The Daily Worker Newspaper, September 17, 1931, Page 1

_ UPHOLSTERERS TO HOLD MASS MEET | Another Shop Out As EXTRA! Dail Certral ‘(Section of the Communist International) WORKERS OF THE WORLD, UNITE! = = = ——_ = —== = == —=== = a Vol. VIII, No. 224 Sear shar eh sorrak ied pe li cia NEW YORK, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 1931 CITY EDITION : Price 3 Cents BRITISH SAILORS FIGHT WAGE CUT, SING “RED FLAG” Hail the British Sailors! British navy, the French army and the army and navy of the United States—are the highest bulwarks of world imperialism. Up to « few short hours ago, the British bourgeois, when he went to bed at night, supported his prayer to the bourgeois god with his final hope and faith in the British navy. Today the fighting men of England's greatest dreadnaughts are sing- ing “The Red Flag” on the decks and electing common seamen’s com- mittees to negotiate with a British empire which would become an empty name without thes® seamen, The British bourgeoisie trembles in its bed. The main bulwark of ‘world imperialism, in its British sector, is shaking. And the bourgeoisie of the world is trembling in its bed, knowing that this is indeed the guarantee that world imperialism itself is shaking. After the heroic revolt of the Chilean navy—which the world bour- gecisie attempted to laugh down as a Latin American “eccentricity”—this Red revolt within the main arm of the most classic and most sacred of the imperialist strongholds can only be the most. terrifying disillusion- ment to the capitalist ruling class of the world. At the same time, what- ever its outcome and whatever the crude stage that it reaches at first— this upsurge in the British navy is a thundering confirmation of the revo- lutionary Communist view of this period of the decay and downfall of the capitalist system. The current of development is toward mass revo- lution. The current of development is toward the upgrowth and strength- ening of the revolt of the hundreds of millions of colonial slayes of im- perialism (in India, China, Africa, the Philippines and Latin America) and the development of the strong red current of proletarian revolution amongst those very masses of the population of the imperialist countries which the bourgeoisie depends upon to hold themselves as well as the colonial slaves in imperialist slavery. Nor can the world bourgeoisie get any comfort out of the fact that this is “merely a strike against a wage cut.” The 3 per cent reduction in the: salaries of captains, the 10 per cent eut in the wages of non- commissioned officers and the 25 per cent cut in the pay of certain classes of seamen constitute a symbol of the whole policy of the capitalist class, not only in England but in all countries of the world—and not only in regard to the armed forces, but.also in regard to the workers in the factories and toward the starving millions of unemployed. In short, the very nature of the origin of this strike of the British fighting forces shows its kinship to the struggles of the working class victims of capi- talism throughout the nation and the world. The Red giant of Bolshevism stalks on the gunners’ deck, in the stoke hold, in the factories, in the ‘breadlines and in the far away streets of Calcutta. And the bourgeoisie of the whole world trembles to know that this Red giant strides past all impediments, breaking down the most rigid military discipline and step- ping over all sacred national border lines. ‘These fighting men of the British war ships have made as one of their most valuable contributions a brilliant exposure of the new so-called “National Government” headed by the treacherous “Socialist,” Ramsay MacDonald+-really a. straight-out capitalist government in transitional form toward complete fascism—existing for the purpose of forcing all of the suffering and all of the cost of the economic crisis of. capitalism onto the shoulders of the working class. The British sailors’ strike has made a no less important exposure (even though it is not yet as elear to the masses) of the outrageous fraud of the fake “Labor, opposition” led by the equally capitalistic politician, Arthur Henderson. The role of these two groups merge into the same purpose of forcing a general wage reduction and the slashing of unemployment insurance. The British sailors are not yet by any means fully conscious of the revolutionary program in which they have already guaranteed they will play a big part. But the British Communist Party, will work tirelessly and, in the end, successfully to bring them to this consciousness and to consistent revolutionary action, The British bourgeoisie, like their American and French fellow- cannibals, dream of war. Especially they dream of war for the destruc- tion of the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics—with the use of a British navy, the French army and the armies of her vassal states, and perhaps now most of all of the army and navy of the “Bolshevism-proof” Wall Street imperialism of America. And when the song of “The Red Flag” floats across the harbor from the battleships Hood and Nelson—although the bourgeoisie of the whole world trembles at the sound—does this mean that the capitalist class decides that it cannot risk the danger of the use of such Red-tainted forces against the working class state of the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics? No! Let no pacifists deceive you. It is true that the growing dis- integration of the imperialist illusions amongst the fighting forces means ® severe weakening of the fighting arm of imperialism—the disintegra- tion which will finally mean that, these soldiers and sailors will turn their guns their own parasites at home and will become a part of the fighting forces of the proletarian revolution. But the nature of imper- jalist decay is such that the capitalist class finds a situation of revolu- tionary development to be a cause to hasten all the quicker into imper- jalist war in order to stem the red tide, in order to strengthen their hold Wpon their own forces. The recent developments in the British navy have the effect of adding to those other world-wide forces that are rapidly driving toward imperialist war—and especially toward war~against the Soviet Union. ‘The War danger is developing rapidly.~ What are our own tasks—the tasks of the American working class, the American seamen and soldiers! Our task is to rally to the support of the heroic British seamen! The revolutionary Party of the American workers, the Communist Party, must rouse the masses to support the British sailors! We must show the soldiers, the sailors and the ex-servicemen of this country that the policy of our own Wall Street dictators is essen- tially the same as the policy of the British bourgeoisie—a policy of class oppression, of wage cuts, starvation of the unemployed and slavery for the masses. Not only-must the workers support the demands of the sol- diers and sailors of England, of Chile and of this country—but the sol- diers and sailors must also support the workers in their fight against ‘wage-cuts and unemployment and st ition. In the struggle for the soldiers’ bonus, in the fight for the demands of the ex-servicemen, there ds the common bond with the fight of the working class as a whole and of the exploited and robbed working farmers. Workers, soldiers and sailors of America—send your revolutionary greetings of class solidarity to the heroic fight men of England in their developing transformation into the fighting men of the world-wide prole- tarian revolution! spoke, Sub-committees of the general strike committee as picket, defense, relief, ete., were reported to be func- tioning. Call Mass Meeting. A mass meeting has been called by the Furniture Workers Industrial Union of striking and working uphol- 4 sterers and furniture workers, Thurs- day, September 18, Manhattan Ly- ceum, 66 E. 4th St., 8 pm. The re- Two Bosses Ni egotiate NEW YORK.—The workers of the Major Upholstering Co. shop, Brook- lyn, joined the strike of the uphol- stery workers yesterday for the 40 hour week and day work instead of piece-work. At the general strike meeting Tues- day, J. Louis Engdahl, national sec- cent move of the upholstering bosses to build up Local 76, Upholsterers, A. F. of L. organization, will be ex- posed. Discussion on the strike and methods of ‘spreading the strike will also be held at the meeting. An appeal was made by the general strike committee for aid to the strik- ers by friendly workers organizations. yetary of the International Labor] Negotiations with two more bosses ® WORKERS TO GET PAY CUT Cut Also On Oct. 1 To Affect Others Must Organize to Strike Against Wage Cuts | The wage cut for the 250,000 steel to go into effect on September 29 j according to the Journal of Com- merce of September 16. The cut will be started by the U.S. Steel Corp., when the board of directors meets |on that date. The Journal of Com- merce states that the wage cut de- cision has already been made by the finance committee of the U.S. Steel and the board of directors will make it final when it meets. This is open- ly stated as follows “It is understood that a final de- cision has been reached by the fin- ance committee of the board of the corporation and that the occasion of the full board meeting will be utilized to make it public.” This general wage cit attack will cut ten per cent more from the mis: erable wages of the steel workers. This is in addition to the slashes which have already been forced on the workers of individual crafts and mills in the industry during the per- fod of the crisis. The steel bosses are cutting wages on the whole front now in addition to the cuts on a partial scale which took place previ- ously. The Journal of Commerce states that there has been some “mystific- ation” as to why the Steel Corp. waited so long after it reduced the stock dividend at the end of July to reduce wages. The Journal of Commerce gives two reasons for this delay: “In the first place, he said, it was desired to establish the prin- ciple that capital and salaried em- Ployes must make their sacrifices first before labor is called upon to accommodate itself to prevailing conditions. Secondly, it was desired to permit fall business prospects to be clearly gauged before taking ac- tion, since the possibility still ex- isted then that some turn for the better would be seen in the autumn which might mark the definite turning point in business.” The first reason for the delay was to make the workers believe that this slash was forced on them only after the officers of the corporation and the salaried workers had had their wages cut. The wage cut was de- cided on in July but the bosses real- {CONTINUED ON PAGE FIVE) 250000 STEEL! Harlan Miners Repudiate Treacherous on Syndicalism) ‘Charges Ask I.L.D. to Defend - SAT. 2:30 P.M.; GERMAN WORKERS SEND Tactics of I.W.W. And Lewis Gang; All In Jail Sign Up; Support of Whole Working Class Needed % workers in the country is scheduled | to the International: Labor Defense | . y national office in New York, re- I APOE N AED LEE, TAGs BEDE Oe questing the I. L. D. to take charge | John L. Lewis of the United Mine | of their case, when Albert Goldman, Workwers spoke at Winslow Sun- | attorney for the I, L. D. came in to day to 600 miners, asking 250 Pike | see them. County miners to go back to work These miners then gave Goldman with a wage cut. The men refused. |the following statement: | Lewis then arranged a conference | “We the undersigned w | with the operators in Indianapolis. | charged with criminal syndicalism by | The miners of Petersburg have Harlan county authorities are anxi- { il ous to have a working-class defense | been on strike for a week against ut from $6.10 2 day to 35 through the attorneys for the I. L. D. cents an hour, ‘The notice was |We therefore retain Albert Goldman fi ¢ » atto ys for the posted by the Algiers, Winslow and: [2° 24° Gallagher, jattorneys for th = I. L. D., to defend us against the Western R.R. which bought the | charges of criminal syndicalism. mines. A contract for the $6.10 (Signed) wage does not expire until April 3. William Gibbs > oi Caleb Powers NEW YORK.|— Today at 7 p. m. Vincent Bilotta masses of New York workers will be Finley Powers |at the station to greet Mrs. Jessie Roscoe Long | London Wakefield, I. L. D. organizer | Debs Moreland | in Harlan, recently released from jail | "(Editor's Note: Though many min- there. ‘The occasion will be made| ers were arrested on charges of only to demonstrate solidarity of| criminal syndicalism, “banding and New York workers with the miners confederating,” “possessing illegal {charged with murder in Kentucky. literature,” etc. it is understood N, Ky., Sept. | - - here that all have now been re- leased on bonds or on their own aa ote Y., Sept. | recognizance except those who — ne miners if) | signed this statement. \Harlan jail, charge ad charged with murder have already The miners < ew : been taken from Harlan jail to with criminal Syndical- | BULLETIN workers | Proletarian Parties In latest in the campaign to ri and their fam ‘PROTEST RATES OF ELECTRIC POWER TRUST ;Workers Will Rally at Public Service Com- mission Friday The workers of New York will pro- Big Cities to Which All Bring Aid; Collections Sept. 26-27 PITTSBURGH, Pa., Sept. 16.—Relief showers are the e food for the striking miners while they battle against starvation wages and slave conditions in the soft coal mines. the support of the strike is spreading in all parts of the country Relief activity for The relief shower idea come from Detroit, where Workers International Relief sections have been holding “shower” parties to which everyone brings anything that can be used by the relief: canned goods, flour, | coffee, sugar, shoes, shirts, trousers |and money | After the relief shower a sewing bee is arranged where the women get together and patch and~ repair clothing received at the shower and put them in shape for the commit- | tee to distribute to the striking min- ngry Miners other jails in counties to which lism, yesterday repudi- ated the opportunist policy of |the WW. They repudiated the LWW tactics of trying to keep the International Labor Defense from defending them. They withdrew from the I. W. W. and from the United Mine Workers of America, and had just sent a letter their cases are moved, so that the men mentioned above are the only labor cases remaining in Harlan jail). Attorney Goldman is seeing the de- fendants again today to get all de- tails on the cases, secure copies of the records and indictments, etc. He will also visit Robert Dean, charged with criminal syndicalism and confined to Harlan hospital. The election campaign gesture on the part of the American Legion which has for its aim to fool the workers on the bonus issue will be brought into the fore front and ex- posed by the Communist Party dur- ing the Election Campaign Ratifica- tion Meeting which takes place this Friday evening, September 18, should {rally the ex-servicemen from New York in coming with workers from shops, factories and fraternal organ- izations for coming struggle in sup- port of the Communist Party fight for immediate unemployment. relief and unemployment insurance which is a central demand in the Commu- nist Party platform. The Communist Party calls to the attention of all workers to the role of Major General Harbord, the re- tired official, who is now handling NEW YORK.—The Alabama boss lynchers have decided that little 14-year-old Roy Wright must re- main in jail several months again before his case is brought to trial. Roy js the ninth of the Scotts- boro Negro boys whom the bosses are trying to burn.in the electric chair on a lying charge of rape in their attempt to terrorize the Negro masses and crush their grawing struggles against starvation and national op- Pression, There was a mistrial in his case when Roy was tried in the original Scottsboro trials. The bosses insist that he must face the same ordeal again, The other eight boys were sen- tenced to death. They are still held in the death cells in Kilby Prison, Montgomery, in spite of the fact that an appeal has been filed for them to the Supreme Court of Alabama by the International Labor Defense. The Alabama laws calls for the re- moval from the death cells of con- demnéd prisoners awaiting an ap- peal, But, as usual, the bosses ig- nore their own laws when carrying out attacks against the working class. Workers, and especially ‘Ne- gro workers, have no rights in the eyes of the bosses. a Not daring to carry through their legal lynching of this Negro child in face. of the mighty protests of the international working class, the Ala. Boss Court Continues to Hold R. Wright Without Trial action in his case in the hope that the mass protests will die down. With the lynch-inciting state- ment that “I don’t know if I can (CONTINUED ON PAGE FIVE) LOS ANGELES, Calif., Sept. 16.— Three starving, unemployed workers and a 2-year-old baby were discov- ered at Burbank yesterday in the empty ice box of a refrigerator car on which they had “beaten” their way from Bakersfield. They -had only a dry loaf of bread between them for food. The baby was in an advanced stage of starvation. The adults were so weak they had to be helped off the car. The four were James Bresnahan, his wife, Margaret, and their little son, Junior, and Mrs. Bresnehan’s brother, J. A, Brady. They came from Chicago. Unable to find em- ployment and denied relief by the Chicago bosses and their city ad- ministration, the three adult workers Defense, and Sidney Bloomfield eat had boarded a freight train with the baby in an attempt to find- work Party Will Support Demands Of Ex- Servicemen at Meet the bonus issue at the American Le- gion convention in Detroit, when he plainly showed the hand of the boss- es’ government by appealing to the ex-servicemen not to go before the country with a demand for unem- ployment relief in one hand and “a tin cup” in the other, Harbord’s name for the disabled war veterans bonus, which is being withheld by the Wall Street government from thousands of ex-servicemen whose families face actual starvation, The Communist Party supports the ex- servicemen’s demands for: 1) Full payment of adjusted com- pensation certificate in cash. -2) Increase of all compensation for disabled war veterans. 3) Right of disabled war veterans to choose their own physician. 4) Medical attention at govern- ment expense, 5) No jimcrowing or discrimination of any kind against Negro war vet- erans, The Communist Party will push thees demands in the Election Cam~- paign in the interest of this section of the working class. All workers are called on to turn out for a tremendous demonstration of working class support on Friday, September 18, at the Ratification Conference at Central Opera House, (CONTINUED ON PAGE 'TWO) Another Unemployed Worker Commits Suicide outside of Chicago. They had been on the road for three months with- out finding either work or relief. ey ee No Milk for Babies. CHICAGO, Sept. 16.—The boss paper, the Chicago Herald and Ex- aminer, prints the story of a work- er’s baby whose life, saved by three transfusions at the hospital, is again menaced by starvation, The story is, in part: “Three blood transfusions in the three months of her baby life have saved the B——— infant, and she ? jtest against the.new $1 minimum |ers families. A big Proletarian Soli- electric rate Friday under the lead- | darity Shower will be held on Sept. ership of the Unemployed Councils | 22 at 1343 East Perry Ave., Detroit, and the ‘Tenants League at the of- | 750 P- ™ fice of the Public Service ,Commis- sion at 80 Center St. at 2:30 p. m. ious workers’ organizations. All petitions to the office of the Unem- If workers should find it impossible to bring them to the office they {should bring them to the protest Friday. All workers or their wives should bring their electric bills also to the demonstration. satisfied with the tremendous profits they have already made but are try- ing to squeeze more and more out of the workers in their desire for profits. The workers should demon- strate against this robbery of the electric trust at the demonstration Friday. Come in masses to the of- fice of the Public Service Commis- sion at 80 Center St. Friday at 2:30 p. m. Build a workers correspondence group in your factory, shop or neighborhood. Send regular letters to the Daily Worker. workers are called on to turn in their | ployed Councils at 5 East 19th st. | The electric and gas trust is not | | The proletarian solidarity shower | is one more method of attracting at- | tention for the big National Solidarity | starvation. | Everybody Help! The Solidarity Tag Days are de- signed to reach every worker pos- | sible. Volunteer workers in over 200 | cities will try to reach every person | there for relief funds. ‘Volunteers are | gathering from many sources at the jcall of the W.ILR. committees and sections in the various cities. Every worker who wishes can get in on this work. There is plenty of room for more and more workers, both jon the actual job of collecting on the two tag days, and in the pre- paratory work before them. The W.LR. sections have under- |taken the job of broadening their membership to cover all organizations sympathetic to the relief campaign. Mass meetings are being held in many cities, picnics are being arranged, and demonstrations, so that when the tag days come, everyone will know why it is being held. Special efforts are being made to (CONTINUED ON PAGE FIVE) ‘The Daily Worker has accepted the offer of Trud, organ of the All Union Central Council of Trade Unions of the Soviet Union, to exchange ymges on the 14th anniversary of the Bol- shevik Revolution. The Daily Worker staff and worker correspondents will prepare one entire page en Trud. It will inclitde articles Their Parents Denied Relief, Babies of Jobless Workers Found Starving returned last week to her parents after long weeks in the County Hospital. “Neither her distraught mother nor father knows how she is to re~ ceive milk for daily feedings. They spent their last 13 cents yesterday for a bottle of milk, and stretched it over the five necessary feed- ings.” The family has two other babies,. -both under 3. Referring to them as “under- privileged youngsters,” the boss paper tries to cover up the fact that these working-class babies have been sen- tenced to death by the murderous capitalist system which has denied relief to their unemployed father. ‘The same paper, in an attempt (CONTINUED ON PAGE FIVE) Daily Worker to Trade Pages With Trud, U. 8.8. R. Paper giving the latest information on con- ditions in U.S.A., including the crisis, strikes, war preparations of the capi- talist government, etc., with special ference to the effects here of the Bol- shevik Revolution and the Five-Year Plan in the Soviet Union. It will tell how the news of the advance of socialist construction in the Soviet Union is received by American work- ers, technicians, business men and war mongers. It will contain pictures |of conditions today in the United | States. There will be collective let- | ters from masses of workers in vari- ous industries, giving their opinion of the effects on America of the rule of the workers and farmers in the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics. On the other hand, ‘the Daily Worker will take pleasure in bringing before the American workers, a page written for them by the workers of the U.S.S.R., and arranged by the staff of Trud. Watch for the announcement of the appearance of this page in the Daily Worker, and be sure to have plenty of that issue on hand to cir- culate! All workers’ organizations who wish to send a collective letter to Trud for this special page should do so this month if possible. Districts, sections and units should make preparations now to determine how many thousands of the special .November th edition of the Daily Worker they can use. Bundle orders at one cent per copy. GREETINGS; WARN AGAINST M'DONALD Relief Showers” _ Get Food for Hu | Commmenist Party, U. S. A. Hails British Seamen On Militant Actions of the seamen on The stirring news action of the Bri imperialist warsh' against wage-cutting starvation policy of MacDonald government, rouses workers all over the world to dem onstrations of enthusiastic solidarity. The Communist Party, District 7, | calls the workers of New York to such a dentonstration at Union Square 07 Saturday, September 19, This demonstration same time, a protest tions of the Canadian ernment, | working in agreement with Mac Donald and Wall Street, intended to outlaw the Communist Party of Canada. It will demonstrate soli darity with the revolutionary sailors of the Chilean Navy, and. protest the mass-murder of these heroes by the temporarily victorious fascist re action. And above all. it will send messages of greeting and encoura*e- ment to the British naval strikers, and urge them on to victory and to | organization which will protect that | vietory. | All out on Union Square on Satur- day, September 19th, at 2:30 p. m. «+ According to a late dispatch of the | International News Service the mu- herete the the the the Thousands of petitioris against the | T@& Days. to be held everywhere in | tiny of tMB'British sailors in the At- minimum rate have been circulated. | ‘he country on Saturday and Sunday, | lantic fleet has spread to shi These petitions have been distributed | Sept. 26 and 27, for the relief of the | Mediterranean fleet at open air meetings and by the var-|™iners and other strikers against | in the (Cable by Inprecorr) | BERLIN, Sept. 16—The German Communist Party sent 2 telegram of greetings to the British workers and sailors’ crews who have re- yolted on the warships, congratul- ating the sailors in the name of the German workers on their courage- ous action against the British gov- ernment and reactionary officers corps. The telegram describes the enthusiasm of the German workers at the news and warns the sailors against deception by the MacDon- ald government. They recom- mended that the sailors continue the mutiny and disarm the officers, and point out that the struggle is not purely a wage movement, but a class struggle against the bourge- oisie. The sailors recommended that they elect councils on all the ves- sels with a central council for the fleet. They further recommended that they establish connections with the revolutionary workers of Britain and fraternize with the op- pressed peoples of China, India, | and other colonial countries. The telegram was also siv2ed by | the Young Communist League and | the Red Front Fighters League. Paget Gee The Communist Party of the United States sent the following tele- gram of greetings to the British sailors through the British Daily Worker: “Revolutionary greetings of soli- darity in your courageous fight against starvation policy of the British government headed by MacDonald. Extend your fight against British imperialism in its oppression of colonial peoples and war preparations against the So- viet Union. Join hands with the militant workers of Great Britain in a joint fight against the com- mon enemy. Don't be deceived by the MacDonald government and the laborites. Organize your own committee of action, disarm the officers, continue your splendid fight. COMMUNIST PARTY, U. S. A. 8 re (Cable By Inpreccorr) LONDON, Sept. 16.— The an- {nounced wage cuts and the general |discontent with the conditions, in- |human discipline and injustice in dealing with the men’s complaints, etc., led to the outburst of the Brit ish Atlantic fleet. At week end shore meetings the sailors protested vio- lently against the wage cuts. Win- dows were smashed and the Red Flag was sung. On Monday aboard the ships, the sailors refused to work and held pro- test. meetings. Many sailors are in- terned at Invergordon Park. All shore leave has been stopped. Mon+ (CONTINUED ON PAGE FIVE)