The Daily Worker Newspaper, October 5, 1931, Page 1

{ or Resse. ” = Se SE RE TE / “ouR MAGES in THE ester Dail Orga Central Seiden Party U.S.A. (Section of the Communist International) Ww ORKERS OF THE WORLD, _UNITE! Vol. VIII, No. 239 Entered as second-class matter at the Post Office <5 at New York, N, ¥., under the act of March 3, 1879 NEW YORK, “MONDAY, OCTOBER 6. 1931 = ‘Price 3 ‘Coats TUL NATIONAL L COMMITTEE MAPS WAR ON PAY CUTS Party Registration---A Mobil- ization for Mass Battles 4 Kes recent Plenum of the Central Committee of our Party pointed out sharply that the broad masses of toilers in city and countryside are being attacked by the bourgeoisie in a wide and bitter offensive . The purpose of this offensive of the bankers and trust magnates and their government is to throw the full burden of the crisis upon the shoulders of the masses, to reduce the living standards of the workers to the low- est level of misery and hunger of the European workers in order to more successfully comipete internationally, to expand the pressure of- American capitlism upon the world market and to win new spheres of influence for the imperialists. The hunger offensive of the capitalist class is above all directed against the workers of the basic industries—coal, steel, auto, chemical, marine, transportation—because the réduction of the living standards of these key masses more easily leads to reduction of the standards of all the toiling masses. For that reason the general line of the 13th Plenum was indicated in the slogans: Turn the Face of the Party to the Big Factories; Effective Strengthening of Our Trade _ Union Front; Organize and Lead the Unemployed Masses—which slo- gans must now be systematically and planfully carried into life. On the basis of this political line the Central Committee has decided to carry through a general registration fo all Party members commencing in the middte of October and continuing until the middle of November. The objects of’ this registration ave: 1.. Determine the number of Party members employed in factories, particularly the large factories. 2. Determine the activities of our comrades in the factories, the possibilities which exist for carrying on revolutionary work in the fort- resses of capitalism and establish ways and means of strengthening our factory work. 3. Establish the number of our members organized in trade unions and determine in which trade union organizations they are functioning. We must finally arrive at the point where all Party. members uncon- ditionally, are members of trade unions, as this is an elementary pro- letarian duty of every class conscious worker. ‘The establishment of these facts, however, is not sufficient. The general registration of the Party membership must furnish the material which will serve as a basis for the building up of well-functioning frac- tions, as only in this way will we be able to conduct planfully revolu- ticnary mass work in the revolutionary organizations, as well as in the mass organizations led by the reactionaries, 4. In the samie sense the registration must create the basis for the organization of fraction work and better functioning of fractions in the other most important mass organizations (fraternal eens, ILD, WIR, Negro mass organizations, etc). 5. The registration must also furnish material with regard to the age and social composition of the membership, to establish to what ex- tent the Party. membership is unemployed and therefore isolated from the factories. The Party must know what forces we have for the, or- ganization of an active unemployment movement. The Party leadership must know what has been the result of our work in winning Negro work- ers, particularly women workers in factories and the proletarian youth for the Party; it must’ know what are our weaknesses in the social com- position in order better to overcome them. It will therefore be seen that the general registration is a political inner Party campaign for the re-grouping of our forces for the front of battles, for new mass struggles. The registration will at the same time expose the weaknesses of the Party and provide material which will aid in giving an impetus to overcome these weaknesses with greater energy in the process of organization and leadership of strike struggles and mass fights of the unemployed. In the course of this general registra~ tion and control of the position and activities of the Party membership, it will become clear to every individual member that the main task consists in the winning of thousands of new members from big factories in the process of these mass struggles, in order to strengthen the posi- tion of the Party. By winning new contingents of workers from the big factories we will be able to strengthen our-factory and trade union front and secure the forces from which to develop new revolutionary cadres, to infuse new blood into the Party organization and into all lead- ing bedies of the Party. This is the political line which will determine the general control and registration of the Party membership. A “Running Dog” HE Ch‘~-se have an expression which they apply to persons of their "own race who act as agents and servants of imperialists; such de- spicable people are called “running dogs” of imperialism.! American workers should know that they have a first class “running dog” of American imperialism among them, to wit, the Rev. Norman ‘Thomas, head of the so-called “socialist” party. There is no other con- clusion possible, after reading his observations in the “New Leader” of Oct. 3, entitled “The Manchurian Imbroglio” and “Need of American Pressure.” X Workers should remember that the “socialist,” Mr. Thomas, is a very learned mi and hence uses the word “imbroglio” in place of plain “war.” He speaks of the war being made in Manchuria, and says that there is “Need of American Pressure.” ‘That word “pressure” is also interesting. What deed he mean by “pressure?” Surely, you may think—this “socialist” leader would not urge something that would launch America into a great and bloody war. But, if you are so innocent as to think so, oie you do not know these fake “socialists.” All the more surprising, you inight think, when you read another remark of Thomas a few lines below, on “peace.” Peace, says the Rev. ‘Thomas, “has to have teeth in it.” Which might also have been said by General Butler of the Marines. “We are not afraid to be as bold for peace as men are for war,” adds Thomas, all of which, applied con- cretely to the remarks he makes about Japan in Manchuria, means that “we” (and he speaks here in the name of all American “socialists”), should not only support, American imperialism in war- threats against Papan, but should urge American imperialists to make those threats. Is it not the logical conclusion, workers, of Thomas’ remarks crit~ icizing the United States for the inadequacy of its “very lady-like pro- * . tests” and scolding the U. S. State Department for being “so weak?” ‘There can be no other conclusion! Especially when, to all this, is added the assertion that the American imperialist government (which this “socialist” calls “us”), has “a claim on us in the Nine Power Pact,” that there is “need of American pres- sure,” and that while: “Diplomatic pressure will not at once persuade Japan to get out of Manchuria . . . it may easily persuade her to withdraw her troops . . . Our government is under treaty obligations to act, diplomatically in defense of Chinese rights.” The “defense of Chinese rights” is undoubtedly a noble end. But does this “socialist” leader really expect that American imperialism is at all interested in “Chinese rights?” Are wolves interested in the “rights” of lambs? That Thomas speaks as a “running dog” for U. S. imperialism, and not as a simpleton who is too dumb fo understand the situation, is clear, workers, ftom his talk about the Nine Power Treaty. What is that treaty? It is supposed to “guarantee” the “territorial integrity of China.” But is there any schdol bey who doesn’t know that China is already divided up in reality, with no part of it (except that area ruled by the Chinese Soviets!) free from domination by one or another of the big imperialist powers who signed the Nine Power Treaty? ‘The “China” to which Thomas refers is the “China” of Chiang Kai- t 1 (CONTINUED ON PAGH THREE) , © NEGRO SHOT IN JAIL IN COLD BLOOD Facts Point to the| Connivance of the Sheriff In Shooting BIRMINGHAM, Ala, Oct. 4.— Willie Peterson, unemployed- Negro miner and world war veteran who was framed, in a widespread drive against Negroes here, on the charge of shooting two society women, wis critically wounded when Dent Wil- Hams, brother of the women, shot him in view of city and county offi- cials. Peterson received two bullet wounds in the chest and one in the arm. ‘The shooting occurred at a conference of city and county offi- cials and members of the Williams family, Sheriff Hawkins, who was present when the shooting took place, said all persons entering the jail were searched and a gun removed from Williams. Where Williams got the gun to shoot Peterson the sheriff would not explain. Williams was released on a thou- sand dollars bond, and sent home under a sheriff's guard. Peterson. is now in-a. serious.condi- tion in a local hospital under a heavy guard, Governor Miller ordered out the National Guard and one hundred guardsmen have already been mobil- ized. \ The national offices_of the Inter- national Labor Defense upon receipt of the news of the murderous shoot- ing of Peterson ‘sent the following telegram to Governor Miller, Mayor Jones and Sheriff Hawkins, of Bir- mingham: “In the name of white and Negro workers we protest the shooting of Willie Peterson in Birfingham jail by Dent Williams. Responsibility of ety and county officials is proved by bringing Williams to the con- ference and, permitting his return home after the shooting, with a fake gesture of formal investiga- tion. “We denounce this wanton shoot- ing as a climax to the police bru- tality and mob violence deliberately launched by the ruling class against Negro workers and work- ing class organizations, using the murder of Nell Williams as an ex- cuse, Facts in the arrest of Peter- son and also past arrests and at- tempts to extradite Negro workers in Chicago all prove that this is another frame-up like Scottsboro and Camp Hill to murder Negroes, to collect thousaiids of dollars and further terrorize the persecuted Ne- gro toilers. We point to the lynch danger and-hold the State govern- ment responsible for Peterson's life. “We demand the right of friends and defense to see Peterson imme- diately ~ : NEW YORE-—Today. is the first day to REGISTER in order to vote on Election Day. The registration days run from October 5 to 10, in- clusive, at different hours. All revo- lutionary workers should register in order to vote for the Communist Party on Election Day. If you do not register you cannot vote. Go to the registration place nearest to where you live and register. i But do not fill in the paper that is handed to you. This paper gives only the bosses’ capitalist parties, in- cluding the “socialist” party. It is used by the reactionary parties to estimate how many votes they will get, and particularly against any worker who dares to vote indepen- dently for the only revolutionary party, the Communist Party. When you are handed the ballot on Regis- tration days, take this paper with you into the polling booth, do not. write or mark anything on it, just fold it up and drop it into the box outside CRISANTO EVANGILISTA EXILE FILIPINO WORKER LEADERS Communists Jailed And Banished. to Jungle MANILA, P. I. — A savage sen- tence of imprisonment and banish- ment for years to the jungle provin- ces of the islands was visited recent- ly.on the leaders of the Commu- nist Party here and on militant work- ers tried with them. ‘The court found guilty of sedition and sentenced Crisanto Evangilista, ehairman of the central committée of the Communist Party, and Jacinto Manahan, secretary, and six others, to a year in prison and $500 fines each, on ene count. Evangilista and Abelardo Ramos were sentenced to another six months each and a fine of $200 each on another count. Five others were sentenced to four months imprisonment and $200 fine each. ‘Then on a third count, Evangelista, Manahan and 18 others were sen- tenced to eight years’ banishment to outlying provinces. This banishment and exile system, made famous by the Czars of Russia, is the fruit of the democratic American rule that the Wall Street imperialists of Amer- ica continually promise the Filipinos. HOUSTON, Tex., Sept., 20-—R, J. Jones, 33, of 2609 Hamilton Street, committed suicide by taking poison. Jones had been out of work for many months. His wife reports: “He came to my bed early this morning and told me he thought I could take care of our children better than he. He then swallowed three bicloride of mercury tablets.” 2,000 IND. STEEL MEN FOR FIGHT Hear Foster Speak On Campaign Against Wage Slashes CHICAGO, Ill, Oct. 4—Two thou- sand steel workers gathered in an open demonstration in Indiana Har- bor, an important steel center, to hear William Z. Foster, secretary of the Trade Union Unity League, call for organization and strike. Many of the workers joined the Metal Workers Industrial League. There was an excellent response to the call to struggle against wage cuts. roe eae MUNISING, Mich., Oct. 4.—The wage-cutting campaign, the Hoover stagger-system on, the steamer “Quen doc” of the Patterson Steamship Co. ‘was exposed when it arrived to Mun- ising to unload pulpwood. The dock workers were offered 30 percent be- low the scale of wages paid to the workérs before. Immediately on finding out the wage cut the workers | resisted it. Sixty-five walked out. ‘The workers by walkingvoff the job, and staying out only three hours, | forced the bosses to pay workers 45,| cents. Under the leadership of the “Marine Workers Industrial Union, we will be able’ to reach more workers in the struggle against the wage- cuts and Hoover stagger-system. piss ae! YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio, Oct. 4—| About three hundred workers attend- ed a meeting called by the Metal Workers Industrial League at the Campbell Gate of the Youngstown Sheet and Tube Co. The speaker who spoke on the or- ganiaztion of the steel workers into the M.W.LL. was greeted with great enthusiasm and cheered lustily, when he exposed the role of the city, state | and national government in helping the bosses to cut wages. During the meeting two truckloads of beds,and cots were brought into | the plant in order to intimidate the workers, but the effect was the op- posite of what the bosses intended it to be, and as the result many work- ers joined the MWIL. | In the evening at the same gate | the police teld the speakers that| they could not speak there any more, | and thanks to the police there was | a larger meeting than in the morn- U.S. ARMY H HEAD ACTS FOR WAR ON NEW YORK —A war is rapidly brewing against the Soviet Union on) many fronts growing out of the greater difficulties of the imperialist powers, especially the events in Bri- tain. The attacks of Japanese im-.} perialism in Manchuria, though far removed in space from the London- Paris-Washington maneuvres, is an illustration of the far flung, yet con- nected , movement towards war against the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics. The latest events are the proposed conference of Lord Reading for Bri- tain, and Laval, Premier of France, just before Laval leaves for a visit) to Hoover, and the European military | survey made by General Douglas | MacArthur, supreme active head of | the United atonal army. General! 'on the Soviet issue. Worried About World Capitalist ( Cat, Seek Way Out | By Attack On Workers’ Republic MacArthur just made a secret to French military authorities. Lord Reading in going to Paris said that his trip was “for a discus- sion of the general situation.” He visit will meet with Laval who has just | returned from Germany where the | purpose of the trip was announced as one of forming a “friendly alliance” French imper- ialism is definitely attémpting to line up German capitalism for a forth- { Soviet | coming war to crush the Union. This visit took place, also, at the | time when the differences between France and England, and England and the United States grew sharper as the result of the British financial (co LED ON PAGE THREE) Kentucky Mi ARJOY, Ky., Oct. 4.—A miner say they will defend their homes. Following upon this, a tel had spread to a second mine, came 92 miners from the Coleman® mine, the next mine up the creek. Following them, came 20 miners from | the Cary mine further down the line. They came to the Caroline miners’ ing. (CONTINUED ON PAGE THREE) Unemployed Councils Lead British Workers The entire British capitalist press | is warning the capitalist class that the militant demonstrations of the British workers may soon develop more militant. forms and that an open fascist dictatorship is:necessary REGISTER! IN ORDER TO VOTE AGAINST THE HUNGER SYSTEM after you leave the booth. Do not give the reactionaries any information to let them know how you will vote. You do not have to do this and it is none of their business. The reactionaries and their gangsters will be on hand durng, Registration Days as well as on Electon Day to try and intimidate all workers whose votes they cannot, buy. Disfranchise Seamen, The most biazen attempt to do this is now being made against sea- men and all other marine workers | who are forced to move from place to place. The Seamen’s Institute, owned by the steamship corporations and one of the pet charities of John D, Rockefeller, is refusing to regis- ter all workers whom they either sus- pect or know have taken part in mili- tant struggles. All marine workers should defy the attempt to cheat them of the right to vote for the Communist Party, by. establishing their residence and registering. Capitalists D emand Fascist Terror Against Jobless to curh the militancy of the workers. The London correspondent of the New York Evening Post points out this cut to the American capitalist class. “Those who have vision must realize that unless international co-dperation secures a return of stabilized currency and greater trade equilibrium, the result will be a downfall of financial civili- zation and the growth of Bol- shevism.” ‘The capitalist press realizes that the leadership of the militant dem- onstrations of the workers in Glas- gow and in other cities in Great Britain were organized by the Na- tional Unemployed Workers’ Move- ment which occupies the leading role in Great Britain of the unem- ployed workers just as the Unem- The struggle against the National government and the “economy” cuts of the MacDonald budget was or- ganized at a united front conference in Glasgow on Saturday, Sept. 19 at which 150 delegate were present. The delegates represented factories, trade union branches, the Indepen- dent Labor Party, Communist Party, Co-operative Guilds, Charter Com- mittees, Young Communist League, and the Minority Movement. A Council of Action was elected and a plan of campaign is to be in Struggle drawn up to develop the fight against the cuts. An executive committee was ele detcofr cffi? fi ?f?M?mm? was elected for the council, com- posed of representatives from the factories, T. U. branches and political parties. ‘The masses have showed such a readiness to struggle under the leadership of the Unemployed) Workers Movement that some of the left wingers of the Labor Party have tried to assume leadership over the movement. This is the explanation | of the arrest of Jack McGovern, left wing Laborite member of Par- liament, who had himself arrested in (CONTINUED ON PAGE THREE) iners Out; Fight Burial Swindle 'Two Mines Near Straight Creek Elect Strike Committees; Gunmen Coming; Send Relief } BULLETIN. overheard the bésses’ son say that’ the hired .gunmen deputies of Harlan County are on their way and “intend to raid every house in the Starlight Creek section. The miners Due to the diffi-| egram stating that the strike arrived in Pittsburgh. Wednesday night the Caroline mine strikers called a meet- ing in the open near the railroad tracks, Marching 2*by 2, I3, 0CO Mass and § Stop | \Five Evictions On) CHICAGO, IIL, “Oct, 4.—Three ; thousand workers stopped five | evictions on the South Side here, and the police did not dare to interfere. The workers formed their ranks and paraded through | | the streets. Cheering and ap-| | plause greeted the paraders from | ben houses. The with a meeting of the Unemployed | | Council, over 1,000 attending. _ Genmen To Send Two Delegates To USSR NEW YORK.—Smith Hopkins and George Workman, both seamen and members of.the Marine Workers’ In- dustrial Union, were delegated by an unanimous vote of seamen at an en- thusiastic meeting Wednesday night at the local brahch of the Marine Workers’ Industrial Union to repre- | sent the American marine workers on the Friends of the Soviet Union dele- gation which will visit the Soviet Union on the fourteenth anniversary of the Bolshevik revolution on No- vember 7. ~ THOUSANDS DEMONSTRATE FOR ‘ ployed Councils in the United States. |, RELEASE OF NEW YORK.—Ten thousand work- ers gathered on Union Square Satur- day at the call of the International Labor Defense to demonstrate for the freeing of Tom Mooney, Warren K. Bil , the 9 Scottsboro boys, the 135 ers in Harlan, Kentucky, of whom 34 are under charges of murder and the remainder with syn- dicalism; the Imperial Valley pris- oners and all other workers who ar being held in American prisons. \ . MOONEY, BILLINGS The gathering profested against the reaction whicl! is raging in the country. ‘The demonstration at Union Square was not only a demand for the free- ing of the, victims of the class-strug- gle, Who are being held in prisons by American boss “justice,” but also a mobilization for further struggle against hunger and for unemploy- ment’ insurance. George Maurer, (CONTINUED ON | ON FAcE Two) \Chicago South Side | march ended | | USSR. Review NaS oict Force;| PITTSBU RGH Laval Seeks Alliances SESSION HAS BIG PROGRAM |Sharp Contrast With | A.F.L. Treachery | At Vancouver Basic Industry Center | Militant Unions Gain | In Membership (By Special Correspondent) | PITTSBURGH, Pa., Oct. 4— National Exeeutive Committee of the | Trade Union Unity League has been |in session all Saturday and Sunday jhere. The central theme of the T.U UL. meeting is: “Organize and strike against wage cuts”, contrasting sharply with the loose talk about “Labor demands assurance” coupled with practical treachery on every front which characterizes the pre- liminary smoke screen of the Ameri- can Federation of Labor convention meeting this week in Vancouver. | Unlike the A.F.L. convehtion, no fat salaried fakers were at the T.U. U.L. executive committee meeting. There were. present over 100 working class delegates; the members of the National Executive Committee, the leaders and organizers of the fight- ing revolutionary unions and leagues, and rank and file workers active in |the organization of the steel and |mine workers. Foster Reports. The organization of the steel work- jers for strikes against sweeping wage cuts was one of the major questions PITTSBURGH, Pa., Oct. 4.—The Caroline the delegates had come to discuss mine at Straight Creek, Ky., struck Monday, | it was learned here today. culty in getting word out of this feudal king- | conmittes. dom, the news did not reach the national office | of the National Miners Union until today. | William Z. Foster, general secretary jof the Trade Union Unity League, ;was the main reporter, speaking in the name of the National Executive | “The economic crisis is deepening,” | said Foster. “The employers’ offensive is increasing, marked by the great wave of wage cuts, further mass un- D ON PAGE THREE) ‘MARINE WORKERS IN SOLIDARITY STRIKE CALL Rally In Support of German Seamen On (CONTH || Strike in 5 Ports | A general strike is in progress in || | the ports of Dantzig, Gdynia, and Elbing where all shipping is cont- | pletely tied up and at a standstill. |In the ports of Stettin, Koenigsberg and Hamburg the majority of the ships are unable to move and a com- plete walkout is expected within a day or two making the strike 100 per cent effective. The International of Seamen and Harbor Workers has called on the |Seamen throughout the world to rally in solidarity with the German seamen in the strike against wage |cuts of 25 to 47 per cent and to tie up all German ships throughout the. world in this struggle. The Marine Workers’ Industrial Union, which is affiliated to the ISH, has issued leaf- lets and has called on seamen in the ports of the United States to answer the call of the International of Sea- men and Harbor Workes and to tie up all German ships in American harbors. ‘ The call of the Marine Workers’ Industrial Union calls on marine workers on.all German ships to, “Elect strike committees from every department on your ship. Draw up demands to counter the drastic wage slashes. Let the committee present, these demands to either the captain or others in authority. Report back to the ship's crew as to the results of your meeting with the authorities. Refuse to man the boats until every demand is granted. Get in touch with the Marine Workers’ Industrial Union at once either at 140 Broad . St. New York City, or 61 Whitehall * Oe a CI 4 an wnaNeTT ON A A A * 4