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

Jobless to Mass at City Hall For Relief H Only $53 was received over the week- end for the Herndon-Scettsboro Defense Fund, bringing the total to $8,603. Send contributions for the 15,000 fund to the International Labor Defense, 80 E. 11th St.. New York City. Vol. XI, Ne. 230” Watered as second-class matter at the Post Office at New York, N. Y., under the Daily ,QWorker CENTRAL ORGAN COMMUNIST PARTY U.S.A. (SECTION OF COMMUNIST INTERNATIONAL) Act of March 8, 1879. tearing Today Needed—$625 a Day Yesterday's Receipts . Total to Date Press Run Yesterda: NEW YORK, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1934 WEATHER: Partly cloudy. (Six Pages) Price 3 Cents MILL OWNERS BLACKLIST THOUSANDS ' AS PART OF GORMAN’S ‘VICTORY’ DEAL Workers to Assemble As Delegates Present Demands to LaGuardia @ Demonstration at 10 a. m. Called by United Frisco I. A, ry Groups Set | For Parley In Chicago Ohio S. P. Local Names | | Two Delegates to the Anti-War Delegates Are Called to Report With Railroad Fares || NEW YORK.—Delegates from New Jersey, Connecticut and other Eastern states who plan to leave for the Chicago Anti- War Congress by special train and at special rate must make their reservations immediately, the New York League Against 'Many New England Picket I Lines Hold In Fight to Break Down Discrimination; Lockouts of Militants Fought in South || War and Fascism announced |) Southern Sictson Aabey | ; Seti Picket ° ao |] yesterday. At least 250 reser- ret * ets Stay Out 1 Ce: ElectsBridges Se gpibtient we ak Yas are erie to ctartm.e || at Sellout and Mase | ‘Sedition’ Is Charged Against Three |, as New England Mills NEW YORK.—A call to all work- CHICAGO, TIL, Sept. 24—As | League announced. The train, Discrimination ers of New York, employed and un- By Big Vote final plans were being completed if secured, will leave on Thurs- day morning, and delegates were WhoGave Out Hathaway Pamphlet Reopen in Part | employed, to mass at City Hall at | | 1 am. today, when open hearings | } are held on the relief tax bills ot | I \here today for the Second U. S.| Congress Against War and Fas- By Harry Raymond | ana aeaeaieune ee eae | ; 5 | NORWICH, Conn., Sept. 24.—For distributing copies of the pamph- ft pacbaity wieekee, Stat Cacrespentoal) let written by Clarence Hathaway, editor of the Daily Worker, on asked to be at the W. 23rd St. Erie ferry not later than 10:20 By Carl Reeve (Daily Worker Staff Correspondent) Militant Strike Leaders Mayor LaGuardia, was issued Sun- day at the sixth session of the United Action Conference on Work, Relief and Unemployment. Representatives of the organiza- tions affiliated to the conference | will present tax proposals for financing Winter relief in New York City, and will place the un- employed and relief workers’ de- mands for adequate relief before the Board of Aldermen. Speakers at the meeting of the United Action Conference pointed out the insufficiency of the new tax plans and the certainty of more relief cuts and future taxation on the working population if these tax plans are permitted to go through. The tax plans to come up for public hearing today call for a tax on incomes paying Federal income tax equal to 15 per cent of the Federal tax, a tax of one-tenth of one per cent on all business gross- ing more than $15,000 a year for a need which even LaGuardia has placed at $50,000,000 to carry through present relief at the pres- end standards. The first plan, for an income tax, falls most heavily on the middle class groups. The second plan, for a tax on business, place the same rate on the small businessman as on the giant department stores and chain stores. The municipal lot- tery, a plan used in many Euro- pean countries in which the masses | are the most impoverished, is de- signed to give working class appeal and saddle relief cos!s on the backs of the masses. Representatives of the groups af- filiated to the United Action Confer- ence will present tax plans at the open hearing today for taxation on corporations and utilities, a steeply graduated tax on the larger in- comes and inheritances, taxes on stock transfers, large realty hold- ings and the present tax exempt church property. The abrogation of the Bankers’ Agreement, under which the city earmarks $3,000,000 a year to guarantee payments to the bankers, and a moratorium on the debt service under which one- third of the city budget, $162,000,000 a year, flows into the coffers of the bankers are also demanded. Homeless men will meet .at the headquarters of the Council of Unattached Men, 517 East Four- teenth Street, today at 9 a.m. to march to City Hall. Bast Side workers will assemble at Rutgers Square under the leadership of the ¥ rkers’ Committee on Unemploy- ent, Locals 2 and 3, and the Rut- gers Place Local. After being joined by the homeless men, they will march to City Hall, where spokes- men of both groups will place re- lief demands before the Board of Aldermen. Neighboring Workers Aid Mass Picket Line Of Macaulay Strikers NEW YORK —Workers from neighboring loft and office build- ings joined authors and striking clerical employes of the Macauley Publishing Company yesterday in a snonteneous mass picketing demon- stration despite interfernce and reugh handling of pickets by police- men. The picketing demonstration came at the end of an open-air strike meeting held during the noon hour at the corner of Fourth Avenue and 27th St. ‘The meeting was driven from one corner of the intersection to the other by policemen. These efforts to break up the meeting failed be- cause the 300 listeners, at the re- quest of speakers, moved along with the portable rostrum. At the conclusion of the meeting a speaker called for support on the picket lines and immediately 50 of the audience formed a moving line in front of the building which houses the Macaulay offices. Get Daily Worker Subscribers! Greater Circulation Will Decrease the “Dedv’s” Need For Financial Aid, wht Win Offices from Reactionaries SAN FRANCISCO, Cal., Sept. 24. —Harry Bridges, militant leader of the West Coast longshoremen’s strike, has been overwhelmingly | elected president of the Interna-| tional Longshoremen’s local, by a vote of 1,283 as against 432 for Joe Johnson, the machine candidate. The rank and file rallied behind Bridges and other leaders of the strike and voted them into of- fice. Bridges mowed Johnson under in the vote, piling up a majority of 851. His victory was a repudiation by the union’s membership of the I. L. A. machine which, since the termination of the strike, two months ago, has attempted to keep | the men from chasing scabs from | the docks, and from building dock committees to protect their rights. Fred Frater, endorsed by the rank and file, was unopposed for finan- cial secretary and received 1,092 votes Jack Creary won over Klei- man, rank and file candidate by only 570 to 433 as vice-president. The business agents who were elected were Charles Cutwright, who was re-elected with 1,149 votes; E. G. Dietrich, 781 votes and Jack McClellan, 717. In the rest of the offices, the! rank and file slate was endorsed with but few exceptions. Harry Bridges is the rank and file leader of the longshoremen who prevented the strike from being sold out by the official Ryan-Lewis ma- chine. On several occasions the machine has attacked Bridges, but each time the membership has voted full confidence in him. His victory is of great importance to the whole membership of the I. L. A. It will add strength to the fight that will be waged in the State A. F. of L. convention at Pasadena later this month, where the rank and file will demand the endorsement of sympathetic and general strikes as a weapon in the) workers’ fight against capitalist at- tacks on unions and strikers. Right ‘ual Left Wing Unions on French R. R. Sign Unity Agreement PARIS, Sept. 24.— The reformist and the left-wing trade unions of the Paris-Lyons-Mediterrannee, the largest railroad line in France, have signed an agreement for a united) front. greatest unity movement in France achieved to date, Henceforth both railroad unions) will operate under one board of control, which is to consist of mem- bers elected separately by each. Association | This event is thus far the} success the trade union | cism, the opening session of which is to be held at the Coliseum on Friday, reports from organizations throughout the country continued ; to announce the election of new delegates to the nationwide parley. In New York a mass send-off for the city’s delegates to the congress is set for Wednesday evening at 7:30 o'clock, in Mecca Temple. Theodore Dreiser, noted American author, will head the list of speak- ers at this send-off meeting, which will also hear Prof. Colston E. Warne of Amherst College; Dr. William Spofford of the Church League for Industrial Democracy; Rev. Clayton Powell, Jr. of the | Abyssinian Baptist Church, and | Charles Krumbein, district organ- izer of the Communist Party. | | S. P. Local Elects Delegates | On Friday night the Socialist Party local of Warren, Ohio, en- dorsed the united fight against war and fascism and elected Fred Wil- son and A. J. Casana as its dele- | | gates to the Chicago congress. Re- | | ports of the meeting at which the | jendorsement was given state that | the discussion which followed the plea for united action by John | Steuben, Communist Party organ- | izer, was comradely in citing vari- | ous differences and criticisms of | .| Warren Communists. The discus- | sion in this city’s local significently | | revealed a close observance by So- | |cialist Party members of united front developments not only on a | national, buf international scale. Western Cities Active Among the delegaies from Port- land, Ore., the congress arrange- ments committee announced, are two from the city committee of the League Against War and Fascism. They are Frank Dimick, young sol- dier discharged from the regular army recently because of his mili- | tant stand against war, and Henry Ireland, who was graduated last year from the University of Oregon, where he played an active role in student anti-war work. Other Port- land organizations which will be represented at the congress include the Finnish Workers’ Federation and the Young Communist League. The cities of Seattle and Tacoma, Wash., have already held their | | anti-war conferences, and delegates | | Were chosen from many trade | | unions, youth and fraternal organ- | izations and workers’ clubs. Twenty- | one Seattle groups have elected | delegates. Send-Off in Philadelphia | | A send-off for Philadelphia dele- | gates to the congress will be held | | tomorrow at 8 p.m. at the Y. M. C. | A. Building, 1425 Archer St. weal | speakers will include Maxwell 8S.) | Stewart, of the research staff of the | Foreign Policy Asociation, Mary | Winsor and others. Many anti- Bie and anti-fascist organizations, trade | | unions, peace societies, religious city have elected delegates to the | congress, a.m. (Daylight Saving Time) on ‘Thursday. All delegates were urged to re- port to the City Committee of the League, 213 Fourth Ave., immediately, with their railroad fares. Tickets cannot be ob- tained after 5 p.m. tomorrow, nor can they be bought on the train. The City Committee also asked that Congress funds . be turned in immediately and that all delegates report to Mecca Temple tomorrow promptly at 7 p.m., where the send-off meet- ing will be held. Marine Strike Plans Speede On East Coast (Daily Worker Washington Bureau) WASHINGTON, D. C., Sept. 4. —Lioyd Garrison, chairman of the Roosevelt National Labor Re- lations Board, announced today that he is “informally inquiring” into plans for an East and Guif Coast marine strike for President Roosevelt, and is talking them over privately with Victor Olan- der, secretary-treasurer of the International Seamen’s Union. “Our information is that the strike will occur unless something is done to prevent it,” Garrison volunteered in his press confer- ence. He did not say whether any specific “something” is under consideration, but his declaration that he is interesting himself in the strike reflects an eagerness to stall it off if possible. It is known here that Olander came to Washington last week immediately after the I. S. U. is- cued a call for a seamen’s strike Oct. 8, and requested conferences with Garrison and other Roose- vent officials. One reliable source said Olander is seeking some “as- surance” tht arbitration will be offered In case of a strike. NEW YORK.—Officials of the Marine Workers Industrial Union yesterday reported to a special | meeting of the National Bureau that seamen in all major ports on the Atlantic are responding enthusi- | astically to the union’s call for preparations for a strike to be called | during the first week in October. More than 600 seamen cheered | the reading of the industrial union's | | strike call on Sunday night at the largest seamen’s meeting ever held on the New York waterfront, it was | reported. A committee of rank and file seamen were chosen to visit, all groups and fraternal societies in this | marine workers’ organizations in a | took on one shift and discriminated (Continued om Page 2) CHARLOTTE, N. C., Sept. 24— | | Widespread discrimination and | | wholesale blacklisting of the best | {union forces in the South was the lresult of Francis J. Gorman’s | treacherous agreement to settle the |strike on the basis of President | Roosevelt’s arbitration proposals. It was estimated early this after- noon at the headquarters of the North Carlina State Federation of Labor that more than 10,000 union members in the State of North Carolina aloae were told to get out of the mills when they reported for work this morning. The number of black-listed workers far exceeds this | figure, for this estimate was based on the first. scattered reports that came in from the far-flung local | unions. As this is being written, |new reports of discrimination are piling up at the State headquarters. A typical picture of the blacklist | in operation could be seen in Gas- ton County this morning. Workers were at the mill gates at 6 o'clock under instructions from their lead- ers to return to work. When the gates swung open they surged in, ‘but it was not long until large num- bers of union men and women be- |gan to troop out, having been told | |that “there is no place for you.” i Troops Still Out Despite announcements of Gov- ernor Ehringhaus that the troops would be withdrawn, I saw soldiers jat the Loray Mill in Gastonia and |the Knit Products Mill in Belmont. | Every mill entrance was guarded by heavy detachments of sheriff's dep- |uties and _police. About 7 o'clock workers began ; coming back out of the Loray Mill |gate. Foremen in the card room |and the spinning department had | told the well-known union members that their jobs were occupied. After about 100 blacklisted workers had gathered in front of the gate, a young overalled rank and file leader shouted: “Stay here, I'm going in there and bring every union man and woman out of there.” The young militant strode through |the line of deputies and into the mill. In a few moments he re- turned with several hundred cheer- | ing workers from the card room. |“The foreman told us he was not goin’ to make any changes,” the | leader shouted. ‘‘Well, we'll make | |some changes. Everybody to the | union hall.” Hundreds of workers marched past the line of National Guard to the Union Hall. They were talking | about strike. But their top leaders |told them to “wait until we hear | from Gorman,” In Gaston County the most mili- | tant union members were discrimi- nated against in the following mills: | Loray, Parkdale, Groves, Trenton, | Textiles Incorporated, Arlington, Modena, the Three Hanover Mills, | Ozark and Flint Groves. In Bel-| | mont, scene of the brutal slaying of | Ernest K. Riley, the Chronicle Mili (Continued on Page 2) I and Donald Wiley, charged with sedition. Danielson is a descendant Danielson near here. Soon after, Joseph West, Labor Defense, was also up for trial in two weeks, The desperate attempts by Gorman. the “Communist Position in the Textile Strike,” farm organizer, have been arrested here and of the first settler in the town of district secretary of the International seized for talking to textile giving them copies of Hathaway's pamphlet. Bail was set at $1,000 for each defendant. of the local authorities Hathaway's pamphlet from the textile workers is due to the terrific resentment among the workers at the back-to-work order sent out Open threats to strike again are heard on every hand. Rank and file opposition to the Gorman leadership is growing steadily Russell Danielson strikers and The cases will come here to keep Mill Sellout Is Rejected Show Anger | if Silk Strikers In Easton Over Sellout EASTON, Pa., Sept. 24._A mass meeting of strikers here “on Sun- | Thousands of day, after hearing Trumbull and Pitt, N.T.W. representatives, speak | mittee, voted to reject the Winant Board report and Gorman’s pro- posals, They decided also to hold shop meetings and to draw up local demands and grievances, presented to the manufacturers. The strike at present is 80 per {cent effective. The strikers of the Onandaga, the largest mill here, plan to draw up demands on the basis of the national demands, and to confer with the boss on these demands. Other mifis are still out, holding meetings now to take sim- ilar action. Charles Spencer, special correspondent, Daily Worker yesterday for selling the “Daily,” but later released. The United Front Committee was informed that the mayor Will decide whether the paper can be sold. The com- mittee will meet with the mayor on this question tomorrow. The National Textile Workers Union is issuing a statement for wide distribution on its position on the Gorman sellout. Hathaway and Brown Will Speak Tonight PATERSON, N. J. J. mass meeting will be held here to- morrow at 8 p.m. in Carpenters’ Hall, 50 Van Houten St., at which Clarence Hathaway, editor Daily Worker, will speak on “How the Communists Could Have Led the Strike to Victory.” Moe Brown. local leader of the was arrested | | | {on the United Front Strike Com- | to be} Sept. 24.— A) (Special to the Daily Worker) TERSO) J. Sept. 24— Paterson silk work- ers massed in the streets outside union headquarters this morning in protest against the sellout poli- cies of Gorman, Keller and the other United Textile Workers Union officials. Although Eli Keller had an- nounced that a mass meeting would be held this morning, silk workers found the doors of strike halls were locked. No explanation was given by any of the leaders. Earlier in the morning some shops were reopened when workers were | sent back to their jobs by Keller Rank and file workers who wanted to hear why they were or- dered to go back by the leaders without their own consent took things in their own hands when | 1,000 workers massed in va- cant lot on Harrison St At this meeting the showed their anger against the sellout and cheered their own speakers, Who denounced the 5e- trayal put over by Gorman, Keller, Smith and other U.T.W. leaders. One of the workers told how Kel- ler ordered workers this morning to scab on themselves. Another worker told how Keller had ex- pelled him from the union because he had fought against scabs. A motion was unanimously adopted by the workers that a rank and file committee of 25 be elected and a workers be instructed to demand that a union membership be called | tonight. of the) National Textile Workers Union and | candidate for Governor on the Com- munist ticket, will also speak. The Communist Party calls upon all silk and dye workers in Pater- son to attend mass meetings to- morrow night at 8 o'clock. when Clarence Hathaway, Editor of the Daily Worker, will speak on “How the Communists Would Lead the | Textile Strike.” in Carpenter’s Hall, ‘Van Houten Street. MAKE BETRAYALS OF THE WORKERS IMPOSSIBLE! A WONDERFUL army, the army of the striking textile workers in the North and South, was be- The strike was called off at a time when it was daily gaining strength. The strikers were sent back into the mills, without hav- ing won a single one of their strike demands. trayed by its generals. “The greatest victory’—that is mans and Greens call this betrayal. ing off of this strike must be characterized as the greatest betrayal—carried through and Greens. A wave of anger and hatred ag: leaders is rising in the breasts, not only of Com- munists, but of all honest workers. and drove strikers back into the mi extracting guarantees from the employers against discrimination. They not only shamelessly workers’ strike demands but they rendered their own militant fighters to be slaughtered by the enemy, As a result, reports surrendered the fired out of the textile bosses. what the Gor- | JT WAS with such tactics that the German trade But the call- by the Gormans the workers. With such union campaigns ainst such labor They tricked ills without even tories. practically sur- ing. When we leaders, By EARL BROWDER General Secretary, Communist Party, U. 8. A. from all strike areas today show, thousands of the best union men, the heroes of the strike, are being mills, They are blacklisted. They af® the victims of a yellow, boot-licking leadership wnich sold out to the workers’ class enemies, to the * * . union leaders aided Hitler’s ascent to power. It is with such tactics that the reformist trade union leaders of all countries disorganize and demoralize the employers’ company are advanced. With such leaders, misery, demoralization, fascism, are inevitable. With such leaders, there can be only defeats and no vic- These scoundrels dare to accuse us with irrespon- sibly organizing strikes merely for the sake of strik- Communists propose a strike, we do it in order to really win the workers’ urgent economic demands, We strive by all means to hold — the ranks of the workers together really won, textile workers fought on against three weeks, They were hungry. ers was not broken. strike. blacklist. Certainly, this was an unheard * . + conscious worker. But what do the Gormans and Greens do? against armed forces. Sixteen were killed. dreds were wounded. But the morale of the strik- Even the Gormans, themselves, had to admit this at the moment of calling off the But, despite this, they called off the strike, without winning a single concession, and without even protecting the militant workers against the ERE one question arises which every worker, and | especially every Communist, must ask himself. That the Greens and Gormans would try by every means to break the strike was known to every class ‘They always do that. question to be faced squarely is this How was it until victory is possible for these leaders to betray the workers, to sell out the strike? And to tits question there is only one answer, and every Communist, with brutal frankness, must The strike was betrayed by Gorman, Green and The heavy odds for give himself this answer: They fought Hun- of betrayal! leadership, But the (Continued on Page 2) company because the Communists were not yet strong enough among the textile workers to pre- vent this betrayal. not yet brought into the Party hundreds and thou- sands of the most active and militant textile work- ers; because we have too few organized Communist nuclei in the 1,200 textile mills; because the Daily Worker is not the daily paper of tens of thousands of textile workers; + the driving and organizing force capable of ieving uni‘ed action by all inst the bureaucrats in every local of the U. T. .; because we Communists have not yet seen to it that honest rank and file leaders are put in the It was possible because we Commu- It was possible because we have because we Communists were textile workers BOSTON, Mass., Sept. 24. The three weeks’ strike of 200,000 New England textile workers ended t day as most of the strikers re- turned to work at the orders of the U. T. W. leaders. They were sent back to work exposed to discrimi- nation and black and wit winning a single one of their mands. The majority of the Lowe de- did not return to picketed. The rank and fil cy forced the decision in Protective Union to continue the strike. Picketers in Lowell attacked by police in some c Last night Sam Harz r rank and file striker, and anott worker were arrested at a U. T. W, mass meeting when they denounced the Gorman-Roosevelt settlement as a sellout, In Fall River, the largest mill, the American is. still being picketed. In Salem, . Mi he loom fixers’ in the frill struck again after some of their fel low workers were d | against. In Waterville. picketing continues against dis- crimination. In_ the Millikan Shoddy mill at Pittsfield, Maine, there is picketing against the re- fusal of the employers to rehire any workers at all Picketing in New Bedford Discrimination and only vartial rehiring are widespread throu the New England area as a ri of the Gorman back-to-work order unsupported by any ntees of the employers against discrimina- tion. In New Bedford, although most | of the strikers went back to work, | there was picketing at some mills | including the Monquitt and Pow- drell-Dartmouth plants, In Salem | the loom fixers refused to go back to work at the Pequot mills because | two of their leading pickets were | fired and blacklisted. In Woonsocket the third victim of police and National Guard guns died as Leo Rouette, only 18 years old. passed away He will be buried today. Rouette was shot down when police and National Guards attacked Woon- socket picket lines Sept. 30 A half dozen others are still in a dangerous condition as a result of National Guard attacks in Woon- socket and Saylesville. The Maine, Lawrence, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Con- necticut mills are working. Troops were removed before this morning but police and guards patrolled as the workers came into the mills, In Connecticut Charles Phil. burne, President of the Textil Council. announced the Connecti~ cut strikers are returning to work “under protest.” In the Hampton mill at Easthampton, Mass. Na- tional Guard troons are still on duty today. No strikers were taken | back there and the management | announced that the scabs will not be fired. Providence Workers Angry (Special to the Daily Worker) PROVIDENCE. R. I., Sept. 24. Spreading confusion and splitting up the workers as much as possible, the mill owners and the U.T.W, leaders today were breaking ths backbone of the biggest strike in the history of the American Labor movement. Some mills opened up, Some remained closed until tomors row. Others worked with part forces. None of the mill owners granted any concessions as the strikers flocxed back through the mill gates. The workers knew it was a selle out. In Olneyville, the mill section of Providence, hundreds of workers stood on the streets around the mills discussing the calling off of the strike by Gorman. “We didn’t win | a nickel,” one worker said, “It’s just another sell-out by the U. T. We leaders, that’s all.” The giant Atlantic Mill, largest in Providenc2, kept the workers wait- ing out on the sidewalk. Instead of opening the gates, letting the work= ers all come in and sending away those for whom there was no work today. the Atlantic manageemnt (Continued on Page 2) a