The Daily Worker Newspaper, December 12, 1931, Page 6

Me Rebttsbed by the Comprodatiy Publishing Ge, Inc. dally except Sunday, at 50 Bast Mew York City Atdvess and mail all checks to the Dally Worker, 50 East 18th Street, New York, N. ¥ We st — N. ¥. Telephone ALgonquin 4-7956. Cable “DATWORK By ALLAN JOHNSON in Wilmir et hat greeted Hunger Marchers pe inkling of the natur the Marchers eve Just as no gurately conve Natior some some desoription cal belligerent temper of the Marchers « hundfeds of cities The impressiveness of lay not 1 their numbe! e only 1,650 in their ac hich con- It } of their c two defiance in the moment. the il they left No. one. who heard the Marchers could that they were giv to the hatred t they-felt. for the capi 1 thrown them into. unemploym: ing vent that accompanies unemployment in capitalist coun- tries. And no one who hea 1 could doubt that the Marc It the e working clas: of America was 1d them tn their demands fer-memployment insurance H@ligér Marchers Léke a Victorious Army The welcome that the workers along the lines of maréh gave the Marchers was the kind of welcome that a suffering people extends to a conquering army drawn from its own ranks. It was the kind of welcome that the Chinese work- és extend to a Soviet Army as it drives the lecherous landlords and militarists before it. The Réd Army that will sometime retrace the steps of the National Hunger Marchers will be no more. self-confident and determ’ than the Hunger Marchers, nor will the welcome that is exténded to the Red Ar be amy more heart felt than that just e: i the Marchers. Wilmington is a city ,000' wage slaves and @ handful of rulers whose name is Du Pont The Du Pont fa springs from Pierre Sam~- wel Du Pont, the F ch politician whose openly reattionary policy during the French Revolution forced him into hiding to-save his head. The Black’ reaction of the first Du Pont has been continued by his nd of 1 lions by manu- f the firet business er is that is for this It 0 fervently in the + War mongers. he start as any wars as he réason that the Du Ponts front'rank of the anti-Sov Own State of Delaware, ‘The Du Fonts own the entire state of Dela. ware in the same sense that they own their own *esially-made Du Pont automobiles. This makes Teeeasier for them to unleash unbridled terror at any signs of revolutionary activity that appears in any part of the state. The Du Ponts have broken up every office that the Communist Party has opened in Wilmington, the site of many of the Du Pont munitions factories. For almost two years no workers’ meeting has been held-in the state. Even a Tom Mooney Defense Gonference was prohibited by the Du Pont police. When the Hunger Marchers approached Wil THE HUNGER MARCHERS CAPTURE WILMINGTON | Mington, their shoulders straightened percep- tibly and their cheers were a little more vigorous. ble was expected. The police had announced. to the newspapers that the Munger Marchers would be “rushed” through the city. But the Hunger Marchers had scheduled a parade through the city, and they were determined to stick to their schedule. Mile Long Line of trucks and passenger cars that the city limits of Wilmington was | almost a mile long. Huge cartoons, drawn by | the artists in the New York John Reed Club, | The line stopped at on the sides of the trucks effectively expressed the Marchers’ demands and their contempt for their rulers as well. The Marchers began to | sing in a body as they disembarked from the ined into perfect formation, s aloft and still singing, the ly turned pale. Within a few min- s the parade was on its way. Hundreds of | on workers, a large percentage of them lowed the Marchers. The word soon ugh the city that the Hunger March- ers were comin, By the time the Marchers reached the center of Wilmington workers were lining idewalks eight and ten deep. So many workers had turned out to greet the Marchers that traffic through all the main streets of the city was at a complete stoppage while the Hunger Marchers paraded. Despite | the freezing weather workers kept their windows open for more than a half hour to wave at the Marchers, As the parade continued through the it grew from an original 600 to more than 2,000, at least 30 per cent of them Negroes. Workers Throw Flowers at Marehers. ‘The tremendous cheering and singing that | started as the Marchers swung into formation continued throughout the entire parade. It was | not the breed of cheering and singing that is heard at a picnic. It was a deep, ominous roar that sent the blood running cold through the thiek-velned cops and demolished with one blow the terrorism that had for so long kept the Wil- mington workers in its grip. The local workers gasped at the self-confidence of the Hunger Marchers, then they cheered, then many of them cried and then some of the Italian workers threw flowers along the path of the Marchers, | So many local Negro workers infiltrated into the parade that police forbade the local news- | paper photographers from taking any pictures, but Workers’ International Relief cameramen | “shot” enough film to make a full-length movie. Thousands of pieces of literature were distrib- uted and sold by the Marchers im this city where | an hour before the Marchers arrived one might be sent to jell for reading the Daily Worker | under & criminal syndicalism law passed two | months ago at the advice of Ham Fish. | Vindicated Fatth. | The hundreds of Negroes who followed the marchers @ half mile out of Wilmington were almost beside themselves with joy as they asked where the Hunger Marchers came from, what they stood for, did their placards denouncing Jim-Crowism really express their views. The Negroes asked to be taken to Washington and then pleaded with the Marchers to visit Wil- mington om thetr retumm journey. They hed been won by the National Hunger Marchers, who, only & few hours later in Baltimore were | to vindicate this faith by forcing the Baltimore | government to break its policy of racial disorim- | imation in the distribution of relief and then | APOLOGIZE TO THE MARCHERS BECAUSE IT HAD ATTEMPTED TO LODGE NEGRO AND WHITE WORKERS IN SEPARATE QUARTERS. Negotiations of Agreements in By A. PETERSON, : PART 2. (Conclusion) DBuFing the building boom, when the prices of Meidential houses mounted from day to day, the teal estate investor and the bank had t@ encourege all the forces ilable to speed the efection of houses in order to have more of tive profits. Mor this reason building tors, sub-contractors of ll means (and Many without a penny of their r lal assistance from the real es' Of the banks to the extent of 1 of money for wees to pay the fobs-and the wee these sme! building « atractors are now of no wenefit to the banks an are left to their own fate. They are in T position with Small storekeepers, who are forced to go along With their business even without profit or to go Mit6 bankruptcy. They must coi ‘or face complete ruin and in this struggle they tse all possible means. They turn to loan @fiarks who squeeze from them the highest per- inue to build @entage. They are using the rottenest material # rotten quality of construction, an exceptional speed-up of the workers, and pay their workers the lowest wages—trom $5 to $7 for 8 hours "The unfortunate building trade workers who fave been walking the streets for months, and Who ate convinced that they have no union paratus to take up uggle to maintain fie union conditions on the job, who con ‘yinced themselves that they have no place from fe they can expect relief, accepted this mis- Wage with the calculations that $6 for days week mages $30 which is better than y the eniorcement of two and a half days eWeek shifts would hit hard these contractors, because two and a half times $6 would mean @ worker only $15 a week and it would be the limit of his patience to stand and he Minsist on higher wages. I want to mention the building boom and in this crisis wages on the jobs are not adjusted anion agreements )Thereis a gréat suspicion that ali these prop- ositions, the direct wage-cut, the three days and id a half days’ week by the so-called car- Sunion leaders, are propositions based Om@m® Understanding behind closed doors, nego- tiations’ which aim msinly to eliminate the small building contractors. Rahk and File Should Build Own Apparatus aan to Fight Starvation, “At-the-carpeniers’ local union meeti: I vis: Mted=recently I heard enough about men being for 6-or 8 months without a day’s work, and it 4s not Strange that these union carpenters are Teady to accept even a proportion of part time- sharing of the work. These unemplaved ynion the New Union Building ‘Trades arpenters see that while they are starving some henchmen of the officials work full time. Equal | division of lsbor is therefore a life and death issue for the rank and file union earpenters. The same is true in the other crafts. But if the rank and file workers see a neces- sity to equally divide the crumb of bread they can surely not trust the officials from the dis- trict council or the local unions to control the i ion, “Brother” Wilson, as general organ- zer, issues permits for overtime working right and left at a time when so many carpenters are walking the street From the minutes of the district council we hear a protest from the bu8iness agents against Wilson's action, but not against the granting of these working permits at a time of such unem- ployment; they protest Wilson’s doing it with- out informing them; in the language of facts, it means “without sharing with them this source of graft.” ‘The rank and file of the union carpenters should want to prevent their corrupt officials taking control of the division of work in their usual manner of giving jobs to those who are on good terms with them and with the bosses. If the rank and file want to prevent this, it is for them to organize a rank and file committee, with representatives from each local union in the craft to We in aharge of @ registration of the unemployed in order to place them on a job in rotation to their next, As to the general negotiations for the new greement with the Master Carpenters’ Associa- tion, it is for the rank and file union members to be on guard against a sell-out by these cor- rupt union officials. In the last agreement, which was made at a time when the conditions in the industry were more favorable than now, our officials from the district council put their signatures to the clause “That there shall be no limitation as to the amount of work a man is to perform during his working hours,” which means no limitations to the speed-up. Building Construction Workers Industrial League Program of Action. In relation to these negotiations behind closed doors for the new union agreements in the building trades, and to the problems confront- ing the workers in the industry at present, the Building Construction Workers Industrial League proposes the following } 1, Jobs to’ be given out by rotation. ‘The handing out of jobs to be controlled by a rank and file district committee composed of rank and file representatives trom the local unions. 2. In order to have equal rotation of jobs for the unemployed, the union must establish a regu- lar system of registration of its members. 3. The amalgamation of various local unions and the reduction of the salaries of the officials to the average earnings of the workers in the divisi By mall everywhere: One year, $6: six months, $3; twe 1 of Manhattan and Bronx, SUBSCRIPTION RATES New York City. Foreign’ one COUNTRIES Tm Poiand the silkweavers, texte workers | and tricotage-workers are in the struggle against wage reduction in Lodz already for several weeks. In Germany 3,000 textile workers in Saxonie began as the first the strike hgainst a 5 per eent wage-cut on Mov. 9. These strikes are under the leadership of the Red Trades Union Opposition. Im Tomachoy (Poland) severe incidents hap- pened between the police and the workers who were greeting the Fourteenth Anniversary of the October Revolution at a mass meeting. Two po- Neemen and four workers were killed and many polleemen and workers were wounded. Im some parts of the textile factories the strike ended already victorious, but the strike is going on. In the last days the textile workers of Pa- blernitza united with the strikers of Lodz. At a big meeting of the striking textile work- ers In Lodz the reformists proposed to finish the stefke and to call for help to the Amsterdam International. The strikers refused this pro- posal, decided to carry on the. strike and call for help to the revolutionary trade union movement. ‘The textile bosses carry through a big cam- paign of lies against the strike and the Red Tracks Union Opposition. ‘With this strike the textile workers of Poland and Germany began the fight against the inter- national offensive of the capitalists. These strikes are not only directed against the textile capital, but also against the robbing-plans of the whole capital and a6 well against the international wage-cut offensive of the textile barons. There- fore these strikes have a fundamental meaning for all workers and especially for the textile workers of all countries. The most remarkable sign in these strikes is the firmness of the united front of the workers’ struggle against the capital and the social-fascist leaders. The striking textile workers need the help and , Support of the textile workers of all countries. Textile workers of England, France and Czecho- slovakia listen to the call of the workers in Ger- many and Poland. Deal with this strike in factory meetings. Send declarations of solidarity to the strikers. Elect solidarity committees of all workers, re- formist, christian, fascist and unorganized work- ers, to organize the material help for the strikers. Organize the struggle against the offensive of the capital in your factories. Long live the international united front of struggle of the textile workers against the tex- tile capital, * Long live the international proletarian soli- darity. INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF TEXTILE WORKERS. trade. The economy thus made to be utilized to help needy members. 4. The union shall also create an unemploy- ment relief fund at th> expense of the employ- ers, 5. All unemployed workers to be exempted from dues and assessments, thus remaining in good standing. 6. The union to fight for the enforcement of the wage rate stipulated by the present agree- ments. 7. Election of rank and file strike committees. 8. Rank and file committees for job and shop control to fight speed-up and other evils on the jobs and in the shops. Rank and file committees of action will surely act in the interest of the membership and the creation of such committees is to be encouraged and guided by the Building Construction Work- ers Industrial League. But the Building Construction Workers Indus- trial League must not neglect to systematically educate the workers in the building trades to the importance of organizing T. U. U. L. groups in whichever local union it is possible, the im- portance of joining the Building Construction Workers Industrial League, which has a pro- gram of action for the workers in the industry and gives guidance and leadership on all the problems confronting them, The Building Construction Workers Industrial League is conducting a campaign to organize all the unorganized in the industry and is consoli- dating all the left wing forces in the A. F. of L. building trade unions in their fight against the attacks of the bosses, against betrayal by their union officials, and to paving the way for a militant industrial union in the building trades. TO THE TEXTILE WORKERS OF ALL! WE DEM IMME UN O1 AND What the British Tariff War Means to the Workers By HAGRY GANNES TTISH and French newspapers shriek about ® “tariff war.” The American capitalist press tries‘ to give the impression that it is purely a European matter. However, all the imperialist powers are involved. Sritich tmperialiem is making = desperate struggle to recapture its world markets, to rationalize its industry by a tremendous drive against the workingelass, to save its colonial empire from the attacks espe- cieldy of American imperialism, and to hold off impending financial collapse. The recent sharp exchanges between the French and British government over tariff has very deep roots. It is based on the struggle for hegemony on the Huropean continent which French imperialism has rapidly been winning and consolidating, When the Hoover moratorium wes declared, British tmperielism began a campaign for the cancellation of the world war debts, particularly German reparations. This was a blow at French imperialism, which has a heavy stake in German reparations. Later, French imperialism began an attack against the dollar in order to force Wall Street to recognize French hegemony in Europe, to force an alNance and a re-group- ing, and to shove Britain into a secondary po- sition, ‘The Hoover-Lavai “agreement” which followed was another blow to British imperialism. It strengthened the French position in Germany by forcing Hoover to agree not to take any steps involving German reparations or debt payments without first consulting French imperialism. Drop In The Pound In the meanwhile the British pound began to go lower and lower. ‘The National Government came into powet with a determination to re- establish the waning position of British imperi- alism, An ambitious scheme was proposed. New tariffs would be imposed. Competitors would be driven out of British markets. The empire would be drawn closer together by all sorts of conces- sions. As the crisis sharpened, the British im- perialists decided to take drastic measures to preserve the BritisH” colonies from the ‘grasp of its main competitor, American imperialism. While the schemes of “Empire free trade” had collapsed previously, the British masters real- ized that with the pound dropping, with the crisis growing worse in England, with the colo- nial masses preparing for new revolutionary struggles, new measures would have to be taken in a hercviean effort to keep British imperial- ism from remaining in a secondary position and its co'onies grasped from it by American imperialism. The crisis has brought before Am- erican imrerialism the mictlem of getting new markets and especially new colonies in order to preserve th: whole capital’st structure of Wall Street. Attack on Workers ‘The British program for capturing new mark- ets lay in two directions. First, an attack agafhst the workers at home by lowering their standard of living, driving down unemployment insurance. speed-up (Lancashire textile industry); and second, by putting up heavy tariff barriers and establishing reciprocal agreements with the Do- minions, such as Canada and Australia, as well as attempting to make trade agreements with Argentina and win this market away from Am- erica. The first step taken was the announcement by Walter Runciman, president of the Board of Trade, that the House of Commons would pass a wholesale tariff increase of 100 per cent. This hit all the capitalist nations. Important indus- tries in the United States were hit. As Sir Arthur Duckham, K.C.B,, G.B.E.,. pres- ident of the British Federation of Industries, which represents 80 per cent of British industry, put it in an interview with the Wall Street Journal (Nov. 20, 1931): “Great Britain will adopt a protective tarlff policy which will seek to be a reciprocal bargaining policy with the British Dominions and possibly the Argentines.” Besides, Prime Minister R. B. Bennett of Can- ada made a special trip to England to provide for preference for the import of Canadian wheat into England in return for providing a special market for British manufactured goods as against, American, Thus far no details have been axnounced, but the Canadian Press says that the Evening News of London on Dec. 4 stated “that Mr. Bennett was assured the British ministers were working on plans which would undoubtedly assure a profitable market in this country (England) for Canadian wheat, and if the plans were approved at the conference it would be found that British goods would obtain @ substantial advantage on ths Canadian market.” ‘The National Government, further, passed a Measure giving the Dominion parliaments full @ltonomy. A gesture, it is true, but oné which was indicative of the new policy of British im- Perlalism of trying by every means to tighten up its colonial empire. The German Debt Question However, as these struggles proceeded, the question of the German crisis and the wide rift between the interests of British and French cap- italism became the most prominent problem. Stanley Baldwin, speaking for the British gov- ernment, declared that the British would insist on the payment by Germany above all else of commercial debts. This enraged the French bankers, who began an attack against the pound, driving it down to lower levels. The British replied with a heavy tariff which hit particularly French imports. Walter Runciman, speaking in the House of Commons, made an open attack against the French, threatening still further Measures. He said: “I wish it to be clearly understood abroad as well as at home that we are not making protests now, but if we are hit as we have re- cently been hit by the French decree we can- not ignore the action takew. Discrimination against this country is something we look upon with the greatest seriousness. It is so dam- aging that we eannot afford to ignore the re. sult.” All attempts at conferences to come to an agreement failed. On both sides the struggle is becoming sharper. The effect of the British tariff on French industry, which ts constantly getting deeper into crisis, has been severe. The leading French industries, such as textile, luxury trades, glassmakers and truck gardners are hit. Between 40 to 50 per cent of the French woolen output usually is sent to the British. This has been stoped. Factories in the Lille textile area are closing down. Some 60 factories making glasswear for export are shut. Most of the lux- ury shops in the lower Seine district are virtu- ally closed. Unemployment is growing in France. In Britain there is a virrlent campaign on under the slogan of “Buy British,” verging on war frenzy. In France, a similar drive is on, with the factory owners clammoring for greater retaliation. 3 ‘Thus far, the struggle has served to intensify the crisis, sharpening to the highest pitch the Franco-British rivalries. Unemployment is grow- ing in France, and the French capitalists, in or- der to compete against the new tariffs, will drive wages further. In England the National govern- ment is hgroneag behind the new tariff war. On the part the “Labor opposition,” there is no protest, despite the fact that the whole process goes hand in hand with an attack against the standard of living of the British workers, and an increase in the cost of living. The British imperialists, especially under the pressure of the most reactionary bourgeoisie, are extending the tariff particularly to the heavy industries, like iron and coal. Every rise in the British tariff affects the Uni- ths. $1; year, ted States. The American capitalist press has ~ been silent about this feature. The result ir the United States will be a more intensified struggle for markets, for a struggle to invade the British markets and to re-divide the British colonies. To prepare for this the American cap- italists are driving the wages of the American workers lower and lower. With it all goes the increase in armaments. the growing danger of war among the imperi- alist powers. There is little doubt as the strug In the Soviet Union wage increases and the universal introduction of the seven-hour day. In capitalist America wage cuts gna the slave stagger plan. excepting Boroughs siz months, 450 Ke By JORGE eee Something Just As Good The League of Nations and the Kellogg Pact and the Nine Power Treaty. all having “failed” ¢ to halt the Japanese advance in Manchuria, let us see how very “effectively” the Nanking gov- ernment of Kuomintang butchers of the Chinese masses are acting. We quote from the Far Fast- ern Press Csrrespondence dated at Nanking, Noy. 1: “The whole aspect of the Japanese imperial- ist invasion of Manchuria has been decisively changed by the Nanking government's swift and decisive action in banning cabarets and dancing. ‘In view of the fact that the nation’s very ex- istence is endangered,’ reads the official order, ‘the ministry instructs that this form of amuse- ment be prohibited for the sake of patriotism and public morals.” A second” ordér was issued ® week later in which the government formally Geclareddancing ‘a pernicious habit common in Europe and America which must be banned ty China.’ So the Japanese haven't a chance it. the world.” 38; oe se ey That “Riga Correspondent” For years all jokes about liars have been ins complete without comparing the liar of the rmo- ment with “Riga correspondents” of the capit- alist press. When all the rest. of the world hed gotten used to the idea of the stability of the Soviet Government, news dispatches appeared regularly, with something Jike this: y “Rigs, Latvia.— Authentic reports from eye= witnesses reveal that yesterday the Moscow workers revolted against the Soviet regime and were shot down by the Red Army, which then mutinied and was, in turn, shot down by the Gaypayoo, which went on strike demanding more sugar in their tea and were suppressed by pick- ed bands of Communists. Stalin is reported to have fled and the city is.in flakes, Reliable reports say that in the Ukraine famine has de- populated the whole province and only old wo- men and stray children roam the countryside. Notwithsianding this, huge armed bands of pea- sants are in revolt against the Communist dic- tatorship and have defeated the Red Army.” ‘Well, we now have the pleasure of reading in a Minneapolis paper of mid-November, (a clip- ping of which a comrade sent.us without being thoughtful enough to note the name-and date of the paper) that at least-one of those “Riga correspondents” has been transferred. But of course some other liar replaces him. ‘We refer to W. B. Coleman of -Minneapoiis, whe for the last nine years was U. S. minister to Latvia. with headquarters at Riga. The Riga office of the U. S. Minister has been both the representative of the U. S, State’ Department and the headquarters of American spies in the Sovist Union, and in addition a sort of link be+ tween Czarist counter-revolutionary military outfits and the spy system—and the real source of “Riga correspondence to the Associated Press.” This scoundrel Coleman is now transferréd to Denmark, and is making a visit to his old home town, Minneapolis, and in the local paper he chewed over the same old lies: “At Riga we have been in a position to obtain complete information on Russia. We have had access to all official news from there, and te MUCH OTHER INFORMATION. (We have cole lected it and reported it to. Washington, purely in an objective way and not in any effort to prove one thing or another.” ‘Then he goes ahead to “prove” how “objective” his dope has been by saying: “They have prac tically foreed labor in Russia and. it does nob work. In my opinion they willnever complete the Five-Year Plan.” And so on, That, dear reader, is the kind of stuff “Riga correspond | ence” became famous for. i . The Land of Opportunity A Massachusetts comrade telIs us what he hag, noticed about the “salary eliminator”. policy of the bosses. The chap who- delivers his bread, for example, covers 30 miles a day and against, lots of competition sells about $10 worth of b:cad, gets no salary but only a commissio::, furnishes his“own car and has to buy a uniform. “But,” says the comrade, “the Standard Ot! Co., has the prize bag of tricks. To get = gas. station, a man must put up bond of $500 to $1,000. Then buy a grease gun at about $150; two uniforms and repair tools.” He gets no sal- ary ordinarily, just a commission of two cents a gallon of gas sold. By working 15 hours a day against firece competition, men around here get about $25 a week gross. More than twice the time a worker puts in in the Soviet Union! “Now what if the station is so located that the manager, if fortunate enough to earn $35 in return for 105 hours of work, Then this sweet Standard Oil Company finds that he must pay the operating exbenses of the station, lights, water, heating. And if the manager is-so located as STILL to make a net of $35 to $40, he is pulled off the commission basis and put on a salary basis! Don’t we love our dear, sweet capitalists? What a nice necking party we'd like to give them!” ‘We, however, don't see what the gas station men have to kick about. Don’t they know that in this land of opportunity anyone has a chance to rise to better things? Why not, for example, if they tire of selling gas, become president? Other gas peddlers have become president! Look at Hoover, for example! eo s 8 6 Why Not?:—That is all”we can say to the in- quiry of a New York worker ‘wiio asks why there ere no meetings held along Sixth Avenue between. S0th and 50th Streets, “the most fertile field for Communist activity.” “Last year,” he says, when the situation was not half as bad as it is now, there were some very good speakers, and always surrounded by plenty of grateful listen- ers.” “ cance «toa gle grows sharper, especially in ‘view of the _ "pproaching spectre of a proletarian revolution in Germany, with the drive of Japanese impert- alism in Manchuria, the imperialists will seek to sidetrack these growing antagonsms for the common goal of a war to destroy the Soviet Union and the rising tide of proletarian revo- lution in Germany, sti