The Daily Worker Newspaper, September 24, 1931, Page 1

_ STEEL WORKERS! PUT _ HOOVER -BOSSES - A. F. L. LABOR PARTY ” / Capitalist Robbers Pu AMERICAN fA SNMVION Dali Central i Maneuver for War Against the Soviet (Section of the Communist International) unist Party U.S.A. at New York, N, Y,, Entered aw second-class matter at the Post Office under the act of March 3, 1879 Ps WORKERS OF THE WORLD, UNITE! Price 3 Cents == NEW YORK, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 19 The “Infectious Smile” of J. P. Morgan TREMENDOUS transformation took place in the person of J. Pierpont Morgan in the last few days, which astonished and mystified the ugeois press of the world. Only a few days ago, being persistently ed by an Evglish newspaperman for an interview, Mr. Morgan not my refused angzily, but even called his bodyguard into action against the reporter. Three days later, the picture changed.. The same Mr. n “broke his iron-clad rule against talking for publication”; more t, he called in the newspaper correspondents and, in high good . gave them an intimate talk for almost an hour. His charmed interviewers report ter nearly an hour he (Mr. Morgan) escorted his guests to the waiting room and he again shook hands as he showed his white teeth in that infectious smile.” Whet hed happened in those three days? What was the reason for “infecticus smile” of the American Chief Billionaire? Great Britain had given up the gold standard and ‘herewith its leading” financial position in the world market. The & “ is now the single world currency without a rival . Now the pound sterting, along with the mark, the franc and the lire, must kneel before the ¢ And the dollar, this is J. P. Morgan & Co. No wonder the face e the joy of conquest! oric interview, explaining how the Amer- niiy, gave the following picture of ) had brought the famous “infectious smile” to the the The answer is simple Eps of his chief; “We bad on cur hands a patient who had to undergo an opera- tien to sev; We were anxious. But now the operation is over and we are feeling relieved.” In this figure of speech, however, there is more poetic license than eccuracy. An operation was performed, it is true, but not by a knife in the hands of a surgeon, but -by one of two armed and battling bandits upon the other, fighting over the loot. In the struggle John Bull has had one of his golden testicles cut out by Uncle Sam, but the fight is not cver yet. ‘he world economic crisis has reached a new stage, that of acute financial crisis. which bourgeois “economists” boasted would not appear, but which the Communists have constantly pointed out as an inescapable t stage. The delay has only made it more acute and deep. The struggle between the imperialist powers is, for the moment, centered around the decision of who shall be forced to bear the greatest burden of the financial crisis. Morgan won the first round of the fight. What is the next move of Britain? Already on Monday it was an- nounced by the German press, which is reported in the folfowing words: “The German papers do not hold back their criticism of the United States, whose accumulation of gold is looked upon as one of the chief causes of the English and German breakdowns. ... . The English tragedy is the result of the destruction of world business which was provoked by the war tributes, excessive protectionism, and the unreasonable accumulation of gold by the U. S. and France. . Going to the roots of the situation means, in Germany, tak- ing steps for restoring the equilibrium of the world’s gold reserves.” It is not correct to: say that the root of the crisis lies in the accu- mulation of gold by the U. S. and France. This is only one of the elemcnts reflecting the sharpening struggle between the “powers.” The financial crisis is only a new stage of the world economic crisis, and one which will also become a tremendous factor in its further deepening. But it is correct that in the general conditions of the crisis, which is one of overproduction in the period of general capitalist decay, the com- Petition between England and the U. S. assumes the form of an open financial war, and that the breakdown of the pound sterling is a very important result of and stage in this war. From it will quickly flow new forms of the fight between the two giants of imperialism. The German press voiced the demand for a “new distribution of the world’s gold.” On Tuesday this demand was formally voiced by Phillip Snowden, British Chancellor of the Exchequer. Now he feels free to uncover some of the details of the struggle that resulted in the break down of the pound sterling. After losing one’s head, one no longer wor- ries about the hair. From this point of view, the speech of Snowden is very characteristic. It shows the correctness of the estimate of the crisis given by the Daily Worker, while its details were still hidden. Snow- den confirms our previous analysis point by point, thus: 1, The financial crisis, appearing in the weakest link of the capi- talist system, inevitably very soon involves the most powerful capitalist countries. Snowden confirms this, saying: “The actual crisis started with the collapse of the chief bank of Austria last May and the crisis which followed in Germany. The tying up of funds in Germany had an immediate effect on the London market, because London is the center of international bank- ing and it was known, of course, that we had been lending to Ger- many.)”” 2. The formation of the so-called “National Government” in Britain was immediately connected with the loan received by Britain from the U. S. and France, the loan which was given by the bankers on the con- dition of reducing wages and the dole. Snowden says: “There was much criticism abroad of the budget, our expenditure upon unemployment, the adverse balance of trade and all those things were seized upon and exaggerated. To meet the situation the Bank of England, about the beginning of August, raised a very large credit, no less than $250,000,000 from American and French banks to meet withdrawals, but in a couple of weeks these resources were practically exhausted. At that stage the National Government came into being and plans were announced for balancing the budget, which bad an immediate effect on restoring confidence. time the streams of withdrawals fell sharply and we hoped they might dry up.” 3. The United States (and France, whose interests coincide in the given circumstances) by this “action of help” prepared another attack against their competitor Britain at the decisive moment. The right hand of the U. S. and France extended the desired loans—but at the same time the left hand withdrew its gold from the BankofEngland. At the de- cisive moment they stopped new credits and made the breakdown in- evitable. Snowden says: “We informed both the U. S, and France of our position Friday and asked them as to the possibility of obtaining further credits. In both cases the replies were friendfy and sympathetic, but afforded no prospect of assistance on the scale obviously needed.” . . . 'HE abandonment of the gold standard, however, should by no means be interpreted as capitulation of Britain, or a weakening of the fight (OONTINUED ON PAGE THREE) British Bosses Will In-| IN SUPPORT OF FASCISM tensify Wage Cuts in Market Struggle U. S. Banks Get Aid BULLETIN The British capitalist class has greeted the cuts in the wages of the sieel, rubber and other work- ers in the United States “with out- spoken approval” according to the | latest dispatches from London. The British manufactorers, the govern- ment and the ‘Socialist’ opposi- tion will use the wage cuts in the United States in support of their own cutting of wages. The dispatch reports that the wage cuts of state employees by the MacDonald gov- ernment will “no doubt be follow- ed thruout industry.” The wage cuts on the American workers “fits into the French. con ception of what should be done in the emergency of a world economic slump.” The cuts in the United States will be followed by yet | sharper cuts in the wages of the workers in the remainder of the capitalist countries for the struggle on the world markets. (Cable by Inprecorr) | LONDON, Sept. 23—Great Brit- ain’s abandonment of the gold standard has given fresh impetus to the Industrialists proposal to | seek a solution of the crisis in Ger- | many by inflation.| Several power- | ful capitalist papers demand the abandonment of the gold standard. A German news agency reports that that industrialist and anti- Soviet leader, Arnold Rechberg de- (CONTINUED ON PAGE THREE) | AFL AIDS U. S. RUBBER PAY CUT BY “5-DAY WEEK” Red Unions Demand 5- Day Week, No Cut! For some / NEW YORK.—How the five-day week slogan of the American Fed- eration of Labor was used by the United States Rubber Co. as an ef- fective way of cutting wages and getting more work out of the work- ers is shown up in the latest general wage cutting drive. Instead of announcing a direct wage cut, like the United States Steel Corporation and the other large corporations, the United States Rubber Co. announced it would go on a five-day week basis with a corresponding cut in wages. A. F. L. Supplies Plan. This idea was given to this cor- poration by the American Federation of Labor officials, who have repeat- edly asked for a five-day week, with- out, however, intending to demand or fight for maintaining wages. The result for the rubber workers will be a five-day week, in which they will be speeded up to do as much work as they formerly did in the longer week, and their wages will, at the same time, be slached 10 per cent, Over 25,000 workers are employed by the United States Rubber Co, F. B. Davis, Jr., president of the United States Rubber Co., announced the wage cut, saying that the United States Rubber Co. was the first large corporation to take this way of cut~ ting wages by the five-day week route, Other large corporations which are following this A. F. of L. line of wage cuts through the “five-day week,” are the B, F. Goodrich Co., one of the largest tire producers, and etal Conferenc CITY EDITI os, e to Pla Walkout Meets Sept. 27th 1,000,000 Hit In Steel. Industry; Morgan Mellon Profit | Red Unions Plan Fight | To Carry On Tradition | of 1919 Steel Strike NEW —“fare cuts in the i ‘y, affecting 1,000,000 workers on October Ist, were care- fully planned by the steel barons, together with the A. F. of L., and are a good example for the workers on how the. present attacks are being carried out, The United States Steel Corpora- tion, where over 220,000 workers will have their pay cut so that the para- Site stockholders can add from $39,- 000,000 to $50,000,000 a year to their profits, began the wage cutting drive ‘by first reducing wages of. office workers, Denied Wage Cuts James P. Farrell, pfesident of the | United States Steel Corporation, to- | gether with William Green, president of the American Federation of Labor, attended the Hoover conference in November, 1929, where Green pro- mised to act as strikebreaker, and Farrell said there would be no wage cuts. Meanwhile, the subsidiaries of. the United States Steel have been cutting | wages all the time, especially in| Youngstown and Pittsburgh. He cover up.this snipping at wages, and | to lay the ground for a general cut | in the steel industry, both Farrell and Green repeatedly “denied” there would be any pay cutting. Green Absolves Hoover Only May 19, absolying the Hoover government and the United States Steel Corporation from any part in wage cutting, William Green at the Houston, Texas, convention of the Brotherhood of Rilway Trainmen | said President Hoover, Secretary of the Treasury, Andrew Mellon, James Farrell, president of the United States Steel Corporation, and Swope of the General Electric Co. were “making strong declarations in op- positions to wage reductions.” Green told the workers to have faith in these capitalists. In the Pittsburgh steel area wage cuts will hit every steel and metal plant. The New York Times in its headline on wage cuts in the Pitts- burgh district said “general cut likely in Pittsburgh area.” One of the lead- ing wage cutters there will be Andrew Mellon, whose Pittsburgh Steel Co. has already declared wages will be cut. Others that will cut wages are: Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation; American Steel and Wire, Duquesne, Clairton, National Tube and Amer- ican Sheet and Tin Plate companies. B. J. Kulas, president of the Otis BULLETIN. PITTSBURGH, Pa., Sept. 23.—In all mills of the U. S. Steel and Bethlehem Corporations men are heatedly talking about the new ten per cent wage cut. From the Bethlehem plant in Johnstown comes word that workers are “steaming” about it. In houses, on streets, in restaurants, in wash rooms of the plant, workers are gathering in groups discussing the cut. From the largest mills in the South, the Tennessee Coal and Iron, a U. 8. Steel subsidiary, in Birmingham, Alabama, where the men are getting as low as twenty cents an hour, the steel workers are indignantly discussing the new cut that brings them to the starvation level. WORKERS TO MEET TO PLAN STRIKE. Right in the midst of this widespread cut comes the Metal Work- ers’ Industrie] League’s big national conference’in Pittsburgh. Workers from practically every important mill in Pittsburgh, the Ohio Valley and the Youngstown districts will come to agree upon a plan to or- ganize and prepare to strike against the wage cuts and starvation they are facing. Delegates from the Johnstown section and delegates elected by steel conferences in Gary, Indiana, Cleveland, Philadelphia and Chicago are to come. On the same page of a local paper announcing the wage cnt today, another story tells of wage increases of from twenty-five te one hun- dred per cent in all coal and metal plants in the Soviet Union, bring- ing sharply ‘before the workers the contrast between conditions in the workers’ republic and in capitalist controlled United States, especially after the announcement of a six hundred million dollar surplus in the U. 8. Steel Corp. treasury. Company guards have been doubled within the last few days in most of the mills around Pittsburgh. GENERAL MOTORS “HOOVER AND AFL BEGINS DRIVE T0 | OFFICIALS LONG [Millions Are Hit By | New, Widespread | Conspiracy Oil Companies to Act Attempt to Save Boss | Profits; Crisis Worse | NEW YORK.—Millions of Amer-} ican workers will have their wages | slashed on October 1 in the first | dratsic, open wage slashing drive ever | experienced in this country. The | action of the United States Steel | Corporation, as well as every other | steel mill in the country, along with | the wage cuts of 10-20 per cent of | the General Motors Corporation, the | U. S. Rubber Co., the American | Smelting & Refining Co., the Utah | Copper Co., and the pending wage | slashes in the Standard Oil, Sinclair | Oil, and the other oil corporations, is a concerted plot engineered together with the Hoover government, aided | by the American Federation of Labor |to smash down the standard of liv- ing of the American workers in order |to increase the profits of the bosses. | Over 1,000,000 workers are affected |in the steel industry alone, and sey- eral millions will be hit in the auto- | mobile, rubber and copper industry. Though the oil companies have not HITAUTOTOILERS| PLANNED CUTS 22. eee Begin With 10 to 20 PC Whole Policy Favored Wage Cut for Offices | Present Drive DETROIT, Mich., Sept. 22.—Wwage | WASHINGTON, Sepi. 23. — The cuts will now sweep the entire auto- | role of the Hoover government, and mobile industry. No doubt is left on the function of the American Fed- this score after the action of the | eration of Labor officials such as General Motors Co. which announces | wijjiam Green and "Mathew Woll, a 10 to 20 per cent wage cut for its who have consistently supported its “salaried employes” on October 1. | attitude on wages, is now clearly ex- ‘This was the way the United States | posed in the present renewed, open Steel Corporation began its pay cuts | wage slashing campaign inaugurated which swept that industry, hitting by the United States Steel Corpor- over 1,000,000 steel workers. | ation, General Motors and the Uni- Coming on the day the United; ted States Rubber Company. States Steel Corporation announced President Hoover himself has re- its wage cut for steel workers, the | mained silent, giving official expres- statement by Alfred P. Sloan, Jr., | sion through “spokesmen” such as president of the General Motors| Dr. Klein and Secretary Lamont, of Corp., can be considered part of the | the Department of Commerce. general wage cutting drive, intended Hoover For Cuts as the opener for the automobile in-| secretary Lamont, however, some- dustry. | time ago in the instance of the strike Admitting that the General Motors of the Rhode Island textile workers action is a prelude to a general drive | against wage slashes declared “wage- against wages, the financial editor of | cuts are justified in certain indus- the New York Evening Post on| tries.” Tuesday wrote: | “In the event that General Mo- tors takes the initative by reducing salaries, it is natural to expect a — similar move on the part of its competitors. Furthermore, the re- duction in salaries, which General Motors is expected to announce, cuts. While Lamont “regretted” the | wage cuts on October 1 to effect mil- lions, Dr. Klein said “there will be | hell to pay throughout the United | States in the event of a general wage (CONTINUED ON PAGE THREE) (CONTINUED ON PAGE THREE) (CONTINUED ON PAGE THREE) T. U. U. L. Calls on All Workers for a Struggle Against Wage Cuts To all steel workers. To the industries, To all unions and leagues of the Trade Union Unity League, To all district and city T-U.U.L. To the rank and file members of the A. F of L. unions and the railroad brotherhoods, Fellow Workers ; The United States Steel Corporation, the Bethlehem Steel and numerous smaller steel companies have announced a new and sweep- ing wage cut of ten per cent and more affect- the du Pont Rayon Corporation at Richmond, Va ing every steel worker in their employ. ready it is announced that this will‘be followed workers of all|by similar action by every steel ‘company in the United States. It must be remembered that this is not the first cut in the steel work- ers’ pay during the present crisis: There have been numerous cuts since November, 1929. This additional slash of the workers’ wages will mean greater starvation to the steel workers and their families who make up millions of our class who already because of low wages and part time work are living at the brink of star- vation. Signal for Cuts in Every Industry Nor must we forget that this action by the powerful steel companies is the signal for wage cuts in every industry of the country. Already simultaneous with the announcement Councils, Al- (CONTINUED ON PAGE THREE) ARTY a This was admitted by all the; | capitalist newspapers to mean that | the Hoover government favored wage | plans are laid to go along in the wage slashing drive. In New ‘York the longshoremen, thanks to the assistance of the A. F. lof L. affiliate, the International Longshoremen’s Union, are faced | with a heavy pay slash of 15-25 per j cent on Oct. 1. | That the wage cut will not be re- | stricted to these largest corporations, connected with the leading imperial- ist banks, and directly cooperating with their government, is shown by a statement in the Hoover-supporting New York Sun which says that “the possibility that the wage cutting | would spread was foreseen.” In tl eel industry, every plant in the cou has declared wages | Would be slashed on October ist, and one of the leading forces in the Pitts- burgh area is the Pittsburgh Steel | Co., owned and controlled by Andrew Mellon, Secretary of the Treasury | and one of th eleading forces in the Hoover government: , Mellon, to- gether with Hoover, has been de- claring that wages would not be slashed T.U.U.L. Calls for Strikes. The Trade Union Unity League has issued a statement branding the con- piracy of the leading bosses, the gov- ernment and the A. F. of L. as an open attack against the entire work- jing-class which must be resisted im- mediately by organized action in the form of strikes. | Foreseeing the incoming wage cuts, | the Metal Workers Industrial League | arranged for a conference of steel workers to be held in Pittsburgh on Sept. 27, “to become the rallying cen- ter for the organization of the fight against the steel barons.” To further organize the resistance | of the workers to this general at- | tack, the National Committee of the |Trade Union Unity League will hold a meeting in the heart of the steel industry, Pittsburgh, Oct. 3 and 4, “which will be a rallying point not only for the struggle against wage cuts in the steel industry but in all industries.” Under the protection of the big corporations, which are closely iden- tified with the government through Mellon, Lamont, Doak, Hoover, Stim- son, Hurley—all of whom are con- nected in some manner or other with j these big corporations and profit personally by the wage slashes—all | the other employers will rush through wage slashes whether these had heretofore been carried out or not. These cuts are just the beginning of a general drive that will keep up (CONTINUED ON PAGE THREE) ¢ UR ANGER INTO ACTION! STRIKE! ATTACK ON ALL U. S. TOILERS AIM 10 TURN WAR IN CHINA AGAINST USSR | |France Welcomes Jap- | anese Advance as | Aimed at USSR . March On Harbin ' | BULLETIN, All American capitalist papers are running scream lines over Manchurian dispatches, alleging Soviet mobilization on the border, and even reporting Chinese “opin- ion” that the Soviet has a “secret agreement” with Japan to “divide Manchuria.” This is an attempt to turn attention from Japanese * seigure of Chinese territory and the distinctly menacing aggression of Japan toward the Soviet Union, It is most significant that a N. Y. Post dispatch from Paris infers the anti-Soviet character of the whole military advance in Manchuria, as follows: “PARIS. dvices received in Paris today from the Orient are that the Japanese occupation of Manchuria is designed to be per- manent. The French attitude is exceedingly friendly to Japan. A Russian army upon,the border of Manchuria is reported to be un- able to cope with Japanese troops.” That the Japanese drive for im- perialist annexation is mounting and threatens the Soviet border is seen in dispatches telling of the movement of Japanese troops to- wards Harbi According to these reports it indicated that the Japanese have made the seizure of the Chinese Eastern Railway, which is operated jointly by the Soviet and China, their immediate objec- tive. The New York Daily ports; “Another Rengo (Japanese) dis- patch from Harbin said Russian Consul-General Orloy had sent a note drawing attention of Japan- ese Consul-General Qhashi that train service on the Chinese East- ern Railway was being hampered through the Japanese occupation of Kwan-Cheng-tse, near Chang- chun and the Soviet note asked what measures Japan proposed to rectify the situation.” News re- NEW YORK, Sept. 23.—The sharp- ening development of the war situa- (CONTINUED ON PAGE THREE. ‘Boss Economists | Fear Collapse of Capitalist System The following item by Ralph Hendershot, financial editor of the N. Y. World Telegram, speaks for itself. It appeared in the Tele- gram of September 23, “Unless drastic measures are taken to prevent it, the capital- ist system throughout the civil- ized world will be wrecked with- in a year. I should like this pre- | diction to be filed for future ref- ence.’ “That statement is supposed to have been made in a private letter several months ago by | Governor Norman, of the Bank | of England, to Governor Moret, | of the Bank of France. It is a | daring prediction for any man of prominence to make, and par- ticularly daring for a man occu- | pying the position Mr. Norman does., I doubt very much that he wrote it or even said it, but whether or not he did, Wall Street is discussing it and some of our important financiers are taking it quite seriously. “In the opinion of C. F. Childs & Co. one of the oldest and most respected banking firms in the financial district, ‘such a statement may reflect more than a half truth respecting the sit