The Daily Worker Newspaper, August 26, 1933, Page 1

Get A Regular Subscription from Every Member of Your Organization $ Vol. X. No, 205 << To the Cleveland Conference ‘HE DAILY WORKER extends its hearty greetings to the delegates at the Cleveland Conference for United Action, which opens today to \meet the bosses’ offensive. f Your conference is an historic event. You meet at a time when & strike wave is gripping the country, and when through the NRA, the bosses, acting more openly and closely with the A. F. of L. officfals than ever before, are trying to smash back these struggles of the workers. Everything has been done to keep news of your conference from | reaching the broad masses of workers. All agents of the bosses in the ranks of labor are straining every nerve, every ounce of energy, to keep the workers from. knowing the real aims of the NRA. They do not want the present struggles, militant as they are, from becoming a cohesive and more unified and conscious fight against Roosevelt's starvation program. For the first time since, the New Deal, workers from trade unions, regardless of political leaning, are meeting on a nationwide scale to plan a unified resistance to the NRA and its effects on the. workers. ‘ HE DAILY WORKER has reported every step of your preparations. We will continue and increase our efforts to broadcast your conference and its program. We believe that out of Cleveland will come.a plan of action which | will strengthen the fight against the NRA, for unemployment insurance, | will solidify and stiffen the ranks of the workers, give them a more ef- fective base for winning higher wages, better conditions and union recog- nition. We believe that the united front you are forging will be a powerful block to the American capitalists who under the New Deal are trying, by unloading a crushing burden on the backs of the workers, to drag capitalism out of its crisis. Forward, to the greater struggles that stand before us! Going Up IN the last eight weeks, the daily cost of living for the workers through- out the country rose a few more points—3.3 per cent, to be exact. The reports of the National Industrial Conference Board have just revealed this. That’s something that all the circus ballyhoo of the White House and the NRA offices cannot talk away. But the significant fact is that not only is:the cost of necessities rising rapidly, but the cost of food is rising almost 3 times as fast as the cost of other articles. In the last eight weeks, food costs leaped 8.3 per cent. This is the kind of fact that finds no place in the publicity roarings of the NRA agents. But it is one of the real, undeniable results of the whole Roosevelt program. A basket of food which rises ever higher out of the reach of the work- ers—this is the NRA actuality of which Norman Thomas speaks as being “on the road to socialism”. It is facts like these that prove the contention of the Communist Pariy that the Roosevelt NRA program is a starvation program. Only higher wages, rising faster than prices, only a brake on rising can halt the ‘ifying of the poverty of the workers. in neighborhood actions, in the shops, and everywhere old, must the workers organize to resis the Roosevelt NRA tion program. Changing to Suit S news comes across the waters of the debates and discussions of the Second Socialist International now meeting at Paris, here in America, we can already catch the old familiar tune of Second International capi- talist apologetics. The assembled leaders of the Second International are playing true to their old form of creating new, twisted “socialist theo- ries” to meet the current, changing needs of the capitalist class. In 1927, before the crisis struck the capitalist world like a hurricane, the socialist leaders of the Second International heaped scorn upon the prediction of the Communist International that the seeming growth of capitalism was inevitably preparing the way for the most devastating crisis in history. Hilferding, their leading theoretician, said in 1927: “Organzed capitalism (i. e., the capitalism of the capitalist world before 1929—Ed.) ... means a fundamental replacement of the cap- italist principle of free competition by the socialist principle of planned production.” Thus, all over the world, the socialist leaders ‘adapted their theories to the conditions of the capitalist class. All struggle against the swollen power of monopoly capital was sidetracked by the socialist leaders to decoy the working class into support of an “organized capitalism” which was al- ready based on “socialist principles”. * * . ND then the inevitable world crisis, predicted by the Communist Inter- national on the basis of Marxism, struck, smashing to pieces all the theories of the Socialist leaders with which they attempted to console the vorking class in its wage slavery. : This crisis has forced them to change their tune fo meet the new needs of the capitalist class, the needs of a capitalist class which has intensified its drive against the workers under the blows of world eco- nomic crisis. Yesterday, at the Second International Congress, the American dele- gate, Panken, hailed the Roosevelt N. R. A. codes as a great benefit to the American workers. The obvious militarization of labor, and the sweeping away of many of the old democratic pretenses by the N. R. A. administrators, does not mean any danger of fascism, declared Panken. On the contrary, he said: t “We in America need not fear fascism. Our democratic tradi- tions are a sufficient guarantee against fascism .. .” And Norman Thomas supports this theory here at home by writing in the New Leader that the N.R.A, codes have worked a “real revolution ... making it a little easier to advance towards a truly Socialist society.” . . . ee ee rie re ee ere soso vans eae meer See private property and capitalist exploitation have been exterminated, Soci- | alist leaders have never been able to discover Socialism. There they see | “State Capitalism.” In he United States, with the Roosevelt government lynching 2 ruth- less drive to strengthen the grip of Wall Street monopoly capital, driving lown the real wages of the workers by inflation, intensifying exploitation speed-up—here the Socialist leaders discover “Socialism!” And so, it is obvious that the Socialist leaders both here and abroad are still at their old game of changing their “Socialist” theories to suit the needs of the capitalist class. How About It? Oe a Rae ee rare erence renee Pore, SO - sympathizers about the new six-page Daily. But little lias been heard from the Party Districts. The following letter from Cleveland, one of the concentration Districts of the Party, 1s significant as to the way the Party organization is in some places responding to the revolutionary task of building the Daily. hf y: J “You write about the good response to the six-page Daily. That 4s true. The paper is improvirig, and developing into a real working- class paper. But there is one point to remember. In this District, which is called the concentration District, nething was done until now for the D. W. Drive, “The starting of the six-page Daily was absolutely ignored here. , /In a town like Youngstown, for example, ten Daily Workers are sold. If this attitude to their own paper is a sign of the way the Party is doing the tasks of the Open Letter, what conclusion can be drawn? “The comrades and sympathizers are ready. But if the leadership of the Party District ignores the Daily, how can you expect the mem- ett bd Entered as second-class matter at the Post Office at New York, N. ¥., under the Act of March 8, 1879, N. R. A. PROHIBITS PIC Cuban Strike Wave Rises, Forcing Hand of Cabinet Cabinet Suspends Machado Reforms, Dismisses Congress, Calls Elections in Six Months ‘(Section of the Communist International) orker Party U.S.A. | America’s Only Working Class Daily Newspaper | WEATHER Eastern New York—Partly cloudy on Saturday, NEW YORK, SATURDAY, AUGUST 26, 1933 (Eight Pages) Price 3 Cents Workers Seize Town Co (SPECIAL TO THE tional reforms made by Machado in -The election, however, is still six Borich NMU Official Escapes DeathWhen Other Car I Hits His’ Was Returning from Brownsville Code Meeting PITTSBURGH, Pa. Aug. 25.— Frank Borich, National Secretary of the National Miners’ Union, nar- rowly escaped death here Wednesday when the car he was driving was completely wrecked by a large ma- chine which crashed head on into him, Comrade Borich, who was return- ing from a mass meeting at Browns- ville, where he reported on the Washington code hearings, was slightly injured. Frank Borich is touring the mine fields of Western Pennsylvania, re- porting on the coal code hearings recently concluded in Washington. him at Avella, Coverdale, Bentley- ville and Brownsville. At all of the meetings ‘the role of the A. F. of L. and John Lewis in “betraying the miners’ strike was exposed. The loss of the car, though, is a great loss to the Union, and anyone in a position to donate another one is requested to communicate with the N. M. U., 149 Washington Place, Pittsburgh, Pa, US. Officials Admit Rising Costs Kill Purchasing Power Reports Show That Cost of Living Is Advancing Rapidly ~ WASHINGTON, Aug. 25—Fears that the rapid rise in the cost of living is reducing the very factor that the Government is trying to increase—buying power—are being’ more frequently heard in official circles here. These fears were considerably confirmed yesterday by the publi- cation of the report of the National Industrial Conference Board, which showed that the living standards of the workers has dropped several points further. Living costs increased 3.3 per cent in the last eight weeks, accord- ing to the report, indicating a rapid rate of increase. Practically all articles have shared in the increase, with food increases being especially sharp. Cotton goods and woolens have also jumped sharply upward in rice. Department stores show the following increases: 85 per cent rise in blanket prices, 66 per cent rise in shirt prices, etc. Only Great Pressure of AFL Stops Buffalo Grain Elevator Strike bership, the units, fractions, and sympathizers to move.” m the comrades of the Cleveland District. We would like to hear frot Hoy-fbout it? : - BUFFALO, N. Y., Aug. 25.—Only the greatest pressure of Johnson, head of the Labor Council here, and other A. F. of L. officials and local boss politicians prevented a strike of the grain elevator workers Wednesday night. The strike vote was lost only by a majority of 10. ,. The workers re partially organ- .ized into a federal labor union and have been fighting the officials and trying to strike since July 22. They are demanding a 65 cents an hour minimum to replace the present code’ of 45 cents. Large, enthusiastic gatherings greeted | uncil and School Board, Replace Police With Communists DAILY WORKER.) HAVANA, Aus, 25.—Under the lash of a rising revolutionary movement, the Cuban cabinet last night at a special session suspended the constitu- 1928, dissolved the hated Machado Congress, and announced a general election on Feb. 24 of next year. months off, and the cabinet will rule — dictatorially meanwhile. The retirement of Sumner Welles, | U. S. Ambassador, on September 15, is another attempt to calm the workers by replacing him with an- other imperialist agent, Jefferson Caffery, who is less known- Welles has been acting openly as dictator of Cuba, and is the most hated man in Cuba now that Machado is gone. Strikes Keep Growing Although the Havana port work- ers have won their strike, 3,000 shoe workers, 1,500 textile workers, 800 cardboard workers, 700 hat and cap workers, and many others are still out. The liberal newspaper “El Pais,” expresses its fear that “a million” workers are ready to strike. The workers who have re- turned continue their support of those still out. In Santiago the strike is nearly Seneral, with more than 20,000 still out. Soldiers with machine guns were sent to the American-owned Her- shey plant, where the mill workers are militantly striking. Striking sponge fishers set fire to the ware- houses in Batabano. Workers Take Over City In Cienfuegos, Santa Clara prov- ince, the workers, who had con- ducted a general strike since Au- gust 8, have seized the city admin- istration, put members of the strike committee on he city council, and taken over the school board. TI! new council replaced the whole police force with Communists, and appointed a Communist fire chief. The strike committee took over the largest sport club in the city for its headquarters, confiscated all the property of Machado’s former henchmen, and turned their homes over to the unemployed. A large central, owned by a Machado sup- porter, was divided up among the peasants. The strike committee has con- stituted itself into a Joint Commit- tee of Action, in full control of the whole city and environs. Soldiers Cheer Communist Party Two thousand workers mobbed the jail at Santiago, demanding the life of Jose Martinez, who killed Maria Luisa Labadi, a young Pio- neer girl, at a recent Communist demonstration. Another body of a Machado vic- tim was found at Atares. It is be- lieved to be that of Alfredo Lopez Arencibia, secretary of the Havana Labor Federation. At the funeral of four bodies found there last week, tens of thousands of workers and students passed before the biers, and at the funeral more than 5,000 workers demonstrated in a pouring rain, with Communist banners and red flags. In the midst of the speeches a group of soldiers detailed to preserve order joined the meet- ing, yelling “Long live the Commu- nist Party!” ‘Roosevelt Revives Credit Inflation Program for Banks WASHINGTON, Aug. 25.—In a sudden move to counteract the crack- ing of the artificially stimulated pricés in the wheat and other com- modity markets, the Federal Reserve Board announced today that it has launched on a program of credit ex- pansion by buying Government bonds in the open market. By buying Government bonds in the open market, the Federal Re- serve Bank automatically builds a large amount of excess reserves in the various member banks. The Roosevelt government hopes that as this credit piles up in the banks, they will Iend more money to busi- ness, and production and prices will begin to rise again. This plan was tried twice during the Hoover administration with com- plete failure to do anything more than pile up useless reserves in the banks. As a means of starting busi- ness upward it is doomed to failure. 225 P. C. Growth in Profit Reported by Big Railroads WASHINGTON, Aug. 25.—As a re- sult of mass lay-offs and speed-up, thirteen large railroads reported to- day a 225 per cent increase in net profit for the month of July as com- pared with the same month last year. ‘The statistics of the monthly re- Y~ , (parts indicate vividly the method by which these tremendous profits were wrung from the railroad workers. The figures show that the 225 per cent increase in net profit took place while there was only a 22 per cent increase in gross revenue. A small in- crease in total business, in other words, led to an enormous increase in prolit, he Announce Six Months | More of C.C.C. Camps) WASHINGTON, Aug. 25.—With none of the promised jobs in sight, the Government announced today that the reforestation camps will be continued for anothér six months. In a statement to the boys, Roose- velt urged them to find jobs if they could. The reception of the boys to this kind message has not yet been officially reported. 'Torgler Trial Set for September 21; Protests Are Urged Chief AttorneyRefuses Defendants All Rights BERLIN, Aug. 25.—September 21 is officially announced as the date for the opening of the trial in Leip- sig Supreme Court of the Commu- nists accused of setting the Reich- stag fire of February 27. Ernst Torgler, leader of the Com- munist deputies in the Reichstag, George Dimitroff, Blagoi Popoff, and Vassil Taneff, Bulgarian Com- ® Calls on Police to Arrest Pickets in | AY, Shoe Strike Will Marshal: Parade Down Fifth All rights of workers, such as the in any way attacks of the employers, tion. connection with another rabid at- ; tack upon Communistr, whony he | said had “declared war on the NRA,” He added that the “Blue Eagle had accepted the challenge.” Threatens to Arrest Pickets munists, will go on trial along with Marinus van der Lubbe, tool of the Nazis who helped Storm Troopers acting under the orders of Hermann Goering, now Nazi minister of Prus- sia, to set the fire. There have been indications that other Communists would also face framed-up charges for the fire, but their names have not been given out. In a letter to George Branting, member of the international commit- tee of inquiry on the fire, Karl Wer- ner, chief federal attorney, refused Branting’s demand that the defen- dants be given human treatment. He also made all independent de- fense impossible by declaring he would deal only with German law- yers. No German lawyer could carry outa real d-fense and save his life. He-also declared he had no auth- ority to call Reichstag attendants as witnesses. } The trial will open with special hearings in the Reichstag building itself, where the Communist de- fendants will be exposed to an or- ganized plot by the Nazis to have them lynched on the spot by an “uncontrollable mob’ of Storm Troopers. * * Many Protests Urged NEW YORK.—The National Com- mittee to Aid Victims of German Fascism yesterday issued an appeal for thousands of cables of protest to President Paul von Hindenburg, thousands of telegrams to the Ger- man embassy in Washington and daily visits by committees and del- egations to every German consulate. All these protests should demand full protection for the Communist defendants, a fully public trial, the right to choose their own counsel, and a guarantee of safety for their counsel and for defense witnesses. Tax Till After Election ALBANY, Aug. 25. — As the Legislature came to a close today with the passage of the Bill that gives the Tammany City administra- tion full power to increase the pres- ent Sales tax by one per cent. Gov- ernor Lehman made a last minute attempt to protect Tammany Hall from the necessity of levying new taxes before the coming elections. It is generally admitted that the one thing that Tammany desires at the present time is to avoid having to levy new taxes before November. Lehman’s move to aid Tammany in the coming elections completely be- lies the carefully built up legend that he is free from Tammany control. Another revealing report yester- day was the news that Peter Grimm, prominent real estate representative who is also reputed to be an “enemy” of Tammany, privately worked to have Lehman’s pro-Tammany strat- egy adopted by the Legislature. The 80 day session cost the people $114,000 in salaries, etc. Vet Leaflets Make Officials Furious at Legion Conference LOS ANGELES. Calif.—Lcaflets distributed by the Workers Ex- Servicemen’s League at the Pasa- dena state convention of the Amer- ican Legion created a furore among the officials. The leaflets demanded payment of the bonus, against com- pensation cuts, and for ronudiation of the reactionary leadership of the American Legion, { “at Minute Strategy to Aid Tammany Hall Proposes That Tam-; many Postpone Sales; | Whalen said that throughout the city “Communist agitators” were | picketing shoe, furniture and tobacco | Shops and that he will move to make | test case by arresting pickets. He | says that in the NRA certain laws have been suspended, the suspension of such laws prohibits picketing of j shops where the employers have complied with the NRA require- ments. He was particularly enraged at a | circular which he exhibited to news- | paper men, pointing out a paragraph which read: “Let there be no illu- sions about the Recovery Act help- ing the workers. The Roosevelt- Wall Street program does not mean | to relieve us from distress, but is the agency to put over a permanent low- ering living.” Simultaneously with this strike- | breaking threat, came the announce- ment from Whalen that he is plan- ning an enormous parade down Fifth Avenue in celebration of the blessings of the NRA. All the generals of the local military forces, as well as the local regiments and police force will be out in full force, Whalen said. It is clear that this parade will not only have the purpose of blinding the eyes of the workers to the failure of | the NRA to provide any real im- provement in the crisis, or to pro- vide the promised jobs, but will also | be a gigantic attempt to intimidate for better conditions. “Cannot Interfere | Attorney-General Re fuses Action Against Lynch Rule WASHINGTON, D. C., Aug. 24— | ‘The statement that the Federal gov- ernment “cannot “very well” inter- | fere with lynch law in Alabama was | the answer given by U. S. Attorney- General H. S. Cummings and his assistant Attorney General Stanley to a delegation composed chiefly of Negro and white lawyers who called on them late Thursday to demand federal arrest and prosecution of lynehers in Tuscaloosa, Ala. The lawyers forced the attorney- general to grant an interview after repeated stalling on the part of their office, which went so far as to state falsely that Cummings was out of | town, to get out of it. | After hearing the members of the delegation, Stanley, who is a South- ern Democrat, and Cummings, said merely that “We cannot very well interfere with Alabama’s judicial system.” The only system of law the dele- gates had referred to was Alabama lynch law. The delegates quoted from the fed- eral criminal code a section which makes the federal government re- sponsible for interfering in just such situations as that now existing in Alabama, and presented a memoran- dum of law showing that the gov- ernment, was, under this law, obli- gated to step in inimediately. Soldiers and Police in Big! N.R.A. Slavery Codes | National Recovery (Slavery); Act, Grover Whalen, former Tammany police commissioner and now local head of the NRA, declared today. | He called on Mayor O’Brien to immediately arrest striking shoe pickets to make a test case of his conten-© Whalen’s. statement was made in| ofythe-siandard of wages and | those workers who are now on strike | With Ala. Lynching” Lehman Tries Last 2YS US. Attorney | Avenue to Celebrate right to picket, to strike and to resist | are suspended under provisions of the | | | GROVER WHALEN Potash Speaks ‘at DressCodeHearings | ‘in Washington, D.C. Demands Guarantee of Work and Wages WASHINGTON, D. C., Aug. 25.— After waiting for two days, Earl Dean Howard, NRA administrator, was forced to grant a hearing to the delegates of the Needle Trades Work- | ers’ Industrial Union last night fol- | lowing a vigorous protest by Ben | Gold, the union’s national secretary. Irving Potash, secretary of the| | union, finally permitted to speak, at- | tacked the proposed code drawn up jointly by the ILGW officiais and the | bosses and exposed the recent dress strike agreement in which thousands of dressmakers had no voice. He de- manded that the jobbers and the government take the responsibility of | | assuring every dressmaker the mini- mum wage scales and a guarantee of 36 weeks of work a year. The boss- | es and the ILGW officials were most | uncomfortable when Potash denounc- jed the practice of discriminating against Negro workers in the trade. Dubinsky and Hochman, who had been heckling Potash before this, were silent while some of the Advis- ory Board members appeared shocked. | Potash centered his attack on the three scales for cutters pointing out that it was an attempt to swindle the cutters out of their full wages. He also presented the demand for $1.10 an hour for pressers and other | wage demands included in the | Union’s code. Although every attempt was made to hush up Potash and to cheat him out of his allotted time to speak by heckling coming especially from the ILGW officials, he forced the Board to hear the facts about the joint con- spiracy of the bosses and the ILGW heads to force workers to join the ILGW and demanded the right of the workers to choose their own union and to have representation on all Boards set up by the code. He presented telegrams and signatures of 15,000 workers to back up his de- mands. Howard tried to prove that there was ‘legal recognition of Negro rights | when Potash completely blasted this | by citing the experience of Follops, Negro delegate from the Union, who | was unable to get a meal in any) Washington restaurant. | The hearings were hastily ad- journed by Howard who wanted to | prevent Louis B. Boridin from con- tinuing his speech. | CHICAGO, Aug. 25-—Wholeeale slaughter of thou is of sows soon to farrow began teday in the live- steck pens of the Roosevelt Farm Administration today. This whole- sale slaughter is part of the Gov- ernment program to remove 6,000,- 000 animals from the market. Yesterday the Government bought U.S. Slaughters Millions of Pigs to Raise Prices 100,000 more pigs for slaughter. Roosevelt’s Secretary of Agricul- ture, Wallace, said that Roosevelt | hopes to raise the prices of hogs in this way. This program will involve the expenditure of $50,000,000 col- lected in taxes. In addition, the result will be a sharp rise in the price of retail meat in the cities. | | Bell }are breaking out in Virginia an |ip Morris, KETING, WHALEN SAYS on Police to RUSH COAL CODE; FEAR NEW STRIKE Ky. Miners in Bell and Harlan Counties Strike LEWIS AI OPERATORS |Meets Them in Secret Code Conferences WASHINGTON, Aug. efforts are being made t from his summer resc Park, and John L. with the coal operato’ to through a coal code in order to stem the rising tide of strikes. For two days officials of the UMWA have been meeting with the scab coal operators, offering their services as the most efficient strike- breakers. In the midst of these hearings, re- ports came from the Harlan and County coal fields, tk all mines are shut down by a sti miners who struck in 1931 un leadership of the National Miners Union are again out against coal operators in Bloody Harlan. Stri Pennsylvania. Roosevelt in a message to General Johnson, presiding over the coal hearings from which the miners themselves are excluded, has set Tuesday as the final date for adopt- ing a coal code. The reason for this action is to prevent the miners from spreading their strike. Lewis has called in from the field his leading lieutenants to work out new strike-breaking tactics in the present difficult situation. Most prominent in the closed conferences with the Southern, Pennsylvania, and other coal operators are John L. Lewls, president of the UMWA, Phil- i vice-president, Thomas Kennedy, secretary-treasurer, and Van A Bittner organizer for the West Virginia field. Realizing that the coal miners are determined on strike to win higher wages and improved conditions, as well as recognition of their unions, the scab operators called the UMWA officials in to work out new strike- breaking strategy. The miners are not waiting for the codes. Fur more, the operator: the codes are published, revolt in the coal fields will flare up much sharp- er even than at present. Hence for the first time in the history of the coal fields, operators who never before found it necessary to call on Lewis are sticking the! feet under a conference table wit all of the UMWA officials. All have the same interests, to keep the mine ers from striking. ‘Among the operators are those of the South and West Virginia fields, from Logan, Mingo and McDowel counties; representatives of the Mel~ lon and Morgan mines; Kentucky and Tennessee operators. Their are 29 separate codes being discussed. Efforts are being made to hammer them into one code, giving all the operators leeway to suit themselves on wages. One of the big points was union recognition. Most of the operators are against recoznizing unions. But with the strikes coming on, they feel they can allay a sharper fight if they go through the pretenses of working with John L. Lewis & Co. as representatives of the UMWA. According to information here, there will be no fixed rates, but scale committees for the different fields will be set up to work out wages and hours. The operators are insist- ing on an eight hour day with the present starvation wages written into the code. There will be more secret confer- ences between the UMWA officials and the coal operators. Two have al- ready been held, but the miners are not told a word of what happened. After the last conferences, General Johnson issued a statement saying that great progress is being made, and that the coal operators are hap- py over the results. He said a code would soon be signed. Once Dug Trenches in World War; Now Forced to Dig Home NEBRASKA CITY, Aug. 25.—In between curses, while trénches in France during the last “war to end war,” Private Law- rence Gibbs used to swear he'd never touch a back-breaking shov- el after he got back to the U.S.A. Gibbs had to change his But mind, after having lost 5 out a shelter in nished it The crisi as the w ing a cold, damp winter in the rivers bank,