The Daily Worker Newspaper, August 25, 1934, Page 5

DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, SATURDAY, AUGUST 25, 1934 Page Five National Congress To Launch New Cam e = CONFERENCE TO UNIFY BROAD MASS CAMPAIGN Councils Call Upon All Trade Unions, Workers’ | Groups, Unemployed and Fraternal Organiza- | tions to Unify Movement for Social Insurance | By HERBERT BENJAMIN | National Organizer of the Unemployment Councils The recently announced plan and proposal of the National | Unemployment Council for a broad, mass National Congress | on Social Security, marks the beginning of a new and higher | Stage in the struggle for genuine unemployment and social | insurance as represented by the Workers’ Unemployment and | Social Insurance Bill. Two or three years ago, the Workers’ Bill was still un- | known to the broad masses of the population, Only the Communist Party which originally framed this vital measure and later the Unem- ployed Councils and the unions af- filiated with the Trade Union Unity League appear- ,, ed as champions of the fight for genuine unem- ployment and social insurance in the first per- jJod after the publication of the Workers’ Bill. Spokesmen of the ruling-class from Hoover down, ranted against unemploy- ment insurance, tried to discredit it by calling any such proposal “un- American,” a “dole” which would “degrade the American workers”. The position of the A. F. of L. leaders, who shame‘2ssly repeated Hoover's every siur and attack against the very idea of unemploy- ment insurance, appeared as the unchallenged attitude of the organ- ized labor movement. The position of the Socialist Party differed very litle from those of other reform- ers who talked vaguely about the type of so-called unemployment in- surance which now prevails in Wis- consin and is sponsored in such measures as the Wagner-Lewis Bill; the Ohio Plan; the plan of the American Association for Social Se- curity and the American Association for Labor Legislation. Struggles Have Made Change Five continuous. years of crisis and mass unemployment and the stubborn struggles of the militant workers, led bythe Communist Party and the Unemployment Councils, have brought about a profound change of attitude on the part of the opponents of unemployment in- surance. * The chief spokesmen of the ruling class dare not openly denounce un- employment insurance, as they did up to a year or two ago. The chief executive of the Wall Street govern- ment is now forced to state that: “The security of the home, the security of livelihecd and the se- curity of social insurance are, it American people.” — President Roosevelt’s message to Congress, June 8th, 1934). That this represents a change in tac ie and not in policy is to be seen not only in the failure of Roosevelt's administration to enact any kind of social insurance meas- , but in the very siatement it- elf, Roosevelt speaks of “the promise that we can offer” and not of any plan for actual fulfillment. But the very fact that the President of the U. S. is no lenger able to openly denounce the idea of so- cial insurance, but must pretend to favor it, is proof of the tremendous advance that has been made in popularizing this issue among the broad masses. This change of tactics on the pari of those who are seeking by every possible means to defeat the struggle for genuine social insurance is evidenced in many other ways. One of the first examples of this, was the about-face made by Bill Green and his ‘ellow-bureaucrats of the A. F. of L. One year after the Vancouver convention of the A. F. of L. (Oct. 1931), where they declared that “unemployment insur- ance would be a death-blow to trade unionism,” these slimy agents of the ruling class, were forced to make a change of front. At their Cincinnati convention (Oct. 1932) they declared themselves as favoring a “certain kind” of unemployment insurance. The kind of “insurance” favored by Roosevelt, the A. F. of L. mis- leaders and the numerous other spokesmen and apologists of the ruling class need not be described here. The significance of the widespread movement for the Workers’ Unem- ployment and Social Insurance Bill lies in the fact that it represents not merely a growing desire for un- employment insurance which can be satisfied with vague and fraudu- lent promises. The mass support that has been won for the Workers’ Bill has been gained by means of militant struggle and in the face of very form of opposition. This sup- port, (partially indicated in another column of ‘his issue) proves thai the Workers’ Bill is no longer the program of only the revolutionary workers, but has become the pro- gram of many millions of workers, farmers and professionals, It is no accident that four Inter- national Unions of the A. F. of L. and five State Federations, adopted and endorsed the Workers’ Bill. It is not because they sincerely support such a measure that the municipal bodies of forty-eight cities and towns have endorsed this bill and memorialized Congress for it’s on- actment. This can also he said for the leaders of Socialist and Muste controlled organizations that have endorsed the Workers’ Bill. Slow Results of Strurgle These endorsements testify to the effectiyencss of the struggia which rallied millions of workers, who swept aside all opposition and re- H. BENJAMIN i tee will be to help convene the jected all fraudulent substitutes. | The A. F. of L. leaders still oppose the Workers’ Bill despite the fact “hat more than 2400 locals have re- pudiated and rebuked them. Mayor McLevy of Bridzexost est his vote against the Workers’ Bill despite the fact that the City Cen- tral Committee of: the Sociali Party of which he is a member en- dorsed it. Muste and his followers in the National Unemployed Lea- Sues still agitate against the Work- ers’ Bill and refuse to enlist their organizations in the fight for this vital measure, despite the fact that they did not dare oppose its en- dorsement by the convention of the Leagues. Our next immediate task there-! fore is to consolidate and unite the forces of the millions of workers who realize that the fight for gen- | uine unemployment and social in- surance is vital to their very exist- ence. These forces, when united, can compel the government to do something more than render lip- service to the workers’ right to “se- curity of home, . . . livelihood and | + + Social insurance.” These forces when united can force the next (74th.) Session of Congress to take action on the Workers’ Bill instead of engage in shadow boxing on such | fake proposals as will be made by Roosevelt, That is the purpose of the Na- tional Congress on Social Security as proposed by the Unemployment Council. This is the next and im- portant phase of the struggle to safeguard the lives, well-being and living standards of the toiling popu- lation. Chief Concern of Employed The National Congress on Social Security will nos be a gathering of only the unemployed and their re- | Presentatives. Employed as well as unemployed workers are equally concerned. Unions, fraternal, veter- ans, Negro and even church or- ganizations can and will be involved in the Congress. The International Unions and State Federations that have already endorsed the Workers’ Bill and all others will be asked to participate and thus show that they are ready to act in accordance with the will of their membership as ex- pressed in their resolutions. In the same manner, the Socialist Party, the Farmer-Labor Party of Minne- sota and the various organizations under their influence will be asked to back up their statements and resolutions by “joining in united action. All these organizations and many prominent individuals of every shade of political opinion and affili- ation are being invited to partici- pate and be represented in the Na- tional, state and local Arrangements Committees for the Congress. They are not expetced to agree and sub- seribe to all particulars of the pro- gram of the Unemployment Council or any other organization. The task of the Arrangements Commit- Communist Party | The Workers’ || Election Platform | Backs Workers Bill “Capitalist rule has to offer only — hunger, misery, fascism | | | The Workers Unemployment and |Social Insurance Bill as it was in- pesos into Congress on Feb. 2, ee 1934, der He Resol 7598, “ i ;. % , under House solution . The Communist Party pro | differs from the original bill as Doses to the masses an energetic, || soonsored by numerous workers’ or- determined struggle for the fol- | gantea hatte in the following respects: |] lowing demands in the congres- | 1, It does not provide for the use sional elections: a | of war funds for unemployment and “1—For unemployment and || social insurance. social insurance at the expense | 2. It does not specifically state of the employers and the state, || that workers shall be entitled to for the Workers Unemployment | benefits irrespective of citizenship. Insurance Bill. | Aside from these very important “2—For the repeal of the Agri- Perea the bill, as Ligatonte oe cultural Adjustment Act; for aon satire aa geen of genuine pase ag gay all ve Beek | The full text of the Workers’ Bill ng follows: farmers without restriction by || Oi Wie os the government and banks; ex- | A Bill emption of impoverished farm- || To provide for the establishment ers from taxation; cancellation ||of unemployment and social insur- of the debts of poor farmers; ||4nce and for other purposes. for the Farmers Emergency Re- Be it enacted by the Senate and lief Bill."—From the Congres- jee House of Representatives of the sional Election Platform of the || United States of America in Con- Communist Party. | Sress nbled, that this Act shall 4 |be known by the title “The Work- ae SR | ers’ PRCA OIEDG and Social In- Sroadest possible delegations from | surance Act.” jall groups and organizations con-| Sec. 2, The Secretary of Labor is cerned with the problem of social| hereby authorized and directed to security for the vitpeet oe Con- | provide for the immediate (pean gress itself will determine the con-| ment of a fem of unemployment crete measures necessary in order|and social insurance for The pur- to assure such security. Thus, a/ pose of providing insurance for all broad united front on this single | workers and farmers unemployed and paramount issue is made pos-| through no fault of their own in sible. Thus, a comprehensive pro- | amounts equal to average local en ee eer me pein yaete, Such insurance shall be - s rhe a diately concerned with the hazards aa SH connie teen rae arising from the present industrial | >yles and regulations prescribed by and economic system. |the Secretary of Labor in confor- Hold Preliminary Session |mity with the purposes and provi- On August 30th, a preliminary | sions of this Act, through unem- meeting of outstanding nationel) | i ‘And Social Insurance Bill paign for Workers’ Bill Unemployment )Ployment insurance commissions | composed of the rank and file mem- | bers of workers’ and farmers’ or-| ganizations. Funds for such insur- | ance shall hereafter be provided at} the expense of the Government and} of employers, and it is the sense of | Congress’ that funds to be raised | | by the Government shall be secured | | by taxing inheritance and gifts, and | | by taxing individual and corpora-| | tion incomes of $5,000 per year and| over. No tax or contribution in any | form shall be levied on workers for | the purposes of this Act. In no case shall the unemployment in- Surance be less than $10 per week Plus $3 for each dependent. | Sec. 3. The Secretary of Labor is further authorized and directed | to provide for the establishment of | other forms of social insurance in| like amounts and governed by the | conditions set forth in section one | of this Act for the purpose of pay-| ing workers and farmers insurance for loss of wages because of part- | time work, sickness, accident, old! |age, or maternity. Sec. 4. The benefits of this Act shall be extended to workers and| farmers without discrimination be- | cause of age, sex, race, or color,| religious or political opinion, or af- | filiation, whether they be industrial, agricultural, domestic, or profes- | | sional workers, for all time lost. No/| worker shall be disqualified for the benefits of this Act because of re- fusal to work in place of strikers, at Jess than normal or trade-union rates, under unsafe or unsanitary | conditions, or where hours are longer than the prevailing union} standards at the particular trade and locality, or at any unreasonable distance from home, leaders and spokesmen of workers | and professional organizations will | be held. This meeting will consider | the proposals of the National Un- employment Council and any other proposals that may be submitted. The National Unemployment Coun- | cil will propose a National Congress | Devine for ee Bill Reflected by Endorsements on Social Security to be held in Washington, D. C. on the date when the 74th Congress opens its sessions, The progress already made in| our fight for the Workers’ Unem- ployment and Social Insurance Bill, the rapidly growing forces being enlisted in this fight, the bank- ruptcy of Roosevelt’s “New Deal” and of all other measures that have been brought forward as substitutes for genuine unemployment and Social insurance at the expense of the government and the employers, and above all the redoubled efforts of all militant fighters against the hunger program of the ruling class, will make this the biggest and most imposing action that has yet been carried ouj in the course of the long struggle to win a greater measure of security for the workers who produce the wealth of this country. | | Vitreous Co. Workers Start Strike in Bronx NEW YORK.—Fifty employes of the Vitreous Enamel and Stamping Company, 1391 Sedgewick Avenue, Bronx, are on strike under the lead- ership of the Steel and Metal Work- ers Industrial Union. The strike came when the boss fired two union members. The strikers are demanding a 15 per cent wage increase, time and one-half for overtime, equal division of work and recognition of the union and the shop committee. The use of the “red scare” by the boss failed to split the workers, A Red Builder on every busy street corner in the country means a tremendous step toward the Toall A.:F. of L., T. U. U. L,, and Independent Unions; Locals and Central Bodies, Fellow-workers! Brothers! We are addressing this ap- peal to you in behalf of the millions of tally unemployed and part time workers and with a consideration to the interests of the entire working class. For five years millions of workers in all trades and indus‘ries, in every city and town of the country, have been jobless. During the one year of 1932, our wage-loss amounted to the staggering total of twenty-one billion dollars ($21,000,000)! The families of four and a half mil- lon American workers have been reduced to existence on an aver- ege income of $3.50 per week. Many millions get no relief at all. The living s'andards of all workers, the employed as well as the fobless, have been reduced in direc: propor- tion to the general low level that has been established for the workers dependent on relief. These are some of the immediate direct results of mass unemploy- ment. All of us suffer from or are menaced by these conditions. This is a condition which has become chronic and permanent. All ex- perts agree that because of labor dispiyzing machinery and speed- up, millions are doomed to romain joblees even though production ‘3 | restored to the pre-crisis level of 1928, Jobless Support Strikes The militant strike struggies of the past year are proof of the tact | Since its formulation by the Com- munist Party in 1930 and its adop- tion by the Unemployment Councils during the campaign for the first hunger march, the Workers Unem- ployment and Social Insurance Bill has won the support of millions of workers in industry, in the unem- ployed organizations, and among farmers’, veterans’, small home owners’ and fraternal groups. Four international unions of the American Federation of Labor—the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers, the Inter- national Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers Union, the Textile Work- ers Union and the American Fed~- eration of Full Fashioned Hosiery Workers have registered their en- dorsement of the Workers’ Bill. Show Mass Demand The endorsement of the bill, in some cases over the opposition of the old-line A. F. of L. leaders, shows the tremendous mass desire for unemployment insurance as em- bodied in the Workers’ Bill, and the tremendous pressure the workers are exerting for its enactment. In additicn to these endorsements by the international conventions of basic industry, five State Federa- tions of Labor have backed the bill. Montana, Iowa, Colorado, Nebraska and Rhode Island, and District 13 of the United Mine Workers of America. Central Labor Bodies Back Bill According to the incomplete re- ords of the Daily Worker, 30 Cen- tral Trades and Labor bodies have acted in behalf of the Workers’ Bill. These endorsements include: Fed- erated Trades Council of Reading, Pa.; Painters District Council 21 of Philadelohia, Pa.; Trades Assembly of Bradford. Pa.: Joint Board of the LL.G.W.U. of Cleveland, Ohio; dictatorship of the proletariat! URGE UNIONS TO FO that the employed workers are in- creasingly realizing that they must organize and strike against further attacks upon their living standards. The active support rendered by the organized unemployed to these s‘rike struggles is proof of the fact that the organized unemployed real- ize that every victory in the fight for higher wages, shorter hours and the right to organize is a victory in the war against hunger which ‘threatens the entire workingclass. The unions have, however, mani- fested too little realization of the fact that every struggle for higher relief standards, against evictions, against discrimination and abuse in the distribution of relief, and par- ticularly the fight for Unemploy- ment and Social Insurance, has a direct bearing upon the wage- standards, working conditions and living standards of all workers. That the employers realize this is to be seen in cvery instance when relief s‘andards are considered. Time and again they have forced reductions in relief rates and in wages on relief jobs becauze they knew that they could not force workers to work for starvation Wages unless relief and wage rates on relief jobs were kept below their starvation levels. This is one rea- son why the administration hast- ened to liquidate the CWA jobs. It is necessary that every union shall realize that it has the obliga- tion to defend the economic inter- ests of its own members and of the workers generally whether they are employed or unemployed. Must Back Jobless Unfortunately, none of the unions have es yet met this abliga’ion. The A. F. of L. unions have not been involved in this fight because of the treechcrous policy of the top Jeadership of these unions. ‘These leaders, who have always treated ihe Trades Assembly of Schenectady, with contempt, extended this atti- tude also to thos2 of their members who became destitute because of unemployment. Tens of thousands of members of these unions have been expelled because they could not continue to pay the high dues that provide the source of the high salaries that these union “leaders” draw for themselves. Instead of pu‘ting the resources of the A. F. of L. unions at the disposal of the un- employed; instead of helping to or- ganize and lead their struggles, these officials have supported every attack made upon the organized unemployed and every attempt to discourage organization and strug- gle for adequate relief and unem- ployment insurance. Even the T.U.U.L. and indepen- dent unions have not given suffici- ent support to the struggle of ihe unemployed because they still look upon this as a temporary rather than a fundamental problem. But these unions as well as the rank and file of the A. F. of L. unions. Even the unions affiliated to the T.U.U.L. and the independent un- tons that have freed themselves from the domination of the treach- cxous leadership of the Greens, the Wolls and Lewises, have no‘ fully grasped the importance of the the struggle against unemployment. Even these unions and the rank and file of the A. F. of L. have con- fined themselves in the main to support by resolutions, instead of to active leadership and participa- tion in the struggles. Fellow-werkers! The National Unemployment Council as the lead- ing nation-wide movement agains: unemployment considers it neces- ‘ary to warn you against the dan- ger of continued nglect of this life and death problem, The millions of unorgan‘zed unemployed and em- pleved workers have a right to ex- unskilled and lowest paid workers N. Y.; Painters District Council 288 of Jamaica, N. Y.; Central Labor Union of Albuquerque, N. M.; Build- ing Trades Council of Great Falls, Mont.; Trades Labor Assembly of Sioux City, Ia.; Painters District Council 36 of Los Angeles, Cal.; Central Labor Union of Gibson County, Ind.; District Lodge 64 and the New England District, Conven- tion of the International Associa- tion of Machinists; Central Labor Union of Lincoln, Neb.; Central Trades Council of St. Louis, Mo.; Federation of Labor of Salt Lake City, Utah: Central Labor Union of , Mont.; Central Labor Union of Spokane, Wash.: Central | Labor Union of Minneapolis. Minn.; | Central Labor Union of Newark. N. J.: Trades Labor Council of Providence, R. I.: the Painters and the Carpenters District Councils of Kansas City Mo.; Central Labor |TMnion of Danbury Conn.: Painters District Council of San Francisco; tsa Contyet Tebor Union of Atlan- | tic City, N. J.; and the Painte:s District Council of Detroit. |. Besides these endorsements of | the Workers’ Bill, individual unions jheve backed the bill by the hun- reds. In the Railway Brotherhood, in addition to individual endorse- ments by lodges, delegates from 150 divisions representing 10,000 mem- bers of the Brotherhood of Railway Engineers, meeting at a Midwest convention in Kansas City, backed the Workers’ Bill. Cities Forced to Act According to the records of the Daily Worker, 48 City Councils have been forced to endors> the Workers Unemployment and Social Insurance Bill and petition Con- gress for its enactment. These cities are: St. Louis, Mo.; Milwaukee, Wis.; Portland, Ore.; Minneapolis, Minn.; Buffalo, N. ¥.; who by reason of their experience and resources as members of unions should be in the forefront of the fight. The unemployed union mem- bers have the right to expect that the unions of which they have been and still are members shall aid them in preserving their economic rights and very existence when they find themselves jobless. Councils Urge Support to Strikes The National Unemployment Council in conformity with its prin- ciples and program calls upon all unemployed workers to support every s'rike struggle. We call upon unemployed workers to join the picket lines and help resist the at- tacks of scabs, police, deputies and militia, We especially direct our organizations to conduct a vigorous struggle to force local relief authori- ties to provide adequate relief for all destitute strikers. The unions will assist us in carrying out this essential program if they will help build unemployment organiza‘ions around the militant program of the National Unemployment Council. We call upon union members to form locals of the Unemployment Council in their own neighborhood, industry, trade, market, or where- ever else they may find themselves, Such locals operating according to the program of the National Un- employment Council can serve to defend and advance the interests of all victims of mass unemployment everywhere. We urge all local and central bod- jes of all unions to take steps to de- fend the interests of their own un- employed members and of the werk: generally by sstting up in every such organization an unem- ployment committee that will act on s¥ grievances of ‘their wnem- ployed members. Such committees can help advance the general struc- gle for more adequate relief for Pect the support of those workers higher wages on relief jobs, against Only the Communist Party Leads Fight of the Working Class “The Communist Party is the only political party which leads in the every-day fight of the masses of the people for im- Proved conditions; it alone offers ® practical way out of the ap- palling misery and suffering brought on by capitalism and capitalist rule.” In the coming elections, “the Communist Party calls upon the workers to break decisively with these parties of hunger, fascism and war. It calls upon the masses to defeat the Republican, Demo- crat, Farmer-Labor and Soclal- ist candidates in the congres- sional elections. Elect Com- munist candidates. Send fight- ers for your demand, for your class interests, to Congress! “The Communist Party calls upon the millions of workers and farmers, Negro and white to boldly and determinedly take up and broaden the mass fight for the demands set forth in this WISCONSIN BILL ~ | BARS JOBLESS- IS ANTI-STRIKE |Farm Workers, Teachers, Railway Men Not Covered—Misconduct Clause Would Hit Against Strikers By HOWARD BOLDT - E VEN the most casual examination of the Wisconsin Un- employment Reserves and Compensation Act, into which reserves were started Aug. 1 and which becomes operative on July 1, 1935, reveals it as a forced labor proposition, to- tally ignoring the present unemployed, and designed to eliminate whole sections of the 5 7 workers from its “benefit: Loopholes by which employers can }i pay benefits as low as one dollar a/ who are work- nly during rush seasons. The amount of the benexis is so platform.”"—From the Congres- sional Election Platform of the || Communist Party. | A.F.L. Committee Calls Philadelphia Meeting) on Workers’ Social Bill] PHILADELPHIA, Pa. Aug. 24—/ A conference of all A. F. of L. local unions in Philadelphia and vicinity has been called by the A. F. of L. Trade Union Committee on Unem- ployment Insurance and Relief. The conference will be held Saturday, Sept. 8, at 1 pm., at 138 South} Eighth St., third floor, Philadelphia. | In Philadelphia, besides endorse- | ments by three central bodies of | the A. F. of L., thirty local A. F. of | L. unions have taken separate ac- | tion in backing the Workers’ Bill. The conference of all A. F. of L. local unions, A. F. of L. organized shops and groups in the local unions will adopt plans concerning the needs of the unemployed and em- ployed members of the A. F. of L. and will decide on the presenting of these proposals to the 54th na- tional convention of the A. F. of L. All local unions are asked to elect two delegates to the conference. Bridgeport, Conn.; Toledo, 0.; Can- ton, ©.; Tacoma, Wash.; Moines, Ia.; Thayer, Tll.; Brooklyn Village. O.; Superior, Wi. Belle- ville, Til.: Swissvale, Pa.; Virden, Mil.; Benld. Il; St. George. Me Glassport, Pa.; Clifton. N. Case: ville, Tll.; Linndale, O.: West Allis, Wis.; Bedford, O.; Harvey, II Midlothian, Ill.; Norwood Park, Tl Zeigler, Ill.; Rockford, Ill.; Linden, N. J.; Klamath Falis, Ore.: Collins ille, Ill.; Garfield. N. J.: Allentown, Racine. Wis.: Wilkensburg. Casey. Ill.; Conway. P: Couer Platt, Mich.; Bay- Caspian. Mich.; Cov- White, Mich.: Saulte Mich., and Aberdeen, ington. Ky Ste. Marie, Wash. Space would not permit the list- ing of the thousands of individual endorsements by city, state, and na- tional bodies of thousands of work- ers’ fraternal. social and mass or- ganization. Numerous farmers’ or- ganizations, including the National Convention of the Farmers held in Minneapolis, a number of American Tegion 1 and the Veterans’ Rank and File Convention, lan- guage groups and federations, and hundreds of locals of the American Federation of Labor have demanded the enactment of the Workers’ Bill. RM UNEMPLOYED LOCALS IN NEIGHBORHOODS: forced labor, and for genuine un- employment and social insurance as provided for by the Workers Un- employment and Social Insurance Bill. In order that these commit- tees may render such help they should: 1—Affiliate to the nearest Unem- ployment Council. 2—Direct the members of their organizations in the work of organ- izing neighborhood, trade or other Unemployment Locals and Relief Workers organizations. 3—Help extend such activities in other unions, trades and indus‘ries. 4—Lead the fight to secure ex- emption from duss payment of all unemployed members, so that these may retain their membership in the unions which they in many in- stances helped to build and support, New Deal Attacks Fellow-workers! We are direct- ing this plan to you at this time because the plight of the unem- ployed masses becomes ever more desperate. The army of unem- ployed is constantly growing. What- ever resources or credit we might have possessed is now exhausted. Millions of us are being reduced to Pauperism. It is now clear that we ‘cannot place our hopes in the much bally-hooed “New-Deal”. Congress has adjourned without making nec- essary provisions for relief. It has refused to enact the Workers Un- employment and Social Insurance Bill which embodied the only pro- visions for preserving living stan- dards of all workers. The N.R.A. has served only to increase the prof- its of the monopolists by raising the cost of all necessitics. The P.W. A. mountain of promised emnioy- ment hes iurned into a dung-heap of wage-cutting jobs for a few thousand workers and huge con-} tracts for the munition makers and, other parasites. United, militant, mass-action is | be eligible to receive benefits under | forced labor. week, and even refuse payments al-{small as to be significant as aid together are provided. It makes during long iods of unemploy= absolutely no provision for farm! ment, at can be re= workers, domestic help, logging | ce in any one year workers, teachers, governmental em- | ; ten weeks Ployes, railway workers engaged in| —put e is need not be paid, inter-state transportation, all work-|The act states that dollars a ers in shops employing less than! week or 50 per cent of the wages ten persons, and all workers who] may be paid — w ever is the in the year previous to unemploy-| smaller. Then if the “r es” bee ment earned $1,500 or more. |come depleted, benefits can be re= Disqualifying Clauses | duced to as little as one dollar Clause after clause disqualifies | Weekly. whole sections of the working popu- | The framers of the Wisconsin Bill lation from benefits. First, a resi-| turned a neat trick in making the dent clause—“An employe shall not|bill a legal manner of instituting Under the terms for this plan on account of any period | partial employment, a worker of unemployment, unless he has | who earns eight dollars a week would been a resident of Wisconsin for the| be entitled to two dollars weekly two years preceeding the beginning | benefits. of such period of unemployment, or| But the Wisconsin Bill is what is has been gainfully employed in this| technically known as a “plant re- state for forty weeks within that| serves fund,” that is, the boss puts two year period.” | two per cent of the wages he pays Next, all workers who have been | to those workers who qualify into a totally unemployed for a year are|fund. (He may carry the fund on barred by the clause—“Any employe | his books, and should he go bank- may become eligible for benefits,|rupt, the workers lose all benefits). provided he has been employed for|When $55 “reserves” are built up a total of at least two weeks within | the payment drops to one per cent, ten the twelve months preceeding his partial or total unemployment.” By these two clauses are cut off those who have been unemployed for long periods—youth who have never held jobs under the crisis, Negro, foreign- born and older workers who are de- nied work, the present unemployed Needle Union to Take Over Camp Nitgedaiget NEW YORK.—The Nedle Trades Des | Workers Industrial eUnion will take over Camp Nitgedaiget for twelve days beginning Sept. 8. During these days there will be unusual entertainment features. Special busses will take the work- ers to the camp. Reduced prices are being offered during the Needle Tradesdays. Registration now going on at offices of the union, 131 W. 28th Street. Leading YCL Members in Unions Will Meet NEW YORK-—Leading Young Communist League members in all trade unions have been called to a special meeting this afternoon at 1 o'clock at the district office, 35 E, 12th St. Trade Union fraction secretaries have been instructed to attend the meeting. Vital questions concerning work in A. F. of L. independent and revolutionary unions will be dis- cussed. Our Readers Must Spread the Daily Worker Among the Members of All Mass and Fraternal Organ- izations As a Political Task of First Importance! urgently needed! The Na‘ional Un- employment Council is the moye- gaged in and developing such mili- tant, mass action in hundreds of cities and towns, in forty-one states, The National Unemployment Coun- cil has led the two gigantic Na- tional Hunger Marches to Washing- ton. We have organized such marches in many states, counties and cities. Through the militant struggles we have already waged, the bosses and government have been | foreed to expend hundreds of mil-! lions on relief which otherwise would hve been withheld. We} have saved tens of thousands of workers from eviction and from | death by starvation. We have raised and developed the present grow- ing movement around the Workers Unemployment and Social Insur- ance Bill. The National Unemployment Council is a United Front move- ment. It includes in its ranks workers of all unions; workers of all pol\tical and religious faiths and affiliations. Hundreds of local unions as well as veterans, fraternal and other workers’ organizations are already affiliated. We must broaden our united front. We must draw into one mighty united movement all who are determined to fight against hunger in the midst of plenty. The National Unemployment | Council calls upon every union | member and every union local to} join in this struggle. Together we can and will stop the a’tack of the bosses upon our living st: jards. Together we will win security by forcing the enactment of a system of genuine unemployment and social | insurance such as is called for in the Workers Unemployment and Corio) Insurance Rill. THE NATIONAL UNEMPLOYMENT COUNCILS, ment of all workers who are en-| and when $75 “reserves” are reached for each worker covered, payments |stop. The “fund” is now completed. | As it becomes depleted, the boss may reduce payments or suspend pay- |ment altogether. The commission | which “supervises” the funds does not guarantee the adequacy of the |fund, and if it is deposited with it, |is only liable for their amount. Forced Labor Clause | Under the forced labor clause if }@ man is paid $10 a week he is en- | titled to no benefits. By this, and by the “hourly guarantee” which | will be later described, the boss can |find it to his advantage to employ his workers on part time in his \factory at $10 weekly wages and |pay no insurance whatsoever. Should the idea of “unemploy- ment insurance” prove too distaste- ful to the employer, he can slash hours and wages and still remain under the terms of the Wisconsin Bill. Under this provision, he can “guarantee” the workers forty-two weeks work a year at tweniy hours a week and need make no provi- sion for building up unemployment insurance reserves. Once unemployed, the workers must register at a state employment office. And on this point another clause automatically bars the aged, the sick and the disabled from bené- fits, stating that workers must be “physically able and available for work.” The act defines “unemployment” }and includes a misconduct clause | which states: “an employe is wholly barred from benefits if he has lost ; his employment through misconduct, if he quits without good cause ate tributable to his employer.” This is obviously a strikebreaking clause ‘ince it is for all practical purposes junder the act impossible for the workers to prove that the employer is at fault. The Wisconsin Act, which speci- fically avoids the term “unemploy- ment insurance,” is a bare-faeed anti-strike, foraed labor proposition for those working in the factories, For the totally unemployed it pro- vides absolutely no provisions, and vast sections of the working class, including the sick and disabled, are | totally barred from benefits. Only the Workers Unemployment and Social Insurance Bill, printed in full elsewhere on this page, grants | security to the unemployed and to all employed workers without dis- crimination. For Orders on TORCGS 12 in U.S.S.R. (Russia) apply to Am-Derutra — Transport Corp. 261 FIFTH AVENUE 10th Floor New York Tel. LExinvton 2-4117 Our orders are sent di- | rect to every city in the | USSR. ; e 5 The recipiest selects his | own merchandise at low fixed prices. a A The orders are sent by us with no postage charge to the sender. x 9 Price list will be furnished on request CALL or WRITE