The Daily Worker Newspaper, March 28, 1933, Page 1

| | EDITORIALS How Green and Thomas “Oppose” Roosevelt’s Forced Labor Camps In its conspiracy to tear unemployed workers away | from their families, place’them in priscn garb, herd them into tent colonies to slave for a year under military regula- tions for one dollar a day, the Roosevelt administration has enlisted in its support the president of the American Fed- eration of Labor and the recent presidential candidate on the socialist ticket. Green, who at first opposed the plan in words, now comes forth with his endorsement because the bill has been amended, striking out the clause specifying a dollar a day as “wages” and substituting a statement calling this coolie wage a “cash allowance!” This bill, as amended, is even worse, granting unlimited dictatorial power to Roosevelt. How Roosevelt will “regulate” payment is known in advance from his statement that he is not impressed with objections to the dollar-a-day “wage” handed out to the 250,000 unemployed he hopes to “recruit” in these camps. Thus by withdrawing the objections he first voiced, it is clear that Green is still playing his old game of trying to deceive the workers in an effort to stem their indignation against the forced labor, wage-cutting proposal so that capitalism can carry to further extremes its offensive against the standards of life of the toiling masses. Mr. Norman Thomas still “opposes” the bill in words, but he also praises Roosevelt, stating in the March 22 issue vf the Socialist Party Daily, “The Milwaukee Leader’, that Roosevelt’s “intentions are good”. Thomas adds: “He sees camps under the war department but not under genu~ | ine military discipline, in which workers will be free to come and go, though not withont notice, where they will have a healthy life(!) and « dollar « day.” General Douglas McArthur, chief of staff of the United States Army, the uniformed butcher who, at the command of Hoover, with fire and sword drove the bonus marchers from Anacostia field, stated plainly that, under the Roose- velt plan, the army would recruit the workers, examine them physically, provide them with clothing (uniform prison garb) and give them preliminary training. If that isn’t placing them under “genuine military discipline” it would be in- teresting for Thomas to explain just what he thinks it is. A “healthy” life, in unsanitary camps, with a dollar a day wage, under General McArthur’s command is Thomas’ ver- sion of Roosevelt’s forced-labor camps. Secretary of War Dern also explains how this system of forced labor will be put into effect. He stated that the enrolled men would be transported to existing military camps, where a skeleton force of army officers would as- sist in organization of the camps which are to be “self-su- staining”, and include cooks, barbers, police and other speci- alized workers. Miss Perkins, Roosevelt's secretary of labor, contributed the suggestion that it “might be a good thing” for men to be torn away from their families and driven into these forced labor camps. Such treachery and betrayal of the working class as is being carried out by Green and Thomas should spur to de- cisive action the rank and file members of the American Federation of Labor and the Socialist Party in broad united front struggles against this forced labor conspiracy. In this struggle is involved the campaign against the attempts of the capitalist class to further beat down the standards of life of the masses. The fight against this forced labor bill is inseparable from the struggle for immediate relief for the unemployed, and for unemployed and social insurance at the expense of the government and the employers. The “Nation” Echoes British Anti-Soviet Provocation The bourgeois, liberal, and social-fascist press all have the same line in discussing the danger of imperialist inter- vention against the Soviet Union. Deliberately attempting to make the masses forget the determined peace policy of the Soviet Union, they interpret all the defense acts of the Soviet Union as preparations for an aggressive war policy. For example, the liberal weekly, “Nation”, under the heading, “War Clouds Over Europe,” lists the following fact about the Soviet Union as proving that “the nations are marching towards the battlefields with the dove of peace embroidered on their banners.” “Moscow has also got into another row with London over the arrest of several British engineers in Russia”. Moscow has got into a row! Note how subtly the implica- tion is made that the Soviet Union is the aggressor in the dispute with Great Britain over the arrested engineers. {f the Soviet Union exercises its legitimate right as an in- dependent power to arrest and try engineers accused or suspected of sabotaging the upbuilding of socialist industry, then it is the Soviet Union who is guilty of getting into a “row” with Great Britain. It is the Soviet Union which is adding to the provocations making for war! It will be remembered that at the trial of the engineers of the Industrial Party a few years ago, a whole nest of counter-revolutionary plots was discovered, with direct re- Jations to the French war office and other European im- perialist countries. It will be no cause for surprise if it is disclosed that these arrested British engineers also have direct relations with foreign war offices or with counter- revolutionary cliques. The extraordinary frenzy which the arrest of these engineers has caused among the high of- ficials of the British government is surely enough to make the workers of the world suspicious. The Soviet Union is faced with enemies within and without, all seeking by desperate and foul means to hamper The Important Deeds! Not. spectaculan, dramatic deeds, but day-to-day activity of great masses is the backbone of all revo- lutionary achievement Right now such work is needed to save the “Daily”. Rh noel Actas Daily. Central Or e-Cominynist Party (Section of the Communist International) That Last $10,000 Devote all energ toward putting tt Daily” drive over the top by contributing, collecting, holding par U.S.A. ties for the benefit of our paper. Do every- thing you can to raize that last $10,000! cITy ERITION Price 3 Cents NEW YORK, TUESDAY, MARCH 28, 1933 SCOTTSBORO NEGRO BOYS IN ALABAMA COURT SENATE COM. REPORTS IN CAMP BILL Now Disguised as the “Reforestation Act”; Still Forced Labor LIKE CANADA SCHEME Means Dollar a Day and Military Regime WASHINGTON, March 27.— The Senate Labor Committee passed un- animously today the Roosevelt forced labor bill. ‘The administration finds itself in difficulties, because of the opposition to the bill in all parts of the country. Already the name of the measure is being cloaked as the “reforestation bill.” Many congress- men and so-called labor leaders were forced to take a position of outward opposition to this plan. Senator McNary, minority leader blocked immediate consideration un- der the pretense of wanting an ad- ditional day to study it. The Senate Committee found it ad- visable to take out the proviso of a dollar a day pay, because of the fake opposition of Green and other labor leaders. In its stead the president is authorized to hire 250,000 men at pay rates decided by him. Since Roosevelt has already given approval to the dollar a day rate, this will, no doubt, be adopted. How It Works In Canada What this pian means to the Am- erican workers is shown by a similar project in Canada. Approximately 2,500 workers are employed under the supervision of the Dominion govern- ment from coast to coast. They are constructing airports and repairing military works, and are thereby used directly in the war preparations. For this they get food shelter and cloth- ing with the magnificent sum of twenty cents a day pay. It is a plan such as this in practice that Roose- velt is now preparing for the Amer- ican workers. The National Committee of the Unemployed Councils has continu- ously fought against all measures of forced labor. It is against this new plan of putting the unemployed into barracks. ‘MONEY ISSUES FIERY CHALLENGE Dares Frame-Up Crew of 716 to Try Him Now SAN FRANCISCO, Cal., Mar. 27.— In a defiant statement which bristled with anger against the California frame-up gang which has kept him buried in San Quentin prison for nearly seventeen years, Tom Mooney today challenged his former prose- cutors to prove him guilty of the 1916 Preparedness Parade bombing and hang him—if they can. The statement was issued by Moo- ney’s Defense Committee in response to a declaration by Edward A. Cunha, San Francisco lawyer, expressing the “belief” that Mooney stood a strong chance not only of being convicted! at the second trial granted Saturday by Superior Judge Ward—but that he risked hanging as a result. The trial date has been set for April 26 and. Mooney will be brought from San} Quentin to San Francisco when the proceedings begin. In Original Frame-Up Crew. Cunha was an assistant to District | Attorney Fickert who engineered the frame-up against Mooney and Bil- lings In 1916 on behalf of the utility interests of California whose enmity Mooney had aroused by his fearless labor activity. In fighting against the decision to grant a second trial on an unused indictment—identical with the first—District Attorney Matthew A. Brady had let it be known that he would not act as prosecutor. Issues Challenge, Mooney’s statement follows: “This is a marvelous opportunity for Fickert, Cunha and Sullivan (Matt Sullivan, Goy. Rolph’s “advi- sor” on the Mooney case—Editor’s note) to come forward and fill the breach left by the withdrawal of the District Attorney's office from the the growth of socialism. The fact that Great Britain uti- lizes the arrest of the accused engineers to whip up anti- Soviet sentiment, and the fact that such liberal papers as the “Nation” echo this propaganda is only further proof that the preparations for intervention are going ahead at full speed. It is orly further proof that the working class of the world must redouble its vigilance against anti-Soviet lies and must renew its determination to defend the Soviet Union against imperialist intervention. WORKERS! case, “If they believe their own state- ments, they should consider it a ‘patriotic duty’ to come forward and volunteer their services as special prosecutors, I challenge them to do so, “In asking for a new trial on a murder indictment I put my head inside the noose. If Fickert, Cunha and Sullivan still believe me guilty I challenge them to bring any and all testimony, affidavits, and witnesses at their disposal into open court and Prove their case.” * Tom Mooney Molders’ De- fense Committee, sole defense authority for Tom Mooney, and directed by the famous labor prisoner himself. In a previous statement, the Com- mittee had “congratulated all those individuals and organizations whose pressure forced the courts of Cali- fornia to grant a second trial to Mooney the remaining indictment arising out of the original frame-up In 1916.” Warns Against Let-Up. Mooney’s defense committee points out that “there must not be any let- up in the mass defense at this time. Even if Mooney is acquitted, he will still be ‘guilty’ on the original indict- ment. Only the mass defense which won the second trial can ultimately free Mooney. “Elect your delegates to the ‘Free Tom Mooney Congress.” Forward to @ broader united front of all work- ers and their organizations for the freedom of Tom Mooney NOW.” Mooney’s Stirring Call. In the original call for the “Pree Tom Mooney Congress,” issued by Mooney himself from his cell in San Quentin prison on Jan. 26, the labor prisoner challenged the “labor-hating bankers and industrialists,” who, through “their tool, Governor Rolph, decreed that I die in prison,” and called upon the workers to rally in his defense because he fought “with every fiber of my being,” conditions which today are shoving labor in the United States into a “state of peon- age which even the coolies and chat- tel slaves never knew,” Mooney urged all labor organizations, regard- Jess of race, creed or color, to rally | behind the Chicago congress. C. P. Urges Congress Support. In urging support for the “Free | Mooney Congress,” the Communist Party of the United States, declared: “The Communist Party has always made the freedom of Tom Mooney its cause. It will continue to do so until Mooney can again take his place in the struggle of the workers against the oppressors. The Com- munist Party has endorsed the Mooney Congress to be held in Chi- cago from April 30 to May 2. No doubt the mass response to the Con- gress, which was initiated by Mooney and the Mooney Molders’ Defense Committee, had a great bearing on the granting of the second trial. “Now, more than ever, we will work to make the Congress a big mass demonstration for the freedom of Mooney. We call upon all workers. “Free Mooney Congress” April 30 to May 2 to Unite Labor’s Forces Behind Demand for Release labor movement, farmers, the ‘Free Mooney Congress,’ to fight on until Mooney is given unconditional the Scottsboro Boys) from Ala. Lynchers’ SAN FRANCISCO, March 27.— | “Save the Scottsboro boys from | the Alabama lynchers, intensify the mass campaign!” This was | the message of Tom Mooney, vet- eran class-war prisoner, to the In- ternational Labor Defense. “My securing new trial follow-| | ing similar success Scottsboro case vindicates policy aggressive de- fense tactics and marks tremen- dous victory militant working- class action,” Mooney wired to William L. Patterson, national | secretary of the I. L. D., today. “Fight mast be carried forward|: both cases, I appeal for immedi- ate intensified. militant united {font struggle for framed-up Scottsboro boys to save them from Mooney Wires: ‘Save || Mooney Committee, Hailing Victory in Compelling Second Trial, Says Mass Pressure Alone Can Bring Final Victory Report Preparations for More United Front Conferences Throughout U. S.; Communist Party Backs “Free Mooney Congress” NEW YORK—“It is significant to note that the winning of this trial for Mooney came at the time when workers and their organizations are mobilizing for a gigantic ‘Free Tom Mooney Congress’ to be held in Chicago, April 30 to May 2. It is of utmost | importance at this time to strengthen the congress to assure Mooney’s acquittal and unconditional “release,” declared a statement issued today by the Eastern Office of the } upon the toiling) freedom. We at the same time! masses oof toilers| make this fight a fight for the re-| throughout the land, to support the|lease of Billings, imprisoned with| Mooney on the same frame-up | charges.” ‘Trial Is Anniversary of Petrograd Demonstration, ‘The second trial for Mooney is be- | ing called for April 26, exactly one | Gay after the 16th anniversary of the j decisive demonstration of Russian | workers in Petrograd—the first of a series of international demonstra- tions of labor which compelled the commutation of the death verdict and saved Mooney’s life. | ‘The effectiveness of these demon- | strations should give further impetus to preparations for the Mooney Con- gress, preparations for which are be- }ing made in various parts of the |country in the form of united front conferences. | Such successful conferences have already been held in New York, Chi- cago, San Francisco and other cities, and the Mooney Committee is receiv- ing word each day of similar actions being planned in other centers of the country. A The conferences already held in- clified representation from A. F. of in Chicago DEFENSE OPENS FIGHT; MASS SUPPORT OF ALL _ WORKERS IS NEEDED NOW | Defying Threats, Negroes Occupy Third of Seats in Decatur Courtroom ‘Lynch Danger Exists As Organized Groups | Are Mobilized by Alabama Landlords BULLETIN DECATUR, Ala—John Sanford, Negro plasterer of Scottsboro, testi- | fed yesterday afternoon he possesses all qualifications for jury service, | but has never been called. Under questioning by Liebowitz, he stated: “No Negro has ever been called to serve on ® jury in Jackson County.” He also named other Negroes of the same county who qualify, but were never called. (By Daily Worker Correspondent.) DECATUR, Ala., March 27.—Flanked by lines of na- | tional guardsmen, the nine framed-up Negro Scottsboro boys marched into the courthouse here this afternoon. A few moments later counsel for the International La- bor Defense swung into action to save the innocent boys from the electric chair. | tea ey eR Highly significant is the |which the prosecution has succeeded A spectacular feature of the de- fense courtroom fight will be the in- troduction of a replice of the slow- e. eee * in terrorizing the twenty-odd Ne- fact that Neg-oes consti- \groes who have been subpoenaed by tuted one-third of the spec- Riding with your correspondent What is more, of the 600 per- |over the same route as the freight sons who crowded the lawn | boys when they were jailed, Liebow- |itz, defense counsel, caid: “Evidence Hie AHAJOFILY, hina Regents. {to be the most contemptible frame- During the morning hours, before| up ever seen.” than 100 Negroes were in the crowd, with the majority being whites. | ‘The trial, originally scheduled to|Bates and Victoria Price charged Start at 9 o'clock, did not begin until | they were attacked. arrival of the Negro boys from Birm-| impossible for the accused Negro boys ingham, where they have been since |to have been in the gondola, or open | the LL.D. attorneys. tators in the courtroom. train which carried the Scottsboro in front of the court house, |that we will present will show this the trial was scheduled to begin, less | Delay Causes Alarm |moving freight train on which Ruby two o'clock due to the delay in the| The defense will show that it was the defense compelled their Temoval | car, during the period and in the L. locals, Socialist Party branches and workers’ fraternal and cultural lynchers.” za organizations, ioe clutches of the Alsbama) i Mass Funeral Today for Martyred Leader Workers: Will Answer Morris Langer Murder with Mass Action Against Bosses BULLETIN NEWARK, N. J., March 27.—3,000 paraded through the streets here, and 4,000 assembled in Military Park In a mass protest demonstration at the murder of Morris Langer, mar- tyred strike leader. NEW YORK.—The Trade Union Unity Council calls up- on the members of all affiliated organizations to participate in the mass protest funeral today of Morris Langer, vice- president of the Needle Trades Industrial Union, murdered by the thugs of the Hollander Co. Unions are requested to the membership of the organized! (CONTINUED ON PAGE TWO) Morris Langer, Murdered by Hollander Company Bomb from the death cells in Kilby Prison. | ‘The crowd began gathering around | the courthouse at 7 o'clock when 30) national guardsmen arrived from | Hartselle. By 8 o'cloek the crowd) | had grown to 300, and tension grew) jas the boys failed to arrive. Most/ of those gathered around the court-| |room were from the immediate vicin- ity, with about one-fourth from out- | | side the county. | Sentiment expressed by some white | residents of Decatur before the op-| ening of the trial this morning was: | “We figure they'll get what’s coming | to them, and if not...” Others free- | ly declared that “if those meee | won't attack’ the South and behave themselves, there won't be no| trouble.” All this is a direct result] of the press campaign of the Ala- bama bosses. | As the boys arrived—alert and self-| confident—-the court was tense. All) except Roy Wright were dressed in blue denim overalls, and when) Wright, the youngest of the defend-| jants, was led to the place assigned to him, Attorney Liebowitz for the| defense shook his hand, much to the amazement of the white officials. With four soldiers stationed beside the judge’s bench, and national guardsmen surrounding the court- house, concurrent opinion here as the trial proceeds is that the danger grows of lynch action directed by small organized groups coming from the outside towns, like Huntsville. Citing the Fifteenth Amendment to} the U. S. Constitution, which is sup-| posed to grant equal political rights | manner charged. Hits Troops—State or Federal “Neither state nor federal troops is a protection for the Scottsboro boys,” declared William L. Patterson, national secretary of the Interna- tional Labor Defense today “The fact is that the authorities who provide national guardsmen, or federal troops have as their objec- tive the murder of the Scottsboro boys—whether legal or extra-legal. “Only the mags pressure of the workers of the United States and the world, has saved the Scottsboro boys 80 far, and only the same force can save them now.” News Flash NEW YORK. — More than 50,000 small business men, workers, vets and intellectuals demonstrated in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn yes- terday afternoon against the Hitler~ Hindenburg regime of pogroms and murder, in a protest which assumed militant proportions after revolution- ary workers took over the demonstra- tions leadership from the Pitkin Ave, Merchants Association. The protest, like a dirge at first, wound up with tens of thousands cheering the militant slogans of the workers. 15,000 marched past the Communist Party Section Headquar- ters, cheering. NEW YORK.—Wuile 1 peopié crowded into Madis Garden last night to register their Rally to Defense ot Scottsboro Boys by Atd to Datly Worker HE new Scottsboro trial means that even greater masses must be mobilized to win complete freedom for the Scottsboro boys. This struggle cannot be carried through effectively without the Daily Worker. But today there is no as- surance that the “Daily” will continue to appear throughout the trial. The cam- paign for $35,000 to white and Negro citizens, defense | 5 i Ys - protest against the atrocities commit- lawyers will soon begin the calling ot | teq by the Hitler-Hindenburg regime Negro witnesses to prove that sys-| in Germany, Jewish bourgeois speak~ tematic exclusion of Negroes from | ers tried their best to stem a mass Juries is practised in the state of Ala-| movement against the power behind bama. Just how many witnesses will ' the Nazi terror, the German and Am~ appear depends on the extent te erican capitalists. 3.500 STRIKE IN FORD PLANT IN ENGLAND AGAINST WAGE SLASH Same Reason for Struggle As in Ford’s Detroit Factories; Picketing Starts LONDON, March 27.—A strike in the Ford plant in Dagenham, near London, of hundreds of workers started last night. The strike started in the tool shops where the men who already had received a 10 per cent wage cut were notified of a second one. The wage cut would reduce the hourly wage from 42 cents an hour to 25 cents for a large number employed in the plant. —_—_—_— —_ The strike is led by the Amalga-| plants and the cuts in the Detroit needed to put the “Daily” on its feet is still about $10,000 short of its goal. ieee IMERGENCY quotas have been set for the ten leading districts im order te secure within a few days $3,500. This money must be raised, the full amount of $35,000 must be raised to keep our “Daily” fighting for the Scottsbere bove, for the interests of the toilers everywhere. RECEIVED SUNDAY AND YESTERDAY $245.44. TOTAL TO DATE $24,749.61 Speed coniributions to the Daily Worker, 50 E. 18th St. New York City. mated Engineering Union. While the walk-out took place last night, it is expected that when the day shift starts the strike will include all of the 3500 workers employed. Picket- ing was started immediately, ce 6 Detroit Will Understand. Auto workers in Detroit will un- derstand the causes of the sirike at the Ford plant in England. The continuous wage outs in the Detroit « Ford plants to that lower than the level in 1913 is the same as what their British fellow workers are now getting. The Detroit auto workers however have answered the wage cuts last month with one of the largest strikes in the industry involving more | than 15,000 workers. They have de- | feated the last wage cut and will greet with international solidarity this effort of the Ford workers in Mngiend. ORGANIZE TO FIGHT ROOSEVELT’S “RE-FORESTATION” -- FORCED LABOR —- CAMPS ?