The Daily Worker Newspaper, August 9, 1934, Page 1

Czar Philip Zausner’sThrone Totters —AN EDITORIAL— HE throne of Czar Phillip | Zausner, _ illegally-elected | secretary of the N. Y. District | Council of the Painters’ Union (A. F. of L.), is tottering. Refused recognition by the | membership which voted him | out of office, he and his} henchmen have let loose a/ reign of terror against the| painters which is almost with- | out parallel in recent New York labor history. At least | one man is at death’s door in| a local hospital and numbers of others have been injured by Zausner thugs. That not all of the administration strong-arm men have escaped scot-free after their savage} attacks is ample testimony after their savage attacks of the bitterness of the union men towards the Zausner ma- chine and their willingness to defend themselves. The attempt to revoke the charter of Local 499, the leading element in the strug- gles for decent conditions in the trade and in the fight against racketeering and gangsterism in the union, is but another step in Zausner’s | efforts—in which he is being | fully aided by the Interna-| tional officials — to crush | every semblance of trade) union democracy in the Paint- | ers Brotherhood. | Zausner, feeling the seat of | power sway under him, is at-| tempting to settle the present | strike under the employers| and N. R. A. Board’s condi- | tions. Every intelligent painter knows what it will mean if the proposal of Ben Golden of the Regional NRA Board is accepted—that the men will go back under the old condi- tions and that they will then be left to the tender mercies of the employers. and Zaus- ner. What terrifies Zausner par- ticularly is the fact that the workers, recognizing their an- cient foe, took the strike leadership qut of Zausner’s hands and built their own local strike committees. They have overwhelmingly refused to accept Zausner’s “strike supervision,” and his in- famous work tax. In setting up their own local strike committees inde- pendent of the corrupt Zaus- ner district machine, the painters have been a model to the labor movement every- where. Such action, similar to that undertaken by the San Francisco longshoremen, is the best guarantee of vic- tory in the struggle for im- proved conditions. The painters must not per- mit Zausner to end the strike on the employers and N.R.A,. conditions. Strike settlements should be discussed in the lo- cals and ratified by the mem- bership. The work tax must be defeated. Rank and file committees to enforce the union scale after the men go back to work should be set up in each local. The struggle for the ousting of Zausner and his whole corrupt machine -must go on. The fight against racketeering and gangsterism in the N, Y. Painters Brother- hood must not cease until the rank and file puts its own members into office and guar- _antees its own control of the union. Thus, and thus only, can the union become a real, ‘clean, fighting instrument of the N. Y. painters to better their conditions. -Hathaway to Expose Role of Renegades In Truck Strike NEW YORK. — Clarence Hath- sway, editor of the Daily Worke-, will review the role of the Trotzky renegades in the Minneapolis truck ‘drivers’ strike tomo:row evening at 3:30 o'clock at the Irving Plaza Hall, (rving Place and 15th St, . Hathaway will show how the lead- ers of Local 574 are hindering mili- tant action against Olson's military rule. The meeting is under the auspices of the Trade Union Unity Council. Only 23 days are left to raise $12,912 de- fense fund for the appeals of Angelo Herndon and the Scottsboro boys. $2,038 received to See blank on page four of this issne. date. Rush contributions to International Labor De- fense, 30 E. lith St., New York Vol. XI, No. 190 City. GB 2228 second-class matter at the Post OMice at under the Act of March 8, 1879. New York, N. ¥., Daily .QWorker CENTRAL ORGAN COMMUNIST PARTY U.S.A. (SECTION OF COMMUNIST INTERNATIONAL) NEW YORK, THURSDAY, AUGUST 9, 1934 WEATHER: Fair. Make This Figure Grow PRESS YESTERDAY. RUN 43,900 (Six Pages) Price 3 Cents STRICKEN FARMERS PLAN TO MARCH 5,000 Knitgoods Workers Out in General Strike ~ HERNDON, RAVAGED BY TORTURE, FIGHTS ON HEROIC NEGRO IN APPEAL FOR SCOTTSBORO 9 o Will Speak In Harlem Aug. 15; In Bronx Aug. 22 By CYRIL BRIGGS The ravages of 19 months of hideous torture in an At- Janta, Georgia, prison hell plainly showing in his deli- cate physical condition, heroic Angelo Herndon yesterday hurled anew his defiance at the Southern lynch lords, at a press conference in the national office of the International Labor Defense! “I am more determined than ever to carry on the struggle for the oppressed working class and the Negro people,” he said. Plainly worn out by his prison ordeal and the excitement of the first days of his newly won free- dom, with enthusiastic mass wel- comes in New York City and the. cities he passed through on his way from the South, Herndon again dis- Played the high fortitude and cour- age which marked his conduct in the court of the class enemy in the quiet, prompt manner in which he answered the questions with which he was plied by both the represen- tatives of the revolutionary press and of the capitalist press. Unemployed Victroy Enraged Rulers Asked of his arrest and treatment in prison, he told of being jailed a week after an unemployed demon- stration of Negro and white work- ers in Atlanta. Herndon had led that demonstration in protest against inadequate relief, discrimi- nation against Negroes, and the threat of Atlanta city authorities to cut off all relief on the pretext that they had no funds. The day following the demonstration, they were forced to appropriate $6,000 for relief. This magnificent victory of Atlanta unemployed enraged the ruling class, and Herndon’s ar- rest followed. “They took me to the death cell and tried to force me to sit in the electric chair. I refused and they finally gave up the attempt to torture me then and there, Later, although I was subjected to mental torture, frequent soli- tary confinement and indignities, and my health deliberately en- dangered by wmsanitary condi- tions, they were afraid to beat me up because of the tremendous mags protests of white and Negro workers, “However, I was subjected to un- speakable mental tortures in an ef- fort to drive me insane. For ex- ample, when a vrisoner died in my cell, they left the corpse there for many hours. The dead man, a Negro, had been sick for three days and was denied any medical atten- tion whatever. “A month after my conviction, I was put in solitary, charged with ‘attempting to escape.’ I was again placed in the death cell, and re- moyed only after mass protests mobilized by the International La- bor Defense and the Communist Party. I was then placed in a filthy, unsanitary cell. Hardened criminals were housed with me. The jailers threatened to put homosexuals in the cell, as well, but were deterred by the angry protests of the work- ers. Eight or ten of the prisoners placed in my cell were later elec- trocuted. and the jailers would gloatingly taunt me that I would (Continued on Page 2) Unemployed Delegation To Lay Demands Before Commissioner | Hodson NEW YORK.—Commissioner of Welfare William Hodson will meet with a delegation of three from the United Action Conference on Work, Relief and Unemployment today at 3 p.m., at Hodson’s office, 50 La- fayette St. James Gaynor, chairman of the conference; Ben Lapidus, organizer of the New York County Unemploy- ment Councils, and Michael Da- vidow, secretary of the Relief Work- ers’ League, will comprise the dele- gation. Demands will be relief jobs at trade union wages, adequate relief, | Canadian Defenders Hail Release in Bail Of Angelo Herndon NEW YORK.—The Canadian Labor Defense League hailed the victory of the I. L. D. in secur- ing Angelo Herndon’s release in a telegram sent yesterday to the Daily Worker and signed by Beckie Buhay Ewen, organiza- tion secretary. “In the name of 43,000 De- fenders and hundreds of thou- sands of supporters we hail with joy the results of mass pressure in forcing the release on bail of Angelo Herndon,” the tele- gram read. “We pedge together } with you to strengthen our sup- port for the release of Herndon, the Scottsboro boys, Thaelmann, Buck and Ewen. Long live the I. L. D., valiant leader of the defense struggles of the United States workers,” New Warrants Filed Against Two Workers Special to the Daily Worker BIRMINGHAM, Ala, Aug. 8.— New warrants have been filed against Israel Berlin and Irving Keith, in the efforts of the Alabama authorities to crush the working class organizations through terror. ‘The charges, based on the posses- sion by the arrested workers of copies of the Southern Worker, and aimed to outlaw all workers’ organ- izations, claim the defendants “did become members of a group of per- sons styled as Communist, formed to teach or advocate the overturn- ing of organized government by force.” The warrant also characterizes the Southern Worker as “libelous, scurrilous, abusive, intemperate, and prejudicial to good morals.” These charges are made on the basis of marked passages in the Southern! Worker, terming the decision of the Alabama Supreme Court uphold- ing the Scottsboro convictions as “a lynch ‘verdict” and other pas- sages. The trial has been postponed until August 15th, An editorial in the Age Herald which announces the end of the textile strike is untrue. The strikers have refused to re- turn to work without recognition of the union and a written contract. But E.. L. Berkshire, president of the South Carolina State Federa- tion of Labor is in Huntsville, Ala., now, the center of the textile strikes, and is tzying to engineer an arbitra- tion sell-out. A warrant sworn out against the American Legion officer who led the kidnapping of Dean, United Tex- tile organizer, remains unserved. The workers are continuing to guard their leaders with arms, ® Thugs Slug Painters of | Local 4.4.2) Beatings Follow Assault | Of Gangsters On Monday Night NEW YORK.—Gangsters, armed | with blackjacks and clubs, marched ; into Hannington Hall, 240 East Sec- |ond St., and slugged members of Local 442 of the Brotherhood of Painters and Decorators, who were in line registering. The thugs, members charge, were administra- | tion gangsters supporting the pol- icies of Phillip Zausner, secretary of Zausner henchmen. Union. The gangsters, painters state, were organized for the at- tack by Harry Rosen, chairman of Local 442 and a machine man, and Jack Breen, vice-chairman, both ausner henchmen, Entering the hall, the strong-arm men went to work on the entire line, beating everyone methodically from the end of the line to the beginning. The attack yesterday followed on the heels of the brawl begun by Bugene McNamara, president of the | District Council, in Local 892 Mon- day night, when McNamara and a | group of Zaeusner hoodlums as- | saulted. workers speaking against the work tax. The International | Officials reinforced the weakening Zausner forces. with a statement j Tevoking the charter of Local 499, the leader in the fight against Zausner. However, feeling the temper of the membership, the general board | representative in this city, Edward Ackerly, has sent another letter to Local 499 toning down on the charter revocation order. He now states that if the local will be will- ing to dissolve its own strike com- mittee he will personally guarantee that a committee of three of Local 499 will take part in the Advisory Committee of the District Council. This, rank and file leaders point out, is a step backward from the original position Ackerly took and is caused principally by the support Local 499 is getting from the other locals. A demonstration of painters will be held today against the Master Painters’ Association and the Dis- trict Council leadership. The pa- rade will assemble at 2 p.m. at Madison Square Park North, at 25th | St. Police Attack Pickets At Pattern Factory if Special to the Daily Worker DETROIT, Mich., Aug. 8.—About one hundred striking pattern mak- ers were attacked by police this | morning during a picketing demon- stration at the General Pattern Works. About six hundred pattern mak- ers, members of the A. F. of L. Pat- tern Makers’ League, have been on strike since Aug. 1, demanding a wage increase from $1.25 to $1.50 an hour end a 30-hour week. The A. F. of L. leaders are re- fusing to spread the walkout to the large automobile plants. Instead of organizing militant picketing the A. F. of L. leaders have entered into negotiations with the Detroit Re- gional Labor Board, which has an unbroken record of strangulation of b | | strikes. Fada steial VI CTIMS OF THE DROUGHT Union Calls WILT, MASS AT STATE CAPITALS ON SEPT. i4 For Unity Picketing Begins Today —More Expected to | Join Walkout | NEW YORK.—Five thousand | knitgoods workers went out on! strike yesterday, the first day of | the general walkout in the industry. | Strike calls were issued by the Knitgoods Workers Industria) Union, the International Garment Workers Union and United Textile Workers Union. In an attempt to steal a march on the Knitgoods Workers Indus- trial Union, leaders of the I. L. G. W. U. and U. T, W., who had kept. their membership in the dark for | weeks, prepared Tuesday night to issue a strike call yesterday morn- ing. However, the Knitgoods Work- ers Union immediately learned of the plans and broadcast a call to all its members and all unorganized workers in the industry to come out on strike. Yesterday it was estimated that. of the 5,000 already out, about 1,100 came in response to the call of the I. L. G. W. U., 700 to that of the U. T. W. and 3,000 to that of the Knitgoods Workers Industrial Union: More are expected to come out today. There are, it is cal- culated, between 15,000 and 18,000 workers in the industry. Militant Union Demands Strike Unity Pressing its demand for unity in the strike, the Knitgoods Workers Industrial Union is calling for the formation of one central strike committee of all the unions in- volved, one picket line and one settlement committee as the only way to defeat the employers and the growing company unionization of the industzy. Enthusiasm runs high as the workers meet in the various strike halls preparing the picketing sched- uled to begin this morning. The Knitgoods Workers Industrial Union plans a demonstration for the gar- ment center at noon. The demands of the union are: 1, The 35-hour working week; 2. The establishment of an Unemployment Relief Fund: 3. The abolition of all piece-work and overtime; 4. Limitation of machinery; 5. Paid legal holidays; 6. For the following wage scales: Knitters Mechanics, $65; Winders, $25; Power Knitters (all kinds), $43; Warpers, $40; Flat Machine Hand Knitters and Links and Links, $45; Cutters and Markers, $50; Machine Cutters, $45; Singer Operators, $45; Merrow Operators, $30; Special Machine Op Fin- ishers on Sportwear, $ Sweaters, $22.50; Fold: Menders, $35; Pressers—Sportwear, $45; Pressers—Sweatezs, $35; Floor Work- $18. Str'ke Headquarters Set Up Strike centers have been estab- lished by the Knitgoods Workers Industrial Unio nat Irving Plaza, 15th St. and Irving Pl. Flushing Mansion, 1088 Flushing Ave., Brook- lyn; and the Hungarian Workers Center, 642 Southern Blvd. Bronx. 6,000 Drivers Back At Work, Is Report MINNEAPOLIS, Minn., Aug. 9.— Six thousand of the striking truck drivers in Minneapolis were reported by the capitalist press to be back at work. The report states that the employers of the 6,000 strikers have accepted the Haas-Dunnigan proposals, ers, jail and five have been placed in water. approaching Fascism. The rulers against the most advanced section tion of the working class. all working-class organizations, all Judge Will Carragher. 646, Sacramento. with the Communist workers in a Following the government-inspired fascist attacks of the vigilantes, the State of California is now endeavoring to illegalize the Communist Party and the revolutionary trade unions in that state militant workers are being held in the Sacramento jail, where they face grand jury indictment for criminal syndicalism. these are Caroline Decker and Pat Chambers, District Secretary and District Organizer of the Agricultural Workers Union, and Albert Hogar- dy, Section Organizer of the Communist Party. Thirty other workers are on hunger strike in San Francisco city Thirty-one Included among @ cungeon on a diet of bread and The attack against the Communist Party and the revolutionary trade unions places before the entire working class the challenge of of California, supported and en- couraged by the Roosevelt government, are making their first drive of the working class—the Commu- nist Party and the revolutionary unions. With the revolutionary leader- ship crushed, they would then turn their attack upon every organiza- The Communist Party calls upon the workers of the United States to rally to the defense of the California prisoners who are standing in the first line in the struggle against Améfitarfascism. “We call upon trade unionists, to send immediate protests and demands for the release of these prisoners to James Dean, City Manager cf Sacramento, District Attorney Neil McAllister, and Collect funds for their defense from your fel- low-workers in your shops and neighborhoods, and send them to Box A. F. of L. workers, Socialist workers: The defense of the Commu- nist Party and the revolutionary trade unions is also a defense of your own, organizations against fascist attacks. We appeal to you to join mighty united protest and struggle for the release of the California prisoners, Captive Mine Locals Hold Action Meet PITTSBURGH, Pa. Aug. 8— Eleven delegates from the captive mines of the Republic Steel Com- pany met Sunday at Searight to draw up a program for united ac- tion against layoffs and discrim- ination. Representatives of all four U. M. ,| W. A. locals, Russellton, Republic, Searight, and Woodside, gave re-| ports of the present situation their respective mines. Russellton and Republic in have latter mine 270 men have been fired recently, 165 of whom were men who had been employed at that shaft for a number of years, some as many as 20. The conference approved a share- the-work plan and will guide the fight against discrimination. Sentiment in some of the locals is for strike, but the leaders there are holding back from such action. The committee meets with General Manager Winning, of the Republic Steel, in Uniontown Wednesday night to take up the issues ap- proved at the conference. The Committee has demanded that a federal conciliator who was in Sussellton today also attend the meeting. . Hunger Strike of Thirty on Sixth Day e r Conyiction for Marine Head-LL.D. Urges Mass Protests Special to the Daily Worker SAN FRANCISCO, Cal., Aug. 8— Thirty prisoners inciuding two women now in the San Francisco city jail are on the sixth day of a hunger strike and are rapidly reaching a critical physical condi- tion. They are striking in protest of the impossible bail, ranging from $1,000 to $2,200 cash bail each, re- sulting in their continued incarcera- tion without trial. The International Labor Defense today urged a nation-wide protest addressed to District Attorney Brady et San Francisco, and to Presiding Judge of Municipal Court, Hall of Justice, San Francisco, Twenty-nine prisoners in the endorsement of the Workers’ Un- employment Insurance Bill. ' County Jail are on a work strike | ganizer for the Marine Workers In- five have been put in a dungeon on a diet of bread and water. In Sacramento 28 workers, includ- ing two women, have been charged with vagrancy and criminal syndi- calism. Bail totals $4,000 cash each. Protests should be wired to Sacra- mento District Attorney office and Judge Carragher. pi ae SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Aug. 8. —Thirty-one workers and working class leaders in Sacramento will Soon face the Grand Jury on charges of “criminal syndicalism,” the International Labor Defense announced today. Because they he- long to militant working class or- ganizations, 25 workers in San Fran- cisco are being held on the charge of “vagrancy.” Harry Jackson, m>- rine worker and West Coast or- dustrial Union has just been found against the excessive sentences and guilty of “vagrancy.” Mass protests must be immedi- ! ately intensified to spike the con- certed attempts of the ship owners, the industrialists and the capitalist parties to force all militant work- ing class organizations into illegal- ity, the LL.D, urged. Thirty-one workers in Sacra- mento, including Caroline Becker, district secretary of the Agricultural Workers Union; Pat Chambers, dis- trict organizer, and Albert Hogarty, section organizer, will shortly face the Grand Jury on charges of crimi- nal syndicalism. Unless immediate working class protests flood City Manager James Dean, District At- torncy Neil McAllister, and Judge Will Cerother, the LL.D. stated to- day, these workers will face certain! indictments and long prison terms. ' Harry Jackson, Marine Workers organizer, has just been found guilty | on a charge of vagrancy. Leo Gal- lagher,-I.L.D. attorney, who is con- ducting the defense of many of the Flung Into Dungeon— Put On Bread and ~ Water Diet Charging in the indictment that Jackson was a “vagant” because he “goes from place to place without any lawful business,” the case be- comes one of whether or not an organizer for the Marine Workers Industrial Union is engaged in a “lawful” occupation. Simply because they are mem- bers of either the Communist Party, the International Labor Defense, the Marine Workers Industrial Union or other militent working class or zations, 25 workers held in San Francisco on charges. Funds for carrying on fense are urgently the needed should be sent to Joseph Wilson, de- and jailed workers, will appeal the case. Post office box 1127, San Francisco. . been hardest hit by layoffs. At the |i Browder Urges Aid to Jailed ‘Cuban Leader NEW YORK.—Calling for soli- darity with the struggles of the Cuban workers and peasants against |der, General Secretary of the Com- |munist Party today issued an ap- peal for funds to help fight for the release of Joaquin Ordoqui, leader of the Cuban trade union federa- tion. dred dollars are needed to help fight for Ordoqui who was seized and flung into a dungeon by the Mendieta government on charges of “inciting an attack.” Cuban marines who joined with workers in protesting against the fascist ABC are also in jail facing court-martial sentences. Bzowder's full appeal follows: On the eve of the overthrow of the bloody regime of Machado, the toiling Cuban masses are facing the treacherous policy of the American imperialist puppet gov- ernment of Mendieta-Batista. Their latest crime in attempting to smash the revolutionary move- ment of the Cuban masses is the arrest and frame-up of Joaquin Ordoqui, Secretary of the Na- tional Confederation of Labor of Cuba and the trial of several of the marin; of the warship “Cuba” because of their participation in a demonstration against the fas- cist ABC. I appeal to every member of our Party and to all the workers of the United States to participate actively in the campaign for the safe release of Joaquin Ordoqui and the Cuban marines who are facing death. Two hundred dol- Jars must be raised for their de- fense. Rush funds to the Daily Worker in response to the appeal of the T. U. U. L. and the I. L. D. Send telegrams to President Men- dieta and Colonel Batista at Havana. Picket the Cuban em- bassy in Washington and every Cuban Consulate in the United States, Support the mass protest meetings which will be heid. THREE STRIKERS ATTACKED CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Aug. 8.— Three striking furniture workers were injured here today when po- lice attacked their picket line -be- fore the Massachusetts Parlor Frame Company, caine eeeeneneahenetmenaneememamnnaemaeiemmtmmummmmm amici eee ~¢ Defend Workers Rights! ance EARL BROWDER———_—————_—____' the rule of Wall Street, Karl Brow-| © ® 2 ~ United Farmers League | To Lead Toilers | With Demands CHICAGO, Ill, Aug. 8.— Out of the misery and suffer- ing of the drought-stricken countryside will come mass marches on the State capitals of western states demanding food, fodder. for the stricken herds, cash relief for supplies and clothes, and an immediate turning | of the resources of the Federal gov- ernment to a real drought relief program. | On Sept. 14, the United Farm- | ers’ League in all the stricken states j will lead thousands of farmers, | their wives and children in trucks ; 4nd on foot to confront the State | Sovernments with the demand that | the hungry and suffering farmers, |Tuined and impoverished, be fed and protected from the loss of their | farms and stock. | Basing himself on the Manifesto | adopted by the National Convene jtion of the U. F. L. at its recent | meeting in Minneso‘a, Henry Puro, | National Secretary, today issued a national call to all locals of the U, F. L. to sneed the work of organ- {izing and preparing the mass | Marches for drought relief on Sep- | tember 14, Plan of Action His call lists the following lines of immediate action: 1. To call for State relief march, inviting all farmers’ organizations and unorganized farmers to partici- pate in the march, { 2. The call should contain ins | structions to call local mass meet- ings, widely advertised, where | the drought situation, demands and the details of the march be pre« pared. 3. U, F. L. locals must take the | initiative in calling and preparing | these local meetings and mobilizing farmers to take part in the State | march, 4. Drought Manifesto of the U. . IL. Convention and Farmers’ ; Emergency Relief Program should be ordered for the distribution in the local meetings, and able per- sons must be assigned to explain the content of these documents and then having discussion on the drought demands and the F. E. R, B. In all these meetings the en dorsement of the F. E. R. B, should be taken up. Locel meetings should also organize local demonstrations, | Pre: nting their demands on | drought relief to the town and | county boards. 5. State committees as well as local organizations should report | Systematically to the U. F. L. na= tional office and to the Farmers? Weekly as to what has been done regarding preparations of the State marches and the local struggles on relief. 6. Farmers’ Weekly and other literature must be ordered for dis- tribution in all these meetings. ‘The U. F. L. should utilize this oppor= tunity of recruiting hundreds of new members. The devastation of the drought continues to grow. The cotton crop has been burned to the levels of 1921. Nevertheless, the Bankhead Bill providing for the plowing under of “surplus” cotton and the levy of heavy taxes on all cotton above the amounts specified in the govern- ment contracts with the planters will continue, officials declared to- day. Wall Street and Chicago specu lators sent commodity prices soar {ing to new heightson the feverish | trading that resulted on the news of the further drought destruction, Millions of dollars in speculative profi's are being made overnight ag the hunger and misery of the drought are intensified. In many localities the substitute crops, planted after the first cro? was destroyed, have also been des stroyed, Typhoid is spreading among the farmers’ families as the Roose- velt government gives no relief either to the animals or the farm- ers. No food distribution or fod~ | der stations have been organized to relieve the farmers. A Red Builder on every busy street corner in the country means dictatorship of the proletariat! ra a tremendous step toward the —