The Daily Worker Newspaper, January 19, 1934, Page 1

Ee = = aR Wire Orders f or January 20th Special Lenin Issue Vol. XI, No. 17 2* Entered as second-class matter at New York, N. ¥., under the Act Daily <QWorker CENTRAL ORGAN COMMUNIST PARTY U.S.A. (SECTION OF COMMUNIST INTERNATIONAL ) the Post Office at of March 8, 1879. NEW YORK, FRIDAY, JA UARY 19, 1934 Weather:—Warmer, Snow Sree AMERICA’S ONLY WORKING CLASS DAILY NEWSPAPER or Rain. (Six Pages) Price 3 Cents CUBA COMMUNISTS LEAD STRIKE AGAINST MILITARY RULE William Z. Foster, Improved in Health, Retur A. F. L. Officials Rob Jobless in Shakedown Racket on CWA Work Government Protects th Grafting Union Heads MEMBERS PROTES?1 Jobless Pay Tribute Ox Get Fired By CARL REEVE NEW YORK. — Graft and racketeering in the C. W. A. apparatus, giving of jobs to political payroll artists, and the robbing of large portions of their pay from the destitute C. W. A. workers by blood-sucking A..F. of L. officials has been uncovered in many cities. In New York, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Los Angeles, Youngstown end other cities graft scandals in the Cc. W. A. have come to light. The stot | government has protected these A. F. of L. officials in exacting exorbitant tribute from unemployed union members. The C. W. A. national administra~ tion placed the giving of C. W. A. jobs to “organized labor,” that is, un- employed members of trade unions, The above article is part of a series in the Daily Worker exposing A. F. of L. racketeering. Workers, send in reports on A. F. of L, rack- ets to the “Daily.” into the hands of A. F. of L. offi- cials.who haye forced the unem- ployed union men to “kick back” more than half their pay in “initia- tions, assessments and back dues,” be- fore getting the C. W. A. jobs. Government Turns Him Down In the city of Pittsburgh, Vincent A. Molker, 608 Boggs Ave., Mt, Wash- ington, an~- unemployed steamfitter, sent a letter to Frances Perkins, Sec- retary of Labor, revealing that Leo Green, secretary of the Steamfitters’ Union, No. 449 (A. F. of L.) while preventing Molker from working on C. W. A. work, because he couldn't pay back dues, gave his two sons-in- law, Carl McGrath and Oliver Heg- ley, C. W. A. jobs on Mellon’s “Cathedral of Learning.”. The an- swer came back from H. L. Kerwin, Director of Conciliation in the U. S. Department of Labor, that “the de- partment has no authority to inter- fere in affairs of organized labor.” ‘The government protects the A. F. of L. racketeers, Frank Mallon, a bricklayer of 5802 Kirkwood St., Pittsburgh, protested against the fact that he was forced to kick in with more than half his wages to the A. F. of L. officials as “back dues” before he could get a job. The demand of the bricklayers’ union was so excessive that Mallon couldn't pay it. He was told to pay $5 a month for a two-year period. “The C. W. A. is not running the bricklayers’ union,” C. W. A. officials told him when he complained to the C. W. A. headquarters. $600 a Year Gratt An electrician in Pittsburgh was told by the building trades council that it would cost him $600 a year in union fees if he were to be given a C. W. A. job, the $600 to consist of initiation fee, quarterly assessments and daily deduction from pay “for relief purposes.” In addition, he must pay his back dues. The fight in Pittsburgh of two polit- ical factions for juicy C. W. A. pay- roll jobs brought to light not only this robbery of C. W. A, workers, but at the same time the use of the C. W. A. payroll to build political fences (Continued on Page 3) In the Daily Worker Today ae Sports, by Si Gerson. Lenin Memorial Page 3 “Communist Party Textile Con- ference Plans Work in Key Cities,” by Anne Burlak. A. F. of L, Officials Force Starv- ing Workers to Pay Them $125 Salaries. . 4 Letters From Workers. “Party Life” “Dr. Page 6. Editorials: Step by Step; “That’s the Stuff’; Mr. Green on Fas- cism. Soviet Toilers Greet Moscow isegional Conference. PT NG RE RE RT aN SO "ood Prices Rise to ill-Time High Point; 27 p.c. Higher Than‘33 NEW YORK, Jan. 18—The in- dex of food prices rose again this week to touch the all-time high of $1.99, Dun and Bradstreet an- nounced today. This was an ad- vance of 6.4 per cent during the past four weeks. This food index compares with $1.56 a year ago, an increase of 27.5 per cent since the Roosevelt government took of- i fice. War on USSR. Will Start Revolution in Japan, Herriot Says Declares Communist Party Activity Checks Attack PARIS, Jan, 18.—Emphasizing the growing danger of war. particularly the tense situation in the Far East, the Foreign Affairs Committee of the | Chamber of Deputies devoted itself today to an intense study of the United States and Japanese naval maneuvers in the Pacific. French imperialism bas large in- vestments in Indo-China. Former Premier Eduoard Herriot, who presided over the foreign affairs session, delivered a lengthy report on the military position of the Soviet Union. He warned his hearers that the Soviet Union today was far dif- ferent from the Russian government of 1905 which suffered so crushing a defeat at the hands of Japanese im- perialism. He told of the coal and iron mines that the Soviet Union has developed along the Trans-Siberian Railway. The Foreign Relations Committee stressed the danger to Japanese im- Perialism which comes from the presence of the growing influence of the Japanese Communist Party and the revolutionary movement. The declaration of war by Japanese im- perialism would almost certainly cause an explosion of revolution, the committee was informed, and it is this that has contributed to holding the Japanese war machine from be- ginning the attack against the So- viet Union. Tokyo Army Officer in War Threat Against Soviet Union Masses PEIPING, Jan, 18—An open threat of war against the Soviet Union was made by Japanese Lieut-Colonel Dan Takaashi, on his arrival here from Changchun, capital of Manchukuo, to supervise the new Japanese in- vasion of North China. Couching his threat in a negative form to camou- flage Japan’s aggressive intentions, he declared that “if Russia wants to fight we are ready to go to war immediately” hypocritically adding Tokio Revamps Army for War On the U.S.S.R. Japanese Troops Push Into North China in New Invasion TOKYO, Jan. 18.—The Jap- anese Government today moved for a rapid reorganiza- tion of the army, as the gov- ernment pushed its plans for mili- tary control of North China and armed intervention against the Soviet Union. A military commission will be ap- supervise the reorganization, An in- jerease in the number of divisions is projected, the new divisions to be formed by calling more men to the colors. The Japanese War Office will ask an increase in the already huge mili- tary budget before the Diet, to pro- vide 6,000,000 yen for anti-aircraft guns, searchlights and other equip- ment, Japanese troops occupied the Chi- nese village of Longmenshuo, several miles inside the Great Wall of China, yesterday. Its seizure shows that the new Japanese invasion of North China is already well under way. Despite instructions from the Nan- king government not to resist the Japanese advance. Chinese troops in the village put up a fierce resistance but were finally driven out when their ammunition was exhausted. Japanese-Manchukuq troops have driven the Chinese garrisons out of a large strip of territory outside the Wall claiming the territory belongs to the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo, The Japanese advance into North China is accomplished by increasing provocative acts against. the Soviet Ul raiding of- offices. and .work- shops of the Chinese Eastern Rail- way, arrest of Soviet officials of the railway, and flouting of the authority of the administration of the road, sharpened yesterddy by the derailing by Japanese officers of a Trans- Siberian express on the railway, caus- ing the death of four passengers, and serious injuries to 29 others, | Storm Troops Included as Part of German Army PARIS, Jan. 18—The French Gov- ernment revealed today that in its note of Jan. 1 to Germany, it de- manded that the Nazis submit to continued supervision by the League of Nations (controlled by France and Britain) of German armaments. The demand is tantamount to a rejection of the Nazi demands for arms equal- ity, although within the past few days it has become clear that the government is yielding somewhat to the demands of certain sections of the French bourgeoisie, who are in favor of an understanding with Hit- ler against the Soviet Union. The note also declared that any consideration of German military strength must take into account the huge police, Nazi Storm Troopers and other military bodies, Have you sent your contribution to the fund to finance the National Convention Against Unemployment to the National Committee, Un- employed Council, 80 East 11th St., “but we do not want war ourselves.” New York City? (Daily Worker W: “The percentage decline in factory employment between November and December the percent decline in payrolls is estimated to represent $880,000 in weekly wages,” Miss Perkins declared. It is very significant that the fig- ures for chemicals and explosives show a huge gain as compared with December, 1932, in the neighborhood of 40 per cent. It even moved one of the conservative reporters to ask Miss Perkins: “Why the heavy in- crease during the last year in chem- Jobs, Wages Drop Faster Than 10 Year Average, U.S. Reports icals and explosives?” ‘The Secre- tary referred him to the use of chem- ieals in the textile industry, especially in the silk and rayon goods end of it. A glance at the Secretary’s own in- dex chart, however, shows that whereas dyeing and finishing tex- tiles increased only from 178.0 in De- cember, 1932, to 91.3 in the corre- sponding month of 1933 and silk and rayon goods from 59.7 in December, 1932, to 61.6, chemicals shot 846 in December, in the corresponding month Obviously, the manufacture the various types of ammunition great deal to do with filling difference. most pronounced declines in the separate industries,” the Labor up Department statement said, “were: men’s furnishings, 19.7 per cent; women’s clothing, 10.1 per cent; shirts and collars, 10 per cent; car- pets and rugs, 17 per cent;, and knit goods, 6 per cent.” Silk goods dropped 5.6 per cent, woolen and worsted goods 4 per cent, and cotton goods 3 per cent, pointed at once, it was announced, to} French Demand Nazi, Arms Supervision William Z. Foster best known and most loved leader of the American workers, has returned It is confidently expected that peration Comrade Foster will be able chief of the fighting forces of the | | after a short period of further recy to resume his active duties as the sharpest fire through the N. R. A. and fascist measures as a conscious ard of living, and with imperialist | By HARRY RAYMOND NEW YORK.—Considerably im- proved in health, although not yet sufficiently recovered from his long and dangerous illness to return to active work on the fighting front, William Z. Foster, chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and outstanding leader of the struggles of the American working class, returned to New York yester- on the S.S. Champlain, after a five- months’ stay in the Soviet Union, Meeting Foster at the boat was a delegation of Party and trade union leaders composed of Earl Browder, Robert Minor, Jack Stachel, Mother Bloor, Henry Shepard, M. Olgin and Phil Aronberg, During his visit to the USSR. Foster received treatment in three sanitoria: Kislovodsk, in the North Caucasus; Sochi, on the Black Sea, and Archangelskoy, near Moscow. According to reports of Soviet phy- sicians, Foster was suffering from long years of overwork which culmi- nated in a severe overstrain brought about by the election campaign of 1932 when he was the Communist candidate for President. The diffi- culty manifested itself in an acute heart attack and a complete. nervous breakdown which nearly cost Foster his life, Improved in Health ‘There is a marked improvement in the veteran fighter’s health. He comes back to America enthusiastic and anxious to return to the strug- gle, The doctors warn, however, that British Order Eight Destroyers for Navy LONDON, Jan. 18.—The Admiralty ,;awarded contracts for eight destroy- ers to cost $11,250,000 today, under the government's plan to rush naval construction in the race with the U. 8. and Japan. The Admiralty announced that contracts would soon be given out for construction of two 9,000 ton cruisers and one 5,200 ton cruiser. U. 8. TO LAUNCH ANOTHER DESTROYER QUINCY, Mass., Jan. 18—The new U. §. destroyer Farragut will be Jaunched in February, it was reported from Europe greatly improved in health, Return of J W. Z. Faiter, "Most Beloved Leader,” _ Hailed by C.P.U.S. A. Communist Party Hails Return of Foster The Central Committee of the Communist Party of the U. S. A. an- nounces that William Z. Foster, National Chairman of our Party, the American workers, With wages and conditions of labor undergoing the with its strike-breaking, inflationary effort to destroy the American stand- war rapidly approaching,—now more than ever are the services of the best leader of the American working class and its rapidly growing revolutionary party required. CENTRAL COMMITTEE, C. P., U.S. A. he must continue his treatments for the next few months. Medical reports state that with reasonable care and caution Foster should soon be as well as ever. Foster had much praise for the |Sanitoria in the U.S.S.R. He pointed out that they are the last word in modern medical science. “Hundreds of such sanitoria and rest homes are being built as part of the new elaho- rate health system to take care of the workers and farmers,” he de- |clared. “Here one finds every known mechanical, light and hydro-thera- peutic device known to medical szi- ence. The most modern diet systems, fresh air treatments and bath cures are common to the Soviet sanitoria.” A sign of Foster’s improvement in health is the fact that the doctors have permitted him a certain amount of activity. He is at the present time working on two books: the first an autobiographical sketch including |much historical material on the revo- lutionary labor union movement in the U.S.A., and the second a series (Continued on Page 2) Dimitrof in Danger, Paris Cable Warns; || Immediate Aid Urged | PARIS, Jan. 18 (By Cable). — | Latest developments in the ranks of the Fascists have given rise to the gravest alarm for the safety of George Dimitroff, Bulgarian Com- munist leader, who is still being held incommunicado in a Nazi jail quitted, with Torgler, and his Bul- garian comrades, of the frame-up charge of having fired the German Reichstag. It will be recailed that two days ago Dimitroff's aged mother was refused all assurances by the Nazi Minister of Justice that he would be released. Instead, the German authorities informed her that the offers of the Soviet Union to grant safe entrance to Dimitroff had been refused. The Nazi authorities also declared that Dimitroff was a “menace” to Fascism, and could not be freed. Since that time Dimitroff’s fate has been shrouded in silence. It will be recalled that Hermann Goering, Fascist head of the Storm Troopers, threatened the life of Dimitroff in the Leipzig Court. Gold Bill Sped By House In ‘Trade Warfare |Secret Meetings on Bill Considered by Senate By MARGUERITE YOUNG | (Daily Worker Washington Bureau) WASHINGTON, Jan. 18. — Proceeding with haste and ir- | regularity unheard of even | during war times, Democratic leaders today set the Roosevelt dollar | devaluation program for action in the House of Representatives on Satur- day, and then began a Committee hearing to give preliminary con- sideration to the measure. At the same time the Senate Fin- ance Committee continued secret hearings and agreed to decide later on whether there shall be any pub- lic hearings. Rising Prices The vital question of price rises which the Roosevelt program will the House Coinage Committee heard James A. Warburg, banker and former advisor to the Treasury, de- clare that they would follow if bonds or other new currency were issued under existing legislation. Warburg said he approved of the priniciples of the Roosevelt proposal, but he flung out a banker's warning that unless certain safeguards are estab- lished, particularly provision for ceas- ing colossal borrowing, “we shall have paper money (he referred to uncon- trolled inflation) regardless of any present resolve.” Warburg appeared before the House Coinage Committee, which had won a vigorous fight with the House Banking and Currency Committee for possession of the measure. This fight, together with the Democratic lead- ers’ determination to jam the legis- lation through with super-war haste, and the Republicans’ alertness to an opportunity to make political capital out of the situation, resulted in a confusion of parliamentary procedure which old habitues of the Capital said had never been equalled in his- tory. Committee Fight The resort to a special rule to jam the Roosevelt program through the House became necessary not be- cause of any opposition to the prin- ciples involved, but because the ludi- (Continued on Page 2) despite the fact that he was ac- | bring about came to the surface as| ns to U.S. After Stay in the Soviet Union e Workers, Army, Navy, Students Set Up Committees of Action Large Corporations Gather Big Profits, Bank Report Reveals Daily Worker Washington Bureau WASHINGTON, Jan, 18,— The financial reports of a representa- | tive group of large corporations showed an increase in net profits during the second and third quar- ters of 1933, though industrial production continued its rapid July to October decline through the seasonal drop during November, the January 1934 Federal Reserve Bulletin announced today. In the third quarter of 1933, the Federal Reserve Bulletin declared, “profits were larger than at any time since the second quarter of 1931.” ‘Mine Convention Votes to Spread Hard Coal Strike i} : s s |Priest Pleads in Vain for “Abitration” ; Fight Writs By DAN SLINGER WILKES BARRE, Pa., Jan. 18.— Four hundred delegates at the recon- vened convention called by the United Anthracite Miners of Pennsyl- vania unanimously decided to con- tinue the strike. The convention opened with Maloney making a short talk on the injunction that was com- ing up at Scranton, and that the convention would have to get through with the business for the officials to be present. Maloney then introduced Father Curran as “one who has done every- thing to avoid strikes and to keep |peace in the mining industry throughout the anthracite for the well being and good of all concerned.” Priest Wants Arbitration Father Curran opened his remarks with a declaration that the Com- mission as proposed by the National Labor Board was unfair to the U.AMP. and that we reject the La~ bor Board as being unfair, and that we circulate a petition to present to President Roosevelt, asking him to appoint a commission that would be fair and impartial, to investigate the conditions here. Maloney did not dare tell the min- ers that this was the same program that he hag proposed before, and so |he brings in the proposal as coming jfrom Father Curran, his main in- strument. Father Curran referred to his proposal as “one which would help the coal industry, preserve the business, and create peace,” but he did not mention what the miners were to get from his proposition in | | (Continued on Page 2) U. S. Removes Duties Against Soviet Ships NEW YORK.—The U. 8S. State Department yesterday ordered @ discontinuance of the discrimina- tory duties and imports heretofore levied against Soviet ships entering American waters, The order is retroactive to Nov. 21, 1933, the date of U. 8. tion of the Soviet Union. (Daily Worker Washington Bureau) WASHINGTON, Jan. 18.—William Green, President of the American Federation of Labor, today revealed that the “labor legislation” which is “being urged” upon Congress by him and his fellow bureaucrats absolutely ignores Federal Unemployment In- surance and fails to object to the Administration’s announced plan to cut down ©. W. A. wages by shori- ening the hours. A vague “unemployment insurance” proposal is included among. the “Jegislative measures which will be proposed in the different states.” The A. F. of L. moguls also will urge “legislation which will provide for continuation of relief measures as represented by the Civil Works Ad- ministration.” ‘The usual references to the “eco- nomic and social interests” of the today, as construction was rushed for| workers and to “social justice” acted its completion, as the bugles to the of the A. F. of L. program. “The American Federation of Labor is committed to the furtherance of a legislative program which relates to and affects very vitally the economic and social interests of all classes of working people. It comprehends legislative measures which deal with vital economic questions relating to wages, hours and conditions of un- employment for government workers, as well as social justice legislation, which relates to social interests of the wage earner and his family.” In proposing “amendments” to the National Recovery Act, Green actu- ally asks the hundreds of thousands of workers who suffered from the strike-breaking activities of himself, Edward McGrady, John L. Lewis and other N. R. A. officials of the same A. F. of L. breed, to believe that “the intent and purpose of the labor sec~ tions of the National Recovery Act” are pro-labom, Bauer seen turieeet eae The first thing Green lists under “the legislative program which will be supported by labor and which will be submitted to Congress for action” concerns: “Amendments to the Na- tional Recovery Act and particularly to Section 7-A, as experience has shown to be necessary in order to make real and vital the intent and vurpose of the labor sections of the National Recovery Act.” The A. F, of L, officialdom point- edly neglects to propose N. R. A. in- creases to meet the open inflation program of the Roosevelt Adminis- tration. This important omission is covered over by the endorsement of the rank and file pressure being brought against the government to restore the Federal employees’ 1° per cent pay cut. The A. F. of L. program includes, among other things, “the strength- ening of immigration statutes,” anc “the enactment of an old age pension law for the District of Columbia.” ‘ » Utility Plants Shut As Railroad Workers Plan Walkout STUDENTS STRIKE Call for Government of Workers and Farmers (Special to the Daily Worker) HAVANA, Jan. 18.—Faced by a growing strike of govern- ment employees, utility and other workers, and a threat of a general strike, the Cuban \ native landlord-capitalist class, directed by Wall Street’s ambassador, Jefferson Caffery, put Carlos Men- dieta inte the presidency. Mendieta takes the place of Carlos Hevia who was president for two days. The electrical workers struck | against the military dictatorship led by Col. Fulgencio Batista. By noon the city will be without water and light. The telephone workers strike began in the morning. The railway workers are going out on strike to- wards nightfall. A conference of workers will meet in Santa Clara this morning to call for election of strike committees, fac- tory committees and a general strike committee. The general strike committee will meet later with delegates from the shops, soldiers, sailors, students and intellectuals, The Communist Party of Cuba has issued a call for a general political strike, which was greeted enthusiast- ically by large masses of workers. Demands against the military dic- tatorship have been adopted by the Cuban National Confederation of Labor for the trial of Colonel Batista and other murderers of the workers, for the withdrawal of the U. S. war- ships, and against intervention; for the withdrawal of all troops from the enterprises, and for the carrying out of the general strike to win these de- mands, for all power to the workers’ and peasants, supported by soldiers and sailors committees. Students Strike Ala Izquierda, left students organ- ization, has called for s national (Continued on Page 2) 11 Woolworth Pickets Released on $300 Bail NEW YORK.—Eleven young work- ers and students, arrested last Sat- urday for picketing the Woolworth store on Brighton Beach Ave, in solidarity with the Woolworth strik- ers in Cuba, were released on $300 bail each Wednesday when their case came up for trial. The trial was set for Feb. 5. Ed- ward Kuntz, International Labor De- fense attorney, is defending the picketers. Rueggs Removed from Hospital Back to Nanking Prison Chicago Workers Visit Chinese Consul to Demand Release NANKING, Jan. 18—Paul and Ger- | trude Ruege were rushed back to jail \A.F.L. “Labor Bills” in Congress Ignore CWA. Wage Cuts, Federal Unemployment Insurance yesterday, the Nanking government brutatly denying them an opportunity to fully recover from the effects of their treatment in prison and their recent hunger strike against prison conditions. The two anti-imperialist fighters, delivered over to the Nanking hang- men two years ago by British im- perialist agents in Shanghai, had been removed only a few days ago to a hospital in an extremely critical condition. The removal was made after vigorous protests by workers and intellectuals in China and through- out the world against the deliberate attempt of the Nanking authorities to murder the two workers. Local doc- tors declared today that the ret of the Rueggs to prison negates t! chances for recovery. renee ive | CHICAGO, Jan. 18—A delegation of five workers, headed by Newhoff, district secretary of the International Labor Defense, presented a resolution ‘o the Chinese Consul General at 201 N. Wells Street, protesting vigorously Against the barbarous treatment of he Rueggs, and demanding their un- conditional release. The delegation emanded that a copy of the reso- ution be forwarded by the Consul to the Nanking government, eat