The Daily Worker Newspaper, May 17, 1934, Page 1

Nazis Bee k ) | nn NO MATTER HOW SMALL! Order a Daily Worker Bundle for Sale To Those You Know ee Vol. XI, No. 118 Death For C.P. Leader May Come In Ten Days, International Group Calls for Immediate Mass Protest NEW YORK. — A cabled warning that Ernst Thael-} mann, heroic leader of the} German Communist Party, is in danger of summary trial and execution within the next ten days, was received yester- day by the national office of the International Labor Defense. The cable reads: “Thaelmann is in danger of losing life. Authorities plan ver- dict of death in summary court in next ten days. Immediate na- tion-wide action and mobilization of all forces cen hinder this crime. 2 “(Signed) International Libera- tion Committee.” Immediate protest actions against this monstrous conspiracy by the Nazi butchers is urged on all work- ers and intellectuals and their or- ganizations, on all anti-fascist | groups and I. L. D. districts and | ranches in a call immediately is- | sued by the I. L. D. upon receipt of | this sinister news. Immediate or- | ganization and holding of protest | meetings in front of the Nazi con-| sulates in this country, and flood- ing of the Nazi consulates. and the | Nazi authorities in Germany with protests are urged. The I. L. D. points out that no time is to be lost in carrying through these protest actions. Clamp Fascist Rule On Latvia by Coup Of Military Clique Nazi Influence in Baltic Increases Danger of War on U.S.S.R. | RIGA, Latvia, May 16—A mili- | tary coup by the capitalist and rich| Jandowners early today instituted a fascist dictatorship here, with Pres- ident Alberts Kviesis of Latvia at the head, and Col. Jacobson, acting | $48 as the chief of military forces. The whole country of Latvia was: placed under martial law. Under the pretext. of “forestalling unrest” the dictatorship was clamped down without any warning. All activities of Parliament and all political parties, excepting the fascist Katsuelit, were suspended. In Riga the garrison was mobilized and public buildings including Par- Jiament were occupied and sur- rounded by picked troops. Police and soldiers, supported by armored tanks, patrolled the streets. Soldiers armed with machine guns surrounded the headquarters of the Socialist Party and arrested some of the leaders, including Dr. Pauls Kalnins, speaker of the Lat- vian Parliament, known as_ the Saeima. The Socialists had 21 members out of 100 in the parlia- ment and were supporting the fas- cist President Kviesis, as the “lesser evil.” ! With the increased preparations for war against the Soviet Union by Japan in the Far East, and the German fascists in the West, work- ing through the Baltic countries, the danger of war against the U. S. S. R. is greatly intensified by the fascist coup in Latvia. Distributes Anti-Nazi Leaflets on Warship, Student Leader Jailed (Special to the Daily Worker) BOSTON, Mass., May 16—Allan Philbrick, secretary of the Harvard National Student League, was ar- rested on the German cruiser Karlsruhe, docked here, for distrib- uting German anti-Nazi leaflets. Since the officials could find no charges on which to book him, he was held in jail without charges over night, while local authorities consult Washington on what to do With Philbrick. He was later re- leased after a grilling by detectives. Workers in greater Boston are urged to mass for a demonstration against the Nazi warship in Boston on Thursday afternoon at 5:15 p.m. outside the Charlestown Navy Yard, Water St., near the C:' ® Entered as second-class New York, N. ¥., under >* Dai ly 2Q | Worker CENTRAL ORGAN COMMUNIST PARTY U.S.A. (SECTION OF COMMUNIST INTERNATIONAL) matter at the Post Office at the Act of March 8, 1679 NEW YORK, THURSDAY, MAY 17, 1934 Plan Summary Trial and Teamsters, Dock Clerks, Marine Eng Coast Longshore Strike o ERNST THAELMANN Heroic leader of the German Communist Party, facing imme- diate “trial” and beheading by Nazi butchers for “treason.” Thugs Kidnap, Beat Packers’) Strike Leader St. Louis AFL Gangsters | Torture Pelman, YCL Organizer Special to the Daily Worker ST. LOUIS, Mo., May 16—Mall Pelman, Missouri organizer of the Young Communist League, mili- tant leader Food Workers Union and many strikes was kidnapped) yesterday afternoon at the Inde- pendent Packing House plant by) A. F. of L. Meatcutters Union thugs, pulled into a car from the picket line, slugged, tortured for hours riding around town then taken to the country on Delmar Road. There he was severely beaten in an attempt to secure the names of militant workers in the Inde- pendent Packing plant. When tor-| tures failed he was kicked uncon-} scious and left on the road side| during the night. Earl Jackson, International vice president; Mike Roth, local chief; Bill Fate, Negro misleader and of hired thugs attacked| the mixed Negro and white dele-| gation and forced them out of hall amidst uproar of workers. | Cora Lewis, leader of the Nut! Pickers Union; Earl Pulley, LS. NR. secretary, and especially Peter Chaunt, Communist Party district organizer were the center of physi- cal attack. Call Meet to Protest Longshoremen Murders NEW YORK.—To protest the brutal killing of striking long- shoremen on the West Coast and gulf port docks, Section 3 of the Communist Party is calling a mass meeting at 11th Ave. and 18th St., at 12 o'clock on Friday. The section committee has is- sued a call to all mass organiza- tions to wire protests to the Mayors of San Pedro, Cal. and Galveston, Texas, against the bru- tal killing of the two longshore- men who were killed by gangster and police guns. All members of Section 3 of} the Communist Party and mem- bers of working class mass organ- izations in the territory have been asked to assemble at the Spartacus Club, 269 W. 25th St., on Thurs- day at 6 p.m. to prepare for the protest meeting which will be held the next day. ‘Police and Dicks lseabs to get into the plant, and ineers Join Strikers Make Heroic Stand Against Police Rifles, Tear Gas SAN FRANCISCO, May 16.— Teamsters, marine engineers and dock clerks have joined with the longshoremen in the great strike which has tied up the entire mer- chant marine of the west coast. ‘The only workers who are loading scab goods are the Belt Line em- ployes, who are operating freight cars under a yellow dog contract with the state. After a final check-up on the shooting on the San Pedro docks it was established that the long- shoreman who was killed, was Dick Parker, 20, who had joined the In- ternational Longshoremen’s Asso- ciation the day he was killed. United Press reports and the report car- ried in the Daily Worker that a man by the name of John Knudson was also killed have proven to be incorrect. Altogether a score were wounded when the red squad officers fired on the picket line at San Pedro. Workers Resist Fascist Attack The strikers made an heroic stand against the rifles and tear gas of the police. A fence put up by the ship owners around the living quar- ters of the San Pedro scabs was| torn down by the strikers. The tent where the strikebreakers were fed, went up in flames. The Grace Line and the Panama Pacific Line have formally can- celled all steamship schedules in the port of San Francisco. Many unloaded ships are laying by the docks in a helpless condition. Strikers eagerly grab the reg- ular special issues of the Western Worker, official organ of the (Continued on Page 2) Bring Scabs Into Chicago, Factory A. F. L. Does Nothing; | Move on for Rank, File Leadership (Daily Worker Midwest Bureau) CHICAGO, May 16.—The Darling plant at 42nd St. has been turned into a dormitory for fifty scabs and company dicks who work and have made it possible for these some work is going on. Pickets fought police last night when a group of scabs was rushed into the plant under armed escort. This fact, with the lack of collec- tive leadership, no relief, no strike committee, has weakened the morale of the men around this plant. Workers at the other two struck plants of the company are standing firm and the plants are shut down. The workers will have to go into the plant today to get their pay. The American Federation of Labor strike leaders have not organized them for this return, with the re- sult that the workers will go inside the plant as individuals. Militant workers fear that exposure of in- dividual strikers, to bosses talk and threats, added to the demoraliza- tion of the 42nd St. strikers, may result in the breaking of the strike. A move to have the rank and file take over the strike leadership and carry on the campaign of organiza- tion has been started among the strikers, many of whom are dis- satisfied with the leadership of the A. F. of L. i The Daily Worker gives you full news about the struggle for un- employment insurance. Subscribe to the Daily Worker. E.L.Du PontMunition Co. Arms Japan for War Against USSR ‘WILMINGTON, Del., May 16.— Officials of the E. I. du Pont de Ne- mours Co., munition manufacturers, today tried by lying statements to cover up their active profitable aid to Japanese imperialism in arming for war against the Soviet Union. Investigations in Japan, by Amer- ican military officers, revealed that the du Pont Co. had sold patents and machinery to the Mitsui Mining Co. for the manufacture of nitrogen in huge quantities. The combination of nitrogen andj > called by the Boston Committee for Vic- | tims of Fascism, tion, The demonstration © hydrogen is the prime raw material ~ exnlosives. Du Pont officials declared that % the plant was built to make nitrogen for “fertilizer.” But reports in To- kyo state: “Du Pont engineers did question the Mitsui concern on the reason why so large and expensive a plant was to be constructed. Some of the machinery, for example, was far more expensive than du Pont considered necessary for the manu- facture of commercial nitrates which are used extensively in Japan for fertilizer.” The du Pont company is making millions of dollars by shipping war machinery to Jepan, and by send-} Women and Children First-To Be Shot Cops poured lead and tear gas into massed picket line of men, women and children outside the Curtiss Airplane Piant in Buffalo on Monday in a vicious attempt to break their militant strike. photo shows Mrs. Mary Kosch and her 5-year old daughter, Dorothy, wounded by bullets, being led away from the scene by a striker. Many were wounded and eight were arrested. 1| | Above Officials Send Thugs Against Auto Strikers Flint AFL Heads Choke All Criticism; Let Scabs Through (Special to the Daily Worker) FLINT, Mich., May 16.—While A. F. of L. leaders are maneuvering with the Automobile Labor Board behind the backs of the auto work- ers to break the strike of the 6,000 workers of the Fisher Body plant here, they are refusing to organize effective mass picketing and are using strong-arm methods against workers who voice any criticism. A. F. of L. strong-arm men, oper- ating on picket lines have beaten up several workers. At last night's meeting of the Fisher Body Local two young work- ers selling the Rank and File Fed- erationist outside the hall were seized by police called by A. F. of L. leaders. They were later released. Workers took the floor at the meeting and asked who was doing the negotiating, and why picket lines were so formed as to permit an opening for scabs to get into the plant. The A. F. of L. leaders dodged the questions and closed the meeting quickly to prevent real dis- cussion. The workers, however, managed to put through a motion that there was to be no compromise settlement of workers’ demands without a majority vote of the strikers. The strikers’ demands are for restoration of old wage rates, which were cut 25 to 40 per cent, slowing down the speed-up, reinstatement of 25 victimized workers, and union recognition. About three hundred picketed four entrances to the plant this morning, but again scabs managed to get through because of the fail- ure of the A. F. of L. leaders to throw solid lines around the entire plant. Tactics of A. F. of L. offi- cials, such as secret dickerings with the Labor Board, refusal to spread the strike and failure to organize effective mass picketing and to give leadership to the fighting spirit of the workers is tending to create suspicion and distrust among the strikers. ers was demonstrated at a mect- ing Monday night, when big ap- plause greeted the statement by a worker: “By God, we're going to settle this strike on the outside, not on the inside. We don’t care what you (i. e., leaders) think about it; it’s what we think about it.” At the same meeting the woman workers who called for militant picketing with husbands bringing their wives to the picket lines were also loudly applauded. The chief weakness of the Fisher Body strike is the lack of organiza- tion among the militant rank and file forces. It is clear that the tac- tics of the A. F. of L. leaders, who did everything in their power to prevent the strike, is to allow the strikers to become demoralized and then to bring in the Labor Board to effect a settlement similar to the cn? in Cleveland, St. Louis and ing engineers there to supervise the factories producing explosives chief- ly for war against the U.S.S.R. Tarrytown—settlement that gives ‘s nothing ‘The real sentiment of the strik- WEATHER: Fair, warmer AMERICA’S ON CLASS DAILY LY WORKING NEWSPAPER (Six Pages) Execution of Thaelmann Price 3 Cents ROOSEVELT FEIGNS IGNORANCE OF STRIKE MURDERS Admits Receiving Wire From Gov. Rolph for Aid To Break Dock Strike Birmingham Cops in New Raids Attempt £O War MOVES 60 ON Martyrs—V ictims Of Company Thugs And Police Terror Strikers murdered by police and company thugs during the present strike wave. Murphy Humphrey, Negro longshoreman, 21, murdered on the New Orleans waterfront, May 8. Rich Foster, Negro picket, shot to death by thugs in Birming- Japan Moves Army to Grab More of China | Recoinnoiters at USSR Border; Japanese Soldiers Mutiny SHANGHAI, May 16, (By Radio) |The situation in Northern China jand Inner-Mongolia continues ex-| | tremely tense with Japan actively| preparing the seizure of new ter- ritories and war against the Soviet Union, Reports from Peiping, the ancient) capital of China, and Tsientsin de- clares that all information is to the effect that Japan intends at the |first opportunity to wrest from China, the provinces of Shensi,| |Kansu, Sinkiang, Hopei, Shansi, and Shantung. First of ‘all, the Chinese and for-| |eign press reports, Inner Mongolia! | will be occupied. The Japanese plans forecast the utilization of Mongolian princes to form a new puppet state with their cooperation. | | The Japanese want to convert) |Kansu province, and neighboring districts, into a “Mohommedan” state; Sinkiang into an “Eastern Turkistan Republic.” When all prep-| arations are completed, the Jap- anese will begin military operations, invading Inner Mongolia from the province of Jehol which they now control. Simultaneously, Japan is inten- sifying military preparations in Northern Manchuria, towards the Soviet border. Japanese military | planes are reconnoitering along the | Northern frontiers of Manchuria, on the border of the U. S. S. R. The Japanese are again forming special detachments of Russian Whiteguardists, supplying them with money and arms. Shanghai newspapers declare, ac- cording to information received from people coming from Man- churia, that serious unrest took place among Japanese troops trans-| ported into Northern Manchuria. Twenty soldiers and officers tried to organize a revolt while troops were boarding a railway station at Mukden. They were accused of| and sent to) being Communists Japan for trial. I.S.H. Calls Seamen Of World to Back U.S. Dockers Strike NEW YORK. — The Interna- tional of Seamen and Harbor Workers, with headquarters at Copenhagen, Denmark, issued a call to marine workers through- out the world for solidarity ac- tion with the striking longshore- men in the United States. The following radiogram was. sent yesterday from the I. S. H. to the Marine Workers Indus- trial Union, 140 Broad St. “I. S. H. calis upon Interna- tional seamen for solidarity with’ Pacific longshoremen.” action, demand eleciion of a broac strike and negotiations committee represen‘ing every department, no settlement without the consent of the strikers, cossation of terror and 42 The: ‘rank and file must rouse to militant mass picketing ; hour's quiet ham, Ala., May 9. Henry Witt, Negro picket, | shot to death by thugs in Bir- mingham, Ala., May 9. | George Bell, striker of the Sloss Ore Mine, Alabama, mur- dered on the picket line by agents of the mine owners on May 10. W. H. Ford, striker of the Muscoda Ore Mine, Alabama, shot down in cold blood while on picket on May 10. Charles Sharlo, Negro long- shoreman, murdered by special guards of the Mallory Steamship Company in Galveston, Texas. John Elmore, Negro longshore- man, killed by company guards at Galveston, Texas. Dick Parker, 20 year old long- shoreman, shot to death by San Pedro, Cal., police. Manchurian Rebels Shoot Down Two Japanese Planes TOKIO, May 16—Two Japanese army flyers, bombard:ng insurgent peasants and Manchurian soldiers, reports here said. Dispatches from Harbin to the newspaper Asahi said that the planes were flying over rebcllious territory west of Hailar when the planes were shot down. Alaska Herring Fishing Tied Up As Fleet Strikes the first time since the beginning of herring fishing in Alaska the fishermen have organized and the entire fishing fleet of 40 vessels is tied up on strike in the harbor here. The strikers demand recognition of their union, six cents per barrel of 250 pounds of herring and a crew of eight men on each vessel, and already the packers have granted an increase of one cent over last year and an eight men crew. The morale of the strikers, who are under the leadership of the militant Fishermen and Cannery Workers’ Industrial Union, is high and they are determined to stick until their demands are granted. Isolate Party, Unions SEATTLE, Wash, May 16.—For | | Venomous Stories in | Boss Press Help Gun-Thug Rule (Special to the Daily Worker) | BIRMINGHAM, Ala., May 16.— | Aware of the impending renewal of | the coal strike and the even more | militant continuance of the ore | | strike, local authorities today were | intensifying their campaign, through press and police raids, in an attempt to isolate the Commu- |nist Party from the unions and to | | bring prejudice to bear on the trial | of Communists tomorrow by raising | the race issue. | Under the heading “Communist | Agitators and Labor Troubles,” the | Birmingham News editorial states: | “Communism is something to be jreckoned with in Alabama. Union }men should by now be aware that radical agitators aré at Work among them, spreading their propaganda and fomenting strife. They are no friends of theirs but distinctly their enemies.” They are also telling men to wait until 1935 to be recognized. Conditions inside the Tennessee Coal and Iron plant increasingly resemble an armed camp, workers | forbidden to talk to each other. The place is swarming with armed dep- | uties. The International Labor De- fense is playing a great role in the ore strike, rallying workers on the picket line, bringing women out in large numbers. Four Negroes were arrested in raids in Ensley, Tennessee Coal and Iron territory. Police Chief Hol- lums plays up confiscation of litera- | ture of the League of Struggle for | | Negro Rights, using this as an ex- |cuse for an open appeal to race | hatred and as an indication against defendants to be tried tomorrow. | The Communist Party is working | masses to answer these attacks and | | to lead the coming strike struggle. | ee as | | 7 |Moscow Subway Nears | | Completion; 2 Miles Already Constructed | (Special to the Daily Worker) MOSCOW, May 16 (By radio).— The Moscow subway construction is rapidly progressing. Almost two miles of tunnel of the first line are completed, Besides another 4,200 feet have been propped, and 8,349 feet of wall in a double-lined tunnel have been completed. About 75,000 workers are em- ployed in constructing the subway. Steamer “Dimitroff” LENINGRAD, May 16 (By radio). —The Soviet steamer “Dimitrofi” left Leningrad today for Boston and New York. The trip from Lenin- grad to New York usually takes 18 days. By MARGUERITE YOUNG (Daily Worker Washington Bureau) WASHINGTON, May 16.—Sec- retary of Labor Frances Perkins, hearing 40 women Needle workers’ stories of their own experiences under the terror of gangsters, po- lice and Federal officials’ deter- mination to break their union, thought it “very kind that you want to hear from me,” but she couldn’t promise a thing except to “make a study” and “report” to various agencics. The women workers, having no- tified Miss Perkins of their com- ing repeatedly for two weeks, gained an audience only after an insistence that they would see the woman Secretary who spoke so sympathetically over the radio of her special interest in women, and no one else. “I'm sorry this platform is so high,” Secretary Perkins said, sit- Aner Perkins Sidesteps Charges Of Women Needie Workers {ting on a dais above the girls and women. “When we get into our new building we shall have a platform more—human.” “HUMAN.” Forty women who have been in the needle trades | for from seven to 20 years. Protest Against A.F.L. Attacks “We are the Needle Trades Wo- men’s Committee of Action of New | York. We have come to protest aga'nst the attacks of the American Federation of Labor officials, the Joint Council of the fur bosses, and your own assistant, Edward F, Mc- Grady, upon our union, the Needle Trades Workers Industrial Union, particularly the fur workers.” Violet Leen, the spokeswoman, is ja tiny young girl, barely five feet, ‘but her voice reaches up and jaround Miss Perk.ns. She summa- (Continued on Page 2) Leaves USSR for N.Y.) Forty women mark the word.} President Also Concedes War Danger Growing More Serious Daily Arms Appropriations Program Unhindered By SEYMOUR WALDMAN (Daily Worker Washington Bureau) WASHINGTON, D. C., May 16.—President Roosevelt de- |clared today that he has done nothing thus far about the numerous gun murders and slugging of strikers which have occurred in quick suc- cession in Galveston, San Pedro, Buffalo, Birmingham and other strike sectors of the nation. Asked in his press conference this morning whether he was con- sidering an inv tion of the riminal acti of the police and deputized thugs, the President in- formed your correspondent that he had seen nothing except what had been brought to him. He seemed |to be aware only of the situation in California, whose Governor, Sunny Jim Rolph, who approves of jJynching and keeps Tom Mooney in jail, recently wired him requesting presidential intervention to help the Pacific Coast shipping mag- |nates break the longshoremen’s strike. No Reference to Lundeen Resolution No reference was made in the press conference to the Lundeen resolution, introduced yesterday in the House of Representatives, Which condemns the use of the private armies and authorizes a Congressional investigation of “ex- treme terror of the police, militia and special armed deputies.” The President announced during his conference that Norman Davis, the Hoover-Roosevelt “disarma- ment” expert who figured with the late ex-President Coolidge last sum- mer as one of the prominent “Am- bassadorial” financiers on the pre- |ferred money list of J. P. Morgan & Company, is writing a statement on the corpse called the disarma- ment conference. When completed were shot down today and killed, | solidly at meetings and calls on the| it will be submitted to Roosevelt for acceptance or revision possibly joint rewriting. Secretary of the Navy, Claude Swanson, former Hoover Disarma- and |ment Conference delegate and one of the fire-eaters on the late war Policies Commission, however, once again made the war nature of the Roosevelt administration’s ‘disarm ament” policy perfectly clear. War Program Goes —n “Plans will go forward for the immediate construction” of 12 de- stroyer leaders and six submarines, Secretary Swanson announced toe day. The cost will be $40,000,000 and will be only part of the re- placement program authorized un- (Continued on Page 2) Telephone Owners Get $42,000,000 in ‘Usual Dividends 'Special Fund Protects -| Stockholders from Crisis | NEW YORK.—By drawing on a | special reserve fund set up to guar- antee the payment of dividends | when earnings are low, the Amer- ican Telephone and Telegraph Co. today declared its usual quarterly dividend of $2.25 a share to stock- holders. This maintains the usual $9 a year rate, and will give | $42,000,000 to about 600,000 investors. The A. T. & T. which is a Wall Street-Morgan monopoly controlling |practically every telephone in the country, hes a sort of special “un- employment insurance” fund for stockholders to take care of divid- ends when business is slow. This fund totals over $300,000,000. Despite the crisis, not a penny has been taken off the ATT dividends. ATT has accumulated enormous reserves and surpluses despite an unbroken line of dividends stretch- ing back many decades. It has suc- cessfully resisted all attempts to reveal its huge hidden funds, or any serious regulation of its rate ‘ucture which today gives the original .stockholders huge returns on their investments, en REIS “sa Nae ttn \o FSS ORT