The Daily Worker Newspaper, March 16, 1932, Page 4

Page Four 38th St. Puvlioked by the Compredaiiy Pubiiektee Ca, Yea, Gefty emcept Bundsy, at 50 East New York City. N. ¥ Address and mail all checks to the Dally Worker, 6@ Bast 18th Street, New York, N. ¥. felephone Algonquin 4-7956. Party Recruiting Drive January 11 - March 18, 1932 WORKERS WANT TO READ! SUPPLY THEM WITH LITERATURE! By GERTRUDE HAESSLER HARP struggles generally bring into bold re- lef various organizational weaknesses of our id no activity has shown such flagrant ecent battles with the Workers are. literally thirsty for | They want to read. ‘They | plight ts for hem to They tions. oping he whole situation which f tly deeper into misery. Th 5 for a way ¢ most of them still have illu- is that there is a way out under capitalism. Increasing numbers of workers, however, are = day by day that capitalism holds no or their problems. Yet they are not by our Hterature to tell them that there out—the revolutionary w: Some of nem have heard of it and want to understand One of our chief duties at the present time workers the opportunity of learning s for their present plight, and the way 1em—in short, to make them class- we supply this growing demand for er? Certainly not by the e have used 50 far. In practically y handling of literature is in- te, to say the least, and downright cri- some respects. Present Weaknesses more literature available now than ever before in the history of the Party, but the | m-total of {ts circulation does not by any ans incr proportionately. Even allowing ct that some of our literature is not our ntent and simp he besic trouble vstema icts order a certain number of ‘arily determined, the literature nto the units (and in District head then some of this literature, w get down to the mit liter- the respon- other mi el any obligation to give our liter- lest circulation possible among the isola ature agen! sability to g bers do not ature the wi workers. EE Ene ‘Then there is the “bookshop ideology.” Book- shops are necessary and valuable, but when they replace Party channels for reaching the work- ers with our literature, they perform a negative function. In some Districts the Party expects the workers to go to the bookshop for their literature, and do not see that the entire Party must be mobilized to go te the workers with our iterature. Pree distribution also becomes & sicknéds) In some cases—a@ strike, or bresking into new sec- tions of ths working-class who are practically destitute, etc.— free distribution for a time is necessary. But when the unit members take and pay for their quota of, let us say, ten copies of a particular pamphlet, consider it a financial contribution to the Party, either leave it lying around at home, or give it away free to friends and sympathizers; the Hterature ts either get- ting no circulation st all, or getting ft on an entirely wrong basis. Selling literature is = political task. .To sell @ piece of literature requires # real political sales talk to convince the worker that he must buy it. Thus a valuable agitational work is done through the very act of selling the literature. This is completely overlooked. If literature is Published and is paid for (and too often it is not paid for), then our duty seems to be done. But that is a great underestimation of the or- ganizational and political function of literature distribution. Financial hooliganism no doubt also plays its part in hindering a mass literature distribution. Literature has been sent to the districts on credit. No further credit is possible. And where is the initial cash which ts necessary? What does this amount to? It means stopping the ordering and distributing fo our literature. A Drastic Turn Needed This must be changed. A complete re-orient- ation of the Party must be made on the ques- tion of literature. The Party must be made “literature-conscious.” Every member of the Party must become a Hterature distributor. The | whole Party must be mobilized on the question of literature. The press must be harnessed into this work. We must learn new methods—original methods—of reaching the shop worker. We must organize literature distribution in the Party on a systematic stale, in full consciousness of its extreme importance. We must establish a sound and stable system of literature financing. From top to the bottom of the Party, a strongly built-up Iterature dis- tribution apparatus must be built up. (Another article will deal with the plans of the Party to reorientate the Party with respect to this work.—G. HL) Cable “DAIWORK" Dail Central Ongarge? Yin-C>ah orkey’ Porty US.A) % By mall everywhere: One year, $6; six months, §: ef Manhatiaa and Bronx, New York City. Foreign: one year, $8; six montha, $4.50, SUBSCRIPTION RATES: The History of an Unemployed Council Branch By M. W. GooD O, lil—Branch 13 of the Unemployed Chicago has a history no doubt typical er branches throughout the countr. D wo years of existence it has had mai v lames on the books, but at no tin ove 00. Most of the time less than 50 attend branc g meetings consist most, dull routin: Mos!) of the time the 2 has tgo mi points, sometimes as high 21. Many m ings have dragged for three and: four hour: The deadly monotony is often broken| by bles and disorder. Party members quarrel ne floor. Up ‘until recently there was no ing fraction. ven now the fraction eetings are almost as bad as the branch meet- T arty members are undisciplined and m as pefsonal affronts. elements are n away. by the lon: ngs and unnecessary argumentation. Eve The talk of stool-pigeo: , especially by y member, has created an atmosphere of This cture perhaps might create the impres- a complete failure. That sion that the branch not fs wholly true. Many Victories charity committee has secured help from | f agencies for scores of families. Furniture | any evicted families have been replaced. Two successful public hearings on starvation in the neighborhood have been held. Attendance at demonstrations and mass meetings have been ‘good. The Lawndale district, in which the branch headquarters are located, has at least 30,000 un- employed of various nationalities. The branch | ™membership ts more than 90 per cent Jewish. | The possibilities of continuous and rapid | growth are here. The inability to take advantage of the objective conditions is due to the follow- img weaknesses: 1..The section committee has had no real | understanding of how work among the unem- | ployed should be carried out. This is shown | by the assignment of weak Party elements to Jead as secretaries and organizers of the | branch. In one instance a comrade in the | Party one week and a new member of the un- | employed movement was made organizer of the branch. He was totally unfamiliar with his duties and was left without guidance, 2. Some of these weak elements were bureau- lieving the revolution is inevitable, believe un- employment insurance is unrealizable, 7. No systematic attempt to draw in part time and fully employed workers and trade unions, & Almost complete lack of understanding of the difference between a branch and the coum- cil as a delegate body. 9. Indifference, gross under-estimation and neglect of block committees and neighborhood committees by the Party fraction. 10. Very little political discussion at the branch meetings, Many attempts to organize block committees. e failed primarily because the idea prevails t the members of block committees should attend the branch meetings twice a week. Sometime ago it was decided to have the ex- ecutive committee divide the branch into block committees where three or more members live in the same block; and the others into neigh- borhood committees. Each committee to have a iS was never done because the Party mem- $ would not carry out the decision. They id the procedure was too mechanical. Yet the fraction proposed the division on the floor and caused the passage of the decision! CONCLUSIONS Une ‘oyed Branch No. 18 is headless and demoralized; ft is hindering real development of the organization of the unemployed in the Lawndale district. The branch draws {its membership from a thickly populated territory about four square miles in area, The branch ts not a block com- mittee nor a neighborhood committee such as | is contemplated by our movement. In action, it is a mass meeting. The branch must be transformed into block and neighborhood committees at once or Plece- | meal. We must have the basic forms of or- When this is done, we will be able to have effective organization of the unemployed in this to hold raw capable of leadership Party; effect unity of -Workers! Join the Party of. Your Class! P. © Box 87 Station D. oe New York City seeecceseeres BUBte . isssvenee Occupation. Leecenesowesentsesesseess AZO iscese -Mail this to the Central Office, Communist Communist Party 0.6 & . P. ©, Box 8% Btation D, New York City. hte a et ast wo months, $1; excepting Boroyghs “WE GOT ’EM SAFE, CHIEF,—BRING THE BOYS!” * AMO-FORD, A CONTRAST AT FORD’S A HUNDRED SUICIDES AT AMO, EVER RISING STANDARDS | (From the Moscow “Workers Ne Feb. 28, 1932) | No comparison between two factories could | more sharply bring out the contrast between de- caying capitalism with its misery and starvation, and socialisth, with the constant progress of | industry and ever-rising standard of living for | | the workers, than a contrast between Ford's and | and Stalin (AMO) Auto Plant. | During the so-called prosperity period, 125,000 | to 135,000 workers were employed at the Ford | River Rouge plant. Today no more than 35,000 | are working from one to three days per week. In October, 1931, a little over 30,000 cars were | | Produced, the production of about three normal | | | | days working at full capacity. This number has been declining ever since. | Of the 90,000 unemployed Ford workers, not a | single one received unemployment insurance or | relief, neither from Ford, nor from the local state, or federal government. Over 100 unem- | ployed Ford workers have committed suicide, according to. the reports in the capitalist press, Tens of thousands of families of Ford workers are actually starving. "The workers remaining on the job are almost as bad off the to’ unemployed. Ford boasts that he never cuts wages. But last De- cember # sweeping cut of a dollar per day was introduced throughout the plant. Besides this, ‘he uses various clever methods of ing wages. Workers who worked for many at seven to eight dollars a day are fired, and later re- hired or replaced for five-forty a day. Transfers are made from on department to another to facilitate wage cuts. Part time work has reduced wages below the subsistence level. The majority of the workers | make from six to eighteen dollars .a week while the cost of living is not much below dhe level of “prosperity” days, The worst feature of the Ford plant is the terrifically intensified speed-up which has been introduced during the crisis. Long ago, the Ford plant was known throughout the world as the | outstanding example of slave-driving. Now the speed-up is killing. Spies watch and time the atking of a drink, the fulfilling of natural re- | quirements and even the wiping of sweat. Often workers are fired when htese require more than the minimum time, or occur too frequently. Even the highly skilled tool and die workers, formerly | the aristocrats among the auto workers, are now driven like mad men. A wholesale degeneratino of labor power is taking place at the Ford hell- | | | | | The Honduras Banana Strike By WILLIAM SIMONS lige! March issue of the “Obrero del Caribe” {organ of the Caribbean Sub-Comite of the Latin American Trade Union Confederation) carries interesting news of recent strikes in these countries, among them the strike of the banana workers of Honduras. Honduras Banana Strike Against United Fruit Co. ‘The banana workers of the United Fruit Co. went on strike early in January, 1932, against a 20 per cent wage cut. The strike was marked by great militancy, \the strikers invading the town of Choloma, shouting “Long Live the Com- munist Party”; in Las Guanchias, they seized the company stores; along the entire National Railway Line, the agricultural workers and the small banana growers (who had been cut 25 per cent in price on bananas sold by them to the United Fruit Co.) destroyed the fruit of the Company. The Government of Honduras, act- ing on orders of Mr. Trumbull, general man- ager in Honduras of the United Fruit Co, de- clared martial law on January 1. At the same time, the longshoremen went on strike in Tela, backed by all transport workers, altogether in- volving 2,000 workers he first troops to arrive on January 3, from Ceiba, recruited from among the unemployed, fraternized with the strikers, and efter three days were withdrawn at the request of the United Fruit Co. ‘The weakness | of the Strike Committee, which went into con | feremees with the Government, helped bring lh ak ha | not only because of the numerous militant strug- | bw and contvol ne s myer \ hole, What a different picture at the Stalin (AMO) plant In 1926 the plant employed 1,350 work- today 20,000 are employed. In 1926, 275 S were produced; in 1931 the number rose 090, and the plan for 1932 is to produce 9,700. That this plan will be fulfilled, is not surpassed is clearly to be seen by the enthusiasm of the workers. The quota for the month of January has already been fulfilled. Here there is no unemployment, but ever- increasing numbers of workers aré being drawn into industry. This is only one side of the picture, . What of the living conditions of workers? Average wages in 1926 were 54 kopeks an hour. Tm 1931, they averaged 79.8, and another in- crease of 4.4 per cent is planned for 1932. (It must be borne in mind that the majority of | the workers have only recently come from the village and have not attanied a very high de- gree of ll as yet), ‘The seven-hour day is general throughout the plant. ‘Two million rubles were spent on work- ers’ apartments last year; this year this item amounts to two and a half million rubles. One of hte most wonderful things is the fac- tery school where over a thousand boys and girls receive theoretical and technical training, at the same time getting adequate wages. At Ford’s too, there is such a school, but it is only a screen for child labor. Under the guise of practical training, boys as young as thirteen years work many hous a day, replacing | adults and receiving 25 cents an hour. After years of “training,” some, who are able to go through the “course” receive a job in | | | | | the Ford plant at one-half the wages of regular tool and die makers. Many, however, are forced to quit long before the. required time. The Stalin (AMO) plant is one of the ex- amples of the Soviet life to which Ford workers and the American working class as a whole are more and more looking forward as the only way out of their miserable conditions. The influence of the Communist Party and the revolutionary unions is growing rapidly, gles of the employed and unemployed led by | these organizations, but also because of the Successes of the Soviet workers under the lead- ership of the Leninist Bolshevik Party. —B. R. about the defeat of the strike. The strong po- sition of the strike in Tela can ‘be judged from the declaration of the Military Commander in Tela of support to the strike at the very begin- ning, which reflected his fear of the strikers. The insufficient militant activity of the strike leadership (Honduras Trade Union Federation) made it easier for the government to smash the strike with a thousand troops which took posses- sion of the buildings and wharves of the Com- pany, guarding them with machine guns. The 4th Congress of the Honduras Trade Union Federation held January 10 to 13, 1932, made a serious study of the strike, drawing up plans to organize the banana workers, United Fruit Deports Workers On January 15, United Fruit Company police “arrested” 5 militant workers, Lisandro Castillo, Fernando Canas, Gregorio Benitez, Victor M. Silva and Gabriel Blanco, shipping them out on the ship “Dry” to Puerto Barrios. Refused per- mission to land, they were again returned to Puerto Cortez, and brought to the Aviation Field at San Pedro de § where according to re- ports, a Comvan rplane took them to Sal- vador. The United Fruit Co. thus exercises po- lice power in the Central American Empire they In addition, Mariano» Pavon, Gemeral Secretary of the Longshoremen’s Union, an@ @ H. Amador, Secretary of the “Fiat” Trade { Unton, were reported to La Celba, ‘Be Anti-Lmperialist League calls on all work” a Bs ers organizations, on all other anti-imperialist organizations to pass protest resolutions against the terror in Honduras. Particularly in Boston, where the offices of the United Fruit Co. are located, the workers should make an effective protest. Send your protest to the Honduras consulate, 17 Battery Place, New York, N. Y., with a copy to the Anti-Imperialist League, 799 Broadway, room 536, and to the labor and local press. Honduras Trade Union Consress Greets R.LL.U. The Fourth Congress of the Honduras Trade Union Federation, held in Januray, 1932, sent a resolutino of greeting to the Red Trade Union International and to the Latin American Trade Union Confederation. The greeting to the RL. LU. particularly calls attention to the dominat« ing role of American Imperialism in Honduras, the paragraph is as follows: “The crisis from which capitalism suffers, which affects Honduras doubly, since it is a semi-colonial country dependent on Yankee imperialism, which has sharpened the exploit- ation of the working class, has brought about the widest radicalization of the daily struggles carried through by the banana workers, which culminated with the general strike n the port of Tela (January 2nd to 8th), which was broken by the military froces of the Government of Honduras, faithful lackey of American ianper- ialism.” The increased exploitation of the anana workers by the United Fruit Co. (recalling the massacre in Columbia of 3,000 workers in Decem- ber, 1928 by the same company), the-smashing of the strike and the arrest of the leaders call for a campaign of support to the workers of Honduras and other Central American coun- tries by the revolutionary proletariat of the United States, by the Communist Party, by the Trade Union Unity League, and by the ohter mass organizations. The murder of 3,000 work- ers in Salvador, and of Wainright in Guatemala are indications of the increasing terror carried on by American imperialism in the Caribbean 4 countries. Spread this news in the factories! Among the unemployed! Among your neigh- bors! “Get them to protest! Raise this issue in every meeting of your organization! Raise it at mass meetings! Support of the workers | struggles in the colonies, of the fight against terror in the colonies should be a part of our daily work. The quicker we do this, the more lives we will save of the working class fighters in Central America, the stronger will be the revolutionary movement in the colonies, our ally in the fight for world revolution. Another “New Model** Ford By Labor Research Association The “Wall Street Journal” in a recent issue described a new armed automobile to be used in “police patrol work,” meaning any operation against hunger marches and workers’ demon- strations. In an article entitled “An Arsenal on Wheels” the Wall Street organ declares this death-dealing motor car “provides practically the ultimate in high-speed armed transporta- tion.” It says: “This vehicle has a bullet proof radiator sereen and shatterproof glass. It is equipped with two .38 calibre revolvers in dash com- partments, and space in the rear for hand grenades, fuses, riot and tear gas gun, Thomp- sno submachine gun, 30.06 rifle and sewed-off. 12-gauge shotgun. The gas gun shoots bullets about 1 inch by 6 inches in size 250 feet, with a fuse to explode them. The fumes will fill a house from cellar to roof. The car has a top speed of 110 miles an hour and carries radio equipment.” . 6 Uncover Starvation and Misery The capitalist press, the agents of the ruling class, has been publishing less and less news about unemployment. It hides the starvation of the unemployed workers’ families. We must constantly expose the miserable treatment of families of the unemployed by the city governments and charity institutions. We must uncover all cases of starvation, un aernourishment, sickness. We must pub- lish these cases in our press, in the Daily Worker, in Labor Unity, tell them at all workers’ meetings, Un- rs employed Councils should publish “at Dulletins to inform all workers of A ee re By Jones They Like Arthur } We recall reading in an obscure news itera some time ago that Arthur Brisbane, millionaire columnist of the Hearst press, had dined ine formally with his dear republican friend, Herbie Hoover. Hearst and his press and all his writers» are, of course, Democrats. Isn't it worth nothing, workers, how the lead- ers of supposedly hostile political parties of capitalism can be such bosom frsinds? Maybe this will give you an idea that the workers, also regardless of their political parties, ought to be just as chummy with one another as pose sible in the serious business of all workers, pro- tecting their interests in strikes, etc, By the way, Hoover isn’t the only one that likes Hearst’s little Arthur. In the Osaka, Japan, capitalist paper called the “Mainichi” of Feb. 3, there was a funny little item dated from Seattle on January 31, which started off: “ America should mind her own business= | will be the headline for the editorial In te- morrow’s Post-Intelligencer, a Hearst paper here. The editorial is by Mr. Arthur Bris- bane, who is writing pro-Japanese articles in the Hearst journals these days.” If you go back and look up wha tBrisbane has been writing, as we did, an analysis of what is the sum and sivhstance of it will lead to the conclusion tiai use © paper stated the matter correctly. The Power of the A.F.L. The Executive Council of the A. FP. of L., and President Bill Green: Couldn't do anything ta prevent the bosses cutting wages of A. F. of L. members. But they could—and did—keep the members from striking about it. Couldn't guarantee adequate relief to tle me employed from their union, or public or private charity. But they can and do fight against the demand for Unemployment Insurance at the expense of the capitalists—and help the charity racketeers blackjack funds out of A. F. of L. members who are working. Couldn’t ensure enough to eat to any baby of a rank and file member of the A. F. of L. But they could—and did—order all local A. F. of L. officials to “look out for Lindy’s baby.” Workers of the*A. F. of L.! Don’t you think it hich time you and your local union should repudiate that scoundrelly leadership and af- | fillate with the red trade unions of the Trade Union Unity League? Well, so something, then! Get in touch with the local organizer of the sLUUL. Ah, Ha! the Doak Again! Well, at least if the police can’t make a kid- mapper out of ‘Sailor’ Johnson, they can have the Doak deport him. Probably because he is known as “Red” Johnson. By the way, Johnson was employed—when he was employed—by Morgan's partner and spokes- man, Thomas W. Lamont. Dwight Morrow, Anne Lindbergh’s dad, was also a partner of Morgan. Now Morgan’s newspaper, the N. ¥. Post, although it stirs up hostility among the American workers against foreign-born workers, has never influenced all these big capitalists against employing them. Johnson, Betty Gow, The ‘Lindy butler and the Lindy housemaid are all foreign-born workers. Our point is not that these workers should be fired by the Lamonts, Morrows and Lindberghs. But our point is that American workers should see that all this anti-foreigner propaganda im the newspapers of the capitalists is just a game to get the native-born section of the working class hostile to the foreign-born section, so that the capitalists can exploit both sections easier. The spectacle of the “National idol of America,” Lindbergh, with a retinue of servants all fore eign-born, is a comical contradiction of this antl- foreigner propaganda so dearly beloved by the American Legion and A. F. of L, Sine On the Free List The grand larceny “sales tax” now being en- gineered through Congress by the Republicans and Democrats, both acting as loyal Tepresen- tatives of big finance capital in looting the masses of toilers, is being “explained” in the capitalist press to the victims as “absolutely painless.” If you are cheered by knowing that “pig jowls not cooked or packed in airtight containers” will be on the free list, the Hearst press, which is boosting the sales taxes, will help you cheer. Also—“fertilizers and such grades of articles as are chiefly used for fertilizers or chiefly as ingredients in the manufacture of fertilizers’— are all on the free list. Which may explain the enthusiasm of the publishers of the Hearst papers. Certainly they are “ingredients in the manufacture of fertilizer.” Or maybe “articles used exclusively by the blind.” “Magazines and periodicals,” such as “Bally- hoo” and “Hoey” will not be taxed. Neither will—“bibles, comprising the bocks of the Old and New Testament, or both; rosaries, hymn books, altars, pulpits and other articles used in churches.” Nothing is said about electric chairs or sub-machine guns, or tear gas, which are also articles for mass consumption when “bibles and hymn books” fail. Of course, all this propaganda in capitalist papers trying to make the robbery palatable by talking about the ‘free list” is so much boloney. Although “farm or garden products” are on the free list, the farmer who raises the produce and the worker who buys it will both be taxed on every implement, article of clothing or chew of tobacco bought either by them of the people who supply the pig jowls, bibles and other are ticles on the so-called “free list.” The gist of the matter is, that although the capitalists own the government that oppresses the toiling masses for the benefit of the capttal- ists, the capitalists refuse to pay the cost of run- ning their own government and are makihg the tolling farmers and city workers pay for it evita Our Expert on “Vacuums”:—Just noticed at ‘Associated Press wire from Washington, saying that the U. S. Government Bureau of Mines notes that American production of ofl fell off 2.8 per cent in 1931; Venezuelan production fell off 13 per cent; while Soviet oil production in- creased 20 per cent and the Soviet became the second largest producer of oil in the world. All of which “proves” that Hoover was correct a ‘few years ago when he said there was no use ‘'@n economic yscuum," - ‘addi iad