace and prosperity in the coal fields, and so much to lose from continued disorder.” While the miners wer and women and childr miners working one to starving in the mines, n were hungry with ee days per week for coolie wages, there. was a condition of “peace and prospe! in the coal fields.’ There was no “disorder”. Everything was normal—unor- ganized, robbed, hungry, the workers were si- lent. Then came the Communist party and the National Miners Union—and the miners were no longer silent about hunger, they were no longer unorganized, they began to fight robbery, and robbers, they cast out the UMWA traitors— there was disorder. ; 4) “There can be no settlement of our coal probiem until this element is eliminated, until the half-starved men and women who follow its leaders realize they are being led, not to the high road, but into an endless swamp of diffi- culty, desperation and pauperism.” This is a call, hardly disguised, for smashing the strike and for the extermination of the Miners Union. In other words, in order to keep the miners and their families in “an endless swamp of difficulty, desperation arid pauperism” it is necessary to destroy the leaders and the mass organization which fights robbery, pauper- ism and starvation. Only if this can be accom- plished successfully can the next step of organ- izing slaves for slavery be carried through. So the Press editorial concludes 5) “And one of the first and most direct steps toward happier conditions is the co-operation between operators and miners, through the of- ficials of the regular miners union, as now pro- posed by the Haover administration program for conferences to settle common problems ef the industry.” Here is the program: First, extermination of the leadership and destruction of the militant organization of the miners, second, “co-opera~ tion” between slaves and masters on the basis of uncomplaining submission of the slaves. Is this merely the program of The Pittsburgh Press? Every recent development in the strik areas shows it is the general program put for- ward, and acted upon, in preparation for the forthcoming conference of masters and their slave drivers—coal operators, UMWA officials | and government \ (TO BE CONTINUED) | A Former Socialist Denounces Hillquit’s Treachery We print below an open letter by an ex- member of the socialist party to the class conscious workers in that party. The letter was written when it became known that Morris Hiliquit, National Chairman of the party had accepted the job of fighting for the return of the Baku oil fields to their former owners, the exploiters of the Russian work- ers and peasanis, The New Leader, organ of the socialist party, refused to print the | letter. Hillquit’s action proved to Comrade Hen- derson the thoroughly counter-revolutionary character of the socialist party and he has drawn the only conciusion that an honest, class conscious worker can draw from the treachery of Hillquit and the socialist party to the working class—He has left the socialist party and has joined the Communist Party the only Party of the working masses. ehh Same To All Members of the Socialist Party: | similar arrangements. . . | on the technical ground that Russia is not rec- percentage ef the purchase price to pay to the original owners of the oil wells. The Standard and the Vacuum were invited to join in the arrangement but refused, and these actions are brought with the view of forcing them to make -The present cases rest ognized by the government of the United States and that our courts give no effect to its de- crees. This is not a novel principle or an at- tempt to establish a precedent, but settled law. It was invoked in numerous cases against the National City Bank by its Russian depositors and against the New York Life Insurance Com- pany and the Equitable Life Assurance Asgocia- tion by their Russian policyholders. The present actions are of a similar character.” (Quoted from Morris Hillquit’s statement in the New Leader.). These are the facts as stated by Morris Hill- quit. Stripped of the legal verbiage and in words that anyone can understand the situation is this: IN the New Leader of Saturday, June 27th, ap- | peared a statement by Morris Hillquit in de- fense of his actions in accepting the job of lega! counsel for a number of White Russian oil con- erns. This statement has made the actions of Chairman Hillquit more damnable than they ap- peared to be before, and has made it absolutely imperative that the matter be carried to a show down. This must not be allowed to drop; and all workers in the Socialist Party must demand that adequate measures be taken to clear up this “oil scandal.” The facts of the case are these: “A number of Russian corporations who owned oil lands in the Baku region are suing the Standard Oi: and the Vacuum Oil Company for an accounting, The actions arise from the purchases of oil by the American companies from the Soviet oil trust. Similar purchases were made *by the Dutch Shell Company, which set aside a certain PARTY LIFE Relief | Gs Saturday night at 7:30 p. m. I got on the | ith Ave. Broadway subway at 14th St. on | my way to a Young Defender outing at Van | Cortlandt Park. I carried an empty miners’ relief collectioh box. The train at that hour was not particularly crowded, yet in that one train, one way trip I collected $3.91 Earlier that day two comrades and I went into the B.-M. T. subway. In one ‘and one- quarter hours I collected $4.29, the second com- rade $4.80, the third, $1.50. All of us were in- experienced. We used a method which so far as we know, has not been used before. The Penn.-Ohio Relief Committee (New York District) had printed a little leaflet. We went to 799 Broadway and each got 50 (not enough) When we got into the subway each took a dif- ferent car. We would walk through the car first giving the leaflets, then going back after allowing time to read the leaflet, picking up the Miners’ leaflets, and taking contributions. And how we would take them! Sometimes in one car as many as 20-30 people would give. People who would refuse to take a leaflet would read over neighbor and giye when we came around with boxes. Young American workers, old women, almost anyone who could be induced to read the leaflet. Having recov- ered most of the leaflets, we would start over again. What finally stopped us was that we ran out of leaflets. The leaflet was excellent. Just about the right size, attractive cover; make-up, etc. We | should not forget that the miners’ strike itself creates tremendous sympathy among all work- ers and even among the petty bourgeoisie, petty bourgeois intellectuals, etc, On the basis of our experience, I suggest the following preparations ang @irections for future tag days. 1, A short appealing leaflet to be printed. (Once again, the enclosed leaflet is excellent but a little too long. Also when folded shoutd | be a bit longer) 2. Sections should be assigned to cover cer- | | left ' value to all comrades. Conducted by the Organization Department of the Central Committee, Communist Party, U.S.A. tain subway lines and parks. 3. Each comrade should have 100-200 leaflets. It is well not to take back all the leaflets. It is difficult to carry more. 4. In the subway and parks carry your box wrapped up in a newspaper (not the Daily Worker) or in your pocket. Keep a sharp eye peeled for cops and you won't have any trouble. 5. Start work in groups (experienced and inexperienced, etc.). 6. In parks the same method as was used in the subway, first distributing, giving time to read, and then coming back and collecting. Recently the various organizations of the revolutionary movement have arranged affairs Picnics, etc., and are arranging others, It is | very true that at such places one may be able to fill one’s box, but collections here should be to the Arrangements Committee. Party members and sympathizers, collecting relief on the instructions of their units and organizations, should go out among the workers outside, on the streets, etc., in workers’ organizations, visit- ing house to house collecting relief from sources that we do not otherwise reach. oe The August issue of the Party Organizer will be off the press August ist. This issue is a Mine Strike Issue and will prove of the utmost Every Party member must study these problems of preparing, organ- izing and leading the mass strike struggles that are developing throughout the country. These articles are written by the comrades in action who are leading the work in the strike at the present time. The contents is as follows: The Lessons of the Struggle, by Earl Browder. How the Present Miners’ Strike Was Pre- pared, by Frank Borich, Where Is the Party in the Miners’ Relief Campaign, by Alfred Wagenknecht. How the N. M. U. Is Being Built During the Strike, by Jack Johnstone. Building the Party in the Mine Strike Area, by A. Markoff. Building Party Units in the Coal Strike Area, by Leo Thompson, How the Unemployed Were Drawn Into Ac- tivity, by ®. Wood. Two American oil companies bought some oil from the Soviet Government. Because the Amer- jean government has not recognized the Soviet Union, the White Russian companies claim that this oil still belongs to them and that the Amer- ican concerns have bought stolen oil. These Rus- sian firms are now suing the American for the value of this oil (or as much as they can get). Morris Hillquit has been hired by them to ad- vise and help them get their money. If you own an automobile, and I steal it, and then sell it to a third party, you can get it back from that third party because in the eyes of the law it still belongs to you. This is precisely the nature of this case. The White Russians for- merly owned this Baku oil, they claim that the Soviet Union stole it from them, and they are trying to get the value of the oil back from’the | American oil compenies to whom it was sold by the Soviet Union. This is the case which Morris Hillquit says is an ordinary dispute over property rights; this is the case which he says involves no question of Socialist principle. Says Hillquit: “ the actions are of no political significance . “The Soviet oil trust received full ‘payment and these actions do not affect it directly or indirectly. It is purely a monetary dispute between different capitalist concerns. . . .” Every one of these statements cries out in shame; every one of thes: statements convicts Hillquit of hiding behind «2 lawyer's technicality. Everybody knows that i! this case is won by these White Russians the Soviet Government is injured; that other con- cerns doing business with the Soviets will be sued on similar grounds; that it will be more difficult for the Russian government to sell thei: products; that American firms will demand more favorable terms wher they buy Soviet goods; and that many firms will refuse to enter intc business relations with a government which in our courts can be put into the position tech- nically of a thief. Every worker and friend of the Soviet knows that the other cases men- tioned by Hillquit as being of “a similar char- acter” have made things more difficult for the Soviet. And finally every Socialist should be able to see that any financial aid received by White Russian groups will enable them to carry on their reactionary and counter-revolutionary schemes more effectively. Members of the Socialist Party and all work- ers, I appeal to you. Are these “matters of no political significance”? Are these “ordinary cases involving no question of Socialist principle”? Are actions such as these “of no injury to the Soviet Government,” directly or indirectly”? And yet these are the statements with which Morris Hillquit, chairman of the National Executive | Committee of the Socialist Party, defends him- self and this case. What are you going to do about this? The I. L. D, in the Coal Strike, by M. Stern. Unity of Negro and White Workers in the Strike, Ex-Servicemen in the Strike. How August First Is Organized in the Strike. About Picket Lines. Developing Leaders. Coal Strike and the Strassburgh Resolutions on Problems of Strike Strategy. Read the August Issue cf the Communist. On Going to the Sewiet Union, Dictionary of Abbreviations, \ Chairman Hillquit’s defense of his actions is a continuous repetition of the fact that these cases are merely ordinary law cases such as make up the business of every practicing law- yer. His whole defense can be summed up in the cry: I am a lawyer; these White Russians are merely my clients; and their case has no significance beyond that; it has no political sig- nificance. After what has been said and what every worker and friend of the workers knows, this is sheer hypocricy. But there is a much more important and fundamental question in- volved here, Hillquit’s defense of his clients’ legal “actions” on the ground that they have no political significance is not the worst aspect of this matter. The real question concerns Chairman Hillquit’s actions? What is the poli- tical significance of his actions? Are they like- wise of no political significance? Are they or- dinary actions of a practicing lawyer? Do they involve no question of Socialist principle? Are they of no injury to the workers’ movement? I appeal to all my former comrades in the Socialist Party to read that statement of Chair- man Hillquit. Every line he utters there to prove that these cases are merely legal matters con- victs him of knifing Socialism; the more he in- sists on his viewpoint as a lawyer, the worse his position as a supposed leader of the workers becomes. Lawyer Hillquit continually exposes Chairman Hillquit. This aspect of the question is the tragedy of the Socialist leaders. Lawyer Hillquit can act so.as to support and further the interests of anti-working class groups and he sees no con- flict with Socialism. Conservative trade union leaders can pursue reactionary union policies and still be in good standing in the Party. Religious- minded Socialists and Christian-Socialists can continue to hand out sleeping powder to the workers on Sunday because they see as Christ- ians and not as workers. And so it goes. Law- yer Hillquit exposes Chairman Hillquit; Rabbi Waldman exposes Candidate Waldman (see Louis Waldman’s erticle on the Pope's Encycli- cal); Unionist Hillman exposes Socialist Hill~ man. This is the political significance of Chairman Hillguit’s actions! This is the real manner in which he stands convicted of double dealing (and convicted from his own words). It is precisely his declaration that this case has no political significance that makes his actions important. It is precisely his defending statements that ex- »ose himself and must betray those whom he at- sempts to lead. Only one question remains to be asked. What are you going to do about it? Oh, my comrades, T appeal to you to arouse yourselves and take ac- ion against this type of leadership. I appeal to you to open your eyes and see where you are cing. Demand the immediate dropping of this case by Morris Hillquit. The successful prosecu- tion of this case and the attempt to aid these White Russian concerns is treasonable action ‘to all workers. Demand the resignation of Morris Hillquit as Chairman of the National Executive Commit- tee. Appeal to the National Committee to re- move this man; appeal to the rank and file workers in your party locals; explain these ac- tions to them and demand a repudiation of such leadership. Demand and organize before a jury of work- ing class members an open trial of Morris Hillquit. Force these actions out into the open. He has supplied you with all the eviderce you need,in his own statement. He stands convicted out of his own mouth, Let the workers judge him. Morris Hillquit has taken a case the success- ful prosecution of which is hurtful to the workers of Russia, the credit standing of the Soviet gov- ernment, and the prestige of Socialism. This is the basis of demand number one. Morris Hillquit in taking this case and in his defense of it as merely a légal case of no po- litical significance has demonstrated his in- ability to see and hear with the eyes and ears of a friend and leader of the workers. This is the basis of demand number two. Morris Hilquit in his defense statement has shown an attitude and a conception of Socialism which results inevitably in double dealing and betrayal of workers’ interests. Acceptance of this job as legal counsel and his statement dem- up with a revolutionary farmers’ movement to put their CLASS into power. Wishing for some Andrew Jackson to take the presidency is cheap, as wishing always is; but why isn’t there a president there now who would do like that? Because Wall Street puts presidents there to do something else, and they do it. The whole idea is cock-eyed. as it shows an absurd notion that presidents are made by acci- dent, and that one might be against Wall Street and go Bolshevik. The “strong man” idea is a piece of fascist demagogy, which lies in this respect by pre- tending that politics is or can be “above” class interests. . Crocodile Tears The tremendous hullabeloo in the New York capitalist press in pretense of concern over the lives of children is enough to sicken a vulture. Gangsters in a car, apparently trying to knock off some rival, wounded four and killed one little working class kid, all ttalian in parentage. And what a row! The capitalist press offers rewards—and sells extra editions! Police Com- missioner Mulrooney, who still smack his lips over brutal beatings his cops gave young Pioneer kids and women early in 1929, snorts around as if outraged at the brutality of gangsters, order- ing the cops to bring them in “dead or alive’— just as if he meant it. But the cops don’t bring them in. They “don’t know ‘em,” although not two weeks ago Mul- rooney, in another “clean up” spasm, told dance hall managers to keep gangsters out of their places, and added: “If you don’t know the gang- sters, the police department will furnish in- structors to point them out.” Such sickening hypocrisy! As if the World- Telegram, which raves about the killing of a little Italian working class chiJd and offers $5,000 reward for the killers, cares whether half of the workers’ children in New York or America for that matter might die of starvation because their dads are jobless! The Journal of Hearst, always trying to excel everything else in demagogy, offers $10,000 re- ward, and raves over the radio about the ter- rorism of the gangsters and how sorry Hearst is for the little lad that’s dead. But both of these papers exult about cops “bouncing night sticks” and “wading in with blackjacks” against workers demanding unemployment insurance so they can keep their children from dying of hunger. According to Hoover's own statement, 6,000,000 children in this country are siffering pain and disease because of poverty. That poverty is due to capitalist robbery of the workers. But the capitalist press doesn’t get excited over that! O, no! But by roaring about some poor kid shot. down, they can both pretend to be virtuous and sell exrta editions at the same fime! The Need of the Hour Listen here, folks, and see if you can do something about it, and do it pronto. We haye received a letter from the heroic Kentucky miners, which says, in part: “If we had a mimeograph machine now, we would flood Harlan County with leaflets ex- posing the new gang of 25 thugs which cams in Saturday, which has dynamited miners’ autos and ts on 2 man hunt for Brocks end every rank and file miner organizer. Give” us space in your column at once and get ths mimeograph to us at once.” Now what shall we do about that? After scratching our editorial bean a bit, we decided that somewhere, either in some personal kit, or—what is more likely—in the equipment of some organization. the I. L. D., or perhaps the I, W. O, or the T. U. U. L, there must be @ mimeograph machine that isn’t being espec- cially useful, Maybe it’s a hand operated machine that's been idle, unemployed, after the installation of @ power-driven machine; even one in not~so good condition would pass with a bit of inex-~ pensive repairing. Anyhow, comrades, it is needed in a hurry. So take it up in your organization, quizz ths office force and see if they can be induced to part with a mimeograph machine; see that it is in workable order and send it to these miners. We thought that we might ask you to send in cash contributions to buy one, but that would take too long, we believe. So please answer this appeal of the Harlem County fighting miners; get busy around the offices of your organization and smoke out a mimeograph and send it away as quickly as possible, express pre- paid to the National Miners’ Union, 611 Penn Ave., Pittsburgh, Pa., which will see that it gets toKentucky, where the organizers are hiding out and can’t be directly reached. And get some steam up on this, because time counts. —— onstrate this today; tomorrow it will be some- thing else. This is the basis of demand num- ber three, Less than this you cannot do. If this is not done, if Hillquitian leadership, and Hillquitian Socialism cannot be repudiated by the Socialist Party, I call upon all worker and former com+ rades ‘to leave a party which supports such mix leaders and betrayers. Fraternally, “ DONALD BENnEDsow ———