The Daily Worker Newspaper, January 14, 1932, Page 1

WORKERS OF THE WORLD, UNITE! Dail Central lu. cvorker —_— Vol. IX, No. 12 apn at New York, N. Y.. am Entered as cecond-class matier at the Post Office e the uct of Marck %, 1979 ali Section of | the Communist International ) “FRIENDS OF ER” GROUPS. READ, DISCUSS, ( “DAILY WORKER. SU NTER SOCIALIST COMPETITION DRVE FOR 5,000 “DAILY WORKER’ GATHER WITH YOUR SHOPMATES IN THE DAILY WORK T SUBS FOR THE IN BARE ROCKEFELLER-INSULL SLAVE RULE IN KY. TRIAL Chicago Workers Protest Jai iling o of Unemployed F riday What Is New York Doing in the Fight ofthe Unemployed? Tammany Hall government of New York City and the most powerful banks in the United States have given in the last few days the clearest example of limitless brutality in the treatment of the unemployed. Accord- ing to the official figures more than 20,000 families have been cut off from the starvation relief rations they had been receiving. They have been condemned to death by starvation and exposure. What is the New York district doing to organize mass struggle against this monstrous act and organize the mass fighting front for immediate cash relief and Workers’ Unemployment Insurance? Is there to be a hunger march to Albany or a mass delegation sent to the state capitol, which would expose to the 1,500,000 jobless workers in New York State the responsibility of the demagogue Governor Roosevelt for the mass misery? Will there be mass demonstrations at the five borough halls? Will there be organized a mammoth demonstra- tion at the city hall? Are block committees being formed to secure signatures for the Workers’ Unem- ployment Insurance Bill? Is the literature of the Na- tional Committee of the Unemployed Councils being distributed on a mass scale? Are preparations being systematically to secure the endorsement of local unions of the American Federation of Labor for the Workers’ Unemployment Insurance Bill? What are the prepara- tions for February 4? New York: Tell us what is being done on all these issues so that we can give to the workers in the other districts the experiences of the struggles of the unem- ployed in the biggest city in the United States! The Kentucky Strike---A Decisive Struggle ENTUCKY and Tennessee miners are striking against starvation and for a program of demands for better wages and working conditions, against the most powerful capitalists in the United States—Rockefeller, Insuil, Ford, Morgan—who own the mines. The forces of the capitalist government have been mobilized and sent against the miners, with a brutality that is unusual even for America. ‘There is the armed attack on the miners, collectively and individually, by the official sheriffs forces enlarged by the hiring of thugs and gun- men who are sworn in as special deputies. ‘There is the use of the courts against the striking miners and the organizers of the National Miners Union, the International Labor De- fense and the Workers International Relief and—even the arrest of lawyers sent to carry on the legal defense. ‘The regulations for bail set by the coal operators’ courts are so framed as to keep the leadership of the strike in jail. The state Criminal Syn- dicalism law has been invoked to arrest the organizers and break the strike. ‘The conditions of the miners, their wives and children, are those of slaves with this difference—they are fed and housed worse than the in- dentured slaves of the colonial period. The coal companies exercise ab- solute control over their lives by the power to give or deny employment, by their power to force wage payments in company scrip so that miners and their families can trade only at the company stores, and thereby have their staryation wages still further reduced by sky high prices main- tained by the companies. The diseases of under-feeding and semi-starvation, pellagra and flux, are rampant throughout these mining areas. These are the conditions, and the capitalists, against which the strik- ers are fighting. This strike brings forward in sharp form the class character of such struggles in the United States—billionaire capitalists and their government on one side, impoverished and hungry miners, sup- ported by the working class on the other. .It is one of the chief tasks of the Communist Party to make still clearer these class differences and organize American workers for the support of the struggle of the Ken- tucky and Tennessee miners. ‘The Kentucky and Tennessee miners by themselves cannot break through the iron ring of terror and starvation that has been welded around them by the most powerful capitalists in America and capitalist government, The Morgans, Rockefellers, Insulls and Fords know this. ‘That is why they tried to behead the strike by arresting the organizers, that is why they are conducting in the strike area a vicious campaign against the Communist Party. ‘They are using the issues of religion; they are using race hatred against Negroes; they are waving on high, as these scoundrels always do in such situations, the banner of patriotism, home and country. They are accusing the Communist Party of organizing armed insurrection in Kentucky and throughout the South. These billionaires and their agents have mobilized the fascist elements of the American Legion, preachers, teachers and demagogues of all kinds for this campaign, a campaign directed against the Communist Party— and the miners. 3 They hope by these methods to divide the ranks of the miners. They hope by these methods to prevent the organization of mass support for the Kentucky strike among workers in other sections of the South and throughout the United States. They intend to break the strike, drive the miners back into the hell holes of their mines, and still further increase profits at the cost of the lives of miners and their dependents. In other words, Morgan, Rockefeller, Ford, Insull and the capitalist class of which they are the leaders, by the use of every form of legal and extra-legal suppression, by lies and slanders, by deception of the most brazen kind, to maintain and even worsen the very conditions and sys- tem of robbery and oppression the Kentucky and Tennessee miners arc fighting against. Our Party assumes full responsibility for organizing support for the striking miners and for making clearer to them the basic class issues in- volved in this decisive struggle, and thereby strengthen the strike intern- ally and externlaly. We call upon the striking miners, Negro and white, to join the Communist Party. ‘The Communist Party calls upon workers everywhere to come to the ald of the Kentucky end Tenn2scee miners, to help them defeat the big capitalists who are responsible for their terrible conditions and who are the same leaders of the capitalist class which today drives the whole Am- erican working class to a new low level of hunger and starvation. In the strike area the main task is the strengthening and spreading of the atrike, bringing in of more Kentucky and Tennessee miners to strike __, SRP 8 Bec EERE. j GOV. IS DEAF 10 DEMANDS OF MARCHERS 1000 Frisco Workers Escort Delegates to State Building 300. JOIN PARTY Elect “Fight Hunger” Committee to Carry On SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Jan. 18.—In the greatest demonstration ever held in California, with estimates ranging up to 200,000 lining Market Street from the waterfront to Civic Center, waiting for two hours, 536 hunger march dele- gates, from all parts of the state went by, and about 4,000 local San Francisco workers joined the march to the state building to pre- sent the demands of the unemployed, and to receive an answer from Goy- ernor Rolph. All traffic was tied up for two hours, The civic center was a teeming macs of workers who gave the marchers a wild ovation when they reached the square, Governor Rolph, on a specially built plat- fori in front of the state building, surrounded by hundreds of uni- formed and plain clothes police manning machine guns, sawed-off shotguns, etc., asked to speak to the anemployed. A sign in the parace gave the an- swer, It read: “Governor Relph, peeches don’t feed our fi The paraders marched past State House Green. Rolph the and on to Marshal held an opposition meeting and through loud spegkers and over the radio addressed a crowd estimated by the capitalist press at 5,000. Twenty-five thou- sand workers followed the hunger marchers on to Marshal Green. A delegation was elected by the mass of workers to demand from CGov- ernor Rolph the granting of the de- mands, or a discussion of the de- mands wit hthe entire delegation. With splendid discipline, the work- ers stood around the platforms while the delegation went to see Governor Rolph. Rolph refused to meet the mass delegation, but offered the delegation the opportunity of listen- ing to his speech over the radio. The delegates called upon the assemblage to come to the main mass meeting. The crowd at Rolph’s platform cheered the delegation’s refusal. Parade Again. ‘The delegation then reported back to the 25,000 workers who were wait- Daily Worker Reporter Exposes Judge Van Beber “Combatting the Spread of FIGHT CUT As oad Operators’ Agent Communism” rganiae’ nd rae es terested communis in the United States through educntTonel ant f such aime, wo are taking the Liberty of the consideration of the members of your a +t proposals now pending in the pres- RC you Kindly submit these ‘the first opportunity, and jutions that way be adopted ram are forwarded to all ur State? It would be effective if the monbers of your organisation that are tnterested in these proposals vould write their Reprosextatives and Senators ia Congress, Eee We hope that the sesbers of your Grgnatontiea vill cooperate with us. Be are attaching hereto a short statement from the author of each of the bills proposed, which vill, #9 beliers, give you all the date required for action, but if you desire furt formation ve You write your Representative in Co to send yo s copy of House Report No, 2290 on the activi af the Commualst in the United states. Toaaking you for your cooperation, ve are, ‘Hiaocerely yours, By BILL DUNNE. “The American Alliance of the United States” is carry- ing on a nation-wide campaign against the Communist Party and the Communists. It is doing its bit for the Hoover Hunger Program. It directs its fire especially against foreign born workers and is organizing with great energy for the passage of its three pet measures. “Protest” in Waldorf-Astoria On January 17 it is holding an “anti-Communist protest meeting” in the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, New York City. The notice for this meet sent out by the secretary reads as follows: (CONTINCED ON PAGE THREE) 5242 Vote Communist at Cleveland Polls Terror Fails to Stop Heavy Negro Vote for Ford; Biggest Vote in Years CLEVELAND ’ Ohio.—I. 0. Ford, Cornmu- nist Candidate for mayor of Cleveland, polled 5,242 votes in the primary elections here Tues- day, surpassing by 673 votes the independent democrat, Dr. F. W. Walz. This is the largest Communist vote cast in Cleveland since Charles Ruthenburg ran for the office of mayor. The Cleveland capitalist press was foreed to admit that this primary election (CONTINTED ON PAGE THREE) showed the largest Communist vote influence in the history Carpenters Local 27 Call Conference to NEW YORK.--Flouting the pro- gram of the officialdom of the American Federation of Labor, as expressed at the Vancouver conven- tion, which voted against unemploy- ment insurance, Local 2717 of the Carpenters at its meeting of Jan. 11, with 400 present, unanimously adopted a resolution favoring action for unemployment insurance. This important step, coming from within the A. F. of L. itself, shows the deep-going movement against the starvation program of the A. F. of L. officialdom. The members of Local 2717 not only endorsed unemployment insur- ance, but decided to call a confer- ence of other A. F. of L. locals to join in this move and to work ac- tively for unemployment insurance. Thedate and the meeting place of the conference will be announced later. ‘A. Baskoff, chairman of the Un- amupiosrd Committee of shia A. By of AFL Local Calls for Fight to Back Jobless Insurance ployment Insurance of the city. In ward 12, the Negro section of Cleveland, armed deputies ran rampant terrorizing and intimidat- ing the whole Negro population to vote for the Republican and Democratic candidates. Open vote stealing was noted throughout this section, But despite the bosses’ campaign of violence, the Com- manist yote in the 12th ward was larger than the combined votes of the two outstanding demagogues, the Independent Peter Witt and the Independent Democrat Walz. ‘The final elections will be held Feb. 16. The Communist Party is rallying its forces now to make this the greatest working-class election campaign in the history of the city. The Party hails the response of the workers and calls for continued or- ganization in the fight for unemploy- ment insurance. The intensification of the work of recruiting new members into the Pariy and the drive to build the Daily Worker and a mass mobili- zation of all the workers on the Public Square on Feb. 4 to de- mand immediate relief and unem- ployment insurance must mark the next steps forward in the election campaign, Votes Unanimously to Work for Unem- L. local union, reported on the growing impoverishment of the car- penters through unemployment. “Our misery is growing from bad to worse,” said Baskoff. “And to- day our big bosses who work hand in hand with the bankers an- nounced in the New York ‘limes that for years to come there will be no construction of new build- ings of any importance and there- fore they are going to cut our wages 30 per cent—which means that our prospects are no work and no wages—complete starva- tion, Under such conditions all our good plans to help our needy brothers will be a drop in the ocean,” Baskoff told of the role of William Green, Matthew Woll and McGrady, who worked with the Hoover hun- ger government against the workers “In one word, you reproach ws ae brsisenrgg to do away. with Property. Precisely so: that ty * quempey « case sum | ‘eh tet Se | Squad and the ousting of Stege ~ IN “RELIEF” TO JOBLESS 2000 Miners Outside o fCourtroom Hear De- fense Hurl Challenge of Struggle Against Starvation, Terror Program PINEVILLE, Ky., Jan. 13.—Tuesday atter- | Mobilize “Whole City noon, for Meet at 3737 So. State the court,” ‘Deny Beaten Workers - Medical Attention CHICAGO, Jan, 13.—Thousands of workers, including women, were Later Defense Attorney Bentall, in stopped and searched on the South ine course of a magnificent speech Side this morning. Over 100, | calling for the dismissal of the cases, mostly white workers, were picked '| demanded t. know whether Patterson up and jailed by the police in an | wanted any effort to prevent o demonstration | patcerson said: “Yes, the United of Negro and white workers atthe | xfine Workers, but I couldn't get th police court, where the trial of the | to puild it.” And Bentall replied, “ workers arrested Monday for dem- | want @ union, but they won't have onstrating for unemployment rellet | the United Mine Workers and when was scheduled. Many of these | they join the National Miners Union workers were viciously beaten uP. | you put them in jail.” None, including the lawyers, Smith Exposes Van Beber. were admited to the trial. The en- tire police torce was mobilized for eight blocks in every direction trom the police station. The block lead- ing to the station was barricaded by the police, Captain Stege and Barker, di- reeting the terror, boast that they will prevent meetings south of 39th St., close all halls and crush the movement of the unemployed on the South Side. The masses are indignant. They demand the abolition of the Red Vern Sniith, correspondent of the Daily Worker, arrested in |Ken- | tacky on “criminal syndicalist” tucky-Tennessee coal strike, on the witness stand here testifying tor the defense, accused the sitting judge, Van Beber, of being part owner of the Log Mountain Coal Co. Judge Van Beber shook his fist ut Smith, shouted and denied he was owner, but admitied he had been counsel and manzged for five years 500 houses for the Log Moun- tai Coal Co, Smith asked if Van Beber, like Judge Jones of Harlan County, had his coal property in and Barker, The meeting at Pythian Hall, 3737 S. State St., Friday night will Jatest terror affects even Negro petty-bourgeois, Harry Curtis, ed- itor of the Chicago “World,” a Ne- kro newspaper, will speak at Fri- day's meeting. The 41 arrested Monday are held on charges of inciting to an unlaw- ful assembly and disorderly con- duct, Fach is held on $2,000 bond. Fifteen of those arrested today are charged with “disorderly conduct.” Twenty-five are held for deporta- tion. The whereabouts and charges against the balance are unknown. CHICAGO, Ill., Jan. 13.—WorkersThrough- Workers of America and told of the Purseglove betrayal in Pittsburgh, when the UMWA sold out to the coal operators; he told of the Harlan sell-out, when the miners were sent into the mines at starvation wages by the UMWA. He narrated the long history of betrayal of John L. Lewis, president of the UMWA, who is On the payroll of several of the largest coal operators in the United States. He contrasted the struggles of the National Miners Union which led 40,000 Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia miners in a long and bitter struggle against wage cuts, and he told of the N. M. U. leadership union for the miners. | charges in connection with the Ken- | answer the terror and demand relative’s names, but Van Beber re- measures against starvation and | fused to answer. evictions, Resentment against this | Smith scored the United Mine | Reed Patterson who has been giving decisions for Judge Van Beber as a was smoked out by the direct ques- tion of Allan Taub, International Labor Push Relief _Demands fense lawyer, as to Patterson’s status son declared himself to be a member prosecution staff and fro: the prosecution, with iuanty Attorney falling into the backgr ound. “friend of De- ter- the Pat ot mm then on conducted Smith in Harlan and Be! posed the ei ° tion by mac! P gun rul Smith testified he as a reporter fc audible to the two ne barred from the court room, but who hed-gattfered* in- the corridors and around the court house Bentall made a ter: of capitalism whic’ death wholesale and fi try with 12,000,000 une launches a reign of t them. Eentall contim ithe gun thugs were hungry men who retal their union and are struggle for the r National Miners U: all political or munisis in its munists,” Be workers in orera in the biggest politica world.” He pointed ou defendants are within their ri hts since the Kentucky coi grants the right of revolution, whereas the six women and three men who are on trial came only to help orgamize strike relief and de- fense. Norma Martins testified as Workers International Relief representative. She told of the pledge of the Workers International Relief to mobilize work- ers throughout the country for strike ers to the cour- mployed an¢ (CONTINUED ON PAGE THREE) out the entire city are being mobilized for the central mass meeting on Friday at Pythian Hall, 3737 S. State St., under the auspices of the Unemployed Council, the League of Struggle for Ne- gro Rights, and the Interna- tional Labor Defense to protest against the savage assault on a dem- onstration of 1,000 unemployed work- ers who demanded immediate relief. The workers will also demand the release of workers beaten and arrest- ed and held incommunicado in fai). Wholesale arrests are going on un- abated. Hundreds of workers were arrested this morning. Reports show that a minimum of 50 workers were arrested yesterday as the result of a demonstration of unemployed at Governor Emmerson’s so-called relief headquarters on the South Side when police viciously at- tacked and beat up scores of Negro and white workers. They demanded the meagre relief be not cut. Many workers are still being held incommunicado and denied the right of attorneys. Some who are severely beaten are not being given medical treatment. One of the speakers at the demonstration, Irene NEW YORK. — Informing Mayor Walker and Police Commissioner Mul- rooney that the New YoYrk Unem- ployed workers, under the leadership RALLY TO LENIN MEMORIAL, JAN. 21 BRONX COLISEUM Thousands of New York workers will demonstrate on the occasion of the 8th anniversary commemoration of the life and work of the great leader and guide of the world pro~- letarian revolution. V. L Lenin, for defense of the Soviet Union mareh~ ing to ever greater victories for so~ cialism under the leadership of the Party of Lenin, the Bolshevik Party of the Soviet Union. The Lenin Memorial Meeting will be held Janu- ary 21st at the Bronx Coliseum. While the capitalist government, and the bosses cut down even the miserable charity relief and doom millions of unemployed workers to starvation, they are pushing their military preparations and war plots against the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union is in great danger of an !m- perialist attack. Rally to the defense of the Soviet Union. Jam the Brone School 150 at Belmont and Chris-|Colisewm! Bring your fellow work- topher Ave. The Council calls alilers! Expose and smash the Stimson- (CONTINUED ON PAGE THREE) BROWNSVILLE TO DEMAND RE- . LIEF BUREAUS RE-OPEN, NEW YORK. — The Brownsville ‘Unemployed Council will hold an open air demonstration today at 11 a. m., demanding the re-opening of the Home Relief Bureaus at Public cn, 10° the-Agsmamatenth workers in the neighborhood to rally | Hoover-Wall Street-war plois on the ars Lo ener asad Demonstrate for Jobless Relief at City | Hall Friday of the U1 the Unemployed Council of Greater New York, would demonstrate Friday at City Hall, demanding the opening of the relief stations and the imme- diate provision of adequate relief, a telegram was sent to each of these Tammany officials, ‘The telegram to Walker, signed by Carl Winter, secretary of the Unem- ployed Council of Greater New York, is as follows: “In the name of over one million New York City unemployed we pro- test closing of home relief bureaus and threat to end emergency relief committee jobs. Failure of city thus far te provide adequate unemploy~ ment relief and absence of unemploy- ment insurance makes withdrawal of these meager provisions public seni- ence to death by starvation {for thousands workingmen, women and children, “Protest Board Estimate postpone- ment playground and hospital build- ing program depriving workers of necessary accommodations and possi- bility of work. Your conferences with bankers only serve to forge out of misery of the unemployed a tool for raising subway fares at expense of working people. “Your conference with Police Com- misetoner Mulrooney on closing of home relief bureaus constitutes threat to the unemployed that their demands for food will be met by po- {COMMINUED ON PAGE TWO) funds for the memployed! Prepare and organize for February ith, Na