The Daily Worker Newspaper, September 5, 1932, Page 4

9% Is Prosperity Around the Corner?—By John Irving DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 1932 Daily,<Worker Published by the Comprodaily Publishing Co., Inc., daily exexept Sunday, at 50 B, 13th St., New York City, N. ¥. Telephone ALgenquin 4-7956. Cable “DATWORK. Address and mail checks to the Dally Worker, 50 E. 13th St., New York, N. ¥. SUBSCRIPTION By mail everywhere: One year, $6; six months, Borough of Manhattan and Bronx, New Yc six months, How Thomas Helps the Tammany Walker-Roose- velt Swindle MAN THOMAS paused in the arduous labors of his paign to add another gem to his diadem of decep- tion with the resignation RATES: ; two months, City. $1; excepting Foreign: one year, $8; , in con of Wal ym the post of -mayor of New York City. At Louis, where Thomas was campaigning ]. week, he gave tterance to the following profound observation: ernor Roosevelt, after a very weak handling of the Walker case up to the time the mayor was placed on trial, has made a good show in the trial, has acted with dignity and has made a good impression on the country at large. Now, by Walker’s action, he will be able to retain the bene of this good impression.” Misled rank and file members of the Socialist Party can now wonder whether Thomas is campaigning for Roose- velt. But such is not the case. What Thomas here endeavors to do is to create the impression that graft in public office is due to the activities of dishonest individuals and to con- om the workers the fact that corruption in office is interwoven in the very fabric of the capitalist governmental system. Not alway) this fact revealed in such crude forms the case of the Walker-McKee administration in New York, or the notorious Teapot Dome cabinet of Harding, Coolidge and Hoover. Frequently it carried out more or less openly under the pretex of meeting an “emergency,” as was the case of Hoover’s Reconstruction Fi- nance Corporation which looted the United States Treasury of billions of dollars to aid the bankers, the industrialists and the railroad magnates, while denying relief to the millions of poverty-stricken and starving workers and impoverished farmers. ceal as W: * * * THAT the socialist, Thomas, does with this statement is to make workers believe that capitalist state power can be used in the interest of the working class if only certain individual grafters are eliminated. Thus his eulogy of Roosevelt adds grist to the mill of capitalism—to con- ceal the fundamental class character of the capitalist state as an in- strument of oppression against the toiling masses and to further cover | up the fact that the systematic organization of graft and plunder, is an inseparable part of governmental administration in this period of decaying capitalism. The record of the low grafter Walker, the career of Roosevelt, who was hatched in the cesspool of Tammany corruption, the Teapot Dome training of Hoover and his refined burglary of the treasury through the Reconstruction Finance Corporation—these and all other such examples must be fully used to pillory these agents of capitalism and to arouse greater mass struggles against the capitalist system as a whole, of which these grafters, high and low, are the vile products, But this is not what Thomas is doing or will do. * Only the Communist Party mobilizes the masses for such a struggle. Our Party alone, as the one party of the working class, organizes and jJeads the fight that will finally smash the whole system of capitalist tyranny and graft by destroying the very soil which produces such foul crooks and insolent grafters as Jimmy Walker, and such demagogues as the Tammany governor, Roosevelt. Fight Against Beating and Jailing of Workers’ Children HE bestiality of the capitalist courts is an old story—written in the very life blood of martyrs in the cause of working class freedom. Accustomed as we are to the normal viciousness of capitalist class justice there e occasions when its hideousness stands forth more repulsive than ev Such was the action of the Children’s Court in New York in jailing three working class children for taking part in a demonstration for milk. Not satisfied with this bestiality, the court has selected a half- starved but mlitant fifteen-year-old boy to be tortured at the hands of so-called alienists who hope to drive him insane so they can commit him to an asylum. This criminal frame-up began with a fierce beating at the hands of the burly well-fed prison guards. International Labor Defense attorneys have been bodily thrown out of court for demanding the release of this boy on bail, a right fre- quently accorded murderers. The court refuses to allow bail or to allow the boy to communicate with his attorneys. Thus a youngster who asks for milk for starving children of unemployed workers is treated worse than the most vicious underworld characters. It is quite in keeping with capitalist justice that the court should try to railroad the boy to an insane asylum on the same day that Mayor Walker is allowed by Governor Roosevelt to resign, after having stolen immense sums of money while head of a city administration that “couldn't afford” to pay for free milk stations for starving children on New York's impoverished East Side. The Hoover government of hunger and murder has itself admitted that there are 6,000,000 children in this country who are slowly starving, and that 300,000 of these children are wandering over the country hun- gry, ragged and homeless. Capitalism’s remedy, as exemplified by the action of the New York children’s court, is to jail children who refuse to starve; to mercilessly beat and declare children insane who dare fight against hunger. This infamy is a challenge to the whole working class. These chil- dren must be taken from the clutches of the savage courts. Demonstrate at the children’s court this week as these children come up for sentence! ‘Take part in the relief march on September 10, which will demand food from the city for the starving workers and their children! Rally to the struggle against hunger on the basis of the fighting program of the Communist Party! Rally the young workers into the struggle for their special youth demands and against imperialist war under the leadership of the Young Communist League. Support International Youth Day, September 9th! Fight and vote against the vile system that, not content with the torture and murder of militant adult workers, reaches out its bloody talons to crush the children of the working class! “THE COMMUNIST” (Contents—September Issue.) 1, The Fight Against the Capitalist Offensive and the Unity of the Em- ployed and the Unemployed. (Editorial) . How the St. Louis Unemployed Victory Was Won—By B K. Gebert 3. Lessons of the Bonus March—Statement of the Central Committee, CP, USA 4, The Significance of the Results of the German Elections—by Knorin 5, The Ottawa Empire Conference—By K, Palme Dutt 6. The American Farmers Are Beginning to Fight—By H. Puro 1. The ace of Capitalism and Capitalist Education—By James W. For 8. Lessons of the Revolution—By Y. I. Lenin THE ROTTEN TREE! Rutland, Mass. August 30, 1932 Secretary of Labor Doak, Department of Labor Washington, D. C. From my sick bed, held your; prisoner in the Central New Eng- land Sanatorium, I address this letter of protest to you. I call | upon the workers to pass judgment | on the brutality and injustice you | are committing, not only against | me, but against the entire working- | class of America. Was it not a flagrant violation of the workers’ right to organize when | your agents arrested me twice in | 1931 because, as organizer of the National Textile Workers Union, I participated in the strikes of the | Lawrence textile workers against | the 9 comb, speed-up system and | the 10 per cent wage cut? In | pushing deportation charges against | me and other militant workers, the Lawrence strikers recognized you as the arch-strikebreaker of Am- erica and you and your Department | of Labor gs the agents of the Am- erican Woolen Company. | MURDOCK AND DEVINE DEPORTED As a result of this strike you had deported the two textile workers Jeaders, William Murdock and Pat- | rick Devine, to Scotland and Eng- land. You hounded Barney Cree- | gan into a deportation pen, despite the fact that he is an American citizn, For more and one and one-half years, your department, supervised | in Massachusetts by Mrs. Tilling- | hast, has persecuted me—held me By BURCK Edith Berkman, Facing Deportation and Death in Poland, in Flaming Call to Workers for deportation to fascist Poland (although I am not a citizen of Poland, and, therefore, not deport- ton Immigration Station, where I contracted tuberculosis—tried to. conceal my illness, because you feared the wrath of the workers— forcibly dragged me from one in- titution to another, holding me in- communicado for days—refused me private physicians, until the press- ure of the masses forced this con- cession from you. TORMENTED, PERSECUTED the bidding of your masters, your able)—threw me into the East Bos- | ‘The workers know that in doing | department thrusts aside every vestige of human decency. Despite my grave illness, your department kept guards at my bedside for two weeks, tormenting me, thus ag- gravating my illness. Though I have been a bed patient for the past 6 months, and Dr. John B. Hawes, 2nd, leading tuberculosis expert, finds me “seriously ill, running a temperature, with rapid pulse, suffering from the distressing complication of violent spasms of the diaphragm which would wear the strongest person out, and suf- fering from an active tubercular infection”—in the face of this you got certain doctors to declare that I was well enough to be shipped By JAMES CASEY 'HIS is a’ chronicle about Paul Block, the publisher, who gave | Tammany Jimmy Walker a gift of $246,000 out of the goodness of his big heart. Called before Governor Roosevelt in the removal farce to eit es EDITH BERKMAN Letters from Our Readers Pawtucket, L, 1 Dear Editor: About a month ago I found your paper, the Daily Worker and I was so glad to read that you are really fighting for the laborer. I have watched the strike here last summer when the General Fabrics was on strike and I saw that the Communists meant busi- ness, when they say no wage cut, they mean no wage cut. I have read the “Pawtucket Times” for many a year, but I never seen any- thing which pleased me more than the Communist paper. I remember when they called that litle girl Ann Burlak the most dirtiest names, they spread rumors that she was high paid, etc., but no one believed it | Well, I heard she’s running for Mayor of Pawtucket. Well, I saw this, whether you're red, black or pink, I’m voting Communist this year, because I saw that girl fight account for this extraordinary piece of generosity, Paul Block’s explan- ation was that it wasn’t extraordi- nary at all. He was just a big, kindly man and was accustomed to bearing gifts—so said Paul Block to the Wall Street Governor. Let’s | see what the facts reveal about this | man’s bigness, kindliness and hu- | maneness. Paul Block is the owner of ten newspapers, which daily spread lies about the Soviet Unien and about | the workers’ struggles in the United States and elsewhere. Block em- ploys thousands of workers and out of their sweat and blood coins mil- lions of dollars for himself. REPORTERS AT $1 A NIGHT Until about last February, he was the publisher of a capitalist propa- ganda mill in his own home town, the Brooklyn “Standard Union.” Paul Block, the generous, hired re~ Porters to work for him at unbeliev- ably low wages. He hired reporters at the rate of one dollar a night. Men working seven nights for him would receive a sum total of seven dollars a week. He hired men by the night because it was much cheaper than the maintenance of an adequate permanent staff. Some of these men received only three or four nights’ work. But, rather than starve, these unorganized white collar slaves came begging to him for a night’s work, The writer knows of at least one family man who was glad to-earn even the measly dollar so that his wife and children might not be thrown into the cold winter streets to starve. Rea i pose BLOOK felt sorry for poor Mayor Jimmy because this particular Tammany genius re- ceived only one auto from the city and $40,000 a year. He'shed tears over this spectacle of poverty and his heart was so heavily burdened that he talked the matter over with his ten-year-old son, As a result, Walker became richer by $246,000. Paul Block gave, at about the same time, a gift of $100,000 to Yale for the workers last July, 1931, and Im pretty sure the workingmen of Pawtucket is going to fight like the devil ## set her up in office, University for a chair in journalism so that more young ‘Americans might become interested in jour- nalism—in the work for which he paid men seven dollars a week. Pigok knew these men in his em- PAUL BLOCK-A ‘HEART OF GOLD’ High Finance, Dollar-a-Night Reporterrs, and Capitalist Journalism ploy could not possibly support themselves, let alone a family, on this incredibly miserable wage. Where was Paul Block's big heart for these men? Where his kindli- ness, his “humaneness”? “A HEART OF GOLD” Shortly after the capitalist crisis began to gain momentum, Block announced in newspaper advertise- ments that he would keep his staff intact—that his workers could be certain of their jobs. Did he keep cee What did he actually io Well, he disposed of his paper to the Brooklyn Daily Times, another capitalist sheet, and all the workers were kicked out on the streets with- out a day’s notice! Only two or three managed to get jobs on the Brooklyn Times- The rest found themselves betrayed in the coward- ly, cold-blooded manner of Big Business! we 8: tie A few days ago the financial pages of the boss press carried an “inno- cent” announcement of the filing of a petition in bankruptcy by the Union Publishing Company. This company, according to the petition, was the publisher of the Brooklyn Standard Union. The company dis- closed liabilities of more than $1,300,000. What made this inci- dent so remarkable was that Paul Block set himself up as the prin- cipal creditor of defunct oon- cern. Block, who was the publisher, suddenly transformed himself as the creditor in the guise of the Paul Block Corporation of Park Avenue. For months a story ran riot through the newspaper fraternity that Paul Block sank a big heap of money into the Standard Union “just to help the workers.” Now it develops that Paul Block did not making claims of more than $1,000,- 000 against the paper ‘and that he actually lose a penny, that he is stands to add a neat little sum to the millions he has reaped in his sweatshops: When the assets, of the Standard Union—the presses, linotypes and other equipment—are liquidated, Paul Block, as a credi- tor, will share and pocket the money .. . just to show his big- heartedness. TYPICAL OF BOSS SYSTEM As a capitalist publisher, as a Wall Street luminary, Paul Block is no exception. He typifies the rotten capitalist journalism which is not only saturated with this cor-, ruption, but which is an acitve instrument in the service of the bose ap on o An Open Letter to Doak ° off to fascist Poland. In the eyes of the workers, Mr. Doak, you are guilty of a crime— a worthy disciple of Hoover, who murders jobless veterans when they demand their bonus. Your depart- ment, the government, and the courts, including the fake Judge Brandeis (as exemplified in my case) have exposed themselves as tools of the boss class. Mr. Doak, the. workers know that you are their enemy. They know that your deportation drive is designated to weaken their struggles against wage-cuts, unemployment, and*war, and is part of the general terror drive against the American work- ing class—the terror that keeps Tom Mooney in jail for 16 years, and is trying to legally lynch the nine Scottsboro boys. “YOU CANNOT CRUSH MY SPIRIT” Mr. Doak, you have broken my health, but all your persecution cannot. crush my spirit. Now and always, I stand with the workers against wage-cuts, speed up, against the A. F. of L. leadership and its betrayal policy, for shorter hours with no reduction in pay, for the workers right to organize into fighting union. And I know that the workers of America stand with me in demanding from an end to deportation of foreign-born workers and my immediate release for re- covery! Endorsed by: International Labor Defense; National Textile Workers Union; Committee for the Pro- tection of the Foreign-Born. ee Ee WILLIAM H. DOAK “The Communist Party in Action” in New Edition y Ket propaganda pamphlet of the Communist Party has been out of print, but a new edition is now off the press, It is one of the most useful pamphlets the Party has guage issued for study classes, par- ticularly in classes for new mem- bers. It explains in simple lan- guage the structure of the Commu- nist Party, the role of the Party, the struggles against the capitalist parties, the chief strategic aims of the Party, the relations of the Party of one country to the Com- munist International, the lines of struggle, and the fight against de- viations from the line, It is useful not only for self- study, but as a text-book for new members classes. It follows closely the outlines for study for new members classes issued by the Na- tional Agitprop Department of the Communist Party and can be used as a text-book for these classes. “The Communist Party in Ac: | ee 48-page pamphlet, selling if “THE STRIKE” STORY OF DREDGING FLEET STRUGGLE—1905 By PETER NIKIFOROV SYNOPSIS The author, Nikiforov, a Bolshevik, tells how he got a job on the dredging fleet at’ Kerch Straits, He forms a small circle of young workers which gathers recruits, and which begins to win over the older workers by carrying through a campaign for a nine-hour day and by staging a successful May Day strike. A strike committee is formed, and a list of demands are drawn up for the next strike. These de= raands include a 30-40 per cent wage raise, and recognition of a workers committee. The workers’ unanimous response to the strike call forces the Superintendent to meet the workers’ delegation, 4 Cee Ke Installment Seven ‘The Superintendent declared that part of our demands he was pre- pared to satisfy at once; the dele- gation informed him that the workers insisted on his satisfying not only the secondary . demands but also the main ones. The Su- perintendent was making an effort to be very courteous, and tried to draw us into a discussion. But we refused to discuss matters, and re- peating our demands again, we left him. As we left we heard the engineer say with dissatisfaction: “How can you want to talk with that swine?” “You spoil everything with your | fiery temper. .. .” “They need a dose of the Cos- sacks... .” We left the office. “Did you hear about the Cos- sacks?” “They're not here yet,” quietly ‘answered the president of the delegation. “But we'd better remember that threat. There are no Cossacks in the town, but there are soldiers. . . They might try some provo- cation; you can see that Buiko is a low swine, and hates us.” ee UR scouts informed us that the Superintendent had made a re- quest to the Chief of Police to in- terfere and stop the strike; but the latter had replied that so far there was no disorder, and that he didn’t want to cause any by interfering. We then realized why the police were not disturbing us. The Chief of Police, apparently, knew of our demands, although we could not say what his attitude to them was. It turned out further that the Port Superintendent had applied to the Chief of the Garrison, who had also refused, saying that he had enough trouble of his own. We informed the workers of all this and warned them at the same time against possible attempts at provecation on the part of the police. All the dredgers and wherries were lined up along the shore; there was no life on them. One worker was on duty on each ship. His duty was to inform us of what the administration was doing on board- We were very much wor- ried about one dredger which was lying at its place of work in the Straits. The crew, although they had informed us that the “Lisov- sky” (their ship) was sticking with us, nevertheless had not come ashore. We were afraid that they might begin to work nights. WE DECIDE TO TAKE ACTION The delegation decided to go out to the “Lisovsky” and bring it along shore. The Port Superin- tendent had a steam-cutter which always stood at the quay with steam up. We decided to make use of it. When we came down to tt we found Engineer Buiko on. board who, hearing that we wanted to go out on it to the “Lisovsky,” re- fused to allow us to take it. We decided to use force. “Take the boat, you chaps, don’t stand looking at it,” shouted Mich ael, and jumped on board. Buiko turned the rubber tubing on him and let the steam off. Michael tumbled overboard. The machinist at the same moment set the en- gine going and the boat left the shore. We cursed the engineer, who was watching us with malignant joy. One of the delegates stepped into a rowboat with oars lying handy. Mer sti E got into the rowboat and three pairs of oars quickly brought us towards the “Lisovsky.” Buiko saw that we had made up to get on board the urged ‘the motorboat her and. then turned to ards sharply towards the military guard- ship that was lying in the roads. This maneuver alarmed us; if Buiko managed to get around the guardship commander, he could prevent our taking the “Lisovsky.” I told the delegates this. “Make for the guardship.” The rowboat heeled around and we came alongside on Buiko’s_ heels. Two other delegates and I climbed the rope ladder; the commander came forward. He stood and laughed. “What strange visitors we have this morning!” said he cheerily, greeting us. “We are a little alarmed that the Port Engineer is paying you a visit- You see, for economic reasons we are on strike. One dredger is stand- ing in the Straits, and, fearing that it might be harmed by a storm, we decided to moor it to the quay, but the engineer wants to hinder us. We fear he wants to persuade you to interfere with our removing the ‘Lisovsky’ from the Straits.” “Quite so,” said the captain, “he asked me to interfere; but I haven't the right to without an order from my chief. I can inter- fere only if you use force on the ‘Lisovsky.’” “There is no question of force. The ‘Lisovsky’ is on strike anyway; the only thing is that in the Straits it risks running aground or getting stuck in the mud, and we cannot allow that.” “I beg your pardon, Mr. Buiko,” said he, turning to the engineer, “but I cannot interfere with your business.” We dropped down into our boat and rowed to the “Lisovsky.” Hav- ing spoken to the sailors and the captain, we weigher anchor and brought it to the quay. The work- ers on the shore met the arrival of the ship with shouts of delight. (To Be Continued) By JOHN ADAMS. IHOUSANDS of workers, vainly searching for jobs. Daily they tramp up ond down the norrow strip of the “slave market” as Sixth Ave. in New York, from the lower 20's to 50th St. is known. “NO AGITATORS”! These workers are grist to the mill of the job shark, the most bru- tal exploiter of the hopes and mis- ery of these workers. It is the job shark who for years has been mail- ing his circulars to ‘the boss, tel- ling him “we can furnish you with a competent crew at a consider- able reduction in your labor cost. Men and women who are not union or agitators.” A scheme by which they “split” fees with foremen who fired workers in order to hire more brought thousands of dollars to the job sharks. Workers often lost their last pennies are a result of this vicious practice. ‘Thousands come to the Ave. ‘Hunger drives workers there daily. for the first time. They know nothing of this racket. They do not know that the Yammany politicians receive their split in this thievery for permitting the sharks to send girls to houses of prostitu- tion and using the police against the individual militant who returns, demanding his fee back as the frame-up becomes apparent to him. SLAVE MARKET :-FROM COAST TO COAST For the crisis, of course, has made it practically impossible to get a job. From New York to San Fran- cisco the “slave-market” exists. And the job-shark waxes fatter than ever because of the crisis. A bengin federal judge interpreted as “unconstitutional” the state law which limited the shark to a ten percent fee. Now he can charge as high as he wishes, The thou- sands who came to the market had no voice. From ‘all over the city they converged, native-born and foreign-born, young and old, men and women workers, all searching for jobs, The Daily Worker, constantly al- ert to the interests of the workers, their force, cast its sei ht th te job-market. Mil- (ealbecrine wanton the dens of “Slave Market” Scenes and the Fight on the Job Sharks How the Unemployed Along Sixth ‘Avenue in N. Y. Are Conducting Struggle the pirates. They investigated. Sel- lers of the “Daily” entered the market with the stories of victim- izing of workers. The thousands stopped and looked. It sounded familiar to them. A voice had ap- peared that would unite them, A TYPICAL INCIDENT. A young girl has beer refused aid by a policeman. She paid five dollars for a “job”. It was as a “hostess” in a tea room. This was the blind of the shark who was a recruiting agent for the white slav- ers, He refused to return her fee. Hundreds of job-seekers were grouped around the girl and a Daily Worker seller. Husky iron- workers from a construction , job fidgeted. They hesitated to Nght with the “Reds.” The paper seller appealed: “Comrades it means fighting for ourselves when we fight for this yorker. We must stop this racketee:.ag. Who will go with me?” J Hesitation—Then a few hands go up. One bolder than the rest, speaks: “We gotta fight for a woman.” The iron workers, A. F. of L, men, nod their heads, The whole group moves, A SPEEDY VICTORY The job shark is a woman, also, No “chivalry” is shown. “Pay this worker or we'll come back by thousands and drive you out Angry curses from the men. The shark wilts, and pays. VICTORY! Back into the avenue they march, The word of victory spreads like wildfire. The thousands are dif- ferent now. HOW FIGHT IS . CARRIED ON A job-agency grievance commit- tee was organized, Scores joined immediately. The day-to-day fight is going on under its leadership. Headquarters wih financial support directly from the workers of the job-market have been opened. The workers are an integral part of the organized unemployed under the leadership of the Unemployed Council and participate in the fight for unemployment insurance, They have their slogan “Free em- Ployment agencies run by the ‘workers, The Job Shark Must Gol” ,