The Daily Worker Newspaper, September 11, 1931, Page 4

New York, N. ¥. c ned by the Comprodail Inc, dally except Sunday, as New York City, N gona Je Page Four nd mail all checks to the Daily W r, 50 East — a = By V. KEMENOVICH. In another mine (Dist. Sec., Western Penna. Dist. of the N.M.U.) d_ membership. vest > in recruiting on of the district leadership on this Bi a brought fory 1.—That con! ened y. Eve taking place. sion. company stores is, cut ae has estat penalti side (miners The Vesta Coal Co. y off the 240 men at, the killed by a ng three in the district. In Mon- when miners through a wage cut of being introduced. Pittsburgh T h signed a U. M. W. A. agree r to break the solid strike front, s Mine No. 9 (P. & W.) However, is a wage-cut, as the company pigeons to men promising them steady work at 38 cents a ton and $3.80 over the pres- ent scale of 45 cents a t a day. There art in the and the he U. S. $6 a day. bers (25 were that the o returned the word, brought over : 100 men from the mine. In this mine @ey have a U. M. W. A. agreement. In anothe® mine the miners have been coming to ng the N. M. U. soup kitchen in such a large number that pouen the bosses made a house- eatening to discharge any Nevertheless they did not as it would have meant an immediate strike. In mines where we lost con- tact after the return of the men to work, we are reviving these locals with an ease never before experienced in the organizational work of our union. In one mine 150 men joined our union despite the fact that they have the U. M. W. A. In all the mines the men who returned to work are distributing our leaflets inside the mines. The Vesta Coal, after one of these distributions inside the mine, made a house-to-house canvass, threatening to rge the miners, also de- Manding from all “loyal” miners to report any one distributing “red” literature. They have ad- ditional Coal a Iron deputies, and in one in- stance, this ni being sufficient, “borrowed” some thugs from H. C. Frick to keep the miners from coming to our meeting. Many of the companies have established depu- ties right in the mines. Any miner leaving his working pias is watched, and unless he has a g the place he is driven ally in all mines men are searched daily shows best the possibilities of organizing these men, bringing them back into fhe N. M. U. and preparing them for broader and bigger struggles. Also, all this searching and threatening shows the men the strength of the N. M. U. and makes them more determined to Support its program. 3.—This favorable situation, however, has not been utilized sufficiently. In too many instances our local leadership, not understanding fully the differences between a revolutionary and a reactionary union, follow the A. F. of L.-U. M W. A. theory that these miners are scabs. They dare to carry it out, are forgetting that t strike is not the 1922 br 1927 str! Th Nid not return willingly, but were d by hunger, terror, 1 of relief and strong N. M. U. local leadership previous to the s There is a sort of common saying: “Let them get their bellies full of starvation hen they will come out on strike themselves.” Due to this 30 men who wanted to join the N. M. U. in ®& mine were told that they could not join un- ONLY KNOWN COAL COMPANY PIGEONS AND THE LOCAL FAKERS A. AND PROFESSIONAL tCOME MEMBERS OF THE RS ARE ELIGI- quest STOOL THE U. AB} OF E FOR ME IBERSHIP IN THE NATIONAL MINERS’ UNION! The pers of the District Board know that force any lasting anies unless we @ position to from t coal com) our rar all the miners employed in The 10,000 miners still out on strike in the oh io, Panhandle Section of West Virginia 1 Western Pennsylvania field will not be able e for the most elementary de- ain the Without working into the al demand of 55 cents a ton and $5.55 1 not be in a position to renew we are not cessions in 1 Strike cannot be discussed without cc these important aders and supporters of a national words, the whole at the National Con- 16th depends upon fields where our union was born three years ago. The whole strike leadership agreed that one esses of the strike was or- did not have trained union and no locals in many of on the stool pigeons {. W. A. fakers came nm in the local strike rs of the bosses. weaknesses cannot and To avoid them in the nal not be repeated must future we must organize n he Central Rank and File Strike The policy of es ee is to reorganize the whole front on is of the local demands. In ‘this policy zation the main task is the strength- the National Miners Mine Committees, y responsible to develop strug- gles for these demai ad the spreading of these local struggles into , sectional, district and of policies the District Board nain decisions: (A) Provi- s in the 8 former sections, and nent of 4 sub-districts. The r “upon g out the strike and or- Holding of mass . 27th to estab- composed of ig, with a full- ganizationa’ (B) sub-district nd those who rict secretary in cha: bilization of all forces for a mass ig drive that will bring into the union ers who returned to work. (D) Imme- diate setting-up of United Front Mine Commit- s in the sub-districts. The methods to be used in mobilizing all the miners for mass recruiting shall be as follows 1—At the sectional conferences setting up of organizational committees for each mine com- posed of the best comrades. These committees must visit every local and group in their sub- district, hold special meetings and mobilize the | Women’s Aux- | whole membership of the local, iliary and the Miners’ Children’s a ‘ies. 2.—The membership in turn shall be divided into groups of 3 or 5 and the groups shall be assigned certain streets in town or blocks in the company patch. They must visit every miner, ask him to join our union. Those who are ready to join must be told where the local meets and when; their membership cards must be filled with exempt and dues stamps up to date. In visiting the miners we must register their working places (the West, East, Main, Flat, etc., Butt. and Room) so that on the basis of the registration we can immediately begin to or- ganize mine committees in line with the organ- izational program of our union. Unless this program of organization is car- ried out and the miners brought into our ranks, the struggles renewed and intensified, we will isolate our union from the masses, make it a union of unemployed and blacklisted miners Clubs for that will not be in position to help them or to give leadership to the miners working under the starvation wages forced upon them by the bosses and the U. Miners, M. W. A. employed and strikers! Miners’ wives r Activize your local union, wom- liary and the children’s clubs. Assign work to every member. Make them a part of the organizational force that will bring into the National Miners Union the miners who re- turned to work. Build the union! Carry on the struggle for the local demands! Prepare for the national struggle! Rotten Conditions of Seamen and Longshoremen in Baltimore LONG the doc conditions a There is a clique here of thu Whose duty it is to report plain to the Intern: sociation delegate who then s tk do not go to work. The clique works pretty steady. The rest of the men are luc work one day a k. When they do work they get the hardest and dirtiest j The accident cases are numerous, due to rot- ten gear and speed up. The gangs have been cut considerably and in some c: one man runs both winches, thus endangering the lives of every one around him, for it is next to impossible to keep your eye on the men around you and at the same time operate two winches. These short gangs are forced to do the same amount of work time then when they used full gangs. ¢ LL.A. has job control here. They go to the of operating two halls, one for Negro and one for whito, They place a Negro gang in one hold or dock section and a white gang in another, then tell each of the gangs that the other one is doing more work, and that if Neax don’t sna» out of it they will hire all Negro e deplorable, and stools all those who com- or vise versa Some time ago when the Marine Workers In- dustrial Union first started to hold meetings along the docks, we were met with severe oppo- sition. But now it is quite a contrast. For when we hold our meetings now they are orderly and meet with good comment. The workers seem to get more interested every time we go down there, as the attendance increases continually. Of eourse they haven't started coming to our hall as yet. But we are certain we will win these workers over to the only union that is fighting for them, the Marine Workers’ Industrial Union. Fellow workers, join this militant union and crush the shipowners’ and L.A. officials’ meth- of speedup and discriry As for the seamen their conditi level with swine. They live in filt! 7 infested with vermin and lice, It is a surpris them if they don’t find their food swarming with cockroaches or weavel. Ships go out of here half manned, as the shipowners have cut the crews to almost half the original, thereby making the shorthanded crew do the work which keeps them up all hours. They are forced to work while on ods Eu ——LL at 50 East DALWOR “THE MARCH ON LONDON everywnere: one year, of Monhattan and ¢ SUBSCRIPTION RATES: vi six months, $3; York City. Foreign: Bronx, New two months, $1; one year. excepting Boroughs $8: six months, $4.50. acne ee git > By BURCK P } fm ascisMo More Labor” Day Demagogy IN a dozen different strains capitalist politi- cians and A. F. of L. leaders devoted their Labor Day speeches to a warning of the milit- ancy of the working masses in the |coming months and attempted in many ways to divert this militant surge of the masses by hypocritical lies and programs. John L. Lewis, president of the scab United Mine Workers of America, who was one of the | leaders in the attempt to drive the soft coal mine workers into the slavery of the mine bos- | ses, gavé the warning in the following words: “Those in high places who rest serene in the thought that cycles must have their fling, will soon have to go into action or else face ac- tion which might bring radical changes in our recognized system of commercial enterprise.” Senator Borah stated hypocritically that “as we approach winter, the task of taking care of these (jobless) men,and women is uppermost in our minds.” What is uppermost in the minds of Borah and the rest of the capitalist class is not the hunger and the misery of the millions of jobless, but how to prevent the organization of these jobless to demand unemployment re- lief. Borah, therefore, warns the capitalists that they must in some way or other dish out some charity slop to prevent this mass protest of the workers. He pointed to the rising milit- ancy of the masses and stated that if the rich “do not feed the unemployed voluntarily they will nevertheless do it.” Borah suggested an increase in the income tax and praised the donation for charity slops of $1,000,000 by age ator Couzens. Governor William H. Murray of Oklahoma, amore blatant demagogue than the rest, told the capitalists that the workers “no longer ac- cepted the doctrine that man is not responsible for these conditions.” After stating that the working masses are beginning to realize that the misery and hunger in the present crisis are, like the crisis itself, due to the capitalist sys- tem, Murray, “Alfalfa Bill,” warns that if there: is not a change in the government in 1932 there will be a revolution in the United States. In this way he is preparing the capitalist dema- gogy for the elections next year. Murray tells the capitalists of the militancy of the masses in the following words: “When I have talked about the horrors of another winter to come, of the revolution which surely stares the land of our fathers in the face if conditions do not improve, they call me an alarmist. But I’m not. The poli- tical flames that burn the bowels of the poor eventually will burn the mansions of the rich.” Bill Green, president of the American Feder- ation of Labor and member of the Gifford com- mittee, while continuing the attack on any un- employment insurance for the millions of job- watch, both in the engine room and on deck. This is also due to shorthandedness of the crew. If you refuse these extra duties you are subject to four days log which means you pay four days for one. There is no compensation for thees ex- tra duties. The beds are usually made of straw. They are commonly called lousepits by most seamen. There is a grave danger attached to these louse- pits. The dust that the dry straw accumulates floats around the rooms getting into your lungs thereby causing consumption. It also gives men the itch. We are supposed to get a change of linen every two weeks. Some times we go without a change for a month. The quarters for the most part are stuffy, small, and unsanitary. Eight or ten men are stuffed into a place that isn’t sufficient for two to move around in, ‘The wages vary. Some ships pay as low as $50 a month for A.B.’s. There are rumors out that. the ship owners are planning to cut the wages on all ships in the near future. The shipowners realize the seamen are begin- ning to sit up and take notice though. For they are making it more and more difficult for our organizers to get aboard the ships, placing watchmen at every entrance to the docks and on all the ships. This will not deter us though, for we intend to build up the Marine Workers In- dustrial Union regardless of all the obstacles the ship owners place in our paths, less also pointed out sharply the danger of the smashing of the entire capitalist system by (: masses of the working class. “Unless those now in control of industry address themselves seriously to the task ef solving the problem of unemployment along the lines suggested by labor, the entire present economic system of private ownership of in- dustry will fall,” Green warned his masters. All of the demagogues who warned the cap- italist class of the militancy of the masses also attempted to do whatever was in their power to deceive these masses for the exploiters. The A. F. of L. leaders advocated the five-day week @tagger system of Hoover as a means to stave off the crisis. The five-day week and the six- hour day, which was also put forth by the A. F. of L. leaders, is nothing less than part of the wholesale wage cutting campaign of the capital- sits. They want the workers to bear tHe en- tire burden of the crisis. They want more work- ers to work for lower wages, thus lowering their standard of living while saving the capitalists from spending one cent for the relief of the unemployed. Sullivan, president of the New York State Federation of Labor brought in another of the demagogic planks of the A. F. of L., the abol- ition of the Volstead act. The A. F. of L. lead- ers are attempting to divert the discontent of the masses into a futile campaign against the prohibition amendment. They know that if they can mislead the masses into fighting prohi- bition they w:1l not fight for immediate relief and unemployment insurance. In the speech of Senator Wagner of New York it was openly admitted that the entire policy of the Hoover administration has been to pre- vent the jobless from getting any kind of re- lief. In his speech Wagner stated that “Under the guise of opposition to the dole the propaganda has reached far and wide that the Federal Government is exempt from ser- vice in this national emergency; that, for the Federal Government, it suffices if it ‘coor- dinates’ the work of others; that its func- tion is simply to stimulate local charitable effort.” The attack of Wagner is not on behalf of the millions of jobless, but is part of the Democratic election campaign against Hoover. Under the Democratic governor of Wagner's own state, Roosevelt, the jobless are not getting anything but the most miserable slop from the state. Under the Roosevelt bill, recently proposed, the jobless could at the most get $12.50 to keep them from starving thru the entire winter — before deducting what the grafters will get. ‘Wagner's program is a public works expendit- ure for the benefit of the contractors of $2,- 000,000,000. Wagner knows very well that there is not the least possibility of Congress passing such an appropriation and so he uses. this de-, magogic program for the purpose of fooling the working masses and in order to make political capital out of the misery and hunger of the workers, Doak, Secretary of Labor, in his Labor Day speech, admitted that the deportation of the foreign born during the past year has been par- ticularly directed against the militant foreign born workers. “Deportations during the past year,” said Doak, “have included an increased number of extreme radical aliens who are af- filiated with organizations, the purpose of which is to overthrow the government of the United States by force and violence”. The Labor De- partment has been carrying thru the deport- ation of the foreign born in order to break the militancy of the foreign born workers and to divide the native born from the foreign born workers, “ The Labor Day speeches of the A. F. of L. leaders and the capitalist politicians have one and all had the purpose of trying to mislead the growing militancy of the masses, employed and unemployed, They are trying to crush the masses into accepting the capitalist program of wage cuts, speed up, and refusal to give relief. Against this attack the workers must organize into the Unemployed Councils for the fight against hunger and for unemployment insur- ance. Employed and unemployed must unite against the capitalist hunger program. Organ- ize and strike against wage cuts. {QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Albany, 5-17-31. Daily Worker: Would it not be better for us to more fre- quently use the expression “Colored” in place of “Negro”? Here in Albany, it has been frequent- ly called to our attention (both by Negro and white workers), that they resent the word Ne- gro, and prefer being alluded to as “colored.” In Houston, Texas, the writer had the same reaction on the part of colored workers. In this connection, it is interesting to note that that viper organization, “N. A. A. C. P.,” takes cognizance of this preference. It is well known how hard it frequently is for us to really get to know the feeling of Negro workers towards us, and usually, they would not give expression | to a resentment based on this prejudice. But it is up to us to take cognizance of it. On the other hand, for us to change the name of our organization to “League of Struggle for the Rights of Colored People” does not seem to us desirable either, for it might tend to jeop- ardize the issue of the Negro as a distinct race and nation. Please enlighten on this point. —M. P. & E. B. rae ea 3 COMMENT. In South Africa, the West India Islands and other places where the Negro peoples constitute an oppressed national majority, the imperialists have devised various tactical measures to split the exploited group. The division is usually made by taking advantage of the mixture of Negroes and whites. The off-spring of this mix- ‘ure are usually called “Colored” p2ople. These “Colored” are given certain social aid economic privileges denied the so-called “full-blooded” Negro masses. Between the “Colored” and the natives, false issues are created tending to pit one against the other. Everything is done to draw the colored people into support of the interests of imper- ialism. This, of course, is to prevent, as far as possible, the development of the united national liberation movement. The exploiters seek to con- fine all nationalist tendencies to bourgeois na~- tional channels—to Utopian movements such as would tend to separate the exploited Negroes from other exploited elements in the society, and as a consequence weaken the struggles of all against imperialism. The “Colored” people are drawn into a buffer group between the exploiters and the masses of the exploited Negroes. A caste system develops. The term “Colored” takes on the force of su- periority. Those natives under the influence of the ideology of the master class seek to get away from the heaviest burdens of exploitation and oppression which fall upon the weakest sec- tion of their national group by penetrating into “the castes of the “Colored” people. The “Col- ored” seek in turn to prevent penetration from the bottom and to draw themselves closer to the ruling class. ‘The Negro masses in these colonial spheres constitute an oppressed Negro nation as they do in the Black Belt of the South. Those who be- lieve that by avoiding the term “Negro” they alleviate their condition are merely confused by the maneuvers of the exploiters, This term “Ne- gro” does not determine the character or rate of exploitation. The Negro masses must be shown this. It has on the other hand become a term designating a national entity. The term “Colored” is used to split this entity. Usually we will find those who seek to be called “Colored” represent the Negro bourgeoisie, petty bour- geoisie and intellectuals such as compose the N. A. A.C. PL We should show the Negro masses there is nothing to be ashamed of in the term “Negro.” At the same time, where we are confronted with @ group which desire to be termed “Colored,” we should accede to their request. The desire of the workers should be in this case the determin- ing factor, but we should very clearly show the Negro workers their position as members of an oppressed nation, — ReleaseTom Mooney and All Class War Prisoners By J. LOUIS ENGDAHL Cee planned participation by the In- ternational. Labor Defense (American Sec- tion of the International Red Aid) in the triumphant 14th Anniversary (November 7) of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia again em- phasizes the militant class struggle character of the defense organization of the working class. War danger, unemployment, hungef are spawned throughout the boss class world as the ugly offspring of the profit social system now on the threshold of the third winter of ever deepen- ing depression and growing starvation. War Threats Increase. Increasing war threats against the Soviet Union, intervention of imperialist armies against the Chinese Revolution, an intensified fascist ferocity daily increasing and taking an ever greater toll of prisoners murdered and tortured, with executions daily occurrences, all raise new and greater tasks for the International Labor Defense. This was clearly pointed out in the resolution on the war danger and the menace of illegality of the recent I.R.A, executive com- mittee meeting, when methods of work and struggle in the present period were thoroughly discussed. ‘These war threats are not only reflected in the efforts of Mellon and Stimson tocarry through Wall Street's first aid t6 capitalist Germany against rising labor, to American finance capi- tal’s role in connection with British imperialism’s new coalition government against the working class, but also in the rising wave of persecu- tions against America’s toiling masses, especially the use of wartime criminal syndicalism laws in strike struggles, more recently in Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania as well as in the arrest of Sacco-Vanzetti Day speakers, as in Massachu~ setts. Imprisonment of National Textile Work- ers’ Union strike leaders and holding them for deportation because the government declares the program of the Trade Union Unity League to be seditious, is closely related to the launching of Wall Street’s latest war machine, the world’s greatest dirigible, the “Akron.” These events go hand in hand, 200,000 Class War Prisoners. Upwards of 200,000 class war prisoners in the steel cages of world capitalism’s bastilles, mass arrests taking place daily, in the United States, lynching of Negro workers and poor farmers—. this tells the story in small part of the boss class attempts to drown in blood the discontent of the masses. If capitalism could achieve its great desire, however, the smashing of the first Proletarian Power, the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics, then it would sweep the globe with a savage terror planned to annihilate all revolu- tionary labor throughout the entire world. It is not only for the International Labor Dee fense to proclaim its sympathy for the Soviet Union and the militant working class movement the world over, but instead to undertake all nec- essary measures for militantly defending all revolutionary labor against the black reaction of boss class rule. Joins In All Struggles. In the campaign for the Fourteenth Anniver- sary of the Soviet Union, in the struggle against the war danger, in defense of the unemployed, our defense organizatién links up every phase of resistance to ruling class repression, nationally and internationally. These struggles cannot be separated. It was on this basis that the LL.D. participated in August First, International Anti- War Day, that it joined in International Youth Day, that the defense of those persecuted for anti-militarist propaganda is organized includ- ing aid to soldiers and sailors victimized for their revolutionary work. We make a, special effort to win the youth that imperialism secks to enmesh in its wholesale slaughter. It is inevitable that in this struggle the Inter- national Labor Defense should be attacked. Its work is already declared seditious in Kentucky and its organizer imprisoned. Its activities im Georgia are outlawed as leading to insurrection and its organizer threatened with the electric chair; another organizer in California has just been released after many months of imprisons ment. The reply grows in greater activity in the factories, rooting the organization deeply in the work shops, greater mass activities, building of a mass organization schocled in struggles tor defense under all conditions. ® Build Living Link. A living link between the workers and farmers of the Soviet Union and the United Stutes im this Fourteenth Annivarsary period is the struge gle for the release of Tom Mooney and all the class war prisoners, freedom for the imprisoned Harlan m’ners, the Scottsboro boys, the Camp Hill share croppers and the hundreds of workers facing multitudes of charges, mostly based on militant strike and unemployment activities. It was the Russian working class in Leningrad, demonstrating before the American embassy that forced President Wilson to demand of Cali- fornia’s governor that he commuie the death sentence imposed om Mooney. But Mooney, al~ though his life was saved in 1917, is still in prison, buried alive, Bis life slowly but surely ebbing. From Shop to Shop. ‘The International Labor Defense plans this year to develop closer than ever the living link between the workers and farmers of the U.S.S.R. and the U.S.A. Workers in American factories, — on American farms, will send their anniversary greetings, through the LL.D. and its Russian brother organization, the MOPR, to workers An similar factories and workshops in the Soviet Union, and to the workers on the giant farms that are the basis for the building of socialism in _ agriculture. as These will not only be comradely greetings. They will be pledges for greater struggle—for the membership of the Int-ynational Labor De- fense to lead more energcti¢ally the campaigns © in defense of all workers and farmers perc a by their ruthless class enemies throughout the capitalist world. | the Trade Union Unity League FIGHT STEADILY FOR RELIEF! Organize Unemployed Councils to Figh for Unemployment Relief. Organize the — Employed Workers Into Fighting Unions. Mobilize the Employed and Unemployed for Common Strug- gles Under the Leadership of