The Daily Worker Newspaper, April 21, 1933, Page 1

ERT — me | EDITORIALS The Gold Standard Is At An End ‘President Roosevelt's second declaration of the embargo on gold shipments from the United States was an admission that the dollar is definitely off the gold standard. The dollar has been, in fact, off the gold standard since early in March when Roosevelt proclaimed the hank holiday and then “suspended” gold shipments. I. was only when foreign exchanges had risen sharply above the gold point” t the full effect of this departure from gold was felt. This definite abandonment of the gold standard is not, as some con- tend, merely the beginning of an inflationary process—it registers the fact that there is already a pronounced degree of inflation. This is yy seen in the soaring of commodity prices which means a big ease in the cost of living and hence the further beating dowm of the standards of life of the toiling masses of this country. On top of the whole series of direct cuts in money wages we now have a general indirect wage cut through a drastic beating down of real wages. ‘The Emergency Banking Law, put through in the first days of the Roosevelt administration, was adopted precisely because inflation was already under way and the government, recognizing the necessity for it, wanted to be in position, as it now is, to carry it out to an enormous extent by the issuance of new currency on the basis of worthless bank deposits, But this abandonment of the gold standard, like every other attempt of the ruling class to find a capitalist way out of the “crisis, only results in further sharpening of all the conflicts that are shaking the capital- ist world. With the drastic narrowing of the world market in face of the most devastating economic crisis of all time, the imperialist powers engage in the fiercest struggles between themselves for what remains of that market. The abandonment of the gold standard by England enabied that country, through the resultant lowering of wages and the cost of pro- duotion in general, to undersell countries still on the gold standard. But that advantage now vanishes with the U.S. A. going off gold, The tremendous drop in the dollar as compared to other curren- ties now places the United States in @ position to further challenge Rnglish markets. This sharpens the werld-wide economic conflict that ‘ages between the two greatest imperfalist powers. The gutter publications of Hearst hail with delight this aspect of the abandonment of the gold standard and inflation. Says the New ‘York American: “By suspending gold payments, President Roosevelt has com- pletely stymied the British in their world currency manipulations, WHICH HAVE BEEN THE MAJOR DEPRESSING INFLUENCE ON COMMODITY PRICES. The wild uprush in the British pound sterling confirmed the charge that the British themselves had been holding down the rate in order to affect adversely all commodity prices.” William Hillman, the Universal News Service correspondent in London, cables the following observation from a “high government official” in Britain: “President Rooseyelt’s action is one of the most startling in- ternational moves in recent years. There is no question that it will raise commodity prices and cut in on British trade.” ‘As to the French and the German press, they were so stunned by the action that they resorted to the always comic attempt to apply morality to economics and said no self-respecting currency would act the way the dollar has been performing the past few days. Further com- ments from France explained that Paris anticipates a world money battle between the United States and Britain. That the alarm in England is genuine is indicated by the accusation from British financial circles that the United States deliberately aban- doned the gold standard at this time to deprive Britain of what had hither- to been regarded as the strongest bargaining point of the world economic conference. It is also thought that this will be a large contributing fac- tor in forcing France, Holland and Switzerland off the gold standard in the immediate future. This is likely to happen at any time because of the heavy drain offitnch gold to the Bank of England; which means a free-for-all scramble for markets with the most terrible effects upon the toiling masses of every country. In an effort to align support behind its inflationary policy the spokes- men for the Roosevelt administration are putting forth propaganda to | the effect that it will result in an increase in export trade. It is quite obvious that no new markets can be found. The markets that already exist are becoming ever narrower and for the United States to make inroads on them means to underbid those countries already controlling them, It means a fierce price war that will have the effect of charging the highest monopoly prices in the home market in order to offset the Josses entailed in competition with imperialist rivals in the foreign market. All this again emphasizes the fact stressed at the Twelfth Plenum of the Executive Committee of the Communist International, that there is no purely economic way out of the crisis for capitalism. War on the toiling masses at home and in the colonies and semi- colonies, war preparations against imperialist rivals abroad and con- stant attempts to find some’ basis for joint action against the Soviet Union—these are the lines on which capitalism tries to find a way out of its crisis. As their own economic systems crash, as their currencies mingle with the ruins, the powers view with dread and fear the one stable economic country on earth with the one stable currency in the world—the Soviet Union and its chervonetz—and each sharpening of their inner-conflicts impels them more and more to try to find a tem- porary solution at the expense of the workers’ and peasants’ state. This sharpening of the whole internal and external situation makes it imperative that not a moment be lost in waging a determined and ever broadening mass struggle against the hunger and war program of the capitalist class. As against the capitalist way out of the crisis, which means misery, starvation and a mad plunge toward a devastating imperialist war, the toiling masses must advance to ever more decisive struggles that must culminate in ending the crisis in the only way it can end in behalf of the masses—the revolutionary way out. True to His Masters! As the Negro and white masses increase their struggle against the lynchers for the lives of the nine Scottsboro boys, every tool of the cap- italist class is rushing forward with his particular brand of demagogy to allay the hatred of the people against the lynch verdict. Matthew Woll again attempts to do his masters a good turn, He writes to Governor Miller of Alabama weging that he commute the death sentence to life imprisonment. And what is the reason? Because “the injection of alien influences and the raising of social prejudices” made a ‘fair’ trial impossible. It is obvious that uhder the guise of friendship for the boys, he is repeating exactly the same lynch creed laid down by the lynch-judge Horton, Atien influences! The raising of social prejudices! ‘These polished phrases conceal an attack on the Scottsboro boys and the Negro people. It is an attack against the whole policy of exposing Jim-Crow jury system. It is an attack against the whole defense policy of demanding the right of Negroes to sit on juries. By asking “‘only” for life imprisoninent, Woll makes public his be- lief that the boys are guilty. Woll's statement is a defense of the Jim- Crow proceedings of the Decatur court. Woll’s statement is only one of many. It is part of the calculated attempt to destroy the rising mass actions against the lynch system. It is an attempt to disperse the masses who are preparing to march to Washington. ' Special Free Tom Mooney Congress Edi- tion of the “Daily” tomorrow. Two full pages of feature articles giving the complete back- ground of the frame-up, Mooney’s life and story of his betrayal by the A. F. of L. and Socialist Party leadership. FOR INCREASED Central Org = oe Entered as second-class matter at the Post Office at New York, N. ¥., under the Act of March 8, 1879. NEW YORK, FRIDAY, 'Harlem People March Today on City Hall to! NEW YORK—The ms Scottsboro boys, and especially for th | 28, is giving impetus | bores. While recruiting for the Wa: | to Congress a bill to put teeth intop———— | the constitutional guarantees for| | democratic rights for Negroes, goes on apace, and recruiting stations are| being set up, trucks and supplies ar-! ranged for and donated in the major) | cities from which the marchers will | Set out, struggles against local con- ; ditions similar to those which form} | the background of the Scottsboro} | frame-up are sharpening, and taking} | Wider mass forms. i | In Harlem today, thousands of Ne-| ; to and white workers will march to t | throughout the city. | ‘The parade will be mobilized at| | 185th Street and Seventh Avenue, in | front of the Amsterdam News Office, | and at 126th Street and Seventh Ave-! the most immediate and urgent ques-| nue, before the offices of the Harlem | Liberator. Delegates of the demonstrators will) in session at that time: | 1. The immediate removal of Com- | missioner Greef, | 2. The dismissal from the hospital | Staff of Surgical Director John F. Connors and Dr. Louis T. Wright, secretary of the medical board. The removal of Mrs. Sadie O'Brien, the | | nurses school head, and the whole clique of Tammany hénchrier who now run this institution to the detri- ment of the population of Harlem. |} 3. ‘That sixty per cent of the per- | sonnel should be Negro residents of Harlem. The delegation will also demand the (CONTINUED ON PAGE TWO) Local Struggles ("7s Lead to Scottsboro | March On Capital | Demand End of Harlem Hospital Horrors Ss movement around the struggle to fres the | e march to Washington set for April all over the country to the fight against local Scotts- | ington March, which will also present | | ~ \ ROOSEVELT 2,000 Avella Miners in 4th Week of Strike PITTSBURGH, Pa., April 20.—) bread for the striking miners and the Avella section enter the fourth week of struggle under the militant | City Hall to protest against the vile) leadership of the local united front} | conditions and jim-crowing forced on| committees and the National Miners | | the Negro people of New York in the; Union showing a stubborn and heroic} Harlem hospital and other hospitals | determination to remain out on strike until their demands are won, Sentiment for the strike is spread- ing in the coal fields of Western Pennsylvania and relief now becomes tion if the strike is to be won. It calls | for immediate action on the part of | every worker's organization to back place the following demands before| up the miners’ struggle with funds to the Board of Estimate which will be} carry on the strike and to provide 13 Factories Strike in Germany for the Release of Thaelmann ..FRANKFORT, April 6 (By Mail). In the important steel town of Sol- ingen, four factories went on one day strikes, demanding the release of Ernst Thaelman, the imprisoned lead- er of the German Communist Party. In Wuppertal and Gevelsberg, nine factories downed tools and marched | release of Willie Griffin, Negro lad of out on strike for the release of the | Brooklyn framed by Tammany police arrested leaders of the working class. These strikes lasted for six hours. more, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Chicago, March in Harlem Tomorrow in Fight for Scottsboro Nine NEW YORK.—Thousands of New Yorw workers, Negro and white, will urgent appeals to strengthen march through Harlem Saturday afternoon in the biggest. Scottsboro pro~ test parade ever held, while thousands more workers in Philadelphia, Balti- Norfolk, and many other cities simul- | taneously demonstrate against the lynch-verdict handed down against Hay- | Wood Patterson in Decatur, Ala. In New York the Edward Griffin | frame-up and the butcher shop con- ditions and jim-crowing in Harlein | and other hospitals will be protested }also by the parade. In Baltimore, | | the lynch-verdict against Euel Lee | in Philadelphia the Willie Brown frame-up and in Chicago police ter- | ror and the horrible living conditions in the south side will be linked with the Scottsboro protest. Similar link- ing of local Scottsboros with the main demand for the immediate, un- conditional, and safe release of the Scottsboro boys will be made in doz- will be held. will be preparatory to the mass | march to Washington April 28, final ; mobilization of which will be ar-| ranged at the second Scottsboro con- ference to be held Sunday afiernoon at 2 p.m. at American Hall, 160 W. 129th Street. Mobilizing at 134th Street and Lenox Avenue at 2 p. m., the parade will take the following route: up| Lenox to 140th, west to Seventh Ave.,| south to 131st, east to Lenox Ave.,| down to 114th, East to Fifth Ave.,| TAG DAY FOR SCOTTS- BORO DEFENSE. The District Secretariat of the Communist Party calls upon all Party members and sympathizers to participate _jin the Scottsboro Tag Day. organized |by the Nationai Scottsboro Action Commit- jtee, Saturday and Sunday, April 22 and 23. All com- rades are to report to 77 W. 131st St., Harlem Liberator Office, 2149 Seventh Avenue (127th St.), Finnish Hall, 15) W. 126th St. & 119 W. 135th | St. Room 340, 80 E, 11th St. ! ens of cities where demonstrations — The Harlem march and the dem- | onstrations throughout the country | re = | up to 116th; West to Seventh Ave., | North to 135th St., and West to St. | Nicholas and Eighth Aves. BULLETIN. LONDON, April 20.—Alexander Ozersky, head of the Soviet Trade | Delegation in London, has been re- called to Moscow, together with his assistants, for consultation. English press comments are, in general, what can be expected from newspapers controlled by the bit- terly anti-Soviet millionaires of En- glish trustified journalism. Lord Beaverbrook, biggest press owner, is a Canadian by birth, and has heavy investments in the Canadian wood- pulp and paper industry, which is directly affected by Soviet com- petition. The great capitalist paper “The Financial News,’ comments on the embargo as “a hasty step” likely to damage Britain’s trade as well as that of the Soviet Union. “The Daily Herald,” organ of the Labor Party, echoes saying that there will be “a trade war which will damage both belligerents.” . 8 * (By Radio From Our Moscow Correspondent.) MOSCOW, U.S. 8. R., April 20.— Pravda (Daily newspaper of the Communist Party) writes under a headline: “A Just Sentence,” as fol- lows: “The guilt of the wreckers and spies in the recent trial has been proved. The court convincingly dis- closed the political reasons of the wreckers being tried. Our court de- | More than 2,000 miners on strike in| their families. Mine in Fayette Strikes The miners of the Republic Mine in Fayette County joined the strike Fri- day and closed down the mine 100 per cent. A mass picket line succeeded in | Stopping the strikebreakers who were | | shipped in to operate the mine and | prevented the mine foreman and | guard from further attacks on the | pickets and the miners’ wives. State | Steel and Iron Co. arrested three women who are showing the same courageous and militant spirit in this | struggle as in the past. | The Monaca mine in Denwood {Ohio joined the strike this wec! | Local demands were adopted by the strikers. The company took up the ; miners’ demands with the strik negotiation committee and offered them a checkweighman elected by the }men anda scale of 24 cents per ton. {The miners refused this offer and will {continue to strike for their demand of [6 cents per ton. | Why They Want Borich Out That the bosses are seeking govern- | ment aid in crippling or breaking the | strike is evident in the speed with which the Roosevelt administration is now trying to push the deportation of | Borich and other militant miner: |Ieaders. Judge Gibson in the U. S District Court upheld the Department | of Labor. decision to deport Borich | last week and has ordered him to | surrender pending a decision on the | transfer of his bond. | Must Have Relief | Reports from the National M Union show that the workers’ } | ganizations have not responded to the he | miners fight with funds or relief. The | Union calls upon the workers to mob- ilize in support of this struggle and take up immediately the vital ques- tion of relief upon which th | cessful termination of the strikes | depend. Rush funds at once to the office of the Miners’ Relief Commit- tee, 1524 Fifth Ave., Pittsburgh. APRIL 21, 1933 police cooperating with the Republic | suc- | ally in Many Cities for Scottsboro March <Worker the-Comipynist Party U.S.A. (Section of the Communist International) U The special May Day edition of Worker will contain articles on many lems facing the workers today. the Daily of the probe An eight-page tabloid size supplement will bs Included besides the regular four pages A short time is left. Rush orders immediately te Daily Worker, Busines Office, 50 East 13th St, New York, N. ¥. CITY EDITION Price 3 Cents ROOSEVELT DEMANDS FULL POWER TO CHEAPEN DOLLAR; COST OF LIVING TO RISE AS ALL COMMODITIES SOAR Relief and Public Works Program Called ‘Silly, and Will Be Sharply 2 g Curtailed; Paper Curr WASHINGTON, D. C., wants power to lower the gol ation to accept si and author April ‘ency to Be Issued on Basis of Worthless Bank Assets 20.—President Roosevelt let Congress know that he d backing behind the currency, power to ue paper money, iver in payment of war debts. The government has come out openly for a rise in commodity prices through credit and currency inflation. Roosevelt will have the power to issue machinery for the indefinite Bank Act. Roosevelt’s new demand for power to issue paper currency emphasizes the Administration's determinatior to raise prices through inflation old Standard Ended. Secretary of the Treasury, Woodin, has officially admitted that the Uni- ted States is off the gold standard. This is the first time that the gov- ernment has officially admitted what was appa nce the day the banks were closed and gold ments stop- rly in March. ’s statement followed Roo- cond declaration of a com- plete embargo on gold shipments to foreign countr The decision to close down all exports of gold was MORGAN GAINS BY INFLATION Cheerfully Approves Roosevelt Move NEW YORK. ern everything is alright, ress is giving prominence to ement of J. P. Morgan approv- final proof that gny quantity of paper currency. As a matter of fact. the expansion of the currency already existed in the Emergency made last Saturday. ‘The govern-|four to six billion dollars of trogen ment, in the meantime, issued licen-| deposits tied up in the thousands of ses permitting slight gold exports.|closed or restricted banks will have Formal announcement of the Satur-|to be released according to Woodin- day decision was made for the first|by the issuance of paper currency, time today. The government, in the|'This is a direct inflationary meas meantime, issued licenses permitting| ure, since the depositors will get de- slight gold exports. ‘These were|preciated currency in return for quickly withdrawn when the gold gold-backed currency which they. de~ shipments were of no avail in halting | posited. the decline of the dollar. Lower Living Standards, | x i i The recent financial acts ie & a Pe ata | Roosevelt government are all attacks Since the declaration of the bank| a o.inst the workers. The purpose of moratorium, commodity prices have! jnfiation is to raise prices. This is been rising In the last few ‘days done .by reducing the buying power they have been advancing at 8 fev- of the dollar. This is another means erish rate. Cotton was up about $2/yseq py the capitalist class for low- a bale. Sugar showed a further ad-} ering its cost of production in order vance of 1 to 2 points, and rubber! t> make profit in competition with advanced from 14 to 74 points. Wheat | rorei¢n competitors. continued to advance on a tremen-| ‘py foreign capitalist, however, dous turnover, rising at one time! yeniy to this by still further depre- more than 4 ce bushel. This| cating their currency, that is making in wholesale commodity prices) their workers accep will soon reflect itself in advancing) chasing power. The financial man- retail prices of everyday necessities.| oeuvres are expressions of the capi- Relief and Public Works to Be Cut.) talists struggling for possession of the Continuing its attacks on the! steadily diminishing world market, e pt reduced pur- working class by depreciating the; dollar, the Roosevelt government is/ also planning to materially reduce} the capitalist the g Roosevelt’s action in going off the program for public works and relief. It will be remembered that when Great Britain went off the gold standard, it also cut Sharply into the the gold standard. Morgan’s ap- appropriations for unemployment proval really gives the whole show relief payments to British workers. way. What pleases Morgan can Dollar Drops. certainly not be in the interests of The dollar continued to fall pre- the workers. cipitately on European markets. Roosevelt has been posing as a | brave opponent of Wall Street kings like J. P. Morgan. Now it appears r delighted with velt's actioi And he has good on! For the whole Roosevelt am is to advance the position n finance capital in the nternational commerce. reason wl happy about the decline of the dollar and the phenomenal rise in the pound erling is as follows: It is broadly rumored that the Mor- gans bought sterling in enormous quantities when it was selling around $3.30 to $3.40. Now thet sterling has reached almost $4, the Morgans can make a neat turn with a profit run- P. is ally | ning into many millions. P, is so} Pound sterling touched $4 in terms of the dollar. All gold currencies reached new highs. This means that foreign currencies can buy more American dollars than formerly, and consequently more American goods. This permits American capitalism to undersell European capitalism, par- ticularly British industry. Simultaneously with the announce- ment of the end of the gold standard, Woodin announces that he will press upon the governors of the Federal Reserve Banks the necessity for cre- dit expansion and the need to issue large quantities of new paper cur- rency on the basis of the Emergency Bank Act which permits the issuance of money on the basis of frozen bank assets and government bonds. The , termines its sentence not by the dead | letter of the law, but by its living | spirit. It doesn’t isolaic its decision | from any of the factors. “The strength of the victorious | socialism of our country was such as to be a real factor in the given by the supreme court. most rigorous sentence passed that on the convicted state |ployes. It was. clear from | pleading in court that they were jconscious that their “cause” was |doomed. The Soviet court found it possible to preserve their lives. | “Wretched Dwarfs.” i *Together with MacDonald, ‘Thorn-| ton, Nordwall (the British spies) they enter the history of anti-Soviet plots as wretched dwarfs, who at- tempted to raise their hands against the Socialist Fatherland of the toil- ers of all countries. “The Soviet court granted these dwarfs their lives, to which they feverishly cling. “The sentence of the court has nailed to the pillory the “Diehard” (extreme anti-Soviet British Tory) | press, along with their false testi-| mony and slander of the Soviet! Union. The English conservative press, together with a section of the! “Liberal” press attempted to utilize | this case for the organization of an} international anti-Soviet campaign. | ‘This ended with their abashment be- fore the entire world. Embargo Won't Help. was em- their “The introduction of a British em- bargo on Soviet products won't help the British imperialists. Everyone realizes the conduct of the English governinent is not determined by the/| trial, but by the desire to somehow justify the campaign against Soviet- English trade for the ¢ of realiza- tion of the Ottawa program, (TI Ottawa agreeme! betweett England and some of her dominions, giving preference in English markets colonial products, at the expense of lower standards of living for English workers.) “The embargo doesn’t trouble us. Our economy is highly enough de- veloped. English enterp hit by the crisis will very soon feel the ef- fects of the embargo. The outrage ous campaign of incitement against the U, S. S. R. by the English die- hard press has ended in failure.” British Dplomatic Failure. Pravda cites numerous excerpts about the trial from American ne’ papers, which show the of suc- cess of the British diehard press and of British diplomacy Pravda recalls awarding the Order of Lenin to the American engineer Svagean, which took place a few days ago. Convict Guilty Only. Tt says the Supreme Court acquit-| ted Gregory because the U. 8. S. R. doesn’t mix dishonest people with honest. namely: the necessity for vigilance to fortify the proletarian dictatorship. RE LIEF AND WAGES TO ME . to It states the working class | will draw the main conclusion from | “British Embargo Won’t Help Imperialists; | ; Our Industry Too Strong”, Says USSR Press 2: sess ss ten Real Motive in Embargo Is Desire to Use Trial for World Campaign Against USSR; and to Placate Canada Which Is Slipping Out of British Hands Towards U. S. A. In an article devoted to the trial and sentence Isvestia (the Soviet government newspaper) writes: “The international importance of the trial consists in the fact that the wreckers who are citizens of the Soviet Union were connected with a group of foreign spi Instead keeping aloof from them, a consid- erable section of the English bour- geoisie and English imperialist press started a campaign for the deter- mined defense of the accused. The reason for this lies in the political aims pursued by English imperialism in relation to the Soviet Union. Fears Loss of Canada. “The English government is striv- ing to favor Canada at the expense of U. S. S. R. trade, in order to pre- vent the raproachment (agreement or approach towards an agreement) of the Dominion of Canada with the United States of America, “The British government has ized the failures of the British spies for raising an unprecedented cam- paign against the US.S.R. “The English government has not BANKERS DICTATE HIGHER TAX AND BOOST IN FARES ‘Tammany Mayor Is to Carry Out New Drive on Toiling Mass NEW YORK, April 20. — W vanishing possibilities of the Mc payment of taxes being up to expec- tations the clearing house bankers | are demanding more sti cuts and possible tax raises before they | will advance short term credits to the city to the amount of $144,000,000. | The 1933 tax vy approximates | $457,000,000 of which $230,000,000-is |due May 1. So hard hit are many landlords, particularly the smaller | property holders, that many of them cannot pay taxes. It is probable | that not more than half the assess- ments due in May can be collected. | This will make it impossible for the | bankers to realize on a short term | loan. May Boost Interest Rate. 3-4 per cent. This might mean that they would have to float a fur- |ther short term loan to pay them= | selves interest, which would give-them a still greater strangle hold upon the | income of the city . | Economy measures in the form of lturther wage cuts for all city em- ployees looms, besides additional tax rates. Knock Out Five-Cent Fare. It is certain that insistent demands will be made that O’Brien, the Tam~ many mayor, who was put in to-do away with the five-cent fare and to raise it to 7% or 10 cents, speeds up the job as quickly as possible The poverty-stricken workers of Greater New York are unable to pay the present fare, with the result that many of them walk long distances-to save a nickel or because they haven't | got it. This has cut down the re- | venue and a higher fare may restlt jin many crashing the gates of the | subway lines. | Biegest Bankers on Committees. | ‘The committee for the clearing house ban's represent the bisgest |enance canitalicts in the eltr. Te ine es pre engage of the board of ¢ C. Potter. et | president of the First National Rank, land Frederick Warburg, of Kuhn, Loeb & Co. The former head of the jSucceeded by threat to force the| committee was Charles E. Mitchell, | Soviet government to give up the trial, which proved the guilt of the English engineers. It will not be possible to conceal the truth from) The real aims! the English public opinion by the ‘methods’ now being applied by the | English government. of this anti-Soviet campaign will be thoroughly disclosed.” j erstwhile president of the National City Bank, who is now facing criminal charges in connection with federab tax evasion. Hitch-hike, drive, walk to the Chl- cago Mooney Congress, April 30 to | May 2. ET INFLATION PRICES!