The Daily Worker Newspaper, March 29, 1934, Page 1

The Wagner Bill—Roosevelt’s Company Union Club Against the Workers “A club to police the labor front!” That is what the magazine “Time” terms the Wagner Bill. The bill that William Green and Normas Thomas called on the workers to support as a move against company unions now turns out to be the strongest backing yet given by the Roosevelt strikebreaking government to build up and strengthen the com- pany unions. The New York Herald Tribune de- clares that the Wagner Bill is being amended to “guarantee” the company unions. The Wednesday issue of the New York Times affirms that the strikebreaking and company union action taken by Roosevelt in the threatening auto strike is a model for the Wagner Bill. Senator Wagner has agreed with the National Association of Manufac- turers to strengthen his bill to help the company unions and to attack the workers’ own trade unions. The Wagner Bill is a new fascist weapon being greatest danger. Every worker must be rallied to fight against the Wagner company union, anti- strike bill, Defend your right to belong to a real union! Defend your right to strike for higher pay, better conditions! Defeat the program of the com- pany union strikebreaking President — Roosevelt! to smash back the forged to advance the program of the company union, strikebreaking President Roosevelt. The Wagner Bill is a blow aimed at every worker, at every workers’ trade union. The Roosevelt com- pany union strikebreaking government does not even wait for the bill to pass. It puts it into ac- tion now—as it did in the auto industry. Workers! Your every right is threatened! Your right to strike against rotten, miserable conditions is in the Daily,QWorker CENTRAL ORGAN COMMUNIST PARTY U.S.A. (SECTION OF COMMUNIST INTERNATIONAL) Entered as second-class matter at the Post Office at New York, N. ¥., under the Act of March 8 1879. , Steel Workers In United Front Hit Wagner Bill | AFL and SMWIU Men’ from Sparrows Point Unite Against Act Workers, unite vour forces Wagner Bill! AMERICA’S ONLY WORKING CLASS DAILY NEWSPAPER CIRCULATION DRIVE NEW SUBS RECEIVED YESTERDAY: Daily 26 Saturday. Total to date. .2,692 Total 00 1,839 [ Vol. XI, No. 76 > 6 Price 3 Cents j Cabmen Hit Strike for CWA oe.) Jobsat 3 Today; 7 Licenses City Hall Meet NEW YORK, THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 1934. WEATHER: Fair, warmer. (Six Pages) in Revoking | Picket Lines Remain) | Firm in Twentieth Day of Strike La Guardia Refuses to | See Committee; Big Layoffs Saturday (Gresride¥ou of Roosevelt Strikes Set Record High Since Roosevelt ACT AIDS CO. UNIONS Give Example of Auto Strike Betrayal of Roosevelt On Vet Bill Robinson Fails to Lineup Senate Behind the | government and the N.R.A. officials| | maneuvered yesterday to break the | day, picket lines at the garages re- | main firm and the hackmen were in| NEW YORK —While the city| taxi strike which is now in its 20th) a fine fighting spirit. | Mass meetings at strike halls, Began NRA Program NEW YORK—There have been more strikes under the Roosevelt Administration than at any other similar period in the history of the country, the current issue of Babson’s Reports reveals. In the st last 12 months kes reached an NEGROES TAKE PART Mass at City Hall at 3:30 p. m. Today | | NEW peecioaies ini. . aside from taking up the routine|]| all-time record of 2,654. YORK.—New York | By MARGUERITE YOUNG Administration | organizational questions of the|! During the first three months : F iw \ strike, marked a vigorous protest|| of this year thus far there have || C. W. A. workers, unemployed (Daily Worker Washington Bureau) NEWS FLASH against a new strikebreaking meas- trikes th at any 7 WASHINGTON, March 28.—In Above photo shows Camden shipyard workers picketing the New York Shipbuilding Corp. in their fight |. os i ; 1. || Deen more strikes than at any || and shop workers, are called WASHINGTON, March 28. cc poeatalee See aati we photo shows Camden shipyard workers picketing lew Yor ipl ing Corp. in their fig ure of the city government—a rul- || other time since the great strike || —The Wagner labor disputes bill—amended so that even its supporters now admit that it Roosevelt, the Senate voted today to override President Roosevelt's veto of the Independent Offices Appropriation Bill, thus granting | will legalize the strike-break- ing policy of the Roosevelt auto- mobile settlement—was denounced today by a united front delegation of American Federation of Labor and Steel and Metal Workers Indus- trial Union members from the Beth- lehem steel plant at Sparrows Point, increased benefits to veterans and restoring to Federal employees two-thirds of their reduction in pay. The House voted to override the veto the day before, ore aes (Daily Worker Washington Bureau) WASHINGTON, March 28,—A for union recognition and better shop conditions, ® Steel Co. Announces Pay Raise To Meet Threat of Organization ing to take licenses away from strik- ing drivers. Deputy Police Commis- | sioner Harold L. Allen, who is in charge of hack licenses, reported) yesterday that he had revoked li- censes of seven strikers because they | were arrested on the picket line.| Mr. Allen said that he was acting | on 159 more cases of striking hackies and indicated that their licenses would also be revoked. | Demand Plebiscite Go Thru wave of 1920. “There is every indication,” the Report contin- ues, “that the next two months will record further increases, Despite the “agreement” fas- tened upon the auto workers by the American Federation of La- bor leadership and the Roosevelt government, the auto strike is far from being crushed, the New on to lay down their tools to- |day at 3 p. m., one hour before | quitting time, in the one hour pro- | test strike for C. W. A. jobs, and come direct from their place of work to the City Hall Park to the mass demonstration for continu- | ation and extensions of C. W. A | jobs. The mass demonstration, lowing the one hour protest strike liquidation of York Evening Sun admits in its financial columns, which state: Moryland Sanat It inst the Ri fa Bar wD TiRED — 6 — site —| Flanked by 60 union garage “What was apparent yester- A. will begin at 3:30 at eerviang. enate revolt agains’ e Roosevel \ | chairmen, a delegation of six union|} day to close observers, was || the City Hall Square and will con- 1 iatee Powers, of the $.M.W.LU..| veto of the appropriations bill car- | S ith Bl k Cleveland Steel Workers C d Shi |leaders headed by Samuel Orner,|| plain today ... that nothing || tinue until afte five o'clock, c- jing the group of tivo from each | rying restoration of some veterans’ AQT ocKS Rallving fos (Camden TP | president of the Manhattan local of || fundamental has ben claritiea ||‘ (ml att eevarabidkie swt rion in the Ma:yland steel trust benefits and government employes’ | ying | the Taxi Drivers Union, went to|] in the labor disputes. A strike : : Lo weaker Shu strone | being made for the strike yesterday stronghold, to!\d the Senate Labor Pay was expected to the last minute Swrikes he City Hall in the afternoon andj] threat has been withdrawn, but . . “ * Committee that the Wagner Bill/ today as administration ar tr IKers -| ‘svould only. strengthen company vnionism.” | Then he advised the Senators: “Instead of passing this compulsory arbitration bill, you just recognize our right to strike— to settle our dispute without any interference by the N. R. A. and the other government agencies.” Pat Cush, President of the S. M. W. I. U., reminded the committee that one of its members yesterday publicly told a manufacturer that the Wagner bill was only “some- thing that’s been set up for you to shoot at.” Then Cush declared: “That Senator hit the nail on the head. When the bill has been suf- ficiently shot full of holes by the employers, they will get behind it —don’t worry—and through those very same holes they will shoot leaders. cracked the whip in the lobbies and prolonged debate in a furious last drive to sustain the veto. The bill, as overwhelmingly ap- proved by the House in response to mass pressure and against the im- Placable opposition of President Roosevelt, would restore from $75,- 000,000 to $80,000,000 of veterans’ benefits, lopped off by the Roosevelt Economy Act. This affects mostly Spanish-Amerizan War veterans and “presumptive” tubercular and mentally affected cases. Even this, however, continues the denial of $200,000,000 worth of benefits to dis- abled veterans. To government em- Ployes, the bill would restore about $120,000,000 in pay. These also, how- ever, would still have a 1 per cent Unity Meet of AutoWorkers Plants Cut Pay, Insist on Co. Union Under President’s “Peace” By WILLIAM WEINSTONE DETROIT, March 28.—Matthew Smith, General Secretary of the Mechanics Educational Society of America, succeeded at the last mo- ment Monday night to get the de- cision of the shop stewards meet- ing in favor of united action with the Auto Workers Union for a mass CLEVELAND, Ohio, March 28,— |The Corrigan-McKinney Steel Co. yesterday posted notices of a 10 per cent general wage raise for its 4,500 workers, | April 1, It is expected that other Cleveland steel plants will follow with a similar raise, affecting some 12,000 steel workers,in order to try and prevent efforts of the workers to organize into militant unions—to save the rapid breaking up of the company unions, and to stop the growing sentiment of the steel workers for strike action, which is fast coming-to a head in the Cleve- land plants, Over 300 workers from the Amer- ican Steel and Wire Co., which em- to take effect on! Reject Offe Refuse Arbitration; 24 Hour Picket Line (Special to the Daily Worker) CAMDEN, N. J., March 28.—The 3,000 strikers of the New York Ship Building Company yesterday en- tered the third day of their strike determined to win. The plant is | being picketed 24 hours a day; the | strikers braved a drenching rain | placed’ demands before Bernard} Deutsch, president of the Board of Aldermen, that the original svar T° | tor the ‘plebiscite to which the The strikers had already turned down emphatically the plan of the fieet owners which suggested that a committee of nine, consisting of three representatives of the employ- ers, two for the company unions, one for the striking Taxi Drivers Union} and three so-called neutral mem- union agreed was to be carried out. | | (Continued on Page Two) NY Anti-War Group | with organization of strike commit- tees on the C. W. A. projects, dis- tribution of the last of the leaflets, project meetings, etc., word came to {the C. W. A. workers that large numbers are to be laid off on March 31. Already workers on some big | Projects have been notified thew they are to be laid off. The C. W. A. workers at Bear Mo! i cts gz by J. J. there is far from any assur- ance that it won’t again be de- livered.” 14 AFL Locals to Join Chicago CWA >.< | sades Interstate Park Projects sub- 10 Workers Committee | seqent to December 2, 1933, are | subject to immediate release from Locals Have Endorsed | this project unless they can present M 31 P: 1 | a certificate from their local welfare ar. arade |omeer certifying that the worker is |eligible for assignment and is in * | ploys 4,600 workers, responded to a | . (Midwest Bureau Daily Worker) |immediate need of work relief.” wage cut for some months, and a 5| meeting in Arena Garden referred | | yesterday. In addition, the strikers e S j oe down their workers.” 4 5 call for organization. The meeting | YS ye 4 8.—The four- | This notice of dismissal involves Strengthens Company Unions, | P&T cent wage cut after that and|to the executive committee. was held at the Sokal-Polsky Hall, | 2Te operating four boats and patrol- CHICAGO, March 2 egos Even the liberal cohorts of Senator Robert F. Wagner, who in- troduced the bill, now freely admit that it will give full legal recognition to company unions “if they are the free choice of the workers.” That fy means literally that the proportional until the President saw fit to re- store all of the original 15 per cent slash. Harold Hickerson of the Workers Ex-Servicemen’s League, declared, Roosevelt administration “is a re- nevertheless, that the split in the! The shop stewards meeting voted | about three to one in favor of united action against the A. F. of L. Wash- ington sell-out and against the | stand of Smith. As the meeting | was nearing adjournment, he put over a motion to refer the arrange- where the workers joined the Steel }and Metal Workers’ Industrial | Union and applied for a local union charter. In this plant the com- pany union is fast losing ground and the workers are joining the 8S. M. W. I. U. Efforts of the A. A. ling the river to prevent any strike- | breakers from coming across the | striking workers, and has picketed river. The Marine Workers Industrial Union pledged solidarity with the Plan April 6 Rally |City Delegates Called| to Organize Final teenth A. F. of L. local endorsed the job march called here for Sat- urday morning, March 31, through the Loop, business center of Chi- cago, when Local 275 of the Paint- ers’ Union voted to march and con- tribute to the arrangement fund. | around 5,000 men. The Daily Worker has learned that the C. W. A. Administration has already passed word around to its offices in New York that a big wage cut as well as drastic lay-offs are to go into effect March 31 for ments to the district committee the water front to stop strikebreak- se . ‘The march begins at Union Park. | y representation plan in the auto sell- bes Tat AE ee Hee which does not meet until Friday.| ‘A- F. of L. union) to organize in| ers from Philadelphia from enter- Mobilization The workers will assemble there at | (Continued on Page 2) i out, which William Green and other Boat coarting mass pressure to force |_,J& 48 obvious that the intention | this plant have not brought any: re- | ing the plant, 3 pilization [2.2% Saturday. plese da sa i il becouse eee Sige the government to give back these | of Smith is to kill the shop stewards’ Independent Union NEW YORK.Pinal mobilization) rocal 2 of the Chicago Workers’ breaking policy of the new deal. With proportonal representation for company unions as well as indepen- dent organizations of workers recog- nized for collective bargaining, and with so-called neutral boards com- posed of the same A. F. of L. be- trayers passing on who represents (Continued on Page 2) Anti-Terror Meets In Phila. Tonight; Baltimore Sunday Workers to Demand the Release of Thaelmann, Scottsboro Boys BALTIMORE, March 28.— Balti- more workers will thunder their de- mand for the release of Ernst Thael- mann, leader of the German Com- munist Party, and the Scottsboro boys in a giant protest mass meet- ing at 1029 East Baltimore St., this Sunday evening. The meeting, which will start-at 8 o'clock sharp, will be addressed by the Scottsboro Mother, Mrs. Ada Wright, and Leo Gallagher, Ameri- can attorney who was refused per- mission by the Nazis to represent George Dimitroff in the infamous Reichstag trial, although the Inter- national Labor Defense attorney had been retained by Dimitroff’s sister and aged mother. The subject of Gallagher's address will be “Fas- sist Frame-upe." PHILADELPHIA.—Many workers’ organizations have endorsed the pro- test meeting to be held tonight in Girard Manor Hall, 911 W. Girard Ave., to demand the immediate re- lease of Ernst Thaelmann in Ger- mary, and the Scottsboro boys in Alabama. The meeting will be ad- dressed by Mother Wright and Leo Gallagher, and other speakers, A large turnout is expected. benefits and wages unjustly taken away. The Senate debate was marked (Continued on Page 2) 4. Arrested in Harlem Scottsboro Rally in E.121 St. Court Today NEW YORK.—Hearing on the four Negro and white workers arrested when police used gas bombs, blackjacks and clubs to smash the March 17 Scottsboro demonstration in Harlem was ad- journed to this afternoon at 2 o'clock in the East 121st Street Court, between Third and Lex- ington Aves. decision to delay. When a delega- tion of the Auto Workers Union went over to the M.ES.A. office to proceed with arrangements for the meeting, Smith was not present. The Auto Workers Union is go- ing forward with meetings around the factory gates and indoor meet- ings to expose the sell-out to the workers and to organize the unor- ganized workers into its ranks, rally- ing them for strikes and stoppages now before the season is over. | Threaten Strike In the plants workers are still awaiting the official meetings of the A. F. of L, locals for a stand on the Washington agreement. The companies are distributing the President's decisions in booklet form trying to impress the workers that the decision is binding upon them. The fruits of the agreement (Continued on Page 2) are already being tested in the plants. At Hudsons’ a 15 per cent wage cut has been announced in one department and the men voted to strike if the cut goes through. In the same plant workers that were hired were forced to join the company union, which confirms the stand taken by the Auto Workers Union that the workers will be lined up in the slave unions and no real recognition will come. The local press is trying to play up the president of the board as one favorable to the workers, espe- cially dwelling on the “labor” record of Wolman—keeping silent about the double deal which the Ford and Budd workers got from the Labor Board on which Wolman served. The strike is under the leader- ship of the Industrial Marine and Shipworkers Union, an independent union, not affiliated with the A. FP. of L. as was incorrectly stated in yesterday's papers. Strikebreakers are being brought in from Detroit, but the pickets have prevented their entering the shop. One Detroit worker, who was recruited with no knowledge of the | strike, on seeing the strike, joined the picket line. The workers yesterday forced the Camden Relief directors to grant relief to all the strikers. Meanwhlie the whole of the working class in Camden is cheering the strikers and the possibility of a strike at the (Continued on Page 2) plans for the anti-war mass meet- ing in St. Nicholas Arena April 6 will be made at a meeting of the New York City Committee of the American League Against War and Fascism next Monday night, April 2, at 8 pm., in Irving Plaza, 15th St. and Irving Place. Many neighborhood meetings are being carried out by branches of the League, and affiliated organizations, in preparation for the mass meet- ing April 6, on the anniversary of America’s entry into the World War. This meeting, at St. Nicholas Arena, 69 W. 66th St., will be ad- dressed by Dr. Harry F. Ward, Louise Weir, Roger Baldwin, Robert W. Dunn, Carl Brodsky, Mrs. Annie E. Gray, Jack Davis, and represen- tatives of trade unions and other organizations. Committee on Unemployment also endorsed the march and made the total ten of that organization’s lo- cals marching despite the sabotage of the united front by their county leaders, A series of meetings in prepara- tion for the march are being held every night throughout the city. Workers are visiting many A. F. of L. locals, Lodge 1266 of the Brotherhood of Railway Carmen gave the floor of their meeting over | to a speaker representing the action | committee of the united front con- | ference that called the march. It | is not yet known whether the lodge | 7, Lewis, U.M.W.A. president who will join the demonstration. | nelped put over the Danie code So great is the sentiment to dem- | in the coal industry, is meeting with onstrate Saturday among not only | bituminous coal operators’ repre- | Sentatives here for a renewal of the | Keach Coal Bosses ‘Meet in Confab to Stave Off Strike WageAgreementExpires April 1, in Appalachian Districts WASHINGTON, March 28—John (Continued on Page 2) Appalachian wage agreement, which | ends April 1. It is definitely stated Connecticut, Chose Nat'l Delegates Preparing for the quickly-ap- proaching and historic Eighth Na- tional Convention of the Commu- nist Party of the United States, which is to open in Cleveland on Monday, three big eastern districts of the Communist Party held their conventions during the past week- end, surveying their activities dur- ing the past period and mapping plans for progress and advance dur- ing the coming period of intensified working class struggle. The three districts were 1, 3, and 15 and the enthusiastic conventions were held, respectively, in Boston, Philadelphia and New Haven, Conn. About 65 delegates took part in the Boston convention, 49 of whom were regular delegates and the oth- ers chosen from fraternal organiza- tions. Among them were eight shoe workers, six textile workers, and workers in granite, railroad, '3 Eastern C.P. Districts Meet on Eve of 8th Nat’l Communist Convention Some of these workers came directly from shop nuclei; several were members of left wing opposition groups in American Federation of Labor unions, Four Negro delegates were pres- ent at the convention. The convention chose as hon- orary members of its Presidium William Z. Foster, national chair- man of the Communist Party of the U. S., Earl Browder, general secretary of the Party, and Jack Stachel, the Party’s Central Com- mittee representative in Boston. Tackle Main Problems The convention in Boston tackled as its main problems the questions of the progress of the opposition movement in the shoe industry and in the coal boats, which are the main concentration points of the district. It was stated that in con- nection with the general shoe strike in Haverhill, Mass., in which the decisive forces were the Commu- nists, the Party membership there had grown from five to 50 within the past cight or 10 months. In marine and coal boats, the since 1923. Fourteen coal boats | Philadelphia, B oston 5 | needle trades, metal, furniture, etc.| Party had led the biggest strike| struck, and the major demands of the strikers were won. CLEVELAND, Ohio, March 28.— Every phase of the Party’s work will be discussed in reports to be given at the Eighth National Con- vention of the Communist Party by leaders of the Party. The conven- tion is to open here on Monday. Besides the report to be delivered by Earl Browder, there will be two other major reports. A high pitch of enthusiasm is evident among the Cleveland Party and non-party workers, preparing the opening mass meeting of the Convention on the night of April 2, at Music Hall of Public Auditorium, to greet the convention delegates coming from all parts of the coun- try. Cleveland workers are urged to 1 Convention to Open April 2nd With Mass Meet at Public Auditorium show practical solidarity to the Convention, by providing sleeping quarters for the Communist dele- gates who come to the Convention from farms, cities, and towns out- side of Cleveland, where they have been active in leading militant struggles. Cleveland comrades! Get in touch with the Cleveland district office, 1514 Prospect Ave., Room 306, at once to offer your home. #8 6 Registration of delegates to the Eighth Convention starts Friday, at the Workers’ School in Cleve- land, 1524 Prospect Avenue. Dele- gations must arrange to arrive at that address not later than Mon- day morning, ‘The convention recorded increases | in both Daily Worker and literature | sales. The circulation of the Daily| Worker in the district is now 2,100,/ @ rise from a previous circulation of several hundred. In literature, where a year ago practically noth- ing was sold, the monthly sales now total $150. | A particularly noteworthy begin-| |ning was recorded in work in the} | countryside, among the farmers of| Maine and New Hampshire, as well as the beginning of opposition work | among the paving cutters and gran- ite cutters. | | ‘The weaknesses in the work of | the district, it was revealed at the} Boston convention, were: 1, Stagna- tion in work in the textile industry, | in Lawrence and New Bedford; 2.) In the A. F. of L. a beginning has| been made, but it has not yet de-| veloped into a real opposition; 3.) A sharp decline in Negro work, as} shown by the fact that only con-! vention delegates were Negroes; 4. Weakness in recruiting new mem-| | bers for the Party. | | The causes for these shortcom-| ings were analyzed as follows: h___ ss en | Party in strike struggles; failure to| |here that the negotiations and maneuvers center around prevent- ing a strike of the coal miners against the low wages and long hours of the N.R.A. codes. John L. Lewis, taking his cue from: the Railroad Labor Executives, is going through the motions of ask- ing wage increases to a $5 basic | daily wage rate and a seven-hour work day. There is no doubt there will be compromises agreeable to Lagging behind in the struggles| ‘te 0a! operators. of the workers, and not everywhere| Wage agreements in all other soft putting forward the face of the | COal fields do not expire until April Communist Party; weakness in the} 1, 1935. struggle against reformism, against the A. F. of L. and Socialist Party | misleaders, and failure to work suf-| ficiently energetically for the United | Front; failure to bring forward the) Discuss Achievments and Failures During Last Period Bill Dunne’s Speech Ww. ; 9 hold sharply to the policy of con-| On isdn sa: ihap' centration (particularly in the tex-|| Appear in Sat. ‘Daily tile industry); inability to develop) the initiative of the Party mem-| bers; and insufficient struggle against unemployment, C.W.A., etc. Insufficient Negro Work H The slight increase in the Party, membership—as proved by figures] Worker. Dunne, who is a mem- presented showing a growth of only |] ber of the National Board of the. 40 per cent in the last two years— |! Trade Union Unity League, pre- was another serious shortcoming || sented a critical analysis of the emphasized by the convention, as|| bill that caused a sensation at the hearing. The speech of William F. Dunne on the Wagner Bill, made | before the Senate Committee in Washington, will be printed in Saturday’s issue of the Daily (Continued on Page 2) |