The Daily Worker Newspaper, March 26, 1932, Page 1

WORKERS OF THE WORLD} UNITE! og (Section of the Communist International) RETURN All Tag Day Boxes Today te Daily Worker Office, 5th Floor, 50 East 13th Street, New York City. Vol. IX, No. 73 @atered as eecond-class matter at the Purt Office at New Vork, N. Y.. ander the set of March 8, 187? NEW YORK, SATURDAY, MARCH 26, 1932 “CITY EDITION Price 3 Cents ~ ALA. CHIEF JUSTICE ADMITS SCOTTSBORO TRIAL UNFAIR ’ The Negro and White Masses MustSavetheScottsboro Boys! 1 pe decision! of the Alabama Supreme Court upholding the death vere dict against seven of the nine innocent Negro boys framed up at Scotts- boro, Alabama—is a ghastly confession of intention to put through a. lynching in legal forms. Let the masses of Negroés—let the workers and tenant farmers, black and white—understand this declaration of war against the toiling masses! Tt is « forerunner of the most terrific struggles in America, It is a de- claration which overshadows the famous decision of more than three- quarters of a century ago concerning the Negro slave, Dred Scott. The Supreme Court decided that the Negro slave must be returned to his master. But that “final word” was overruled by the roar of can- non in the American Civil War of 1861! ‘The murderous decision of the Alabama Supreme Court will also be overruled! Already the mass actions of the Negro and white workers in all Am~- erican cities—and in fact the international actions of the working class —have already scored a partial victory in securing even the little that has been won. We must see that even in the face of the ghastly deter- mination of the capitalist courts to slaughter these nine innocent Negro children—nevertheless the unanimity of the Alabama Supreme Lynch Court was broken. The fact that the Chief Justice of the Court dissented from the callous crime of the majority decision and declared that the circumstances must ‘dmpress the judicial mind with the conclusion that they did not get a fair and even impartial trial that is required and contemplated by our constitution,” is a result of the tremendous mass pressure that has already been exer- cised by the agitation of the International Labor Defense, the League of Struggle for Negro Rights, and by masses of black and white workers under the leadership of the Communist Party. We are not blind to the role of demagogy, which plays the part of giving an air of “fairness” to capitalist courts which nevertheless con- tinue to grind out murderous verdicts against the exploited masses. But nevertheless certain facts, such as, first, the delay won against the first sentence of death which would otherwise have been carrid out last sum- mer, and second, the present division of the Supreme Court, are a de- monstration of the fact that the masses can compel the heartless ruling class to withhold its hand in some of the worst of the murder drives against our class. It is true that the appeal to the United States Supreme Court which will now be taken by the International Labor Defense with the support of the Communist Party, is an appeal from a capitalist court to another capitalist court, and the same hatred toward the Negro masses and the working class will govern whatever actions are taken by the United States Supreme Court. |But the masses can-and must compel the ruling class to hesitate in this contemplated historic murder of nine innocent Negro children as a means of terrorizing a whole nation of slaves! ¢ In every street, in every city and town, in every industrial center— the ten thousand fold masses must turn out to voice their wrath against this crime of the ruling class. Let the voice of the black and white . “misses be heatd, not only in protest against the direct murderers of our thildren but also against the loathesome assistant lynchers—the scoundrels of the type that lead the “National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.” All can see the fruits of the cowardly corruption of the renegade Negro leaders and white millionaire leaders of the N.A.A. C.P.—who support capitalism at the cost of the lives of innocent children of the Negro people! Let the masses demonstrate to the N.A.A.C.P. lead- ers the masses’ attitude toward those who make agreements with pro- secutors to assist in booming business of a Southern town by the attrac- tion of a framed up “Nigger trial” and the death of innocent boys! Let the masses of Negro and white workers show what they think of Mr. Walter White and Mr. William Pickens, who are responsible for a dis- honest “defense” attorney who openly joined the prosecution by refusing in the juror’s presence to ask for a verdict of acquittal against these in- nocent boys! Let the denunciation of this bloody crime ring around the world! Out on to the streets! Hold your mass demonstrations in every city and town! Negro workers and white workers—turn out by hundreds of thou- sands in the great demonstration of April 6 which will be a demonstra- tion against imperialist war and at the same time a demonstration against the bloody murder yerdict on the innocent Negro boys of Scotts- boro! Help Daily Worker Build Up Mass Fight ‘or Scottsboro Boys Tee fate of the nine innocent Scottsboro boys is in the hands of the masses of workers of America. Mass demonstrations, mightier than ever before, must be the immediate answer of the workers to the brutal challenge flung down by the Alabama State Supreme Court. The Daily Work- er, our only nationwide daily paper, must continue and intensify its fight to swell the mass demon- stration for the release of these Negro children of the working class. The Daily Worker must not go under in this critica] time. Send in your half dollars, comrades, to keep our paper alive. Send in your half dollars to keep up the fight against all boss murder and terror. More Japanese troops advance to the Soviet border. The bosses have just loaned $8,000,000 to Poland to speed up the preparations for war against the workers’ fatherland in the West. The Japanese ‘socialist” betrayers, who have just voted war credits for the robbery and butchery in Man- churia, are repeating the betrayal of the yellow “socialists” in the last war, and are showing how these fakers will act in all countries when the bossse launch their attack against our fatherlast. Yet today, when the Daily Worker must be EXPANDED to intensify the fight against every form of boss terror and treachery, today the Daily 1 Worker has to be cut from six pages to four pages. Valuable news, valuable explanations of the work- ers’ fighting front, have to be cut out because lack of money has cut out two pages of the Daily Worker. And the danger to the existence of even this ‘our page Daily Worker is growing. Your coupon is on page three. Cut it out and mail it with a half dollar. Get a half dollar from your fellow worker and mail the coupon with a dol- lar bill. Fight boss t-‘-= ht boss war plots, JAPANESE HOLD USSR RR STOCK Block Movement of Trains on Chinese Eastern Ry. Harbin Observers See Open War Move in Japanese Act; Furthering their pol- icy of deliberate provo- cation against the So- viet Union, the Jap- anese yesterday moved to prevent the movement of Soviet equipment over the Chi- nese Eastern Railway toward the Siberian frontier. The Chinese Eastern Railway is jointly owned by China and the Sov- iet Union. Much of the moving stock is solely owned by the Soviet Union. The Japanese puppet government in Manchuria a few days ago raised the question that a number of loco- motives and freight trains which had crossed the Soviet border had been retained on the Soviet side of the frontier. The Soviet government ex- plained that this stock had been tem- Pporarily loaned for operation on the Chinese Eastern Railway. A Darien dispatch to the New York Times re- ports: - “The inhabitants of Harbin be- lieve that the expected Russo-Japa- nese clash is likely to result from today’s order of the Chinese presi- dent of the jointly-owned Chinese Eastern Railway to the police to prevent more locomotive and freight trains being taken across the fron- tier into Siberia. This railroad of- ficial was selected by the Japanese.” Hand in hand with this latest pro- vocation against the Soviet Union, the Nippin Dempo News Agency sent out dispatches from Tokyo claiming Soviet troop concentrations on the Siberian frontier. The dispatch says that “several divisions” of the Red Army had arrived “in the Far East” and that heavy guns, airplanes and tanks were enroute to the frontier “in large numbers.” The Soviet government has not tried to hide the fact that it has deemed it necessary because of the Japanese war moves on the Siberian border to strengthen its garrison forces in Siberia. The Soviet govern- ment, however, has denied that it is carrying out any concentration of troops. The Japanese lies about Soviet troop concentrations are designed to cover up and “justify” their own ad- mitted concentration of troops on the Soviet frontier. The Japanese war inciters are rapidly moving toward armed intervention against the suc- cessful construction of Socialism in the Soviet Union. The reactionary aims of the Japa- nese imperialists have been brazenly stated in documents by high Japa- nese military officers, as well as in the notorious Tanaka Document of 1927, and in the recent pamphlet “Presenting Japan's Side of the Case” published by the Japanese Association in China, Workers! Rally to the defense of the Soviet Union and the Chinese Soviet districts! Stop the robber war against China! Demand Hands off China! Hands off the Soviet Union! Demonstrate on April 6 against the criminal inciters of war! Support the revolutionary strug- gles of the Japanese and Chinese masses! Vote Down WASHINGTON.—The sales tax clause of the new revenue act, under whose provsiions th ework>"s, f~ and middle class would have beea forced to bear the bus vu Treasury crisis, was defeated in the House of Representatives by a vote of 223 to 153. The defeat came as a result of the pressure exerted on the represents- tives by the petit-bourgeoisie and tke small manufacturers. With tke deey~ ening crisis and the rapid narrgwir 5 purchasing power of the magag, it would have made it more difiguit 1 pass the tax on to the massa, To Send in yveur ' cain . bear the tax completely er eves is | the N..A. A.C. P.—“?'M ALMOST DONE, BOSS!” Governor Roosevelt “Overlooks”’ Starvation in New York State NEW YORK.—J. P. Morgan admitted over the radio that there was mass starvation in New York City, even though his tool, Senator Bingham got 39 governors to wire that there was “no starvation” in the United States. Governor Roosevelt of New York reported with regard to the starving jobless in his state “that accurate statistics were not available.” (New York Times, March 17, 1932). Jobless workers themselves could give Gov. Roosevelt plenty of information as to the numbers that are starving in this richest of all the states, but we will let capitalist wel- fare bureaus and official “relief” agents tell the story. Less than a week after Gov. Roo- sevelt’s evasion of the question on starvation in his state, the New York Times carried an appeal by .Chair- man Peter S. Duryea of the Food Relief Division in New York City, as follows: “Mr, Duryea explained that a survey of 24,160 unemployed families had shown that 17,926 were sub- sisting on starvation rations and asked the housewives of New York to bear this in mind as they do their daily showing.” Thus the offiical food relief agent himself admits that nearly. 18,000 families —over 70,000 persons — are barely existing on starvation rations in the world’s richest city. His ap- peal was accompanied by a statement from Chairman Harvey D. Gibson of Sales Tax; Prepare New Robbery Scheme large part would have meant imme- diate ruin for a considerable section of the petit-bourgeoisie. The defeat of the bill was accom- plpisshed by a significant crossing of party lines. The sales tax, introduced by a. combined Democratic-Repub- lican leadership, was defeated by a Democratic-Republican bloc under leadership of LaGuardia and Doughton. This wiping cut of party lines is now the subject of hot discussion among the cayitalist politicians at Washington. sess dispatches indl- (CONTINUBD ON PAGE THRER) the Emergency Unemployment Relief appointed by Gov. Commitee asserting: “The condition of the ‘eet unemployed would not be improved immediately even if there should be an upturn in business. Family Reported Starving by Neighbors The Welfare Council of New York City in January issued the following memorandum on a typical case in the Brownsville workers’ section of Brooklyn: “Investigator found 5 small chil- dren home while mother, was out looking for vegetables ‘under push- carts’ Family had moved into one one room. Father sleeping at Mun- icipal Lodging House because he could get more to eat there than at home and frequently brought food from there in pockets for children and wife. Only other food they had for weeks came from under push- carts. When investigator returned to Home Relief Bureau, applications had been temporarily discontinued.” Comptroller Charles W. Berry had ordered the bureaus closed because he said relief was not necessary. Charles H. Johnson, State Commis- sioner of Social Welfare, officially Anthracite Strike Is Going Strong SCRANTON, Pa.— While Ma- loney, so-called insurgent leader of the anthracite coal miners’ strike; is already negotiating with Boylan, U. M. W. A. sellout expert and Maloney’s arch “enemy,” the rank and file committee is con- tinuing to spread its program of struggle throughout the field. The capitalist press is spreading the lie that the strike is broken. This is untrue. ‘The strike is going strong. The Rank and File Com- mittee is rallying the miners to repudiate the sellout negotiations of Boylan and Maloney and con- tinue the struggle under rank and file leadership. The Rank and File Committee has been warning the miners that the demand for equalization of work is merely a means of setting the unemployed against the em- ployed and at best would divide the hunger among the miners. Against this the rang and file pro- gram demands a minimum of three days work for all miners and unemployment insurance to be paid by the coal operators and the state. Roosevelt himself, speaking before the New York Section of the Women’s Department of the National Civic Federation (of which Matthew Woll is chairman) admitted the situation in all the larger cities in the following. “The larger cities, including New York, Buffalo, Syracuse, Rochester, and Albany—having a total pop- ulation of 10,308,000—have reported they need outside aid to meet the heavy demands for relief... Building concerns in New York reported that building construction is 15 per cent lower than it was in 1931 and 62 per cent of skilled labor is un- employed now!” — World-Telegram, Feb. 25, 1932. Desperate conditions in villages only 100 miles from New York City are described by Gertrude Springer, social worker, writing in the Survey of January 15, 1932 ‘They have no reso’ 'S, no leader- ship, no vit What will become of them no one knows. They nted a |good deal more than fod and fuel and |clothing.” | Jobless Textile Worker a Suicide | In the textile city of Cohoes, this welfare agent found a typical sit- uation, with more and more people daily joining the ranks of the des- tittue: “The out-of-work people who had lived long enough on dried beans and water were growing articulate. On November 14 an unemployed man, despairing at the plight of his wife and three children, killed himself.” Such suicides are recorded daily in the New York capitalist press. Men and women have killed themselves rather than starve and see their chil- dren starve. ? NATION-WIDE FIGHT SPURRED TO SAVE BOYS Majority Opinion-of Alabama Supreme Court Brazenly Denies All Rights of Oppres- sed Negro Masses The International Labor Defense an- nounced yesterday that a motion for an appeal to the U. S. Supreme Court will be filed at once by George W. Chamlee, Chattanoga attorney of the ILD, against the decision of the Ala- bama Supreme Court in upholding the lynch death sentences against seven of the eight innocent Scottsboro boys sentenced to burn in the electric chair in one of the most outrageous frame-ups even in the history of the murderous capitalist system. savage death verdicts handed out in: a tense lynch atmosphere by the lower court at Scottsboro, Ala. Chief Justice John C. Anderson in dissent- ing from the opinion of the majority admitted that the defendants did not get a fair and impartial trial. He wrote in part: “At to whether or. not these de- fendants are guilty is not a ques- tion of first importance, the real one being did they get a fair and impartial trial as contemplated by the bill of rights. “It may be that neither of the foregoing reasons, is standing alone, should “reverse these cases, but when. considered in connection with each other, they must collectively impress the judicial mind with the conclusion that they did not get fair and impartial trial that is re- quired and contemplated by our Constitution.” While admitting that the trial was unfair, Chief Justice Anderson has nothing to say on the denial of the basic rights of the Negro masses and of the Scottsboro defendants in the refusal to permit Negroes to serve on juries in the South. The other jus- tices scouted this fundamental right of the Negro masses, hypocritically declaring that the “exclusion of the Negroes from the venire” did not deprive the defendants of their rights under the Fourteenth Amendment. These justices brazenly declared that “the State of Alabama has the right within constitutional limitations, to fix the qualifications for jurors.” __ (CONTINUED ON PAGE THREE) Amter Speaks Today To Delegates At T.U. U.C. Anti-War Meet NEW YORK.—Comrade I. Am- ter, district organizer of the Com- munist Party, will make the main report on the struggle against |imperialist war at the Trade |Union Unity Council meeting today, called for National Anti- | War Day. || ‘The following comrades must be present at the meeting: all TUUC delegates, members of executive committees and trade boards of unions, leagues and opposition groups, secretaries and chairmen of shop groups, secretaries of opposition groups, secretaries of Unemployed Councilss, The meeting will take place at the TUUC headquarters, 5 East 19th Street, at 3 p.m. 20,000 A.F.L. NEW YORK—Appeals have been back up a referendum in the A. F. of L. for unemployment insurance. The resolution, signed by the 57 A. F. of L. locals who initiated the drive under the name of the New York A. F. of L, Trade Union* Committee for Unemployment Insurance and Relief, Room 336, 799 Broadway, New York, has since been endorsed by 60 more A. F, of L. locals. Every day brings reports of new locals lining up in the fight. The resolution in part reads: “There are 12,000,000 totally un- employed workers and at least 10,- 000,000 working only part time in the sent to 20,000 A. F. of L. locals to! Locals Get Jobless Insurance Appeal United States and the industrial crisis gets deeper from month to ‘month, with the employers throwing further millions of workers into un- employment. “The relief policies of the govern- ment, local, state and national, leav- ing to each community the care of its own unemployed by means of charity collections, have failed totally to relieve the famished condition of the workers and their families. “The decision of the 1931 conven- tion of the American Federation of Labor and the policy of the Executive Council of the A. F. of L., which has (CONTINUED ON PAGE TWO)” The Alabama Supreme Court by 6 to 1 affirmed the a aan EEIEEEnEeeeeemeeeeed LYNCH DECISION - ROUSES FURIOUS MASS ANGER 4,000 i in Angry Protest in Detroit; Soviet . Workers Cable Angry protests against the upholding of the Alabama Su- preme Court of the savage lynch. sentences against. seven of the Scottsboro boys: are al- ready pouring in from all parts of the world. In Detroit, last night, 4,000 Ni and white workers joined in denoune- ing the murderous decision of the Alabama Supreme Court and in pledging the most active support te the mass fight to save the boys and against the rotten capitalist system which is attempting to carry through this vile act of terrorism against the working class and the enslaved Negro masses of the South. The workers greeted Mrs. Violet Montgomery, mother of one of the boys, and Mrs, Mooney, mother of Tom Mooney, with 4 tremendous ovation, rising to their feet and cheering for over five ‘min- utes the two working class mothers. ‘The meeting was held at the Cass Technical High School, under the auspices of the International Labor Defense, the organization which is leading to smash the frame-ups against Mooney and the Scottshore boys. From Soviet Karelia, of the United Soviet Socialist Republics, where the masses have wiped out capitalism with its race hatreds and- national oppression, comes the following cable to the I. L. D. and the workers of the United States: “We, the women workers residing in Golijowja and Uritzli in the city of Petrozawodsk cable our most em- Phatic protest against the barbarous terrorizing of our class. We. de- mand the immediate release of the 7 Negro youths sentenced to be electrocuted by the tyrannical clase justice of the American capitalists, We also demand the release of Tom Mooney, serving a life sentence im California in spite of the general admission of his innocents. “We came to Soviet Karelia ‘. build Socialism and are always ready to defend the first workers’ Socialist Fatherland and to help all class war victims in capitalist’ countries by strengthening the han@ of our international bp ame the International Red Aid. “Hands off the innocent Negre youths! Amnesty for all class war prisoners! Long live internations?: solidarity!” From Moscow comes the following protest cable from the magazine and newspaper workers: “A meeting of the united maga- zine and newspaper workers join in protesting against the Scottsboro’ lynchers, race persecution and fas- cist terror, We demand uncondi-” tional release of innocent Negre, youths, We send greetings te workers of all nationalities sms races in America.” War is immient! Order yom, bundle of the April 2 Daily Worker”