The Daily Worker Newspaper, March 27, 1934, Page 3

For Convicting Two Bridgeport Workers Democratic Prosecutor Hails McLevy’s Help in Convicting Toilers BRIDGEPORT. — Sam Krieger and John Sparrow, members of the Unemployment Council of Bridge- port, arrested in connection with the snow shovellers demonstration | in front of City Hall at Bridgeport, | on Monday, March 5th, were con- victed at their trial Saturday in the City Court at Bridgeport. Krieger has to pay $50.00 fine and costs, Sparrow, $25.00 plus costs. They were defended by Irving Schwab of the International Labor Defense. Eight police sergeants testified against the workers. Captain John O'Connell of the Bridgeport police, on cross examination, testified that Socialist Mayor Jasper McLevy had ordered the police to break up the group. Sergeant Carroll, next in charge of the police, testified that Mayor McLevy, who had addressed the snow shovellers, ordered the | police not to permit Krieger, the leader of the demonstration, to speak, and testified further that as bo more, and he was of McLevy who imade a very long speech. comment Mayor McLevy, the police atid Judge in giving the decision, praising Mayor rae vide ly and the police in face Bribe tae that the police clubbed the workers, and linked up the Democrat judge and prosecutor giving support to the Socialist MoLevy. An appeal on the decision was taken immediately and the workers were released on bail. The appeal ‘will come up n Tuesday, April 3rd, at the C of Common Pleas. N. Y. Carpenters Union Wins Boulevard Strike NEW YORK.—After a militant struggle for three weeks, the car- penters in the Boulevard Fixture Manufacturers Inc., returned back to work with recognition of the union and the reinstatement of all the fired men. The strike in the Greenbaum ‘Woodworking Company is still in progress and the men and the union are determined to continue this fight until a victory is won. All car- penters are urged to come to the picket line at 138 E. 25th St. Call Conference of Upholstery Workers NEW YORK—The Upholstery Section of the Furniture Workers’ Industrial Union is calling a United Front Shop Conference on Tuesday, March 27, at 7:30 pm. at Irving Plaza Hall, Irving Place and 15th St., New York City. The purpose of this conference is to discuss ways and means of how the upholstery workers are to combat the attacks of the bosses, piece work, wage cuts and firng. We Invite All NEEDLE TRADES WORKERS to the AMALGAMATION BALL amation of 70,000 and Leather te the Ama! in the Ind CENTRAL SAT. OPERA HOUSE 6ith Street and Third Ave, New York District United Shoe & Leather Workers Union BENSONHURST WORKERS Patronize Gorgeou’s Cafeteria 2211 86th Street Near Bay Parkway Fresh Food at Proletarian Prices ‘Williamsburgh Comrades Welcome De Luxe Cafeteria Graham Ave. Cor. Siegel St. * EVERY BITE A DELIGHT Sokal Cafeteria R BROWNSVILLE PROLETARIANS ae 1689 PITKIN AVENUE A % 2 on” ; Beacon, N.Y. Tel. Beacon 731 Cars leave daily at a 10:30 a. m. from Co- Spring Festival for Easter Week Special Pro- gram Each Day operative Restaurant, 2700 Bronx Park East. Ph.: Estabrook 8-1400, Make reservations for better quarters. JOHN KALMUS CO. Inc. 35 W, 26th St. , |Scribers for the Daily Worker by | | New Subscriber Tells Why He Likes “Daily”; | Goes After New Subs | Two months ago, Seelie Marjani- } emi, of Dukes, Mich., became a sub- | | seriber to the Daily Worker. What | does he think of our Daily Worker? | |What does he do to spread the “Daily” among those he knows? Here is what he says! “I have found out that the Daily Worker is @ paper which really fights for the rights of the workers. It ex- plains to the workers how the Commun ist Party fights 2 | against fascism }and war, ‘ “Even though . ‘ this is a small 5 i farming com- * Maraniemt munity I have secured six new sub- giving the workers here my old cop- | ies to read. | “Tm going to get some more new | subs and renewals also, and help | =r. the subscription drive over the | ‘We urge our other subscribers and ‘all class-conscious workers to follow | the splendid example set by Com- rade Marjaniemi! Terrorize Workers. And Farmers on Arkansas Relief | Negroes, Jim -Crowed, Are Given Less Than Whites (By a Worker Correspondent) | RUSSELLVILLE, Ark.—From the | time it opens, there is always a crowd of jobless workers and farm- ers at the relief station here. For | each issue of relief, the workers are forced to wait in line. One told me that he had waited for six days before getting inside the re-| lief station, and then had to wait| a week for the food, The workers are forced to wait outside, and when the doorman gives tickets, they are admitted for | questioning before relief is given. Out of this, the doorman had made | @ game. While the workers and farmers are waiting outside, the doorman gives out a few tickets. Sometimes he holds a few in his| hand and lets the workers guess| the numbers. To those winning, | he admits. On other times he| hands them out to whom he pleases. | One day last week he threw some in the air, and let the workers seramble for them, In the scramble, one had his hand smashed, another had the skin peeled off his hand. For a dime, and dimes are scarce in the Arkansas mountains, he will give a ticket. Negroes are permitted oniy on Wednesdays, Only a few get any- thing. Relief is given from $150 to $3) a family for two weeks. Some but- ter, eggs, salt pork, ete. from the federal surplus food was given out, but most of it was allowed to spoil first. “Tl Be Out May Day,” Jailed Chicago Worker | Says, Starting Sentence (Daily Worker Midwest Bureau) CHICAGO, March 26.—Paul Tuck- er, militant leader of the Kimball Piano Co. strike last summer was sentenced to 30 days in jail by Judge Friend Thursday. This sentence came as a result of Tucker’s mili- tant resistance to an injunction is- | promises. Letter on Wagher Bill Attempts to Kill Fight for H. R. 7598 By CARL REEVE IN the face of the deepgoing in- dignation of the 16,000,000 unem- Ployed workers, against Roosevelt's liquidation of the C. W. A., and his attempts to drastically cut all forms of relief, Roosevelt has issued a letter supporting the Wagner “un- employment insurance” bill. Roose- velt, in this letter, comes forward with generalizations in favor of | “unemployment insurance” in order | to trick the angered workers with cheap demagogy, at the same time that he takes the bread out of their mouths by cutting down relief. Roosevelt's shifty letter again directly conflicts with his campaign In a half dozen speeches during the 1932 campaign, Roose- velt time and again promised that the Federal government “owes a Positive duty that no one shall be permitted to starve.” He said that “the minimum requirements these days are unemployment, old age and social insurance” (Boston speech). “Work Relief” Only But, after election Roosevelt for- got these promises. In launching the C. W. A., Roosevelt came out in principle against both unemploy- ment insurance and cash relief, de- |claring it not to the “mental good” of the jobless to receive “the dole” and other form of relief other than “work relief” (forced labor). Again, a few weeks ago, in announcing the liquidation of the C. W. A., Roose- velt repeated his opposition to either cash relief or unemployment insurance and advocated “work re- lief” only, declaring that any other form of relief is against “American principles.” Hopkins, last week, once more advanced Roosevelt's program against unemployment in- surance when he announced that in cities over 5,000 the only form of relief will be “temporary work relief” (forced labor) and this will be “transitory” only. (Cities under 5,000 do not even get “work relief.”) Now, in his new letter, in the face of the overwhelming demand of the masses of workers and farmers for real unemployment insurance, for action at this session of Congress by enactment of the Workers’ Un- employment and Social Insurance Bill (H. R. 7598), Roosevelt boosts the Wagner Bill, claiming it to be “unemployment insurance.” tier vere OOSEVELT'S letter in itself is a repudiation of his campaign Promises of “security” to the work- ers, guaranteed by the federal gov- ernment. He states emphatically that the Democratic Party is op- posed to federal unemployment in- surance. He proposes “unemploy- ment insurance under state rather than under national law.” He adds: “Under our system of government the task of caring for the unem- ployed falls primarily on the States.” Thus Roosevelt once more violates his campaign promises of security from starvation guaran- teed by the federal government and gives notice that the federal gov- ernment does not intend to grant any unemployment insurance funds. But Roosevelt's letter goes a step further. Roosevelt announces fur- ther cuts in cash relief to the job- less. He says: “We have in the past relied almost entirely upon private charities and public treasuries to sustain the cost of seasonal and in- tial degree.” Roosevelt here serves notice that the “public treasury” is going to “substantially” cut down the amount of unemployment relief, and that is exactly what Roosevelt sued by the court during the strike. Tucker, leader of the strike and a member of the Communist Party, called on the workers to continue picketing and organize mass viola- tions of the injunction. Many were arrested, and the strike was broken, mainly by injunction. Eleven workers tried with Tucker were released but the judge was ob- viously determined to railroad Tuck- er, as the leader of the struggle. Tucker will begin to serve his sen- tence Monday. He told friends: “I'll be out for May Day.” against picketing ® DAIL? WORKER, NEW YORK, TUESDAY, MARCH 27, 1934 Page Three Boosts _Laud Socialist Mayor Roosevelt Opposes Jobless Insurance, Fake Bill is now engaged in doing through}| his new “work relief” program | which begins operation on April 1.! The Roosevelt Administration is putting over a gigantic and ghastly hoax on the workers in boosting the Wagner Bill as “unemployment in- surance.” Roosevelt’s letter itself admits that the Wagner Bill ap- Plies only to “seasonal and inter- mittent” unemployment. The Wag- ner Bill makes no pretensions of applying to the 16,000,000 workers now totally jobless. It would apply only to those now in industry. | Roosevelt admits in his letter that | |it applies only “to those tempor- | arily out of work.” But what of | the millions who have been squeezed out of industry permanently by big | machines and speed-up. They are | to be callously left to starve. | eo ee OWEVER, the Wagner Bill does | not benefit even those “tem- porarily” out of work. The recent words of Mrs. Perkins, Roosevelt’s | “motherly” secretary of labor, | should be burned into the conscious- | jness of every worker. Mrs. Perkins | Stated last week that the employers | should support the Wagner Bill be- jcause it does not harm them. She | | said, “it will not impede recovery | | because collections do not begin | juntil July, 1936.” | Roosevelt. advocates the Wagner | | Bill as unemployment insurance, | | knowing that even the “tax” on em- | | ployers will not begin for two years. Roosevelt proposes that the un- employed shall starve for two years, that meanwhile relief shall be “sub- stantially” reduced, that even after two years there shall be no federal unemployment insurance. Cost Borne By Workers But Mrs, Perkins makes clear to the employers that even the small tax on payrolls proposed in the Wagner Bill, will not be borne bj jthe employers but by the workers. She says that the bosses can raise |of necessities. Mrs. Perkins said |CAN BE PASSED ON PAIN- | RISE.” That is “painlessly” for the | |employers, by making the workers | pay for it in higher cost of living. | Finally the Wagner Bill exempt- |ing the Federal government from any Federal unemployment insur- lance, taking effect after two years, | advocates state “unemployment in- | surance” laws which give benefits for only ten to sixteen weeks maxi- |mum (such as the Wisconsin law), where the employers are in absolute control of the funds, so that they can use the benefit payments as an anti-union, strike-smashing weapon, |and where all the 16,000,000 jobless |are totally on the outside looking in. Is this “unemployment insur- ance?” - Analysis thus makes clear that the Roosevelt-supported Wagner Bill is a deliberate attempt to evade the granting of real unemployment | insurance to the workers. ye ones mass demand of the workers for real unemployment insur- ance, for enactment of the Work- ers’ Unemployment and Social In- surance Bill (H. R. 7598) not in two years but NOW, is growing by leaps and bounds. Congress is being flooded with demands for the pass- age of the Workers’ Bill. This mass campaign must be intensified if real unemployment insurance is to be won. The Wagner Bill of the Roosevelt | termittent unemployment. This is | Administration must be exposed as a practice that necessity will com- | swindle and a fraud. The only | | pel us to change to a very substan- | bill now before Congress which ap- | | Plies to the 16,000,000 jobless, which | provides for the workers themselves to administer the funds, and which | calls for payment of average wages to the jobless as long as they are jout of work—is the Workers’ Un- |employment Insurance Bill (H. R. | 7598). | Unemployed and employed work- ers, an intensified mass campaign |for the Workers’ Bill will force 145 Congressmen to sign the petition to | | bring the Workers’ Bill to the floor | of the House, Demand that Roosevelt keep his | Promises of security against star- | vation! Expose the fraudulent, employers’ Wagner Bill! | | Fight for the enactment of real | | unemployment insurance by the present session of Congress—the Workers’ Unemployment and Social Insurance Bill (H. R. 7598)! committee which recently Mr. B. J. Field from the the tax by adding jt on to the price | |last week: “MOST OF THE COST | |LESSLY BY A MINUTE PRICE, Mortgage Weight Now More Than Half of Total Real Estate NEW YORK, March 26.—The crushing weight of mortgage in- debtedness has risen with the de- velopment of the crisis to a point where it now covers more than 50 per cent of the total estimated market value of all city real estate, the real estate firm of Armstrong & Armstrong reports. In 1929, mortgages covered less than one-fifth of the total esti- mated real estate value. Today it is more than 50 per cent. This means that mortgage holders are now drawing a huge drain of profit from the total city real estate of the country. In addi- tion, the Roosevelt government guarantees these mortgages to $2,000,000,000 Amalgamated Members Score Field Statement “Organization Healthier Than Ever Before,” Committee Says NEW YORK.—The rank and file ousted mated Hotel and Restaurant Work- ers Union and took control of the ment yesterday assailing a state- ment issued by Mr. Field to the press as a fabrication. The statement of the rank and | file committee said in part: | “Mr. Field stated that a bunch | | of hoodiums ejected the Execu- tive Board, but the fact is that the Executive Board actually ousted Mr. Field by unanimously rejecting his report on the strike situation and the membership at a duly called business meeting on Monday, March 19, concurred with | the decision of the Executive Board. ‘The Executive Board unani- mously declares through its secre- tary, S. Gentile, that the Amalga- mated Hotel and Restaurant Workers Union is a democratic union organized on the principle of industrial unionism, which takes into its ranks all hotel and restaurant workers 8 of their race, color, creed, nationality or political belief. “Furthermore, no split of any kind in the ranks has taken place in the organization. On the con- trary, the organization is on a healthier basis now than ever be- fore. | “Tt is seriously considering the question of resuming the fight to enforce the decision of the Re- gional Labor Board, which means the reinstatement of all the | strikers who were discriminated against,” Farmers to Fight AAA Milk Plan at City Open Hearings | CHICAGO, Ill—As one of the Roosevelt proposal to destroy 10 per cent of the country’s milk supply to benefit the rich dairy companies. the Farmers’ National Committee for Action calls upon farmers and workers to appear in organized protest groups at the open A. A. A. ‘hearings to be held in the follow- ing cities: | April 2 and 3—Philadelphia, | Pa.; Indianapolis, Ind.; Kansas City, Mo. April 3 and 4—Atlanta, Georgia; | Denver, Colo. April 4 and 5—Boston, Mass.; Madison, Wisconsin; Des Moines, Towa. April 6 and 7—Syracuse, N. Y.; Memphis, Tenn.; Salt. Lake City, Utah; St, Paul, Minn, April 9 and 10—Dallas, Texas; Portland, Oregon. April 12 and 13—Berkley, Cali- fornia, of Social-Fascists By PAT TOOHEY Article TI. P. M. A. fakers to the N. their share R. A. illusions of puffing € leaders: i “Progressive Miner’? Editorial Curries Favor It is appropriate that the “Pro- gressive Miner,” organ of the P. M. A., should carry on its front page the “Blue Buzzard” of the N. R. A, proclaiming that “We Do Our Part.” Of course, we must agree, for it is true. The P. M. A. misleaders have tried faithfully to “do their part” for the N. R. A. But, unfortu- nately, the N. R. A. believed that Lewis could do the “part” better and more efficiently than Pearcy and Keck. As a result the N. R. A. recognized Lewis and the U.M.W.A. as the majority union in Illinois and gave them the right to repre- sent the miners, despite the belly- case where petty racketeers in developing the among the work- it up and misleading the workers, and then, tragic thing, being left out in the cold by the trend of tht of the P. M. A. clearly reveal the road which they now travel—that of open agents of the employers, of union themselves issued a state-| first steps in the fight against the | |R.R. Labor Heads | Forced to Reject | Ten Per Cent Cut | Roosevelt and Eastman | Work With Board to Get “Commission” WASHINGTON, March 26. — For | appearance sake, the Railway La- |bor Executives yesterday rejected | | Transportation Co-ordinator East- man’s proposal for a continuation jof the 10 per cent pay cut six }months after June 30, the date of | its expiration, The proposal coming originally | |from Roosevelt. expresses the real| wish of the railroad owners, around | which all the maneuvers of both the railway labor executives and the government are centred. Each rejection has been dictated by grow- | ing rank and file militancy and the spreading sentiment for strike among railway workers. | The Railway Labor Executives | this time are forced to go into more | | complicated maneuvers in putting through a continuation of the wage | cut than they ever have before. The | Stringing along of negotiations fol- |lows the action against the auto workers, A “compromise” wiil be | worked out after an apparent tussle against wage cuts by the rauroud |labor leaders which, unless rank }and file action can stop it, will be | favorable to the railroad bosses. At present, Eastman and Presi- dent Roosevelt are working with| the railroad labor executives to get |mission” whose decision would be | final, This would give them a way | out and would lay the basis for con- tirluing the wage cut. The com- mission proposal has not yet been accepted. Postal Sub Leaders Arrested By Police At Chi. Convention |Held Without Charge | 3| Cops Try to Disrupt | Protest Meeting CHICAGO—A bitter taste of gov- jermment power and lawlessness was given to the several hundred dele- |Bates at the second annual conven- |tlon in Chicago of the National As- | sociation of Substitute Post Office | Employes when police arrested their |leaders on the closing day, March | |22, President Albert Gottlieb of the | union, with two other New York | City delegates and five from Phila- delphia, Pittsburgh and Chicago ie held for two hours without | charges and then suddenly released. | The arrests took place in Grant | Park on the lake front, where the | association had been given permis- | sion to hold a protest meeting | against the hard-hearted statement | of President Roosevelt in Washing- | ton the day before that $5 a week | was better after all than starva- |tion. The meeting had broken up lowing police instructions to walk in double file. Suddenly at the bridge over the Illinois Central | tracks they were halted by a police cordon and their leaders picked up and hustled into a patrol wagon. | Secretary Tom McKenna of the Chicago Civil Liberties Committee was also arrested. When police believed that the meeting in the hall was about breaking up for lack of leaders they freed the unionists and McKenna also. Protests were wired to Roose- | velt, Postmaster General Farley, Mayor Kelly and Chicago Post- master Kreutgen. Can Farley Live On $5 In the three days of the conven- |tion the delegates, who came from | Western and Southern cities as well jas the North and East, adopted resolutions against the low wages and intense speed-up in the post office department, despite the gov- | ernment’s advice to private employ- jers to raise pay and shorten hours. |They declared that if normal post | office service were restored at nor- |mal speed all the 25,000 substitute |men and women in the service could have permanent jobs. They | | emphatically Roosevelt's denied statement President, (which he AFL Head Plead, L Fisher B CYRIL BRIGGS Working-class leader, whom the Immigrants Industrial Savings is trying to evict from his home be- cause he is a Negro. Bank Threatens to Evict Briggs, Negr Leader, from Home Workers Urged to Fight Chanvinist Attack on Negro Workers NEW YORK.—An attempt to Negro proletarian leader, from the tenement house at 425 East 6th St. s Threaten, ie to Halt ody Strike Auto Woeksass Union Urges Rank and | File Action | By FRANK ROGERS CLEVELAND, March 26—The | whole crew of A. F. of L. bureau- crats had to be on hand all Friday |night at the Fisher Body plant te | prevent a strike this morning. The |local press reports that “It is ob- | vious that the men want an imme~ |diate walkout and are difficult to hold in line.” They praise James | McWeeney, general organizer of the |A. F. of L.. and George McKinnon, secretary of the Metal Trades Coun- cil. for the good job they are doing in keeping the men from striking. | It is only by showing telegrams |from Washington and making | patriotic speeches plus threats of | firing any militant worker who re- fuses to obey the orders of the bu- reaucrats that they have succeeded in keeping the men in the plant. One worker who innocently asked how long their representatives would stay in Washington was im- mediately branded as a “red Bol-~ shevik” and told to keep his mouth shut. Highly paid bouncers and | thugs, heavily armed, stand guard |at all meetings to crack heads of them to accept a “fact-finding com- | evict Cyril Briggs, nationally known | militant workers who demand ac- tion. Threaten T. U. U. L. The Auto Workers’ Union has is- jand participants were moving to- | ward a rented hall in the loop, fol- | was initiated yesterday by the Im- | sued several leaflets at Fisher Body migrants Industrial Savings Bank, owners of the building. Briggs is & member of the editorial staff of the “Daily Worker” and has been active for many years in the strug- gles of Negro and white workers. Comrade Briggs rented a two- room apartment in the building and moved in last Saturday with his family. On Monday he was in- formed over the telephone by Mr. Boyle, the bank’s agent, that the established policy of the bank was to bar Negro tenants from the building. Asked if any of the other tenants had voiced objections to {having Negro workers in the build- | ing, the bank's agent was forced |to admit this had not occurred. Nevertheless, he insisted Briggs | would have to move. This Com- |rade Briggs has refused to do. Yesterday the bank’s agent called jon Comrade Briggs and repeated | his demand. He admitted that the bank’s sole objection to Briggs and his family is that they are Negroes. Thus the Immigrants Industrial Savings Bank reveals itself as con- sciously and actively pursuing a chauvinist policy against the Negro }masses. This is the capitalist pol- icy of “divide and rule.” It is aimed to split the growing unity of Negro | and white workers and thus defeat | their struggles against unemploy- ment, mass misery, high rents, im- perialist war, racketeering and the | countless other evils inherent in the | capitalist system. Against the bosses policy of ‘divide and rule,” must be opposed | firm working-class unity of Negro and white in the struggle for better |conditions. The tenants of the building and the entire block must be organized to stop the eviction |of Comrade Briggs, to defend the | right of the Negro workers to live | where they choose and to smash |the fascist offensive against the Negro masses. Worker depositors |of the Immigrants Industrial Sav- {ings Bank, as well as all workers’ | organizations, should at once | test to the bank against its ch: vinist attempt to evict Comrade | Briggs. {later had to modify) that the de- | partment was overstaffed by 25,000. Now the subs average $5 a week. |Can Farley live on $5? was the | wording on one of the banners at the outdoor protest meeting. The union also demanded pen- sions on a non-contributory basis | for all postal workers after 30 years’ service. Discrimination by the de- partment against Negro employes was also protested. The association was organized a year ago in New York City and now has locals in 37 cities, agent-provocateurs and social fas- cist misleadership. One editorial “welcomes” sage prophecies of the fascist priest, Coughlin; another “congratulates” the Socialist Party for sending to Illinois Jennie Lee, British Socialist whose leader is Ramsay MacDon- ald, murderer of Irish, Hindu and Chinese workers and peasants; the third “welcomes” the appearance of the “Farm Holiday News,” issued by Milo Reno, the greatest faker and misleader of the militant farm- ers, and the fourth, a vicious boss- inspired two-column attack titled “the Comunist Party.” The Communists are “hydra- headed cobras,” are “agents of Moscow” and “singing birds of dis- sension” which “wriggled its sinous self into their (workers') confidence with petty words and phrases and platitudes of the brotherhood of man, emancipation of the working class, mass action, solidarity and what not.” We have heard all this before. ‘We have heard Hamilton Fish, A. Mitchell Palmer, William Green, Matthew Woll, John L. Lewis, the National Security League, Ralph Easly and other fakers and “profes- N.RLA. sional patriots” froth the same Se oe) way. issue contains four signifi-| “The Progressive Miner” attacks cant editorials, which betray the|the Soviet Union and suggests Mr. Trotsky be asked to tell what hap- pened there. Messrs. Pearcy and Keck have now openly aligned themselves on the side of every enemy of the workers’ republic, where the workers and farmers have overthrown capitalism and are building up a socialist, classless society. They are now in the com- pany of Lewis, Woll and Fasly. Pearcy and Keck shed hot tears for the murderer of French work- ers, ex-Premier Daladier, the Com- munist Party is accused of “foment- ing a riot side by side with the Roy- alists and Fascists that caused the class-conscious Daladier to resign and reactionary Doumergue to take his place, with the result that rep- resentative government in France is tottering.” “The Progressive Miner” uses Green-Lewis arguments about “breaking up bona-fide labor or- ganizations,” the renegade Love-~ stone-Cannon arguments that the Communist Party does not repre- sent Communism, the charge of Hamilton Fish and Easly that the Communists seek to “destroy gov- ernments,” and the “socialists” about Austria and Germany. Messrs. Pearcy and Keck draw their in- spirat and putrid streams. Slander Miners’ Struggle The heroic struggle of the Illinois miners in 1929, under the leadership of the National Miners’ Union (“a Communist subsidiary”) is slan- dered. In 1929, when the Mlinois miners made @ supreme and heroic struggle to smash the control of the employers and Lewis, where was Pearcy and Keck? ‘When 5,000 miners were travelling in caravans over Christian, Macoupin and San- gamon Counties, closing down the Peabody mines and fighting the deputies of W. C. Argust, where were Pearcy and Keck? When the |Christian County miners were smashing through the lines of troops and deputies to close scab mines, where were you, Pearcy and Keck? When the heroic Illinois miners fought against troops, dep- uties, strikebreakers and machine guns in a struggle to smash Lewis, Peabody and the coal operators— where were Pearcy, Keck and their cohorts? Do you remember 500 Taylorville miners being jailed in the Christian County jail. Do you remember the brave struggle at Hillsboro, when 200 deputies were routed. Or in Staunton, where the mines were kept closed by the fight- ing miners? We ask again, where were you? Since you were not in the ranks of the fighting miners, since you were not seen anywhere in the enemy, Lewis, Argust, the troops and depu- ties. You did not join because it was @ struggle of the rank and file, led by a class struggle union. You were interested in preventing a fighting union from being estab- lished, one which you did not con- trol and therefore could not mis~ lead in the safe channels of social- fascism. Where were the Communists? | Very well you know. They were leading picket lines in Springfield, Taylorville, Pana, Staunton anc | Collinsville, West Frankfort and Saline County; they were closing | down scab mines and having to} fight troops, deputies and scabs to | do it. They were clubbed, jailed | and tortured in Hillsboro and Tay- | Jorville. Still you dare slander this | heroic struggle. | The frantic actions of the P.M.A| fakers is understandable. They are | reaching the end of their | Their ability to mislead and fool the fighting Mlinois miners is end- ing, the rank and file are again on the move. This is evident even by the issue of March 2. The reasons for the anti-Communist attack is explained, “We had hoped that this {an earlier attack against the Com- munists—P. T.] would suffice to put our membership on guard, but re- cent developments have demon- strated that we will have to speak » Elsewhere in the issue, on page 2, Local Union 63 of the P. M. A. of Springfield sent in a resolution to Pearcy and Keck, demanding they call a convention and invite all other independent unions to amal- gamate into “one large union to fight together for the best interests of all concerned” and struggle against the “dictatorship of Lewis.” This explains the whole business. The P, M. A. ‘pnk and file, deeply P.M.A. Heads Attack Communists in Effort to Break Unity of Coal Miners ¢ Where the Communists Stood | Pearcy, Keck, Co. Slan- der Militant Struggles of Coal Miners desirous of unity with all miners and joint struggle for the better- ment of their conditions, is moving toward unity and joint action with all miners. The role of the Pearcys and Kecks is to prevent this. They are opposed to unification of the | ranks of the miner into a fighting union and are opposed to militant struggle. Precisely this is the reason for the attacks against the Commu- nists. The Communist miners are seeking to unify the ranks of the miners and lead to the development of a fighting, class struggle union of miners, free from the Lewises, Cappellinis, Pearcys and Kecks. The Communist Miners will con- tinue to expose the misleadership of these fakers and seek to unify the miners for militant struggle. This is what the miners want everywhere. Pearcy and Keck will have to “speak again” and many times to prevent this unification, ‘but it will prove unavailing. The coal miners, united, will be fighting their exploiters under the leader- ship of a fighting, class struggle union when the names of Pearcy, Keck, Lewis, Cappellini and others are but dimly remembered by the miners as peanut fakers who tried to prevent it. | plant calling upon the workers to |take action over the heads of | the bureaucrats and elect a rank jand file strike committee. The | Young Communist League has is- |Sued a special leaflet to the young | workers. These leaflets have met with so favorable response amongst the men that the bureaucrats to- day phoned the T. U. U. L. office |that “if you don't stop those damn leaflets we will send you all | to the hospital.” | The company has posted notices | that the ho’ have been reduced | from 40 to 35 “with wages at least | the equivalent of those under the | Present 40-hour week.” However, there is no direct offer and the men are clamoring for a strike. Five hundred workers at the | Eaton Manufacturing Co. were | promised a 10 per cent raise as a Tesult of a demand by the union ; committee. A special union meet- | ing has been called for Sunday at | the I. O. O. F. Hall, East 55th St. jand Lexington Ave. to decide on the company’s offer The workers | are organized 100 per cent into the | Steel and Metal Workers’ Industrial | Union. The 300 furniture workers ai the | Cleveland Furniture Co. are out solid doing mass picketing at the plant at 93rd St. and Woodiarid | Ave. The company has agreed to | negotiate through the Regional La- |bor Board, but nothing came out | of today’s conference at the board hearing. The negotiations will con= tinue tomorrow. The workers are king for recognition of the Fur- niture Workers’ Industrial Union ase in wages, strikers received greetinzs from Joe Ki National Secretary of the union, from the New York offices. Seamen On Great Lakes Vote Against Company | Union, for Independent BUFFALO, March 26—A meet« ing was called by the Lake Carriers | Association on Jan. 8th for the pur- | Pose of finding the sentiment of sea~ |men on the Great Lake ships for | organization. Before the convention a ballot was put out on the ships, on which the Seamen were to vote for the follow- ing: 1. To continue with the present system of a company association. 2. To recognize the International Seamens Union (A. F. L.). 3 To have an Independent Union. The returns were 80 per cent for an Independent Union for the whole Marine Industry, 10 per cent for the I. S. U. and 10 per cent were dead heads. Building Workers. to | Support Signwriters’ | Move for Strike in N.Y. | .NEW YORK.—The Joint Council | of Independent Building Trades | Unions will throw all of its avail- | able forces on the side of the sign- | writers who met yesterday at 820 | Broadway, N. Y. C., to prepare for | strike action on April First under | the leadership of the Sign and Ad- vertising Art Workers Independent | Union. Theatre | Works Strike Enters Second Week NEW YORK.—Broadway theatres were picketed over the week-end by | the strikers of the American Display | Corporation, which produces signs | and lobby displays for Warner Bros., | Paramount - Publix, and Loew's Theater chains. Entering the second week of strike under the guidance of the Sign and Advertising Art Workers Independent Union of 820 Broadway, the entire crew of 85 is solidly on the picket lines around the plant day and night, détermined to carry on the fight against starva- tion wages, long hours, violation of Health Department and N. R. A. slave code regulations, and for recognition of the Silk Screen Pro- cess Workers League. These workers, embracing 15 or more different crafts, had never been organized before, but their miserable conditions led them to form their shop committee and walk out in a body to the head- | quarters of the Indepentient Union. oe ce areca