The Daily Worker Newspaper, May 25, 1934, Page 1

Demand Removal of Militia from Toledo and Minneapolis! Militiamen! Stop Attacks Against Your Striki NO MATTER Order a Daily Wo: To Those HOW SMALL! rker Bundle for Sale You Know Vol. XI, No. 125 Entered as second-class -_* Daily, QWorker CENTRAL ORGAN COMMUNIST PARTY U.S.A. (SECTION OF COMMUNIST INTERNATIONAL ) matter at the Post Office at New York, N. ¥., under the Act of March 8, 1879. CLASS DAILY ng Brothers ! AMERICA’S ONLY WORKING NEWSPAPER NEW YORK, FRIDAY, MAY 25, 1934 WEATHER: Fair. (Six Pages) Price 3 Cents (OHIO MILITIA USES BULLETS, POISON GAS, BAYONETS ON WORKERS; SLAUGHTERS 3 STRIKERS; WOUNDS 100 Picket N. Y. Nazi Consul; Demand ‘Free Thaelmann”’ Union Delegation Demands Release of German C.P. Leader LIFE IN DANGER C.cP:; Greater Activity Issues NEW YORK.—A continu- ous picket line of workers de- manding the safe release of Ernst Thaelmann, leader of the German Communist Party, has been thrown around the offices of the Nazi Consul, 17 Battery Pl. as teports of the growing danger to the heroic revolutionist reach here from Ger- many. % Workers desiring to help picket are urged to report to the Inter- national Labor Defense, 870 Broad- way. A steady flow of workers’ and professionals’ delegations have been passing through the doors of the building with demands for the re- lease cf Ernst Thaelmann. Vet- erans, needle and food workers have already presented demands. Lawyers, shoe workers, painters, marine workers, students, teachers and others are planning to protest his imprisonment to the consul. An appeal, issued by the N. Y.| District of the Communist Party, urged workers to turn out by thou- sands to the anti-fascist, free Thael- mann meetings being held this week in many parts of the city. The mectings scheduled are as fol- lows: Downtown 7:30 p.m. 10th St. and 2nd Ave.; Broome and Clinton Sts.; Thompson and Bleecker Sts.; Rutgers Square; 7th Street and Avenue A; Speakers— Pauline Rogers, Secretary Anti- Nazi Federation of Greater New York, J. Rubin, National Secretaary, Food Workers Industrial Union. — Friday, May 25th, Midtown — Monday, May 28th, 7:30 p.m. Columbus Circle, 59th St. and Columbus Ave.—main speaker, John J. Ballam. 33rd St, and Second Ave—main Speaker, Albert Stams, Anti-Nazi Federation of Greater New York. Friday noon, May 25th: 12th Ave. and 44th St. Friday, May 25th, 7:30 p. m. : 21st St. and 8th Ave; Columbus Circle; Main speakers, Alexander Hoffman, organizer Customs Tailors Union, John Marks, Young Com- munist League, others. Harlem—Saturday, May 26th. 6 P.M—13ist St. and Lenox Ave. 7:30 P.M.—113th St. and 5th Ave. 8 P. M—85th St. and 3rd Ave, Speakers—James W. Ford, others. Williamsburgh—Friday, May 25th, 8 p.m Grand St. Extension and Have- meyer; Veret and Graham. Ave; Speakers, Jesse Taft, leader Laun- dry Workers Union, others. Ridgewood — Friday, May 25th, 8 p.m Catalpa and Myrtle Ave.; Main speakers, Otto Durick, Anti-Nazi Federation of Greater New York, Boro Hall—Friday, May 25th, 8 p.m.—Court and Carroll Streets— Main speaker, Jerome Hunt. Brighton Beach—Saturday, May 26th, 6 pm-—5th Street and Surf Avenue—main speaker—M. E. Taft. Bronx.—Saturday, May 26th, 8 p. m. Holland and Allerton Avenues; 225th St and White Plains Road; Main speaker Charlotte Todes of the Trade Union Unity Council and others. Queens—Saturday, May 26th, p.m.—Steinway and Jamaica Ave. Richmond Hill — Saturday, May 26th, 7 p.m.—tll4th St. and Liberty Ave—Main speaker—A. Harris. Far Rockaway — Saturday, May 26th, 7 p.m.—Cornaga and Central Avenues — Main speeker, Howard (Continued on Page 2) Call for | Roosevelt In New Moves to Break Strikes Fear Spread of Strike Wave Thru Country; Rush Wagner Bill WASHINGTON, D. C. May 24— | The Roosevelt New Deal adminis- | tration was today considering new |measures to break the militant strikes now sweeping the country at a.scale unequalled since the post- war years, The huge strike-breaking machine was beginning to move into action as Senator Wagner, following a con- | ference with Washington Labor De- | partment officials, met with Presi- dent Roosevelt in the White House. Wagner announced, following the session with Roosevelt, that Roose- velt would make every effort to rush through his “labor disputes” strike- breaking bill in a frantic effort to stop the huge militant nationwide militant strike wave. The working out of this vast anti- workingclass scheme is already in progress, with Charles P. Taft acting as “mediator’ in the Toledo auto strike. Taft was appointed today by Secretary of Labor Frances Per- kins, partment of Labor, is already work- ing to bréak the truckmen’s strike in Minneapolis, where he is acting as mediator. It was admitted that these efforts were being made “to halt violent strikes in Toledo and Minneapolis ces,”—by which is meant further militant action by victimized and resisting workers. Wagner, in announcing Roose- velt’s complete support for his bill, refused to reveal what the revised terms in it contained. The entire proceedings in Wash- ington were seen as a concerted ef- fort to concentrate autocratic power in a single centralized group, which will work with manufacturers against strikers in all future strikes, Marshan of the U. S. De-) and to prevent further disturban-j; U.S.-Japanese Navy Race Is_ Speeded Up Threats of More Arming Fly as Naval Meet Draws Nearer TOKIO, May 24-——A naval arms jvace between the United States and Japan, in preparation for the 1935 | naval conference, is developing with threats on both sides of new war- ship building and naval base con: | struction. In answer to Secretary of the | Navy Claude A. Swanson’s threat | that the United States would fortify the Aleutian Islands (a direct chal- | lenge to Japan), if Japan insisted on reopening the naval ratios set by the London treaty of 1930, Rear Admiral Tsuneyoshi Sakano, chief of navy propaganda, replied that Japan insisted that its navy be enlarged because of the “new con- ditions.” “Armaments compacis,” said: Sakano’s statement, “must be of-| fered in accordance with changed Political, scientific and technical conditions.: The London treaty was a temporary compact and was not intended to extend past 1936. | | | Socialist Party By CYRIL BRIGGS NEW YORK.—Proof that the So- cialist Party practices jim-crowism against the Negro masses is con- tained in the accompanying repro- duction of a news report in last week's issue of the “New Leader,” Official organ of the Socialist Party, of a Socialis: May Day meeting in San Antonio, Texas. The dispatch enumerates among the speakers, “C. W. Tanner of the Colored Branch”—an open admis- sion that the Socialist leadership has segregated its Negro member- ship into jim-crow branches in faithful conformity to the customs and traditions of the lynch bosses of the South. The Socialist Party also jim- crows Negroes at its mass meetings in the South. During the last pre- sidential election campaign Norman Thomas, Socialist candidate for president, addressed meetings in the South where Negroes were jim- crowed and screened off from the rest of the audience. These meet- ings, held under the auspices of {local Socialist Party groups, did not | raise a whisper of protest from the Socialist Party leader. In a siatement which was never repudiated by his Party, A. F. Bion, Socialist candidate, a few days ago, for itenant-governor of Texas, bitt: criticized =the Communis Pa for nominating Negro workers on its ticket, declaring, in part: Negro Workers in the South Segregates “You know the South well enough to know that it will not be class conscious enough for at least 50 years to tolerate voting for a colored man.” | More recently the “New Leader”) carried an article urging white! workers to “lay off the TNT” of the “race question” in the South, that is to withhold support for the ris- ing agrarian and liberation struggles of the Negro masses, | | THE NEW LEADER San Antonio Also Celebrates May Day AN ANTONIO, Tex.—Despite a heavy rain and the fact that jo boasts all too few! large audience turned out in celebration of May Day in + Ra 0 C) Mexican Branch of tonio, and Colored Bran Sere neae te A, W. F, W, Hubbard of Local Antonio. There was muri, group singing San “Stop Those Scabs!”—and the Minneapolis Workers Did! Police and their hired thugs wilt and fade away before this determined wave of striking Minneapolis truck drivers who charge through the Market Place. No trucks got by them. gas attack on strikers of the The streets, according to tered with blood. The bloodthirsty capitalis' he entire land, the voice of general strike! demonstrations under the | Party. workingmen! Soldiers! Join with the s Down with the capitalist Demand A Halt to Murder! AN EDITORIA Workers of all cities! Unite in mighty mass protest) Demand the withdrawal of all troops! Soldiers of the National Guard! Do not be used as tools | of the capitalist class to shoot down and murder your fellow | Spread the strike movement! | Troops of the capitalist government have muedeked| three of our fellow workingmen in Toledo. Many lie wounded following a vicious rifle, bayonet and | Electric Auto-Lite plant. the latest reports, are bespat-) t class, Roosevelt New Dealers. | have committed this savage crime in order to drive down the living standards of the toiling population, in order to protect | the profits of the factory owners. We must answer this vile deed of the capitalists. From coast to coast, from Canada to Mexico, throughout labor must roar a mighty pro- test against the bloody attack on the Toledo workers. Workers in Toledo! Answer the capitalist terror with a/| leadership of the Communist) trikers on the picket line! butchers! Nationwide Strike In - Steel Industry Looms This Month NEW YORK.—Opposing forces in the steel industry were pre- paring for an epochal battle yes- terday which may reverberate throughout the country within the next month. The steel bosses, meeting at the Hotel Commodore, were threatening to close down all plants rather than grant union recognition. At the same time, the steel workers, members of the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers and members of the Steel and Metal Workers Industrial Union, were mobilizing their forces for united strike action. . Mounted Police Sent Against Canada Miners NEW GLASGOW, Nova Scotia, May 24.—Royal Canadian Mounted police were brought here today to lattempt to break a strike of coal miners. Shots were fired at the miners by the troopers, and the miners and their wives retaliated by a shower of bricks. The mounted See page 3 for further detafis of steel situation. thugs finally succeeded in breaking up the demonstration, Alabama Mill Worker Killed As Police Guns Rake New Orleans Picket Line NEW ORLEANS, May 24.—Bullets poured from police guns today killing at least one of the others. Scores were arrested and slugged. striking longshoremen and wounding || | Minneapolis Strikers Reject Truce As Olson Calls Out Guardsmen 40,000 Strikers Prepare Mass Picket Lines; A. F. of L. Leaders Refuse General Strike BULLETIN , begun at nine tonight. This is the Troops Shoot Unarmed Men; Strikers Set Up Barricades in Streets BULLETIN At least three workers were slain and many wounded by the rifle fire of the National Guardsmen into the mass picket line of the workers at the Electric Auto-Lite plant. Gun-firing continues as the Daily Worker went to press. More National Guards- men were ordered into To- ledo by Adjutant-General Frank P. Henderson. TOLEDO, Ohio, May 24.— National Guardsmen poureé a fusilade of-vifle-fire int the mass picket line of thi workers at the Electric Autc Lite Co. plant, killing severa and wounding many. Many were viciously bayonetted. on slain worker is identified as Frank Hubay, 27 years old. At times as many as 40,000 were around the plant. The sidewalks are spattered with blood as the strikers and sympa- Minneapolis, May 24.— Police Chief Michael Jo- hannes today delivered an |time that the truce, extended with|‘*hetic workers heroically defended |the consent of the American Fed-| themselves with bricks, and from |eration of Labor leaders, here, ends.|Pehind barricades. The capitalist |They announced that 2400 troops; Press is whipping up hatred against | by Farmer-Labor | Will convoy the trucks. The indignation of the workers of Minneapolis against the strike- breaking action of the Farmer Labor Governor in calling out the} | troops is steadily mounting. The ultimatum to the striking drivers, telling them that trucks would move at 9:01 p.m., manned by police and guardsmen. | speeches of the Communist Party paces * * members at last night’s huge mass - , | Meeting, calling for an immediate MINNEAPOLIS, — Minn.,| mobilization of all workers of Min-| May 24. — Forty thousand|neapolis for united front action were) “) enthusiastically greeted by the Ser shy Jas for | workers. The workers are deter- mass picket lines to answer|mined to halt the trucks by mass the attempt of the 4,000 Na-| Picketins. i | The Roosevelt government has tional Guardsmen, called out) nt u, gs, Department of Labor Governor | Conciliator Marsham into Minnea~- Floyd B, Olson, to break the truck/ Polis to help in the strikebreaking drivers’ strike by running the trucks| efforts. : | themselves after nine o'clock to-| At the mass meeting of twenty) night. The strikers, at a great mass| thousand workers at the parade meeting last night, rejected the/ grounds, the Central Labor Coun- orders of the National Labor Board) cil announced the calling of a gen- that they return to work without/eral strike in Minneapolis starting) ‘achieving their demand for union) this morning, but later these A. F. recognition. | of L. leaders retreated, and accepted The strikebreaking forces took|@N extension of the truce. advantage of the “truce” by send-| A. F. of L. speakers, nevertheless, ing the National Guard into the| had to praise the militancy of the Bosses Reject Pay Demands Negotiations Fail to Go Thru; A.F.L. Heads Weaken Strike (Special to the Daily Worker) BIRMINGHAM, Ala. May 24.— Ore mine negotiations between the Morgan-controlled Tennessee Coal and Iron Co. and the International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers of America, failed to go through today. It is here where five strikers were fatally shot by police and company thugs earlier this month. Robert’ Gregg, President of the Tennessee Coal and Iron Co., claimed that he agreed to collective bargaining and the re-employment of the strikers without discrimina- tion, but he rejected their demands for the six-hour day and a wage increase to 50 cents an hour and| check-off. Vv. C. Finch, state representative }of the American Federation of La- | bor, admitted that he had offered | the company bosses a settlement on ithe basis of a se r day ond {40 cents an hour, thus revealing | his activities to underbid the} strikers’ demands and weaken the strike” \ \ learns very quickly the meaning |market area. Machine guns were) Communists, the members of the |set up. The National Guardsmen,| International Labor Defense and} sent in by the Farm Labor goy-|the Unemployment Councils on the ernor, fortified themselves in an) Picket lines. empty garage, with wire netting at| Attempts of Olson, and city of- lthe windows, sandbags, machine ficials to raise the “red scare” was ‘guns, rifles and tear gas bombs. begun when it was announced that | Troops are steadily pouring into| the National Guard was called in |the city. Police Chief Johannes and) because of “outside agitators” and | Sheriff John Wall of Hennipin| “Communistic elements.” They are | County feeling secure with the Na- using this tactic in an obvious at- | tional Guard entrenched, announced! tempt to isolate the militants from that trucking by the National | the main body of the strikers and Guard and special police will be! thus break the strike. DuPont Loves the NRA --- He By M. H. of the N.R.A, and becomes en- thusiastic.” E I. E. DuPont de Nemours com-' The Darrow report has given pany is a monopoly controlling some inkling as to the enthusiasm of the manufacture of chemicals and) wr, DuPont, multi-millionaire, for munitions. It is capitalized at) the NIRA. $620,000,000. Pierre DuPont, presi-| DyPont controls the Remington dent, is an official on the N. R. A.| arms Company which produces | industrial control board. : more than 33 per cent of the an- In a letter just made public by) nual arms and munitions in this | the Literary Digest, Pierre Du-| ¢, During the World War its Pont writes with ecstatic enthusiasm | < gunpowder rose from of the N. R. A. as follows: 090 pounds to 299,000,000 “I went to Washington think- | pounds per yea: | ing that the N.R.A, was an up- For the pas | to the Roosevelt N.R.A., the DuPont | Company showed a 300 per cent in- ‘crease in profi | $10,045,000 compared with $3,318,000 llast year, setling influence in bitciness and labor conditions. I confi that T have been quickly converted. Everyone who goes to Washington Has Plenty of Good Reasons , Showing profits of | the heroic workers and is shrieking for martial Jaw throughout the en- tire city. Deadly poison gas was hurled by National guardsmen, protected by gas at the thousands of workers who again and again re- formed their ranks and fought-out the entire day today as well as throughout last night, to maintain their mass picket lines. Many workers were bayonetted and others were seriously affected by the strong poison gas, KOCS (CQ) and DM gas, supplied by the army. One fifteen-year-old-boy was bayonetted, Orville Kane, locomotive fire- man, had his eyes torn out by one of these deadly gas bullets when he was fired on by a soldier. Today the six companies of sey- eral thousand National Guardsmen, made two main attacks with bayo- net and deadly poison gas on the strikers, and sympathetic workers, | mass picket lines. But the workers |both times reformed ranks and came back to the picket lines. During the entire night, ten thousand workers surrounded the factory, maintaining mass picket lines, through which the scabs in- | side the mill did not dare to pass. Many were injured as police and | deputies repeatedly threw tear gas and brought clubs into play. Police |were also injured as workers di fended themselves from tear gas | and clubbing assaults. The national , guard arrived at mn, and began at once to set up machine guns, to bayonet workers, and brought out {the strikebreakers with drawn bayonets and machine guns, rifles and poison gas held ready. The United Press admitted today, “The national guard companies | were mobilized in neighboring towns |late yesterday. The local national | guard companies were not mobilized | because military authorities and local authorities thought it inad- visable to ask soldiers to charge their own townsmen.” Workers Throw Up Barricades As the National Guard charged, threw deadly gas and bayoneited right and left, the workers answered by throwing bricks from improvised barricades and from behind nearby |houses. The Workers called to the | murderous attack of the National Guardsmen, “You're shooting at ur own buddies. We've all got y discha papers.” continued and the rs continued to fight for their ht to strike and picket. the troops { up field artille: New troops poured into the city frém Lima | : (Continued on Page 2)