The Daily Worker Newspaper, October 22, 1931, Page 4

Published by the C isth St, Address Page Four ork City y v ALe 1 checks to the Daily Worke ast 13th ly exce Sunday N y, at 50 East “‘DAIWORK,.” ew York, N. ¥ Daily,<Worker Ey mail everywhere: One year, $6; six mor of Manhattan and Bronx, New York City. Foreign: one year, $8; six months, $4.50. SUBSCRIPTION RATES: $3; two months, $1; excepting Boroughs AND- WAGES INCREASE IN _ | THE SOVIET UNION HOURS OF LABOR DECREASE THE increase in the number of workers in in- dustry is the result, on the one hand, of the | putting into operation of new plants and the | expansion of old ones, and, on the other, of the | introduction of multiple shifts, the seven-hour | day, and the continuous working-week. The last | term signifies that the enterprises are kept in | | | operation every day, the workers being divided into five equal groups, each of which has a dif- erent rest day out of a five-day week. Both the nultiple shift system and the continuous work- | ing-week have been important factors not only | reasing the number of workers in industry ntensifying the utilization of plant equip- ent. Whereas in pre-revolutionary Russia a ten or twelve-hour di as the rule, the Soviet regime | at once establii e eight-hour day as a maxi- and the six-hour i popula’ | for young workers. Since the introduction of the seven-hour day in October, 1927, it has been | steadily extended and on January 1, 1931, em- | braced 68.5 per cent of all workers in. state | | | | | | | | arge-scale industry, the percentage for group ng 79.1 and for group B 49.4. The continu- ing-week on the same date embraced 58.2 per cent of all workers in large-scale in- e percentage being practically the same groups A and B, The percentages of work- ers embraced by the seven-hour day and the nuous working week in the most important industries are given in the following table, which | also indicates those of workers engaged in shock- brigade work and socialist competitions as of January 1, 1931: Percentage of Workers on Seven-Hour Day. Total . 68.5 Coal .... ‘ at Oil (extracting and refining) .. 100.0 Iror Electric x 90.0 Chemical 61.2 Wood-work ee eeeee 55.9 on textile 30.9 social competition and shock- prigade work is the voluntary efforts of ad- vanced groups to fulfill or exceed the industrial and financial plan of an enterprise and to draw into active participation in such efforts as many of the other workers in the enterprise as possible. Recently the workers have also begun to par- ipate the drafting of production plans. | This has taken form in the system of so-called | “workers’ counter-plans.” These unofficial plans | e worked out by the workers in the plants | emselyes on the basis of theit intimate knowl- | edge of the possibilities of that plant and usually | call for higher schedules than those of the offi- | cial plans. In most cases the drafting of Such | counter-plans has been accompanied by numer- ous suggestions for rationalization, which have | resulted in improving the process of prodliction | The essence of and increasing the productivity of labor. WAGES INCREASE Wages in all branches of the national econ- omy have recorded stead increases during the st several years. Real wages are now approxi- | cent, machine building—33.1 per cent, and wood- | paper industry showed the largest increase, 42.3 | mately double those of the pre-war years. Tak- ing hired labor as a whole (exclusive of agricul- tural labor), average wages increased from 729 rubles (1 ruble—51.45 cents) a year in 1926-27 to 956 rubles in 1930, or a gain of 31 ‘per cent. | ‘The average annual wages of hired labor in cen- ‘yg sus industry increased at about the same rate, viz., 32.7 per cent, from 778 rubles in 1926-27 to | 1,033 rubles in 1930. Annual wages of transporta- tion workers showed a lower rate of increase (16-20 per cent). ‘The average monthly wages of workers in cen- sus industry increased from 64.64 rubles in 1929 to 87.93 rubles in the first quarter of 1931, a gain of 36 per cent. Of the separate branches of | industry those included in heavy industry re- corded the greatest rate of gain: Coal—41.5 per cent, iron and steel—30.9 per cent, oil—40.4 per working—30.3. Of these in light industry the per cent. Simultaneously with the increase in nominal wages, there has been a steady advance in real wages. Taking 1913 as 100, the price index | (budget index) in 1927-28 was 196.7 and in 1928- | 29, 205.1; the index of nominal wages in 1927-28 was 269 and in 1928-29, 290. Consequently, the index of real wages was 136 in 1927-28, and 143 in 1928-29. However, in order to judge the im- provement in the living conditions of the workers in the Soviet Union, it is necessary to take into account not only the actual wages but what are termed “socialized wages.” By the latter is meant all those extra compensations and benefits ac- corded the workers by the @mterprise, such as social insurance benefits of various kinds (in- cluding payments of wages during periods of ill- ness or other disability, old age pensions, pay- ment to dependents of disabled or deceased workers, free medical aid, maternity benefits, etc.), vacations of from two weeks to one month on full pay, free working clothes, etc. If these are taken into account, the index of real wages | in 1927-28 would come to 160.9 and in 1928-29 to | 186.6 (1913—100). The sum total of these “socialized wages” was | estimated to amount to a monthly average of 14.58 rubles per wage earner in 1927-28, or 21.5 per cent of the nominal wages. In 1928-29 the monthly average of such services increased to | 16.62 rubles, or 22.7 per cent of nominal wages. The number of persons receiving insurance bene- fits increased from 766,700 in 1927 to 1,234,200 | in 1931, The absorption in industry in 1930 of hundreds of thousands of apprentices and unskilled work- ers, receiving comparatively low wages, naturally resulted in a lower rate of increase in average wages. Thus, average annual wages of workers in census industry including apprentices) showed an increase in 1930 of only 5.8 per cent over 1929, as against an increase of 10 per cent the previous year. Excluding apprentices, aver- age monthly wages in 1930 increased 7.3 per cent. Spread “The Liberator” By L. AMTER. T no time in the history of the country has it been so necessary as now to have a press to unite Negro and white workers in struggle The economic crisis is cutting into every work- ing class home. Unemployment, wage cuts, speed-up, part-time—these are the questions that affect every single working class household. In order to put this program across to the workers, both Negro and white, young and old, | men and women, the bosses have begun a cam-* paign of terror against the workers who fight against it. Police terror against the unemployed —in Chicago, Cleveland, in every city and town where the unemployed fight against hunger. | The terror is being used against the foreign- | born, with the threat of deportation if they do not accept the starvation program of the bosses and their government. But against no section of the working class is this terror sharper than against the Negroes. ‘The bosses haye thought that they had a solid body of workers that they could use in case’ of struggles. They have thought that they had the Negro workers so well under their thumb, through the agency of the Ku Klux Klan and other patriotic and fascist organizations, and BOURGEOISIE INCAPABLE TO MANAGE THEIR OWN “SOCIAL PRODUC- | TIVE FORCES” A—Severance of the producer from the means of production. Condemnation of the worker to wage-labor for life. Antagonism between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie. B—Growing predominance and increasing effectiveness of the laws governing the produc- tion of commodities. Unbridled competition. Contradiction between socialized organization in the individual factory and the social anarchy in production as a whole. C—On the one hand, perfecting of machinery, made by competition compulsory for each in- dividuz] manufacturer and complemented by a constantly growing displacement of laborers ! industrial reserve army. On the other hand, unlimited extension of production, also com- pulsory under competition, for every manufac- tuzer. On both sides, unheard of developments of productive forces, excess of supply over de- mand, over-production, glutting of the mark- ets, crises every ten years, the vicious circle: excess here, of means of production and prod- ucts—excess there, of laborers, without em- ployment and without means of existence. But these two levers of production and of social well-being are unable to work together, because the capitalist form of production forces from working and the products from circulating, un- | less they are first turned into capital—which the'y very superabundance prevents. The con- ction has grown into an absurdity. The mede of production rises in rebellion against the form of exchange. The bourgeoisie are ‘convinced of incapacity further to manage their own social productive forces, (From the | | concluding chapter of Enge! Utopian and Scientifie, | boro Negro boys. through terror, that they would have little trouble from the Negroes. Then with the aid of the leaders of the American Federation of Labor and other reactionary unions, and of the social- ist party, they believed that the idea of racial inferiority was being accepted by the Negroes, and the idea of racial superiority was assumed by the white workers, to such a degree that the relations of the two sections of the working class were established for good—namely Of antagonism. But the crisis has taught the workers—both Negro and white—many lessons. They have | learned or are beginning to learn that an attack on one section of the working class is for the purpose of attacking the conditions of the other sections. An attack on the foreign born is for the purpose of reducing the conditions of the rest of the workers. Similarly an attack on the conditions of the Negro workers, tenant farmers and sharecroppers is for the purpose of lower- ing the conditions of the white workers. The workers have learned that only through united struggle can all sections of the working class be helped. Only through a militant fight for Negro rights can the conditions of the white workers be ensured. ‘Therefore hundreds of thousands of white and Negro workers have re- sponded to the call for the release of the Scotts- 60,000 white and Negro work- ers in Chicago answered the attack and murder of the three Negro workers in Chicago; 30,000 | responded against the murder of the two Negro workers in Cleveland. The shooting of Levey, the Negro worker, in New York last year, met with a similar fresponse. The fight for Negro rights is the fight of the entire working class. The strike of the miners of Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia, was an example of how white and Negro workers struggle together against the bosses on the eco- nomic field. This struggle must be intensified— in the interest of the entire working class. To spread it, to extend the idea of struggle for Negro rights—against discrimination, Jim Crow- ism, for self-determination in the black belt— both among white and Negro workers—is the function of the Liberator, the organ of the League of Struggle for Negro Rights. The subscription drive for the Liberator is on. It must be supported by all workers. The Lib- erator is an organ not only for Negro workers— it is an organ for the entire working class. To spread the organ is to help build up one of the important organizations that unite the Negro and white workers—the League of Struggle for Negro Rights. In this struggle, the Communist Party takes the leading part, followed by the revolutionary unions of the Trade Union Unity Léague and other organizations that fight for unity of the Negro and white workers. Every worker, who sees in the economic crisis the need of working class umity, to fight against | the bosses, their government and their lieuten- ants in and out of the ranks of the working class, | must be a fighting supporter of and participant | in the struggle for Negro rights. One of the | most important duties in this fight is to be a reader, subscriber, seller of the Liberator, Push the Liberator Drive. Spread it in every working less neighborhood. ' + EATING FOR mockery! tears—and ATE—“for the jobless.” to be done, the jobless. He said: and privations of the wilderness.” want food—not “philosophy-” of an oversupply of commodities”! nonsense? But it is capitalism! THE UNEMPLOYED By HARRISON GEORGE: ORKERS, look at this! Two thousand capitalist hypo- crites, male and female, at a Hotel Astor DINNER— | and what for? The boss papers tell us that it was “to aid the jobless”! These overfed plutocrats ATE—“for the jobless.” The Big Speaker for the evening was Myron C. Taylor, a bigwig of the U. S. Steel Corporation, which three weeks ago CUT WAGES of 250,000 workers: Of course he shed Such 4 hypocrite was needed to give a speech that would be published to make the jobless believe that something was going to be done for them; although next to nothing is really So Taylor of the Steel Trust had to cheer up “Let us take comfort in the rugged philosophy of our fore- fathers, who endured the greatest trials in the midst of dangers But workers today do not live in a “wil 2rness” and they The only ‘wilderness” they confront is that of capitalism, and the lies of such as Taylor, who asserted that the unemployed are suffering—‘“because Starving because there is too much food! Of course, you starve be- cause you can't get enough food. There is not too much pro- duced. But there is more than is sold. ‘It isn’t sold because workers haven’t the money to buy what they produced. The workers have no money to buy it because Taylor— and the whole class of Taylors, reduced wages, dismissed capitalism. What and effort of all.” | “ingenuity.” nobody broke. Isn’t that workers in thousands and millions to starve on the streets: That is capitalism. You can only stop it by overthrowing But you should demand NOW to be fed. Mr. aylor, speaking in the Hotel Astor to 2,000 other Full Bellies, acted as if THEY were in want. He said: “Our situation surely is serious enough; it taxes the ingenuity But that’s the only thing they want “taxed”—their These dirty hypocrites in boiled shirts and evening gowns, these same 2,000 capitalists, gathered there at DINNER “to aid the jobless’ themselves haye enough and moré than enough wealth which they have STOLEN FROM THE WORKERS, to feed every starving family in New York and feed them royally for a year! Look at Mayor Walker whose graft is notorious, whose “secretary” handles millions of funds, fleeing to Mexico rather than explain. Smith, the darling of the Power Trust. A vast dining room packed with millionaires—starting a campaign for a mere $12,000,000! For a million jobless—$12 each to last them for the Winter! The campaign could have been ended right there, and But what they want to do is to MAKE THE EMPLOYED WORKERS PAY IT and not tax more than the “ingenuity” of the rich in putting the game over- Workers, employed and unemployed! See through this “relief” game of the capitalists! insurance! $150 Winter Relief for each jobless worker, $50 for each dependent! Instant aid for the starving! ALL AT THE COST OF THE CAPITALISTS! ALL ADMINISTERED BY WORKERS! JOIN THE NATIONAL HUNGER MARCH! Demand unemployment “Every Factory a Fortress of Communism” (A Review of the September-October Issue of “Party Organizer.”) MING after the 13th Plenum of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, U.S.A., the “Party Organizer” of September-October is of unusual importance in discussing the methods used in putting the Plenum decisions into life. The whole issue of the current “Party Organ- izer” deals with the question of rooting the Party in the shops. But it does not do it generally. While laying down the main political and the- oretical needs for this work, there are concrete examples of obstacles met and how the Party is acting to overcome them, ‘The first article entitled “Every Factory’ a Fortress of Communism,” is an unusually clear review of the basic decisions of the 13th Plenum. The part of this article on the shortcoming of the Party membership in relation to the shops touches the question sharply. It cuts into the cause of the failure to root the Party in the shops. Every Party member will find this article applies to his every day work. It 4s not possible in this short review to co over all the material in this issue of the “Party Organizer.” The department headed “From the Practical Work; For the Practical Work” should be read by every Party member because here the question of rooting the Party in the shops is dealt with concretely and from many angles. ‘There are two brief articles on shortcomings and problems of recruiting members in the Chicago stockyards, The conclusions of this discussion will clear up many questions for other comrades who come in contact with workers in basic in- dustries, where tens of thousands are concen- trated. There is the article entitled “The History of a Shop Nucleus,” which really should read “The Sad History of a Shop Nucleus.” In the analysis of the failures of a particular shop nucleus many members will be able to read the causes for the failure of their nucleus, Under the section, “Mass Work,” there are short articles on work among Youth and Women. The article on “Agit-Prop Work; How to Conduct Study Circles,” is a good beginning but does not have the concreteness of the other portions of the “Party Organizer.” It would be valuable for the comrades to have a report on an actual study group; how it was established; its weakness, dif- ficulties, and how it could be improved. Every Party member should obtain a copy of the September-October “Party Organizer”—to read, to steady and then to act nye Rescue the Political Prisoners in Poland from Torture and 'O All Workers the World Over! The new demands of the Pilsudsky govern- ment use all the regulations which obligate the criminal prisoners against the political prisoners. In Poland there are thousands of political pris- oners who are sentenced to long and difficult terms in prison. In Poland everything is counted as a political crime which was recognized as-such | by te Czarist government. Up to the present day the Ozarist code is applied in Poland, eyen strengthened by new laws. In the old Prussian and Austrian provinces they looked up the old paragraphs from the period of absolutism, from the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th century, which have long been discarded in Ger- many and Austria. In Poland death sentences were dealt out (in the Lemberg case) for distributing Communist magazines, and which in the way of “Pardon” were changed to 10-15 years hard labor. Such punishment is often applied’ to girls and boys still in their minors, . ‘The Czarist government granted the political prisoners certain concessions. They were ex- empted from.some of the most degrading regu- lations, certain clothes, books, and writing ma- terials. The Polish government regarding the Czarist laws as holy, isstriving'to show the po- litical prisoners these “privileges”. Now the Pil- sudsky government has ruled that all this shall immediately be taken from the political pris- oners. Not only Communist beliefs are punished with difficult prison terms in Poland. Thousands of non-partisan workers and farmers had the same fate for opposing the bestial regime of the fascist dictatorship because they wanted to res- cue their meagre, livelihood, their self-respect from the horrors of the government. Poland a Prison of Nations, Forty per cent of the population consists of nations which are forcibly united with Poland. The political workers, who strive for the free- dom of these/ nations share the fate of the revo- lutionary workers and farmers. Prof. Branislav Tarashevsky, a fighter for the release of the White-Russian nation, a man respected in the country as well as out of it, was caught by the Polish political police on the International train and is sentenced to 15 years of hard labor. Some facts of the horrible torture the poltical prisoners are put through in the prison of Lutsk: Pouring water into the nose and ears, beating with iron on the soles of the feet, breaking bones, abusing women, torturing the sex organs—these are facts known the world over. Hundreds of facts such as these are covered up by the Polish Deees.and by the.so-called publie-spinion, Murder ‘Fhe ruling about considering political pris- oners as equal to the criminal means’ for thou- sands of political prisoners a taste of torture and death, because the criminal prisoners in Poland are put on such a low level of human treatment, of physical, moral and spiritual degradation, as the political prisoners never experienced. The unequal struggle in: the prison holés, the strug- gle of the political prisoners with their execu- tioners, which has been going on for months must bring many martyrs and deaths. The smallest protest is a “revolt”, means beat- ing, tormenting, and killing the prisoners. Their last tool—the hunger strike—fought by enforced feeding by the Polish fascist method. Police and prison wardens force open the mouths of the already weakened prisoners with tools, wounding and tearing the mouth, inserting iron rings and forcing the food in. This horrible struggle for life or death is rapidly spreading and must na- turally become a general strike of all political prisoners in Poland. Torture and Mass Murder Are Already Ruling In All Prisons In Poland. Only a strong protest on the part of all people of physical and spiritual work can stop the bloody deeds of the executioner Pilsudsky against the helpless prisoners. To this protest, to active demonstrations and to human solidarity we are calling you. Protest through mass meetings, adopt revolu- tionary protests, demonstrate on the streets, send mass protests to the Polish government, to their ambassadors and consulates, to the Polish press and to the press in your own country to the Cen- tral Committee of International Red Relief. We are calling upon all newspaper organs who are not the tool of International Capitalism, to print their appeal and to help the protest campaign. test in such a manner that the representa- tive of Fascist Poland in your country, the “no- ble” diplomats of the bloody fascist dictatorship of Pilsudsky shall feel your rage and anger. Workers of Socialist Parties! Disregard your leaders, who rush their protests only when it is a question of gossip, together with the Inter- national Bourgeoisie, against the Soviet Union. Protest against the crime of Polish fascism. Writers, artists, professionals! Break’ all con- nections with representatives of the official Polish “cultue”, who are covering up these bloody crimes, who are even partners in these crimes. m nes J Between Two Fires The heroism of the proletariat is unlimited. It keeps trying to break into the Communist Party in spite of all efforts to keep it out. ° Out in the Northwest, for example, the name and deeds of the Party have penetrated far into the lumber camps, where the sturdy “jacks” vow that the next time they jungle up in the skid-road ‘district they are going to join the Party. They come. . They listen avidly tg speakers explaining the Party program and casting out @ general hint that all workers who are reyolu- tionary belong in the Party. Then they visit the Party office and are greeted with a “What'r round here for?” They convey the idea that they want to join the Party. “What? Join the Party! I don’t think you're PREPARED yet. You betetr join the I L. D., or the W. I .R., or, maybe, the F. S. U, or per- haps the T. U. U. L., the I. W. O., the L. W. I. Us the U. ©. or, well—-ANYTHING BUT THE PARTY!” By this time the worker is in a daze. Here is a party asking workers to join it in one breath, and trying to keep them out in the next. He wants to join the PARTY, dang it! And, if he can’t, he won’t join anything else. And it never occurs to the functionary that the worker can be brought into the Party and then assigned to work in one of the list of organizations he rolled off his tongue. But the Northwest isn’t the only place in- habited by sectarians. Here in little old New York there is the godawfulest lot of delay with applications. An Italian comrade in Section 2, Unit 5, in- forms us that three months ago he turned in two applications. He has inquired three times and one month ago the Section Organizer was “going to take it up.” But nothing happens. Since then, the comrade has given in three more applications, now six weeks’ old. Apparently the Party wants to wait until after the revolu- tion to get members. But on the other hand, once an applicant has outwitted and out-waited ‘em, and got into the Party, then life is made as miserable as possible for him or her. One girl who made the grade just. as summer was coming was taken in hand by one of our choice Simon Legrees and—being a glutton for punishment—loved to toil “mid the cotton and the cane.” But today she is laid up in a hos- pital with a nervous breakdown and—honest-to- goodness! allowed to read nothing but Red Sparks! Between these two fires of keeping the door shut so nobody can get in, and making those who do get in just as uncomfortable and anxious to get out as possible, we will succeed in testing the heroism of the proletariat, maybe, but we'll never build the Party. ° Fish At It Yet On stationery which is paid for by the U. 8. government, and bearing at the top the official inscription: CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES House of Representatives Washington, D. C. the notorious Fish, Hamilton Fish, Jr., “Mem~ ber Committee Foreign Affairs’—as is also in- scribed on the letterhead—is sending out thou- sands of appeals for funds. Not for the unemployed! Not on your life! But for funds to finance “The American Al- tance” which Fish says is: “... a non-profit sharing organization, in- corporated at Washington, D. C., to act as @ national clearing house in combating the rev- olutionary propaganda and activities of the Communists.” Fish says it will be allied with other Fishy or~ ganizations and it is “contemplated” to cover “the entire United States and form connections with similar organizations in forelgn countries.” So! It is going to have such foreign connec tions as Fish gets hysterical about Communists having! And, to give it the final stamp of gov- ernment approval, the gink you are asked to send money to is Major General Mark L. Hersey. ‘We have been hearing other things about this fascist outfit. In the first place, the appeal for money is not so much to get money, although no good patriot would ever miss a nickel, but to popularize the fascist “American Alliance” and give it the seal of approval of the govern- ment—while certain big capitalists are advancing all the money needed. It would look bad to ad mit that, of course, and the appeal furnishes the excuse to say that the “public” gives the cash. ‘And what do they need it for? For “educa- tional and legislative measures,” says Fish. Among the “education,” we hear, are some books of supposed humor, a new line for the Fish, whose jackass capers have made the whole world laugh at him. Now the fascist Fish is getting out, some books that are supposed to kill Communists with ridicule. Artists are being approached with promises of fat pay for illustrating them. But the books are so rotten with lies that several simply honest artists, who hate such rot, have rejected the bribe. Good for them! But the books will doubtless‘soon appear. ‘All-of which reminds us: what are you doing to spread our little 5-cent Red Sparks pamphlet among the workers? We have @ lot of new and BETTER things for the next tssue and really want to get out one issue a month and keep up with the times. Daily Worker Clubs might specialize on this. Order from the Work- ers’ Library Publishers, Box 148, Station D, New York City. Twenty-five per cent discount, poste age paid, for lots of 50 up. Vote Communist for Free Un- employment Insurance Equal © to Full Wages to Be Paid By the Government. your protest and boycott be an answer to them, Hurry to Relief, to Action! Every day of idleness—is a death sentence for many who are buried alive in the prisons of Lutzk, Vronki, Revitch, Ksrenove and many other prisons of fascist Poland. Central Committee, Communist Party of Poland ‘They are exerting themselves to get your sym- pathy, in order to use your names also to Sei up” the “cultural mission” of fascist Poland, the Moody deeds of Pilsudsky's dictatorship. Le “Central Committee Communist Party of Western Ukrainis | Central Committee, Communist Party of Western White Bui, ; i i | |