The Daily Worker Newspaper, February 6, 1933, Page 3

Page Four By S. SASLAYSKY 4 gps moves rapidly in the Soviet Union. Was it long ago that I | Sat at the window! of a factory looking out over the Neva? The summer sun bathed the waters of the great river of Leningrad in its golden beamis, flooded the streets and the boats. Near me were about 40 adult workers who had just fin- ished their 7-hour day of work, sit~ ting in rows on the school benches @nd‘|wrinkling their brows over mathematical problems. And the disturbing question arose — would these people, no longer young, be equal to the difficulties of study in school after their intense work in the factory? That was two and a half years ago, but it seems like yesterday. At that time I wrote an article, “The Factory as # School”. I de- scribed the experiment which was being made by the Stalin metal- lurgical plant, one of the biggest enterprises in Leningrad, of manu- facturing steam |and water tur- bines and steam boilers for electric power stations. The initiative for Party of the Soviet Union. The Central Committee decided: “To instruct the Supreme Eco- nomic Council together with the All-Union Council of Trade Unions and the Peoples Commi: sar for Education to organize as an experiment one or two school- factories in which constant work in industry will be combined with the preparation of cadres (lower, medium and highly qualified The experiment might be suc- cessful or it might not—that is | why it was an “Experiment”. A suitable factory had to be selected for the first experiment. The work- | ers of the Stalin Plant responded warmly and! proposed that their factory should be chosen for the experiment. In favor of this plant | was its high technical equipment, its experienced and highly edu- cated engineers, its revolutionary Bolshevik traditions, the conscien- tiousness of the thousands of workers in it. When the workers ‘voted for the Stalin Plant to be chosen for this historic experiment, they took on themselves consider- able obligations—to work and study simultaneously. To study so that work would not suffer, and to work in such a way as to speed up their | study. THE FIRST STEPS I vss present at the first steps | taken by the school-factory. On the first pages of their copy books, the workers freshened up the school knowledge which they had long forgotten. The young workers who had passed through the So- viet schools with seven-year courses gathered here at the factory, with- out leaving their machines, to train themselves as engineers. To work and to study... I sat at the win- dow, watching the waves of the broad Neva,! and involuntarily I thought: “Much water will flow un- der the bridges before the simple workers who now enter the fac- tory come out of it as engineers.” ‘That was two and a half years ago, and now the first 44 engineers have come out of the factory. The world has never seen such engin- eers before. These are engincers from the bench. For two and a | half years they did not leave their work and they did not leave their books and drawings, They are not only workers by origin but work- ers by profession. The was not deprived of its cadres dur- ing the time of study. Industry was also study. Study was also indus- try. “We manufacture turbines and engineers” said the director of the ‘Stalin Plant on the anniversary of ) the revolution. THE EXPERIMENT WAS SUCCESSFUL “Thus in the Soviet Union arises a new type of educational institu- tion—the factory as a school. Un- doubtedly it will justify expecta- tions and will help to satisfy the urgent demand for skilled workers, for technically educated cardes for socialist construction.” That was how I concluded my article 2% yesrs ago. And now I can add that the expectations were really Soviet Engineers--From The Bench this experi- | ment came from the Communist | | steam | Specialization is not FULFILLING STAL | “SEX CONDITIONS” factory | justified. ‘The school-factory has already graduated technicians sev- eral times, and no», on Dec. 5, 1932, it has graduated its first engi- neers. HE factory was very strict in its tests of the graduates. The most prominent and famous pro- fessors were invited to examine them. The examination papers and work were most strictly criticized. Several students have to study a little longer. But the overwhelm- ing majority brilliantly passed their tests. The reports of the pro- fessors are now before me. They tell how the engineers in the school-factory are no worse than the engineers graduated from the ‘usual universities in theoretical at- tainments, but in practical work, in knowledge of the industry, they are considerably superior. Of course, these are all engineers with what is called a “narrow specialty,” engineers of the American type, 19 of them are specialists on the man- ufacture of steam turbines, 13 on the assembling of steam turbines, 12 on the construction of steam | turbines, 12 on the construction of | boilers. However, narrow of the school-factory at the Stalin Plant but of the whole system of technical education which has | ruled up to the present in the Soviet Union. It is caused by the neces- sity of forming new cadres of engi- neers in the shortest possible time. It was an unquenchable thirst for knowledge, together with the realization that they were partici- pating in socialist construction, which created the conditions for this successful “experiment.” Forty- four new engineers who have joined the army of the engineering and technical workers of the Soviet Union form the best living embodi- ment of the words of Comrade Stalin last year: “Our country has entered the stage of its develop- ment when the working class must create its own technical intelli- gentsia, who are able to protect its interests in production as the in- terests of the ruling class. Ss Comrade Stalin placed the for- mation of such an intelligentsia in the fourth place among the historic six conditions for the victory of so- cialist construction. These condi- tions are being fulfilled. And the most brilliant example is the gradu- ation of 44 engineers by the school- factory. The tremendous significance of the successful experiment consists not only in the fact that dozens and later hundreds of new engi- neers rising from the workers have joined the ranks of the technical commanders in socialist industry. The ranks of the Soviet engineer- ing and technical cadres are being swelled by thousands and tens of thousands of engineers from among the workers who graduate every year from the numerous universi- ties of the U. S. 8S. R. It is an- other thing which is important. The new Communist life can al- ready be seen in the distance from this experiment. Tt may be that only a few factories can yet follow the example of the Stalin plant. It may be that under present con- ditions tremendous educational re- sources are required which the So- viet Union does not yet possess on a mass scale. But we can already see how the face of a factory changes in socialist society, how the distinction between a factory and an institute is gradually being wiped out, the distinction between physical and mental labor. In capi- talist society this is impossible. ‘The workers in the capitalist coun- tries have only one lot—to work for others. The working class are shut out from high technical educa- tion. It is the privilege of the bour- geoisie. ‘The path taken by the 44 worker- engineers is the path along which the whole working class of the Soviet .Union is travelling. One takes this path earlier, another later. It is the path of study and work simultaneously, Women Workers and “Daily” By ANNA DAMON. FEW weeks ago the Daily ‘Worker was nine years old. In its mine years of life the Daily Worker has served the workers well. One cannot recall a single import- ant strike or struggle of the work- ers in the United States where the Daily Worker was not a powerful instrument in the hands of the men and women workers fighting for the right to live. The Negro and white working and farming masses certainly have a right to be proud of the fact that. they have been able to keep the “Daily” alive and growing during this terrific economic crisis, This. has been accomplished through untold sacrifices that have been not only financial. Time and again in the course of selling and distribu- tion the “Daily” in time of strikes, demonstrations, at factory gates, Red Sunday canvassing, etc., wo- men and men were brutally beaten up and jailed by police and com- id oat. le i working, class women have always supported the Daily Worker. In the last drive the wo- men ‘were’ among ‘the’ miost ‘dctive groups in getting subscriptions and dona and they were in a large Measure responsible for the suc- cess of tlie drive. The United Coun- cis of Working Class Women ot New ‘York raised proportionately the largest amount of any mass ‘or ganization (over $1,000) and re- ceived as award a banner of rec- ognitiqn.., Not only the. wamen’s organizations in New York, but all over the United States the women workets responded to the Daily Worker's appeal, for aid, This year more than ever must the working class and farm women act to save the Daily Worker. The fact that the “Working Woman’ (women’s publication of the Com- munist Party) is also conducting a campaign in connection with In- ternational Women’s Day should serve to inspire both men and wo- men in activizing our work among the masses of women in the facto- ries and among the unemployed. ‘HE plans to publish the “Work- ing Woman,” whose first issue will be ready for International Wo- men’s Day, in new magazine form to sell for 5 cents, is necessary and timely. The canvassing for the “Working Woman,” both for read- ers and worker correspondents, should be utilized for bringing for- ward the Daily Worker. It should be explained to every working class woman that while she should read the “Working Woman,” which deals with the problems of the women as part of the general problems of the working class, yet it cannot take the place of the Daily Worker, which appears daily and therefore can and does react more quickly to the daily struggles of the work- ers and their families. ‘Women factory workers! Negro and white! Unemployed women, wives ‘of workers, help arouse the women in your factories and neigh= borhoods to the danger threaten- ipg.the DailyWerker! Collect funds, organize joint affairs for the new women's magazine and the Daily Worker! Arrange house to house canvassing, ‘goto the factories where women are employed to sell the papers! Get every reader of the Working Woman to become a reader of the Daily Worker, . a peculiarity | In Alabama’s By M. L. | ame iealetaah Ala. — We left } Monigomery over a narrow road | that winds among the hills that dot the center of the Black Belt in Alabama. We were enroute to Dadeville, Opelaki and Tuskegee to | carry a message of cheer and en- couragement to our Negro com- rades, those brave share-croppers who so courageously defended themselves agai the vicious at- tack of the deputies and lynchers of Tallapoosa County. Here and, there we cabin standing in a field of dried cotton stalks, a thin curl of smoke from the chimney telling us it was occupied. Very few have windows with glass panes, simply a square opening with a wooden shutter. Old, rotten, unpainted, many of them entirely deserted, their shut- ters closed, a picture of desola- tion. At the new white marble court- house in Wetumka we stopped to investigate rumors that another Negro had been captured and was perhaps being tortured by the po- lice in their efforts to learn more about the Share-Croppers Union. This organization of white and Ne- gro tenant farmers and share- croppers had been formed for the i protection of their mutual inter- ests and to combat the lying, cheating system in operation for so many years by the big land- owners and bankers. | DADEVILLE, ALA. We learned at Wetumka that the only Negro arrested had been sent to Dadeville, so we continued our journey over an almost impassable road and reached Dadeville at noon. Dadeville is 2 small town built in the form of a square; the court-house in the center. Shabby wooden buildings and a few two- story bricks lined the four streets of the town. Utter quiet pervaded the place; the few who stood in doorways or leaned against posts stared at us | curiously. We found Sheriff Young, | @ tall heavily-built man of middle- age in the Court House. He was gruff, see the Negro share-croppers. He refused to allow us to see them un- | til he consulted the solicitor and then tried to discourage and frighten us by saying that if we insisted on visiting the prisoners we would be in great danger of not getting out of the county alive! Our answer was, “we are here to see them!” Va, te TURROUNDED by police and deputy-sheriffs each Negro farm- er was brought in, gave his nam and answered a few, brief ques- tions, One was wounded among these at Dadeville. Another had been badly beaten about the head. When told that the International Labor Defense had come to their defense @ new look of hope and cheer ap- peared in their faces. Some greeted us with. smiles. They were very brave, showing no fear while in the hands of these lynchers and murderers of their comrades, Clif- ford James, Milo Bentley and James MeMuilin. We forced Young to give us let- ters to the sheriffs at Opelika and Tuskegee granting permission to see the imprisoned share-croppers at those places. At Opelika, after much delay, we were led into the jail and made to wait in the din- ing hall while four deputies, well- armed, brought in the one man they were holding under arrest. A young fellow, calm and serious as he replied to a few questions while the cowardly deputies stood by with hands tense on their guns. Soon he was angrily ordered back to his cell. The sheriff was asked why this one was not held in Dadeville with the others, and his reply, was “he wouldn't be alive if he was in Dadeville!” Chained in the jail- yard were the blood-hounds used to hunt down the Negroes. WE REACH TUSKEGEE After many weary miles over rough roads, it was night when we reached Tuskegee. A larger town than Dadeville, there was more activity about the streets. Told that we would probabiy find Sheriff Riley in the poolroom, we finally located him. When shown the letter from Sheriff Young, he said, “I don’t believe Young wrote it!” Hatred and anger showed plainly in his face as he flatly refused to allow us to visit the men. At that moment Clifford James and Milo Bentley were lying on the floors of their cells not a block away, dying of their infected wounds. When we protested that he was denying them their constitutional right to legal defense, his reply was, “I don’t care a dam about that!” He refused to say how many were imprisoned or what condition they were in. @ ‘ex ve UR worst fears for the safety of the share-croppers were real- kegee Institute. The Negro and white sharc- passed a | surly and openly hostile | when he learned we had come to | Norman Thomas’ Mission to By GROPPER the Democrat Governor of Il. Eulogizes Horner, Who Sent Troops Against Coal Miners (This article describes the visit of Norman Thomas with Gov- ernor Horner of Illinois immedi- ately after five companies of state militia had been sent by the governor into the coal fields to put down the miners’ resist- ance to the attack by the Pea- body Company gunmen and the thugs of John L. Lewis’ company- union, United Mine Workers’ of America, dominated by this same company, Later Thomas went to Detroit, where the Auto Work- ers’ Union, affiliated to the Trade Union Unity League, is leading the Briggs workers in an heroic struggle against wage-cuts and speed-up. Thomas endorsed ‘Mayor Murphy, and his program and his visit to Detroit during the strike coincides with the mob- ilization of Murphy’s police force against the strikers. While in Detroit Thomas said not one word regarding the use of Mur- phy’s city police against the strikers and the Auto Workers’ Union.—EDITOR’S NOTE, a rte a By BILL GEBERT N Jan. 24 and 25 nearly 500 dele- gates, representing over 70,000 organized workers from 49 cities and towns, met in Labor Temple, Springfield, DL, to map out a pro- gram of struggle against starva- tion and hunger, and for immediate cash relief and unemployment and social Mmsurance, at the expense of the employers and the government. It was one of the broadest united front conferences ever held in the State of Illinois. The conference was Called by the Unemployed Councils of Cook County, Macoupin County and of Gillespie, Benld, Sawyerville, Staunton, Mt. Olive and Girard, Illinois. WIDE REPRESENTATION To this conference delegates came from 22 local unions of the Progressive Miners of America and the United Mine Workers of Amer- ica, seven local unions of the A. F. of L. and Railroad Brotherhoods, 11 locals of the Ladies’ Auxiliaries of the P.M.A., from Unemployed Councils of 40 towns, from a num- ber of fraternal organizations, from the Young Peoples Socialist League, Young Communist League, from industrial unions of the Trade Union Unity League, Railroad, Packinghouse, Steel, Needle and Shoe, from the Communist Party and also a farmers’ delegation. Among the delegates there were members of the Socialist Party, workers belonging to other differ- ent organizations and also mem- bers of the Democratic and Repub- lican Parties and a delegation from the Bonus Expeditionary Force and from the Workers’ Ex- Servicemen’s League, ‘The conference unanimously adopted the Unemployment and Social Insurance Bill, working out in detail how the money is to be raised for unemployment insurance by taxation of the employers, by transferring money for military and police forces and other gov- ernment sources and to be admin- istered by the workers. The con- ference endorsed the call of the National Committee of the Unem~ ployed Councils for demonstra- tions and Hunger Marches on March 4 in all cities, towns and counties in the state and decided to organize a State Hunger March to Springfield on April 10 and 11, so 8 8 Wed Conference. adopted a num- ber of resolutions, including resolutions against war and for the the defense of the Soviet Union, for the release of the Scottsboro boys and Tom Mooney, a demand for the release of the 19-year-old organizer of the Unemployed Coun- cils, Angelo Herndon, -who was sentenced to 20 years on the Geor- gia chain gang; for protection of Toreign born, for unity and solidar- ity of native, foreign born and Ne- gro workers, and at the same time adopted an elaborate organizational | plan for Unemployed Councils by building block committees, commit~ tees in bread lines, flophouses, set- ting up township and ward Unem-~ ployed Councils of delegated bodies of employed and unemployed workers, ‘The conference was united, on all these issues and there was “T want to speak in re- spect and admiration of Governor Horner because he, immediately upon en- tering office, so earnestly began his effort to bring about peace in this difficult situation.”—Norman Thom- as in Springfield, Il. not a single vote against the poli- cies and decisions reached at the conference. The conference elected @ State Committee of the Unem- ployed Councils of 41, with state headquarters in Springfield. ELECT DELEGATIONS The copference also elected a delegation to the State Legislature to speak against the proposed sales tax, which will extract from the toiling masses of the state $48,000,- 000 a year. This delegation was ejected from the State Legislature by the police. On the same day a delegation of 50 was elected to present the Unemployment and Social Insurance Bill to the State Legislature. The delegation went to the governor's office. The gov- ernor refused to meet the delega- tion and ordered the city and state police to forcefully eject it from the governor's office. The delega- tion was ejected only after a strug- glswith the police and nine of the delegates were arrested and thrown into jail, and were later released under ‘the pressure of the confer- ence, ee ¢ Illinois Anti-Hunger Confer- ence laid a base for thé unifica- tion of the workers of the state in the struggle for relief and unem- ployment insurance and united the ranks of the employed and unem- ployed workers. The message of the conference will be brought to the masses of miners, railroad, steel, packinghouse workers, to the un- employed and to the masses of Ne- gro toilers. The conference was a working-class meet and marked a definite step toward a state-wide organization. It once more proved the correctness of the policy of the united front from below. The con- ference was conscious that in carry- ing on the struggle for the tasks owtlined, it must carry on a strug- gle against the leaders of the So- cialist Party, Illinois Federation of Labor, the leadership of the P. M. A. Musteites and similar types who stand in the way of the work- ers’ desire for unity and for the successful carrying on of the strug- gle for their demands. This was clearly demonstrated in the recent, events in Illinois. Only three days before the con- ferenca Norman Thomas, presiden- tial candidate of the. Socialist Party in the last elections, came to Springfield and Governor Hor- ner officially welcomed him and invited him to a conference in his mansion. Norman Thomas, in a speech delivered at Springfield, de- “I want to speak in respect and admirat'on of Governor Horner because he immediately upon entering office so earnestly began his effort to bring about peace in this difficult situation.” These ere the exact words of the “Socialist” Thomas at the mass meeting in Springfield in praise of Governor Horuer—the same Gov- ernor Horner who ordered the po- Uce to club the delegation in his office when they present a 5 ¢ of the Socialist. Party as well ag other workers. Here we see clearly the difference between the leaders of the Socialist Party and the rank | and file, tho are beginning to see the role of Norman Thomas and | Who are for united action with the Communists and other workers in struggles against hunger and want. When Thomas praised Horner he OK-'d his maintaining of troops in Christian County to suppress the miners. Although it wes only a delegation of 50:who went. to Gov- ernor Horner to present the Unem- ployment ‘ and | Social Insurance Bill, the delegation was. clubbed. and ejected and Horner ordered machine-gun troops of the 106th Cavalry to be ready for emergency, as well as Company C of the 130th Infantry, holding them in readi- | ness to receive orders from Horner to shoot down the workers who came to Springfield representing 70,000 workers, employed and un- employed, of the state of Illinois, and indirectly representing a mil- lion and a half unemployed work- ers of the state. This is the same Henry Horner who, before the elec- tions, paraded before the masses as “the great humanitarian” and “friend of the people’—the same man who promised relief for the unemployed and who stated he was | in favor of unemployment insur- a@nce—and the same Henry Horner Who was elected governor on the Democratic ticket, and who, speak- ing in Springfield on Jan. 24, de- clared: “The establishment of the dole or any system of relief that ap- Proximates a dole is out of the question, It is contrary to the Spirit of the American ideals.” This is the Gov. Horner whom Norman Thomas praises in his speeches in the coal fields, not only in Springfield, but in Taylorville as well. In Franklin County, meetings even of the P. M. A. and Ladies’ Auxiliaries of the P. M. A. are for- bidden. Recently a meeting of the Ladies’ Auxiliary was broken up by the gangsters of the U.M.W.A., led by Ray Edmundson and Democratic Sheriff Robinson, But Norman ‘Thomas was welcomed in Franklin County and spoke not only with- out any interference of the police, but with police protection in West Frankfort, ey hee: coal operators and Governor Horner needed Norman Thomas very badly in the coal fields for the purpose of putting over further Wwage-cuts and worsening of condi- tions, There are secret negotia- tions still going on between the leaders of the P.M-A. and U.M.W.A, under the direction of Governor Horner, to unite the traitors of both unions to continue a wage- cut which took place in 1932, for the next two years. Norman ‘Thomas plays his role in the ser- vice of the coal operators. No Wonder then that the capitalist Press in the state of Illinois, in- cluding the Chicago Tribune, praise Norman Thomas for his activity in * the Illinois coal fields. The Bloom- ington Daily Pantagraph of Jan. 25, in a leading editorial, declares: “Of very recent date Mr. Thomas has been with charac- teristic patience investigating the disturbed economic life of the Ulinois coal mining regions and Seeing if he can point to some measure of betterment, He has been acting thus with the full ac- cord of Governor Horner, who is himself known for his sympa- thetic attitude toward the indus- trial workers.” Compare the above praise of Norman Thomas by the capitalist press with the following report in the Springfield Register of Jan, 25 as to how the humanitarian Gov- ernor Horner treated the delega- tion of 70,000 workers who pre- sented their demands for unem- ployment and social insurance: “In the meantime city and State polce had been summoned and the crowd was ordered to move into the corridors, This command was answered by boos knocked down and nine, includ- ing five women, were forced into patrol wagons.” ‘The police especially brutally at- tacked the Negro women who were in the delegation, HE conference and events in Springfield in these few days are important lessons for the work- ers in the entire country, The so- cial-fascist leadets—Norman Thom- | | ; Bank group, Can a Strike at Ford’s Be Successful? (Special Correspondence) ETROIT—This question is being ked by many workers. The wage-cuts which took place new Pressed Steel Bui r 14th which established 2 sca 2.80 per day for sweepers, $3. for Crib men, $3.60 for reps and $4.00 for br skilled planning That is asked how that Ford General wage: is ques Ford workers are showing a deep | hatred for Ford. They want action They want to be able to stop the cuts at Ford's. In their minds, a number of points arise. Some of these are 1. You cannot win strikes dur- ing a crisis. 2 The Ford Company is 3. There are too mar ployed. 4. The workers will not unite. 5. The servic vent organization. I will try to answer these ques- tions briefly. CAN WE WIN 8 DURING CRIS! The leaders of the American Fe- deration of Labor say no. So do the Socialists and other reformists. What are the facts? The Waterloo workers and Motor Pr ducts workers won their strike. Only recently, the steei workers in Warren, Ohio, by a strike prevented @ wage cut from going thru. Tt is also true of the Doll worke: strike in Trenton, New Germany during th ginning the Ist o: ¢ strikes were won by th> German workers. In Poland and other coun- tries, similar successful strikes took place. Strikes can be won NOW. Those who tell the workers a strike cannot be won in a period of crisis, are helping the boss by preventing the steps necessary in preparation for strike action being taken. IS FORD COMPANY TOO POWERFUL TO BE DEFEATED BY ORGANIZED STRENGTH OF WORKERS? RIKES That is what Ford wants us to believe. What are Ford Co. is in a situation. The production of Ford cars has steadily declined. The figures for the first 10 months of 1931 show 591,296 cars sold; com~- pared to 273,374 cars sold in the same period of 1932. In 1931 Ford sold 304 out of every thousand cars. In 1932 Ford sold 246 out of every thousand. the facts? The Competition in the auto industry | this year is more intense especially for the low priced cars. In a lead- ing article on the automobile page of the Detroit Times, it was again Stated that 90 per cent of the cars produced in 1933 would sell for Jess than $600. This means more difficulties for Ford. The new Chrysler and Chevrolet cars have many improvements which willforce Ford to adopt new improvements as @ means to sell his car. Both Chrysler and Chevrolet are backed with Wall Street money which is | also backing the new Continental Motors, 'HE difficulties of the Ford Co. can also be seen in the fact Chat the chief source of finances for Ford, the Union Guardian borrowed 2,767,000 from the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, a fact which was not published in the Detroit papers. The battle between Ford and the auto firms controlled by General Motors goes on, with Ford suffering one defeat after another. Ford workers can take advantage of this to stop the wage-cuts. A strike that will tie up production will increase the difficulties for Ford. That will make a victory easier for the Ford workers. “THERE ARE TOO MANY UN- EMPLOYED—THEY WILL TAKE By MAX SALZMAN, ion is being | Briggs very difficult | OUR JOBS IF WE STRIKE. This argument would be correct if no activities were carried on long the unemployed. But the unemployed can be organized in support of the strike by uniting 1 ruggle of the employed and ur ployed in the interest of boti re unemployed in Warren, steel workers won the The same is true of the Waterloo and Motor. Pro. strike, where unemployed workers refused to scab when sent by the City Employment Agency. By supporting the demands of the unemployed for relief from the Ford Co. and for Unémployment Insurance, the unemployed can be won to act in solidarity with the workers in the shops. By support- ing the preparations for the next Ford Hunger March and preparing joint actions, # unity will be estab- lished between employed and uyn- employed that will be a decisive factor in any struggle which de- velops. ae aay): 'E are told the workers will not unite. That is not true. The Briggs-Waterlco strike and the Motor Products strike can prove that. We have seen unorganized workers brought together. The im- portant thing is that the workers come together to talk over the: problems. A worker knows a worker next to him. He learns to know who can be trusted and who can- not. He calls together the workers he has confidence in to talk about the wage-cut. He does not ask if the worker is a Republican, De- mocrat, Socialist or Communist. He does not raise the question of religion to divide the workers into Catholics, Protestants and other groups. All workers who want to stop the wage-cut or want to take action against grievances in their department are invited. These workers after discussing their problems and deciding on what action to take, can list other workers they know, call them to meetings and in this way increase the number of workers in organized groups. Those workers who are ready for the Auto Workers Union can be brought in. Others can work together with the union members in the fight ageinst Ford. THE FORD SERVICE SYSTEM WILL PREVENT ORGANIZATION This point is raised because we have not tried to work out methods of defeating the service system. The service system is not all powerful. It has created the idea ~ that it is. We can find ways of de- feating it. The main point is to gain the confidence of workers who ‘ou work with—then call together workers you know and can trust. Then have workers call additional meetings of workers. These meet- ings can be prepared with caution. At the same time, we must expose every Ford spy—every stool pigeon. We can find ways of working care- fully and at the same time build up organization, HE discussion of the question of strike comes as @ result of the rising movement among the Ford workers, whose conditions are driv- ing them to take the only possible action that can put a stop to the ‘wage-cuts—a mass strike. Every- where we go, the Ford workers are talking about doing something. Every worker must be prepared to take the lead. Start calling meet- ings. Organize Anti - Wage - Cut Committees in each department. By decisive action we can crystal- ize the sentiment of the Ford work- ers for struggle, into organization that will make such a struggle possible. A strike against Ford can be suc- cessful. It needs careful prepara~ tion. It needs courage, determina- tion, and the will to sacrifice, to build up organization, unite the Struggles of the employed and un- employed, and to drive forward against the brutal Ford system of exploitation. Letters from Our Readers BUILD UP THE TEXTILE UNION, SAYS WEAVER | night. I myself have spent months, of fruitless effort looking for a weav- | ing job. There is a tremendous glut NEW BEDFORD, Mass.—I would | of labor. Five years ago New Bed- like to dtaw your attention to the | ford, the producer of the world’s appalling conditions that prevail in| finest cotton goods, had a strike the cotton industry in New England. | which lasted six months in prefer- Although cotton weaving is a semi-| ence to accepting a 10 percent wage skilled trade, it is one of the worst but since the country-wide paid trades in existence. Previous to list onslaught on the worker's to the war, the average looms p ndard of living, at least 70 per- operator was six, and the pay ave: t has becn taken from them with- aged around $9 per week. But to-| out a murmur. Unless the union can day, with the advent of automatic | be built up, the weavers will remain looms, a weaver is often compelled | worse than serfs. to operate from 12 to 50 looms, and ~i. the average pay is actually much lower than pre-war, DEMAND RELEASE OF TAMPA PRISONERS PORTLAND, Ore., Feb. 5.—A reso- lution demanding the immediate re lease of Homer Barton, Armgndo Lopez and all other class war pris- oners in the Tampa jails, was sent in the name of more than 1,000 ILD. members in Oregon, to the Mayor and Chief of Police Logan, of Tampa, Fla. : [> make matters worse, a weaver today rarely has a full job, and is compelled to put in a full week's work with a pay check ranging around two or three dollars. Overtime and night work is paid at the same rate as day pay, and although in this state the 48-hour week is law, it applies only to women and children, men often wertine 32 erd 34 hours dav end of the workers--are serving che in- terests of ihe bosses, while on the other hand the rank and file mem- bers of the Socialist Party, ex- ploited and hungry workers, are coming closer to the revolutionary movement, joining with other work- ers in the united front of action in struggle against starvation and hunger and war. It is our task to stimulate this process of drawing sharp differences between the trait- ors of the working class of the type of Norman Thomas and of the Peoples So- members of the A. F. of L. and other similar organ- izations, toward whom we must have a most comradely attitude. On the basis of the united front from below, which begins at pres- ent primarily as unity in struggle for unemployment relief and unem~ ployment insurance, we must de- cle cial velop the united front of the work- ers in the shops and unions. We must unite them on an immediate program of demands, mobilize them in struggle in action and develop the struggle to a higher political level. March 4 actions, therefore, must be organized on the broadest united front basis, with the rank and file members of the Socialist Party, local unions of the A. F. of L. and workers in the shops. In Tilinois March 4 will serve as & base for a State Mass Hunger March to Sprifgfield on April 10-11th. This was the determina- tion of the Illinois Anti-Hunger Conference, and the message of the conference will be brought to hun- dreds of thousands of workers throughout the state, Forward with the wnited front from below! Forward with the unification of the class in the struggles against-can! 4 ¢ $ \ )