The Daily Worker Newspaper, September 25, 1931, Page 1

(Section of the Communist International) Vol. VIII, No. 231 Entered as sccond-claxs matter at the Post Office p20 at New York, N. Y., under the act of March 3, 1879 NEW YORK, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1931 CITY EDITION WORKERS OF THE WORLD, UNITE! Price 3 Cents STRIKE MUST BE ANSWER TO GENERAL WAGE CUT DRIVE Organize and Strike! Answer the Liars, War-Makers and Wage Cutters OU, the millions of workers who have, overnight, had your already Y miserable wage scales cut, should have your eyes fixed upon the con- ference of the Metal Workers Industrial League at Pittsburgh next Sun- day, because upon that conference rests the historic task of leading the strike struggles against wage cuts, of answering the new offensive led by the ,U. S. Steel Corporation. Workers! You should understand that this is a new offensive! There have been wage cuts before—ever since Hoover, the bosses and the A. F. of L. made their infamous “No wage cut; no strike” agreement in November, 1929. ‘There have been wage cuts against, now this section, now that section, of the working class. There have been wage cuts in steel too, since 1929! But now there is a GENERAL wage cut attack! By these piece-meal wage cuts, by the speed-up, by part-time work under the Hoover-Green “stagger” plan, and by total unemployment, the American working class as a whole suffered a total wage cut of twelve Billion dollars ($12,000,000,000) from 1929 to 1930! Now, workers, millions of you are having your wage scales attacked again! In steel, automobile, rubber, oil, railroads—everywhere! Do you understand, now, workers, that American capitalists are no “better” than capitalists in other lands? Yes, do you understand further that American capitalists lead those of the whole world in wage cuts against the workers? Do you see, now, that it was YOUR interests, too, that was attacked when American bankers made their “help to Germany” dependent upon the wages of millions of German workers being cut? Do you under- stand now, that YOU, too, were attacked, when American bankers re- fused to loan money to the British Government until it had cut wages and reduced the relief being given to the unemployed? Did you think that attacks on German and British workers had “nothing to do with you?” That you would not be affected? I: so, what NOW do you think? Workers, do you remember that the Communist Party repeatedly warned you that the capitalists lied when they said they would not cut wages? That on Noy. 23, 1929, at the time of the Hoover-Capitalist- A. F, of L. agreement, the Communist Party told you that that agree- ment was aimed: “First, to reduce the standards of the workers. Second, to intensify the capitalists’ drive for more foreign markets.” We also told you, workers, that the struggle for foreign markets “can only result in war.” Do you not see now that war is approaching, even as the wage cuts are already here—a living fact? Who was it that told you the truth, workers? Was it Hoover, or the treacherous A. F. of L.? ‘Was it the fake “socialist” party, which said the agreement was “a good thing” except that the “socialists” were not invited to Hoover's confer- ence? Or was the ONLY ones who told you the truth the Communist Party, leader of all struggles of the working class? ‘Think, workers, what was the purpose of Hoover in promising you in 1929 that there would be “no wage cuts”! Was it not what the Daily Worker told you it was—‘“soothing syrup” to put you to sleep, while the bosses proceeded to attack your wages? Hoover is “silent” now, today! But he is responsible for the promise he spoke in 1929! And Hoovor will “speak,” all right, with police and troops, machine guns and police clubs, when you STRIKE against the wage cuts! Do you see, now, workers, how the American Federation of Labor, headed by the fascists, Wm. Green and Matthew Woll, have tricked you? Especially do you rank and file workers of the A. F. of L. understand now how Green & Co. have deliberately betrayed you? Do you see NOW, that the Communists were correct in warning you of betrayal? In calling you to rally to the independent leadership of the revolutionary Trade Union Unity League? Green, head of the A. F. of L., in Nov. 1929, also told you there would be “no wage cuts” and he pledged the bosses the A. F. of L. would not allow any strikes. Up till now Green would not admit that there had been any wage cuts! Green can no longer say that. But what DOES he say? i Green is “protesting’—but only in words. Only a few months ago, Green declared that the A. F. of L. would “resist” wage cuts—“even to striking.” But TODAY, Green does not so much as use the word “strike”! And the only thing Green does say, is the ridiculous “threat” to try to get the @apitalist government to “reduce the tariff”! What a dirty traitor! What a clear case of the A. F. of L. leadership betraying the workers, even the A. F. of L. membership! Nowhere in Green’s pretended “protest,” is there one word of con- sideration for the effect of the wage cuts on the workers and their wives and babies! Green is only concerned about how the cuts will “injure in- dustry"! Woll is “disappointed”—but not for the workers—only for “the count”! The A. F. of L. leaders don’t give a damn if the workers starve! They are only worried at the possibility that the capitalists and the capitalist government may be “stirriug up social unrest and Com- munism”! Again, workers, you see how the A, F. of L. kind of “five-day week” and “stagger” system works. It is adopted by the U. S. Rubber Trust as a part of the Wage Cut Drive! The Communist Party demands a Seven- ‘Hour Day and five-day week with no reduction in, total wages! The U. 8S. Rubber Trust takes the A. F. of L. “proposal” of a five-day week that says nothing about wages—and adopts it as a wage cut of eleven per cent! Workers, if you believe the capitalist papers, you cannot see anybody that is really in favor of wage cuts; Hoover “deplores” them, the capi- talists “regret” them, the A. F. of L. is “opposed” to them—but WAGES ARE CUT! Who is to blame? “Nobody” will be the answer of the capitalists, their papers, their government ‘and their A. F. of L. agents in the ranks of the workers! And only the Communists will tell you that all these liars, war-makers are responsible! Only the Communists will give you loyal leadership in the strike struggles you must begin to save yourselves from starvation! Organize and strike against wage cuts! Demand unemployment in- surance and relief for the jobless! Stecl workers, upon you is laid the duty of leading the battles on the front line cf the class struggle! Hail the conference of the Metal Workers’ Industrial League! Steel workers, prepare to STRIKE! Profits for Bosses Rise As Wages Are Cut General Motors Co. 1930 (Dec.) 1931 (July) Total Assets “ $1,315,813,059 $1,357,747,751 Net Earnings $105,932,428 $84,122,176 From 1923 to 1930 inclusive, the total net income of the U. 8. Steel Co. exceeded $900,000,000, over $416,000,000 being made from 1927-1930. From 1923 to 1930 the corporation paid a regylar dividend of 7 per cent, with a 49 per cent stock dividend in 1928 and an extra dividend of 1 per cent in 1929, In 1929 ©. G. Grace, president of the Bethlehem Corp., received $1,624,000 in Vonures. In 1930 he got $1,016,009. Between 1918 and 1930 Grace's bonus has averaged $815,000 a year. Grace’s salary is $12,000 a year, Schwab, the chairman of Bethlehem, has received an annual salary of $150,000 from 1921 to 1929, Last year it was raised to $250,000. The earnings of Bethlehem between 1918-1930 after deducting the huge bonus payments amounted to $218,577,368. On July 30, 1931, Eugene Grace said: “The steel industry in the United States was never in a sounder position to take care of itself. ‘The industry is very sound financially in this country.” PREPARE 10 “HIT ENGLISH ~ COMMUNISTS Opposition | “Socialist” | Prepares Fascist | Dictatorship | Inflation Is Certain War Threatens Thru} Market Struggle | | | Thousands of workers throughout | | Great Britain are protesting against | the wage cuts and the dole cuts in the MacDonald “economy” budget. At Glasgow 50,000 workers demon- strated Wednesday and police re- serves were called out. The workers | | burned the local magistrate in effi- | gy. The militancy of the workers was | so great that the police did not dare make any arrests. In Liverpool the | police smashed a parade of 6,000 | workers. In Birmingham 5,000 work- {ers paraded. es toe | (Cable by Inprecorr) | BERLIN, Sept. 24—It is probable, according to reports from London, that there will be an attack on the British Daily Worker. of the paper have been under con- | (CONTINUED ON | PARTY MUST BE | ON BALLOT IN ALL DISTRICTS | Signature C ollection Must Be Speeded in Last Few Days Owing to the broad activities car- ried on by the Communist Party sup- ported by the mass organizations, | there has been some negligence in collecting signatures in several very ‘important Assembly Districts. There | |is danger, therefore, that the Com- | |munist Party may not be on the ballot in these districts unless a full | mobilization of the Party, ¥. C. L. | members, unemployed workers, mem- ; bers of the mass organizations, turn | | out in full force to canvass the Blec- | | tion Districts and definitely put the | |Party on the ballot. Harlem, Down- | town East and West Side, Williams- | | burg, East New York, Brownsville, | and Astoria, Queens, are the danger | points. . We sound the alarm because it would be calamitous if with the most favorable possibilities, the Party should not get on the ballot in these districts. Therefore we appeal to all workers to appear at any one of the| | headquarters below enumerated at! | any time of the day or evening, espe- | cially on Saturday and Sunday, to! | go out collecting signatures. District Secretariat, | Communist Party, District 2. | The headquarters are: Manhattan: 134 E. 7th St. 301 West 29th St., 132 E. 26th St., 19 W.! | 129th St. | Brooklyn: 61 Graham Ave., 1383 43rd.St., 105 Thatford Ave., 313 Hins- | dale St., 412 Sutter “Ave., 261 Utica | Ave., 48 Bay 28th St., 799 Flushing | Ave., 48 Ten Eyck St., 118 Cook St. | Richmond: 797 Castleton Ave.,| | Staten Island. Queens: 3083 2nd Ave., Astoria, L. |L, c-o Ward, 2nd floor. Yonkers: 252 Warburton Ave. PAGE THREE) 38 Militiamen Help Workers | JAPANWAR Steel Workers Stop Evictions in Chicago Militancy of Workers and Guardsmen Foils Police Attempt to Arrest Them (Telegram to the Daily Worker) CHICAGO, UL, Sept. 24.—Thirty-five National Guardsmen and three Naval Reserve Guards, together with hundreds of workers, stopped the eviction of an unemployed worker here on Augusta and Oakley Sts. The police failed in an attempt to arrest three of the National Guardsmen because of the militancy of the guardsmen and the workers. Several of the Guardsmen joined the Young Communist League. Over 2,000 workers on Milwaukee and Evergreen Avenues defied the police for one hour, holding a street meeting and taking the speaker away from the police. Seven workers were arrested. Many other evic- tions have been stopped, and mass activity against throwing workers and their furniture out on the street for non-payment of rent is on the increase throughout the city. Mooney Calls for United Front AmnestyCampaign ln Solidarity Telegram to Harlem Miners, He Calls on Workers to Defend Their Advance Guard MOVES ARE ADVANCING Imperialist Troops On March to Harbin Against USSR Wall St. Wants Share ee | To Strikebreak Shidehara Says “No ‘o Strikebrea a: Interference!” |“It Is Morally Wrong” | Necomgetaeani nl iGreen-Hoover Met To MOSCOW, Sept. 24—Reports in a a the capitalist newspapers alleging the | Plan Wage Cut Drive | departure of Commissar of War Com- | connection with the Voroshiloy is | States Rubber Co. as well as other event, is unfounded. i m, |Morgan and Rockefeller interests remainil in SCOW. est lay ning in Moscow. ‘Yesterday he| som the mild statements of officials commanded maneuvers at the Mos-| of the American Federation of Labor cow garrison. fon the ocasion of the October 1st | hs he ha pay cut announcements. | NEW YORK.—Wireless dispatches Sartioutariy, & ¢ wil from Shanghai, China, to the New|," tcularly, the expressions of Wil- York Times state that. Japanese 2%" Green and Matthew Woll are ! NEW YORK.—Great satisfaction is | rade Voroshilov, to the Far Eastin | derived by the magnates of the United | Manchurian | States Steel Corporation, the United | The offices | | and solidarity,” NEW YORK, Sept. 2 .—A telegram will appear in the October issue of the Labor Defender, official organ of the) International Labor Defense, just, off the press, from Tom) Mooney in San Quentin, addressed to “the fighting miners of Harlan, Ky., in greetings-of genuine working class fellowship and calling upon@-—. militant workers to “tse as never| Alabama; the Harlan Negro and before” in a united front to free all| white miners still behind bars on class war prisoners. | flimsy charges of murder and crim- As Mooney wired this appeal from | inal syndicalism; the Imperial Valley vhis~ prison, cell, International Labor prisoners held for organizing agricul- Defense organizers in. 25 large Am- | tural workers; foreign born workers erican cities are rallying workers into | held for deportations and many huge mass demonstrations of protest | others. against his imprisonment on prejured| Mooney’s complete telegram fol- testimony of the power trusts in| lows: California. The ILD is tying up| “Fighting miners of Hiarlan: with this case other victoms of cap-| Greetings of genuine working-class italist justice, such as the eight | fellowship and solidarity. You face Scottsboro Negro boys, framed for | troops are planning a march on Har- bin, Manchuria, which is near So- viet territory. The reports in the capitalist newspapers about Soviet troops, massing at the border, and about the trip of Voroshilov to the Far East, is the capitalist propaganda jmaking it appear that the Soviets | (CONTINUED oN PAGE THREE) HOSIERY STRIKE SPREADING FA Local Musteites Try to exactly what the exploiters expected from their faithful servants in the A. P. of L. After remaining silent for a while, Green came out with a carefully worded statement, constructed not to hurt the feelings of the wage cutters, | and to mislead the workers, The strongest point in Green's statement is that wage cutting “is morally wrong and economically un- sound.” In order to cover up the extent of the wage cutting drive, Green goes so far as to minimize the amount of profits that the U. S. Steel Corporation will make out of the ten per cent wage slash. Green ays this will mean a loss to the workers of $25,000,000, when every capitalist sheet sets the figure at from $39,000,000 to $50,000,000. rape and facing the electric chair in | | (CONTINUED ON PAGE THREE) Birmingham Boss Press Incite ‘Terror Against Negro Worker BULLETIN CHATTANOOGA, Sept. 24—The Southern district of the Interna- tional Labor Defense today sent the folloving telegram to Gov. Miller protesting against Birmingham po- lice attempts to frame-up innocent Negro workers in connection with the shooting of three society wo- men: 5 “Identification of Willie Peter- son, unemployed miner, by Nell Williams while riding along street six or seyen weeks after event for which innocent Negroes have al- ready paid with their lives bears all the earmarks of a brazen frame- up. Hold you responsible for his life and safety. Demand cessation lynch terror in Alabama.” . | BIRMINGHAM, Ala., Sept, 24, — |The brutal police terror against the | Negro workers of this city flared up again ‘yesterday with the arrest of | another Negro worker, Willie Peter- | son, an unemployed coal miner. Peterson's arrest is part of the | frame-up attempts of the bosses and | the police to connect a Negro worker | with the murder of two society wo- | men and the wounding of a third on | August 3, last. | The local boss press today carry | the most vicious lynch-inciting ar- (CONTINUED ON PAGE THREF) DETROIT, Sept. 24—To support the violent capitalist offensive of wage cuts and crush the struggles ef the American workin class, the Le- gion chiefs today offered a resolu- tion to the convention calling upon Hoover to declare a national emer- . | gency as a pretext for completing the fascization of the capitalist govern- ment of the United States. PITTSBURGH, Pa., Sept. 24.—A strong strike situation is developing in Kentucky. Miners working 12 to 14 hours a day and starving are gird- ing for a real struggle. Already 8,000 miners in two countries where the situation is sharpest are members of the National Miners Union out of 13,000 to 14,000 in the territory. Thirty-six charters have been is- sued to locals meeting regularly in the woods, etc. Strikers in Harlan County, under great difficulties, are spreading organization in spite of the most tremendous terror. A real showing of strength was made at a conference where 125 dele- gates from,42 mines outwitted the 6 Though Starving, Ky. Miners Outwit Thugs, Build Union thugs roving the country in high- powered cars and met 37 other dele- gates who couldn't get through the thug's cordon, Meanwhile, Harlan si-ikers whose families literally are dying of the starvation disease, flux, have sent out a strong appeal for food. They are building up a real organization and now will spread the strike to defeat starvation. They need your help now. Their babies need food. They need even dry bread to keep them going while they build their organ- ization. Send every penny you can spare today to the Penn-Ohio Strik- ing Miners Relief Comnaittee, 611 Penn Ave., Pittsburgh, Pa. Legion Calls for Fascism to Suppress Workers’ Resistance Demand For Bonus Killed by Leaders In Committee The resolution would enable the | president to outlaw all strike strug- gles against the growing wage cuts, crush the struggles for unemploy- ment relief and’ social insurance and openly use the armed forces of the nation to enforce the capitalist star- vation program against the working class, The boss press gleefully points out that Hoover is empowered to carry out this vicious resolution un- der the national emergency act ap- proved by Congress, August 29, 1916. Yesterday, the convention further exposed the fascist role of the Le- gion by calling for stricter immigra- tion laws, for an intensification of the deportation terror aganst mili- tant foregn born workers, and for a vigorous war on the vankuard of the working class, the Communist Party, The convention also opposed any de- gree of disarmament whatever and called for the speeding up of the war preparations, which are directed eg- pecially against the Soviet Union. At the same time that the leaders of the Legion were putting across their fascist proposals, they were busy blackjacking and defeating the Behead Movement NEW YORK.—Four thousand ho- siery workers are striking against en- forcement of the 35-45 per cent wage cut agreement concluded by the Am- jerican Federation of Full Fashioned | Hosiery Workers, according to the | Daily News Record, a textile trade | journal. New York, New Jersey and | New England union mills are in- volved. As yet the movement against the pay cut contract of the AFFFHW misleaders is under the direction and influence of the secondary function- | aries of the national leaders (Muste- | ites), wifo are trying to head the strike movement off and prevent militant strike leadership. Emil Rieve, national president of the AFFFHW, said the national of- fice was opposed to the strike and that he would take sharp measures against the workers daring strike against the wage cut pact. The hosiery workers should organ- ize their own rank and file Strike | Committees to lead the strike. Green Against Striges t | | | Especially gr pressed in capi fact that Greeg pu mention of atisfaction is ex- quarters in the posely avoids any and that this statement on the actual announce- ment of the wage cuts is milder than any ever made by Green in the past Most typical of the capitalist greet- ings of the A. F. of L. reaction to the wage cut drive is the following taken from the Herald Tribune . special Washington correspondent: “It was considered significant, however, that in this first formal statement from the American Fed- “strike,” HALT MURDER OF CHILEAN SAILORS! Demonstrate Saturday At Consulate | NEW YORK—tLatest dispatches | from Chile tell about the prosecution | of dezens of Chilean sailors for their | Participation in the sailors’ mutiny - foy better conditions. In addition to the six sailors upon whom death sentence has been imposed many others are to be murdered by the i: American imperialism is directly | Sentiment of the rank and file for. implicated in this murderous drive immediate cash payment of the | Chilean bosses Graveyard Bonus. The demand for | against the workers and sailors of the bonus payment which would have | Chile. The Young Communist League helped to relieve the sufferings of the | of the New York District has taken more than 50,000 unemployed vet-|the lead in calling a demonstration erans and their starving families was | © demand the unconditional release killed by the capitalists and otti- | Of the Chilean sailors. Al}. workers S | should be down this Saturday, Sept. cers in the sub-committee of the | 26th, at 1 p. m. at the Chilean Con- legislative committee. sulate, 17 Whitehall St. Demand for Relief from Gov’t Nineteen unemployed workers from Winnipeg, Canada, including forty children, marched on the Parliament building to demand relief for them- selves, the Canadian press reports. They settled in the hall of the build- ing to await definite action on their cases from the government. According to the report the fam- ilies were barred from the limited charity relief being doled out be- cause they had not lived long enough in Winnipeg. The demands for relief of the tam- ilies were presented to Minister Clubb jof Public Works, by Thomas 0. Woods of the National Unemployed Workers Association, corresponding to the Unemployed Councils in the United States, ANOTHER JOBLESS SUICIDE ROCHESTER, Sept. 17. — The Rochester Times Union reports: “Despondent over lack of work, according to police, Barbara Hance, 21, took poison at the home of friends, 212 Lyndhurst St, where she was staying, and died two hours later at Municipal Hospital early last evening. “Coroner Atwater issued a cer- tificate of death by suicide while insane.” ip \ ha Jobless Winnipeg Families in ! Mass Meeting Sat. Plan Strike \Capitalists Greet AFL’ ] nT | Statement As Offer WAGE CUT NEXT FOR 1,200,000 R.R. WORKERS SURE Hoover, Green, Doak Have Planned It BULLETIN PITTSBURGH, Pa., Sept. 24.—A mass meeting of steel workers at Pythian Temple here will be ad- dressed by William Z. Foster, Bill | Dunne, John Meldon, Frank Borich, | I. Hawkins and Edith Brisker on Sat- urday night before the National Con- ference of the Metal Workers Indus- trial League opens. The conference call and stickers have been plastered around all steel towns where the workers are heat- edly talking about the announced wage cuts. Big delegations are ‘coming from Mansfield, O., where last week 800 workers marched upon the plant su- perintendent demanding more work, and two additional days were grant- ed there. Homestead, Pa., an impor- tant steel town, sent credentials for 40 delegates. Other steel cities will have proportionate delegations. The Metal Workers Industrial League headquarters is the center of activity, with workers coming from the mills far and near for leaflets, bringing reports, etc. The Conference Workers Cenier, 10. This will be a truly ference, the most Si 1919, the year of the great steel when over 390,000 steel wor! struck. It comes in the midst of tre- mendous wage cuts which were lony anticipated by the L ue when the conference was called. is opens NEW YORK.—The next step ir the general wage cutting drive be an attack on the ra ers. Action on the s 1 where the bankers and stock blers cleaned up on th wage cuts which pushed stocks up, shows that a wage cut is coming for the railroad workers. Besides, the pay slashes are spreading to other industries. ming The industries in which over 2,000,- C00 workers have been already hit by wage cuts are steel, auto, rubber, copper, oil, textiles and brickmaking. Most. important in the October 1 (CONTINUED ON P. STRIKES IN FUR SHOPS DECIDED Workers Hear Unity | Conference Report A huge open air meeting of fur workers was held after- noon at 29th St. and Seventh Ave. to hear the report of last night’s so- called “unity conference.” J. Wino- gradsky, one of the delegates, J Schiller, active furriers, and Sam | Bert, reported on their fight to have |an open conference in the presence of the mass of the furriers who are most vitally concerned about this question of unity. The workers responded enthhsi- astically to the program of the In- dustrial Union for real unity in the | shop in the struggle for better con- ditions. The meeting pledged sup- port to the Industrial Union and de- |cided to spread the shop strikes | throughout the industry. It was also decided that the workers march in organized ranks to the conference which is to take place on Monday, and regardless of any police inter- | ference insist on an open conference iin the presence of the fur workers. | The committee of 50 elected at the | Cooper Union meeting will meet to- | night to take up some very import- ant matters. All the delegates are) ~ yesterday