The Daily Worker Newspaper, September 28, 1932, Page 4

., Ine., daily exexept Sunday, at E. ble “DAIW! SUBSCRIPTION RATES: By mail everywhere: One year, $6; six months, $3; two months, $1; excepting Bereugh ef Manhattan and Bronx, New York City. Foreign: ene year, 98; | ‘six months, $4.50. Canada, $8 per year; 73 cents per month. Not Only in New Haven HE CRUEL conditions of labor to which women workers DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 1932 The Special Conferences inAmsterdam By PAUL FRIEDLANDER, Amsterdam Anti-War Con- gress does not mark the close of the struggle against imperialist war, but strikes the preliminary note of this struggle. The effects radiating from the congress will spread profoundly and widely. That nd children are subjected was brought to. light. the other day in New Haven, Conn. So horribly long are the hours of labor and so pitifully low the wages in all violation, even of the oppressive Connecticut laws that. the Department of Labor of that state was compelled on the eve of election to lodge complaints against a group of local manufacturers. According to the Bridgeport Herald of Sunday, Septem- ber 25th, women workers were employed more than 75 hours in one week and drew pay of five and six dollars. Others worked as high as 80 hours in one week, seven days per week, and received four and six dollars. These manufacturers were not only guilty of breaking the ten-hour day, fifty-five hour a week law, but were also guilty of wi children fifty and sixty hours a week for still lower wages. ‘These sweatshop conditions abound not only in Con- necticut but in the industrial cities of New Jersey, New York, Pennsyl- vania and throughout the country. * * ® HILE millions go unemployed the greedy capitalist class consumes the life blood particularly of the women and youth labor in order to accumulate their bloody profits. This goes on with the full knowledge of the Departments of Labor, headed by so-called “friends of labor” with whom the A. F. of L. chiefs work hand in hand and support in the elec- tions, all of whom are tools of the manufacturers. The working class is being ground down by unemployment, by staggering employment which speeds up labor (while sharply reducing the income of the staggered workers) and by long hours at a starvation wage. Workers are sent to an early e not only through unemployment and hunger, but by means of overwol The Unemployed Councils throughout the United States must take up the fight aaginst such deadly hours of labor. They must demand the reduction of the working day without a reduction in pay, and the aboli- tion of child labor. Against these capitalist leeches demonstrations ‘must be arranged. A united front must be set up between the unemployed and employed workers for this struggle. In this fight the Communist. Party ‘will provide militant leadership. De Valera Moves Closer to British Imperialism LETTER recently addressed to the British Government by Eamon De Valera throws more light on the treacherous vacillation of the De Valera’s Fianna Fail Party. The Fianna Fail Government proposes in that letter to arbitrate the whole “Irish question” and to deposit the land tributes claimed by British imperialism in the Bank for In- ternational Settlements. Ini a previous wordy utterance De Valera had suggested that the land tributes squeezed from the impoverished peasants of Ireland would be spent in the country. This’ position was in itself enough to show that De Valera’s in- tention in withholding these land tributes from the British Govern- ment was not to relieve the peasants of Ireland who face wholesale eviction, but to relieve the Irish industrialists and help them to ward off the heavy blows of the economic crisis. * * * DP VALERA’S latest proposal glaringly reveals however, that under the pressure of the Irish Labor Party, closely associated with the British Labor Party, the Fianna Fail Government went one step farther toward the capitulation to British imperialism. De Valera’s Government rests on the toleration of the Irish Labor Party, imperialist through and through, and far from developing the struggle against British imperial- ism, acts on the instructions of the British Labor Party to check the militancy of the Irish toilers. Instead of unleashing the struggle of the workers and peasants of Ireland as the only effective defense against the economic war being waged by British imperialism De Valera approvingly allows the increased exploitation of the workers by the Irish capitalists and calls upon the workers, whose level of existence is already intolerable, to be “prepared to suffer in order to secure victory.” The wage-cutting offensive of Irish capitalism is being mercilessly in- fensified. The eviction campaign against the poor peasants unable to pay the land tributes is being carried out with the utmost energy by the Irish landowners aided by the state. Unemployment is spreading, destitution is increasing among the Irish toilers. The oppression of the toilers and their militant leaders, the Revolutionary Workers Groups, is becoming fiercer. * * . ‘HE workers and peasants of Ireland are more determined than ever to fight against the oppression of British imperialism and the ex- ploitation of Irish capitalism. They express this determination by ral- lying in ever larger numbers around the Revolutionary Workers Groups which are now preparing to cope with the task of forming a Communist Party as the next step in the extension of the struggle for the inde- pendence of Ireland from British imperialism and a free United Re- public of Workers and farmers. In their struggle the workers and peasants of Ireland need the active, militant solidarity of the workers of the world. The workers of the United States, large numbers of whom are Irish, must not withhold this working-class solidarity. Recently, a conference of Irish workers took place in the United States under thesleadership of Republican and Democratic politicians. After listening to some “fiery speeches” delivered by Irish politicians of the Democratic and Republican Parties, the Conference issued an ap- peal calling upon all Irish toilers in the United States to boycott British commodities until the economic war on Ireland is stopped by the British Government. The conference did not call upon the workers to participate in the struggle against the war preparations of American capitalism. It did not denounce in its appeal the oppression of the Nicaraguan, Haitian, Porto Rican and Philippino people by American imperialism. The con- ference was therefore nothing else but a maneuver engineered: by Demo- cratic and Republican politicians to foster the ambitions of United States imperialism which while subjecting millions of workers to its ruthless exploitation, puts up a pretense of sympathy with the Irish toilers in order to weaken the position of its rival, British imperialism. Pree hie The workers of the United States must protest and fight» against the war on the Irish workers and peasants being waged by British im- perialism and give militant support to the Irish toilers. But above all they must fight against the war maneuvers and plundering munist Party fights for the freedom of the oppressed people. Vote and Support the Communist Party. How U.S. Socialists Fought Imperialist War of 1914-18 IN PREVIOUS issues of the Daily Worker we published excerpts from speeches and articles by leaders of the Second (Socialist) International, in support of the imperialist war of 1914-18, ‘Today we Print a statement by Abraham Cahan, Socialist leader in the U. S. and editor of the Jewish Daily Forward who joined his European colleagues in recruiting the workers for the imperialist slaughter. Cahan’s statement was published in the form of an interview in the N@w York Sun on Oct. 8, 1917. a ok “It has been my policy for 35 years that once a law is passed we must obey it. Of course we are pacifists, but, far from opposing the draft law, we have established a paid bureau of information, under my personal supervision, for the purpose of explaining the law and teach- ing obedience to it, and that bureau has served from 500 to 700 a day. There are 1,000 of our boys at Camp Upton now, socialists, and many |r them have written us regarding the law. Our reply has invariably if en: “You ave an American soldier, Be a good one. Suppress your views hie they don% agree with fhe views of your country.” 1 tell them, ‘We | sents not merely united front of the days of the such effects are possible to a very | great degree, is proved by the com- | position of the congress alone, by the variety and multi-fariousness of the organizations, professions, social strata, and even political opinions. represented. In spite of these differences it was possible— apart from the weak and negligible attempts at disruption made by a | small handful of Trotskyists — to form a united front which repre- a temporary congress, but a permanent fighting alliance against the imperialists and their lackeys and confederates, VITAL CONFERENCES. The deepening and extension of the fighting front against imperial- ist war, and at the same time the preparations for practical day to day work, were made the subject of a number of special conferences held tn connection with the plen- ary sessions of the congress in Am= sterdam. A trade union conference, more important than all the other special conferences, for the reason that here the key industries are | concerned and therewith the key | positions of the workers, dealt with the problems of work in the fac- tories. and trade unions. Chief attention was devoted to the arma- ments and chemical industries. This conference was attended by nu- | merous delegates, belonging to the Free Trade Unions and social dem- ocracy. Directives were laid down for energetic every day work in the shops and factories. N APPEAL was issued to the workers, women and trade union | members in all countries. This ap- peal stigmatizes in particular the | role played by the Internatoinal | Trade Union Federation, whose | leaders announced in Zurich, in words, that boycott and militant | measures would be taken at the | | outbreak of war or even if the war campaign were continued, but who | have in reality not stirred a finger, | | | in spite of the bloody massacres | in Shanghai, in spite of the occu- | pation of Mancliuria by the Japa- | nese imperialists, and in spite of the increasing war preparations against the Soviet Union, but are on the contrary doing their best to thwart the efforts of those fighting against imperialism and war. The manifesto formulates the slogans of the workers organized in trade unions, in the struggle against a new massacre of the peoples, and for the protection of the Soviet Union and of the Chinese people. A women’s conference afforded opportunity for the fate of the women during and after a war to be described in all its horror, and for the tasks thus incurred for the mobilization of the women to be characterized. Among the speakers at the women’s conference there was a German war widow who de- scribed the “gratitude of the father- land” as follows: 36 marks ($12) monthly for herself and her chil- dren. Those who cannot save the money for the rent out of this are thrown mercilessly into the streets. ‘This was one example out of many. The women have resolved to work energetically not only in the Per- manent Committees, but in their own organizations, against imper- jalist war. A conference fertile in results was that. of the physicians, taken part in by physicians from almost all European countries. An “In- ternational Society of Physicians Against War” was founded, with headquarters in Berlin and Paris, peasants’ conference gathered together 60 peasants’ delegates from ‘nine countries. A former deputy of the (Catholic) People’s Party of Italy, Miglioli, and a rep- resentative of the European Peas- ant’s Committee, Nieburg, gave ad- dresses. After a lively discussion, taken part in by 15 delegates and enabling a useful exchange of ex- periences to be made, a unanimous appeal was made to the working peasantry, the peasant women, and peasant youth, in which the pledge is taken to continue the struggle under the banner of the Anti-War Congress. A number of social and economic demands of vital inter- | est to the peasantry were linked up with the main slogan of the struggle against imperialist war. Other conferences of no less im- portance were those of the war victims, who have still to present their bill to the ruling class for what is owing to them from the last war, and of the youth dele- gates, who as the cannon fodder in the next war must be the first to throw themselves into a position of defense—and have already done @o—against the threatening blood bath, and for their lives and their class interests. A conference was held by the authors attending the congress, writers recognizing the leadership of the working class in the struggle against the imperial- ists, CHa Pamhe Since the congress and the con- ferences are now over, the next step is to develop work for enlighten- ment, combined with practical ac- tivity, in the various political, trade union, and cultural associ- ations, both on the local and the factory basis. Here specidfization is important. If this day by day work is carried on perseveringly, a broad rampart can be formed 340 “government by the majority.” against which the waves of the im- Yelm _,, gath in New. York, City. in 1991" The Socialist Police School EMERGENCY < pibape cally —By Burck “Hence we are concerned with programs to keep the peace now — —,” said Norman Thomas. His pupils in Wisc., Mayor Hoan, Mayor Baxter and Sheriff Benson (all socialists) have just sent their police and depu- ties to smash up a Hunger March in West Allis, By GRACE HUTCHINS (Labor Research Association) RESIDENT WILLIAM GREEN and other high-salaried officials of the A. F, of L. want Franklin Roosevelt to be elected President of the United States. Green has endorsed the Democratic candidate in the following misleading state- ment: “Labor has very seldom secured the enactment of so many measures which so favorably affect their economic, social and indus- trial welfare during a single ses- sion of a legislative body... a most rare accomplishment” .. . brought about by Roosevelt's “personal leadership and inspiration.” The facts are that practically every bill looking toward the protection of workers in New York state has been defeated during Roosevelt’s admin- istration. No less than six bills looking toward unemployment re- lief and social insurance were de- feated during the recent session of the legislature. ‘The boasted “48-hour week” law for women workers, already in ef- fect when Roosevelt came into of- fice, was supposedly improved to make it “more enforceable,” but the amount of overtime still al- lowed, 25 hours a year, forces the women to work legally 4944 or 50 hours a week, No law, whatever, limits the hours of work for women in hotels, in domestic service or in agriculture. Even such laws as stand on the books are not en- forced, and a tremendous increase of illegal overtime work in New York State is admitted by Frances Perkins, state industrial commis- sioner. State factory inspeciors freely take bribes from employers who are freely breaking the labor Jaws. CUTS JOBLESS RELIEF With at least 2,000,000 jobless workers in his territory, and the numbers still inreasing, Governor Roosevelt and his Temporary Emergency Relief Administration are cutting down relief in every city in the state. The Home Re- ' reduced relief by 33 per cent, from $5.79 to $3.84 a family, although it only pretends to feed 41,000 fam- ilies, when at least 1,000,000 work- ers in the city are jobless. Similar cuts in relief have taken | Place in all upstate cities. In Rochester ‘the amount for each family has been cut by 38 per cent, so that each person now gets only 4% cents for a meal. In Utica the rate now is only 31-3 cents a per- son, & meal, where eight months ago it was 6 cents. The city of Schenectady does not feed even half of the jobless and their fam- ilies. Throughout the state work relief is being discontinued. Public works, highways, bridges and build- ings, on which jobless workers are supposedly employed, stand unfin- ished, BREAKS STRIKES This is the record of Governor Pranklin D. Roosevelt, on unem- ployment relief, while capitalist newspapers carry such headlines as the following: “2,000 Starved to lief Bureau in New York City has | OOSEVELT, in co-operation with the rich banker, Lieuten- ant Governor Herbert H. Lehman, has been directly responsible for breaking strikes in New York State. The most recent instance of their strike-breaking was the sell-out of 27,000 neeijle trades workers who struck against a wage-cut of $5 a week—about 10 per cent—in July, 1932. Lehman, with Roosevelt be- hind him, was “arbiter” of the strike and handed the victory over to the bosses, as a matter of course. Officials of the International La- dies’ Garment Workers’ Union ac- cepted this sell-out and forced the rank and file workers back into the shops on terms that reduce them again to the sweatshop level. This is the same Herbert Lehman who is said to have paid $100,000 in 1928 to “rehabilitate” the I. L. G. W. U., but really to fight the Left Wing needle trades workers in this union Roosevelt’s strike-breaking rec- ord in the state is !n line with his record as Assistant Secretary of the Navy during the imperialist World War, when he was instrumental in creating the War Labor Board, especially in order to prevent strikes, PARDONS GANGSTERS; WORKERS ROT IN JAIL Roosevelt's anti-labor record is seen also in his method of hastily pardoning prisoners who are gang- sters and crooks, while allowing labor prisoners to serve long terms’ for the “crime” of leading the un- employed in demonstrations de- manding relief. Thus, he left \Wfliiam Z. Foster, Robert Minor, Israel Amter and Harry Raymond, leaders in the New York demon- stration of unemployed workers on March 6, 1930, to grow ill in jail— Minor almost died—during the six “Learning the Truth About the USSR” “Meanwhile the truth of condi- tions in the Soviet Union are becoming increasingly known to workers of America, They are learning that in the Soviet Union there is no unemployment. They hear of the steady rise in the standard of living among Soviet workers and of the opportunities there for education and cultural advancement, And while they are facing longer hours of unemploy- ment and wage cuts, they read of shorter working days and higher wages in the Soviet Union. The elimination of racial prejudices against the Jews and other subject, peoples and the granting of equal rights and opportunities to them in Russia will stimulate thought among the Negro masses in the United States as to their own po- sition and ways of bettering it.”— Roosevelt - An Enemy of Labor Fights Relief for Jobless; Smashes Strikes Jong summer months. But he quickly pardoned a prisoner who during a prison “riot” turned against his fellow workers in jail and helped the guards to fire upon them. With the power of life and death in his hands, the Governor hastily runs over the prisoners’ cases brought to him for his decision, decides in about 33-4 minutes on each one, according to his biog- rapher, and the man’s case is then put into one of two piles, one for the “heaven” of release, the other for the “hell” of execution. If it is the case of a gangster favored by Tammany Hall, the Governor quickly pardons him, and the Tiger will register his gratitude in votes. Thus gangsterism flourishes in New York State. Such a notorious mur- derer and bootlegger as “Legs” Dia- mond, for example, could live on a handsome estate near Catskill, N. Y., within fifty miles of the Gov- ernor at Albany, and be sure of protection from the Governor’s state police, But let unemployed workers come within 50 miles of Albany, as in the Hunger March of 1931, and the Governor orders out the police to crack their heads with clubs. One worker was so seriously injured in this demonstration before the state buildings at Albany that he was not expected to live, and many others were severely beaten, BETRAYS THE FARM WORKERS In making a special bid for the farmers’ votes, Roosevelt claims to be a “farmer” himself, because he owns a thousand acres of land and plants trees! He boasts of “re- ducing the farmers’ taxes.” Rich farm owners, of course, welcome such reduction in taxes and hail Roosevelt as a “savior.” But work- ing farmers and farm laborers, slaving 13 hours a day for $1, know that Roosevelt is no friend of the agricultural workers and poor farm- ers. ‘The increasing number of ten- ant farmers, crushed out of the farms they formerly owned and forced to” give up because of mort- gages foreclosed, know that Roose- velt is no friend of the working farmers. He is at all times him- self the rich landowner, the coun- try gentleman, the candidate of capitalists, class-conscious as a cap- italist, always opposed to the class- conscious mass action of the work- ing class, Lea, OOSEVELT'’S backers, who are counted upon to make large contributions toward his election, include such outstanding bankers and industrialists as Melvin A. Traylor, President of the First Na- tional Bank of Chicago, one of the Morgan banks; John J. Raskob, Vice-President of the E. I. duPont. de Nemours and Company, muni- tion makers, and Owen D. Young, power magnate who heads the Gen- eral Electric Co., and is a director of other Morgan-controlied com- panies. Roosevelt and the Demo- THE NEGRO REDS OF CHICAGO By Michael Gold ‘HIS unemployment is a famine, a Mississippi flood, a major disaster to the human race, But the Negro and white capitalists of Chicago, like their fraternity the world over, have been concerned only with preserving dividends, More than 200,000 Negroes are segregated in Chicago alone, It is estimated that more than 50 per- cent of the Negroes in the city are unemployed, A year ago they were throwing ; thousands of Negro workers out in- | to the nakeq streets to die, But then a revolt began. Unemployed Councils sprang up, under Commu- nist guidance, which fought the evictions, As fast as a poor work- er’s furniture was throw into the street, the councils carted it back, The police used clubs, blackjacks | and jail sentences, but the revolt could not be stopped, LANDLORDS GROW DESPERATE. ‘The landlords grew ‘desperate, Oscar DePriest, the Negro congress- man who has so often proved a Ju- das to his race, is also one of the chief landlords on the south side, He retained as lawyers certain other Judas-liberals from the National Association of Advancement for Colored People, Then he called a secret conference. What was decided at this meet- ing of landlords, politicians and liberals, is not known to everyone, ‘That night the profit-hoarders and racketeers decided on nothing short of murder, Sh ease: ‘HERE was to be an eviction on Dearborn Street the next day. A 72-year old Negro working wom- an was to be kicked out like a dog to die. But the council arrived to stop the crime, While they placed back the fur- niture, the police appeared. This time they did not merely club, maim, gouge and crack skulls, They had been instructed to use stronger measures. With not the slightest warning, they shot their H, P, rit- Jes again and again into the crowd, They killed three Negro workers, one of them a Communist, and wounded many others. It was a murder plot, I found proof of this a year later when I came to Dearborn -Street, ON DEARBORN STREET, ' This street offers the usual stage setting of Negro tragedy in Chi- | cago, The brown ruined wooden shacks have not been painted or repaired for decades, They are al- lowed to rot away, It is the land- lord-economy in America to buy up putrid slums that should be burned, and rent them to Negroes, When the houses finally collapse they are torn down; meanwhile they pay high dividends and cost nothing to maintain. (Clever, clever, American land- lords, some day you will yourselves pay a high dividend for this,) ea ee IN DEARBORN Street the gar- bage is heaped everywhere, foul as a landlord’s heart, The city has not removed garbage for a landlord's wife have retained the human dignity in such surrounds ings? She w Mrs, Martha Ormsbee, wife of a stockyard’s worker. She did not want to talk at first; the Negroes have learned not to trust whites, But then, convinced that we came from the workers’ press, MICHAEL GOLD she told us an amazing fact, Her windows look out over the spot where. the eviction-murders took place, The night before, her landlord ‘had phoneg her a warning not to look out of those windows the next day; there would be shooi- ing. “But we did look out until the shots began coming too thick,” she said, “and my husband and I had to throw ourselves on the floor, It was murder; the police warned no- body, just started to shoot, Such a lot of black smoke around; my, my, they just kept on shooting and shooting! And those poor people had nothing to fight back with, just a few stones. It wasn’t right. Everyone on this street is still wild about it,” see THERS on Dearborn Street had much the same story to tellof lords evice an atmosphere of fear, to demon- strate to all that they controlled the police. But the plot failed. ‘Three Negro workers were klil- ed, but during the next weeks five thousand others joined the Unemployed Councils; 500 filled out applications to the Commun- ist Party; hundreds of others be- came members of the Interna- tional Labor Defense. Many of these Negro workers are now in the leadership of these organi- zations. Some of them have since drifted away. The Party in America has not yet worked out some simple, consistent plan that would hold such masses. Yet the South Side was a forest fire of indignation. Nothing else but the eviction- murders was talked about in baber- shops, restaurants and churches, Groups of Negro workers, after Scenes described by Michael Gold. “Homes” where Negro families live at 4636-4638 Dearborn St. Tho these hovels are ready to collapse, the Negro workers are compelled to pay more rent than white workers pay for modern apartments. When unable to pay rent, they are evicted. Unemployed Councils have reptaced the furniture of hundreds of work- ers thrown ont of houses like these. months; it is bankrupt, Garbage, flies, stink, leaky roofs, broken windows and doors; mouldy wet shacks swarming with vermin; all the houses in crazy tatters and out of plumb, this is Dearborn Street, that has sent so many landlord's esthetic-wives to Paris, their sons to Harvard or Fisk. And women agonize in childbirth, and strong men rot of hunger and despair, and babies’ bones shrivel because there is no milk, THE LANDLORDS’ WARNING, ‘We went into one of those miser- able scaly tenements, and knocked at a door, An old woman answered, a soft-voiced gentle person with a motherly face. She apologizes for her appearance; her gray hair was knotted in paper, she was dressed in a wrapper and apron, “I've been cleaning,” she said, “and look a fright, but do come in and rest yourself.” He home, de- spite the cracked plaster and grimy walls where lathes stuck out like a pauper’s ribs, was as neat as two hands could make it, It was touch- ed much hunting and questioning, would discover the address of par- ty headquarters and march in grim, determined squads to. ; up. if A GREAT MASS FUNERAL There was 2 mass-funeral for Abe Gray, John Oneal and Thomas Paige, the three victims of the blood stained landlord system. More than 100,000 workers, bl and white, marched through South Side streets, a great sole army of proletarian v waving red banners. That day h never been forgotten, It the beginning of the revolt. Hundreds of evictions since then have been foiled by the Unem- ployment Councils, They take place almost every day. As Brown Squire, one of the leaders, told me, “when the first stick of furniture gets thrown out, a crowd gathers like magic. Somebody unknown tele- phones at once to the nearest coun- cil; everyone knows us. We first send a few delegates to investigate, to see whether the tenant wants us lo move him back. If he does, we go there and carr, ret ayeOR: Ct . 10 BE CONTINUED a | —