The Daily Worker Newspaper, January 26, 1934, Page 3

‘ Welfare Island Scandal | | DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, FRIDAY, JANUARY 26, 1934 50) Milkers in Raises Lid On Brutal , 10s Angeles Vote Jail Conditions in N.Y. 2 — latuardia Tries To Hide | Wage Cut Poliey Be- hind Speetacular Move (Geatlonsd trom page ¥) henchmen, teking these prison sin- coures away from the old political set-up and serving them in silver platters to his own aides and sep- porters, “There is mo doubt but that, no sooner is the stench of the present ‘exposure’ blown away, the new | ’ prison regime under LaGuardia. will nurture a new group of corrupt and grafting prison racketeers, But in this instance they will be LaGuar- dia’s men. “These conditions are universal in prisons in all capitalist lands. Chey cannot be changed by the mere transfer of dominance from one capitalist political party to an- other, Only under a system which | attacks the very roots of capital- ism, such as exists in the U.S.S.R., can we hope for the elimination of prison brutality and _corraption— and of prisons themselves. And, in the United States, it is only the Communist Party which attacks | these vile prison conditions at | their very base and which will eventually destroy them.” | In the process of the much-pub-| licized raid, the full weight of the attack fell on the shoulders of the prisoners who were in no way con- nected with the gangsters and the dope-peddling ring. The great ma- jority of the prisoners in the New York penitentiary are serving terms for vagrancy, for the crime of be- ing unemployed in this, the fifth year of the crisis. When the raiding gang made its sudden attack on the penitentiary, the ¢ell-doors were thrown open in- diseriminately, and the few personal belongings of the inmates were) dumped helter-skelter into the prison corridors—photo snapshots of wives and children and relatives, the few oks and magazines that these poor nvicts possessed, ragged articles of apparel, ete. | Gang Heads Treated Gently Only the gang-leaders, such as Rao id Cleary, escaped the brutal maul- ing to which the other prisoners were *bjected. These notorious racketeers, all part of the same machine which |, were | 1 | ideration for their rank and office. Even the New York Times was forced o admit that “for the racket chiefs and their henchmen the prison seem- d to have been run on the lines of 2 first class hotel. They even had es allowing them to leave the rison and visit all parts of the jand.” At the same time the fact was d that the Welfare Island ex- , revealing the widespread ex- tence of graft, corruption, unsan- y and degenrate conditions, re- ‘ted a similar condition which pre- f throughout all the penal insti- ations of the United States, The raid on Wednesday brought » light a vast amount of narcotics, apons of all kinds including table- uives sharponed to dagger-keenness, r blades, blackjacks, lengths of cad pipe—all used by prison racket- crs to maintain their power. Two powerful gangs on the island, Robert Minor, leader of the March, 1930, unemployed demon- stration, who was almost killed by | the prison diet on Welfare Istand. Cleasy, ex-convict, were discovered living in luxury in the hospitals at- tached to the prison, at the same time that hundreds of actually sick convicts were living in the unsan- itary and squalid filthiness of the common cells, Among the belongings of the politically-influential gang- leaders were radio sets, expensive rugs, well-wrought pleces of furni- ture, canes, spats, as well as numer- ous articles of apparel—the ward- robes of the gangster-inmates. ape Foster Exposed Prisons in 1920 Following his release from the New York penitentiary in October, 1930, where he served six months of a | three-year sentence for leading the great March 6th unemployed demon- stration, William Z. Foster exposed conditions on Welfare Island in a speech delivered at Irving Plaza Hall, and reported in the Daily Worker of October 23, 1930. Foster. flayed the whole brutal prison system, with its forced labor, its unsanitary and starvation condi- tions, and its political graft and corruption, which Is common to all | prisons and jails throughout the cap- italist world, Officials Support Dope Traffic “The dope traffic,” said Foster, “was carried on under the very eyes and with the full support and sanc- tion of the prison officials, who re- ceived a generous share of the prof- its of the trade.” Many of the prisoners, according to Foster, were forced to work at the “paupers” field cemetery at Hart’s Island, where the bodies of unerh- ployed and homeless workers are dDuried. The unsanitary conditions existing on this job he described as appalling. The spacious graves of the “paupers” are left open, and here one cam see great rats scampering to and fro, carrying in their mouths bits of the dead bodies. The prisoners, said Foster, are forced to work in this disease ridden atmosphere under the eyes of guards who got their jobs by doing small po- litical favors to the capitalist party in power. Dangerous Psychopaths in Charge The Daily Worker continued its expose of conditions in the New York penitentiary in an article published March 14, 1931. Harry Raymond, who served a term in the penitentiary along with Foster, Minor and Amter, aded b; Joseph Rao, member of he Dutch Schultz gang, ang Edward reported at that time that the guards were “mostly drunkards, some of common | ToContinueStrike Les Angeles Dairy Men To Stay Out Until Demands Are Won LOS ANGELES, Calif., Jan. 19 Mail).—Five hundred striking mil voted almost unanimously to con the strike, at a meeting of the Milk Section of the Food Workers Indus- trial Union last night. One af another the strikers arose and spol jin favor of continuing the until all demands are won. milker, back on his job under union conditions, volunteered to share hi: |pay with any married milker on strike, and proposed that the others | who were working do likewise. | A milk-tester who goes into many of the dairies reported that condi- tions inside are very bad, that the |dairies have to use two and three scabs to replace every regular milk: |Reliance Dairy, which tried to re: place the milkers with milk ma- |chines, yesterday removed the ma- chines. Newspapers continue their prop- aganda against the strikes, the latest being an accusation of strikers kid- naping scabs. The three milkers who (By persuaded by the pickets not to zo to work, and, instead of going back union. The union is asking support for the strike in the form of funds and food, to be sent to the headquarters at 546 |S. Los Angeles 8t. Sympathizers should send resolutions to the Los |Angeles City Council and Chief of Police Davis, protesting against the police terror against the strikers. them dangerous psychopaths, some of them sexual degenerates, some of whom run bootleg businesses in their off hours, and all o whom seem to be of the mental age of children.” This expose told how the guards traffic in food. “The meat and real coffee bought at public expense for the prisoners does not reach them unless they pay in addition, them-} selves,” said the report. “Union” of Stool-Pigeons The Daily Worker at this time disclosed a kind of “union” of stool pigeons existing in the prison at Harts Island, called the Holy Name Society, run by “Father” Zema, a Catholic priest who was also a pro- fessor of history at Fordham Univer- sity. This organization sent delegates around the prison to terrorize the Catholic services, where Father Zema preached sermons against the Soviet Union, telling the prisoners to kneel and pray against Bolshevism. It is well known that those be- longing to the priest’s organization got favors of good clothing. Cans of olive oil were smuggled into the prison for the Holy Name gang, con- taining considerable quantities of morphine and heroin. Prisoners Blackjacked An eye-witness account of extreme brutality of the Hart's Island guards, published in the Daily Worker on March 14, 1931, told of a terrible beating administered to a prisoner for resisting an unwarranted assault on him by a prison official. “The prisoner got 15 blows over the head “The prisoners work without pay, junder gun and club, and do such work as road building, farming, manufacturing of beds, clothes, shoes }and brooms, all in competition with ‘free’ American wage labor,” said the cpr Worker report of March 14, are declared “kidnapped” were merely | to the dairy, signed up with the} ordinary prisoners into attending the} with a blackjack and had 55 stitches | taken in his head,” said the account.) 00 TE nanan 158 a Mail carriers assembled in Was! of the pay cuts given them by Roosevelt's National Economy Act. the same act Roosevelt slashed the pensions of Veterans and federal employes. Demand Restoration of Pay Cuts hington to demand the restoration By against th’ Leather Workers of 500 Georgia Iron Gloversville Face ‘New Boss Attacks anners Seek To Smash Industrial Union and Impose A. F, of L. | By L. SOLOMON | GLOV! JILLE, N. Y—‘“The war is not 07 t. We have only signed an armistice.’ |__These were the words of Clarence | dent Leather Workers’ Union of Ful- }ton County, and militant leader of | the history-making strike of the 2,000 |leather workers of Johnstown and | Gloversville, The tannery owners have already | started their planned attack on the union. They aim to succeed now with what they could not do during |the strike, namely, to break the union. Why do the tannery bosses want the A. F. of L. union? Because they | know that with an A. F. of L. union | the workers will be divided into craft jand departments and would give them the opportunity to carry out the principle of “divide and rule.” If the beam hands would strike the workers in the tanning room would take their place, and if the knee stakers would strike, the machine stakers would take their place, and so down the line. The shop com- mittees would immediately be abol- ished and the bosses would deal with the “Official representative,” who wouldonly be a tool of the bosses. ‘The workers know well that the shop committees, even though in many, instances inexperienced and still in fear of the boss, are neverthe- less & real weapon in the hands of the workers. As, for instance, in the ease of the Cane Tanning Co., where the boss fired a militant worker, J. Bellin, but the shop committee im- mediately responded by organizing on strike for only half an hour and the worker was reinstated. | case of A. J. Baker & Oo., where the boss attempted to reduce the wages of the stakers, the shop committee |demanded a raise instead and re- | ceived it. The workers no longer | out of here,” because they know that they are united in a union that will defend their interests. The leather workers can only draw H. Carr, president of the Indepen- | the workers of the department, were | In the} {heed the well-known expression of | | the bosses, “if you don’t like it get} Moulders Solid On | 8th Week of Strike Rank and File Strike Committee Continues in Leadership ROME, Ga., Jan. 25—Between 400 and 500 men are out on strike from} four of the five Rome stove foundries. | For 8 weeks they have fought tooth | | and nail against the bosses—stop-| ping production completely. The) several attempts of the bosses to} send out material have been stopped | | by the pickets. Six months ago the men had or-/ ganized in the Iron Molders Union| | (A. F. of L.), set up shop committees | and won some small concessions} |_ The IM.U. sent Nick Smith and| Pendergraft, the National Seerctary | | and Vice-President, to dicker with | the bosses. They reached no agree- |ment with them. Then they got | orders from Lawrence O'Keefe, Presi- | dent of the 1.M.U., to send the men} | back to work, The men refused to go. | The bosses had refused to deal with the state N.R.A. labor board so they appealed to the National Labor Board. The officials of the I1LM.U.) succeeded in getting the men to} | agree to go back to work with the| | decision of the N.L.B. Now the men} | realize that the N.L.B. is made up| of bosses and most likely they will) try to sell them out so the strikers | are preparing for further action if | the decision of the N.LB. is not sat- isfactory. | The strike committees have been | refused the right to interview the! bosses with the officials of the union. | The bosses and the bureaucrats can't | stand to have the men hear them | bargaining on the terms of a sell-out. | | The Southern Foundrymen’s Asso- ciation has been helping out the | bosses in the striking foundries by} | arranging to have other foundries fill their orders. the following conclusions: “Build and | Strengthen shop committees!” Dis- | regard the cry of the bosses of “reds” and develop militant fighters in every shop, who will help maintain the | conditions of the workers. Build the unity of all workers in the leather |industry, together with the glove! workers, which will serve as an effec- tive weapon to defend the standard of living of the workers against the | planned attacks of the bosses Cveasury Looted; Used | izing the age making them, They made a drive against the Thugs To Break Strike of Alteration Men By A. 8. PASCUAL NEW YORK.—One hundred thou- sand dollars for union organizational work was used to “organize” and sey a bunch of gangsters by officials vf the Painters, Decorators, Paper dangers Brotherhood of the A. F. { L, in the six months period from ‘uly to December. The money was queezed out of the membership hrough the 50 cents daily work tax. reads: naign $135;” “General Pickets $268;” a fourth: Organizing Campaign. and General Picketing $1,117;” and still another , the organization keeping.” The clue to this indefinite of accounting is to be found in th remark made by one of the gang- sters who had forced Louis Wein- stock, rank and file opposition leader, out of the Sept. 25, Mecca Temple meeting: “We have the whole un- derworld behind us.” Zausner headed a powerful machine for the yurpose of intimidating and terror- i corrupt graft- mulcting. That is the reason we see that from July 6th to Dec. 28th $2,761 were spent for BADGES. That ts how they were listed on the vouch- the badge should have been inscribed two fists, a black-jack and @ lead pipe. This same Council Nov. 6th, em- Sec. Treas. Zausner to ap- + as Many organizers as condi- tions warranted at $60 a piece. That’s all he needed. More than a score of Supervisors were also appointed (#48 a week each) to see that the workers came across with their daily 50 cent plece. the week of Oct. Hey in é not to Then the agent would collect back wages frnm the boss, et i for himself and if any of the mulcted painters dared to complain to the union they would soon find themselves without a job. What happened to the “organizing drive?” Fy Ms workers, The “Daily Worker” is in posses- sion of the sworn testimony of a worker forced to sign up with the brotherhood, from the Rifkin & Lasoff shop, 174 3rd Ave. He swears he received three wage cuts with connivance of union officials. forcing a $9 a day wage scale, seven hours per day, five days a week. i i & u 5 f 3h z Re f a 3 ai rtf g s £ z A F i Fr 1] 38 i é i i i I i i ijtsi 3 F EE a i bf Pi a ef ‘ : : i i af : el i practiced the officials throughout the history of the brotherhood. They needed no The Daily is in possession of an- other affidavit made by a member of Painters Local 261. Hel i ge These same men reporting the action ainters Union Heads Graft $100,000 to “Organize” Gangsters to Shapiro and Ackerly received the answer that no action could be taken now. “Take as much as the boss gives you and be satisfied; there can be no reinstatements now.” The men, however, took things into their own hands and went on strike, forcing the boss to promise to pay $225 in back wages to the 45 workers in the shop. The council which had taken cognizance of the strike after it had started duly collected the back-wage money from the boss. When the men in turn went to col- jlect from the council they were told they would be put on charges because “We need the money ourselves.” The men were found guilty of working below the union scale; the money was never returned to them. district council made no reply. But, “It’s dead and buried,” was the declaration of 1930 to 1932 reliable figures the number of Painters who dropped from the brotherhood, due to these openly corrupt actions on the part of the officials at 45,000. So much for the “organizing drive.” A group of these painters on July 15, 1932 formed the Alteration Paint- ers, Decorators and Paper Hangers’ Union which is based on a closed shop policy; that the bosses should not be allowed to hire or fire without the consent of the shop committee; that the unorganized in the Altera- tion trade should be organized; and shop committees in place of the “Steward System.” (The Steward is the graft-point-of-contact the dis- trict officials with the boss.) Another reason for the organiza- tion of this union was that the brotherhood refused to organize the Alteration Painters despite that being skilled workers, the? were working under conditions as miserable as those of common laborers, Instead of improving conditions for the members of the union Zausner spent a great part of the $100,000 in gangster fees, for the purpose of eoehing this Alteration Painters A strong-arm flying squad attacked the picket line in Harlem established by the Alteration Painters, beating up the workers. Then Zausner issued Painters’ pickets bekt up Brother- .| hood pickets who were striking this job. Similar stro ttacks were the statement that, the Alteration | | Permits to Work Under Seale Arouse Rank and File repeatediy made, But the Alteration Painters’ Union has been able to register definite achievement in the field of organization and improve- ment of the painters’ conditions, | fighting on a class-struggle basis. Then Zausher on Jan. 18, 1934, capped this farcial twisting of facts |in a statement made to the Evening | | Journal: “Another dual union, call- ing itself the Alteration Painters’ Union,” he said, “restored to many { violent attacks upon members of the the purpose of keeping his “mob” supplied with easy money. The union | is practically bankrupt now. | The immediate steps in the Pain- | ters’ Brotherhood must be to arouse an aggressive militant fighting spirit in all the locals, directed against the spoliation of Zausner and the other A. F. of L. officials in the union. The Evening Journal is claiming demagogic credit for forcing Zausner to temporarily abandon the vicious 50 cents daily work tax. Only a cru- sader like Hearst would have the crust to claim credit for a bitter fight that was waged by the rank and file from the time the tax was announced on Aug. 12, 1933, until the fake ref- erendum two weeks ago showed | Zausner he had too much opposition in the locals against the tax. De- cision to drop the tax was taken be- fore the Journal started “crusading.” Reports from the locals indicate a powerful upsurge by the rank and file against the Zausner-Gangster- Racketeer clique. Opposition groups are being formed in locals that pre- viously had been closely gripped by | the strong-arm terror used to beat the workers into silence, Zausner and company can and must he smashed and a rank. and.ti\ar eleaged his place in Ji»! | tee for the New York du , to the Needle | under the auspices of the Un Page Three In Knitgoods Trade Fights N.R.A. Code Unite in Drive for 10,000 Signatures: Meet Thurs. NEW YORK.—The it- 90ds in- conference ry, at a w called on rkers to unite in a d to demand e abolition goods s for a , in the fi starvation code. The Unity Committee members of the United Te: the International Ladies’ Workers’ Union Workers’ Indust: includes le Union. Garmen' Trades dustrial Union). Jack elected chi mittee, J: Jack Sain: conference over 100 shops were rep- resented. A mass meeting will be held at Webster Hall on Thursday. mittee. All knitgoods worker: three unions and unorganized, are urged to attend this mass meeting and register their protest against the slave conditions in the N. R. A. code. Prominent trade union leaders have been invited to speak. The Unity Committee calis on all knitgoods workers in the city for a united fight against the N. R. A. code. | This code permits home work, allows | a starvation minimum wage of 35 Twenty-four hours fishermen had com! sardine fleet their complete demands 4 or better working conditions were | conserve the interests of the Govern- met by seven of the eight large can-|ment as Well as the Legion.” And a cents an hour for skilled workers and 25 per cent less for unskilled, and | allows a 40 to 48-hour working week. The Unity Committee demands a Sardine Fishermen ~~ | Unity Committee Vets Demand Senate Withdraw Roosevelt Compensation Slash Levin, W.E.S.L. Head, To Appear Before Senators Today Jan . National WASHINGTON Emanuel Levin, Shairman of the Workers’ Ex- icemen’, League, was ng tomorrow before Subcommittee on appro- up today begar s for returr 's benefits economs ing the act, and it was hi el Levin, Chairman of 1 ess. said the Workers Ex-Servicemen’s the Roos restore League, who will appear before more than $20,000,000 in benefits the Senate Subcommittee on Ap- propriations to demand the re- turn of the war veterans’ benefits, taken away by the Roosevelt goy- ernment. Roosevelt early last year slashed vet- eran benefits by $400,000,000. Edward A. Hayes, National Com- mander of the American Legion, estified today, however, that experi nion is that only about $9,200,000 would be restored by the Roosevelt order. Senators told him that the rest would go to the ex-soldiers in ° be ° additional hospitalization opportuni- Win Strike Victory ties, etc., but Hayes said that the | language of the Roosevetl order |“would not make eligible one new man. The Legion Commander smoothly informed the senators, “we want to SAN PEDRO, Jan. 20. (By Mail) — after the striking pletely tied up the statement of the Legion's A eke 7" = ri 1 y and a neries against whom the strike was) writ r eae erin cae Be called. | program boasted, “it in no way i aR eels, SRE | ‘The strike forced the bosses involves cash payment of the adjusted Has your organization made a (accept all catches averaging eight Irgpbtpapape ia Aiccle perio iaes « « donation to the fund to finance |inches in length. Heretofore the | 4 the National Convention Against major canneries used various pre-| The Workers’ Ex-Servicemen’s Unemployment, Feb. 3, in Wash- texts to refuse catches, League, the first to call for mass ington, D. C.?. Send funds to Na- The strike was a united front of | marches of veterans upon Washing- tional Committee, Unemployed | the Fishermen and Cannery Workers'|ton, announced at @ Congressional Council, 80 E. 11th St., New York City. | ANNIVERSARY Daily Worker CELEBRATIONS Priladelphia: On Feb. 2 at Girard Manor Hail, 911 W. Girard Ave. Good program | arranged. Pitisburgh, Pa. | On Feb, 3 af Russian Hall, 1508 || Sera St. 3.8. Interesting program. | ®oston, Mass. On Feb, 10 at Dudley St. Opera House, 113 Dudley St., Roxbury. Clarence Hathaway, Editor Daily Worker, main speaker. Varied program, including Russian Work- ers Chorus. Presenting of Daily Worker Banner to Boston District. | Adm. 25¢. LW.0. VOLUNTEERS Ail members volunteering for Commit- tees at the Ball and Concert report | promptiy at ¢ p.m. on Saturday at 69th | | Regiment Armory, Lexington Avenue and | | \| 28th Bt. (Classified ) ROOM wanted; share apartment; downtown. G. L. c/o Daily Worker. Industrial Union, the Japanese Fish: ermen’s | Fishermen’s Association and the Boat|%s they did later in the famous bonus | Owners’ Association. hearing early in 1932 that needy Association, the Italian | Soldiers would march to the Capital— marches. The League demands full payment of the service certificates, |as well as full restoration of all ben- efits taken away under the economy act. PHILADELPHIA, PA. Dedicated to the building of an eight-page Daily Worker The Eight- Page Club Meets Saturday, January 27 at 6 o'clock sharp, at the Jade Mountain Restaurant 1% Second Avenue, N. ¥. For information, write The %- Page Club, care of Daily Worker, The First of the Season—— FRIDAY AND SATURDAY January 26th, 27th, 1934 GRAND BAZAAR ke Garrick Hall, 507 S. 8th St. Program: Freiheit Gesangs Farein Adagio Dancers DANCING EVERY NIGHT Best food served—Articles for sale at low prices Admission 15 cents one night 25 cents both nights Auspices:—-United Workers’ Or- ganizations of So. Philadelphia 35 East 12th Street, Say Comrade! How About Climbing Mount Beacon? REAL WINTER SPORTS AT NITGEDAIGET -e@- PHONE 781 BEACON, W. ¥. Cars leave 10:30 A.M. Dally, from 2700 BRONX PARK EAST - ESiabrook 8-1400 Reduced week-end fare 1 NATIONAL CONVENTION Friends of the Soviet Union JANUARY 26th, 27th, 28th Mass Meeting PREDAY NIGHT, JANUARY 26th —Well Known Speakevs— | C. A. HATHAWAY Editor Daily Worker DR. REUBEN YOUNG Negro Intellectual CORLISS LAMONT Concert-- Dance SATURDAY, JANUARY 27th BOBBIE LEWIS and TONY KRABER | From Broadway Hit, “Men in White” will appear after theatre | hours, 11:30 sharp. Author of “Russia Day by Day” 0. & CRAWFORD Socialist Party of Erie, HERBERT GOLDFRANK VERNON ANDRADE’S Orchestra Pa. Hot music, until ? hours. Best Negro band in Harlem. Acting, National Secretary, F. 8. U. WILLIAM LEADER Vice-President, Full Hosiery Workers Union NINA TARASOVA : Repertoire of New Soviet Songs in Native Costume. Fashioned EXHIBITION Pictures, books, models of progress im the Soviet Union. A miniature model of the Kremlin. Marguerite Bourke White’s pictures. Latest books om Russia, and from Russia, Shows progress in Agriculture, collectivize- tion, culture, education, industry. VISITORS INVITED ALL THREE DAYS NEW STAR CA isi cf talilppelgpseeipiabine 107th STREET AND PARK AVENUE SINO, |