The Daily Worker Newspaper, February 18, 1932, Page 4

age Four 13th St., Pubttshed by the Comprodafly Publishing Ce, Inc., daily except Sunday, at 50 East New York City. Address and mail all checks to the Daily Worker, 50 Bast 18th Street, New York, N. Y. N. ¥. Telephone ALgonquin 4-7956. Cable “DALIWOLKK.” Dail THE PARTY RECRUITING CAMPAIGN By L. DAVIS When the Recruiting Campaign of tl ed two months ago, it was basically w ntention of penetrating into the large factories However, into the basic industries, in f our Par int out that in order to root o ths recruiting show that we have a overwhelmingly majority of unemployed worke: no joined the ranks of our Party, more th 0 per cent non-union affiliated, therefore e not yet improved the composition so far shops are concerned. Why ‘ically due to the fact that ave talked, “face to the shops” we have not his an issue for the whole Party member- ave not really explained the reasons nce of shop work, and we have ances where Party comrades work- ing in | 2 shops have recruited Party member: not from their factories, but from the mass or- ganizations to which they belong. Our Party comrades have not as yet learned how to work in ir own factories. There are some real tendencies of opportunism in practice in con- nection with our work inside the shops, There is on the one hand, a definite opposition to shop work and the preaching for the old form of organization and language or street units. There is also the other point, that we have not as yet coneretized to the Party members the problems de th A LETTER TO THE MEMBERSHIP OF DIS (COMRADES: * Ou Party, by decision of the Central Com- has entered into a two months period recruiting. The District Committee ance with the political and organiza- in ac tional outlook of the Central Committee decided upon a “Drive for New Members from the Shops”, starting January 4 to March 18. In our district, which is of decisive political importance because of its bas: yards, r ence throt ni of industries (mining, steel, metal, stock- oad) and because of its political influ- shout the entire Middle West, the win- least 1,000 new members, many of them in these decisive industries and shops, must be considered the major task of the P: and all efforts bent towards that goal. The class struggle is reaching unprecedented sharpne: nomic crisis is deepening. ‘ D Guard are mobilized to shoot down in cold blood all workers demonstrating against hunger and wage-cuts, as per their pamphlet issued named: “Emergency Plans for Domestic Disturbances”. Under the lash of the bosses and the government there are new attacks on the already miserable conditions of the unemployed, stopping of relief and renewing of evictions; a new wave of wage- cuts accompanied by stretching out of the stag- ger system of the employed; furious attacks on the Negro masses accompanied by a new wave of terror and political reaction aimed particularly at the Communist Party, and all of this is ac- companied by a chorus of demagogy from the mies of the working class—the A. F. of S. P., Workers Unemployment Com- NAACP, etc.—because the ore and more responsive to the p of the Communist Party, the only talist party. Our Party has a burning nese masses in our ranks. The registra- osed the real weakness of our Party, which has not yet been appreciated or under- stood by the middle layer of functionaries. The main facts are: 1) Only 25 per cent are employed in factories and of these half are in shops with less than 100 workers. 2) Sixty per cent of our members are unem- ployed. 3) While 25 per cent of membership are Negro comrades, thjs is predominantly in Chicago. 4) Only 12 per cent of Party membership are women and half do not work In shops. Sy Only one-sixth of Party members belong to trade unions HOW I FOUND THE PARTY JUST jomed the Communist Party in Min- | * neapolis and received my Party book. It took me a great while. The experience may be use- ful] in some other parts of the country during | this recruiting drive. For a couple of years I heard about the Communists. Working in one of the large ma- chine building factories im the city, it is na~ tural that I hesitated in coming right up to the Party office. A job these days is very scarce especially when I have a wife and four kids. So I was kind of careful. But I was always looking around for meetings to attend, mass meetings. Unfortunately I live in the back of the house and bills advertising meet- ings don’t reach me. Here I suggest that when we distribute bills we should also go around to the back of the houses where more and more workers are moving Into. Last fall I attended the International Youth Day demonstration but no one approached me to join anything. On November 7th there was a big mass meeting for the anniversary of the Russian Revolution, But I found out about it the day after from one of the workers in’ the shop next to me. Finally, on January 20, I read in the Minneapolis Tribune, the capi talist sheet, a notice that's Lenin Memorial meeting will be held on the 21st in a hall near where I live. I went there. And when Com- rade Schneiderman, the speaker, appealed for membership into the Party I took the risk of being noticed by stools and signed. Now at last I am In the Party. I used to belong to the Socialist Party and a couple of A. F. of L. unions. Two years ago } en attempt to organize our plant failed before | #6 got started. The A.F.L. officials did not even | try. Now the ground for organization is ripe ‘Those who are working get only four days a week and make about $20 for good mechanics. In this recruiting drive I pledge to organize a shop unit in this plant before the drive is over. u“— ss, as the eco- | Party Recruiting Drive January 11 - March 18, 1932 | their own factories, for building our Party. | Yorker’ SUBSCRIPTION RATES: New York City. Foreign: one year, $3; By mail everywhere: One year, $6; six months, $3; two months, $1; excepting Boroughs nhatian and Bronx, siz months, $4.50. Party US.A. is of how to approach workers inside their own 8 » how to organize these workers, and at he same time, safeguard the job of our Party members, and of the workers whom we approach. This problem, in my opinion, is not only one that faces the New. York district, but a problem that is of the utmost importance to the Party as a whole. It is necessary that the leading com- des in the Polburo and the Central Committee begin to write articles on the importance of shop work, and concretize and give to the com- rades examples of how it was done on one or another shop in this country, or in the European countries. We must begin to exchange ex- periences of comrades in the shops, and their approech to the work, in order to wake up the whole Party to the importance of this work, and to mobilize the Party, not only to understand this work, but to actually begin to work inside Unless we do this in the very near future, the recruiting campaign will not help us to change the composition of our Party, and to make the turn towards shop work, and through that to- wards mass work. It is of the greatest im- portance that the comrades in the large shops, the comrades of the shop nuclei of various in- dustries begin to write to us of their experiences. The sections must call meetings of comrades working in large factories to take up with them the problems of how each comrades can work within his or her own shop around concrete issues facing them in that shop, and in fact way bring the question of shop work to the forefront of our activities. So that as a result of this recruiting campaign. we may really go forward in mass activities of our Party. 8, CHICAGO 6) We are weakest in the most decisive indus- tries and the big shops, only 14 shop nuclei. To overcome this situation, coupled with the fact that of the new recruits during the last pe- riod, 80 per cent were unemployed and only 10 per cent from shops of concentration (and dur- i ‘atest month of December on basis of partial s only 22 were recruited from shops of con- centration; 10 |: ) nuclei and 2 new shop nuclei with 13 members, out of a total cf 400 no7 members) the District Comm:.ice appeals to the entire membership to conduct the Recruiting Drive with more vigor and with organized direc- tion, centered towards the decisive factories and shops. Our main objectives are: (2) 1,000 new members of which 175 to come from steel and metal; 75 from mining; 40 from ds; 50 from railroads; 20 from shoé. Recruiting 60 new members by cristing shop nuclei; (3) Organizing 17 new shop nucici, 1) to be in steel and metal industries. These objectives plus detailed directives have been in the hands of the section leadership more than a month. If this has not penetrated into the units and membership it is necessary to break down the formal bureaucratic methods which creep into the apparatus, co as to frec the whole revolutionsry encrry of our membership for these tasks, in line with the Party policy and directives. This recruiting must be @ part of every other campaign—every other activity. There is not a single campaign or activity, of which re- eruiting cannot be an organic part. The methods to be used in the campaign have outlined in both the District Committee and Central Committee directives. We urc> t>~t these be re-v2ad, studied and put into life. The District Committee calls upon the entire membership to make a decisive change in the re- maining period of the Recruiting Drive. During the first two weeks, the tempo of recruiting has been slower than in the month of December. This situation must be decisively changed by a proper understanding of the basis of the drive and by t the organized effort of the entire membership. The Chicago district ts in revolutionary compe- tion with the other district of heavy industry and of struggle—Pittsburgh. The coal miners and steel workers of West Pennsylvania have accepted our challenge. We must—we can make good. Chicago must be the banner district of the Party in the “Drive for New Members from the Shops.” Comrades: Forward into the factories and unions! Recruit new members in every activity! Popularize the Party through proper political leadership of the struggles of the workers! Let us make good our Revolutionary challenge to Pittsburgh by developing revolutionary competi- tion in the lower ranks. Away with all bureau- cratic red tape which prevents the Party from growing! Improve the inner life of the Party—in- tensify Party training, so as to Bolshevize our Party. Under the leadership of the Central Commit- tee, build the Party of Lenin in the shops and through struggle. With Communist greetings, District Committee, C.P., U.S.A, Dist. Eight. A Quarter of a Billion Invested in Rayon-- A War Industry By LABOR RESEARCH ASSN. ‘The United States is the largest producer of rayon and laso the largest consumer. Since the World War about a quarter of a billion dol- lars has been invested in this industry. Sixty per cent of the production in this country is in the hands of foreign interests. \our of the large foreign-owned or controlled conm\panies account for nearly two-thirds of the productive capacity available for making rayon in the United States. Rayon is a leading war industry as it uses cellu- lose which is also used in the mzking of explo- sives. For more facts on this see Labor and Silk, by Grace Hutchins. Like the older textile tndustries under capi- telism rayon suffers from “over-cepactty.* ‘The mills are able to produce @ third more than the consumers—wage earners chiefly—could buy, even in “normal” times before the crisis, ‘Tre- mendous monopolistic profits were paid to the owners in the earlier days. Cut with an increase of con:petition nad the economic crisis the prof- its have declined somewhat. Wall Street bank- ing houses, such as Lehman Bros., of which the Democratic Lietenant Governor of New York State ts # prominent pertmer, ere making mil- Hons out of the industry, RUSH FUNDS TO SAVE THE DAILY WO RKER—VOICE OF THE WORKING CLASS! How the Dressmakers Can Achieve Victory By RALPH SIMONS PART 1. A he mass strike of the dressmakers which has developed on the wave of strikes in the dif- ferent shops is—following the heroic strike of the minéré in Kentucky which is still in process—an other answer to the fierce attack of the cap- italists which is proceeding along the entire front. The struggling dressmakers are setting them- selves the aim not only to stop the further drive of the capitalists, not only to offer determined resistance to the continuous and ruthless reduc- tion of wages which they are putting over in the dress industry and to the unlimited imposition of overtime work and to the sweat shop system, but they have gone over from the defense to a direct counter-offensive. They are striving to achieve first of all, an immediate increase of 25 per cent in wages of the lower paid workers and the establishment of a minimum wage, the strict observance of the 40 hour, 5 day work week; the abolition of overtime work which is to be alloted to the unemployed, the payment by the employers of 3 per cent of their payroll into the unemployment relief fund; against discrimination against the Negro workers, etc., etc. But the striking dressmakers have not limited themselves to economic demands only. They have put forward, also, a number of demands of a -Political nature which are especially pointed against police terror, court inunctions, gangsters, for the unconditional, unrestricted right to strike and picket, The dressmakers already have be- hind them a rich experince of strike struggle and they know very well that the bosses will not hesitate to call upon the state apparatus in order to strangle the strike. This time, the dressmakers will be compelled to clash not only with the employers, not only with the capitalist state apparatus, court and police, but they will also have to deal with the unbridled, thoroughly corruptd leaders of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union. Here we are dealing not only with the Schlessinger and his gang but also with his lieutenants of the Love- stone group in the person of Zimmerman and his hangers on. The Schlessingers and the Zimmermans are proceeding in a solid united front with the bosses and the police. They are attempting to cover up their anti-workingclass, strike-breaking policy, their plot with the bosses against the workers, with the fig leaf of hypo-_ critical blabbering about the unbearble conditions of the workers in the shops and about their “readiness to lead the dressmakers in their struggle against the bosses. ‘The Schlessinger-Zimmerman conspiracy con- sists in their attempt to repeat now what they have done last year; to organize with the knowl- edge, consent and assistance of the employers a fake strike, in order that they may be in a posi- tion to behead the struggles of the workers, to betray the workers to the bosses; to throw over- board the most conscious and advanced of the workers and in that way leave the mass of brutally deceived workers still more firmly clutched in the vise of the Schlessinger machine. And it is peculiar that Schlessinger speaks the same language as Malone and that the em- Ployers are waiting impatiently for the fulfill- ment of the “threats” made “against” them by Schlessinger. The latter has already sceured for the fulfillment of his base anti-workingclass plan the cooperation of the well known New York, chief of police, Mulrooney, The events in Mecca ‘Temple, and the sluggings of the workers who demanded the declaration of a militant strike and 8 united front were a sort of rehearsal and they ought to demonstrate what the Schlessinger gang is capable of im order to break up the United Front of the fighting dressmakers and in order to stifle the fighting mood of their own mags of members. Tt goes without saylng that the employers can have full confidence in them During the present period, not only in the United States but also in other countries the trade union bureaucracy is compelled under the pressure of the masses and their growing urge for unity more and more frequently to paint them- selves In more and more ‘left’ colors, to assume the pose of the defenders of the working-class 4 p and to place themselves at the head of the mass be put into flesh and blood by the determined strikes which are springing up against their will, (in order of course the more easily to behead them). In a number of cases they hypocritically with s of unity in tHe ra of the working-class. In the United States the Musteites and the Lovestoneites especially have some experience in this matter. In this light special attention must be paid to the fact that in the strike of the dress- makers, not only Schlessinger, but also his Love- stoneite lieutenants in the person of Zimmer- man, have come out openly and without any equivocation against the united front. The ex- planation of this must be sought not in their unwillingness to resort this time too, to hypo- critical slogans (more correctly maneuvers) of the “united front,” but in their fear to mis- calculate. It is not unknown to them that the Needle ‘Trade Workers Indus, Union has grown consider- ably during recent time, that its political influ- ence far surpasses its organizational framework that this union has become a serious factor in the industry, and that it is impossible not to take it into account at this time. They fear that their calculation and tricky maneuvers may be upset this time. In a word, they are afraid to play with fire, at this time knowing full well what the sentiment is among their own membership ef how tremendous is the urge among them for actual unity and joint strike. ‘Th> lesson received by Stetsky at the hands of the furriers is still fresh in their memory. Pre- cisely because of this, being compelled under the pressure of the masses to assume the pose of the defenders of the interests of the workers against the bosses, the Schlessingers and Zimmermans prefer to delay in every manner the moment of the declaration of their fake strike, fearing that they may be swept off their feet. That they may be submerged by the movement and that the United Front Strike Committee may succeed in transforming the fake strike of Malone-Schles- singer-Zimmerman into a militant strike in one extended united front of all dressmakers against their triple alliance This is why they have preferred to change the game of ‘United Front” so dangerous for them into a more secure collaboration with Mulrooney. For them Mulrooney is a more agreeable and sympathetic partner. With him, they believe, it. is impossible to lose the game but it is possible to win a great deal+to strangle the strike and to deliver a Serious blow to the United Front Strike Committee and to the Needle Trades. Workers Industrial Union. ‘The calculation is seemingly a simple one but the Schlessingers and the Zimmermans have for- gotten about one detail. They have omitted from their calculation one more factor, namely the masses of the members in the Schlessinger union. ‘This factor, the membership of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union still following trustingly the leadership of the Schlesingers and Zimmermans, must be seriously accounted for by the United Front Strike Committee, For the extension of the strike declared by the United Front Strike Committee, for the drawing into the strike of the membership of the Schles- singer union against the will and despite the re- sistance of the Sch!osingers and the Zimmer- mans, for (ze creation of a uniied front from below, for the destruction of the barrier sep- arating the membership of the Schlesinger union from the workers who have already begun the battle, who are proceeding under the banner of the united front—all forces, means and ways, must be mobilized, all the workers who are fol- lowing the United Front Strike Committee and all the members of the Needle Trades Workers Industrial Union, up to the last man, must be roused, Thi st he beeken at att costs in the interest y'st in this stritie, The sloge) of a bread united frent, the slogan of a geneval and joint strike of all workers, re- gardless of political and trade union affiliation, of the white and the Negroes, the adult workers and the new American elements, the Italian and Spaniards, the united strike against the bosses and against their strike-breaking agencies, must. even come out es about the necessity will and through able leadership of this strike. What Is to Be Done? What then must be done in order to extend the limits of the strike, to involve in it not only the workers of the open shop, but also of the shops controlled by the Schlesingers? What must be done in order to break down this barrier, to expose the strike-breaking trade union bureau- cracy, to accomplish a broad united front from below, to isolate the Schlesingers and Zimmer- mans and to achieve success in the strike? For this it is necessary, first of all, to carry out broad militant mobilization of all workers in the dress industry, to explain to them the aim of this strike and the tactics which it is necessary to apply in order to secure victory. It is necessary therefore to strive with all determination that tne demands and tactics in this strike which are re- commended by the United Front Strike Com- mittee shall be grasped by all workers, that they should be carefully and fully discussed by them in the shops. We speak not only of the shops which follow the United Front Strike Committee, but also of the shops which are under the control of Schlesinger. It is necessary to see that in all of these shops the workers should form strike committees, elected on the basis of a united front, that into these strike committees should be elected not only members of the Industrial Union, or its sympathizers, but also the rank and file members of the Schlesinger union who are ready honestly to fight for the demands of the workers. This refers also to the Central United Front Strike Committee built upon the basis of repre- sentatives from the shops. It must under no cir- cumstances be just another name for the In- dustrial Union. Its frames must be considerably broader. In it there must be secured a place for workers regardless of political convictions and trade union affiliation, for the organized and the unorganized, No less important is it to draw into it repre- sentatives of the unemployed. Bspecially it is im- portant to draw into Shop Comm. as well as the Central United Front Strike Committee Ameri- can elements, Negroes, Italians and Spaniards. In the shops controlled by the Schlesinger union the initiative for the discussion of the program of demands must come from the adherents of the revolutionary trade union opposition, or from those who are sympathetic to the broad united front in this struggle of the workers. In case the majority of the workers expresses itself for the program of demands, and the re- Yolutionary opposition or the adherents of the oad united front succeed in drawing the over- whelming majority of the shops towards them, thts shop must be drawn into the united front of struggle. ' Im cases when in the shops controlled by the Svhlesinger machine the adherents of the united font continue to remain in a minority and, as # result, may be isolated from the mass of the workers, thrown out from the shops as a result of the understanding between the employers and Schlesinger, they must not isolate them- selves voluntarily and leave the shops in insigni- ficant groups but must continue the untiring work among the workers to get them to join the militant strike and for the united front of the workers from below. They must expose the strike breaking agency by means of striking, concrete facts of their betrayal of the interests of the workers. The sending of workers delegations from the striking shops to the shops which are continuing to work, or which are waiting for the official call of Schlesinger to cease work, and also to the open shops which did not cease work- ing, in order to convince them to join at once the general front of struggle, not to put any con- fidence in the Schlesinger strike-breaking ma- chine, to warn against the treachery which is being prepared by means of the proposed fake strike on the part of the Schlesinger-Zimmer- man to instill into the workers the understanding of the necessity to take the leadership of ‘the strike into their own hands through their elected strike committees—cannot fail to give positive results. No less advisable is the arrangement, of street demonstrations of the strikers with placards and slogans explaining the aims of the strike, popularizing the basic demands of the strikers et A Preliminary ’ “Hearing” By ANN BARTON. (Writen in the Pineville County Jail) ) were inside the courtroom before we real ized we had come to the hearing. ‘The hearing had been postponed three times because the miners came each time in thowe sands to demand our release, and was set for Saturday, They told us it was only for a con~ ference with our attorneys they wanted us afl the courthouse on Friday. When we entered the court they took us into the courtroom whera the judge was sitting on the bench, the County Attorney was ready, where all the enemies of the strike—operators, thugs, Red Cross leaders were. The miners who tried to get into the courte room were not admitted. They did not know of the hearing. Only a few were in town, those who having made the long trek, stayed in town through Friday. The “conference” was ouy hearing—a hearing staged by the enemies of the strike! The county attorney repeatedly interrupted Proceedings. Patterson, attorney for the big coal companies, stood up uninterfered with and made speeches in court. The operators and their obedient friends in the court room stamped their feet and applauded. Attorney Smith got off cheap oratory against the union and the defendants. When Allan Taub arose to be recognized ag the attorney of the International Labor Defense, Smith asked him, “Do you believe in god?” ale thcesh Taub was not onthe witness stand, This blatant attempt to pervert the real issues of the case was so obvious that Patterson, more { subtle and cleverer representative of the coal operators, to save the face of the court, arose and said he did not believe there was any reason why Taub should not be permitted to assist in the defense. The court agreed, although Smith had raised many objections—Taub’s credentials—why did he come down on a case of just this kind, ete, attorneys for the ten raised the point that at no time Had the defendants been notified of trial, Smith said without hesitation, that the plan was to inform the miners the trial would be Saturday and then hold it Friday. Workers peered dnto the court through the open windows. The judge ordered them shut. Smith, forced by circumstance to explain the case being set for Friday, said: “These miners, not of Bell County, (511 alone came from Left Fork, Straight Creek, Bell County) stirred by agitators might riot—might cause blcodshed—and,” (he said dramatically, aware of the coal operator audience), “One drop of Kentucky blood is worth more than the blood of all the Reds in the world.” The coal operators applauded. The thugs ap- plauded. Mrs. Hutchins, head of the Red Cross, who will not give miners relief before first re~ , ceiving the operators’ approval—applauded. Patterson again arose and without interrupe tion, made a speech to save the face of the court, thé judge affirming his stand. “Well,” the judge finally said, “the hearing is postponed until Tuesday, 10 a. m.” And “jus tice” had had its say for the day. The attacks of County Attorney Smith were so vicious because he knows the coal operators stand firmly back of him, His attacks are dese perate ones because he knows how solidly the miners are behind the National Miners’ Union. To paralyze the relief distributions, to disore Sanize the strike, was the plan of the operators to be fulfilled by the arrest of the organizers and workers of the strike. At one swoop they hoped to send the miners back into the mines at the conditions set by the operators—worse starvation conditions than the miners have ever experienced before. Every action—the arrests—the subsequent holding of the arrested for days without hears ing—the attempt to rush through the hearing, the hearing itself—speak for the fact that the operators will use every method at their disposal to attempt to’ force the miners to submit to the operators’ intentions to work the miners to the bone and shed “Kentucky blood” drop by drop through “flux” and starvation. All throughout the country workers must quickly rally. The Kentucky and Tennessee miners do not stand alone. The plans of the coal operators and County Attorney Smith muss be smashed! This can be done by rushing strike relief funds to the Workers International Relief, 16 West 2ist Street, New York City, N. Y., and food and clothing to the Workers International se appealing for the establishment of brotherly relae tions and solidarity between all workers, regard less of the difference of their political convictions or affiliation with this or that trade union, and to join the strike and fight in one solid fron under the leadership and control of the workers themselves. With the aim of exposing the concrete facts of strike breaking activity and their isolation, it is absolutely necessary that the adherents of the united front, members of the revolutionary trade union opposition or the rank and file members of the Schlesinger Union who became convinced of the strike-breaking role of their leaders should utilize every meeting, even the smallest opportunity in order to come out with concrete, businesslike, convincing criticism, pro- posing to come out in a joint strike in a united front against the bosses without and against the will of the leaders of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union. No ‘ess desirable is also the publishing in the press and in the meetings of the open letters and appeals of individual members, or groups of members of the Schlesinger Union which through their experience have understood the strikes breaking role of the trade union bureaucracy and the importance of a joint united froné Struggle . ‘ In cases where the trade union bureaucracy ‘by means of all kinds of maneuvers is or delaying the call of mass meetings, the initi- ative for their calling must come from the mem= bers of the revolutionary trade union opposition or from the rank and file workers who express themselves for the joint struggle, Generally, # is necessary to notice that the must become an active factor. But at all times it ‘s important to keep in mind that the shop must serve as a basts for the suceessful carrying through of the United Front from below and that in the shop all the adher= ents of the United Front, all who are for a milit+ ant strike must carry out patient and determined. work for winning over the workers in favor of a militant strike to the side of the United Front, against the bosses and thetr strike breaking at Relief warehouse, 145 Pine Street, Pineville, Ky, - Trade Union opposition in the Schlesinger Union, —_ > > —w2,