The Daily Worker Newspaper, November 17, 1932, Page 8

. Page, Four THOUSANDS TO DEMAND RELIEF Congress to Hear Delegates of Jobless Millions (Continued from Page 1) haps) be given next spring. At the same time, the Washing- ton government és today, this min- ute, actually a coalition govern- ment of both Hoover and Roose- velt, and both equally - represent the captalist class. If Hoover can call upon Roosevelt to make joint DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 1932 policies with him about the Allied} YOUTH DELEGATE — A typical debts, the war question, etc. then if we march, demonstrate and or- ganize with sufficient energy and in sufficient numbers, we can even force them to talk about a serious proposal of relief and insurance to Cofigress when it meets on Dec. 5. All these facts and arguments, and a thousand others, we must patiently, systematically anq ener- getically carry to the _ broadest masses of workers and rally them to the support of the National Hun- ger March which is already on its way to Washington. SUPPORT THE FIGHT Call meetings to report upon and discuss the Hunger March. Carry the question into every trade union, every workers’ club, every mutual aid organization. Bring in the vet- erans, and support the veterans’ march in the demand for the bonus. Organize to help the marchers, with food, clothing and money. All forces to the support of the Hunger Marchers! Fight for $50 winter relief for every unemployed worker, plus $3 for each dependent, in addition to local relief! Fight for unemployment and so- cial insurance, at the expense of the government and the employers! On to Washington on Dec. 5! HUNGER MARCH PICTORIAL — Should be sold along the line of march at 10 cents a copy. Bundle orders, now available at 4 cents a copy. Wire your order to the Na- tional Committee of Unemployment Councils, 799 Brodaway, New York, Room 436. TES DAILY WORKER IS THE! ONLY ENGLISH WORKING- CLASS PAPER THAT RALLIES THE MASSES AND ORGANIZES THE STRUGGLE FOR UNEM- PLOYMENT RELIEF AND IN- SURANCE AS WELL AS THE FIGHT AGAINST WAGE CUTS FOR THOSE STILL EMPLOYED! ee NEGRO DELEGATE —A Pennsyl- ' yvania coal miner in the 1931 Na- tional Hunger March. Increasing thousands of Negro workers are joining ge at with white workers in and | youth delegate at the last National Hunger March, Dec. 7, 1931. He is Mircele Bailey, a young Kentucky coal miner, who began work at the age of 14, A large percentage of the 3,000 delegates’ in the coming march will be young workers, HUNGER MARCH By DAVE BROWN. SAY, there’s flophouses in Detroit slop joints in Pittsburgh Hoovervilles in Seattle and in St. Louis we live under the big bridges that swing over the Mississippi. WE'RE HUNGER MARCHERS delegates from starving America marching to Washington with hunger burning in our guts hunger-song in our throats from shops, mines, milles closed from farms barren and desolate marching from the west coast, marching from far Seattle, Texas, hunger burning in our guts ... over all the states united, we come... MILLIONS BEHIND US READY TO MARCH! unemployed, ready to fight for bread and freedom for the right to live CLASS AGAINST CLASS! banners of militant anger against the hunger rulers against the counters of dollars SPILLERS OF WORKERS BLOOD! our might is rising prisoners of starvation greed and exploitation acid of revolt burning {in our breasts burning, burning in our’ guts! Workers in London—down with the means test! Workers in Poland—down with terror! Workers in Italy—down with facism! Workers in all colonial lands! Workers in India, China down with peonage, death to imperialism! LET THE HUNGER RULERS TREMBLE! at the soung of marching feet united in hunger united in battle against the bloodsuckers against war and all misery nantes capitals and death. N. Y. Johlons Could Fill: Ten Cities NEW YORK, N. Y.—The jobless in New York are numerous encegs to fill ten cities, each as large as Albany, N. Y¥., according to David C. Adie, Commissioner of Social Welfare. He reveals further that 13 cities and six counties in the state are already falling behind even the present meager relief pro- gram. It is from these hosts of the! . unemployed’ that the [enpamn mae oa Sa sae Aenean ‘the cc ary ela oe 5 “delegation. ; ington under the leadership of the ; National Unemployed Councils. The | A.F.L. Rank, , and File in Big Hunger March ||- By LOUIS TOTH. rr" the second time the represen- tatives of the millions of hungry and unemployed will gather in Washington on Dec. 5, The second time the representatives of the working class will place their de- mands before the U. 8S. Congress. The demands are the demands of every worker, employed and unem- ployed, organized and unorganized, white and Negro, foreign-born and native, citizen or non-citizen. Among the fifteen million unem- ployed and millions of part-time workers there are organized and unorganized workers hundreds of thousands of unemployed, members of American Federation of Labor and railroad brotherhoods; there are hundreds of thousands former members of the American Federa- tion of Labor and railroad brother- hoods who were expelled and sus- pended because of non-payment. of dues on account of unemployment. The rank and file of the Ameri- can Federation of Labor and rail- road brotherhoods have realized this, last year, when the first hun- ger marchers went down to Wash- rank and file members of the A. F. of L. gave moral and financial sup- port to the hunger marchers last year. Mere than that, they par- ticipated in the Hunger March to- gether with the unemployed work- ers and demanded from Congress federal unemployment insurance and immediate winter relief for themselves and for their starving families. OFFICIALS AGAINST RELIEF The attitude of the high-salaried officialdom of the A. F. of L. to- wards the Hunger Marchers was similar to their attitude on unem- ployment insurance. The. official- dom of the A. F. of L., William Green, M. Woll, Hutcheson, Duffy, and every international president, vice-president, general organizer, who do not suffer from unemploy- ment, and are receiving a princely salary of $10,000 to $25,000 a year, are very strongly opposed fo fed- eral unemployment insurance or to immediate winter relief. These rep- resentatives of the employing class are safeguarding the interests of the government and the millionaires. Crisis or prosperity, these officials are getting their salaries regularly. If the income from the local unions decreases, if the per capita tax sent in by the locals do not cover the expenditures of the high official- dom, they call a moratorium on death and disability payments and use the funds for their salaries and expenses, These fat boys of the A. F. of L. are the open tools of the employers. They are helping them cut the wages of the workers; they are supporting all capitalist schemes of wage-cuts. Mr. Teagle’s “share- the-work” plan is welcomed by the labor leaders. Hoover’s “stagger” plan and all other forms of wage- cuts are supported by them. They are in favor of shorter workday and shorter work-week with a corre- sponding reduction in pay. They join every reactionary .in this coun- try with the bankers and million- aires to fight against unemployment insurance. RANK AND FILE DEFY OFFICIALS The rank and file of the A. F. of L. defeated the officials of the Executive Council. In spite of their opposition to unemployment insur- ance, and their threats of expul- sion, one local after another adopted the Workers’ Unemployment Insur- ance Bill and organizeq fighting committees of delegates from local unions for unemployment insurance and immediate relief. The rank and file has forced the officialdom of the A. F. of L. to come out in favor of unemployment insurance. Although this was a maneuver on their part to stop the growing movement for unemployment insur- ance, yet it was a partial victory. The rank and file is not satisfied with Green's or any other execu- tive’s promises; they want. unem- ployment insurance, immediate re- lief and they have expressed their willingness to fight for it. The 52nd ann convention of Fedrnation of Labor. Oincinnati; Ohio, ab Grim Facts, a Poverty, ‘Hunger in th in the U.S.A. Bosses Cut Down Relief, Relief, Compel Employed to Care for Starving Families By Labor Research Association TARVATION is a reality in the United States. Now at the be- ginning of this fourth winter of the crisis, at least 16,000,000 workers are unemployed. At least 48,000,000 persons, or more than one-third the total population of the country, are without regular income. Untold numbers are working only part time, not enough to provide even a min- imum of subsistence for themselves and their families. Conditions are becoming steadily worse, aS all the “welfare” spokes- men admit. Relief needs are many times more acute than last year. Slight seasonal gains in employ- ment in October are being wiped out in November. Even after the small seasonal gains of last month, 65 per cent are still out of work in building, 46 per cent in metal trades, 42 per cent in manufactur- ing, 38 per cent in water transport, 31 per cent in theaters and 50 per cent among musicians and other professionals. HUGE LOSSES IN WAGES Workers have lost in income, as a@ result of unemployment, part time and wage cuts, at least 48 billion dollars in the last three years,.ac- cording to conservative estimates of business surveys. In the one year 1932 it is estimated that workers are receiving 25 billion dollars less.than in 1929. ~ Capitalists have laid on the shoul- ders of the working class the main burden of the crisis. While work- ers were losing these 48 billions in wages and salaries, the principal gorporations of the United States were paying to bond and stock holders interest and dividends to- talling over eight billion dollars a year. From 1926 to the first half of 1930, dividend and interest pay- ments increased at such a rate that in the first half of 1930 they reached a peak 97 per cent higher than the 1926 level. The total volume of in- terest and dividend payments in both 1930 and 1931 were higher than in 1929, and in the first half of 1932 they were still 72 per cent above the 1926 level. . “ s IN RELIEF also the main burden is laid on the working class. Cap- italists save themselves from taxa- tion by means of charity drives in- troduced by rich men and women speaking at expensive dinners in the grand ballrooms of ritzy hotels, and their. speeches are printed in full in the newspapers next day. And with all this blah-blah in the capi- talist press about the private char. ity campaigns, it is the workers in the final analysis who do the “giving.” BOSSES FORCE DONATIONS Employers impose forced collec- tions for these private campaigns the end of November. This conven- tion will not be as “peaceful” as the one held last year in Vancouver or the previous one in Boston. Sim- ultaneously with this convention, the A. F. of L. Committees for Un- employment Insurance are calling a mass conference in Cincinnati on Noy. and 23 in the American Federation of Labor Hall, 1318 Wal- nut St. This conference of the rank and file will express the de- mands of the members of the A. F. of L, They will work out a pro- gram for unemployment insurance, for immediate relief and for exemp- tion of dues stamps for the unem- ployed and still remain in the or- ganization with full rights. The Cincinnati mass conference must go further than that. They must give full support to the second Hun- ger March to Washington. They must urge all local unions to par- ticipate in this Hunger March to give moral and financial support and join together with the millions of unorganized unemployed work- ers in their struggle for federal un- employment insurance and imme- diate winter relief. Local unions in the cities through which the Hunger Marchers will pass must ar- range mass meetings together with the Hunger Marchers and partici- pate in the struggles led by the |unemployed councils against ° the ‘ay “administration: for more me on the workers in their plants, thus putting the burden of these “relief” schemes on the employed workerg whose wages have been repeatedly: slashéd, ‘That workers contribute the major part of these funds may be seen from the published lists of receipts of the emergency drives and “I Will Share” movements, The worker dares not refuse to give “voluntarily” for fear of losing his job. .And after he has given, the company of course takes all the credit for the giving and the sum panhandled from the employees is listed opposite its name in the lists of contributors. So in all the “Block Aid” schemes and Community Fund drives it is the workers who stili have any jobs at all, however low the wages, who are expected to “share” with other workers. These schemes are planned with a view to. squeezing contribu- tions out of the working class and thus saving the rich from taxation. RELIEF AMOUNTS SHARPLY CUT In practically every city amounts given in relief during the winter of 1931-32 had been sharply cut down by October, 1932. Milwaukee, Wis., for example, under a “Socialist” administration, cut its total expen- ditures for relief by 30 per cent between March and July, 1932, al- though the numbers of unemployed and their immediate needs were steadily increasing. Amounts now given by the wel- fare agencies range from nine cents a person per day in Schenectady and Syracuse, and eleven cents a day in New York City, up to fifteen cents a day in Detroit. Yet in De- troit, this amount as scheduled on paper by the city relief administra- tion, is in actual practice often cut down to something like 7 cents a person a day, Tulsa, Oklahoma, ky @ special commissary plan, feeds its 12,000 hungry citizens on six cents @ person @ day. Atlanta, Georgia, feeds its unemployed on a fraction of one cent per person per meal. These amounts paid in relief are not enough even for food to keep a family in good health, "to say nothing of shelter, fuel, light, cloth- ing and medical aid, which are no longer even attempted by the wel- fare agencies. ‘The U..S. Children’s Bureau in its special studies of economy budgets declares that at least $5.15 for food alone is the minimum requirement for a family of three persons. Yet this is more than twice the amount now given by most agencies. * 4 e IN THE face of this situation, offi- cials of the American Federation of Labor are terrified for fear the hungry workers will rise in revolt and demand food. Simply “as a protection against revolution,” Wil- liam Green and the A, F. of L. vice- presidents have been vaguely dis- cussing some half-way scheme of unemployment insurance. They have been forced to take this posi- tion.by the mass pressure of rank- and-file workers within the Amer- ican Federation of Labor. The real reason why Green and his lieu- tenants yielded to the pressure is revealed in an official release of the A. F. of L., Nov. 12, 1932, quoting the British fraternal delegate Dukes as saying that “unemployment in- surance prevents revolution.” The starving unemployed have had enough of the charity that is given as a sop “to prevent revolu- tion.” They have had enough of these miserable charity hand-outs. They are on the march to demand immediate relief and real unem- ployment insurance at the expense of the bosses and the government. They refuse to submit any longer to the dictates of local and state relief administered by the corporations through their political tools. The 16,000,000 unemployed insist on un- employment insurance at full wages, to be immediately established by an act of Congress and made imme- diately effective. — oe ee mass _ act m as the great ae Re