The Daily Worker Newspaper, February 28, 1934, Page 1

5 a CIRCULATION DRIVE NEW SUBS RECEIVED YESTERDAY: Daily Total to date . Daily QWorker CENTRAL ORGAN COMMUNIST PARTY U.S.A. (SECTION OF COMMUNIST INTERNATIONAL) Bn nt nnn AMERICA’S ONLY WORKING CLASS DAILY NEWSPAPER Vol. XI, No. 51 Qa fiew York, N. ¥., under Entered as second-class matter at the Post Otice at the Act of March 8, 1879 NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 1934 WEATHER: Fair and warmer. (Six Pages) Price 3 Cents DIMITROFF, TANEFF, POPOFF ARRIVE IN MOSCOW, FREED ON DEMAND OF SOVIET UNION WHICH MADE THEM CITIZENS NRA Hearing Opens With Ballyhoo Blast, Threats to Workers Johnson Declares Wider Attack on Strikes Is to Be Made GREEN PRAISES NRA Ne Relief, “Nor Lowering of Hours Says Houston BULLETIN (Daily Worker, Washington Bureau.) WASHINGTON, Feb. 27.—Joe Kiss, Secretary of the National Furniture Workers’ Industrial Union, faced N. R.A. Administrator General Hugh 8S. Johnson in the “criticism fest” today and declared, “as far as we are con- cerned, the N.R.A. has lowered our living standard and has created even greater unemployment than existed before June 16, 1933, when the code went into effect.” With characteristic vigor, Johnson attempted to bullyrag the militant spokesman, but Kiss furniture code’s “minimum” wage, which had been shown to be the average and in many cases the maximum, was entirely in- adequate. Johnson also conceded that company unions, which Kiss showed to be sponsored under the N.R. A. code, “do not represent the workers.” Tossing U. S. Bureau of Statistics figures into the record, Kiss showed how the furniture code a steep cut in real wages,” and “ac- tually increased our hours.” * By SEYMOUR WALDMAN Daily Worker, Washington Bureau. WASHINGTON, Feb,-27,—The-gen- eral staff of American capitalism—big bus’ t3 caief government lieu- d its leadinz. A. F. of L. agents in the ranks of the working class — today snarled, threatened, boasted, vrated dcmagogically and even lied in the ceremonies staged in the Commerce Depariment auditorium to open the public N.R. A. sessions off ly labelled “a field day for critics.” N.R.A. Administrator General Hugh S. Johnson, Donald B. Richberg, the head counsel for N.R.A. George H. Houston, president of the Baldwin Lecomotive Works and vice-president o? the violently anti-labor and pow- (Continued on Page 2) Senate, House Move: to Control AllRadio, and Wires for War WASHINGTON, Feb. 27.—Creation of a Federal Communications Com- mission, which would have control over all radio, war and cable service in ‘he Tnited States, and would be a powerful means of censorship and war preparations. was introduces in Coneress today by Chairman Clar- ence Dill of the Senate Interstate Commerce Committee, following President Roosevelt's appeal for cone; yesterdav. The “ouse Bill, almost identical with Dill’s measure, was also intro- duced by Chairman Sam Reyburn of the House In‘erst-te Commerce Com- mittee. The bill, which would be a power- ful war weapon, vlans to set up a commission of seven, appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate, to coordinate and revulate all types of communications now coming under the jurisdiction of the Federal Radio Commission and ‘he Interstate Commerce Commission. Members of the Commission would receive $10,009 a yeer. In the Daily Worker Today Page 5 “Change the World!” by Sender Guilin “When I Spoke to the Socialist Workezs of Vienna,” by James W. Ford . “Hungry Mill Workers Told to Snend Money,” by John L. Spivak “The Lord’s Prayer,” by Peter Conrad Page 6 Editorials Foreign News “handed us/ Auto Workers Strike Is a “Misunderstanding,”’ States William Green Daily Worker Washington Bureau WASHINGTON, Feb. 27.—Will- jam Green, asked what he wou'd do when and if automobile work- ers appeal to him for a general s‘rike, today told the Daily Worker: “T don’t think I would reject the apveal if it comes.” The American Federation of Labor’s president meade this com- mitment when he was consulted about Toledo reports that 5.000 auto workers in A, F. of L. unions } are demanding a general strike in support of ‘he 2.000 workers al- ready out in auto parts plants. Green’s first reaction to the question of the strike, however, was this: “There has been a misunder- standiny in the automobile situa- tion, The au‘omobile workers in our unions have not appealed to me to engage in the strike. I would have to pass on that when the application comes.” Hathaway and ‘Minor Speak at NRA Hearings, TUUL and Rank and File Will Expose N.R.A. at All Sessions (Daily Worker Washington Bureau.) WASHINGTON, Feb. 27. — Robert Minor of the Central Committee 0” the Communist Party of America and Clarence Hathaway, Ed:tor of the Daily Worker, were allotted speaking time today on the program of the N.R.A. public criticism conferences. Officials of the N.R.A. who previ- ously had stsutly maintained they never received Minor’s request for time in each of the five separate group meetings remained silent when }he reminded them of his telegraphic -pplication, and auickly put him wn for each meeting. He was iven twenty minutes on tonight's ssion on N.R.A. employment prob- ems and was sche‘luled to speek for the same length of time, as follows: 2:30 P. M., Wednesday, on trade cractices such as limitation of ma- chine hours and competitive rela- ‘icnships. 40 P. M., Wednesday, on N. R. A. rode administration. 10 A. M., Thursday, on small enter- prises and minorities under the N.R.A. and 12 Noon. Thursday, on trade prac- ‘ices, such as price-fixing under the NBA. Hathaway will speak at 8 p. | Thursday, before Group No. 1 N.R.A. employment questions. Among the Militant Trade Union delegates who arrived today were Louis Hyman, President of the Needle Trades Workers Industrial Unions, Leslie H. Jones, cf the Mrrine Workers’ Industrial Union, and Joe Kiss, Secretary of the National Fur- ure Wo-kers’ Industrial Union. m. on Toledo Auto Strikers Vote To Stay Out Want Full Demands; Reject Offer of 5 Percent Increase TOLEDO, Feb. 27.—A mass meeting of 1,000 strikers in auto parts plants here at the Coliseum last night voted to continue the strike and reject the offer of a five per cent wage in- crease. Plants affected are the Logan Gear Co, Bingham Stamping Co., and several departments of the Aut- ‘ite. Workers in the Dura Co, and the Moto-Meter Gauge and Equip- ment Co., are expected to walk out today. The workers ave demanding an increase in wages from 40 to 65 eactionary officials had workers ejected from the Coliscum last night for distributing leaflets of the Auto Workers Union which called for mass picketin; it the Aut-lite Company, and cr: ized the failure of the cfficials to organize rank and file committees and mass picketing, as well as the securing of relief for strikers, Henry Mungie, organizer of the Unemployed Council, was thrown cut of the meeting when he pre- sented the chairman a message of solidarity and suppo:t to the strike trom unemployed workers. Thomas Ramsay, business agent of the Automotive Workers Federal Em- Ployees Union, leading the strike, | showed his inexperience and poor ‘eadership at the meeting, and strik- ers were disgusted. Today the strike failed to spzead. The sub-Regioncl N.R.A. Labor Board is insisting on settlement, and the newspapers are | demanding arbitration. The Spicer lant, manujacturers. of universal joints, where the workers are out on strike, made a bluff at re-opening. The Auto Workers Union is calling on the strikers to organize for mass picketing, and to establish a united front of all workers, regardless of union affiliation, in order to win the strike. Seamen Make Police Chief Promise to Stop Brutality Cemmnnists’? Leadership In Strike Hailed by Coal Boat Men BOSTON, Mass. Feb. 27.—Mass pressure of the striking seamen and the workers here who are suvporting the seamen’s strike forced Superin- tendent of Police McDevit to promise to end the strikebreaking activities cf the police. The protests came from a mass meeting called by the Marine Work- ers Industrial Union and the Inter- national Labor Defense following a joint attack of police and ship’s offi- cers against strikers on the 8. 8. Glenn White where the police fired at the workers. Formal protests were lodged in the offices of the Police Superintendent by Blanc of the International Labor Defense and Kinz Workers Industrial Union. A red squad detective named Good- man tried to defend the actions of (Continued on Page 2) NEW YORK.—A new high record was chaiked up in the Daily Worker circulation drive yesterday, when 104 new daily subscriptions were received from the various districts. The previous high mark on new daily subs was reached on Feb. 2I1st, when 71 came in. Of yesterday’s 104 new subs, Bos- ton sent in 24, leading all other dis- tricts on that day. Minneapolis was ruaner-up to Boston with 13; Mil- waukee was third, with 8; Cleveland fourth, with 6, while Philadelphia, Buffaio, Pittsburgh, Connecticut sent in 5 each. Newark district was the only one which did not send in a new daily sub yesterday. Drive Gains Speed While the drive on the whole is still behind, the recent sharp im- provement in the number of new subs coming in shows that more workers are participating and that the cir- culation campaign is gaining real speed. Letters from active sub-getters are full of enthusiasm for our “Daily,” and show that more workers look to the Daily Worker for news on cur- New High Record Chalked Up In “Daily” Circulation Drive rent events and for leadership in the class struggle. A sub-getter who canvasses work- | ers in a Navy Yard writes: | “Some of the fellows working in the yard used to only joke when I asked them to subscribe for the Daily Worker. Sometimes they would buy it and again they would not. But not long ago we got an- other wage cut, and the same workers came to me and asked what the Daily Worker had to say about the wage cut. I told them how the Daily Worker fights against all wage cuts. The same workers that used to joke are now regular readers of our Daily Worker.” Similar letters from other sub- getters prove beyond a doubt that if workers are approached they readily become subscribers to the “Daily.” The drive for 10,000 new daily and 20,000 new Saturday readers can be put over the top, provided every class-conscious workers does his or her revolutionary share. Are you helping to put the drive over the top? The latest figures on the drive will be found on page 1, top left- hand corner. Help boost them! ‘Czechs Mass of the Marine | ad Gallagher Permitted to Enter Canada to Aid Smith Defense BUFFALO, N. Y,, Feb. 27.— Leo Gallagher, International Labor De- fense attorney, was granted permis- sion to enter Canada today to par- ticipate in the defense of A. E, Smith, general secretary of the Canadian Defense League, following vigorous protests by Canadian and American workers against a previous order of the Canadian Minister of Immigra- tion barring him from the country. Gallagher left here today and will be in Toronto tomorrow, where trial of Smith was begun on Monday on a@ sedition charge following his ex- posure of the government's attempt to murder Tim Buck, one of eight leaders of the Canadian Communist Party sentenced to long prison terms Troops; War Peril Great Austrian Moves Raise War Tension High in Europe PARIS, Feb. 27.—Mobiliza- tion of troops in Czechoslo- vakia, Austrian Nazis in Ger- many, and Heimwehr and troops in Austria are raising the wazt-tension to breaking point in Central Europe today. The real state of affairs in Austria, on the eve of termination of the Nazi ultimatum, is blanketed under a heavy censorship, which forbids all mention either of the movement of armed forces in Austria, or of the versistently rumored plan to: place “he Archduke Otto on the Austrian throne in a coup d'etat. Heimwehr and Nazis Massed, Forty thousand fascist Heimwehr wroops are known to be under arms and with supplied field rations in Austria, while between 10,000 and 20,- 900 Austrian Nazis are massed in Germany near the Austrian border. Czechoslovakia has concentrated heavy reinforcements of troops at the (Continued on Page 2) London Jobless Marchers Demand to See MacDonald Premier !s “Sorry” But Must Attend British Industries Fair LONDON. Feb. 27.—Marching on 10 Downine St., the English Prime Minister’s official residence, thou- sands of hunger marchers demon- strated in London against the rov- ernment’s unemployment slave bill. Al‘houch heayily guarded by extra Police details, the marchers de- manded admittance to the Prime Minister. At the British Industries Fair Mac- Donald exnressed recret at his “un- fortunate absence.” Parliement mem- bers tried to nlacs‘e the marchers by invitine them to “tea.” Meanwhile. in the House of Com- mons, McGovern, the Laborite. who acts “Jeft” under pressure of the workers, oresented a petition to allow the marchers to be heerd in the House. When MacDonald refused this petition. a motion to debate this refusal was carried. | Another demonstration has been} set for next Sunday in Trafalgar Sovare. The march was arranzed by the National Unemnloyed Workers’ Move- ment and was sivported ac*ivelv by the Communist Party as a protest against the Means test. a measure by which the unemn'oyed worker’s re- sources are first investicated to see whether he has a few pennies left. Refuse Phila. CWA Job) to Negroes, Jews, Italians PHILADFLPHIA, Pa.—F. E. Talia- fero, ‘obless Nevro, was told by the Cc. W. A. emn'oyment service that they had been instructed to send no Negroes, Jews or Italions to the Brard of “dreation nroicc's. When this case of discrimination was broucht to the atten‘ion of Evic H. Biddle, Pennsylvania C. W. A. director, he viouslv stated that “dis- criminstion cannot and dare not be brought in’o C. W. A. jobs.” His remedy for the situation was to re- voke all C. W. A. grants for Board of Education vrojects, In ‘his way he actually cut the number of C.W.A. Jobs Liberation Is Victory of Intl Working Class, Power of Workers’ Fatherland @ oan Woe RESCUED FROM hee TOP: George Dimitroff, LEFT: Basil Popoff. RIGHT: Blagoi Taneff. Prepare Giant Intensified Struggle for HAMBURG, Feb. 27—Under in- structions from Captain Wilhelm Goering, head of the Nazi secret p: Hee, the police of Hxmburg are di: tributing offers of reward for “in- forma‘icn” against Ernst Thaelman: leader of the Germ-n Commu: Party, who will go on trial for his on a charge of “treason” in Marc! This cpen offer to fer per: reveals the desporate efforts of tho Nazis to manufacture anything about Thaelmann which will not be cheered by the German masses, who know} him as their most devoted leader. Another confidential letter circu- lated by Paul Joseph Goebbels, min- ister of propaganda, amcnz renegades and expelled members of the German Communist Leader Called for | | i} | | | | | NAZI DUNGEONS Demonstration For Thaelmann, N.Y. March 3' Freecom of the German al as | e Ge>man Consul ae at | 39 p.m. ni S; ‘day, March at the call ung Communist | mand the freedom of | Ernst Thaelmann. | This is the first of a series of na-| tion-wide demonstrations and protest | actions in respone to the call of the| International Red Aid to make the) week of March 3 to 10 a week of world-wide struggles for the libera- tion of Thae!mann. lI. L. D. Wires Greetings, Pledges Intensified Fight for the Liberation of Torgler, Thaelmann, Other Prisoners GOERING LOSES HIS HOPE OF REVENGE | Liberation by Soviet Government Climax of World- Wide Fight Against Nazi Frame-Up (Special to the Daily Worker.) MOSCOW, Feb. 27 (By Radio).—George Dimitreff, Vassil Berlin tonight. | Taneff, and Blagoi Popoff arrived in Moscow by plane from They were released earlier today by the Nazi government ago. | in Berlin, in response to the demand of the Soviet government, |after having been granted Soviet citizenship about two weeks They were hailed by an immense throng which filled the , snow-covered airport, while bands played as the smiling Com- | munists stepped out of the nlane, to be greeted by officials of the Soviet government and the Communist Party. Exactly One Year After Fire. One year to the day after the Nazi-set Reichstag fire was | made the signal for the Nozi terror which has claimed hundreds | | of thousands of victims, iuzee of the defendants of the Reichs- \tag fire trial were snatched from the murderous hands of the | Nazis by the Soviet government. The world-wide mass pressure forced a verdict of acquittal at their trial. Immediately after their acquittal, the three Communists | demanded to be returned to Bulzaria, despite a death verdict | of the Bulgarian government against Dimitroff. The Bulgarian government refused to accept them, whereupon they applied to the Soviet government for citizenship. Soviet Deman. “elease. This was immediately granted by the Soviet nies "and followed at once by a formal demand on the Nazi government that they be allowed to go to the Soviet Union. Hermann Goering, chief of the Nazi secret police, whom | hold of him. | Dim‘troff had reduced to raving rage on the witness stand at | the fire trial by his pointed questions, immediately announced |that he would not allow Dimitroff out of his hands. | trial he had promised to take revenge on him if ever he got At the Fight for Torgler Must Be Intensified. Ernst Torgler, leader of the Communist fraction in the Reichstag, tried and acquitted with the three, as a German citizen, did not avply for Soviet citizenship, and remains in the hands cf the Nazis despite his acquittal. The world-wide pressure of mass indignation which forced thair acquittal must be intensified more and more to force the release of Torgler, who remains in the tormenting dungeons of Goering’s secret police. The four Communists were arrested immediately after the Reichstag fire of Feb. 27, 1933. Their trial was announced to be the justification for the tremendous reign of murder and torture which the Nazis-carried out against hundreds of thou- | sands of German workers. | The heroic defense of Dimitroff, Torgler, Popoff, backed by mass actions throughout the world, which Taneff, and resulted in the organization of an international commission which brought to light conclusive evidence that the Nazis them- selves set the fire, turned the trial of the Communists into a ‘trial and exposure of the Nazis before the whole world. It revealed Dimitroff especially as one of the most heroic ard murder him. \of working-class fighters, striking out fearlessly in behalf of —|) the revolutionary working-class and the Communist Party in m to pro-| the midst of a horde of Nazis whose chief desire was to torture After the frame-up had been smashed so openly that the | _| Leipzig court was forced to acquit the four Communists, they | were taken to Berlin and turned over to Goering’s secret police? 1 i. D. Pledges Intensified Ficht. NEW YORK.—The International Labor Defense, immedi ately on receiving word of the liberation of Dimitroff, Popoff, and Taneff, sent them the following cablegram, in care of the International Red Aid, Moscow: “American workers greet Dimitroff, Popoff. and Taneff, and pledge intensified struggle for Thaelmann, Torgler, and all class-war prisoners.” Spokane AFL Council Indorses Social Insurance Bill Defies Green’s Wire; Great Falls, Mont., City Coun cil and Lincoln, Neb., A. F. L. Endorse Bill SPOKANE, Wash., Feb. 27.—The Spokane Central Trades Council of the A. F. of L. unanimously indorsed the Workers Unemployment and So- cial Insurance Bill (HR 7593), at its last regular meeting, in the face of a telegram from William Green, Green wired the Spokane A. F. of L. Coun- ell that they should not recognize the A. F, of L. Rank and File Commit- tee for Unemploymen: s Louis the Ran Veinsto: now on four for and File Commit was | given the floor in the face of Green's} telegram of attack and the indor: ment of the Workers Bill followed. Weinstock is now on tour speaking at| A. F, of L. locals and councils on behalf of the Workers Unemploy- ment Insurance Bill and other de- mands of mm and file in the, of Line A. t F. of L. Lincoln A. F, of L. Acts LINCOLN, Nebraska, Feb. 27.— The Federal Labor Union, toca! No. 19128 (A. F. of L.) this week in- dorsed the Wor'iers Unemployment and Social Insurance Bill (H. R. 7598), by a unanimous vote. The State Federation of Labor (A. F. of L) and the Central Labor Union Nebzaska have already | indorsei the Workers Bill and de- | manded its enactment by congress. Great Falls Couneit GREAT FALLS, Mont—The Great | Falls, Montana City Council and the | Great Falls Central Trades Council of the A. F. of L. have indorsed the Workers Unemployment Insurance Bill (HR 7598). as