The Daily Worker Newspaper, September 5, 1934, Page 1

] Close Every Textile Mill In the Nation An Editorial TPHE textile strike is sweep-| ing the textile areas of the nation from Maine to Alabama with tremendous | power, The stored-up militancy and determination of the a held in check by the A, of L. leaders during noel of fruitless arbitra- tion maneuvers, is now break- ing through all barriers as the workers’ picket lines close| TO The UP TEXTILE AREAS down mill after mill. George A Sloan, of the Cotton Textile Institute, whistling to keep up courage in the face of the tremendous sweep of the strike, makes xaggerated claims on the jnumber of mills and men} Aistil | working. Obviously, the ’ bosses are interested in check-| ing the spread of the strike by spreading pessimism among the workers. At this) stage this is one of their chief weapons, But Mr. Sloan convenient- ly forgets one simple fact: a mill open today is a mill closed tomorrow! Those workers still in the mills are not satisfied work- ers. They are not less mili- tant than the hundreds of thousands already the mills only because of the lack of 100 per cent organi- zation in all of the 3,500 tex- tile mills, and because of the! weakness of the strike prepa-| rations. The U.T.W. paring the strike unanimously demanded by the delegates to the recent} U.T.W. convention, preferred to spend their time in Wash-} ington maneuvering with the| bosses and the N.R.A. offi-| cia mills are still operating. The strike is one day old.} Alr mi eady more than a half- lion men and women are} he streets. And the strike} eading.. Every hour the strike gathers strength and new forces as the picket lines sweep from mill to mill. This is the answer to Mr. Sloan’s efforts, aided by the capital- ist press, to spread defeatist | propaganda in the interests of the bosses. Our advice to all those prone to accept Mr. Sloan’s predictions is simply this: don’t brag too early; watch) this. strike spread! Already more workers are involved than in any.previous |} strike. The next few days will see the textile workers of the country standing solid, 1,000,000 strong, in a united fight for their demands. The Communist Party nevertheless emphasizes that the sweep of the strike can only develop to its maximum power if and when the work- ers themselves take over the job of spreading the strike. Workers in the many un- organized mills require lead- ership. They are discontented and militant. They are not scabs. But they might not strike if left to themselves due to lack of organization and to lack of strike experi-/ ence. The job now is to reach these workers, to organize them, to draw them into the strike. They will enthusias- tically respond to the call of workers from _ neighboring mills. The Communist Party urges the following immedi- ate measures to guarantee a 100 per cent strike: 1) Mass picket lines in front of every struck mill to keep the mills closed until every demand of the strikers is granted. 2) Mass delegations and|- mass marches to neighboring mills to bring the workers of every mill (cotton, wool, silk, rayon, etc.) out on strike. 8) Election of rank and file strike committee in every mill to organize and lead the mass picketing, and particu- larly the organization of such committees in the new mills) drawn into the strike. (Continued on. Page 2) on the} pieket lines. They are still in} leaders: instead of energetically pre-| almost s. For those reasons some |=: 4) Mass recruiting of the, While day-to-day expenses of the Herndon-Scottsboro appeal and defense mount, only $6,344 has been received of the $15,000 needed. Rush funds to In- ternational Labor Defense, 80 E. 11th St, N.Y. C. Vol. XI, No. 213 <> Entered as second-class matter at the Post Office at New York, N. Y. under the Act of March 8, 1879, Daily ~<QWorker CENTRAL ORGAN COMMUNIST PARTY W.S.A. (SECTION OF COMMUNIST INTERNATIONAL ) NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 1934 WEATHER: Fair. Press Rt Yesterday's Receipts Total to Date Speed ‘Daily’ $60,000 Drive Fund! $306.86 $1,944.38 50,000 in Yesterday —_—_——<$<—$3_ $$$ (Six Pages) Price 3 Cents STRIKERS CLOSE MILLS Co oast Jury Convicts 12 OfVagrancy Militant Works Were Arrested in Raids; LL.D. to Appeal SACRAMENTO, Cal.-Twelve verdicts of guilty and 13 acquittals were handed down by a jury here in the trials of the 24 leaders of |the working class movement charged with “vagrancy” following | their arrest in raids during the ter- ror reign at the time of the San | Francisco general strike. The convictions will be appealed, the International Labor Defense announced, Those found guilty face the max- imum sentence of six months. They | are Al Hougardy, section organizer |of the Communist Party and con- gressional candidate in the coming elections; Pat Chambers, organizer of the Cannery and Agricultural | Workers Industrial Union and can- | didate for the U. S. Senate; Caro- line Decker, of the C. and A. W. U.; Mike Plesh, Martin Wilson, | section organizer of the Interna- | tional Labor Defense; Loraine Nor- |man, Harry Collentz, Lee Hung, A |G. Ford, F. Kirkwood, A. M. Pruett, and Algie Williams, Thirteen workers, three of them | women, and including Chambers, | Hougardy, Collentz, Plesh, Decker, Hung, Wilson, Ford,:Kirkwood, Nor- man and Nora Conklin, and Jack Warnick, face charges of criminal syndicalism, | A. special Criminal Syndicalism | Defense office will be opened in Sacramento by the International Labor Defense, it was announced. | _ The original indictments on crim- inal syndicalism charges were ob- tained before the Grand Jury had seen the complaints or listened to the evidence, it was revealed. On @ demurrer filed by Leo Gallagher, I. L. D. attorney, four of the six counts in each case were dismissed. District Attorney Neil McAllister, however, is busily engaged in |Amending these counts. The de- fendants face from one to 14 years on each count. ‘Move Made To Thwart Power Strike NEW YORK.—While workers of |the Brooklyn Edison power plant were preparing yesterday to take a strike vote next Friday to demand the reinstatement of three union men, moves were being made by leaders of the Brotherhood of Utility Employees of America to turn the whole question of the com- pany’s discrimination over to Mayor LaGuardia and the Uational In- | dustrial Relations Board and thus | Prevent the strike. Meanwhile Mrs. Elinore, yice- chairman of the Regional Labor Board, was assailed by Jerome Count, attorney for the Brother- hood and also an advisor on the | public utilities code, as “vicious” a conducting herself in a man- ner “unbecoming to a public offi- cer.” Mrs, Herrick is accused by the union of having disclosed con- fidential union data to the employ- ers, Union officials, after the anti- union role of the Regional Labor Board was revealed, have announced that they will take the case to the Industrial Relations Board and to Mayor LaGuardia. The union mem- bership, however, are demanding strike action. In fact, workers in the Manhattan and Bronx dis- tributing systems of- the Consoli- dated Gas Company were prepar- ing to meet last night to take up the question of a sympathy strike. [Main Demands| TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN NEW ENGLAND AREA AT STANDSTILL AS THE WALKOUT SPREADS; SCAB CARS OVERTURNED IN MASSACHUSETTS In the Strike The textile workers, 1,000,000 strong, from Maine to Ala- bama, are fighting for the fol- lowing main demands as adopted by the recent conven- tion of United Textile Work- ers’ Union: (1) Hours: Two shifts of 30 hours per week with no ex- emptions. (2) Differentials: The estab- lishment of four minimum wages: Unskilled, $13 per 30- hour week; semi-skilled, $18 per 30-hour week; skilled, $22.50 per 30-hour week; highly skilled, $30 per 30-hour week. (3) Machine Load: The re- vision of all work loads on the basis of reason and ordinary common sense. (4) Recognition of the Union: Reinstatement of all workers victimized because of union membership. (NOTE: For detailed statement of wage demands for each category of workers and machine loads in each department see the Daily Worker of Tuesday, September 4.) Arms Inquiry Shows Wilson, Zaharoff Link (Daily Worker Washington Bureau) WASHINGTON, D. C., Sept. 4.— Cross- examination of Henry R. Carse, president of the Electric Boat Company, by the Nye-Vandenberg Senate Committee, which opened its public hearings today, into the na- tional and international business practices of armament and muni- tions corporations, added some new “exhibits” to the familiar story of the “National Defense” activities of patrioteers who hold power in every capitalist country. Carse, whose company is now en- gaged in constructing the subma- vines for the Roosevelt big-navy, imperialist war preparations pro- gram, revealed the details of his firm’s working arrangements with Vickers, Ltd., the dominant, British armament concern; the intimacy of Sir Basil Zaharoff, internationally titled munitions power, with Presi- dent Woodrow Wilson; the stupen- dous profits and commissions paid to sales agents; the official navy connections of Vickers and Electric Boat; and other not unexpected revelations protruding from the in- exorable imperialist continuity be- tween 1914 and today. The Nye-Vandenberg resolution, Senate Resolution 206, ordered the investigating committee to consider “the desirability of creating a gov- ernment monopoly” of the manufac- ture of war instruments. Tied Up With Morgan, Rockefeller Carse informed the committee which Nye announced will meet for three weeks, that his firm’s main offices are at 40 Wall Street. Plants are located at Groton, Connecticut, and Bayonne, New Jersey. Wall Street banking connections include the Central Hanover Bank & Trust Company, the Rockefeller-controlled Chase National Bank, the Morgan- controlled Guaranty Trust Company and J. P. Morgan’s London branch, Morgan, Grenfel & Co. Assisting Carse were Lieutenant Lawrence Spear (retired, U.S. Navy), for some years a vice-president of Electric Boat; Henry R. Sutphen, vice-president; and U. S, Senator W. Warren Barbour, New Jersey manufacturer, member of the com- mittee who was appointed by Gov- ernor Larson on December 1, 1931 to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Dwight W. Morrow, a part- ner in J. P, Morgan. The high spot of the morning’s (Continued om Page 2) The enthusiasm which is sweep- ing the country for the 8-page Daily Worker—and for the drive to raise the $60,000 which will make this new paper possible—is illustrated in the content of the letters which have arrived in the Daily Worker contest: “Why Workers Should Read the Daily Worker!” * eee “... T cannot hesitate to do my bit to help it along,” writes one who acks that his name not be used, “for only in this way can I Letters to the Daily Worker Indicate Drive Enthusiasm show my appreciation for what it has done for me. ... “I, as an individual worker, found it necessary to turn to the Daily Worker. ... In no other paper was I able to find the answers to the economic problems as thsy con- cerned me. The Daily Worker helped me to interpret from a work- er’s point of view. . . . I was finally led to the conelusion that I could no longer sit passively by during the evictions and hunger and wait (Continued on Page 2). iI6, 000 of 10,0 000 Work.| ers Out in Lowell, With | Mass Picketing U.T.W. CHIEFS STALL | Strike Spreads Fast in South—Gastonia Tight Shut (Special to the Daily Worker) LOWELL, Mass., Sept. 4.— Six thousand Lowell tex- tile workers out of 10,000 struck at the first shift this morning, including 85 per cent of Boott and 90 per cent of Merrimack Mills, the larg- est in the city while the Nashua and Lawrence Manufacturing Com- panies were 50 per cent crippled. Nashua loom fixers came out) solid, encouraging others to come out, and picketing will be increased | to bring out the rest tomorrow morning. About 50 per cent of the woolen, workers struck, but. the-silk mills are still operating with nearly full forces. The Talbot Woolen Mill in Billerica came out with 500 workers. Picketing at all mills be- | gan at 6 a.m. with groups of 50 to} 100 at each mill entrance, but po- lice drove picketers away from the Merrimack gates. Club-swinging cops drove hun- dreds of enthusiastic but insuffi- ciently organized pickets away from the Boott plant gates in Lowell at the afternoon shift. Proposals by the Textile Workers Protective Union for united front action with the U. T. W., which hhas less than half as many mem- bers as the Protective in Lowell, were refused by Malloy and Welsh, Local U.T.W. officials. Malloy, invited by red-scared Protective of- ficials to speak at a Protective mass meeting Monday evening with 450 workers present, spent his entire time using solidarity phrases but praising the U. T. W. as “the only organization.” He failed to men- tion strike preparations. The worker who exposed Mal- loy’s phrases as empty talk was elected charman of the strike com- mittee chosen today at a Protec- tive meeting where 250 workers elected a rank and file strike com- mittee and captains of the picket lines, U. T. W. leaders stalled off a meeting called for 11 this morning where reports on the strike situa- tion were to have been made. U. T. W. workers can prevent this sort of evasion by their officials by electing rank and file strike com- mittees from each mill to cooperate with the Protective committees which raise the same demands as the U. T. W. The Lowell Courier-Citizen edi- torially hints that Lowell should follow Haverhill in forming a vigi- lante committee to run “reds” out of town, (Special to the Daily Worker) ‘ALL RIVER, Mass., Sept. 4.— In mass picketing of Fall River Mills, thousands cheer strikers and boo scabs. The mills are 75 per cent tied up. Two strikers were arrested. Scab cars were overturned by angry strikers. ATLANTA, Ga., Sept. 4.—Squad- rons of striking workers throughout the South sped from mill to mill today in trucks and other vehicles closing one mill after another where insufficient strike preparations had left the workers in doubt as to what. action they should take. The success of these mass marches of striking pickets is evidenced by the fact that despite seriously inade- quate strike preparation in many sections here, more than 300,000 of the 500,000 mill workers are already out of the mills with more joining every hour. The preliminary reports of the employers reporting less than 50 per cent effectiveness of the strike are belied by the latest reports from the strike centers which depict a rapidly Paralyzed textile industry here. GASTONIA, N. C., Sept. 4.—Strik- ers here have closed mills 100 per cent, and are sending special groups to neighboring mills to close them down. Joined by similar flying strike squadrons from Charlotte and Shel- (Continued on Page 2) Reports to 6 Washington Show Swiftly Grow- ing: Movement ‘ALL OUT BY TODAY’ UTW Leadership Talks of ‘Adjustments’ With Bosses | By Seymour Waldman | (Daily Worker Washington Bureau) | WASHINGTON, D.C., | Sept. 4.—“All of the 300,000 | members of the United Tex- | tile Workers (A. F. of L.) will} day,” Francis J. Gorman, spe-| cial strike committee chair- man, announced today to the press | in Washington strike headquarters. | “Our next work is with the unor- ganized. We're not calling off any strike. We're calling, them on. | This is a strike to win strikes,” he added. In a strike press builetin, man reported the general textile strike “a tremendous success,” on | the basis “of detailed returns re- ceived in strike headquarters.” “Reports issued by George A. Sloan | (president of the Employers’ Cot- ton Textile Institute) in New York, showing mills running are, of course, Mr. Sloan’s expression of hope. I expect him to whistle to keep up his courage.” The pile of strike telegrams from scores of localities throughout the country, reporting workers’ strike enthusiasm and picket activity, continued to mount. “One of the interesting features of the strike is the participation of ex-service men. Let us remember that most ex-service men are work- ers. . . . We count on ex-service men being with us everywhere,” | Gorman said. Concerning talk here of “settle- ment” of the strike by the National Labor Relations Board, Gorman hinted that board “mediation” of the strike is not out of the pic- ture. “We've made our proposals to Chairman Garrison, we're in touch with him, and we'll be glad to meet with the employers,” Gorman said. The reference to the “proposals” made by the U.T.W. strike commit- tee to the N.L.R.B. meant the four “adjustments,” including compul- sory arbitration, which Gorman, Gor- | conventions, advanced last week as a basis for ending the strike. His mention of the employers recalls President Thomas F. McMahon's Sunday remarks to your corre- spondent that_ the U.T.W. leaders will not stick to the specific de- mands made in New York by the recent U.T.W. convention. In view of Gorman’s strike claims of “a tremendous success” and his announcement that “we are deter- mined to crush despotism in the textile industry and today’s reports of operations in every section should make it clear that our ob- jective will be achieved,” it would seem that there is no earthly rea- son for disregarding the conven- tion’s specific strike demands on hours, wages, loomage, shifts and other matters—except the U.T.W. leadership's policy to sacrifice the rank and file militancy for con- tinued toleration, co-operation and encouragement from the employers and the government. Need 15,000 Signatures For Mlinois Communists CHICAGO, Ill, Sept. 4—Fifteen thousand signatures are needed to place candidates of the Communist Party on the ballots in Illinois, The deadline has been extended to Sept. 10th, when all signature lists must be turned in to the Communist Party campaign headquarters, room 70, 201 So. Wells Street, this city. An intensive drive to fulfill the quota of signatures is necessary if the Communist Party candidates are to be placed on the ballot. Less than a week is left. Party units and sympathetic workers in mass organ- izations are-being urged to intensify their efforts immediately. ; 20,000 New Readers by September be out on strike by Wednes-' j without authority from the U.T.W. |p — the picket lines every hour. More ployers and press. National Textile Union urges violence “against reds.” National attempting to break picket lines. Five thousand in Philadelphia answer strike call with picketing Big Aberfoyle mill completely tied up. Police swing clubs on pickets at Lowell, Mass. already closing eleven mills. Strike Situation in Brief Strike already more than 60 per cent effective with 80-100 per cent out predicted for tomorrow, as thousands of new recruits join Striking workers in South send special squadrons to mills open, successfully closing many mills in one day. New Bedford mills closed solid, despite all false reports of em- Officials and police already attacks, with thugs being hired in great numbers. granted. Warns against “arbitration” trap. Fall River mills out 75 per cent despite union officials’ opposition, Press in several cities already sounding provocative calls for than 600,000 already out. preparing tear-gas solid strike till all demamds are Guard mobilized in many towns N.T.W.U. Urges Strike Action by ‘Independents : (Special to the Daity-Worker}-— NEW BEDFORD, Mass., Sept fa | The National Textile Workers Union today issued statement to indepen- dent unions whose conservative | leadership decided against indepen- dent unions joining the strike. The N. T. W. U. calls on all members to strike solid in spite of their leaders. The text of the statement follows: “Textile Workers: Now time to strike, is the motto. “Members of A. F. T. O. of Fall River; Independent Sheeting Work- ers of Salem; American Indepen- dent Textile Union of Pawtucket; Textile Workers Protective Associa- tion of Lowell; Independent Tex- tile Union of Woonsocket. “The National Textile Workers Union appeals to all textile workers is the mem especialivesto alt memters of the independent unions to join the general textile strike for a 30-hour week, a 6-hour day, against the vicious stretchout system, and for adequate wage increases “The general strike 1s the only| effective way to wipe out the kill-| ing stretchout that is being ex- | tended in every textile mill at the present time. This general textile strike is the only effective answer to the N. R. A. National Labor Board that has forestalled or crushed one militant action of the textile work- ers after another, thus helping to maintain starvation wages and miserable working conditions every textile mill. “Textile workers can win this gen- (Continued on Page 2) Eleven Mills Are Picketed inPhiladelphia (Special to the Daily Worker), PHILADELPHIA, Pa., Sept. 4.— Five thousand workers responded to the general textile call here, most of them picketing 11 mills this morning, said William F. Kelley, W. vice-president and local strike leader. Concordia, Meyers, Goodimate, Goodishade, leading mills in silk, cotton, and woolen respectively are tied up. Helweg, another large silk | P. mill, will come out late this after- noon or tomorrow morning. said Kelley. Norristown, Bridgeport, Milleville are out, with the large Aberfoyle Mill in Chester tied up. Upstate reports are not yet com- plete. Picketing this morning, in spite of rain, was heavily guarded by po- lice. Some police officials an- nounced they would ban mass pick- eting, while others permitted it to go on. A mass. meeting has been ar- ranged for Thursday at Kensington Labor Lyceum, Second and Cam- bria Sts. Mrs. Gifford Pinchot has been invited to speak but has not yet replied. All textile workers are urged to pack the hall since em- ployers here are using the usual trick of denying that their plants are affected, and an overflow meet- ing is the best way to counteract such lies. Silk Workers Move to Join Textile Fight (Special to the Daily Worker) PATERSON, N. J., Sept. 4—In a| statement issued today to the Daily Worker, two members of the Broad Silk Executive Board (A. F. of L.), y.| Moe Brown and L. Valgo, declared that the silk employers’ assurance that the silk workers would not strike was a little premature. A call to all its members to take immediate steps to form a united strike front with the textile work- ers now out, regardless of all union affiliations, was also issued here today by the office of the National Textile Workers Union. Referring to the union agreement which the employers claim protects | them from strike, they said, “This is a national strike. It is the silk employers who have broken the agreement, for a! ready two-thirds of the silk work- ers are working under wage cuts,” Brown and Valgo stated. “We urge the silk workers to join the textile strikers and make it a general strike. We urge that a mass meeting be cailed at once of all silk workers here to frame cur local demands and to join the nation-wide textile strike.” “The National Textile Workers Union, in merging with the silk workers, has taken a vital step toward the unity of all workers in a mmited front against the besses,” California Socialist Leaders Climb on Sinclair Bandwagon By HAROLD J. ASHE Former State Secretary, Socialist Party of Cal. LOS ANGELES, Cal., Sept. 4. — Indicating the continued decay of the Socialist Party is the latest ac- tion of John C. Packard, until re- cently a national executive com- mittee man and even now a State Executive committeeman of the So- cialist. Party. Packard, following in the heels of 1 means 20,000 Additional Recruits for Organized Class Struggle! the primary which resulted in Sin- clair’s nomination as Democratic candidate for Governor, announced his endorsement of Sinclai:. This action of Packard's was not unexpected. Sinclair consulted with Packard last Spring while he was writing his Epic pamphlet, and even refers in the pamphlet to Packard as one of his suppozters. Unlike J. Stitt Wilson, Packard waited until after the primaries so that he would know where his main chance political lay. Wilson, on (Continued on Page 2) : * 3 “ se vis Oe in} ’ Strike-Wave Sweeps To- ward Complete Tie-Up in New England HUNDREDS IN LINES N.T.W.U. L Leaflet Urges Unity, Rank and File Control By Carl Reeve (Special to the Daily Worker) NEW BEDFORD. Ré- ports coming here from every textile center indicate that the strike wave is sweeping forward toward a complete tie-up of the entire New Eng- land textile Gana In Fall where the inde- pendent uni ion n officials opposed the e, for example, the strike is now 75 per cent solid, with a 100 per cent shut-down due tomorrow morning. The big Pepperell. plant is cripé pled. New Bedford is solid with all 30.< 000 out. In Rhode Island, 22,300; eastern Massachusetts, 7.000 to 10.« 000; 45,000 to 50,000 in Connecticut. The New Bedford Textile ind try was at a complete standstill this morning, as every mill struck |solid. Beginning at 5:30 am. the thousands of New Bedford textile workers massed around the mill gates and in all big mills not a single worker went through the gates. A tour of the biggest mill sections of the North and South Ends be- ginning at 5 o'clock this morning | showed that the workers have given |their unanimous decision on the | picket lines for strike. | At the South End hundreds of | workers gathered before the great Dartmouth mills and not a man went to work. The company made | futile effort to open the mill, } opening the gates and lighting up the mill. But a half-hour after working time the guards, seeing | that no one entered, locked up the gates. I went to the gates of the large Kilbourne mill and here crowds of hundreds of workers | stood on every corner and before |the gates. The mill was shut solid. No one working. The same story was repeated at the big Hathaway mill, the Page mill and others, not a man went to work in the face of the hundreds of pickets. Every mill in the South End, including all cotton mills, is closed down tight today. | Tire Mills Picketed | The only mills in the South End working are the Goodyear - Fiske Tire Fabric Mills. These mills were somewhat affected but no real effort was made to strike them today. Some strikers in front of these oe | mills said, “If we'd had a big picke: line here today even the tire mills would have closed. They should have had a strong picket line here.” Thousands of textile strikers later began mass picketing the Goodyear-Fisk and Firestone plants on both the South and North End, concentrating their efforts to clos- ing the plants down by tonight. As some workers in these mills came out for lunch, booes and catcalls went up. Workers will mass picket the plant until it closes. The closing of these tire plants will make the strike in New Bedford 100 per cent effective | Fall River is reported out at least 75 per cent despite the opposition to the strike of conservative inde= pendent union leaders. Cotton Mills Closed Tight In the North End where also great cotton mills are located, the strike was equally effective. The big Waumsetta and Nashawena and Nash Mills were shut down with crowds of workers lining the side- walks in front of the mill gates. These mills tried to work, but out of | the thousands only one or two in some departments went to work. Only the Firestone Tire Fabric plant remained working today in the North End. The entire cotton tex- tile industry of New Bedford is closed tight as a drum. The New Bedford Rayon plant in the North End is also shut tignt. There were few police in evidence this morning, only a half dozen bee fore each mill, It is obviously the (Continued on Page 2) cae