The Daily Worker Newspaper, April 20, 1932, Page 4

| Page Fous MAKE M phone onquin 4-7956. ly Worke: shing Cd; ius, Gally oteept Sanda: Cable “DAIWOREK® treet, New York, N, ¥. Gt UO Base STRUGGLE AGAINST WAR, GER, A Executive Board of Trade U atts workers t imm National Unity League st apon all demor mperialist andards ees liate danger r, new 3 ses, and To all League, To all members of the again ks on the living st of th the growing terror the Pale re ob Trade Union Unity American Federation of Labor To all. workers. hers D: 9; M every continues to ment kruptcie pow n the growth of 1 state and fed- andards of the tack on the asses, Attack: masses, new imper' Soviet Union, inst the re- yolutionary wo: a all mil~ workers as a means to carry through the is the program of ion y wage slashes the ng loose a new wave of dy on in the mining rge steel plants and ceeding all down the line including the paid government employees. The measly to the unemployed is everywhere being ent down and discontinued. To carry through these new attacks to prepare for an attack on the Sovie} Union, the capitalists are making new arrests of militant workers, are arrogantly trying to legally ch the nine Negro boys of Scotisboro, are increasing their intimidation of the foreign born as seen in the attempt to de- ort the secretary of the National Miners Union ¥rank Borich, Berkman, and others, are smash- ing the demonstrations of protest of the work~ ers, are killing workers who fight against starva- tion as in the Ford Hunger March, in the strikes of the miners, in the protest demonstrations against the Japanese imperialf8ts who are al- ready making war on the Chinese masses and who stand at the borders of the Soviet Union Teady to attack. ‘The capitalists are not able to carry through this program without resistance. In the last year the fighting spirit of the workers has been rising steadily. This was expressed in the heroic struggles of the miners of Pennsinvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky, the Anthracite and Il- linois, in the struggles of the textile workers of Lawrence, Rhode Island, Allentown, in the strikes of the needle, building and other work- ers. It was expressed in the militant struggles of the unemployed, in the National Hunger March, in the Ford Hunger March, in the mil- itant struggles of the white and Negro toilers in behalf of the Scottsboro boys, in the militant demonstrations against imperialist war and for the Defense of the Soviet Union carried through recently in Washington, Chicago, and other cities. More and more the workers organized in the American Federation of Labor are fight- ing against the bosses offensive and in defiance of the corrupt boss controlled bureaucracy of the Greens and Wolls. The struggle for un- employment insurance is already embracing cks on the the capitalist On top of the ad are now let | triotic bodies. ND TERROR lines and the sharpening of the class strug- there will be the revolutione struggle organization of the masses reasing number of workers who follow sing their determination { the new attacks on the wages of the ing for the demands of the un- ed, fighting against the boss terror and all to save the nine Scottsboro boys, who lass inst imperialist war, for the defense strate of the Soviet Union, the land of Socialism, the fathe jand of the workers of the world. On the side will be the capitalists, their governe 2 and their lackeys—the Morgans, Hoovers, Roosevelts, Thomases, and Greens. The leaders of the American Federation of Labor will not be idle on May Day. They will make speeches under the auspices of the government and pas ‘They will speak of the glories of capitalism, which must be saved. In this they will express as do they do all year round that stand for wage cuts, against unemploye insurance, for the Hoover Doak terror a t the masses, for the war plans of U. 8. imperialism. The Socialist party, the Thomases, will organize sham May Day meet- or alists of diverting the masses from the truggle against the exploiters. They will ‘om organizing for the defense of the Soviet Union, They will try with radical phrases to desorganize the fighting front of the workers, Every militant worker, every worker who is against starvation, who is against new wage cuts, who is for unemployment insurance, who is against the legal lynching of the nine Scotts- boro boys, who is against deportations and who ainst another world slaughter in the inter- of Wall Street, who stands against war on R., will demonstrate on May 1 against the program of the capitalists, against the A. F. of L. and Socialist misleaders. Every member of the A. F. of L. who is opposed to the betrayal policies of the Greens and Wolls, will join hands with the rest of the workers in this demonstra- | tion. hundreds of locals of the A. F. of L. in direct | repudiation of the Green-Woll policies adopted at the last Vancouver convention of the A. F. of The growing fighting spirit and determi- nation of the masses was above all expressed in the growth of the influence and organization of the unions affiliated to the Trade Union Unity League and the leadership of some of the most important struggles, among them the strikes of the miners of Penn-Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky under the leadership of the National Miners Union. May Day 1932 must become a turning point in the history of the workers of this country. It is a day that symbolizes the tightening of Workers. We are powerful when united. We can defeat the plans of the bosses when or- ganized and fighting under the banner of the | class struggle. Prepare for May Day. in your factories dis- cuss your problems. Discuss your grievances. Discuss the war plans of the bosses. Organize May Day Committees to organize the fight against hunger and war. Send your delegates to the May Day Arrangements Committees in your city. Organize to participate in the May Day demonstrations, Organize for meetings at the factory gates. Members and Locals of the T.U.0.L. Unions. Take the lead in the May Day preparations. Bring the May Day demonstrations into the factories. Prepare to participate with your own banners of your factory, your local in the May Day demonstrations. Members and Locals of the A. F. of L. Unions. ‘Take May Day into your locals. Decide to de- | monstrate as a body in defiance of the Greens and Wolls. Workers!) May Day is our day. We must show our strength. Our determination. These e not ordinary times, The war clouds are gathering. A new world war is in the making. War is on already in the Far East, Ruthless Japanese imperialism is attacking our brothers, the peoples of China. Japanese imperialism, U. S. imperialism, world imperialism, are now manoeuvering for position, perfecting the war plans against our fatherland, the USSR. We ust be on guard, We must show where we Join in the May Day demonstrattons? Against wage-cuts! For unemployment relief? and unentployment insurance! Save the nine Scotisboro boys! Fight the boss terror and the deportation of the foreign born! Fight against imperialist war! Demand Hands Off China, the stopping of shipments of munitions against the Chinese People! Demand the ousting from the U. 8. of the re- presentatives of the murder Japanese Govern- ment, that is making war on the Chinese People and preparing to attack U.S.5.R.! Demonstrate in the defense of the U.S.S.R., the fatherland of the workers of the world! NATIONAL EXECUTIVE BOARD, TRADE UNION UNITY LEAGUE Wm. Z. Foster, General Secretary. Starvation of the Miners in Southern Illinois (By a Worker Correspondent) WEST FRANKFORT, Ill, April 14. — Little Egypt is the name of the southern part of Il- inois coal fields. In Little Egypt there is un- cold misery and starvation among the tens of of miners and their families who receive diy any relief whatsoever. The Daily American, published in West Frankfort, Illinois, on April 7, reports as follows: “Following a two-day ‘run’, the local head- quarters of the Illinois Emergency Relief Com- mission closed last night for the reminder of the week.” They are giving a very little relief, and to a very small percentage of ile miners’ families in ‘Franklin and Williamson Cour ‘The attempts of the miners to set up thei ployed Coun= cils, met with the most severe k on the part of the sheriffs in Franklin County — Robinson raided the meetings, arrested speakers and threw them into jail, preventing any attempt of the miners to hold meetings, which shows any attempt to develop struggles for adequate relief to fight Hunger and Starvation {s prevented. While the Unemployed Council movement is being stopped by the terror of the sheriffs, act~ ing for the coal companies, the local authorities are cooperating with Ray Edmundson, district president of the U.M.W.A., Reput party, and Jerry Allard, a Trotzkyite, and ‘American Legion, to set up a fake unem ed council in the name of Franklin County Un+ wcaployed Association, The purpose of this fake pub- from developing 2 movement for adequate re- lief and to keep the miners down to the point of starvation, The counter-revolutionary Trotzkyite, Jerry Allard, boasts at meetings that this organization is supported by the American Legion, Red Cross and fascist and social-fascist officialdom of the UM.W.A. So we have in Southern Mlinois a united front of Legionnaires, Trotzkyites, Re~ publicans, Red Cross and coal operators against the miners. This fact must be known not only im Southern Mlinois, but to the workers through- out the country and clearly understand the counter-revolutionary role: of the Oannonites and Trotzkyites in the United States. This brings out the correctness of the Daily Worker that Trotzky ts a part of the counter-revolution- ary front and forerunner in preparation for an attack on the Soviet Union, But despite this vicious united front of the enemies of the working class, the miners in Franklin and Williamson County are not fooled by these elements and here are some facts: On April 9, @ meeting of the miners had been called in Johnson City at which 150 miners were present. The meeting was under the control of the American Legion, “box-car” Jenkins, well known faker who came as a spokes- man of the Jerry Allard, Ray Edmundson Fake Unemployed Association, and at that meeting, efter all the speeches of the fakers had been made, @ miner introduced the Workers Unem- Insurance Bill, and there was such « ] \ der to carry through their service to } phrases to stop the workers | Ban SR I. en age orker Darty U.S.A. LY A DAY OF OTHE “SOCIALISTS” LEAD THE WAY By mail everywhere: One yeas, $6; six months, §3; two months, ef Manhattaz and Bronx, New: York City. Foret one year, $1; excepting Beroughe ; siz monthe, $4.50. By BURCK The Crisi 5 By M, SALERNO THAT the second quarter of the current year | will mark a deepening of the economic crisis, | which is already the profoundest crisis ever experienced by American capitalism, is frankly admitted by Benjamin Baker, Editor of “The Annalist.” . In a leading article published in the last num- | ber of this journal, Baker writes: “So many im- portant events, of character as yet unknown, will | come to pass before the first of July that this | second quarter appears a period of critical | i | | uncertainty beyond the scone of rational fore- casting.” He suggests however that perhaps it ts well | “so far as it is possible,” to take the term “critical | period” in {ts “medical sense” as meaning “the passage of a critical point, very frequently into a state of definite recovery.” Obviously enough he wants to dispell, with his naive suggestion, the very same despairing prospect that he is compelled to present upon reviewing the specific statistical data among which, he admits, “there are few if any that are really favorable for the ; second quarter.” | The truth is that the Editor of “The Annalist” | finds no motive for hoping in the unquestionable fact that business is utterly “failing to revive itself” as a result of the reconstruction” pro- grams of recent months which “hold little pro- | mste of real relief.” ‘The proposed wage cut affecting all the steel workers throughout the United States suggests to him that en upturn in business is unlikely to take place during the next three months, and the new low point by the Business Index of “The Annalist” causes him to be pessimistic about the future. ‘The wage cut to be announced soon is indeed an index of the deepening economic crisis, the bottom of which will not be reached in the coming momths. Although a result of the ef- | forts to unload the burden of the crisis on the shoulders of the workers, the wage cut will not | bring about s business revival, as the bosses and their agents want us to believe, On the contrary, in so far as it will further reduce the buying power of the worker, the wage cut will sharpen the crisis. On the other side the fall of the business index was forced to put it to a vote and every miner in the hall voted for the Workers Unemployment Insurance Bill. Among these miners was a large number of young miners, who especially enthu- siastically endorsed the Workers Unemployment Insurance Bill. But after the meeting was over, when the miners demanded that the Bill be endorsed, the secretary and chairman both refused on the grounds that they have to “investigate.” In | other cities at meetings the miners are taking the floor and exposing the fakery and treachery of the Jerry Allards and Edmundsons cliques and winning support of the miners. This must continue and the miners in Franklin and Wil- Hamson County must fight for relief, fight for the Unemployment Insurance Bill, developing 3 | mass movement, uniting unemployed and em- ployed miners and especially at the present situ- ation, when the miners are closed by the coal operators, in an attempt to starve the miuers into accepting starvation wages, dictated by the coal operators and U.M.W.A. officialdom. In other mining towns, such as Staunton, Collinsville, Bellville, Unemployed Councils have been organized and they began to develop strug- gles, demanding immediate relief, demanding a portion of the twenty million dollars appropri- thanks to the militant struggle of the Chicago working class, and for the Unemployment In- surance Bill, At the local union of the U.M.W.A. the Orient mine, a miner on the floor of the union, ex- Posed the Jerry Allard, Edmundson fake move- ment, that by begging the bosses, nothing can be gotten, pointing out that the 20 million dol- lars appropriated was won in struggle by work ers of Chicago and other cities, calling upon the miners to support the Unemployed Councils, This was received by the miners with so much enthusiasm that Jerry Allard, who was present st the meeting, did not dare take the floor in Yece of the facts brought out by the militant miner on te Moor of tye local unjoa of the SS ated by the Ilinols State, which was won, | G | | | | | curtailed during the first quarter of the year. acter,” that may come to pass before next July oes Deeper is also an important sign of the economic trend which the “important events, of unknown char- will press downward, not upward. The index for | March is 61.7 as against 62.6 for February and | 62.8 for January. The most important factors in the fall are the low records of freight carloading, steel ingot production, electric power production, pig iron production and automobile production. But what is more important in connection with the fall, is the fact that retail activity, which before offered a “relative” resistance, was Equally important is the decline in the produc- tion of high rate electricity for domestic con- sumption, which previously offset the drastic Jall of low-rate electric energy for industrial activity. This provés that, with the sharpening of the crisis and with the intensified efforts to unload it upon the workers by cutting their wages, lengthening their working days, etc., the buying power of the consumers is curtailed and the crisis is again utterly deepened. A dispatch from Washington to the “New York Times” states that the heavy buying of sovernment securities is interpreted with “cauti- ous optimism” by some officials who believe that ‘his movement will “provide the stimulant which will start business slowly on the upgrade.” Their belief is based on the hope that the new step taken by the “ederal Reserve Banks will liberalize bank credit. The April “Business Bulletin” of the Cleve- land Trust Co. remarks, however, that “bank loans and deposits continue to shrink because of business inactivity.” “The Annalist,” on the other side, observes that it is not enough to increase the supply of credit, by liberalizing it, but it is nec- essary to provide a plan for using it. “As a matter of fact,”—it says—“from the beginning of | 1930 to the middle of 1931 the banks had an enormous surplus of lending power, Yet that did not prevent # continued decline in commodity prices, stock prices and business activity. Indeed | there is ground for believing that part of our | present difficulties have arisen from this very excess of credit.” That the “expansion” policy of the Federal Reserve Banks warrants no optimism of any sort, is clear from what the above mentioned bulletin of the Cleveland Trust Company says, | sharply: “Our efforts to restore business activity.” one reads in the bulletin, “are national or local, scattered and mostly directed at the prevention of breakdowns.” In other words, all the steps that are being (aken do not prove tha#an upward turn is near, but on the contrary they show, it is clear from what we just quoted, that their purpose is that of preventing still further breakdowns. Intensification ot the Wage — Cutting Drive By MAX WEISS, 'HE wage cut of 15 percent announced a few | days ago by the United States Steel Com- pany ,the third one in 20 months, affecting over 200,000 workers ,is but a slight indication of the wholesale wage slashing campaign upon which Wall Street has embarked. In every industry and in all sections of the country a terrific drive has been in progress for over 3 years aimed at reducing the living stand- ards of the workers to the absolute physical mini- mum of existence. ‘This wage cutting drive is one of the largest single items in the entire plan of the capitalist class to place the full burden of the crisis onto the shoulders of the masses. It takes place against a background of deepening crisis, in- creasing unemployment, unsupportable taxation projects, narrowing “relief” base on the verge of complete collapse, and against the background of an inflationary perspective that will complete the task of robbing the worker of his last dollar by robbing the dollar of its last few penny val- ues, » The full extent of the fierce inroads which the capitalist class has made into the living stand- ards of the masses may be partially gauged by the report of the National Industrial Conference Board. A survey made by this institution re- veals that fully four out of every five concerns, including manufacturing, extractive industries, transportation, other public utilities, wholesale and retail trade and financial institutions, have | cut wages and salaries to the bone. In addition to direct wage cuts, the investigation uncovered the fact that unemployment has increased by fully 26 percent on the basis of the cross-section investigation. The following statement by Magnus W. Alex- ander, president of the National Industrial Con- ference Board uncovers the cold blooded delib- eration with which the, capitalist class em- barked upon and is intensifying its ruthless drive against the very right to exist of the mas- ses; “When the results of the investigation are viewed broadly the significant facts are seen to be: First, private enterprise in response to the necessities of the business depression at first curtailed operations, with consequent reduction in employment, in the effort to maintain the level of earnings of those retained in employ- ment, “Second, when the necessity of more drastic reductions in operating costs, beyond those made in the interests of efficiency and im- proved methods, demanded that the compen- sation of employees be reduced. . Execative ‘and general salaries were first lowered and re~ & vave was spplied omy an & last resort, We may at once discount the legend about the consideration of the bosses for the workers in the mater of giving them preference over salaried executives in wage cuts as the professional balm which the soothsayers of capitalism are in the | habit of pouring into the wounds of the mas- ses. The whole course of the crisis has shown this to be a lie, The second philanthropic act for which the capitalists claim credit is the cutting of execu- tive salaries by 2, percent more than wages. This is small comfort to the worker who is al- ready on a starvation level. In addition it conceals what percentage always do—the actual | facts embodied in thé absolute figures of reduc- tions. Salaried executives with incomes -.of $20,- 000 or more a year may receive a 15 percent re- duction without even noticing it. The worker whose very existence depends on the most eco- nomical utilization of his last penny receives @ starvation verdict together with the 15 percent reduction. This little fact is of course glibly passed over in the report of the National Indus- trial Conference Board. Lest the workers think themselves too badly off, the apologists of capitalism even offer to prove that wage cuts are not only “: $e from a business point of view, but also “just” from & moral point of view. In the “Annalist” for April 15, the noted ef- ficiency expert, who glories in the title of man- agement engineer, J. P. Jordan, writes as follows concerning the moral sanction with which wage cuts are administered: ‘ “Employees who must be cut deeply in in- come or laid off may suffer; but when busi- ness returns they are still possessed of their earning powers to go on. But stockholders may be seriously and permanently impaired if los- ses should permanently impair the capital of the company whose stock they own.” ‘This sanctimonious blessing of the whole wage cutting drive of the capitalists now has the ad- ded benediction of the famous “management engineer” in the White House, President Hoover, who, together with the Democratic and Kepub- lican Congressmen has decreed the maintenance unimpaired of the interests of the stockholders of the government—Wall Street, The whole “economy program” of Hoover and Congress is aimed at the rank and file of the civil service workers. Of the $210,000,000 pro- posed economy fully $199,000,000 will come out of the pockets of the million government employ- ees whose average wage is $1,441. Even the straight 11 percent cut first pro- posed by the House Committee on Finance was rejected by Hoover in of his own stagger glen because is the wage outa would | ——[—[S=— War Shipments to Japan Hey. far the American government and Amefe lean capitalists are helping the Japanese gove ernment by shipping war supplies to the latter was the question that arose in the minds of workers who read in the papers a few days ago that representatives of the E I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. had been in conference with high state department officials on “private bustle ness,” connected with the sale of munitions is the Orient. It is difficult to secure full informa- tion on this subject, especially as the exporters now fear agitation for embargo legislation of one sort or another. But such information a the United States Department of Commerce willing to make public indicates 2 considerable export of war materials and potential war supe plies from this country to help Japanese ime perialism prepare for its attack on the Soviet Union, Raw cotton, as is well known, is used in the manufacture of explposives. How much of the Japanese imports from this country are for this purpose and how much are for the normal needs of textile mills it is difficult to say. But the fact is that in the year 1930 Japan imported only 889,000 bales from the United States, while in 1931 it imported 1,741,000 bales of raw cotton, or over twice as much as in the previous year. And of the 1931 total some 1,069,000 bales were purchased in the last six months of the year, compared with 490,000, bales during the same Period in 1930. Cottons most useful in the manufacture of guncotton are the sshort fibres called linters. Recent tabulatuions of the U. S. Department of Commerce show that Japan bought 3,084,336 pounds of linters in 1931, and 500,346 in January, 1932 ni other words, January showed a doubling of the monthly rate of linters purchased in the United States by Japan as compared with 1931, Exports of “other nitrogenous chemicals mae terials from the United States to Japan during 1931 amounted to only 2,000 tons, valued at $52,354. Yet for the one month of January, 1933, an almost equal amount was shipped to Japan, or 1,900 tons valued ai $51,542. The shipments in January were thus at a rate nearly 12 times the monthly rate for last year. One of the largest shippers of nitrogenous products to Japan, as well as to France—Japan’s ally—is the Atmospheric Nitrogen Corp. of Hope- well, Virginia, the plant having been built during the last imperialist war to supply this country and its allies with these indispensable war sup- plies. Atmospheric Nitrogen Corp. is a subsidiary of the Allied Chemical & Dye Corp., one of the, largest chemical companies in the world. Jape anese vessels are leaving frequently from New- port News, carrying cargoes of nitrate of soda to Japanese and French ports. The principal war use of nitrate of soda is for the production of nitric acid, which, according to @ government report, “is used in a mixture of 30 per cent nitric Se a ise! acid and 70 per cent sulphuric acid for the _ nitrating process in the manufacture of powder and explosives. Bleached cotton linters are nitrated with this mixed acid to produce nitro- cellulose powder, which is the chief propellant. Toluol is nitrated to produce T. N, T., phenal to produce picric acid, and so on.” During 1931 the United States exported to Japan $147,212 worth of firearms, ammunition and aircraft and parts, and during January, 1932, alone over $30,000 worth. Reports on shipments for later months of the current year wil Idoubt- less show a rise, although the United States does eos not normally supply Japan with a large pero centage of its imports of munitions and fires arms. Germany, Great Britain and Belgium supplied 93 per cent of Japans munitions importa in 1930. Winchester Repeating Arms Co. of New Haven, Conn. and Remington Arms Co. of Bridgeport, Conn., recently took on more workers tbruptly to turn out orders apparently for war purposes, although it is not reported definitely that the materials are going to Japan. During 1931 the United States exporteq ma> chinery and elecrtic equipment valued at $5,° 880,000 to Japan, iron and steel products valued at over $7,000,000 automotive products valued ab $8,832,000, and petroleum valued at $16,300,000, in addition to nearly $80,000,000 worth of cotton. A correspondent in Houston, Texas, reports that cotton shipments to Japan have doubled _ during the last three months and that Japanese ships loaded with cotton, as well as various raw materials used in war, are leaving almost dally bound for Japan. fall more heavily on the lower paid civil service employees. A tabulation made by the Herald Tribune ree veals the full extent of the “consideration for wage workers over salaried executives” which % Wall Street is exercising. i The two plans, with the stagger plan pro-, posed by Hoover, will make the following wacef cuts as the contributions of the White House to the whole wage slashing campaign of the bosses Salary Reduction Reduction r under 11% under stagger eut plan plan x. $1350 $38.50 $112.32 % 1450 49.50 120,32 | 1850 93.50 154.96 5 2150 125.50 179.14 iM 4050 325.50 337.48 5100 456.50 $24.84 7250 687.50 603.98 : 10500 1045.00 874.90 Tt can be seen trom this that the famous en- gineer not only proposes that the rank and file government workers bear the brunt of the “eco~ nomy” program but also that it bear it exclue sively with the higher paid bureaucrats and rep- resentatives of the Wall Street practically un- touched, ‘The whole economy program in Washington, has not only the immediate significance of a cut for Federal employees, but also of a signal flare for the entire capitalist class that the wage cut- Be . ting campaign now in progress for the last three! years has the full support of the government, Not even the hypocritical pretense of “resisting” wage cuts will be maintained any longer. q ‘The immediacy of attack on the Sowet Union — together with all the other factors of the deep- _ ening crisis mark out the path of even more — vicious attempts of the capitalist class to shift the burden of the crisis onto the masses by the most far reaching wage cuts, direct and indirect. A gainst this drive the work'> class. must rale ly behind the banner cf the Communist Party and the Red Trade Unions. The fight against wage cuts is simultaneously a fight against the increasing imperialist war attempts on the Soviet, Union and sgainst the very denial of the right |, Of the masses fo live, { | . i j