The Daily Worker Newspaper, December 31, 1931, Page 1

FORCE SENATE COMMITTEE TO HE a WORKERS OF THE WORLD, UNITE! ‘(Section of the Communist International) GATHER WITH YOUR SHOPMATES IN “FRIENDS OF THE DAILY WORK- ER” GROUPS. READ, DISCUSS, GE “DAILY WORKER. ENTER SOCIALIST DRVE FOR 5,000 “ SUBS. T SUBS FOR THE COMPETITION IN ‘DAILY WORKER” ‘You. VIII, No. 314 <ex at New York, W. ¥.. umder the act of Marck 3, 1979 NEW YORK, THURSDAY, DECEMBER ‘31, 1931 CcIry EDITION Price 3 Cents _ 2 AR DEMAND FOR UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE AT FULL WAGES FOR 12,000,000 UNEMPLOYED WORKERS Kentucky Miners! Strike! Aw EYES should be on the Kentucky coal! strike which opens the New Year. with a decisive struggle. Friday 18,000 miners whose families are slowly dying of hunger will cement their ranks under the leadership of the National Miners Union in @ strike which is the hope of the entire Southern wroking class, Negro and white. From its very beginning the National Miners Union has been har- rassed by the Harlan and Bell County coal operators’ gun thugs. The miners built up their organization,-held their convention, prepared for strike in the sight of the menacing machine guns and high powered rifles. One deputy gun thug failed in his deliberate attempt to murder the N. M. U. member Hutton for distributing National Miners Union leai- lets. The spirit of determination, of dauntless courage which marked the preparation for the strike will be increased a hundredfold in the actual struggle. . The Kentucky miners are coming out! The Kentucky miners will fight against hunger and starvation! But the strike must spread! In the coal fields of Tennessee, of Alabama, of West Virginia, the cry of “Strike!” should meet an immediate response. The whole Southern as ‘well as Northern working class are involved in this fight against hunger. 4A stivring example of the unity of all southern workers which marked the preparation of the Kentucky strike is shown by the shoulder-to- shouldez fight of Nezro and white miners. Not only is there, for the first time in Kentucky history, a Negro miner on an official board of a union, Yeading a strike of southern workers, but every effort is being made to draw every Negro miner in Kentucky into this common fight against ‘umiger and terrorism which menaces Negro and white alike. Av the Distrie. Board meeting of the N. M. U. on Monday a Negro mer brought greetings of solidarity trom the Negro miners of Alabema. ‘eche Coxtoca mine in the Everett section, the superintendent told the Mug-o miners thai if they did not turn in their N. M. U. cards they wOuld be firec. Not a man budged. They declared that if a single h wer: fired, chey would ail go out on strike before January Ist! Struggle against hunger and terrorism there is being built up ‘a solid, SG struggle o: .,<gro and white workers in the South. rt “Mo worlc: can fil to notice the ccnstant appeals for relief from che iucky ‘coal Slelds. Toe Kentucky miners must not feel isolated bo their fight. Despite all the years of local patriotic propaganda, of Goustent expression by the bosses of hostility to “outsiders’—by whom nt workers struggling along with the Kentucky miners Ts know the meaning of working class solidarity. --There should be'no delay in rushing relief to the Kentucky coal fisds. Eeecvsc they are constantly on the verge of starvation, the need of-reliet in Kentucky will be tremendous on the first day of the strike. She ‘-orlcrs International Relief is busy, actively collecting relief. There Send your share now-—money, food, clothing—t7 Mould kr no delay. the-Werkers International Relief, 16. West 2lst Street, New York City. i rt the Kentucky miners in their strike! Smash the hunger and tert > grem of the bosses! Rally to the support of the National ‘Ti2c%s' Union, the leader of the Kentucky miners! = *mash Thru the Front of Lies and Hypocrisy ! Capitalist press on Monday blossomed forth. with the customary tales of “plenty” and “comfort” for the unemployed, which the latter Slave been hearing for the third winter of hunger and starvation, every filme nickel was donated or a bowl! of soup was photographed along With Al Smith. Monday, the “big” story was that “food and care” would be pro- ‘vided for 250,000 families of Greater New York—through the winter mionths’—and all on the sum of $5,000,000 appropriated by the city. The miracle of hte “five loaves and five fishes” surely has 2 com- petitor in this Tammany munificence. For, if 250,000 families are to be @iven ‘food and care” for three months, when winter technically ends, ‘ona total of $5,000,000, the miracle will be accomplished of sustaining life in each family on a sum of a bit over $6 per month. But that is optimistic, as we know that there are literally thousands of hand-picked parasites serving as “investigators” of these 250,000 fam- ilies, who. will cat up in administrative salaries a great and hidden per- ventage of the $5,000,000. So the “food and care” that reaches the homes af the desperate and starving unemployed will indeed be absurd even to Save them from actual starvation. » The inadequacy of all this officially advertized charity is nothing Jess than murder! And guilty of murder is every Jast one of those who Picture it as “adequate” and use it as an argument against the demand for unemployment insurance! _. Even in the same editions, the capitalist editors had to publish a refutation of their own lying headlines, in the form of Washington dis- patches saying that chiefs of charity Senate Committee had openly declared before the great organizations appearing before a that charity bodies were helpless and growing need of the starving millions, and one ‘Senator declared that “existing organizations of relief had broken down” PY “othe need for aid from the federal government being imperative. _. Meanwhile, as a postscript on the refusal of the Hoover administra- don even to talk to the delegates of the unemployed in the National thg himself back $86,938 in tax refunds fér 1931, a part of $65,000,000 given back by Mellon's ‘Treasury Department to the capitalists. «This outrageous piece of robbery, in the circumstances of a huge “eficlt in the national budget which Mellon and Hoover cite every time » World War veterans ask for a bonus or the word “unemployment insurance” is ‘mentioned, is enough to maké the millions of starving Workers understand just what class owns and controls the federal gov- ernment. ‘ . Whole class of Mellons to disgorge the profits they have robbed trom the workers throughout the years of “prosperity” and furnish the funds io pay unemployment insurance and give real winter relief to ) ‘Call: Meet‘ in Support led a mass meeting for January Ist, at 8 p. m. at the Spanish Workers Center, 4 East 116th Street. An: organization campaign among tobacco workers is being undertaken here. All workers are invited to be present. N.Y. Tobacco Workers of 41 Tampa Strikers 2 / YORK.—To rally support for the 41 Tampa, Florida, tobacco work- ers ‘who were jailed in the recent ci- gar strike in that city, the Tobacco : Industrial League have cal- Roll up thousands of Daily Worker subs tn the fight against wage cuts. JAPANESE Withdraws, Le aving Guard to Hold Mas- ses In Check New Nanking Cabinet Kuomintang Prepares New Sell-Out Among the first acts of the new “united” counter-re- volutionary government of the Canton and Nanking groups of imperialist tools were to aban- don Chinchow to the Japanese and postpone the abolition of the extra- territorialy treaties which has been fixed for January 1. There was no intention, in the first place, on the part of the Kuomintang lackeys of imperialism to abolish these treaties. The setting of Jan. 1 as “the date” for their abolition was only a gesture aimed at heading off the anger of the Chinese masses against the ar- rogant looting of China by the im- perialist bandits, and the betrayal of the masses by the Kuomintang. With Jan. 1 approaching, the Kuomintang betrayers have abandoned the pre- tense of having a show-down with their imperialist masters. Marshall Chang Hsueh-liang yes- terday began to withdraw his troops from Chinchow. Still attempting to | (CONTINUED ON PAGE THREE) ‘USSR ENDS YEAR OF GREAT GAIN N. Y. Times Admits} Soviet Against War In strong contrast to the lowered standard of living of the American masses, the New York Times of Dec. 30th reports that the year of 1931 has been for the Russien workers a| year of gain and achievement both | in their personal lives and in the | industrial life of the Soviet Union. The only rea) difficulties that the Soviet Union had to overcome were those placed there by the boycott of the capitalist governments, which made every attempt to crush the So- viet Union by a financial blockade and refusal of credit,spreading bogies about the red trade menace. Referring to the Japanese war plot. The Times correspondent ad- mits that the Soviet Union has done its best to ward off the imperialist attempts to draw it into a war. He also states that in the coming Dis- (CHANG HANDS|Admit Ky. Officials CHINCHOW 10| Rule Through Gunmen) Governor’s Committee Says Sheriff Blair’s 200 | Gun Thugs Terrorize Miners and Try to . Stop Union Organizing Official reports to the governor of Kentucky admit that the Harlan county officials, hired by the coal operators, instigated the attacks of the hired deputy gunmen and sup- ported the drive against the National Miners’ Union. John T. Mcutoux, N. Y. World-Telegram correspondent in Frankfort, Ky., in a special story on Harlan County terrorism writes: “Bratalities of the ‘law’ in Harlan County, Ky., center of recent coal mine disorders, are again exposed in| a nine-volume report by two com- missioners, J. Smith Hays, of Win- chester, and A. A. Bablitz, of Lexing- ton, both leading members of the Kentucky aBr, appointed by Gover- nor Flem D. Sampson. “In addition to the many atrocities, the report discloses an amazing dis- regard of civil Hberties and demands that those who ‘outraged common decency’ be prosecuted. Wholesale raids were made on the homes of miners, many of the miners lodzed in jail without opportunity to make (CONTINUED ON PAGE THREE) ‘Union Officials Force 10 P.C. Wage Cut on 15,000. R.R. Men SAN FRANSCISCO, Calif., Dec. 30. ~The leaders of the railroad shop crafts association committee on the Southern Pacific have put over a 10 per cent wage cut affecting 15,000 shop men and opening the way for wage cuts for 1,500,000 railroad workers, ‘This cut, according to announce- ments in the ¢apitalist press, was consciously made as an opening wedge. It will be followed up by other wage cuts, The rank and file were not consulted. The “Western Worker,” published here, whose first issue will be on the streets tomorrow, has a feature story telling of the conditions-of the work- ers on the Southern Pacific Railroad. “Leaving only a very small skeleton force, the Southern Pacific Railroad laid off December 17, 18,000 to 20,000 workers in the shops throughout Cal- ifornia,” writes the “Western Worker.” “Those, affetced by the layoff were promised work beginning January 4, but at the 10 per cent wage cut which goes into effect Januaty. 1 for al unorganized workers. The wage cuis and layoffs affect 40,000 workers be- sides the workers of the other Pacific lines subsidiary to the Southern Paci- fic.” ‘The action om the Southern Pacific Railroad is a warning to all workers on the railroads that unless they pre- pare action now, organizing rank and file commitees to prepare for strike, the wage cuts will be put over by collaboration of the officaldom and the railrord bosses. Jubilee At Coliseum Jan. 3 Is Daily Drive Halfway Mark Workers. of New York! Keep setting and speeding up the pace in the Daily Worker 5,000 Yearly Sub Drive. Maintain and increase New York’s lead in the drive! Only 3 weeks remain and we have covered only one-eighth of our quota! Let’s increase the tempo of the drive! Over the top for Jan. 18! Let’s reach the half way mark of 380 years of subs by Jan. 3rd, the date on which the 8th Anniversary of the Daily Worker will be celebrat: eight o’clock in the evening. ed at the Bronx Coliseum at This celebration will be one of the high marks of the| drive. Be prepared to report progress you have made! for your organization on. the An excellent program has been arranged including the} armament Conference in February, Litvinoff will conti-ue to advocate complete disarmament in line with the peaceful policy of the Soviet Union, as against the fake disarma- ment proposals of the imperialist governments. pageant, ‘Trial of The Yellow. Press,” music by the W. I. R.| Brass Band, selections by the International Chorus, a gym-| nastic act by the Labot Sports Union, and a special feature, the noted Brooklyn singer Isaac Gladstone, who will offer a! repertoire of revolutionary songs. Admission is 35 cents at t coupon now being distributed. NEW YORK—To support the de- mands of tens of thousands of starv- ing unemployed, the Chilean Fed- eration of Labor has called for a general strike beginning next Mon- day. The strike action follows the wholesale attacks against Communist leaders, against thousands of unem-+ Ployed and their families. The strug- gle of the unemployed and reached a high pitch recently when the workers stormed the barracks at Valenar, Copiago, Fifty were killed and scores arrested and tortured. The immediate reason for the call- ing of the general strike was the government order to evict the 12,000 unemployed and their families from government quarters where the job- less had been living. A United Press cable from Santiago, Chile, admits that the reasons for the eviction order were, first, because the unem- ployed refused to do forced labor for starvation pay. and second “because the centralization of so many laborers has, - + faeilitated Comraunistic propaganda and led to frequent clashes with the authorities.’ The demands of the general strike as reported by the capitalist cable dispatches are: Repeal of all laws against freedom of speech and press; no unemployed family should pay rent; stoppage of all evictions; unem- ployment relief of at least five pesos a day. ‘ A New York Times cable from San- tiago tells of the fascist murder gangs combing the country in search of revolutionary leaders. The ‘Times states: “Troops are combing the vicinity of the outbreaks, searching for fugi- tives and working in conjunction with the police measure adopted here and at Valpariso . . .The govern- ment asserts it will put down the movement with a firm hand.” he door and 25 cents with the Call General. Strike in Chile NEEDLE BIRTHDAY for Demands of Unemployed|MEET TOMORROW ‘The third anniversary of the Needie Trades Workers Industrial Union will , be célebrated at the Central Opera House, 67th St. and 3rd Ave., Priday, 8 p.m. The needle tradés workers will mobilize at this celebration for the coming struggles, especially for the coming dress strike. The work of 3 years industrial unionism will be reviewed by Com- rade Foster, Ben Gold, Maude White and Lena Chernenko. In the pro- gram of the concert, the Arteff will present “Water Boy", Gropper will draw cartoons of the past struggles and of the socialist construction in the Soviet Union. Edith Siegai will Present a new Soviet dance “Udar- nik” with music by A. Adohmyon, and “Third Degree”, the Prolet- Buehne in “The Belt” and “Tempo, Tempo”. Jacob Schaeffer will con- duct the Freiheit Gesangs Verein and the Mandolin Orchestra. LL.D. INNEW | ACTION FOR ROY WRIGHT Darrow, Hayes Refuse to Co-operate to Save 9 Boys LEAVE ALABAMA. Boys and Parents Bar (Telegram to Daily Worker) | BIRMINGHAM, Ala., Dec.} |80.—Refusing to co-operate with the five attorneys of the) International Labor Defense in| Supreme Court on Jan. 21 against the lynch verdict against eight of the nine innocent Scottsboro Negro boys, Clarence Darrow and Arthur Garfield Hays, “liberal” lawyers, left this city tonight. Darrow announced his intention of returning to Chica- go. Hays said he was going to New Orleans. During the past few days it had been made clear Hays by the eight boys ‘and their) parents and other relatives that their co-operation with the the I) L. D.| would be welcome, but that the boys and all of their relations were un- | alterably opposed to having the mis- leaders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored | People in the case. The boys and their link took the position that all that the N.A.A.C.P. misleaders have been: doing in the case is to attempt to disrupt the defense and help the Alabama lynch courts to advance the | boys to. the electric chair. | The refusal of Darrow and Hays to| co-operate in a real fight to save and | FREE the boys came an all-night conference between Darrow and Hays | and the LL.D. attorneys, Darrow and | Hays refused to sever their con- nections with the N. A. A. C. P. in} order to co-operate in a united effort | to. smash the ghastly frame-up against the boys. Chamiee Issues Statement. General George W. Chamiee, ccle- brated Southern Attorney, issued the following statement today: “The defendanis and their par- | ents, together with the Interna- tional Labor Deiense, have retained me.2s counsel. All of the parents and kin of the boys further filed (CONTINUED ON CAGE THREE) 3 Jobless Workers Commit Suicide | Desperate because of prolonged | unemployment, James Dobson, a} young worker of 225 W. 12 Street; committed suicide by taking poison. He was taken to the hospital but it was too late to save his life. Edna | Graham, an unemployed model, liv- ing in the same house as Dobson, also tried to kill herself but was re- vived by doctors. Another victim of miserable con- ditions is Frank Lee, a 24-year old Chinese waiter who shot himself in the right veimple. So, steadily are} thousands ‘of workers doing away with himself because of the lack of AKC PY. | LaFollette Tries t | tempt to rail Workers Will Rally Behind Bring In A. F. of L. Faker, Grady, In Attempt to Fool Unemployed by Phrases 0 Prevent Jobless from Stat- ing Their Demands Before Senate WASHINGTON, D. C., Dee. 30.—Forcing La- Follette Senate Committee to hear the repre- sentatives of the unemployed, Herbert Benja- the Unem by the 1,670 |forward the dem |insurance and im Senator Costigan ands of the mediate cash of Colorado the appeal before the Alabama| Min, secretary of the National Committee of ployed Councils, which was elected National Hunger Marchers, to Washington, put unemployed for unemployment relief. Senator LaFollette and at first refused to hear Ben- jamin. Benjamin and the rest of the committee insisted that ‘s ox. ms DANVILLE CHIEF (OP FURIOUS AT DEFENSE DEMAND Tad Exposed Jailing of W. G. Binkley NEW YORK.—Furious because the International Labor Defense sent him a telegraphic protest against the framing-up and jailing of W. G. Bink- ley, Communist organizer in Danville, Va., demanding his release, J. H. Mar‘in, chief of police of Danville, replied forecesting more frame-ups against workers, The I. L. D. telegram declared:— “Workers throughout the country vehemently protest arrest and at- W. G. Binkley im- prisoned on false charges of va- grancy or any other charges *hat may have been cooked up. We de- mand Binkley’s immediate release.” To which J. H. Martin, chief of Police, replied :— “ don’t know who the Interna- tional Labor Defense is and ustally Pay no attention to any low down anonymous messages but snppose you are also a Red. You foreign- ers who are secking to destroy the American government may talk big in New York but we in Virginia are full blooded American citizens and to fully do our duty regardless of your fo h demands and insulting telecrams.” Midnight Party Ends the Center Carnival Today is the last day of the six- day Carnival for the completion of the Workers) Center. A midnight New Year's party has been arrangea at which the Artef will give a one-act play. The party wil) continue until the small hours means of existence. of the night. By EDITH BERKMAN 1 BOSTON, Mass.-Comrade Bedros Donegian was arrésted during the Lawrence strike against the 10 per cent wage cut. The case of Donegian 4s one of the most vicious of all the arrests during the strike. Donegian has for the last ten weeks been kept iu Bast Boston Immigration Station | for denortation to Soviet Russia. | You will say: “America has no | business relations with Soviet Russia he can’t be deported!” Oh, well, that is nothing, for that is just what the strikebreaking Commissioner of | Immigration, Mrs. Anna C. N. Til-: Unghast, recommended to the si:lke- breaking Secretary of Labor Doak, I will try to tell the story of Don- E. Berkman Writes of Brutal Treatment Accord egian’s arrest. I hope every reader of the Datly Worker will rée-tell it to other workers, Active in Strikes Comrade Donegian comes from Soviet Armenia, He has lived and worked in Lawreace for the last eight | years. Being a weaver in one of the mills, he jotned-the Nattonal Textile Workers’ Union. During the strike of last February, led by the Nat'l Tex- tile Workers Union. Comrade Done- ian, with a few other workers were taken to the police station and lec- tured by the police on “how to keep a job.” i‘ He was told that if he wanted the (CONTINUED ON PAGE THREE) ed Donegian| ‘the demands of the 12,000,000 unem- Ployed be herad. LaFollette used all sorts of triék ery in an effort to sidetrack the | Spokesmen for the organized unem- | ployment movement in the United* States, Benjamin presented the argument for the Workers Unemployment In« surance Bill, adopted by the Nation~ al Hunger Marchers. He made | Special attack against dward F. Me~ | Grady, representative of the A. F. of L., who was called in by the La~ Follette group in an effort to evade the real issue of unemployment in- surance, Benjamin read e long document, containing a complete indictment of the capitalist hunger system, ex- Posing the miserable condition of the entire working class and putting forward concrete proposals for un- employment incurance at full wages, The senators and their backers lit- erally writhed in their seats at the exposure of the capitalist hunger system and the growing s‘ruggles of 10,000 Workers Buy First Issue of Hunger Fighter 10,000 workers, employed and unem- ployed purchased copies of the first issue of the Chicago “Hunger Pight- er,” in which the main story is an appeal for mobilization for February 4th, National Unemployment Day, Pointing out that the National Hunger March, in which oyer 1,600 elected delegates representing mil~ lions of unemployed took part, was “a huge victory in the struggle for immediate relief and unemployment jinsurance,” the “Hunger Marcher™ goes on to declare that this fight just be pushed on to wider fronts, “The work of the great National Hunger March niust go on! “The Unemployed Council has de~ cided to follow up this huge march by securing millions of signatures of workers, employed and unemployed, Negro. and white, in support of the | unemployment insurance bill. “These millions of signatures will be nlactd before Congress on Feb- |ruary 4th. This caf? will be known ance Day. , Millions to Demonstrate “Millions of workers will take to the streets on February 4th in thous- ands of cities and demonstrate in | support of the demands for unem- | ployment insuratice and immediate | winter reltef of $150 for every unem- ployed worker and $50 for each de- | pendent: “On with the fight against Hun- ger! “Help collect the millions of , sig- natures! “Demonstrate on National Unem- ployment Insurance Day, Februray 4th! Join, the Unemployed Council!” rn Out To “Dail y” Jubilee At Coliseum Jan. 3rd! CHICAGO, ML, Dec. 30. — Over Demands Feb.4 as National Unemployment Insure