The Daily Worker Newspaper, April 29, 1932, Page 12

Page bight” a = ema DAILY WORKER, — NEW YORK @* APRIL 1932 8 eee Soviet Miners Sent May Day Greetings to U.S. DOCTORS ASSIGN DISABLED VET TO SCRAP HEAP Ousted form Coast Guard Following Illness Marine Hospital Ellis Island, N. Y, Comrades: Did you ever stop to think what will happen to you when you get old and are unable to work? I never did until I finally wound up here in the hospital. But now I realize what a tough situation I am in. I am a disabled ex-serviceman through no fault of my own. I was just jicked out of the Coast Guard. Perhaps you do not know what I mean. I have been here in the hospital with the rheumatism and will no doubt have it the rest of my life. About four months ago I was put. up before a reactionary board of survey. The doctors claimed that it was my own fault that I was dis- abled. I see it all now. We are all wage slaves in this “free” country. We have the freedom to work and starve and to be thrown on the scrap heap when we are disabled. I think that we oppressed classes should come together in one mass organization and fight for our rights. I- have just joined the Trade Union Unity League and the Communist Party. These organiza- tions have shown me how to get my rights. We have to fight for tem, But we must be organized when we fight. J, E, B. MAYOR STEALS RELIEF FUNDS Clairton Mayor Takes $8,600 THEY GREET AMERICAN MINERS Here ‘are two shock brigade miners working in a mine in the U.S.S.R, They look not unlike American miners, But the conditions under*which they work are much different. All miners in the Soviet Union have recently received increases in pay. There are no miners out of work and all are protected by gevernment unemployment and accident insurance. U. S. Coal Cuts Pay Twice During Year; Fires 200 Miners Whole Town of Lynch, Ky., Under Control of Brutal Coal Barons (By a Worker Correspondent ) HARLAN, Ky.—tThe U. S. Coal Co., a subsidiary of the U.S. Steel, cut the wages of the miners at the Lynch-Ben- ham mines at Harlan County on the first of April. This was the second wage-cut since the first of the year and reduces the basic day rate scale to $4 for the skilled miners. The coal loaders’ scale was reduced to 28 Previous to the first eut skilled miners and 42 cents a cents a ton. the scale was $6 a day for ton. This company does not weigh the coal, but pays by the car—or as the miners say, bythe acre. ¢ (By a Worker Correspondent.) CLAIRTON, Pa.—A large amount oi the money that was given to «a help the starving unemployed of this town Was stolen by the mayor and his helpers, Following an investigation it was discovered that the sum of $3,600 was missing. The mayor and one of his helpers were locked up and are supposed to make this money good. There is suffering and starvation staring all teh workers in the face here. Something must be done. Only those with families are get- ting a starvation “relief” ration. Now this little bit is to be cut. Some workers must live on one day’s wages that they get in the mill every week. ¥ think tat it is high time to or- ganize an unemployed council here to force the bosses to give us real relief and unemployment insurance. War Material Being Produced in Diston Factory in Phila. (By a Worker Correspondent) PHILADELPHIA, Pa—I saw in the Daily Worker that you want to know about war materials being produced in the Henry Diston Co. Yes, they are producing war ma- terial here right now. Last week I talked to one of the workers. He told me that he was working three days a week rolling gun shields. This plant has been making shields for quite some time. A soldier from the U.S. army is stationed here to test the shields. The worker to whom I talked said that he was at no time sure of his job. Conditions in the plant, he said, are terrible. ‘ 8. T. (Editorial Note,— The Diston Ce, is one of the concerns that made big profits during the world war ‘ing swords, ete., for the Fiawees yee sx me pn At the same time the company cut the pay the company laid off about 200 workers, accusing them of union affiliations. The miners of Lynch-Benham are working two and three days a week. This mine | used to employ 2,500 miners. Company Town. Lynch is a company town in the fullest sense of the word. The schoc’, the churches, the hotel, po- lice, fire department, are all owned | by the coal company. The police | have uniforms the same as the | U. S. Steel coal and iron police in | Pennsylvania and of course they treat the workers with the same} brutality. A stranger entering Lynch is im- mediately taken into tow by the law and third-degreed. Those whose story is not “satisfactory” to the law is at once driven out of town or is taken for a ride. When the Harlan thugs kid- naped the N.M.U. organizers, Ma- son, Grace, Weer, etc., they took them to Lynch and proceeded with re-enforcements to the Kentucky border. Paternalism. “~The U. S. Steel in the past foi- lowed the policy of paternalism. It built better houses for the men than the other coal companies. It provided some fo: of recreation grounds for the children. Christmas it distributed candy. Prizes were given for the best gardens. All these factors had an effect on the miners of the U. S. Steel. These miners were the hardest to organ- ize, However, now the situation is changed and miners who only yes- terday ran away when the word union was mentioned, today are de- manding that an organizer be sent to help them build a union,. ‘We have been informed that a stool pigeon who was exposed in Pennsylvania is running a board- ing house or hotel in Lynch. The workers should expose all such ele- ments so that they cannot be in a position . to. ¥ on. their, dirty. work down here. é j i 4 rua four sary o eee | Masses of Steel Workers Hungry In Western Penn. Workers Rally to Job- less Council in Kensington Dist. (By a Worker Correspondent.) WEST TARENTUM, Pa.—Hun- dreds of us workers have been liv- ing under starvation conditions. We have been laid off from the Al- legheny Steel, Pittsburgh Pilate, Ford Glass, Crucible Mine and the Penn Iron and Steel Co. Some, who are considered lucky, are working only a few days a month. Those who are unem- ployed are in most cases not getting any relief whatsoever. Fathers and mothers are faced with the proposition of seeing their cildren starving to death. We had a big meeting here Sun- day two weeks ago. Comrade Liss, the speaker, pointed out that there were 27,000 families in Allegheny County who were left without the slightest bit of help due to the closing of the relief buro. There were many Negro workers at this meeting. There were also some of the local poliicians there. When the meeting was thrown open for discussion these politicians were afraid to ake the floor and defend the system of starvation they ren- resented, JOBLESS COUPLE SUICIDE ere ‘Miners Get Full Pay During Stoppages in Soviet Coal Fields Group of Young Miners Ww tiie to Miners in U.S. A. About Adv anced Livi ing Conditions Live in Cooperative Houses Built for the Workers; Earn 8 Rubles in 6 Hours Dear Comrades :— We are very glad to receive very thankful to you for them. We, young miners, just started to work, in our Soviet country. We are very sorry to hear about your bad con- ditions and we wish that you change your conditions as the workers of the Soviet Union did. Our brothers in bloody battles wrested the powey out of the hand of the capitalists. We are free and independent now. Your oppressors your letters and we are ; and exploiters are telling you that there is compulsory labor in the Soviet Union. This is not true and cannot possibiy be true, oe- cause our country is a country of the working class. Dear comrades, your expiciters¢—————___——- are describing to you the Soviet Union as a “red menace.” Do not Sheep pen” el INJURED CHILD “mene Settee wee wu, OUSTED. FROM Soeeeerce NY Hoe busy now completing the Five-Year Plan, which was drawn up by our Catholic Nuns Deny workers’ government and the Com- munist Party of the Soviet Union. Help to Penniless ’ Mother We are young kolkhoz members (collective farm members) who Long Island City. Daily Worker: work in the mining industry under contract which the mine manage- ment concluded with our kolkhoz. This is done on a collective basis. Our wives and children are pro- vided by the kolkhoz with food and! also with other necessities. New Homes, N.Y Here is a story of a poor mother whose husband is unemployed and Our life is entirely different from yours, All single men live in co- operative houses built for the workers from fireproof material. We are continually organizing brigades of young workers for the fulfilment of the production plan and for the improvement of the living and cul- tural conditions of the workers. We work on progressive piece work basis and we earn on the av- erage about 8 roubles a day for 6 hours’ work. This is enough for our material and also cultural needs. The food is good and we are very much satisfied with it. We have no other party except our own. work- ing class Communist Party (Bol- shevik). One of the rules in our mine is that in case of a break, we get full pay. Only slackers are not entitled to wages. Wishing you success in your struggles for a better life for the workers the world over.” We greet you on May First. Comradely yours, Soviet Miners. —A group of miners of Mine No. 30, Barracks No. 85—Goncharov, Ivkin, Maiboroda, Zrozsevsky, Pav- lovsky. Cuts Pay Five Times In Fifteen Months (By a Worker Correspondent.) GRAND RAPIDS, Mich—The Crane Plumbing and Steam Suply Co. have cut wages five times in the last fifteen months, amounting to 36 per cent of wages paid before the cuts came. Many have been laid off and only a few are left. The men were working five days a week until Friday, April 1. Then orders came to divide the workers into two groups and to let each group work two weeks and lay off two weeks. The salesman that gave this information was next to the head salesman in 1930. Now he is just a plumber. How is this for a business boom. WILL HELP BREAK WALL ST. LINE IN NEXT WAR (By a Worker Correspondent) NEW YORK.—In the last war “I ry break the Hindenburg Line; in the next war I'll help break the ee St. Line.” is that I heard an ex-soldier Ye day, in commenting _is now going on in churia. . t is Me Xt Ee fought for “democracy” in the world war. Six weeks ago her little daughter of five fell! and broke her leg, so this poor mother took her to the St. John’s Hospital, because it is the only. charitable institution in Long Island City. “This case would require a confinement of four weeks for the correct setting of the leg,” the holy nuns told her. During the first week the hos- pital authorities investigated and found that this poor mother had been in this hospital last year as a charitable case. At the same time they also discovered that the. little child’s leg only really needed one week to heal and anyway there was somebody that could pay that wanted the bed for their child. The holy nuns told this mother that her child was not needed there any more. The mother implored the holy nuns to keep her little daughter if only to properly nourish her ,as she didn’t even have a bottle of milk home to feed her sick baby when she returned home. But no, you: must go, was the answer of the holy nuns. So the Catholic Daughter of Mercy would do nothing for her child and sent her out of the hospital and in- formed her to bring the child to the hospital every week. But how could she bring her, for she didn’t even have the nickel carfare for the train. A Worker of Long Island City. Alabama Moulders Get Cut in Pay (By a Worker Correspondent) BIRMINGHAM, Ala. —The moulders of the Stockham Fitting Co, just received, a wage-cut from 48 cents to 36 cents an hour. Con- *~ ditions could not. get much worse around here. If we don’t get to- gether and organize the bosses will have us working for less than a dol- lar a day. This is, 1 think, the worst jim- crow town in the U.S.A. The policy of the bosses here is the white man first, the dog next and the Negro last. We must all get to- gether against this dividing of the. working class.. A Negro Worker. in the Soviet Union. This is not true and cannot. possibly be true, be- cause our country iis a country .of the: “working class.s > i bee Gdton ke ae