The Daily Worker Newspaper, August 17, 1933, Page 1

Is the Daily Worker on Sale at Your Union Meeting? Your Club Headquarters? Vol. X, No. 197 <> Daily ‘(Section of the Communist International) orker Party U.S.A. se; America’s Only Working Class Daily Newspaper | WEATHER Eastern New York: Fair Thursday Entered as second-class matter at the Post Office at New York, M. ¥., under the Act of March 8, 1879, NEW YORK, THURSDAY, AUGUST 17, 1933 (Six Pages) Price 3 Cents LGW OFFICIALS, WHALEN MOVE TO BREAK DRESS STRIKE Steel Trust Rushes Co. Union to Put Over NRA Town of Homestead Is Bulwark of Company Tyranny Against Steel Workers; Gangsterism Runs Rife Roosevelt’s Kindness NOTHER golden gift is being offered to the bankers. Roosevelt's Personally chosen Chairman of the R.F.C. has just announced that the government has another billion dollars for them if they will come and get it. The government will buy preferred stock of the banks. This is on top of the $700,000,000 the banks already got: in loans. How wonderful—for the banks! This latest scheme makes it even easier than ever before for the bankers. Now they can get plenty of money from the government without even having to borrow it. All they have to do is to print preferred stock. No more loans to about! Whose money is this that Roosevelt’s agent is throwing into the laps of the banks? It is the money plundered from the toiling masses in form of taxes, the infamous taxes on cigarettes, theatres, medicines, etc., the taxes on gas and electricity. What will the banks do with these millions dragged from the work- ers? They will increase their profits. Roosevelt takes the millions collected in taxes and turns them over for bankers’ profits. When the workers demand Unemployment Insurance, when the wounded war veterans fight against reductions in their miserably small compensation, when the white collar workers protest against wage cuts, Roosevelt, talks in horror of a “budget crisis”. Where is the budget crisis when the bankers appear? The Roosevelt government forgets the “budget crisis.” But the tables can be turned the other way. Mass actions in the streets, mass struggles before the government offices, before the relief bureaus, can force the Roosevelt government to turn these billions collected from the masses into funds for Unemployment Insurance. There is plenty of money for workers’ relief and Unemployment In- surance. Mass actions, mass marches, protests, of the organized workers can get it. Continuous, sustained struggles will win. Sovietism, But... OT so long ago the capitalist press was predicting the immediate down- fall of the Soviet government. It was too “crazy”, too “impractical” to last, they said. Now they sing a different tune. The latest tack on the Soviet Union comes from the Boston Herald, which admits that there are marly ex- cellent things about the Soviets that America should copy. It even goes farther, and it predicts the coming of Soviets—but American style. It writes: “It is not at all unlikely that in a short time—say a generation or so—most countries will have adopted a system which is a com- promise between the original Sovietism and the traditional Amer- icanism.” Of course there is reason for this sudden interest in Soviets. And there is an even deeper reason for this emphasis on “compromise” Soviets. ‘The Soviets have proved to the workers of the world that they can develop the productive forces faster than the capitalist countries can. And at the same time they have forever abolished the capitalist curse of unemployment and crises. The Soviets have forever done away with the capitalist insanity of “overproduction” in the midst of wide- spread starvation and misery. How did they do it? Stalin has given the simple and clear answer. “We have an incomparable economic advantage by having driven the capitalists out of the country,” he said recently, cele- brating the victories of the Five Year Plan. Now the American workers are beginning to see more and more clearly that in order to have all the benefits of the Soviets, they also will have to drive their “own” capitalists out of power. And here is where the reason for the Boston Herald’s “compromise” comes in. The Boston Herald, being a capitalist paper, wants to keep the workers from taking the revolutionary road to establishing Workers’ Sov- iets in America, And so it talks about “compromise” Soviets—‘“Soviets” with the capitalists in power just as before, Soviets without Communists! . * . . ND to drive home its poison against the revolutionary way out of the crisis, the Boston Herald expresses the following opinion: “Control of the military is necessary for Moscow. Ours is based majority opinion. In the case of the cedes, for example, there is not even a law which General Johnson can invoke. His only weapon is per- suasive publicity.” How completely indifferent to the plainest facts is this defender of capitalism! The presence of State troops in Pennsylvania, shooting down Louis Podorsky, one of the strike pickets. What persuasive publicity! The brutal beating of workers every day in strikes—also “persuasive publicity.” Every worker in this country knows that the police, the troops and the National Guard stand ready with machine guns to shoot down work- ers who fight against exploitation and starvation. And the workers know that it is only in the Soviet Union that the workers have real democracy, proletarian democracy, because they them- selves own and control the means of production, and are the State power. No. In order to abolish unemployment, crisis, and poverty as the Soviet Union has done, we American workers will have to follow the Soviet Union example by driving the capitalist class out of power. All talk about “compromise” Soviets is just a trick to prevent this from hap- pening. A Shop Unit in a Strike AN incident showing how not to carry on Communist work during a strike came up in the recent Boston shoe strike when 17,000 came out for higher wages. In one Boston shoe factory, employing 200 workers, a party shop nucleus had been in existence for some time. When the strike broke it was “decided” to suspend the meetings of the nucleus for the period of the strike. At the very time when the nucleus should have become the major factor in the strike in its shop, the unit was practically thrown aside. This shows, to say the least, a very poor understanding of the func- tion of Communists during a strike. This shop nucleus is looked upon as an inner party apparatus to deal with inner party matters. Instead of intensifying the work of the unit, making the strike its major activ- ity, mobilizing the Party forces to take a leading hand in the strike, the members are separated to act individually, and the unit is “put on ice”. . . ° . | igi we have a dramatic illustration of what is wrong with many units. And this instance is particularly drastic because it took place in a shop unit and during a period of strike. Certainly this is not the way to mobilize Party members for strike activities. It is not the way to make the shop nucleus the most deter- mined, most intelligent and best organized force tft the strike. It is not the way to penetrate the masses, drawing strikers into the shop nucleus as the result of our strike activity, ‘We must break down the idea ihat the Party unit is something that won't fit in strike struggles and can conveniently be laid aside until after the struggle is over. x The units must increase their activities among all workers in prep- aration for strike struggles, must broaden all its mass activities and in the period of strikes must become the dominant factor, intensifying all *s functions, By BILL DUNNE HOMESTEAD, Pa., Aug. 16—In this principality of Carnegie Steel, which got some brief notoriety be- cause of the visit of Miss Perkins, the company union was formed in four days to comply with the provi- sions of the National Industrial Re- covery Act. This company union can be taken as an example of the kind of eman- cipation of workers brought about by NIRA. As a matter of record the news of the steel company lobby- ists sent from’ Washington to the effect that NIRA was to pass was directly responsible for the hurried organization of a union by which, according to the Carnegie offittals, steel workers have been presented, without cost to themselves—in this respect far superior to “outside” unions like the Steel and Metal| Workers — with an __ instrument | through which all grievances are | taken up and corrected without fear or favor. A typical meeting of this union committee was described to me by a Homestead worker who, by some miracle not mentioned, managed to attend one or two sessions. First of all, the Carnegie company has fur- nished an example of how easy it is to organize a union if you hap- pen to have control of the jobs, lib- erties and lives of some 10,000 workers: Voting Privileges Two “delegates” were selected by (CONTINUED ON PAGE THREE) Buffalo Wire Men Strike to Force Increase In Pay Wickwire Spencer Co. Workers Walkout, and Picket _ BUFFALO, N. Y.—After refus- ing to recognize the elected work- ers committee, a strike was called at the Wickwire Spencer Steel Co., when all the workers in the Fabric Mill walked out on Monday. Later the entire mill was tied up, and all the workers joined the strike. A general strike committee was elected with representatives from every mill. A negotiations commit- tee was also elected to bring the workers’ demands to the bosses. Picketing is being carried on to get all the men in the plant out. Among the demands of thestrikers are: No discrimination against any worker, and no favoritism in any department; minimum guarantee of $5 for 8 hours work for wire draw- ers, crané-men, firemen, fabric mill operators, hepers, reelers and butt- welders; a minimum guarantee of $4 for an 8 hour day for all labor- ers. Higher piece work rates are demanded. Sales Tax Comes Up Again In Albany ALBANY, Aug. 16—With all pro- posed taxes on Wall Street stock sales taken out, and with full authority to levy a city sales tax included, the Tammany blanket tax bill is now up for discussion before the Legislature. The Republicans have given their tentative support to the Bill, in re- turn for the omission of the stock tax features, Under the guise of investigating the possibility of “economy,” Samuel Untermeyer, member of the Tam- many Board of strategy is here, try- ing to get a city investigation with the purpose of cutting down ex- penses. Strike at Eaton Axle Supported By 400 Workers 325 Join Steel and Metal Workers In- dustrial Union — CLEVELAND, Ohio, Aug. 16.— Four hundred workers of the Eaton Axle Co. are out. solid on strike, demanding higher wages, under the leadership of the Steel and Metal Workers Industrial Union. Over 325 have signed applica- tion cards for membership in the union dnd paid initiation fees. _ The strikers are demanding an increase in pay of 50 per cent. There are special demands for Ne- gro workers and skilled machinists. All strikers have agreed to fight for the reinstatement of blacklisted Negro workers, also to spread the strike to the Eaton Axle spring and service plants. Groups of strikers are picketing these plants. The A. F. of L. leaders sent a committee to the workers for dis- ruptive work. The strikers are de- nouncing them, praising the wage code of the Steel and Metal Work- ers Industrial Union, and its fight- ing leadership. In early negotiations the bosses agreed to recognize the union and requested the workers to return and wait for further settlements. The workers emphatically rejected the offer, demanding recognition of other grievances. Mass Conference Tonight on Press Bazaar. A mass conference, composed of delegates from trade union locals, Party units, fraternal organizations and other workers’ groups will be held tonight at the Workers’ Center, 50 E. 13th St., Room 205. This gath- ering was called for the uprpose of launching detailed plans for one of the largest affairs of the year—the annual Bazaar of the Daily Worker met Worker and Morning Frei- eit Special Textile Page in Saturday’s ‘Dai Saturday’s Daily Worker will contain a special page on the textile industry, exposing the working out of the first slave code adopted. Special articles on conditions of Southern textile ‘s will be published. Carl who made a survey of the silk industry, will write on how the code affects the silk workers. Nat Kaplan, organizer for the - National Textile Workers’ Unior will an article on three Rhode Island strikes. Order your copies of this issue now. Encel, Red Leader Dies Under Torture In Roumanian Jail Communist Fighter Over Fourteen Years = PRAGUE, Czechoslovakia, Aug. 16.—Mariciu Encel, famous Rou- manian revolutionary leader, has died under torture by the secret} police, the Siguranza, in the police prison of Timisoara, Roumania. He had been in prison for two weeks, where he suffered torture daily in an effort to force from him facts of the illegal activities of the Roumanian Communist Party. His body was already cov-| ered with wounds when the Sign- ranza agents strangled him to death. Encel began his revolutionary career with the Hungarian revolu- tion, where he fought in the Red Army under Bela Kun. After the destruction of the Hungarian So- viet Republic, he joined the Com- munist Party in Roumania, where he worked without interuption for fourteen years. Tremendous indignation at his murder has been aroused through- out Roumania, and especially in Transylvania where he was widely known and liked by the workers and peasants. Economie Expert Resigns from NRA Administration WASHINGTON, Aug. 16—Be-| cause the Interests of the consumers were being disregarded in the Na- tional Recovery program of Roose- velt, Professor William Ogburn of the University of Chicago resigned from the Consumers’ Advisory Board. He charged that the Roosevelt administration is deliberately not developing any adequate statistics on the purchasing power of the consuming masses in order to hide the rising cost of living under the Codes. He denounced the appointment of the wife of General Johnson to one of the leading committes on consumer welfare, describing her as being “inadequately equipped to learn the facts of costs and prices.” e pede Lees 60,000 Dressmakers Out On Strike, 15,000 Led by NTWIU WEINSTOCK TO HIT N.R.A. IN DEBATE ‘Blanch to Defend It| In Debate Thursday | | NEW YORK.—How the NRA operates and what the working class expect from it, will be ex- plained from a workingman’ by Louis Weinstock in his debate | on the NRA with Blanch, attorney, tonight at 8 o’clock, at Irving Plaza, Irving Place and 15th! Street. | | | can | rigle While Blanch, prominent attor- ney, will favor the NRA, Weinstock will oppose it as injurious to trade unionism as well as to unorganized | | labor. Prominent for his struggles with- | in the A. F. of L. against its reac- tionary leadership, Weinstock, ex-| pelled by the Painters’ Brotherhood was elected National Secretary of | |the A. F. of L. Committee for Un-| }employment Insurance by repre- |sentative, of more than 1.000 A.| F. of L. unions throughout the| country. Sherwood Anderson On |\Committee for Coal \Mine Strike Relief Sherwood Anderson has con- sented to act as chairman of the National Miners Aid Committee which is calling upon all workers to support the mine strike by send- ing relief. News from coal fields shows that the miners have not given up their strike. Many are still out, and those in the mines are preparing to come out for their demands. If you have or can get food, clothing, shoes or oney for these supplies, for the striking miners and their families, send them to the Miners Relief Committee, 149 Washington Place, Pittsburgh, Pa. Funds should be sent to Barbara | Hirsch, secretary-treasurer of the National Miners Aid Committee, 5 West 21st Street, New York City. iSun Ship Yards’ Men) Go Back to Work; Are Forced Into Co. Union PHILADELPHIA, Pa. Aug. 16. —The strikers in the Sun Ship and| Dry Dock plant went back! workers were getting 55 cents per Under 30.’s jhour. or $ : the Roosevelt NRA act they were cut eight hours. per week. So their wages were reduced to $20.80 per veek. They struck for the old scale of wages and sent to Washington for a man to help them out. This fel'ow jfrom Washington got them a rai | of $1 per week with the under: | Party, District 2 {under the leadership of the Cafe- Two open air dress strike meet- ings will be held today at 36th St. and Eighth Ave in the garment center at noon and at Cooper | Square, 3rd Ave. and 6th St. at | 3 p.m. Communist Party | Issues Statement | Qn Dress Strike Calls Party Members| In Dress Trade to Take Lead YORK. he Communist in a statement is- sued yesterday on the general strike call of the Needle Trades Workers’ Industrial Union calls upon every Party member in the needle trades to take his post and carry out his Communist duty in the struggle of the thousands of dressmakers for decent working conditions. The statement reads in part: In this strike situation, the mem- bers of the Communist Party have as their highest Communist duty to be in the forefront of the strike to give leadership to the workers and by our example, inspire the thou- sands of dressmakers to carry on the struggle to victory. The Party members in the dress trade have been the builders of the Industrial Union and haye been in the forefront not only in the strug- gle of the dressmakers, but in the struggles of the workers in the other trades in New York Cty, e.g., the fur trade. The present strike is a real test of our Communist leadership, courage, and fighting spirit. In the name of the District Buro of the Communist Party, we call on you to enter in the first line trenches of the present battles, first of all in the shop, in the market, among the members of the International, among the unorganized workers, wherever workers can be mobilized for effective struggle against their mortal enemies, the bosses and their allies. Food Union Leads Cafeteria Strikes NEW YORK—Workers of the Sweet Life Cafeteria, 138 Fifth Ave. went out on strike Tuesday NEW. teria department of the Food Workers’ Industrial Union. Al- though the cafeteria has a blue eagle in its front window, the 12 hour day prevails and wages from $7-$10 are paid to the unskilled workers. The strikers are demanding a 10 hour day and a $15 minimum cale for bus boys, bus girls and dish washers, reinstatement of fired workers and recognition of the standing that they would join a | company union. union. \Strike Meetings Today Dubinsky Admits Alliance With Police, Gov’ment ILGW Heads Force Dues from Open Shop Strikers NEW YORK.—On the first day of the big dress strike af- fecting workers in New York, Connecticut and New Jersey, 60,000 workers were reported out on strike, while more than 15,000 dressmakers were officially reported as striking under the leadership of the Needle Trades Workers Industrial Union. Grim determination was ex- pressed on the faces of the thou- sands of dressmakers as they poured into the strike halls of the Needle Trades Workers Industrial Union and the International Ladies Garment Workers that the strike must be waged to win better conditions and to wipe out the sweatshop conditions. Groups of workers gathered in the strike halls told of the eagerness with which dressmakers in the open shops welcomed union committees which came to call them out on strike, Thousands of new faces, especially Negro workers, crowded the strike halls indicating the changing com- position of the dressmakers. The dressmakers will not be trifled with in this strike. As the strike-movement takes on greater strength, the Needle Trades Union is determined to appeal to the ILGWU again for a united struggle, and united picket lines, in order to win victory for the workers, and pre- vent any attempt to sell out the workers. David Dubinsky, in a speech today before the strikers declared that the “president is with us, the public is with us, the police are with us.” Strikers reported today that police actively assisted the ILGW commit- tees in pulling the workers out of the shops and into the strikes. The police, working under orders of the bosses and the city administration, are helping with the purpose of keep- (CONTINUED ON PAGE TWO) Upholsterers’ Union Rejects NRA Plan for Arbitration NEW YORK.—The attempt of the furniture bosses to force the workers unconditionally back into the fas~ tories on the strength of vague ar- bitration promises was frustrated by the workers at a meeting of Local 76 of the Upholsters’ Union Tuesday evening at Irving Plaza Hall. Col onel Phillips of the NRA in New York, told the workers that he had been informed that the workers wanted to go back to work and ‘to leave the question of higher pay and shorter hours to an arbitration com= mittee of A. F. of L. leaders and fur- niture bosses, Postman Staggers With Load of Letters Praising Six-Page Many Promise to Send Contributions to Sustaining Fund NEW YORK.—The flood of let- ters greeting the appearance of the new six-page ‘Daily’ threatened to swamp the editorial office y.s- terday. Heaps of letters of congratu- lation and praise, of suggestions and Proposals for improvement, as well as others taking issue with some of the new features, had our postman staggering with every mail. ‘ Typical of the warm response that new paper has received is the following letter from Noel Ickes- torts “Allow me to express my feelings in regards to the appearance of the Daily Worker in six pages. Upon receipt of the ‘Daily,’ and before opening it, my heart throbbed— knowing it to be the six-page, but sort of doubtful as to the value of its contents. “But when I opened the inside pages and saw the various new col- umns and extra features, let alone the arrangement, the joy that over- took me at the moment 1 cannot express. “This was on Monday. “Today's issue, that is, Tuesday’s, saw greater improvement still. I am especially in gratitude to ‘Dr. Lut- tinger’s Advice’ on swimming. Edwin Rolfe’s article was very amusing. The sketches provided by the Daily Worker staff for the above-men- tioned article (Editorial note: the sketches were by Quirt) were the best and most exact yet. “In ‘Tuning In, H. F, was very cortise and clear. A whole history squeezed into five short paragraphs. Dan Rico’s history strips can com- pete with any bourgeois artist's. And 3 Cents Now Goes to! Buy “Daily” Instead of World- Telegram “Editor, Daily Worker: “TI have just finished the ‘Work- er’ and I wish to take this oppor- tunity to commend you for your change from a four to a six-page Daily Worker. I have been read- ing the ‘Daily’ only on Saturday until a month ago, when I dis- carded my evening paper, the World-Telegram, which costs three cents, and purchased the ‘Daily’ instead. Frankly, I have found it very refreshing in the past few weeks. I also must admit that prior to that the ‘Daily’ was a trifle too ‘heavy’ on the mind with its stere- otyped method of presentation. But now there has been a decided change for the better. Keep up the good work! Let the slogan of the workers be 100,000 circula- tion by the end of the year!” “Oomradely yours, —H. H” the Sports column is a sorely-neéded feature. “Iam looking forward to New- house and Quirt, who I believe have something big up their collective sleeve. ‘S.S. Utah,’ by Michael Pell, speaks the American lingo. “In short, I think the ‘Daily’ will be on the upgrade from this very day on. Some young man of 17, whom I know. has already written a letter to Dr. Luttinger for advice, this being the, first or second time that this lad has read the Daily Worker in his life. “You may expect another letter from me at the end of this week, in which will be enclosed a check or money order toward the sustain- ing fund for the ‘Daily’.” Comrade Ickestort’s response is what is needed throughout the country in order to keep the six- page ‘Daily’ and to improve it. He not only likes the new paper, but he intends to SUPPORT it, as his last paragraph shows. Irving Cooper writes: “Congratu- lations on the six-page Daily Work- er. At last the editors are getting down to business. I am more than sure now that the ‘Daily’ will from now on become a real popul:r pa- Per among the American workers, and gain thousands of new reacors. At last we can be proud of our paper!” ‘ The sports column seems to have hit the right spot, so far as our readers are concerned. One of our regular readers who signs herself “Beverly Wexler, 7 and a half my brother is 10,” writes: “Dear Comrades of the Daily Worker: I am a worker's child. I am sending my greetings to you. I also want to have a full-page funny sheet of workers’ life.” Her brother, Eugene Wexler, also sent us a letter, addressed to Ed- ward Newhous?: “I am very glad to see that the new ‘Daily’ has a sports section, because I always had to look in a capitalist paper to see the sports page. I hope you keep writ- ing sports because I am an ardent follower of baseball and tennis.” We can assure our young com- rades that the Daily Worker will have a funny strip, and that it will become a funny-page just as soon as our recders show, by their in- creased support, by their contri- butions to the sustaining fund, and by their activities to increase the circulation, that they really want'a bigger and better and more popular Daily Worker. Here’s a letter that ought to make all units of the Communist Party sit up and take notice! It’s from a unit in Monticello, N. Y.: “Last night at the Party meeting, the Daily Worker route was again made a Party route, with this dif- ference. Due to the improvements in the paper, we feel, now, every work- er will enjoy the Daily Worker, even if he doesn’t fully understand at first the general news articles and theoretical articles. “With the extra money from the route we will order extra Dai- ly Workers for canvassing pur- poses. We also have started a sus- taining fund and each member is pledged for five cents a week. “We also are planning on a house party for our new enlarged paper— to be held shortly. “The comrades were all very cn-| thusiastic about the new ‘Daily, and in conjunction with the open let- ter decided to immediately correct “We Fight Over Who Reads ‘Daily’ First In Our Family Now” “Keep up the good work with the Daily Worker,” writes H. M. “Tt is an inspiration now—so full of life and so responsive to the workers’ needs. “On August 14 I refused to wax enthusiastic over the new ‘Daily’ to the degree I might have. I thought it was just @ supreme ef- fort for the first day. But when I saw that on August 15 the pa- per was still better, I just let loose. We fight over who is to read the ‘Daily’ first in our fam- ily, and in between sips of coffee the lucky one reads aloud each new feature. One of us was late to work this morning because he 6 Ly Pe] Daily Great e r Circulation Needed to Insure Bigger Paper . our former laxity with the ‘Dally’* Pte Sahat There are numerous other letters, — far too many to be printed in one day. And all of them, whether they ' praise completely or take issue on — certain specific points, agree that at last the “Daily” has hit the mark. These letters also emphasize an- | other point: which is, that the larger paper must have the whole- hearted support of all our readers in order to continue publication as effectively and interestingly as it should. For this more and more ' contributions are needed. We must build un a large sustaining fund, to which everyone contributes ac- cording to his ability, in order to carry on. And we must increase , our circulation! : workers, with suggestions, reactions ; to the new “Daily,” proposals for its. improvement. Tell us what you like, and what you think ought to ban changed. * But at the same time, get among your friends, your neighbo! your fellow-workers and shopmat and get them to read the Worker and to subscribe! Only vastly bigger circulation will couldn’t tear himself away from the paper. Now the New York Times is second choice. the bigger “Daily” going on all cylinders) 1 Let’s have more letters from more, »