The Daily Worker Newspaper, October 1, 1931, Page 1

NEE «| (Section of the C ommunist esc Satis OF WORKERS THE WORLD, UNITE! __ Vol. VIL, No. 236 at New York, N. ¥., Entered as second-class matter at the Post Office <5 mder the act of March 3, 1979 NEW YORK, THURSDAY, ( OCTOBER, i, 1931 ——= Price 3 Cent ts MASS MEETS IN STEEL TOWNS PREPARE 10 RESIST CUTS! Which Would You Have for Mayor? 'T is well known that Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is administered by the “so- cialist” party, the mayor being a prominent “socialist,” Mr. Daniel W. Hoah. The “socialist” party never tires of referring to “the Milwaukee system”. of sunposedly “adequate and effective” unemployment relief. In fact Mayor Hoan himself was so entranced with the Milwaukee “socialist” system of “solving’* the unemployment problem, that he re- cently spent a day, September 23, at a conference of mayors of all Wis- consin cities, telling his fellow mayors of the beauties of “socialist” ad- ministration of city affairs in general and the “socialist solution” of unemployment in particular. The only treuble was that, when Mayor Hoan returned home to the “socialist” paradise of Milwaukee, where “the homeless cease from wan- dering and the weary-are at rest,” he found that his own brother, George, sixty years old and unemployed for eighteen months, had, in despera- tion at his plight as a jobless worker in this heavenly “socialist” city, done him the ill turn to hang himself in the mayor's own garage! No doubt Mayor Hoan will not cease to “explain” to workers that Milwaukee, under administration of the “socialist” party, is “adequately and effectively” caring for the unemployed. But the suicide of his own unemployed brother on his very doorstep is something of a setback, However, he may fall back upon the bible and ask: “Am I my brothet’s keeper?” But the shameless hypocrisy of the “socialist” party toward relief to the jobless in both Milwaukee and Reading, Pa., will remain as the brand of Cain on the brow of these demagogues. Qi course the “socialists” may adopt a pose of self-righteousness under the pretense that they are “different” than the capitalist politicians, who see that their brothers, sisters and all their friends are given fat city jobs, but the fact remains that in England, Germany, Austria and other counties, as well as in Milwaukee and Reading, the socialists have been first class carriers-out of the policy of the capitalist class in stary- ing the unemployed on a mass scale, and it chanced that Mayor Hoan’s brother was not favored by the mayor and remained in the outer darkness of the starving mass. By chance, the mail service of the International Press Corespondence brings us at this time the program of a Communist mayor, Comrade Alexander, just elected by the workers of the town of Boizenburg in Mecklenburg, Germany. He announces that his activities as mayor will be guided by the following principles: “The poll tax and beer tax will not be introduced. Unemployed workers and those earning less than a certain sum will be freed from light and water charges. All taxes by the city to be on a sliding scale according to income. The forty-hour week for all city employes without any reduction in wages. No reduction of taxes. for big firms and com- panies, special consideration for small tradesmen, etc, “Mayor Alexander will take all important city plans to a discussion of the electors-in mass meetings. He declares that it is necessary to ‘abolish the police force and to substitute for it a Workers’ Militia, paid for out-of a special tax on the employers.” Tt is stated also that: “Mayor Alexander's programm has horrified the capitalist press, but has aroused tremendous enthusiasm among the toiling masses of Boizen- burg and the neighborhood.” And well might the activity of any Communist mayor in the United States, in taking steps to see that the unemployed are really fed, housed and clothed at the expense of the rich, arouse horror in the American capitalist press. But that is only another reason why workers should vote Communist in all city and state elections. But as for Mayor Hoan and ,the American “socialist” party and its famous “Milwaukee system,” the capitalist press expresses not even a quiver of horror at the suicide of any jobless worker, even when he is the brother of one of their best demagogues in preventing unemployment relief under the false flag of “socialism.” Workers, which would you have for mayor, a fake “socialist,” or a Communist? Call On Werkers to Fight Against Yokinen Deportation NEW YORK.—The New York Dis-| issued by Carl Hacker, secretary of trict of the International Labor De- fense has launched a fight to force a reversal of the decision of the U. 8. District. Court, handed down Mon- day, to deport August Yokinen, mili- tant Finnish worker, to the fascist government of Finland. Yokinen is being victimized be- cause at a public trial, held last March by the Communist Party, he pleaded guilty to the charge of race discrimination against Negroes and declared his determination to fight for full economic, social and poll- tical equality for the Negro people. The, alleged reason for his deporta- tion is that Yokinen is a member of an organization that “advocates the overthrow of the government by force and violence,” despite the fact that the Communist. fae A is a legal Carol Weiss King, attorney for the International Labor Defense, is filing ‘an appeal in the case. A statement the New York I. L. D., calls all work- ers to intensify the fight to save Yokinen. The statement declares: “The legal steps that are being taken to, save Yokinen can be suc- cessful only if they are backed by a powerful mass movement. Every worker, Negro and white, native and foreign-born, must rally to the fight to snatch Yokinen from the bloody hands of the fascist dictators of Fin- land to whom the Department of Labor is trying to deliver him. His deportation would be a blow not only at the movement to smash the gov- ernment’s deportation drive, but also at the struggle for the unity of the Negro and white workers. “We must act before it is too late. Workers’ organizations, as well as in- dividuals, should send protest tele- grams to of Labor Doak. Support the fight of the I. L. D.! All forces united to save Yokinen!” DLE ‘TRADES UNION URGES © ALL DEMONSTRATE FOR MOONEY NEW YORK.—The Needle Trades Workers Industrial Union yesterday issued an appeal to all needle trades workers to rally to the great demon- stration Saturday, Oct. 3, at 12:30 _2. m,, in Union Square, that will de- mand the release of Tom Mooney, the Harlan prisoners, the Scottsboro boys and all other class war pris- oners. The demonstration is being arranged by the New York District of the International Labor Defense. The Union call states: “We, the needle trades workers who have been in the front ranks of the fighters against the pogroms carried through in our trade by the A. F. , ot L, and the bosses, 4nd who have % suffered imprisonment and persecu- tion by the bosses’ courts, must rally in thousands to this demonstration Saturday and send delegates to the Mooney Defense Conference, Oct. 11. “Mobilize in your shops to come as organized bodies with your slogans and banners to Saturday's demon- stration.” The great defense conference Sun- day, October 11, at 10 a.m., will be held in Irving Plaza, 15th St. and Irving Place. All workers’ organi- zations, revolutionary unions, A. F. of J.. locals, shop groups, clubs, etc., are urged to send delegates. | this week and next to do their share STORM JAIL “TO FREE COMRADES Labor Party Tries to Divert Masses From Struggle Aid Fascist Attack) Issues Platform With: Boss Planks Thousands of workers protesting against the hunger budget of Mac- Donald clashed militantly with the police before the British Museum in London Wednesday. The workers resisted the charge of mounted cops. The workers gathered early to de- mand the freeing of the eleven work- ers who had been jailed for parti- cipating in the demonstration Tues- day at Parliament. Several clashes with the police took place, including one at Hyde Park. The workers re- fysed to obey the police order that there be no demonstrations within a mile radius of the House of Par- liament. The whole night between Tuesday and Wednesday was filled with clashes of the workers andthe po- lice. The police of the MacDonald government are preparing to use the | most vicious terror against the mil- itant resistance of the workers. So militant has the resistance of the workers become, that one of the former leaders of the Mosley fascist party already warns of the possibility of a general strike and “revolution- ary socialism.” Ra pager (Cable By Inprecorr) LONDON, Sept. 30.—Last night a huge demonstration supported the (CONTINUED ON PAGE THREE) NEEDLE WORKERS TO AID BAZAAR Members of the Needle Workers’ Industrial Union are now busily en- gaged in sewing articles of apparel for the Daily Worker-Freiheit-Young Worker Bazaar to be held at Madison Square Garden, Oct. 8, 9, 10 and 11. Further activity in this direction is necessary, however, and all« dress- makers, milliners, etc., have a chance in making the bazaar a success. The bazaar committee calls on all mil- liners who can do so to come to the union headquarters at 131 West 28th St., where a shop has been installed to make hats for the bazaar. Come your aid will be welcome. Work in other directions for the bazaar is also progressing. Three branches of the International Work- ers Order have already sent in greet- ings to the bazaar journal. Eight Party units have also sent in greet- ings. Other Party units are lagging behind in this important matter. And remember, tle mass confer- ence on the bazaar will be held to- night, at the Workers Center, 35 East 12th Street, Room 205. All units and all branches of mass organiza- ® JOBLESS FIGHT MACDONALD POLICE, |Greater Number of Suicides in N.Y. As | Jobless Grows | NEW YORK.—“Suicides in 1930 in the entire state of New York | numbered 2,345, the greatest total | ever recorded,” states the Amer- ican Journal of Public Health. This figure is an increase of 22 }per cent above the average rate for the preceeding five years. In the period from 1920 to 1930 suicides doubled from 1,189 a year | to 2,345 while the population of | the state increased only 21 per cent. The suicides, says the Jour-| | nal, was mostly among men. It fails to say that these men were mostly among workers andj others made so insanely desperate | | by their misery under capitalism | | that they no longer had the cour- | | age to face the struggle any longer. | This Journal, a trué capitalist | health magazine, hides the back- | | ground for the huge increase since 1929. It doesn’t want to tell how capitalism t*-2~" millions out of bls oe i. eay means of sup- poic G. xelief and forced weaker workers to end their misery or escape from seeing their families suffering by ending their lives. WIN STRIKE AT LOFT CANDY CO. KEEPS 48 HOURS, Retain Vi ictory | Need Organization to) NEW YORK.—The 3,000 workers of the Loft Candy plant in Long Island City went back to work this morning having won back their 48 hour week after three days of strike. This victor was due to the splendid | fight put up by the young workers, who were not terrorized by the club- | bing and shooting of the police. A very important factor in this vic- tory was the 'presence of the Food | When the | sisting that the workers accept the | Workers Industrial Union. Loft Co. saw that they could not chase the union organizers from the | factory and that more and more of the workers were beginning to de- mand that the union be given the leadership of the strike -it hurriedly gave up the struggle. This victory could have been much greater had the workers been or- ganized. The gangsters who two days ago attempted to sell-out the strikers on the basis of a 54 hour week are responsible for this lack of organization. A union would have hindered their activities. The Loft bosses will soon begin to the shop any evening after 6 and | to fire the most active of the strik- ers on one pretext or another. They will begin to introduce various meth- ods of speeding up the workers and so get back indirectly what they now lost. The only way the workers can hold on to their victory is by cr- gaz‘zing a committee with represen- tattves of every d-partment This rcommittee wil aivivs be on the watch against the bosses. The workers must join the Food Workers Indus- trial Union which backed them dur- ing the fight and which will continue to show the workers of Loft how to tions are urged to be sure to send delegates. " keep the present victory and gain better conditions. Sentiment for The Workers Ex-Service Men's League will hold special mobilization meetings tonight in Hartem and at Branch No. 1 headquarters, 79 East 10th Street. The demands of the veterans on the boss relief lines and the thous- ands of other unemployed veterans, former satiors and marines are gain- ing specd cvery day. Reports com- ing in from New Jersey and other sections show that veterans from those sections are planning to join the “Third Big Parade” on Broadway. Workers’ organizations are calling for special Veterans’ leaflets to dis- tribute and in Harlem the Negro papers are coming out for relief for the unemployed and the Veterans. ‘This week's issue of one of the Ne- ero papers. carries a long editorial Demands of War Veterans Grows Daily which says in part: “The bankers and the big interests support and fin- ance the republican party (the demo- cratic and socialist parties also) and the bankers and the big interests are bitterly opposed to paying the ex- service men the money justly due them. It is our belief that this had much to do with the president's eleventh hour decision to adress the legion. Somebody or maybe a num- ber of somebodies, decided that here was a splendid opportunity for the president to barter beer for bonus at the American Legion convention.” While this paper along with hun- dreds of other Negro papers of the working class are pointing out Hoo- ver's trick, the veterans are showing their anger by organizing the big demonstration on Friday. |New York, New |Northampton Hills successfully pick- ;Fashioned Hosiery Workers 3000 PICKETS DEMORALIZE READING MILL Had Marched From | Many Outside Centers To Spread the Strike So i Officials Betraying | National Textile Union | Calls Mass Meeting READING, Pa., Sept. three thousand hosiery Jersey 30.—Nearly strikers of and the eted the Berkshire Hosiery Mill in Reading today and succeeded in Hall to Hear of Fight On Cuts: |Workers Want Report LAWRENCE, Mass., Sept. 30.—Textile workers, jamming two halls at a meeting called last night, served notice of their determination to resist the wage cut of ten per cent to take place on October 13th. The mill workers enthusiastically received the speakers, Berkman, Burlak and Garlin. They pledged support to the International Labor Defense. Workers took the floor denouncing the wage cut. The activities of the National Textile Workers Union was suppressed in the press at the time the UTW was splashed over the boss press with a small meeting of fakers. McMahon, Governor Ely and the mill owners and city com- mittee held a conference which put over the wage cut through the city hall. The N.T.W, is holding daily mass meetings and a huge meeting is planned for Saturday on an empty lot. A statement has been issued calling for a united front committee of workers against the united front of the A. F. of L. bosses and citizens committee. bringing out a number of the Berk- | shire workers and demoralizing the | work in the mill. The hosiery work- | ers are striking noi only against the | bosses’ rotten conditions, but also against the wage cuts of the officials | of the American Federation of Full) who | wanted to force upon the workers a | forty-five percent wage cut. In spite of the sabotage of the union / officials, like. Rieve, Smith, Callaghan, Holderman and McKeown the ranks of the strikers are solid and they are more determined to strike the Berkshire mill. At Thursday night's meeting of | the leading committee, a bitter fight | took place between the rank and file and representatives of the locals | against the sabotege and strike- | breaking,” wage cut officials. ‘The | workers raised the demand of split- | ting from the A. F. F. H. W., parti- |cularly the Milwaukee delegates from the new union. Some officials, like Holderman, see- | spirit, were forced to come along | with the strikers, but only a few days |before were against the strike, in- forty-five percent wage cut, check Over a thousand workers were present. Strike sentiment is being organized through a series of meetings scheduled for next week. Man- chester workers are preparing strike in support of the Lawrence workers. The union has started an organization strike fund. The Wokers In- ternational Relief is preparing now for a big drive to set up relief machinery for the forthcoming strike. ‘Steel Workers ‘at ‘Verona, Pa. ‘Mass Meet Sign ‘Up: for Strike | Meeting of Aluminum Workers Who Got Cuts} Will Be Held During Week PITTSBURGH, Pa., Sept. 30.—The first of a number of local meetings and conferences fol-|” lowing the Pittsburgh Mass Conference of | steel workers was held in Verona, Pa., Monday) night, with over 150 steel workers and some miners jamming the hall. The program of organization and| greeted, and almost every man in the hall signed up when one of the newly elected National Committee called for applications. | Blaw Knox, and from the Edgewater Steel workers were present from the company town of | \off and scab agreement. The work- | Steel. Blaw Knox cut wages a couple ers state “We are against the bosses | of months ago and is due to cut them and the union.” The strike is being weakened due | the union officials vefuse to call out the Philadelphia hosiery workers. which is the biggest hosiery center on strike, together wth New Jersey |nda New York. Consequently the Berkshire work- delphia workers who are mostly or- ganized, are actually scabbing upon the workers by not striking. The strikers favorably received the tile Workers Union to organize 1 rank and file strike committee and kick all the wage cut officials out, to or- ganize local relief committee to feed the out of town delegates now in Reading, and send a big delegation to pull the Philadelphia hosiery shops, against the instructions of the union officials. ‘ The N.T.W.U. is holding a big open air mass meeting tonight and calls upon Reading workers to help win the strike. U. 8. Bank Depositors Will Meet Tonight A big mass meeting of the Bank of U. S. Depositors will take place Thursday evening, October 1, 1931, at 2nd Ave. and 10th St. Appeals will be made to the depositors, that they should demand from all political parties to incorporate in their elec- tion platform the following demands: 1, Immediate payment in full of at workers and small depositors up to $500. 2. Guarantee for full payment by the State Government. 3. Levy on the capital of the bank directors and stockholders. 4. Prosecution of the headg of the State Banking Department, who are responsible for the losses sustained by the workers and small depositors. All the depositors will also sign petitions, where Governor Roosevelt will be asked to submit a bill to the the Berkshire are lessened because | ers and strikers say that the Phila- | proposed policy of the National Tex- | |again now, while Edgewater has cut the bonus. | Both mills are working on the stagger plan and all the company lice patrolling Blaw Knox are un- able to keep down the resentment of | the steel workers. Though the ‘overwhelming major- | | ity of those present were white work- | jers, they elected an unemployed | Negro steel worker as organizer, and | | gave him an organizing committee of 7 more to assist in leading the | work.) The National Board repre- |sentative and Vincent Kemenovich, | District Sec'y. ers’ Union who also addressed the meeting, met later with the organiz- | jing committee, which adopted a plan | of work. The committee subdivided of the National Min- | itself, putting some of its members | to work maiply om Blaw Knox Steel, | some on Edgewater, the majority on| the organization of the unemployed steel workers and miners of the com- munity, and sent some into New Kensington to assist the workers in Andy Mellon's aluminum trust plant there to organize for strike against their 10 per cent wage cut. Meetings of the Blaw Knox, Edge- water, and aluminum workers will be held separately during the week, while Sunday night there will be a big meeting of employed and unem- ployed workers at which the unem- ployed branch will be definitely or- ganized. Many of the unemployed used to work in the American Steel Foundry, owned by Secretary of Commerce Lamont—but this plant | has been down since Dec., 1929. PITTSBURGH, Pa., Sept. st. 30.—The ) poskinark frequently costs a man his of Kentucky are preparing to strike | against the starvation wages they | been lengthened to 12 and 12 a shift, receive, for shorter hours and against | but the company pays only for 8. the prison conditions in the mining| Being forced to buy in company camps. The attempts of the com- | stores is a real grievance. The price miners in the Straight Creek county | job. The Daily Worker and the other | labor press is forbidden, Hours have | pany to regulate almost every phase of the men’s lives is deeply resented. The miners say that not only is their mail tampered with, but a let- ter in an envelop with a questionable ee salt pork is 30c a pound. In the days when prices were at their peak, salt pork sold for 17¢ a pound. Now (CONTINUED ON PAGE THREE) A mobilization of all the police in southeastern Saskatchewan killed two coal mine strikers and seriously wounded two others and a girl, at North Dakota border yesterday, ac- cording to capitalist press reports. Mayor Bannatyne had arbitrarily forbidden the strikers of the Bien- fait and Taylorville coal mines to parade through the town. The min- ers’ answer was a parade, with red Legislature, that the state should reimburse the losses of the depositors, flags. As 600 men and women were Canadian Police Kill 2 Mine Strikers; Shoot Up Parade Read through the streets of Es- tevan, a block fom the Town Hall, they were met by. large forces of police armed with revolvers, teat Estevan, a few miles north of the | gas, and clubs. ‘The police attacked, and the min-| ers fought back for a few minutes with stones, with men falling right and left hit by police bullets. Twelve miners were arrested. The rest marched away. The strike is against wage cuts and bad conditions, All the large mines in the section are closed down. More Pay Cuts Show Immediate Need for All Workers to Act ; THola Series | of Steel ‘Lawrence Textile Workers Jam) Meets Throughout Ohio Valley 50,000 Copies of Call To Action Printed STEUBENVILLE, 0 Ohio, Sept. 30.— |The Ohio Valley is the scene of a | whole series of mill conferences and meetings whexe the delegates to the | huge Pittsburgh Conference of Steel | Workers are putting into life the de- | cisions of the conference. In Steuben- | ville, Weirton, Follansbee, Mingo | Junction, Martins Ferry, Yorkville, | Beech Bottom, Wheeling and Ben- wood meetings are being held this week to recruit members for the | Metal Workers’ Industrial League, work out mill and~department de- mands in conformity with the general | Program adopted by the Pittsburgh | Conference, and form committees of action in the various departments, Workers not yet members of the union are approaching delegates to the conference and demanding ac- counts of what transpired in Pitts- |turgh. Copies of the draft program | of-action given to every delegate to the conference are passing around | from hand to hand until some are | already so worn out as to be almost | unreadable, although today is only | Tuesday and the conference was held | Sunday. As one delegate who has |been doing particularly good work betbacce it, “Steubenville sure is es Pittsburgh printing presses are | turning out the first 50,000 copies of the Call to Action, to be broadcast throughout the steel centers, in Steubenville the printers are turning out handbills calling the workers of | Steubenville, Weirton, Follansbee, ing their success and the sirikers’) action adopted by the 423 delegates was enthusiastically | Toronto and Mingo Junction to a big | mass meeting Saturday, Oct. 3rd, at |1 p. m, where reports on the work of | the conference will be given. “Form Committees of Action in Every De- | partment. Strike Against the Cut,” |calls the local handbill. | | Recognizing the burning need of the Organize and Strike Fund, the workers of Steubenville are arrang- ing a big dance to be held the night of October 17th. All proceeds will go to the Organize and Strike Campaign Fund. The Steubenville works of the | Weirton Steel Co. has posted notice that the tin mills, after being down for some time, wil lopen up again at midnight Wednesday night. The or- ganization work now will go on in- side the mill, N.Y. CONFERENCE FOR UNEMPLOYED New Strike Looms in Mines STRUGGLE ON SAT. Near Straight Creek, Ky. ‘To Take Up Washing- | ton Hunger March NEW YORK.—The increasing un- employment in New York City and | the corresponding increase. in mass misery, makes it imperative for every workers’ organization to initiate a serious and energetic campaign for the organization of the unemployed |and part-time workers for a struggle for unemployment insurance and jimmediate relief from the govern- | ment. Therefore the conference on Satur- day must be attended by the active workers in the Unemployed Councils, leading committees of the Commu- nist Party, fraternal organizations, Workers International Relief, Inter- national Workers Order, all workers’ clubs, and the active members of the Revolutionary Trade Unions. This conference will lay the basis for a broad campaign for the organ- ization of the mass hunger delega- tion to, Washington for the opening | of Congress in December. This sit- uation at present is critical. There exists a real underestimation of the necessity of organizing the unem- ployed. * The conference will be held on Saturday, October 3rd, 3 p.m, at & ae AG Sh New one hae