The Daily Worker Newspaper, March 24, 1934, Page 1

CIRCULATION DRIVE NEW SUBS RECEIVED YESTERDAY: Sas } be } } }i ——— Saag aceite. t ns ' a ! I ( ‘ y u fi a - 8 Saturday ...... 138 + 2534 =Total ...++++-. 1,670 »} Vol. XI, No. 72 = %6 Entered as second-class m New York, N. ¥., uni r the Act of March 8, 1879 Daily ‘AWorker CENTRAL ORGAN COMMUNIST PARTY U.S.A. (SECTION OF COMMUNIST INTER NEW YORK, SATURDAY, MARCH 24, 1934 fatter at the Post Office at 7 ATIONAL) WEATHER: Snow or rain, warmer AMERICA’S ONLY WORKING CLASS DAILY NEWSPAPER (Ten Pages) Price 3 Cents TAXI STRIKE RANKS UNBROKEN BY POLICE TERROR V4 F, Ri Lexiders Wire Devin Ais W Workers to Postpone Stri Kine Sirike Action Indefinitely ' AFL in Shameless | Demagogy to Put | Over Auto Sell Out Auto Workers Union Rallies Men To Fight Company Unions BOSS’ TOOLS ACTIVE Sunday Conference To Be Center of United Action By WILLIAM WEINSTONE DETROIT, March 23. — A. F. of L. officials in Washing- ton have sent telegrams to the auto locals here and in Flint indefinitely postponing strike action, as predicted by the Auto Workers Union. The eer one- da, ment is ing pro- jee eat effort to defeat strike action. At the same time local A. F. of L. leaders are preparing the ground here for acceptance of a “compro- ‘| misé,” which would be a sell-out on the question of union recognition. | These fhisleaders are working in the direction of spreading demagogic and chauvinistie propaganda to line up with the President, and to fall in with the policy of no strike. They follow the policy of deliberately in- flating the workers’ hopes on what to expect from Washington. At the Briggs local A. F. of L. meet last night this method was used. Today’s capitalist press car- ries a telegram from Greer, Presi- dent of the Hudson Local, and one of the A. F. of L. delegates in ‘Washington, saying: “Have been in conference with the President for four hours. Definite and important results. Feel elated.” At the same time, telegrams were sent to the locals, delaying strike action. Company Union Not Abolished. ‘Though the exact terms of the sell-out are not yet clear, the fol- lowing, however, is already evident: The workers will not get the right to freely organize into unions of their own choosing and to elect committees in the departments and plants with power to negotiate with the employers on all questions of wages and hours. It is also clear that the company unions will not be abolished. The manufacturers will stand pat on the question of company unions, and the A. F. of L. leaders will, in fact, accept them, but to cover up their betrayal, may make some ent to enable the A. F. of L. leaders to say that some “recognition” was achieved. One proposal along these lines is the industrial relations with representation from the men to “investigate” discrimination, which will be dominated by the manufacturers, and will have no power to enforce any action against the discharge of union men. This the manufacturers will gladly ac- cept. Another form of surrender may be an arrangement similar to that made in regard to the captive mines owned by the steel trust, where company unions remained, and the A. F. of L. leaders put their seal on them. But whatever the trick may be, it is clear real union recognition il] not come from Washington. uto Workers Union Urges Fight. ‘The Auto Workers Union today is distributing a leaflet explaining to the workers the danger of company unions, and for what kind of recog- nition they must fight. ‘The leaflet says in part: “A company union is 2 cage with the workers inside. The men are are there to keep the men in their place—inside the cage. Where com- pany unions , wages are low, -up is great, and the manufac- turers rake in huge profits.” ane ee leaflet then sets forth what real union recognition means, and warns against the surrender in Washington, which the A. F. of L. leaders will try to “play” up.as a big victory. It urges the men to stand for real recognition and demands re- garding wages and speed-' Arrangements for the united front (Continued on Paze 2) a } cS Benjamin To Speak Over Station WBNX Sunday at 8:45 P.M. NEW YORK.—Herbert Benja- min, national organizer of the Unemployment Councils, will speak over station WBNX, a New York Station with wave length of 1350 ke, on Sunday, March 25, from 8:45 to 9 p.m. Benjamin will speak on the Workers Unemployment Insur- ance Bill (H. R. 7598), and show how the Roosevelt-Wagner “Re- serves” Bill would not give the workers unemployment insur- ance. The program is being arranged by the Magazine Debate Society. 102 Bomber Planes And 1184 Warships Approved in Senate Billion Dollar Bill Will Get Roosevelt’s Signature WASHINGTON, D, C., March 23. —A record-breaking, one billion dol- lar war bill was passed today by the Senate without a roll call, and awaits only the signature of Roose- velt to become law. It is the Vinson Naval Bill authorizing the govern- ment to appropriate one billion dollars for the building of battle- ships and airplanes. Roosevelt has already stated his approval of the bill. This brings the Roosevelt war program well within the two bil- lion dollar mark within less than a period of one year. The bill provides for the construc- tion of 102 new vessels and 1,184 war planes,’ bringing the American war machine {to the top limits set by the London Naval Treaty. Attack- ing the huge profit grabbing that the Roosevelt war program is pro- viding for the munitions and ship- building magnates, Senator Bone Said that the Wall Street shipbuild- ers were the “most arrogant band of racketeers that ever foisted them- selves upon a helpless people.” He suggested, however, that the gov- ernment maintain its present huge war building program, but do the building itself. 60 Negro Te Escape Death by Fire in Harlem Slu Tenant Strikers on East Side Are Summoned to Court on Monday NEW YORK.—Sixty Negro ten- ants narrowly escaped being burned to death when fire broke out shortly before 2 a.m. yesterday in a five- story Harlem old-law tenement at 1384 Park Ave., between 103d and 104th Sts. The fire, which started in the cel- lar and raged upwards through the dumbwaiter shaft, was discovered just in time for warnings to be spread throughout the house. The building has wooden stairs of the type which have sealed the coffins of 48 working class tenants in New York firetraps since Jan. 1. ater arriving on the scene after Henry Thomas, 15, discov- ered the fire and told a patrolman to turn in the alarm, started a short distance away from the stairs enabled the 60 ten- ants, Negro workers, their wives and children, to escape safely. Only this averted another firetrap tragedy of the kind which took peg hag oA Da ieape aa ond Ave. a few days Tenan' ants of an adjoining | building, 1382 Park Ave., were also aroused ¢ | | | LA GUARDIA’S COPS ARRESTING TAXI DRIVERS | Scene at Times Square Thursday night as police charged the | ranks of the strikers, using terror and arrests in an attempt to break the back of the militant taxi drivers’ strike. Gov’t Stalls Auto Men to Stop Strike Johnson Talks Openly | As Representative of Auto Manufacturers By SEYMOUR WALDMAN (Daily Worker Washington Bureau) WASHINGTON, March 28—The | Roosevelt strike-stalling negotia- tions today reached the point of open conspiracy to keep the auto delegates in Washington to the point where it would be disadvantageous for them to issue a strike order to the eager rank and file now un- certainly held back by the strongest pressure which the A. F. of L. ma- chine can exert. Roosevelt told the press this af- ternoon, nearly three days after the strike was to have started, that Ke/ hand’t heard from N.R.A, Admini- strator Johnson since noon and that he still held himself in readiness to see either the manufacturers or the} labor delegates at any time. Despite numerous questions, he refused to divulge just what anti-strike pro- gram he will spring on the impa- tient auto workers when the rank and file's eagerness to strike will force a new administration move. In the mid-afternoon the A. F. of | L. delegates were corralled in Ed- ward McGrady’s office to await Gen- eral Johnson for another session of | the latter's brow-beating in the in-| terests of the manufacturers. It is indeed signifiicant to note that Johnson is openly and frankly| working for the manufacturers, even | going to the extent of talking in Janguage almost identical with that of William Knudsen, executive vice- president of J. P. Morgan’s General Motors Corporation, the leader of the owner’s forces. The charges of discrimination in 200 (leaders) cases out of approximately 250,000 em- ployees “was nothing at all,” said the general to the press late yester- (Continued on Page 2) nants Barely m Tenement ® and forced to leave their flat at this early hour, in almost freezing tem- perature, as a precautionary measure, Park Ave. in Harlem, through which Westchester railroad trains run, is an extension of the wide and airy avenue occupied by the wealthy only a mile south of the scene of yesterday's fire. Following a mise of the Land- lords Association, every tenant on strike at 139 and 145 Houston St. was yesterday served with a sum- mons to appear in court. M. Rich- man, the Houston St. spokesman of the tenant’s delegation, rezeived a summons which read: “While acting in concert with sev- éral others, he came to the com- Plainant’s place of business at 156 Second Ave. and did threaten to do bodily harm to the complainant and others on March 20, 1934, at 4:30 p.m.” ‘The summoned tenants have to appear at Essex Market Court, Sec- ond St. and Second Ave., at 10 a.m., Monday, March 26, before Judge DeLuca. Both the Steve Katovis Branch of the International Labor Defense and the Unemployed Council plan to form a mass picket line around the Jandlord’s offices at 156 Second Ave., Monday at 9 a.m, 15 AFL Locals Join in San Francisco CW ADemonstration SAN FRANCISCO, Cal., March 23—The city-wide united front demonstration to be held here on March 21 in protest against the Roosevelt order to fire all C.W.A. workers, already involves 46 workers’ organizations. Fifteen A. F. of L. locals have already declared their intention to par- ticipate. The workers are demanding continuation of the C. W. A.; stopping of the Roosevelt wage cuts, and restoration of the 30- hour week, union wages to apply; and the enactment of the Work- “rs Unemployment Insurance Bill (H. R. 7598). Cal. Longshoremen Strike Is Throttled by Pres. Roosevelt |Sends Wire to I. L. A. Fakers; Asks Them To “Suspend” Strike SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., March 22.Flouting a 100 to1 vote for strike yesterday, W. J. Lewis, Presi- dent of the Pacific Coast District of the International Longshoremen’s Association, at the request of Presi- dent Roosevelt, called off a strike of 12,000 longshoremen set for today. The workers were all ready to go out on strike for recognition of their union, the closed shop, and in- creased wages. On the request of George Creel, former state director of the N. R. A., Roosevelt sent the following telegram to the I. L, A. officials: “In public interest, I am con- strained to ask you to suspend strike, effective Friday, March 23, until an investigation of all mat- ters in controversy can be made by impartial board which I will name. This board will be em- powered to conduct hearings and make recommendations as a basis for peaceful settlement of differ- ences by negotiation. I earnestly ask your co-operation and will appreciate an immediate reply.” When notice of the strike being called off was posted over 400 dockers stormed the I. L. A. office protesting and demanding the strike be called. A meeting, set for 7 o'clock last night, was called off. The men booed this announcement. Meanwhile, local police are being mobilized in an effort to enforce Roosevelt's strike-breaking order if the men go out on strike over the heads of their leaders. Greek Soldiers Face Trial for Anti-War Agitation in Army ATHENS, March 6 (By Mail). — Five soldiers of the 50th Infantry Regiment, of Saloniki, and four of the Fourth Regiment of Larissa are to be brought up on trial for anti- war agitation. Among the Saloniki soldiers is a Jewish Communist, Dsako, who led a protest against the national oppression of Jewish soldiers. Twenty other soldiers have al- ready been shipped to a convict colony for revolutionary soldiers at Kalpaki. These arrests have not stopped revolutionary propaganda in the army, and leaflets are being widely distrbiuted in the barracks as before. What is your Unit, trade union, mass organization doing to get new subscribers for the Daily Worker? Help put the sub drive over the tont te { have effectively stopped of a bloody reign of terror. ECAUSE the New York taxi strikers of scab cabs, every agency of the bosses begins to howl in fury for the unleasing When the workers, through their mili- The Taximen’s Fight for Bread Is Met By LaGuardia Police Terror, Call for Troops AN EDITORIAL murder. the strike, conditions under strike. the running want recognition They want the police mobilized to crush in order to drive the men back to the What are the taxi drivers fighting for? that their conditions will be enforced. They dem: a minimum of $23 a di which they were slaving before the | | ‘They | of their union, as a guarantee for day men and $: M ‘Taxi Strikers March F Fron Halls; Picket Lines at All Garages in City Drivers Who Supported LaGuardia Assail His Mailed Fist Poliey CALL FOR RELIEF Union Scores Letter of Fleet Owners By HARRY RAYMOND NEW YORK, March 23.— LaGuardia’s trump or tant action, are on the verge of winning a victory for union recognition and im- night drivers. They fighti pany union which terrorizes the men, and tries to keep them under the most miserable condition card of brutal terror and po- \lice and gangster violence has | failed to budge the heroic sidered worthy of mention. Only when the workers fight proved conditions, the taxi owners, with the capitalist press at their head, shriek like a pack of bloodhounds for violence and more violence against the workers. When the company gunmen and thugs assault strikers, that is not violence. When the police attack picket lines, that is applauded by the capitalist press. When the taxi companies, financed by the biggest banks, force and terrorize the men into company unions, that is not con- and troops shoot down steel strikers, coal miners, their wives and children, this is “law and order” in the eyes of the bosses. tion conditions, against blacklisting, against the La Guardia starvation code, for a chance to live and to organize, then every boss clique cries bloody The taxi driv strike and drove by the capitalist Because they this vaunted “fri use of violence a When police ship which can agi ‘ihievees full page adve! ( They are fighting against LaGuardia’s taxi code that | provides the NR.. accept the N.R.A. tion and miserable conditions, ing of the police and instructs them, through the cept the miserable conditions he wants | The leadership of the taxi drivers’ shown through struggle that it is the only leader- | ditions and ynion- recognition. TERMINAL TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM, in of dollars in bribes to the capitalist pre: lishing a scurrilous, lying letter about the strike of A. minimum wage of $12 a week. ers, because they have refused to | “arbitration” that broke the hotel | the workers back to discrimina- are being berated press, will not swallow LaGuar code, iend of labor” calls a special meet- nd terror, to force the men to ac to impose. union has head the fight for improved con- * oe ny rtisements spends tens of thousands , for pub- ‘Continued on Page 10) 3,000 C.W.A. Win Strike In Lancaster 250 in Columbia Also Win Complete Victory LANCASTER, Pa., March 23.— The 3,500 C.W.A. workers who went on strike here on Wednesday against the Roosevelt starvation wage rates, returned to work on Fri- day, winning a complete victory. During the strike, the closest sol- idarity existed between the Negro and white workers. Unable to smash the determined ranks of the work- ers, the local press began a vicious campaign of slander against the leadership, which is solid and has the fullest confidence of the strik- ers. The committee, which was elected by the workers, are. prepar- ing answers to the attacks in the capitalist press. Columbia Workers Win Encouraged by the determination of the Lancaster workers, the 250 C.W.A. men in the nearby town of Columbia struck at the same time. This strike has also been settled with victory for the workers. The workers in both cities won the following demands: 50 cents an hour minimum wage for a 24-hour week; back pay since the beginning of the Roosevelt wage slash on March 2; and all men to be taken back without any discrimination for strike activities. The workers re- turned to work determined to carry on organization for the future strug- gles that lie ahead. Gallagher, Liebowitz Speak Tomorrow NEW YORK—Leo Gallagher, In- ternational Labor Defense attorney, Samuel Liebowitz, Scottsboro de- fense lawyer, Isadore Polier, ex- ecutive secretary of the Interna- tional Juridical Association, and Isadore Begun, expelled militant N. Y. teacher, will participate in a symposium tomorrow, 2 p.m., on “Law and Social Justice” at Irving Plaza, 15th St. and Irving Place. ‘The meeting is under the auspices of the National Student League. Admission 25 cents. itrade Univina’ Take Part; Negro Masses Demand Jobs NEW YORK.—Workers on C. W. A. projects, trade union locals, Ne- gro organizations, employed and unemployed workers were making last minute mobilization yesterday for the great Madison Square Gar- den protest rally which takes place tomorrow, Sunday, at’ 2 p.m. against the C.W.A. firing. The Garden mass demonstration tomorrow, at which many thou- sands are expected to attend, is a rallying point for the one hour, na- tionwide protest strike for C.W.A. jobs which takes place next Thurs- day, March 29, at 3 p. m. The entire supply of one hundred thousand leaflets announcing the Madison Square Garden meeting tomorrow afternoon, was exhausted yesterday and workers on C.W.A. projects were getting out additional leaflets of their own. Workers from C.W.A. projects were phoning and coming steadily into the offices of the Unemployment Councils and the Relief Workers League, at 29 E, 20th St., and to the headquarters of the United Front Committee of 100, in charge of the meeting, ask- ing for speakers at the project mass meetings, for additional leaflets, and for organizers. Trade Union Active Resolutions are being passed by the workers on the projects, en- dorsing the Garden meeting at two o'clock tomorrow and the one-hour protest strike on Thursday, March 29 at 3 p. m. On project 29, the Board of Health project that em- Ploys 10,000 men, the C.W.A. of- ficials tried to influence the work- ers to drop out of the united front protest strike for C.W.A. jobs. But the workers decided to continue circulating their petitions for con- tinuation of C.W.A. work, and col- lection of money for the Garden meeting, and decided to take part (Continued on Page 2) Soviet Consul-General To Open Office in N. Y. NEW YORK.—Leonid N. Tolo- konsky, the first consul general of the Soviet Union to reach America, landed in N. Y. C. yesterday with his wife and 7-year old daughter, La- risa. He will open a Soviet con- sulate in New York, it was an- nounced, | shall be limited so that the maxi- C. W. A. Projects in Action forz= Garden Meet and Protest Strike "Work Relief” To 1,500,000: $16.20 aMonth © by jing his ganj paper owners, open letter to the Mayor, for martial la h termined act: |to break one inch in their st the company un. f the New York ha and w who for st great odds and re- police attacks, have to a position where Mayor La G who had is- ued a call for action” as a it over the starvation $12 code, has failed to Can’t Trick Strikers. ds of arrests of strikers led to smash the militancy The Sherwood De- htugs, hvae flopped wood, the owner called the Daily the Daily Worker has more evidence regard- the city editor that rism and that the ll continue to expose him. Parmelee, Terminal and Radic who issue slanderous calling have aroused the stubborn and de- a ackmen to Failing in these initial attempts the striki ’ been once more rallied under the leadership of their grand field mar- shall, Mayor La Guardia, in a ; frantic effort to launch a new con- To Re-Investigate Every | ceried attack on the drivers. Month; Jobless on Pauper Basis By MARGUERITE YOUNG (Daily Worker Washington Bureau) WASHINGTON, March 23.—Hun- ger, regimentation and monthly in- vestigation—this is the program the government announced today for tens of thousands of farmers ruined by the Roosevelt crop-reduction plan. For city unemployed the pro- gram will furnish work to only 1,500,000 of the 16,000,000 or so job- less. They will receive, today’s an- nouncement disclosed, from $16.20 to $28.80 per month per family. They will be required to show pauperism and to submit all griev- ances to arbitration by local boards set up by the Relief Administration. In the official words of Harry L. Hopkins, Federal Relief Director, the unemployed in rural districts (including towns of 5,000 popula- tion) will receive “subsistance ra- tions” instead of pay for labor on government jobs, and this only for a “transitional period” and after “complete re-investigation” every month shows the applicant is “des- titute.” Roosevelt said, “Work will be given to an individual for a period not to exceed six months.” Hop- kins’ announcement today didn’t mention this, but a previous state- ment said works money must be used hereafter “to provide employ- ment only for persons in need of relief.” Officials estimate some 2,200,000 are still on C.W.A. rolls. These will be cut down firing all “in whose families more then one person is gainfully employed,” and all “who have other resources, such as, presumably, even credit. called O’Ryan for a so-called investigation which is directed against the strik- ers, the strikers is high at the present quarters at Germania Hall, The New York County Grand Jury in Police Commissioner move was made by leaders of Drivers’ Brotherhood to bring ut the arrest of Samuel Orner Joseph the militant on trumped-up ges of inciting to riot Spirit High. But despite this, the spirit of the mo- Picket lines at the garages are, strong and effective. Assembling at the strike head- strike pickets, many of them bearing sears of the tremendous battles of the past three days, moved in an orderly | posts. lines hea manner to their picket Strengthening of the picket { the garages was stressed ly by strike leaders yesterday. 100 Arrested Incomplete reports show that 100 hackmen have been arrested and are in various precinct police sta- tions. Many who were beaten by police clubs are in hospitals suffer- ing serious injuries. “These demonstrations will make the fleet owners come down to us crawling,” said Samuel Orner, Presi- (Continued on Page 2) U. S. Senate Approves Filipino ‘Freedom’ Bill WASHINGTON, March 23.—The »| Senate yesterday passed the Tydings McDuffie Philippine “independence” bill, which was passed Tuesday by $16.20 a Month the House. me This bill, designed to bribe the Those still on the rolls in cities Filiping landlord soapitaliates "anid on April 1 will be transferred t the “works division of the Federa Emergency Relief Administration, but in no case will the Works vision have more than about 1,500,- 000 on the pay roll. Wages will be at “prevailing rates for the occupa- tion and _loyalt; but “the hours (Contmnued on Page 2) i _lover the island, vt head off the mass movement for 1 independence, provides for “in- mdence” in ten years, and “ne- sotiations” to withdraw U. S. mili- tary and naval establishments some years later. Meanwhile its economic provisions fasten still more tightly the yoke of Wall Street financial dictatorship