The Daily Worker Newspaper, September 16, 1931, Page 4

Page Four ane a \ g a did ee ee Published by the Comprodaily Publi except Sunday, at 59 East ™ SUBSCRIPTION RATES: ~ - ~ 18th Strest, New York City, N. ¥ Cable < Dail vor er’ By mat: everywhere: One year, $6; six momths, $3; two months, $1; excepting Boroughs Address and muil all checks to the [ Street, New. York, N. ¥, of Manhattan and Lronx, New York City. Foreign: one year, $8; six months, $4.50, facies cus By BURCK TRAITOROUS ACTIVITIES OF NEGRO REFORMISTS By CYRIL BRIGGS. HE blood of the murdered unemployed Negro workers had hardly dried on the streets of had been shot down by ghtful crime against the é ing class. r bellies in response to the ters, shamelessly lick- asters before the eyes e damnable traitors came ‘traditional role of betrayers of masses, of apologists row capitalism and its ti the Negro and white of the attitude of these slimy is the statement class endorsement of d by the city govern- gainst the Negro and ployed work- Jim Crowism is a complete en- of the Negro peo- m of lynch + suppression Je of defender and apoio- st oppressors of the he role of the Negro de more and more clear to the struggle against Negro op- nd as these masses facing ting for their very existence lonary movement which alone on a fight against hunger and evic- tions, nemployment relief and for uncondi- tional equality for the Negro people. In the Scottsboro case, the traitorous role of the Negro Uncle Tom reformists is clearly ex- posed in the underhand attacks on the mass de- Scottsboro Negro boys by the N. A. A.C. PB. have been carried even to the extent of refusing the floor at N. A. A. C. P. mass meetings and e Pittsbu Conference of the N A. A. C. s of the condemned youths. William Pickens, Walter White, Dr. Du Bois and other misleaders have frantically rushed to the de- These attacks | fense of the system and courts responsible for this hideous frame-up of nine innocent work- ing class children. Their attacks have been directed not at the Southern boss lynchers and their lynch terror, and suppression of Negro but at the Negro and white workers de- fending the nine boys. Again, when the landowners of Tallapoosa County, Alabama, and their police massacred Negro croppers and tried to break up their union, it was not the murderous bosses and their police that the Negro reformis the white and Negro Communi: who were or- ganizing the croppers, Negro and white to- gether, to resist the swindling practices of the a attacked, but | landowners. Not only do the Negro reformists justify these crimes against the Negro masses, but in Birm- ingham and Chicago they are actually partici- pating in the terror ag the Negro workers. In Birmingham today we see the shameful spectacle of Negro preachers and business men supporting and abetting the boss terror against the Negro workers and the Communist Party. In that city the bosses have put up a reward of $3,300 an added incentive to the terror against the Negro workers and the attempts of the police to frame-up militant Negro workers in connection with the murder of a society woman on August 4. Part of this “reward” is contributed by the Negro toadies of the boss class who thus seek to curry favor with the white boss lynchers. In Chicago, the massacre of unemployed work- ers was planned at a meeting attended by white and Negro landlords and by local leaders of the N. A. A. C. P. and a representative of the Chi- cago Defe: . This meeting called on the po- lice to use drastic measures against workers dar- ing to re: the eviction of unemployed workers and their families. The massacre followed within a fey days of this meeting. Negro workers! Repudiate these traitors! Rally to the mass revolutionary struggle against Jim Crow capitalism with its race hatred poison, its peonage and enslavement of the Negro masses, its starvation and eviction program for the unemployed! Join the Communist Party! Support the right of the Negro majorities of the South to determine and control their own form of government! Support the demand for the confiscation of the land of the rich land owners for the } ro and white workers who till the land! Down with Jim Crow capitalism! On with the relentless fight for Negro rights! Organizing the Poor Farmers of Tennessee By ELSA MILBANK SIGNIFICANT beginning in the work of organizing farmers and share-croppers was made this summer in one of the counties of Ten- nessee. Because the movement showed both defi- nite suceesses and certain definite defects which are likely to recur in such work, it is worth ana- lyzing in some detail The movement was started among the farmers of Carter County, Tennessee, which contains the large rayon mills at Elizabethon, the scene of three m ant strikes within as many years. The rayon mill bosses exercise the strictest control over even the minor aspects of local politics. By a deal made with the county officials in 1926, the mill bosses got an agreement by which they were to be exempted from taxes for a period of 10 years Since taxation for the county, and the rayon mills are the only enterprise of any size, the county im- began to sink into debt. Teachers paid; the schools began to run short time. In order to make up the taxation lost by ex- empting the mills, the county began to raise the taxes on the farmers. The tax rate-on the farms was raised from $2.85 on the $100 to $3.26, and another raise was being considered when the movement was started among the farmers. Since 75 per cent of the farmers of the county are owners (even though three-fourths of this 75 per cent age heavily mortgaged), the heavy taxation was keenly felt and resented. For sev- eral years the farmers had made sporadic at- tempts to make the mills pay taxes and to have their own tax burdens reduced. Since, however, these efforts had chiefly taken the form of legal suits against the mills, they got the farm- ers nowhere It was not until the summer of 1931 that the farmers began to organize themselves for a real fight against the shifting of all the county tax burdens to their shoulders. They organized into the United Farmers League, and began the cir- culation of a petition, the purpose of which was to bring pressure upon the local tax board. The petition, addressed to the members of the tax board, pointed out that the rayon mills, in 1930, a year of great business depression, had managed to clear over six million dollars in profits. On the other hand, the situation of the farmers is rapidly becoming worse, largely due to the fact that the workers, whose wages have been cut or who have been thrown out of work altogether, are unable to buy the produce of the farms. The petition emphasized that in spite of these facts, the entire burden of taxation for the county had been lifted completely from: the shoulders of the mill owners and placed squarely upon the poor farmers, The petition contained four chief points: the repeal of the ten-year no-tax agreement made in 1926 with the rayon mills, and the levelling of taxes upon the mills. The repeal of the tax raise insofar as it applies to poor farmers of the county, any loss of funds thus incurred to be made up by a special added assessment upon the mills. The payment of back taxes by the rayon mills since the beginning of the no-tax agree- ment, this money to be turned over to an elected committee of workers, poor farmers and unem- ployed, to be used partly as a loan fund without interest to poor farmers, and partly as a relief fund for the jobless in the county. The petition further expressed the determina- tion of the farmers (many of whom were work- ers blacklisted in the mill strikes) not to permit the rayon corporation to make up these sums by increased exploitation of the workers in their plants, but to stand by these workers in their efforts to resist further wage-cuts, speed-up and lengthening of hours. In the formulation of the petition and the Movement itself, certain tendencies had to be is the chief source of income | combatted. Many of the farmers still had faith in the local courts in spite of the fact that these courts had, during the strikes and previous ac- tions by farmers, worked consistently for the bosses. They still had faith in the remedy of legal action. By pointing out how consistently the courts had-stood by the mill bosses in former suits brought by farmers, it was possible to win many away from this idea. Other farmers expressed serious doubts as to the “constitutionality” of asking that the back taxes of the mills be turned over to an elected committee of workers and poor farmers. This, of course, was an idea carefully fostered by the mill bosses and the opponents of the petitfon. Many of the farmers, however, have suffered from the official administration of relief funds, which, besides being used chiefly as a source of graft, were operated in such a way as to ex- clude those who had participated in or sympa- thized with the mill strikes. By pointing out specific examples of such cases, it was possible to make many farmers see that the talk of “con- stitutionality” was merely a trap set by the mill owners, a catch-phrase against the efforts of starving workers and farmers to obtain real relief. The chief danger to the movement, however, was the tendency of many of the farmers to drag at the tail of the tax movement, started by the small shopkeepers and larger farmers of the county, This group had also begun to circulate a petition demanding that the mills pay taxes. With this, however, they were content. Their only-aim was to remove the tax burden from their own shoulders. They had no interest in relieving the farmers; they opposed as “uncon- stitutional” the demand to turn over back taxes as relief funds to an elected committee; neither did they propose to help the mill workers them- selves fight for better conditions. The more ad- vanced members of the United Farmers League pointed out also that additional funds coming into the county, without a lowering of the taxes of the farmers, would mean chiefly higher sal- aries for the county officials—sheriffs, deputies, etc., more graft, and the chance to hire more deputies and gunmen to act against the mill workers in the event of another strike. It was possible to make clear to many of the farmers the necessity of having a genuine workers’ and farmers’ movement on this question, entirely separate from the movement of the small capi- talists. Two interesting features of the movement were the facts that the signatures of women farm workers and share-croppers were also col- lected on the petition. The traditions of this lo- cality are that women take no part in these movements. As for the share-croppers, it was pointed out that although they do not pay taxes directly on the land, the tax burdens are to a great extent shifted to their shoulders. The ex- tremely high proportion of the crop that is turned over to the farm-owner by the cropper in Carter County—third to half of the crop as against quarter to third in most farming com- munities—was direct proof of this fact. Over 500 signatures were collected on the peti- tion of the United Farmers League. The petition eireulated by the small capitalists received less than half that number. On the day of the hear- ing, almost 100 farmers jammed the room in which the tax board was deliberating. The tax petition of the United Farmers League was lost by only vote. The petition created a panic in the ranks of the mill owners. One of the immediate results of its circulation was the arrest on a trumped-up charge of vagrancy bf the organizer of the Na- tional Textile Workers Union, who had been ac- tive in the framing and circulating of the tax petition. Although the line of the movement was cor- rect, and @ good beginning was made, the work By MAILACH EPSTEIN IT happened ten years ago. Famine was stalking the width and breadth of the Volga region. World capitalism was gloating. The Bolshevik Revolution must go down with the bodies dead from hunger. First there was the Civil War, then Bolsheviki cannot save themselves. venge is at hand. Practical Hoover went a step further. He had some happy experiences in outmaneuvering the Hungarian workers. Thousands of workers had paid with their lives for the crumbs of white read given by the charitable American capital- ists. Hoover's “relief” had been instrumental in crushing the Hungarian Workers’ Revolution. Why not try the same ruse again on a much big- ger scale? To “close the lid on the Bolsheviki” (the gay expression of a big banker); what mat- Bloody re- flour? Hoover’s A.R.A. and its numerous agents went at it with great zest. But, alas, they did not for- see that the Russian workers would refuse to be bought by the American imperialists. The coun- ter-revolutionary efforts of Hoover were frus- trated by the vigilance of the Russian proleta- rians. Wall Street had in mind to steal a march on the other capitalists by building a base in | Russia on flour sacks. When the Soviets are ended—and all the wise men of capitalism prophesied the speedy end of the Soviets— | American Imperialism would reap the full bene- fit of its benevolence toward the hungry. International Solidarity. At that critical moment the workers of all the countries again demonstrated their international class solidarity. With trerfiendous enthusiasm the workers everywhere responded to the call of the Soviet toilers. A mass movement for Soviet famine relief sprang up in all parts of the world. The ground was taken from under the feet of the A.R.A. Its agents could not boast of a mo- nopoly in distributing relief in the Volga region. Bread, medicine, tools from workers in foreign countries were seen in Soviet cities and villages with the sign: Workers International Relief. It was during the famine on the Volga in 1921 that the W.LR. came into being. Ten years have passed and a change! No longer can the enemies point out to the Soviet Union as the land of starvation. It is here in Hoover's blessed America and in the capitalist countries that millions of workers are jobless and hungry, while those who still hold on to their jobs suffer wage cuts, speed-up and in- human worsening of conditions. On August 28 a national conference for work- ers’ relief was called to deal with the struggles of the American workers, The conference met in Pittsburgh in the midst,of bloody strikes in the coal fields of Western Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky, in the midst of textile strikes in Paterson, Rhode Island and Pawtucket Valley. The conference had as its aim the building of a mass movement for class contained many defects. The most obvious, of course, was that the petition was not pushed energetically enough, and not enough signatures were collected; thus not enough pressure was Had many thousands of signatures been collect- ed instead of only 500, it is extremely likely that the majority of the members of the tax board— a body elected indirectly—would not have dared vote against. Another defect was the failure to clear up suf- fiently among the farmers in general the im- portant differences between our movement and that of the small capitalists, also the failure to rid them sufficiently of their fear of taking any move that might be construed as “unconstitu- tional.” Some effort \2s made in this direction; the big majority of the farmers, however, re- mained hazy on: these important‘ questions. An- other error was the failure to link up the move- | ment with work. in. the rayon. mills. themselves, The opportunities for such connection were ex- ceptionally good, since hundreds of the mill workers live on the farms, and many hundreds of the farmers and their families are blacklisted. workers, The movement was, however, a step in the | right direction. It remains to spread and multt- ply such movements and to push them with the proper energy. brought to bear on the members of the tax board. the war with Poland, and now the Hunger. The | tered the wasting of some thousands of tons of [ solidarity in time of struggles, to create a mass base for the W.LR. Few know the extent of the class solidarity shown by the workers in the past. Despite all shortcomings, millions of dollars Were raised since 1921 for workers’ relief abroad and here. But the instrument itself, the relief organization was neglected, From the reports read to the conference by the Comrades Wagenknecht and Scherer we are able to gauge the wide possibilities of a mass move- ment for workers’ relief, at the present time. The following figures are very significant: For the Passaic strike—1926—half a million dollars were collected in cash and more than that in food and clothing. For the miners strike—1926-27—three hun- @ed thousand dollars were collected, exclusive of food and clothing. For the Russian Famine—1921—a million dol- jars in cash and more than that in food, me- dicine and tools were collected. If you add the amount collected for the needle strikers, Gastonia and New Bedford, etc. the sum will be quite imposing. At the same time not more than ten per cent of the millions of American workers have been approached. In other words, only per cent of the potential relief resources have been tapped: The state of mind of the working-class at the present time cannot be compared to that of 1926-27. Two years of ctisis have done much to lower materially the mode of living of the masses of workers. Eleven millions unemployed; many more millions leading the life of semi-starvation, have caused a mighty shake-up in the men- tality of the wo:!ers. Gone is the belief in the almighty power of American capitalism. Workers” have begun to think and to talk in terms for struggle. The conference heard representatives of the miners say: Give us a tent and a meal a day and the strike will only now begin. The con- ference heard delegates from the textile workers’ report, that the spirit of the workers is unbroken. Steel workers assured of their readiness to strike at the first opportunity. The. unemployed re- ported preparations for the national hunger march on the capitol. In short, the conference witnessed the rising of militancy and the will to fight among broad sections of the working-class. District, Section and Unit Literature Agents See that you are supplied at once with the following literature for current campaigns: Work or Wages, by\Grace M. Burnham 10 Social Insurance, by Grace M. Burnham 10 History of May Day, by Alexander Trach- tenberg 10 Race Hatred on Trial 10 Graft and Gangsters, by Harry Ganne: 10 Lynching Negro Children in Southern Courts, by Joseph North 05 Little Brothers of tie Big Labor Fakers by William Z. Foster 05, The Frame Up System, by Vern Smith 10 Tom Mooney Betrayed by Labor Leaders 10 Youth In Industry, by Grace Hutchins 10 No Jobs Today, by Phil Bard 05, | Life In the U. 8. Army, by Walter Trumbull .10 For the UNEMPLOYMENT CAMPAIGN Fight Against Hunger 05 Out of a Job, by Earl Browder 105 20,000,000 Unemployed 10 50,000,000 Unemployed 05 Also Work or Wages and Social Insurance Sy Sw, For the ELECTION CAMPAIGN Why Every Worker Shuld Join the Com- munist Party 05, The Heritage of Gene Debs, by Alexander * Trachtenberg 10 American Working Women and the Class Struggle — 05 Revolutionary Struggle Against War vs. Pacifism, by Alex Bittelman 05 Also your local Election Platforms, “Out of a Job”, “Fight Against Hunger”, “Graft and Gangsters”, “Race Hatred on Trial”, “Lynching Negro Children In Southern Gourts”, surance”. “Work or Wages “Social In- FACTORY CLOSED A Mass Movement tor Workers’ Reliet It became clear all the weapons of the class struggle must be forged for the battles to come, The presence of nearly 400 delegates at from 102 cities and at a short notice can only be ascribed to the mass-pressure for relief which is so keenly felt all over the country. The pauperization of the workers brought them to such a state that a day after the walkout they. are forced to turn for relief. Thre are no more savings for the “rainy day.” The workers in the basic industry are very poor. Relief becomes a necessity at the very beginning of a strike. Relief may play a decisive role in a strike. The W. I. R. is not a pure and simple relief agency. It is an organization of class struggle. Its aim is to strengthen the struggles of the workers through 4 permanent relief organization with a mass base which is capable of mobilizing the masses for class solidarity in times of strikes, for other struggles, hunger marches, in- ternational action to help workers in foreign countries, etc. In Germany the W. I. R. has succeeded in winning over the broad masses of workers and also many intellectuals and even petty bourgeois elements. With the proper activities and a correct line we will be able to achieve the same results. The resolution of the Comintern on the task of the W. I. R. in the present period puts for- ward the following pints: (a) The spectal task of the WIR, in the present period consists in during big econcmic struggles and strikes to start broad actions of solidarity for the active support of these struggles. (b) The necessity to help in special cases makes it imperative to build a solidarity fund for which reserves must be laid aside regularly. (c) In the face of the vast unemployed the WIR must devote the greatest attention to the ac- tivity among the unemployed through direct relief (mass-feedings) especially during hunger marches and on fighting days, as well as during big strikes. In special cases, after investigating the concrete situation, material help can be extended too; for instance on the forming cf unemployed councils, demonstrations, the pub- lishing of a special literature, the conducting of a special agitation and propaganda, to counter- act the corrupting influences and aims of the class enemies of the proletariat. (d) A special field of activity of the WIR is social politics, The WIR must independently and in joint action with other organizations (conferences, committee-movement) organize a mass struggle against the fascist social and cultural reaction (against the reduction of so- cial and welfare relief, against bourgeois re- formatories for juveniles, against rent usury, lodgings misery, rule of the priest etc. ‘The conference worked in that spirit. It ac- cepted unanimously the program and the or- ganizational structure of the W. I. R. which is to be based on a dues-paying membership, local branches and clubs. The main activities at present will be the relief for the miners’ strike, next comes the texitle strike, the work among the unemployed and a wide cultural program from workers’ movies to camps for workers’ chil- dren, international solidarity and defense of the Soviet Union. The possibilities for a mass organization of | the W. I. R. are splendid. It will depend upon the new executive committee to utilize all the favorable conditions. + The W. I. R. is an arm of the class struggle. Let the arm be as mighty as the coming struggles will demand it to be. -Workers! Join the Party of. Your Class! P. O. Box 87 Station D. New York City. Please send me more information on the Com- munist Party Name Address seeeeeeheeees teeeee AZO seceee Office, Communist 1D, New York City, Election Issues in Detroit By JOHN SCHMIES Communist Candidate for Mayor Ra coming winter will bring about the most severe condition of mass misery and mass starvation, that is, unless the workers in Detroit will rally to the support for immediate relief. * What is the platform of Murphy, Nagel, Em- | mons, and Hanna in the election campaign? — Their platform is one of “economy”, that is, economy in the sense that unemployment relief must be cut down, that the workers’ children will be deprived of the necessary milk and health —their program is one of starving the masses and defending the millions of dollars of profits of the automobile manufacturers, bankers and real estate sharks, Their program is nothing but one of starving the children of the working class. Mr. Murphy, the present chief executive of the city government, promised in the last campaign that the needy unemployed masses would be cared for by the city. What are the facts? The facts are that Mayor Murphy endorsed the pro- gram of “economy”. This prograin was worked out by the City Common Council. Mr. Bradley, the leader of this program, stated time and again that the bankers in the city of Detroit and some of the bankers in Wall Street insist that the city of Detroit must cut down the pay- ment of unemployment relief. Mr. Murphy and all the agents in the City Hall readily submitted to this insistence of the bankers and immedi- ately carried out a savage attack against the liv- ing standards of the workers. The following is an official notice sent out by Murphy's Public Welfare Commission: “Notice to all Welfare families, City of Detrait, Department of Public Welfare, July 9, 1931”: “The City of Detroit must reduce the money spent on unemployed families because of lack of funds, . “After August 1, 1931, many of the families now receiving help will be dropped from our list. This will first affect the families with no small children. The larger families will be asked to eat at public dining rooms. We cannot promise clothing, rent, coal, gas, or light. “The Welfare Department deeply regrets this necessity and offers its services in helping the unemployed families carry out their plans. “The Public Welfare Commission.” ‘The above Murphy notice to all unemployed shows conclusively Murphy’s actual lving pro- gram towards the working population. It fur- ther shows that his fake promises in the past, his methods of demagogy, were merely methods used to lead the workers into the arms of the automobile manufacturers, the bankers and real estate sharks for one purpose and one aim, and that is to make additional millions of dollars profits out of the very suffering and mass misery of men, women and@ children of the working class. No food, no clothing, no rent, no coal, gas or light is Murphy’s answer to the crying needs of the workers and children. ‘The methods used by Murphy and by the pres- ent City Common Council to enforce their pro- gram of starvation are the following: Brutally clubbing mem%ers and workers of our Unemployed Council by Murphy’s police, Wholesale arrests of unemployed workers. Mass eviction of unemployed families. § Registering, finger-printing and deportation of foreign born workers. Discrimination against the Negro masses through the methods of demagogy, of fake promises, of graft and corruption among the petty and bourgeois section of the Negroes. ‘This isthe program and tactics of the present city administration, this is the program and methods of the boss class, this is the program and will be the methods if Mr. Nagel, Emmons or Hanna happen to be elected. There is no fun- damental difference between them—they are all candidates of the boss class, they are all being put up in order to defend the present system, the present ruling class, which is responsible for increased unemployment, for increased wage cuts and speed up in the automobile and other industries, This starvation program is the burning prob- lem facing the workers in the present election campaign, and it is against this that the work- ers must fight, that the working class population must organize. The following are the demands of the Commu- nist candidates for mayor and City Council: 1) Cash relief at the rate of $10 per week for single unemployed workers, $15 for married couples, and $3 additional for each dependent. 2) No eviction of unemployed workers. 3) No discrimination against Negroes, women, foreign born and young’ workers in the adminis- tration of relief. 4) Free gas, electric and water supply for \soed unemployed workers. 5) Free car fare, meals, clothing and school supplies for the children of the unemployed workers. 6) Adequate supply of milk for children of unemployed. 1) Free medical and dental services for all un- employed and their families. 8) No removal of furniture from homes of un- employed workers for non-payment of install- ments due to unemployment. 9) Free carfare for all unemployed workers. 10) All vacant hotel rooms and houses to be turned over to and administered by the Unem- ployed Council. 7 11) The continuation of the city lodging houses, with better meals served there, under the management and control of the Unemployed Council. 12) All jobs secured by the City Employment Agency must pay a minimum ‘age of $30 per week or not less than the wage of the last regu- lar employment. 13) Exemption of all-taxes and mortgage pay- ments of all unemployed workers who owr theie own homes. 14) Enactment of the Workers Unemployment. Insurance Bill by the acl state and federal gov- ernments. 15) Abolition of all Rica labor for relief. 16) The practice of turning over the lists of names from the Welfare Department to the im- migration authorities for the purpose of terror= izing the foreign born workers must be stopped at once, 17) In order to assure the proper administration of unemployment relief, the entire relief work and relief distribution, is to be turried over to the Unemployed Council f veamsse