The Daily Worker Newspaper, September 18, 1933, Page 1

| Get Your Unit, Union Local, | Branch or Club to Challenge | Another Group in Raising Subs | for the Daily Worker! ~ Vol. X, No. 224 Entered as second-class matter at the Post Office at New York, N. Y. Daily, Worker der the Act of March 8, 1879, (Section. of the Communist International) NEW YORK, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1933 _ (Six Pages) f America’s Only Working Class Daily Newspaper WEATHER: Eastern New York—Fair Monday Price 3 Cents QAL CODE GIVES OPERATORS STRIKEBREAKING POWER mem aaaEncae, « Statistics That Lie miss PERKINS, Secretary of Labor, says that 2,200,000 new Jobs have been created since March. Roosevelt promised 6,000,000. Then Senator Wagner promised 4,000,000. Then, William Green claimed 3,500,000. Then General Johnson took a leap into the air with a guess of 5,000,000. And then Grover Whalen claimed 75,000 for New York City, only to ‘etire in confusion when the State Labor Board announced 40,000 for the entire state. These figurers ought to geb together some time. They might at least agree on what lies they tell the workers, The S. P. Factional Struggle HE SOCIALIST PARTY is torn by internal dissension. The honest socialist workers are struggling to find the road to effective class strug- gle on all fields against the hunger and war program embodied in Roose- velt’s “New Deal.” The leaders, both of the Hillquit and Thomas factions, though giving most effective support to Roosevelt’s whole program, are maneuvering to conceal their betrayals behind revolutionary phrases in an effort to retain their hold over the socialist workers and sympathizers. This led to the division of the Party into two warring groups and now still a third organized group is emerging from this inner-Party strug- gic. The old, warring factions—the “Old Guard,” led by Morris Hillquit and the “militants,” led by Norman Thomas and Paul Blanshard, repre- sented a fight between the leaders on how best to coniuse and betray the workers. That no fundamental difference existed between them is shown by the fact that both Hillquit and Thomas visited Roosevelt in Wash- ington to congratulate him on the “New Deal.” The new grouping is one composed of honest workers who are breaking away chiefly from the “militants” and groping forward in the direction of united revolutionary struggle together with the Communists. The “Militants,” over Saturday and Sunday, held their own conyen- tion, or “unofficial conference” as they call it, at the Mohegan Country Club, with four points on the agenda: 1) A Critical Analysis of the Labor and Socialist International Congress; 2) The Road to Power, “a Marxist Interpretation;” 3) The Labor Movement Today, and 4) The Left Wing. ‘The reporters include Thomas, Hapgood, Levinson, Niebuhr and other prominent “Militants.” HAT will this conference do? Will it formulate a clear cut, working class program on the N. R. A, on war, on fascism, on the betrayals of the A. F. of L. leaders, on the building of fighting industrial unions of the workers, or on the revolutionary struggle for power. Decidedly not! This can be definitely answered because the position of the leaders of the S. P. “Militants” is already known. Paul Blanshard, one of the organizers of the “Militants” and the out- standing-floor leader for.this group at last year’s convention of the S. P., held in Milwaukee, has “tompletely deserted all pretense of standing on the class struggle and openly joined hands with the Republican-Fusion ticket in the New York City election. It is interesting to note in this connection that the present city election platform of the S. P. was drafted by this same Paul Blanshard, who now attempts to swing working class support to La Guardia. Upton Sinclair, an old time member of the S. P. and once associated with the Thomas faction in the Party, has also deserted. He has become a candidate for Governor of California on the Democratic ticket, taking with him a large number of Socialist Party members. Norman Thomas himself has spent the whole past period lauding Roosevelt’s “New Deal” and decrying the strike struggles of the workers for improved conditions as factors “hampering the return of prosperity.” BVIOUSLY, with leaders of that type the Mohegan convention will contribute nothing but further betrayals and further confusion to the workers in the Socialist Party. As for the desertion of Blanshard and Sinclair, this can only be com~- pared to the desertion of Charles Edward Russell, English Walling, Allan Benson, and John Spargo to the Wilson administration at the time of America’s entrance into the last world war. As for the present support of Thomas and the other “Militant” as well as “Old Guard” leaders for Roosevelt's N. R. A. program, this can only be compared to the like sup- port given by the official Socialist leadership to the war policies of Wilson. American imperialism, this time with Roosevelt in the lead, prepares a new war situation by fiercer attacks on the militant workers, and the Socialist Party leadership already begins to repeat its war-mongering role of 1917. LEARLY the Socialist workers and the working class as a whole have everything to loose from such a policy. The “Militants,” so-called, are not better than the “Old Guard.” On the contrary it is their group that on one hand supplies the renegades—Blanshard’ and Sinclair, and on the other hand supplies the leaders—Thomas, Niebuhr, etc., who most boldly come forward as ballyhooers for Roosevelt, The honest workers in the Socialist Party who really desire to wage the struggle for Socialism, and who are alresdy making their voices heard in the inner-Party fight, must soon realize that the “Militants” are their main enemies, the ones that must be exposed and fought the hardest. ‘They must also soon realize that there is no hope of “capturing” the S. P., of “transforming” it into a real Party of Socialism. The only road to Socialism is the road being traveled by the revolu- tionary workers with the Communist Party in the lead. Saturday’s Ten-Page “Daily” b edetahieatesst ten-page Daily Worker warrants editorial comment, par- ticularly from the viewpoint of circulation. Why was this enlarged issue of the paper put out? Certainly not because the editorial staff wanted to show its ability to produce a larger It was designed, after consultation with leading comrades from New York City and from the miners’ and seamens’ unions, to present special material on the New York City election campaign, on the struggles around the coal code, and on the work of the Marine Workers Industrial Union in relation to the projected marine code. These comrades participated in the preparation of articles which both exposed the exploitation of the workers and gave to the workets advice on how most effectively to of- ganize their fight for improved conditions. This was good. But it was not sufficient. After preparing such an enlarged special edition it was necessary to see that the workers directly concerned received the paper. This was entirely neglected. ‘The press run on Saturday's edition was less than two thousand above the normal Saturday run. No more marine workers, coal miners or New York work- ers received the “Daily” Saturday, with special material for them, than on any ordinary day. This, comrades, is very bad. It reflects a lack of seriousness in the work, : . . ° \ iv RAISE this sharply because every Saturday special material of in terest to particular groups of workers, will be published in the Dafly Worker. For the next four weeks at least we will have a special miners’ page on Saturday. Special sales of the Saturday paper should be organized among those workers whose problems are specially handled. This will lead to increased circulation for us, but it will also lead to the strengthening of the pevoe lutionary unions and the Party. We wrge the co-operation of our reafer tg svolding a repetition of Saterday’s exnertence. FOOD GOING HIGHER, SAYS BAKERY HEAD Workers Picket Stores Against Rising Retail Prices NEW YORK, Sept. 17, — That retail bread prices are due for further advances as a re- sult of the Roosevelt price- raising program was predicted yesterday by Earl A. Cox, President of the New York State Bakers’ As- sociation, The average price of bread, as re- ported by the Consumers’ Bureau of the Agricultural Administration at. Washington, is now between 7.6 to 9 cents a pound, an advance of at least 20 percent since March, the first month of the Roosevelt administra- tion. Predicting that these sharp ad- vances in bread prices will continue still higher, Mr. Cox declared: “Since February, the cost of high grade flour has gone up approxi- mately 85 per cent due to the rise in the price of wheat and the ad- ditional processing tax imposed by the Federal Government . .. the average baker finds himself in the position where he must raise prices. Consumers realize that a penny or so rise is reasonably to be ex- pected.” The tightening of bread prices is IMRADES, only $72.73 was received in the Daily Worker’s $40,000 sustaining fund drive on Saturday, bringing the total amount received to less than $1,000 for the first full week of the drive. tion ($4.22). This frankly creates a critical and danger- | not general. ous situation. It means that our readers | supporters of are not responding to our daily appeals with | job. sufficient speed and in sufficient amounts. It means that the workers’ organizations, on which the Daily Worker has relied for sup- port, are not getting on the job with collec- tions from their members, with donations from their treasuries, with special! affairs for the benefit of the “Daily.” In short, it means that there is a serious lag in the whole cam- paign which must be immediately overcome if the Daily Worker is to live. * * * last week. take the lead. of the funds paper alive. ERE and there, there are indications that comrades are working. From Boston, as a result of visits from our comrades, two We urge all comrades to get busy. this week a real turning point in the drive. Make up this week for the slow start of trade unions have sent in contributions—the Salem Shoe Workers’ Union ($10) and Local 21 of the National Leather Workers’ Associa- This shows, comrades, that the money can be raised. But such work is In most cases the comrades, the “Daily,” are not on the Make Let the Daily Worker readers themselves ; send in direct donations as large as you can afford. Those of you who have collection lists, All them up and rush them in. Workers organizations, speed up the flow urgently needed to keep the All shoulders to the wheel THIS WEEK! Silk Workers Repudiate Sell-Out; Continue Strike Decision Reached at National Conference in Allentown; Mass Picketing, Parade Today ALLENTOWN, Pa., Sept. 17.—The National Conference of silk and dye workers, held today in Allentown, with 260 delegates, representing 27,568 silk and dye strikers, voted unanimously to continue the strike, and repudi- further aggravated by the Roose- velt administration’s policy of “dump- ing” wheat abroad at any price the market will bring, in order to main- tain high wheat prices in this coun- try. This is costing the government millions of dollars in losses, besides raising wheat prices here. These bread price increases are taking tribute from the pockets of the workers in the cities to the tyne | of at least $1,000,000 a year in every city, Dr. Howe declared. Milk Code Raises Milk Price | The government’s price raising program has had its effect on all dairy products. The government milk code, as proposed by the Sec- retary of Agriculture, provides for a minimum blanket increase of at least one cent a quart throughout the country. In addition, no milk will be per- mitted to be sold for less than 10 cents a quart. Despite the advance in the retail prices of many groceries, the dollar sales of the largest national grocery chain in the country, the A. & P. Grocery Stores, show a drop in retail sales for the five weeks ending Sep- tember 2 of almost 5 per cent. Ex- pressed in tons of groceries bought by workers, there was a drop of 6.50 per cent, the company’s reports show. Buyers’ Strikes Spreading These price increases are being met with increasing resistance from or- ganized groups in the neighborhoods. In many cities, hundreds of workers have organized picket lines in front of bakeries and dairy companies, de- manding lower food prices. Call Strike Against NewRegimeinSpain Troops Patrol as Mass Resistance Grows MADRID, Sept. 17, — civil guards, and police Se rifles patrolled Madrid and other Spanish cities today, ae the mass resistance to Alejandre Lerroux’s reactionary regime assumed an or- ganized character throughout the country, and a general strike was called in protest against Lerroux. Lerroux, who formed a new Cabi- net last week, represents the ele- ments most bitterly opposed to the land reform and anti-clerical laws passed by the Azana government under the pressure of revolutionary workers and peasants, Trucks filled with police were stationed in front of several army barracks in Madrid, following re- ports that sections of the army were in sympathy with the move- ment against the government. ‘While under the pressure of the rank and file the leaders of many workers’ organizations supported the anti-Lerroux movement, the Socialist Party leaders declared that “any attempt against order ated MacMahon, official of the United Textile Workers’ Union, .as 2-strike- fo hag tlie the ade ef] soe breaker, and rejected the Senator Wagner NRA wage: agreement. Delegates came from Easton, Gran- @——— ton, Emaus, Phillipsburgh, Strouds- burg, Philadelphia, Catasauqua and other strike centers. A broad national strike committee was elected to conduct the strike. Mass picketing was decided on. A delegation of 50 strikers was elected to participate in all negotiations. Washington N. R. A. officials al- ready have indicated that they may Seek to call another conference on Tuesday, since the silk strikers have repudiated the five-week sellout truce. Only the committee elected by the strikers at this conference can speak for the workers. MacMahon’s promise to send the workers back to work has been nullified by the strikers. Allentown A. F. of L. workers today repudiated the truce, and despite their officials, voted to continue the strike. This changes the Friday vote which was based on misrepresenta- tion by the union officials. This means that all centers voted unanimously against MacMahon. Even the so-called National Strike Com- mittee called by the United Textile Workers in Scranton on Saturday was repudiated by the workers. The workers demanded that the U.T.W. give financial support to Spread the strike. Burlak, secretary of the National'Tex- tile Workers Union, John Ballam, or- ganizer of the N.T.W.U., Jack Stachel, acting secretary of the Trade Union Unity League; Snell, Paterson strike leader, Hollinger of Allentown, Fro- velich of Philadelphia, Kunz, and Bomer, of the Allentown Ribbon Workers Union. Parades and demonstrations are being organized for Monday in Al- town at 2 p.m. starting at Second and Gordon Sts. Similar parades will be held Monday in Paterson and all other silk strike centers. Dollar Drops to 66¢ NEW YORK.—Reflecting fears that the Roosevelt government is in- evitably headed for another spurt of inflation, the dollar dropped swiftly to an all-time low of 66.97 cents on the international money markets. English and French bankers are selling dollars in great quantities and converting them into French francs, because they feel that the dollar is no longer safe. As a result of the dollar drop, com- modity prices, such as wheat, sugar, rushed upward, Wheat shot up to 98 cents a bushel, the highest level for almost two months. This will mean further increases in keg retail prices of daily foods, bread, ete. Strikers to Picket in Paterson Today Police Chief Promises Aid to Companies PATERSON, N. J., Sept. 17—The five weeks’ truce reached between re- actionary union officials and’ bosses in Washington to break the strike of silk and dye workers will be an- swered -by mass picket lines this morning. A meeting of the dyers’ local of the United Textile Workers voted to picket the shops Monday morning. The -officials had to support this decision and counseled for “peaceful picketing.” The dress manufacturers in New York are beginning to feel the ef- fects of the strike as a result of a shortage in silk. Some plants will attempt to open today. Chief of Police John A. Mur- phy promised plenty of police to pro- tect the firms. The newspapers write provokingly, “if workers insist on stepping over the line” they will come in conflict with the police. ‘The bosses admit that the Na- tional Textile Workers’ Union has brought about effective mass picket- ing. The Paterson “Eagle” is com- pelled to except the fact that mass picketing will take place today. In an editorial yesterday it writes: “In- asmuch as some of the dye houses and silk mills are planning to open tomorrow morning we can look for- ward to picket duty at each plant by members of the left wing union,” referring to the National Textile Workers’ Union. Ann Burlak of the N,T.W.U. re- ported before two crowded meetings of silk and dye workers on the Wash- ington hearings. Delegates elected by the strikers will represent them in Allentown, where a conference will be held today of silk and dye work- ers from eastern states. Roosevelt Inflation Program Lifts Bread Prices Rush Funds Today! Hunger Pay and Company Unions Some Demands Put by National Miners Union at Hearings Adopted; But Only Strike and | Organization Will Win Better Conditions By HARRY GANNES. NEW YORK.—Ont of the two-months of secret conferences between John L, Lewis, William Green, the coal operators and NRA officials has come a coal code that provides for the recognition of company unions, con- tinuation of the starvation wages, and the setting up of strikebreaking machinery to crush every strike in the coal industry. —— PROTEST NRA ATTACKS 10 PRESIDENT Dunne, Muste Are On Delegation Going to Capital NEW YORK —A delegation con- sisting of members from unions of the Trade Union Unity League and the American Federation of Labor, representatives of the Civil Liberties Union, the Cohference for Progres- sive Labor Action, liberal attorneys and journalists, is leaving for Wash- ington Monday evening to place be- fore President Roosevelt on Tuesday morning a protest against the open and forcible violations and attacks on workers’ political rights now tak- ing place throughout the country. The committee charged with draft- ing the statement to President Roosevelt on behalf of the delega- tion is composed of William Dunne, of the National Committee of the T. U. U. L; A. J. Muste, Roger Baldwin, Moe Smith of the Local Union No. 3, International Brother- hood of Electrical Workers; Norman Thomas, representing the League for Industrial Democracy, and Louis Weinstock of the A. F, of L. Rank and File Committee for Unemploy- ment Insurance. ‘The committee charged with or- ganizing the Welegation and ar- ranging the interview consists of Jack Stachel, Acting Secretary of the T. U. U. L.; William Pickens, of the N. A. A. C. P.; Weinstock, Baldwin and Muste. The following demands placed before the President: 1. The administration must make a flat and unequivocal declaration that workers have the right to or- ganize, strike and picket. Though that right was written into the Re- covery Act itself, it is well known that within the Recovery adminis- (CONTINUED ON PAGE 3) will be Torgler “Counsel” Linked to Storm Nasi - Named “De-f fender” Anti-Soviet Forgers’ Protector i eee, il 5 i : A 1 EI 8 i A é 8 § | z i i associate of Roehm, who tried two years ago in Berlin as i a counterfeiter of Soviet 10-rouble much.” Arthur Garfield Hays, New York attorney and member of the inter- national commission, asked who had been Bell's counsel, who prevented him from betraying the names of those responsible for the counterfeit- ing. The witness refused to say, but when Hays asked if it was not Sacks, the witness said yes. Sacks was present at the hearing here, with two secretaries, represen- tatives of the Hitler government, and reporters of th Nazi “Voelkische Beo- bachter” when this fact was brought out. Sacks later left for Berlin. The witness also told of Bell's fears for his life, and said Bell was pro- Evidence on Nazi’s Reichstag Fire Given at New York Meet Hathaway Draws Lessons of Fascist Counter- Revolution for U.S. Workers Joseph Goebbels and Herman Goe- ring, prominent Nazi leaders, hatched the plan for setting the German Reichstag on fire, it was charged by L, E. Wins, Viennese journalist, at a meeting called to discuss “Who burned the Reichstag?” at Labor ficial stories of the fire, contradic- tions which later official versions have endeavored to conceal by sup- pressing the embarrassing details. Indiscreet admissions by Nazi Min- the | ister Goering at the scene of the fire that “the incendiaries must have my through the| residence” as well as the fact that all the Reichstag watchmen were let off for the day at 1 p.m. on Feb. 27, the day the fire broke out, were cited to show the Nazi leaders’ complicity in fire. Reichstag fire — the whose entire political practice is op- posed to acts of individual, secret terrorism, or the Nazis, who had or- ganized bands of secret terrorist mur- der gangs, and who saw their political % Troop Chief Van der Lubbe Called “Lover” of Pervert Nazi Leader tecting himself by keeping a list of tha men with whom Roehm, the Storm Troop head, had had homo- sexual relations. At an earlier session, Professor Bernhard, former chief of the lib- eral “Vossische Zeitung” of Berlin, described the political situation at the period of the fire, and declared that only the Nazis could have gained advantage from the fire. Wilhelm Koenen, Communist Reichstag deputy, who was with Ernst Torgler on the night of the fire, gave a detailed account of all Torgler’s movements. He also testified that the previous raid on Karl Liebknecht House, Berlin Communist headquar- ters, at which the Nazis said they had found documents proving a “Communist plot” which included fire, the police refused to give a list of the documents seized, their custom, and de- that this was because the so- respondent Zei tung, testified to Torgler’s speech in the Reichstag four days before the fire, in the Ni which Torgler declared that jazis were preparing a provoca- tion against the Communists. He testified that the German newspapers > The vast majority of the coal oper- ators are satisfied with the code, as it gives them a powerful weapon to worsen the conditions of the miners, and puts the whole government ma- chinery behind the operators to at- tempt to smash any resistance of the miners to the policy of the coal bar- ons. Anti-Labor Section Stronger ‘The code finally approved by Pres- ident Roosevelt varies little from ‘the preliminary coal code analyzed in the Daily Worker on previous occasions. But in all of these particulars the anti - labor sections have been strengthened. In order to shirk their responsibility in the formulation of the code aa members of the Labor Advisory Board, both Green and Lewis have issued a mild protest against some of the labor provisions. Instead of the promised recognition of the United Mine Workers of Amer- ica, the basic demand of the strike last August of 70,000 miners, and the present strike of over 40,000 \niners, the code leaves the matter entirely in the hands of the operators. . Even where they recognize the UMWA, all of its functions are smashed by the law. The law permits UMWA offi- cials to meet on boards with the coa} operators for the purpose of prevent- ing strikes against starvation wages, The special labor section of the code, known as Schedule B, provides: “Employers likewise can make collective bargains with organized employees, or individual agreements with those who choose to act in- dividually.” Union Mines Legal This provision was inserted out ot the statement of the coal operators’ declaration stating that the NRA makes the union shop illegal, and provides that in every mine, non- union members can be hired, whether a union is recognized or not. To strengthen this provision, the coal code gives the operators the ful} right, under the NRA, to organize a compnay union. “The law does not prohibit,” it says. interpreting Section 7 (a), known as the labor section of the NRA, “the existence of a local labor organiza- tion, which may be called a company union and is' composed only of the employees of one company. Powerful strikebreaking agencies are set up by the code, No matter how bad the starvation conditions, (CONTINUED ON PAGE 3) Roosevelt Cotton Plan Drives Small Farmers Off Land 1,000,000 to Be With- out Work or Shelter, Officials Admit WASHINGTON, Sept. 17—More than 200,000 tenant farmers working in the cotton fields will be driven off the land by the Roosevelt pro- gram of restricting cotton acreage, it was pointed out here today by officials of the Agricultural Adjust- ment Administration. Including the families of tenant farmers, over 1,000,000 bane: the officials said. Nazis Doom 2 More _ to Death on Block LUEBECK, Germany, Sept. 17%— Two more anti-Fascist fighters were doomed to die under the headman’s axe today. Two Reichsbanner men Gage of bevene had tte Ad