The Daily Worker Newspaper, September 18, 1931, Page 4

f Published by the Comprodaily New York, Address and mail alleheck: 18th Stre>t, APPROACHING FURTHER AGGRAVATION OF THE GERMAN CRISIS (Berlin) Wirth, the Reich d the public By TH. NEUBAUER Dr. declaration w y the New ‘k bankers is sol Doubt in assurance given by the German minister for he interior will probably become nger when read the further will not let itself be negotiated with arding ap- measures! It appears, therefore, that ment: and its ter for the Inte- ite of the above proud a , is The deep and July ered over; not one of the has been overcome. negotiations with the foreign yet been concluded. Ger- : y very high in- terest in order that foreign capital shall remain But in a few months (the agree- ‘or six months) the question of the foreign credits will and pre at a time when the Germany will have reached unprecedented degree of acuteness. inner oe “normalisation” serious diffic' The “standstill” ment is only 5.6000 million n sis in short-term is are rapidly inohbanttig. and the State is compelled again and again to intervene in order to ameliorate the worst collapses. Closing down of wo! ‘ction of production and wholesale unen increasing. The decline of € is reflected, to name only one figure, in the diminution of the num- ber of goods-trucks in use on the national rail- ways; they figure now at 20 per cent below the level of last year and almost 50 per cent below the level of 1929. The pt rty of the working class is increasing remendously. The Institut fur Konjunkturfor- schung reckons that in the first six months of 1921 the income of the workers and employees declined by 3,000 million marks as compared with the previous year. The sale of foodstuffs fell 8.4 per cent, and that of textiles by 16.3 per cent, compared with the year 1900, when poverty was already exceedingly great. The impoverish- ment of the working class also affects in turn the petty bourgeois middle classes and the great mass of small and middle peasants. In face of this increasing misery of the broad masses one be amazed at the optimism of the Reich who expects that the starving will bear th slavish resignation the fate imposed upon them by the ruling class. But the German capitalist class is doing some- thing more to increese the ferment among the masses. The new offensive against wages is be- ing carried out with the greatest brutality. This has led the municipal workers—for the first time for years—to engage in a number of obstinate strikes, in which the staffs participated in many cases up to 100 per cent, although the State power employed the most drastic measures against them. In addition, the fresh deterioration of the un- employment relief is becoming more and more evident. On August 15, the number of unem- ployed amounted to 4,100,000 as against 2,883,- 000 in August, 1930. Of these 4,100,000 unem- ployed only 1,225,000 are drawing full unem- ployment benefit; 1,056,000 are receiving cris! benefit and 1,723,000 have to rely on poor law relief or do not receive any relief whatever. Whilst the number of unemployed receiving full benefit is continually declining, the number of recipients of poor law relief is steadily mounting. The increasing unemployment has completely upset all the municipal budgets and caused the majority of the municipalities to become bank- rupt. Although the municipalities have for over | | | been rying out the most rigid re- easures (reduction of the scale of it, economies in the cultural budget, tion of public works, increase of municipar s), Whereby, it is timated, 850 million ‘ks have been saved, their situation is disas- trous. The Reich, however, which has spent mil- lions in supporting the bankrupt private econ- omy, a year has up to now refused to render any aid. | On the other hand it has issued an Emergency | Qrder empowering the provincial governments ‘8 fix at will the budgets of the municipalitie: ie., to dictate that fresh revenue be obtained by increasing the taxes of the masses and to order further reductions of social and cultural expen- diture. Nevertheless it is. exceedingly doubtful whether it will be possible by these means to do away with the deficits of the municipalities, which this year probably amount to 1,000 million ties, the provinces also are awn more and more deeply into the fi- nancial crisis in spite of all economy measures. They are now proceeding to raise the necessary means by fresh heavy burdens on the masses. Following the example of Baden, Bavaria has reduced the salaries of the employees and offi- cials by 5 per cent, and at the same time has in- creased the rent tax, doubled the tax on slaugh- ter houses, and cut down expenditures on edu- cation. These measures, which are calling forth the greatest bitterness among the population, are not yet sufficfent to overcome the present crisis. Therefore the central government must render aid | But already in the first four months of the budget year, the Reich has to record a falling off in the revenue from t tion amounting te 582,- 910,000 marks compared with the corresponding period of last year, and this in spite of the fact that since April 1930 the taxes have been in- creased five times. It has to reckon with a total deficit for the whole year of 1,500 million. In addition, in supporting the bankrupt banks it has undertaken such enormous burdens and lia- bilities, the extent of which cannot yet be esti- mated, that the financial position of the Reich is exceedingly critical, Therefore, fresh emergency decrees, the last argument of the government, are to be resorted to. This will be the fifth attempt at restoration of the finances under the glorious government of Bruening. No concrete plans have been yet published, but one can safely expect further cuts in unemployment benefit, further reduction ot the salaries and wages of officials, employees and workers employed by public bodies, increase of the turnover tax, and probably an alteration in the Rent Restrictions Act, which would mean a handsome present to the landlords and a fur- ther burden on the tenants, At the congress of the reformist trade unions, Herr Stegerwald, the Reichs-Minister for Labor, made some statements regarding the approach- ing cutting down of unemployment relief. He hinted that the financial relief would be re- placed by relief in kind, which will enable the amount of benefit to be reduced, while the un- employed will be fed on thin soup in municipal public kitchens. Reichs-Chancellor Bruening firmly reckons that the social democracy will give him the sup- port necessary to enable him to carry out these attacks on the working masses. And he will probably not be disappointed. But he will oer- tainly experience disappointment if he thinks that such boundless impoverishment of the working masses will remain without effect. The furious incitement against the Communist Party will not help the bourgeoisie to hold back the masses from the revolutionary movement. The |. social democracy, which support Bruening’s pol- icy, cannot, even though they employ the most dirty fighting methods against the C. P. of Ger- many, prevent the desertions of the workers from their ranks. To those who soberly observe this development it will appear as if the Reichs- Minister of the Interior, Wirth, with his bom- bastic words against the revolution which he will not hesitate to crush “with extreme vio- lence”, is biting off more than he can chew. The Terror in the South and Its Lesson in Building the Party By HARRIS GILBERT HE Birmingham Section has been working under illegal conditions more so than any other district of the Party for the last year or so. The experiences in our Party work here, especially now with the extreme sharpen- ing of the te will be of great value for the other sections in the near future. ‘The reason for this intense terror in the South lies, of course, first in the economic conditions which are worse than anywhere else as regards hours, pay, and conditions of work as well as unemployment. The argrarian crisis which has sharply hit the cotton and tobacco growers— particularly the poor croppers, white and Negro, @s well as the small owners. Secondly the in- tense national oppression of the Negro massés— particularly in this present crisis when the bos- ses ami landlords try to unload the burden of the crisis onto their shoulders and to force star- vation and wage cuts on all workers and poor farmers by terrorizing the Negro into submis- sion so he can be used against the white’ workers and farmers should they make a stand against the present conditions. It is only the Party which carries on a ruthless struggle against these rotten conditions and against the National oppression of the Negro masses and for unity of white and Negro against the bosses and land- lords. ‘Through our work on the Scottsboro case and in Camp Hill as well as our work among the toil- ers in the cities we have gained widespread sup- port of poor white and Negro toilers—and the undying hatred of the bosses and their tools, At the present time the bosses of the railroad, Stee) and coal companies round here are plan- ning sharp wage cuts and lay-offs Already in the U.S. Steel (TCI subsidiary) the 5-day week is being put into effect and all salaried men were cut to 5 to 15 per cent and work now every other month. Hundreds of men have been laid f t off in the Ensley and Fairfield Works and the mines run but a few days a week. To put their wage cut starvation program across the workers must be kept docile and divided against one an- other. The Communists must be crushed so the workers will have no leader in the fight against the bosses’ attacks, Therefore the bosses and their police seized upon the murder of 2 white society girls and the wounding of another in Shades Valley, near Birmingham, allegedly by a Negro, to start a vi- cious lynch attack against the Negro workers and against the Communists. Though it is doubtful whether it was a Negro at all who did this crime (much evidence points to it being she result of a “society” petting party) flaming headlines urging action against the Re@s as responsible—claiming we were shielding the criminal, etc., were played up every day. It was claimed the Negro lectured the girls on Com- munism before he shot them, Day after day vicious articles appeared and in spite of the hypocritical editorials against violence the tront page incitement campaign against the Negro toilers and the Reds bore its fruit. Scores of Negro workers were beaten up, a number were shot down in cold blood, at least 3 are known to hawe been killed, many were stabbed. Whole- sale raids on homes for Communist literature. Virtually hundreds of arrests throughout the South of “suspects” have been made, The KKK issued a warning that Negro workers were to be off the streets by 9 o'clock or get shot, Churches were warned to close so their members could go home early. The central cry was “get the Reds.” Some of our Negro comrades were arrested in an at- tempt to frame them up on this murder charge and when it fell through held on “vagrancy.” The Party District Organizer was arrested—but exposed the lies of the newspapers so well that they were forced to soft-peddle the lies about | the Reds. A special “Red Squad” of county of- ficers has now been organized to attack the Communist movement. vicious denunciation of the Party in a number of editorials calling on the Negro workers to act as stool pigeons for the bosses. Not one word did these traitors have to say about the terror | ‘The Negro reformists have joined in with a | unleashed against the Negro masses, | The A. F. of L. too has put its power behind the Anti-Red drive—in their slimy sheet the | “Labor Advocate” they demanded immediate crushing of the movement, stating they would do all in their power to help. Now the American Legion has mobilized its entire force to be used against the working class. Each post in the state will set up a special “Anti Red” commit- | tee. The Legion has a post in every county in the State. They are petitioning the coming | legislature to pass strenuous bills against Com- munist activities. Plainly the working class can expect not a lessening of the terror but instead a sharpening to a tremendous extent in the near future, ‘The terror had very definite effects upon our Party membership. Most of our comrades have been in the movement but a comparatively short time. Many of them have not yet the discipline and understanding necessary to be a party mem- ber in the South as well as elsewhere. With the first wave of sharpened terror the results were plain. Namely that many members were so | terrorized that they would not even take out leaflets or papers. Suffide it to say that at once the Party leadership took immediate and firm action to safeguard the Party by cleansing our ranks ruthlessly of all shaky and scary elements. Because of our carefulness in selecting members for the Party most of the Party membership re- mained firm, Definite instructions were issued to each unit to tighten up—to keep their homes clear of literature, to keep the meetings clear of Party material and in general exert more dis- cipline upon the members. We saw plainly our weakness in insufficiently developing lgcal lead- ers, of lack of reserve unit organizers, ahd a re- serve apparatus to cagry on the work in’ spite of terror and arrests. The time to prepare for the results of terror must be beforehand. Other districts can well take our lesson—especially those working now legally, to prepare the Party membership and the leadership for illegal work. If this is not done the work will collapse at the first sharp blow, Our perspective is one of intensified prepara- tion of the Party against the sharpening attacks of the bosses. The crisis in the cities is getting sharper, that unemployment, wage cuts and starvation are fast driving the workers, white and Negro, to action, and that our task will be. to organize and lead this action, building/-the.. Trade Unions and the Party through struggle. | The agrarian crisis and the “cotton reduction plan” will force hufdreds and thousands of poor croppers, white and Negro to desperate action against starvation, as well as the poor small owners who will be forced off the land, We must now prepare the Party, steeling it to withstand the growing terror and to lead the workers to victory. Therefore we are turning our face to the shops and mines. To rooting the Party and building the Trade Unions there. We are driv- ing after our street units to organize shop re- cruiting meetings, Already we have met with good results, Secondly, we are doing our best to develop as soon as possible a firm local leadership with ini- tiative and understanding to carry on'the work— as well as building up our reserve apparatus. ‘Th.rdly, a sharp degree of discipline and respon- sibility—in the better functioning of the section committee—in the growing initiatve of the local leadership and in the units—in the securing of definite contacts in the shops and mines, Everywhere the Party must reorientate itself to withstand the tremendously sharpened at- tacks which the ruling class will deliver against the Party. It means that NOW every district should look over the situaiion and lay the basis for strengthening and steeling the Party appa- ratus, from the units up to the districts. Of developing local forces, of building up a re- The A.F.of L. Hosiery Union Has Turned Into An Open Co. Union By EDITH BERKMAN. (N, T. W. Organizer.) Wane the unorganized workers in many parts of the country afé fiow striking against wage cuts, the officials of the American Federa- tion of Full Fashionéd Hosléty Workérs, the pa of whom are Musteites or “prdgres- are forcing a wage cut agreement on the 'y workers. This agreement is turning the upion into an open company union, Let's read some of the points in the agree- ment: 1. A 30 to 45 per cent wage cut. 2. The check-off system for the collection of dues and assessments. 3. The employer reserves the right to lock out any department where the members of the union refuse to carry out the decisions of the impartial chairman, Such jobs so affected by a lockout will remain as union jobs and the union so empowered to fill such vacancies so caused. (My emphasis.—E. B.) 4. The contract will be of one year duration. 5. The employers refuse and the Union with- drew the demand for @ weekly guarantee for knitters $15, for boarders $10 and for toppers $7.50 for twenty-five weeks in the next six months. When we examine these few points, out of the 20 point agreement, we can easily see for ourselves how this union, at one time a militant organization, has turned into an open com- pany union. Methods Used to Put the Wage Cut Agreement Over. The old agreement expired Sept. 1st. During the first week of July the negotiating commit- tee started negotiations in one of the most ex- pensive hotels in Philadelphia. The bosses ask for a 50 per cent wage cut to stabilize. the in- dustry (to make more profit) to: compete’ with the open shops and to secure more work for the union members. A special convention was called in Reading and to give grounds for the need of the wage cut the unorganized Workers of Reading were called upon to strike for high wages. When only six out of 10,000 workers came out on strike the workers were named scabs, the strike called off and the convention transferred to Philadel- phia. Here the new wage cut agreement was read to the delegates. The officials spoke in favor of the wage'cut, but blamed the Reading workers for the wage cut. The National Textile Workers’ Union gave out leaflets and through other organizational means tried to convince the workers what the agreement really meant. When the vote was taken the majority voted against the wage cut agreement. Hand Picked Delegates. Of course this was not a rank and file con- vention. Most of the delegates were hand picked | or officials of the union. The officials succeeded to raise the question again and through a re- vote they received a majority vote for the agree- ment. Now the various locals have to vote on the agreement. Paterson voted it down, In Philadelphia, the home of all the officials, the \ vote was 750 for the agreement and 461 against. The officials claim a membership of over 6,000 here and out of this number only 750 voted for the agreement. The vast majority stayed away from the meeting, being disgusted, having no confidence in the officials and the union. Why Did Some Workers Vote For the Wage Cut Agreement? Those workers, most of whom have been out of work, or on strike for the last 6 months, who voted for the wage cut, because the officials as- sured them that this will give more work to the union workers, That by giving a present to the mill owners of 30 to 45 per cent of their wages the union shops will take away the orders from the non-union shops, this again will give work to the unemployed union members. ‘And the most important argument was that by taking the wage cut for one year the industry will be stabilized and good days will come back, Those voting for the wage cut agreement will soon find serve leadership. And above all of rooting the Party so firmly in the shops and mines that nothing will be able to Grive the Party from the. worke~ out that this wage eut and company union agreement will bring down their wages lower, will not give more work to the unemployed union members, The wage cut taken taken by the organized workers is forcing the unorganized too to’ take wage reductions. Already the Apex (mon-union) is giving a wage cut to the work- ers—they to compete with the union shops. What a joke! It is only too bad that this joke is at the expense of the workers—both organized and unorganized. Those voting for the wage cut will soon find out that-the reasons given by the socialist, Mr. McKeown, or any of the other officials, is only to fool the workers to take the wage cut with- out a struggle. The officials no more represent the workers—they have sold the union to the mill owners. A.F.F.H.W. Open Company Union! The workers, who voted against the agree- ment, in Paterson, Philadelphia and all other hosiery cities, must now teach to the rest of the workers “what the wage cut agreement means.” It*means the following: 1. That a 30 to 45 per cent wage cut should not be accepted without a strike struggle of all the hosiery workers, organized and unorganized. 2. The check-off system does not only mean the collection of dues and assessments by the bosses for the officials. It also means a black list against any worker, who will not side with the machine. Every job will be controlled by the officials and the boss. All who will dare to speak against the bad conditions in the mill will be out of g job. 3. Point No. 7 in the agreement says that if | any department will go out in strike without the O. K. of the impartial chairman (?) the union will supply scabs to take the jobs of the workers on strike. This takes away the right of the workers ever to fight against any grievances in the mill. The union becomes an open strike- breaking agency of the. bosses. Not a union for | the good of the workers. It is now an open com- pany union. Organize and Strike Against the Wage Cut. ‘The organized workers, members of the A. F. F. H. W., must realize that with this agreement the officials are openly turning the union into an instrument with which they are making the | organized workers take a drastic wage cut. They | say that this will give the jobs from the unor- | ganized to the organized. This is a child’s tale. This should open the eyes of every worker in | the hosiery industry, organized and unorganized, to the role the A. F. of L. unions are playing. This union is openly selling the workers and what's more they are dividing the workers into | organized and unorganized, employed and unem- | ployed. Every worker must realize that we have the boss class to fight end must not fight against each other, ‘The following steps must be taken at once in every mill to organize all the workers against the wage cut in all the mills organized and unorganized: 1, Demand rank and file control of the union. Take away the power from the officials to ne- gotiate. 2. Don't accept the new agreement, but or- ganize in the mill and in every department a committee, which will unite all workers against wage cuts. 3. Since most of the workers are unemployed and the vast majority in the industry are not organized, a united front must be organised of the organized and unorganized. This United Front Committee for action should meet and prepare a general strike te all the hosiery workers. When we will convince the ‘unotgantsed work- ers that the organized will strike with them the unorganized workers will not scab. They too are getting wage cuts. They too are working part time. All workers together will be able, under the leadership of the United Front to organize and put up a fight against the wage cuts. The National Textile Workers’ Union will give all help and leadership to the hosiery workers in their struggle against the wage cut agree- ment. The NTWU will '#'p to unite the or- ganized with the unorgai.*.ed wrokers. The na- tional office of the union is in Providence, R. I., P.O, Box'41,: - The office in ‘Philadelphia {s at 929 Arch St. until a new office, wil) be located. We have of- ‘flees in many textile eltier 2 Publish ‘o., Ine, dally except Sunday, at 59 Baye & r BUBSCRIPTION RATES: City, N.Y e Cable: “DAIWORK." rey VOr er < By mal everywhere: One year, $6; six months, $3; two months, $1;. excepting Borough the Daily Work Street, New York, N, ¥, of Manhattan and Bronx, New York City. Foreign: one year, $8; six months, $4.50. Central Orge Party U.S.A. ALL TOGETHER! ue “THE ATTEMPT TO DEPORT YOKINEN Statement on the Yokinen Deportation Case, Issued by the National Committee for the Protection of the Foreign Born AUGUST YOKINEN, militant Finnish worker, has been taken, to Ellis Island to be deport- ed. He will be sent into the hands of the Kloody fascist regime of Finland. Yokinen has lived in the United States for a number of years and was never molested before until he declared himself in solidarity with white and black workers in the struggle against all race discrimination and for a militant fight of the entire working class against the oppressors. Immediately after Yokinen had taken this stand at an open trial before a jury of white and Negro workers in Harlem the ruling class dis- covered that he was “undesirable”. Yokinen was arrested, questioned and now he is waiting to be deported. This again shows that the Depart- ment of Labor, of which Doak is the head, is doing its utmost to terrorize the foreign born workers to prevent them from taking an active part in the class struggle. Those who fight on the side of the workers are discovered as being “undesirable” and steps are at once taken to get them out of the country. The committee for the Protection of the For- eign Born, the International Labor Defense and the League of Struggle for Negro Rights call upon all the workers to rally to the defense of August Yokinen and to the defense of the for- eign born workers who are in danger of being deported. This attempt to destroy the fighting front of the workers must be smashed. We call upon all organizations affiliated to the Protec- tion of the Foreign Born and other workers or- ganizations to immediately send telegrams and resolutions of protest to the Department of La- bor, to let Mr. Doak know that we will not stand idly by and see the militant workers sent to death because they fight side by side with their class brothers against miserable conditions be- ing imposed upon the workers by the ruling class. Smash the deportation terror. Fight against discrimination of the foreign born. Demand right of asylum for political refugees. For the unity of white and Negro, native and foreign born workers, Read the Plenum Reports and Resolutions in “The Communist” ‘The October issue of The Communist contain- ing valuable material for the study of the deci- sions of the recent Plenum of the Central Com- mittee will appear in a few days. The ee articles on the Plenum will appear: The XI Plenum of the Executive Committee of the Comintern Extracts from report to the 13th Plenum of the C. C., C. P.,, U.S.A. By William W. Weinstone To the Masses—To the Shops! Organize the Masses! Extracts from the Report of the Political Bu- reau to the C. C. Plenum. By Earl Browder Tasks in the Struggle Against Hunger, Repres- sion and War. Resolution of the 13th Plenum, Central Com- mittee on the Main Tasks in the Organization of Mass Struggles Against the Offensive of the Capitalists. Resolution on Work Among the Unemployed. Adopted by the 13th Plenum, Central Com- mittee, C. P., U.S. A. Besides these articles this issue contains an excellent article by Comrade A, Landy, entitled Cultural Compulsives or Calverton’s New Cari- cature of Marxism. No Party member or revolutionary worker should fail to read this issue of The Communist. Order from your literature agent or send direct, to The Communist, P. O. Box 148, Station D, New York City, 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 Gannec To Lynching Negro Children in Southern Courts, by Joseph North 05 Little Brothers of the Big Labor Fakers by William Z. Foster 05 The Frame Up System, by Vern Smith 10 Tom Mooney Betrayed by Labor Leaders Youth In Industry, by Grace Hutchins No Jobs Today, by Phil Bard Life In the U. S. Army, by Walter Trumbull For the UNEMPLOYMENT CAMPAIGN Fight Against Hunger Out of a Job, by Earl Browder 20,000,000 Unemployed 50,000,000 Unemployed Also Work or Wages and Social Insurance (hers we 05 05 10 05 For the ELECTION CAMPAIGN Why Every Worker Shuld Join the Com- munist Party The Heritage of Gene Debs, by Alexander ‘Trachtenberg American Working Women and the Class Struggle Revolutionary Struggle Against War vs. Pacifism, by Alex Bittelman Also your local Election Platforms, of a Job”, “Fight Against Hunger’ and Gangsters”, “Race Hatred on Trial”, “Lynching Negro Childrcsn In Southern Courts”, “Work or Wages”, “Social In- surance”, FIGHT STEADILY FOR RELIEF! Organize Unemployed Councils to Fight for Unemployment Relief. Organize the Employed Workers Into Fighting Unions. Mobilize the Employed and Unemployed for Common Strug- dy Shs Under the Leadership of the Trade Union Unity League ALD