The Daily Worker Newspaper, September 8, 1932, Page 4

fished by the Comprodaily Publishing Co., Inc., daily exexept Sun ity, N. ¥. Telephone Algonquin 4-7956, Cable and mail cheeks to the Daily Worker, 50 E. 15th St, New York, X. ¥. \3 SUBSCRIPTION RATES: By_moll everywhere: One year, $6; six months, 33 Borough of Manhattan and Bronx, New York City. six months, $4.50. two months, $1; excepting Foreign: ene year, $8; | } | HMlinois Miners’ Struggle Faces Great Danger HE tri-district conference of miners’ representatives of Illinois, Indiana and Northern Kentucky which met in Gillespie on September 1 decided to form a new union to be known as the “Progressive Miners of America.’ The con- ference was originally called at the suggestion of the Rank and File committee of the miners to unite and extend the fight of the miners against the wage cut, forced upon them by Lewis and Walker. The rebellion against the wage cutting policy of Lewis and Walker and the formation of a new union expresses the will of the rank and file miners to break with the policies of the bureaucracy which has done untold- harm to the miners. The miners have expressed their desire to repudiate and wipe out the policies of Lewis and Walker. We greet the revolt of the miners and the formation of a new union as a step forward in the struggles of the miners. We support the move of the miners to form a union of their own, capable of fighting militantly for their interests. But the miners must be on guard now. They must keep a watchful eye that this move for a union does not become a means in the hands of some of the “progressive” leaders of the ne wunion to divert them from their immediate task the defeat of the wage cut. The miners want # union that will be a powerful instrument i. the fight against wage cuts and not a device for diverting the miners from the fight against the op- erators, and thus a means to bring about the wage cut. 2 * * 'HE danger is real as can be seen from some of the decisions of the con- ference. The information we have at hand indicates that the confer- ence decided to discontinue mass picketing which was initiated ‘by the rank and file miners themselves. The information we have at hand also indicates that the conference decided not only to organize a conference with the operators but to initiate and carry through temporary local agreements and settlements. Such a move would at this time result in breaking the backbone of the struggle. The miners and the new union would be in a position to ask for a conference with the operators only if the mass picketing is continued and the strike spread. In order to be able to defeat the wage cut and sign an agreement in the interests of the miners the operators mi see that the miners are fighting and that the strike is effective. To initiate at this time local agreements méans to abandon the fight for the District agreement which the miners had won through years of bitter struggle and which they can enforce with their present number and strength. = = * The main task of the Illinois miners and therefore the main task of the newly formed miners’ union must be to carry on the strike, to or- ganize mass picketing, to organize for the spreading of the strike, to unite the fight of the Illinois and Indiana miners to organize relief, to do everything possible to win the strike. This is the main task now. He who ad S any let up in mass picketing and spreading of the strike is help-4 ing Lewis and the operators. Th order to achieve this it is necessary to form in every pit in every sub district broad rank and file committees of the miners. The miners must put the new leaders to the test. The attitude of the leaders to the organization and spreading of the strike, to the crea~ tion of broad rank and file committees which can lead the fight, is the real test of their willingness to break with the policies of Lewis and Walker. * * ‘THE information we have at hand also shows that in the early part of October there will take place the constitution! convention of the new union at which a constitution and program for the new unoin will be adopted. Within sixty days there is to take place a referendum vote for the officers of the new union. The rank and file of the miners must insist that their new union shall be based on the principles of the class strug- gle, the test of which is to be found in the present fight. The miners must adopt a militant program. They must reinstate all miners expelled by Lewis and Walker with full rights in the new union. They must put forward and elect officers that are the best fighters and honestly repre- sent the militant program which the union must adopt. The miners must be on guard against Lewis and Walker agents in- side their ranks who through radical phrases which are not backed up by deeds will try to disrupt their ranks from within or put through such policies that will bring the miners back where they were before under the dictatorship of Lewis, and Walker. In this connection, it must be dlear to the miner: at the Musteite elements, who once before engaged in forming a which Howat was the leading light, have have great ing the miners with radical talk. The main task * union n betr: expsrier Mi of the the whole of the labor movement is to carry on the treacherous k of the A. F. of L- leaders and save the decaying A. F, of L. ¢ tions when the Lewises and Walkers are no longer able to do HE and. File d by this move- must insist that the new ‘tions with other miners’ or- tional Miners Union which has led yivania, Ohio and Kentucky. Above all the miners must be on guard against being diverted from their main immediate task—the winning of the strike against the wage cut. Rank moy ment polic = miner Mr. Green’s “Solemn” Burlesque IHE Labor Day Speech of William Green, head of the American Federation of Labor was filled with solemni- ties. He “solemnly” “warned” against more wage cuts. He “solemnly” demand, however, that what work there is be divided up—which means wage cuts down to new low levels, Green also ‘solemnly” announcd that the A. F. of L. would draw up and propose legislation for unemployment insurance. What precise provisions the A. F. of L., will propose, Mr. Green left ut- terly in the dark. He spoke of it only as “a measure,” without saying how much or how little benefits in relation to wages the A»F. of L. “measure” would propose that unemployed workers be given. For whether the pay- + ments would be made entirely at the cost of the capitalists and their gov- ernment, or stolen from the wages of the employed. i. Bo. it does not matter much, because Green's whole speech was merely a “solemn” pretense. The A. F. of L. does not favor any real unem- ployment insurance, and has no intention of making a fight for it. In the same speech, Green told how the A. F. of L. is “sti “pressing” for the Child Labor Ammendment to the Constitution. Children have grown up and become grey through the decades during which the A. F. of L. has been “fighting” for this paper law, but never has the A. F. of L. carried through any effective actions to stop child labor but supported the capi- talist parties and politicians who are themselves employers of child labor. Neither does Green now propose that the entire working class be brought into action to force unemployment insurance at the entire cost of capi- talists and their government—which is the demand of the Communist Party and the Trade Union Unity League. Last October Green said unemployment insurance was “degrading,” and on July 2, this year, he said “Labor abhors unemployment insur- ance.” So all workers, and particularly the rank and file of the A. F. of L. should understand that what has bitten Mr. Green is not the bug of remorse but the serpent of deception. Mr, Green and the entire Executive Council of the A. F. of L. are driven into a corner by the sweeping response among the entire A, F. of L- membership to the appeal and leadership of the A. F. of L. Trade Union Committee for Unemployment Insurance and Relief, a rank and lile opposition that the Executive Council tried to, but could not kill. Every A. F. of L, worker will understand that Mr. Green’s speech was only a “solemn” pretense. ‘To get unemployment insurance, the workers will have to set up a fighting united front, A. F. of L. and re- rolutionary workers together and A. F, of L- members will have to fight | Vr. Green and all his kind. and He’ DAILY WORKER, N EW YORK, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1932 s Out!” ILLINOIS _ S TRI L By BURCK Scottsboro on the Radio By J LOUIS ENGDAHL OLLAND'’S radio audience is *served by two broadcasting sta- tions. One of these is V.AR.A. (United Labor Radio Association) controlled by the Dutch Social- Democrats. It was a far cry from | the Scottsboro meetings forbidden, broken up by the Socialist police in | Germany, to the Socialist invita- tion to Mrs. Ada Wright in Hol- land to speak over their radio. | Thus the Scottsboro appeal was broadcasted through the air for the first time in Europe. TRY TO CLAIM CREDIT It was clear that this maneuver | of the Socialists in Holland fol- lowed closely on the heels of the lead given by the chairman of the Second Socidlist International, Emile Vandervelde, in opening his arms to the Scottsboro Mother in Brussels, and his heart to the case of the Negro boys facing the elec- tric chair. Suddenly the columns of Het Volk (The People), central or- gan of the Social-Democratic Par- ty of Holland began to burst with Vandervelde publicity, as if the former Socialist premier of Belgi- um’s King Albert had taken over the Scottsboro campaign. Het Volk The Reasons for the Maneuvers of the Dutch Socialist Party Leaders tions held in Rotterdam, Amster- dam, Delft, the Hague, and even in the farming districts of Fries- Jand, in north Holland, in St. Anna Parochie, Beets and Appelscha. The Social-Democrats had al- ready recognized the mass influ- ence of the International Red Aid in Holland by declaring that any social-democrat joining the Inter- national Red Aid would be expelled from the Social-Democratic Party- In Rotterdam the police denied the workers the right to demon- strate in the streets following the great mass meeting. The possibili- ties of such a demonstration be- comes clear, because in Amster- dam fully 10,000 workers marched through the streets to the post of- fice building following the mass meeting in the gréat hall of the featured the Scottsboro case with Pictures but omitted mention en- tirely of the International Red Aid. In the news report of the great Amsterdam demonstration instead of using the initials “LR.H.” (International Roods Hulp), Het Volk deliberately uses the initials “I.A.H.” (International Arbeiter Hilfo, the German name and not understood in Holland). How deliberate this actually was became stal clear with the translation of the Scottsboro Mother’s appeal over the radio, when the social-democratic trans- later provided by the station itself and who had been given an ad- vance copy of her speech, declared | that it was the Socialists who had | come to the aid of the Scottsboro | Negro boys and were defending | them and once more omitting all mention of the International Red Aid. , SEE MASS SUPPORT The basis for this campaign of deception was to be found in the tremendous mass support of the the Scottsboro campaign in Hol- land as revealed in the demonstra- Dear Comrades: A “RED” ORGANIZER FIGHTS KY. TERROR With Election Victory in Nevisdale, Bosses Seek to Cripple C. P. Activity Middlesboro, Ky. August 22, 1932. On Saturday morning I went into Harlan in the interest of the Elec- | tion Campaign and to arrange.a unit meeting. When I started to leave, |in fact had already gotten on the bus and it had started to leave, the | Harlan thugs boarded the bus, took me off and carried me before Sheriff | John Henry Blair, who introduced himsel by saying: “I am the sheriff you have heard so much about and am just as bad as the Daily Worker pic- | tures me, here's my card.” He then handed me the enclosed card: “Fresh Air Cab Co.” After searching me he gave me my money back, pencils, etc. but kept all literature. He then turned me over to two thugs (“Two- gun” Allen and Estes Cox) with in- \ main ofice Haran, Ky | structions to take me for a ride. “FRESH AIR” GAB COMPANY Very Much Incorporated MOTTO: "Let Us Take You For A Ride OFFICIAL TRANSPORTATION CO. OF HARLAK CO, Branches Whece Needed They proceeded to carry out orders and I was carried over into Perry County, a distance of 40 or 50 miles, where they proceeded to whip me. | | At the same time of my arrest Conrad Howard was also arrested and | searched, but was not beaten, as he was a local worker. When they were leaving with me, Howard very militantly insisted that he would stay with me to the end, but was forcefully dragged away by two thugs. | After I was whipped till the two thugs were almost breathless, they | robbed me of my money, $9.75, fountain pen and everything and left me on top of the mountain, saying that they would kili me’if I came back to Harlan. I then got into the Toad and walked to the nearest town, Whites- burg, Perry County, Ky, where 'I tried to. send a telegram, but the com- pany would not send a collect telegram, so I then bluffed ‘a taxi driver to take me into Norton, Va., on credit. At Norton I succeeded in borrowing the taxi fare. At present I am very sore from the whipping, but think I shall be O. K. in a day or so, Comradely, P. Ww. Diamond Exchange. The meetings at Delft and the Hague were un- precedented. The response that swept over Friesland, the northern agricultur- al district of Holland, however, was a revelation. Friesland was one of the seven original free states of Holland. It is one-eleventh of the country with 400,000 population. As an independent free state it was the first to recognize the indepen- dence of the American colonies fol- lowing the war of independence against Great Britain, 1776. As an indication of its gratitude the new nation sent a tablet which still rests in the wall of the capitol of Friesland, at Loeuwer- den, bearing the inscription: “Memorial of Gratitude from the United States of America to the State of Friesland for Its Recogni- tion of the Independence of the United States, 1785.” The Scottsboro issue will be rais- ed in the Dutch Parliament by the two Communist members, David J. Wynkoop and Louis De Visser. The parliament of Queen Wilhelmina’s government, headed by the Catho- lic Center and its coalition of Christian parties, contains a so- cial-democratic opposition of 26 out of 100 members. It will be forc- ed to take an open stand on this issue. * * -* iL is significant that many of the meetings in Holland were organ- ized by Negro workers now living in Holland, but who had come from Surinan, the Dutch West In- dian Negro colony. A native of In- donesia, the Dutch East Indian colony, also spoke at many meet~ ings, thus bringing forward the bloody oppression of colored peo- ples in the colonies of Dutch im- perialism. The Scottsboro Mother's visit to Holland coincided with the wave of indignation sweeping the working class masses of the country over the police murder of the agricul- tural worker, John DeYonge, dur- ing a demonstration against wage reductions * for agricultural work- ers. DeYonge was first wounded by the police and then fatally stabbed through the heart by a police sa- ber: Out of ® town of 7,000 popula- tion more than 3,000 came to the funeral, with delegations from Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Haarlem, and other cities. BUILDING The Daily Worker will regularly carry a column on Party Life. Party members, particularly from the lower units, trade union frac- tions and fractions in mass or- ganizations are invited to con- tribute to this column. We espe- cially urge the membership in the factory units to write of their work and problems, The column growth of the Party if the experi- can be made a living force in the ences in the practical mass work will find expression in it. Ad- dress your contributions to Party Life Editor, By N. FELD, Kr a Section organizers’ meeting in District Two, which took place Sept. Ist, the question of the Daily Worker was discussed.. The discussion revealed that in most of the sections there is still a great underestimation of the importance and the role of the Dally Worker in the present day to day activities, Some of the statements made were | quite inaccurate, For instance: 1, The Daily Worker does not reflect the struggles in the neigh- borhoods, 2. The Daily Worker is not the A MASS BASE FOR THE ‘DAILY’ (Party Life) best or the first medium with | which to approach shop workers. 3. Daily Worker Committees in the Sections are not necessary, One comrade will do the job. NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS Let us take the first question: Does the Daily Worker reflect the struggles in the neighborhoods? Certainly it does. Look over at least a few recent copies of the Daily Worker and they will find full pages of news. Also the com- rades forget that the Daily Worker is a national paper and cannot con- cern itself exclusively with New York news. + APPROACHING THE SHOPS Can we approach shop workers with the Daily Worker? To this experience gives up only one an- swer, that if some comrades did approach workers in the shops, and did not get results, the fault lies in the way the comrade made his ap- proach, Let us have no illusion that this is an easy job. It is very difficult. Only by persistent work, day after day, will webe able to develop the sale of the Daily Worker in the shops. We have begun this work and are able to record some results, but this is only a beginning. One more thing should not be forgotten, worker correspondence. Comrades should tunderstand that letters to the Daily Worker on the Specific conditions in the shop are of prime importnace. Only thru corresponding groups in the big shops will we make the workers read the Daily Worker, and make the Daily Worker not only a Commu- nist paper, but a mass paper of the workers. DAILY WORKER COMMITTEES Are Daily Worker Committees necessary? What is the Daily Worker ap~ paratus in the Section? In most of our Sections one in- experienced comrade is assigned to the Daily Worker, and this com- rade in most cases is piled up with other functions. As long as this attitude is taken to our Party Or- gan, the Daily Worker will make little progress. What should be the apparatus of the Daily Worker in the sec- tions? This is, however, not only a section affair. It is the concern of every individual Party member, The section Daily Worker commit- tee should be the co-ordinating group for all of the units and mass organizations in its etrritory. It should check up and)see that the numerous opportunities for bring- ing the Daily Worker in front of the workers are used. It shall see that the units follow up every reader and draw him closer to the revolutionary movement. It shall assume responsibility for a shop survey of its territory and see that the units carry on Daily Worker activities at these shops. SUPPORTING GROUPS This calls for every Party mem- ber taking responsibility for the building of workers’ groups in the mass organizations, A. F. of L. unions, on a neighborhood basis, ete.; to support the Daily Worker. To be able to interest workers in these groups means that we must correct our own atitude on the Daily Worker first, “The struggle against militarism must not be postponed until the moment when war breaks out. Then it will be too late. The struggle against war must be car- ried on now, daily, hourly.” my YOUNGSTOWN, O. ‘A*DRAMATIC STORY OF NATIONAL ‘YOUTH: DA¥ By JACK PARKER (The Following story is taken from “The New Pioneer,” popular monthly organ of the Young Pioneers of America.) (ey eae the Old Orange Avenue gang decided to turn respect- able and join the Hiram House, they had many new things to worry about. One of these was choosing a name for the club; “Orange Ave- nue Gang” was unfit for the Hiram House, Miss Tracy, the head lead- er, said, and she ought to know. None of us had ever been fur- ther away from the flats around Kinney Steel, where we lived, than Nine Mile Creek or Bedford Glens. So when Charlie Stormhall, who was a Swede, said we ought to call all over the world in small boats, ourselves the Vikings, who travelled a long time ago, we all thought it was a good name. It was pretty lucky for us that we took that name because right after we got our chance to do a little roving, and to fing out a lot of new things. This is how it happened. “ONE GOOD DEED A WEEK” We were having our regular meeting at Hiram House. Mr. Schultz, our club leader, had just finished telling us that one of the duties of every club member was to do one good deed d uring the week, and to tell about it at the next club meeting. For instance, earning a nickel or a dime, and giving it to the Community Fund; or taking a blind man across the street or something like that. Us fellows didn’t think much of that. kind of stuff; we were thinking of the good old days when we were a gang and went skating up Wood- land Avenue on the backs of trucks. Just then we heard a knock on the door. Joey Esposito, who was pres- ident, said, “Come in.” FELLOW and a gir lwalked in. They were about 20 years old and seemed pretty nice, especially the girl. The fellow was O. K, also, not good looking, but he smiled nice. They came up to the table around which we were sitting. “If you fellows will give us a few minutes of your time, we think we have somehing to tell you in which you will be interseted,” the fellow said. Joey told him to go ahead. Mr. Schultz looked as if he didn’t like it, but we didn’t care. So the fellow started again. “There’s a lot of clubs from all around Cleveland and Pittsburgh and Detroit and Buffalo who are getting together and arranging what we call National Youth Day. In that day we will protest against bosses’ war in which mil- lions of young fellows are killed, ployment insurance, for free food against wage cuts and for umem- for children of unemployed work- ers. Do you think all these things are worth fighting for?” Well, Toothless’s father had lost an arm in the last war, and Jerry’s big brother had been killed there, and almost all our fathers had just been laid off from Kenney Steel. Most of us would have to look for jubs when school closed and we knew we wouldn’t be able to find any. So we all said they were all right to fight for. “DOES A FISH LIKE WATER?” “Then how would you like to’ go to Youngstown with us? There’s going to bea parade and a big msas meeting, baseball games, track meet, and movies. Will you Vikings be there?” Would we be there? Does a fish like water? The day came around, a fine day, and we all piled on a truck, There were lots of trucks ahead of us. Some excitement! It was 68 miles from Cleveland to Youngstown, and it looked like two years before we got there. But it really took us only two hours. Youngstown! Full of smoke and f) dust and steel. Our truck went | along West Federal Street. Al along the people at windows waved to us in answer to our yells and shouts. It sure put life into us. § There were cops along the way also. But we were used to them in Cleveland. Not one cop was good enough to catch any of our old gang when we used to fill pails and sacks with coal from the rail- road yards and bring them home, reel Taek T last we all got together on & big lot near Federal Street. There were thousands of fellows and girls there ‘and kids too. Sings said they were from Akron or Mon- esson or Pittsburgh. We all stayed close together because it was some- thing new for us. The Toothless Wonder was pretty calm about it though. “Let's go there where the fellow is talking.” We went up and listened. The speaker said the police had refused to give us a parade permit. This made us sore. “Permit or no per- mit we are going to organize our- selves in lines of six and march,” | said the speaker. Everyone let out a big yell. Lines were formed. We saw the fellow and the girl who had come to speak to-us right in the front line. Toothless yelled, “Let's get right back of them.” We did. “THERE WERE LOTS OF COPS” There were a lot of cops on horses and cars blocking the way out into the street. We started to march. The police yelled, swinging their clubs. “Stay back. You can’t ch. You've got no permit.” We yelled back. “We don’t need a per- mit,” and went right on marching. Oh yes, the lots was full of pieces of scrap Iron, bricks, stones, etc. That was our big break. The po- lice started to ride straight into us on their horses. The lines broke. But—did you ever hear of it rain- ing cats and dogs? Well, those cops must have thought it was raining bricks and scrap fren. The air was black. We ran around try- ing to keep out of the way of*the » ¥ Police clubs—still we stopped to pick up something and chuck it at | | a cop, Tl bet many a cop still J hhas a scar as a souvenir from a Vi- king. pee a NE cop on a big black horse struck a girl a crack on the head swinging his club downwards all his might. Toothless, who was standing beside me, picked up a big rock and flung it right at the cop. But we weren’t the only ones. A lot of others had seen that cop hit the girl. Many rocks joined the one Toothless threw above the cop’s head. Down he went off his horse! The fight was on. But we couldn't stand against the cops all day. They had clubs and guns and blackjacks. We had to give up at last. Any- how the cops learned a good lesson, we think. “WE'VE JOINED UP!” So had we. Next day on the way home in the truck we discussed the fight. We tried to figure out why the cops acted like that. An older fellow on the truck said the steel workers in Youngstown were mostly unemployed and even those that were working got very little. He said that the steel bosses didn’t want their workers to see us young workers and kids march and talk about unions and orga and fighting for better conditions. That would show the workers that” they had support. So they gave the po- lice orders to brea up our parade. After we got back to Cleveland we elected Toothless president. Bpt Mr. Schultz isn’t our leader any more. Because we've all joined the Young Pioneers and the fellow who eae p took us to Youngstown is our lead= er. And he’s one swell leader too, Letters from Max Schnapp is now serving a 20-day sentence in Welfare Is- land for leading a jobless demon- stration before the Home Relief Bureau recently, Welfare Island, N. Y. Dear Comrades: In the fangs of capitalist justice the Daily Worker remains our only source of news from the battle front of the class struggle. Without the Daily we would be lost, because we cannot communi- cate with anybody from outside. We are here, a group of com- rades, torn away from our activi- ty and work and thrown into a place in which pigs should not be kept. Some of our comrades who have been here pretty long are almost forgotten, even though they were the best fighters on the picket lines, as, for instance, Com- rade Morartis of the Food Work- ers Industrial Union and Comrade Zaliski of the Downtown Unem- ployed Council. Nobody comes to visit these comrades, nobody writes them even a line of hope. What 1s the matter with our comrades? Since when do we for- get our class fighters? . We here from jail appeal to the workers to help save the Daily Worker by giving more and more money, not only because the Daily Worker is our only means of con- test with the struggle, but be- cause it is the leader of all of us Our Readers workers. And we also appeal to workers to write to and visit their comrades in jail once in a while, With comradely greetings, _Max Sohmapp, PRAISE FOR ECLIPSE REPORT . , New York City. Dear Editor: I congratulate the Daily Worker on its true Marxian report bout the eclipse, The article about the eclipse is a wonderful example of how Marxian journalism brings the Sun down to earth. The same day that this article ap« | peared in the Daily Worker, the 1 New York Times contained the fol- lowing headline: “Sees Peril to Man in Own Inventions. Sir Alfred Ewing Tells British. Scientists the Human Race is Ethically Unprepared.” “It is impossible not to ask,” Sir Alfred said, “whither does this tre- mendous procession tend? What, after all, is its goal? What its prob- able influence on the future of the human race?” Himself giving a true picture of the cursed capitalist system of so- ciety, Sir Alfred nevertheless finds not a word of criticism against the system. His reported Speech fully proves the soundness of the analysis | given in the article about the eclipse | are serving capitalism for its own! benefits at the expense of ther as to how science and the =e) workers in the way of speed-upsi and unemployment, ne: Vital Articles in Sept “Communist” ‘The issue contains the following: 1, The Fight Against the Capi- talist Offensive and the Unity of the Employed and the Unemployed (Editorial) 2, How the St. Louis Unemploy- ed Victory Was Won—By B. K. Gebert. 3. Lessons of the Bonus March Statement of the Central Com- SS ean ot ts Re- sults of the German Elections—By Knorin, 5. The Ottawa Empire ence—By R. Palme Dutt. 6. The American Farmers Are Beginning to Fight—By H. Puro. 7. The Bankruptcy of Capitals ism and Capitalist Education—By James W. Ford.