The Daily Worker Newspaper, December 21, 1934, Page 1

eee f ASK YOUR SHOPMATES TO BECOME \ REGULAR SUBSCRIBERS OF 4 THE DAILY Press Run Yesterday WORKER! 39,700 i aily Q Worker CENTRAL ORGAN COMMUNIST PARTY U.S.A. (SECTION OF COMMUNIST INTERNATIONAL ) ol. XI, No. 304 Jankers to Confer With Roosevelt on A JNIONS REBUFF GREEN ON JAN. 5 P ROUPS NAME /ELEGATES N 32 STATES lore Socialists Support National Congress on | Unemployment NEW YORK.—Local unions of he American Federation of Labor ontinued yesterday to override the ecision of William Green to boy-| ott the National Congress for Un-| ‘mployment Insurance, which will) neet in Washington on Jan. 5 to! and elected official delegates. i Representation yesterday was re- | yorted from five more States, Okla- aoma, Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico and West Virginia, bringing the list of States to be represented at the | National Congress to 32. Green Is Repudiated WASHINGTON, D. C., Dec. 20.— Two observer delegates to the Na-| tional Congress for Unemployment ; and Social Insurance were elected | by the F.E.R.A. Lodge 139 of the American Federation of Govern- ment Employes, which passed a mo- tion to table indefinitely William Green’s and President Babcock’s letter condemning the Congress. The local regarded these letters warning them to have nothing to do with the Congress as an infringe- ment upon their autonomy, DENVER, Colo., Dec. 20.—The second county conference for the National Congress for Unemploy- ment and Social Insurance, which} met here Sunday, was attended by) ten A. F. of L. delegates, three from the Railroad Unity, two from the I.W.O., eight from the I. L. D., 15 from the Unemployed Councils, two from the American Workers Union of Arapahoe County, two} from the Relief Workers Protective | Union, one from the United Farm-| ers League. and one from the Young Communist League. Six delegates from the city of Denver will attend the Congress in Washington, repre- senting the Boilermakers’ Union, A. F. of L., Unemployed Councils, Re- lief Workers Protective League and the Communist Party. ‘The Spon- soring Committee in Denver prom- ises at least six additional delegates. HEAVENER, Okla., Dec. 20. — Workingmen’s Union of the World, Local 27, has endorsed the National Congress for Unemployment Insur- ance and is active in obtaining en- dorsements from other organiza- tions. A local arrangements committee has been set up in Leflore County, Okla., Fort Smith, Ark. and sur- rounding towns, which will meet in Fort Smith on Dec. 22. At this meeting joint arrangements will be made for election of delegates and their transportation. Fifteen or} more delegates will go to Washing- ton, Leading Socialist Supports Congress * READING, Pa., Dec. 20.—Mrs. Mary B. Nelson, Executive Secretary of the Berks County Birth Control Federation, has been added to the) Reading Sponsoring Committee for the National Congress for Unem- ployment Insurance. Mrs. Nelson will speak at the women’s sub-ses- sion of the Congress on conditions for women and children in the Soviet Union, from which she re- cently returned. “T am a member of the Socialist Party of Local Berks,” Mrs. Nelson states, “and although the Socialist Party officially has not endorsed this Congress, I am so vitally interested in this work, and consider it of such importance to the working class, that I accept to serve on the National Sponsoring Committee. I _am Executive Secretary of the Berks County Birth Control League, and am therefore acquainted with the needs of women, particularly work- ing class women, for maternity in- surance as well as birth control in- formation.’ Maine S. P. Local Gives Support >_> Ss Fox Movie Workers Strike in Answer to Company Threat HOLLYWOOD, Calif., Dec. 20. —After the Mitchell Camera Company, a Fox-controlled con- cern, locked out 40 of its me- chanical workers for demanding a ten cents an hour increase, the workers, members of the Mo- tion Picture Workers Industrial Union, met and promptly turned the lockout into a strike. Reg- ular picketing is conducted. A strike committee composed of rank and file members has been formed, and a program for militant strike activity outlined. One of the first measures taken was to place the tools of every striker in a bonded warehouse, so that no one returns to work until the settlement is made for all. Hollywood workers are watch- ing the strike with great interest since it is well known that the Mitchell Company is attempting to break the union. NRA HINDERS UNION VOTE Labor Board Plan Aids Company Union in Cadillac Plant By A. B. Magil (Special to the Daily Worker) DETROIT, Mich., Dec. 20—Elec- for collective "pargaining rep- resentatives at the Cadillac Motor Car Co., General Motors subsidiary, held yesterday, resulted, as predicted by the Daily Worker, in a victory for the company union, despite the fact that it received only a small Percentage of the total votes cast. Nearly one-third of the 2,330 workers whom the Roosevelt-ap- pointed Automobile Labor Board de- ciared eligible to participate failed to vote at all, despite a widespread | publicity campaign and all sorts of pressure exerted by the company. Of the rest, the overwhelming ma- jority cast ballots designating no preference for any union. For col- lective bargaining purposes these will be treated as a group, which means that the company will be able to deal with them in its own way without interference from any trade union. 1,076 Undesignated Ballots Cast One thousand and seventy-six such undesignated ballots were cast out of a total of 1,592. Of the rest, 157 voted for the company union, the Cadillac Employees Association; 143 ballots were blank or void; 94 voted for the American Federation of Labor; 20 for the Mechanics Edu- cational Society of America; 7 for the Society of Designing Engineers; and 1 for the Auto Workers Union. Yesterday's elections nominated two candidates in each of 16 dis- tricts into which the plant was di- vided. Final elections will be held | December 28, the sixteen successful candidates constituting the collec- tive bargainin; agency. Despite protests, the elections were held inside the plant. The character of the elections is evi- dent from the fact that in Dis- trict 14 Father Charles E, Coughlin, (Continued on Page 2) Entered as second-class matter at the Post Office at New York, N. ¥., under the Act of March 8, 1879. GREEN STAND ON INSURANCE IS ASSAILED N.R.A. Research Group| Aims To Sidetrack Jobless Issue | (Daily Worker Washington Bureau) WASHINGTON, D. C., Dec. 20.—| Joining the drive against the Na- | tional Congress for Unemployment | and Social Insurance being waged | | by the dominant bankers and busi- | ness men and Wiiliam Green, presi- dent of the American Federation of Labor, the Brookings Institu- tion, capital “research” front for the new deal, made a snide attack today on the forthcoming unem- ployment congress. The Brookings sniping, released one day after Green's red-scare out- burst against the congress, is in- corporated in a study of “the Brit- ish attack on unemployment.” Its authors are Dr. Isador Lubin, Com- | missioner of Labor Statistics of the anti-strike Labor Department, and A. ©. ©. Hill, Jr., who is connected | with the National Recovery Admini- stration. “The study,” the Brook- ings publicity office explained, “was undertaken” before the authors be- came a formal part of the new deal. Green’s Stand Rapped John Anderson, chairman of the A. F. of L. Rank and File Trade Union Committee here and head of the Washington Arrangements Com- mittee of the Unemployment Con- gress, today answered Green’s at- tack, which charged that an at- | tempt is being made to tie up the | A. F. of L. officialdom with the congress. “We invite all persons interested to scrutinize the list of 2,400 local, state and international bodies of the A. F. of B. which have endorsed the type of unemployment and so- cial insurance which we favor,” re- plied Anderson. He added: “The sponsors of the National Congress for Unemployment and Social In- surance have never claimed that Mr. Green nor other top officials of the A. F. of L. are in favor of the genuine unemployment and _ social insurance which is demanded by the rank and file of labor. On the con- trary, the record of those officials has been one of constant opposi- tion to unemployment insurance. “Although they were forced to change their stand of open opposi- tion at the Cincinnati convention of the A. F. of L. in 1932, they have since then advocated a scheme of alleged unemployment insurance which has been repeatedly rejected by the membership of their unions, when they have had a chance to express their choice. . .. Our group, representing the rank and file of labor, seek benefits at the average rate of wages. Mr. Green, accord- ing to his own official pronounce- ments in the American Federa- tionist, is willing to let the already low living standards of American workers be cut in half by accepting benefits equivalent to 50 per cent of workers’ normal wage. We are demanding that all unemployed workers, without discrimination, re- ceive benefits as long as they are jobless, “Mr. Green would limit benefits | | | | (Continued on Page 2) NEW YORK, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 21, 1934 U. S. Students Sail Abroad Tomorrow for Anti-War Parley The American delegation to the International Student Congress Against War and Fascism at Brussels, Belgium, will leave on the S. S, Olympic from the West 14th Street Pier tomorrow at 10 p.m. The delegetes will be given a rousing send-off by New York students, members of the Na- tional Student League, Student League for Industrial Democracy, and the college anti-war com- mittees, all of which have been active in making possible this delegation, Among the delegates there are two Negro students from Howard University, one, Carlton B. Good- lett, a representative of the entire student body, having been en- dorsed by the Student Council of the school. There will be a delegate from the University of North Carolina endorsed by the entire Student Council. LYNCH MOB STORMS AREA Negroes’. Homes Are Barricaded as Bands Raid Village SHELBYVILLE, Tenn., Dec. 20.— Negro residents of this town were barricaded in their homes today as the result of a reign of terror launched by local lynch gangs which yesterday stormed the court- house in an attempt to lynch a Negro prisoner, E. K. Harris. Threats have been made to dyna- mite the Negro section, several square blocks of shacks and cabins. The attempt to seize Harris dur- ing the proceedings of a typical lynch trial in which a defense mo- tion for a change of venue on the | grounds of local feeling against the defendant was brusquely denied, was defeated when National Guardsmen, attacked by the lynch- ers, fired into the mob, killing two lynch leaders and wounding several others. This unusual procedure of the guardsmen so infuriated the lynch- ers, many of whom were drunk, that they burned down the courthouse, after the guardsmen were with- drawn. The withdrawal of the guardsmen deliberately left the un- armed Negro population at the mercy of the lynchers, who invaded the Negro section of the town last night, and indiscriminately beat up men, women and children and set fire to a Negro hotel. Reports that several Negroes were critically wounded by shots fired by the mob could not be confirmed to- day, as the Negroes are keeping to their homes, behind barricaded doors. The attack on the courthouse oc- curred on Wednesday as an all- white jury was being picked to rush through the trial of Harris, who is charged with criminally assaulting a 14-year-old white girl. All the known evidence in the case points to a frame-up of the Negro worker on the traditional charge of “rape” used by the white landowners and other employers when Negro work- ers demand wages for labor, and | show other signs of militancy. | | | IMMEDIATE LEGISLATION IS PLANNED | Conference Will Discuss’ ‘Findings’ of Business | Committee By Seymour Waldman | (Daily Worker Washington Bureau) WASHINGTON, D. C., Dec. 20.—} Conferences between President ference Committee,” appointed by |multi-millionaire Owen D. Young, and the ninety-nine other big busi- |mess men and bankers who have| just concluded their White Sulphur } | Springs anti-working class “re- | covery” deliberations are to be held | “at the earliest moment,” it was stated today in high administration circles, Judge C. B. Ames, head of the) Texas Corporation, the big petro-| leum refining and distribution con- cern which operates in the United States, France and Venezuela, and George Mead of the Mead Corpora- tion, a leading paper and pulp con-) cern whose clients include the J. P. Morgan-dominated Crowell Pub- lications, are the emissaries who will report and discuss the “find- ings” of the recent meeting called by the United States Chamber of Commerce and the National As-)| sociation of Manufacturers. | The “findings” recommended fur- ther cutting of the meagre sub- sistence now being given by Fed-| eral relief, called for the outlawing of general or sympathetic strikes as the first move in a campaign which has as its ultimate objective the outlawing of all strikes, and among other things, attacked the militant movement for genuine na- tional unemployment insurance as “unsound legislation” which “at this time would prejudice the pos- ‘*lity of securing a satisfactory | | solution in the future.” It is significant that the impend- ing Roosevelt-Big Business confer- ences will be held in sufficient time | before the delivery of the Presi- dent’s opening message to Congress to incorporate in the message what- ever is decided upon. The impor- tance of this message becomes clear when one realizes that it is ex- pected to outline to the Roosevelt legislative machine what general/ measures are to be discussed or passed. President Roosevelt in- dicated yesterday at his press con- ference that he is waiting for the; big capitalists’ spokesmen by avoid-| ing questions on the present steel negotiations and on labor generally. The “business conference com- mittee” will hold its first meeting in New York on Jan. 11. WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W. Va., Dec. 20—Following the adop- tion of its 11-point program, the seoret session of ninety leading in- dustrialists here, including Owen D. Young and John J. Raskob, yester- day delivered these proposals to Roosevelt at the White House for immediate consideration and action. | The 11-point program, as out- lined in the final draft agreed upon by representatives of every indus- trial group in the country, includ- (Continued on Page 2) NATIONAL EDIT ION (Six Pages) nti ‘Labor Price 3 Cents A Program RLEY iRaamwoelt Puts Mu unitions Man On Industrialists’ War Board; AT uge Navy Plans Are Pressed . Has Scheme to Save || ‘Over-Age’ Warships from Serapping WASHINGTON, Dec. talk hummed through 20.—W ar- the Navy I beereIE aa “cho ‘Hiden t) and War Departments today on the ess Con-| pretext of the abrogation of the Washington treaty yesterday. ing the world in war preparations long before Japanese denunciation of the naval treaties, American im- | perialism is now “clearing the decks for action” by openly removing the last restraints of naval obligations as formerly agreed upon by the three chief imperialist powers. The scrapping of warships spec- ified for nations building over al- lotted rations is now a chief theme jof discussion here—not “how to actually scrap the: Is what piece of “defense” propaganda is best suited for public consump- tion in order to justify increased | naval construction, A vague phrase injected by the United States government into the 1922 treaty (Article 16, Section 2) is being seized upon as the excuse | for totally ignoring all ideas of | “scrapping” a single battleship. The | destruction of first line ships is here referred to as a “gradual” process, @ qualification which the Navy De- | partment considers will guarantee | the intactness of all ships until the approaching conflict breaks out. U. S, Leads in Construction Representatives of the “big navy” proponents, the ammunition indus- trialists and finance capitalists, are preparing to draw up legislation in order to increase war sentiment and jingoism in the United States. coming Congress, these individuals declare, will see a barrage of bills | | calculated to “resist Japanese prop- |aganda” and offset any weakening of an “adequate” navy feeling on | | the part of the American masses. The present standing of the| navie of the United States, Great Britain and Japan reveals that, with the new appropriations of the Vin- son Bill, American imperialists are better prepared and more aggres- sively placed to hurl the working class into war mobilization for the protection of their own interests |than any other imperialist power. | In terms of tonnage the three gov- | ernments have appropriated vast sums of money for constructng bat- | tleships and submarines (excluding cruisers and destroyers) according to the following figures: No. of Ships Tonnage United States ....66 225,500 Great Britain 59 167,180 Japan 5 124,729 Transport Ships Added to public announcement of internal war regulation, of water- ways, civilian zones, supplies, indus- trial mobilization, etc., intense at- tention is being focused on one of | the most vital points of effective war maneuvers: troop. transport ships. The present Post Office Board inquiry into ocean-mail con- tracts is being turned to war ac- count by the injection of doleful re- | ports as to the “inadequacy” of huge liners easily renovated for carrying armies overseas, Lead- | but | The | || LL.D. Wins Appeal || Step in U. S. Court On Herndon Case Application for the appeal in the hearfng of gelo oS don case by the U s Court was granted to Chief Justice Richard B. Rus- sell of the Supreme Court of Georgia. This decision means that w in a short time the United St Supreme Court will hear the ap- peal being taken by the Interna- tional Labor Defense against the 18 or 20 years chain gang sen- tence on charges of “inciting in- surrection,” hanging over the young Negro working class lead- er. Herndon, now out on $15,000 cash bail raised in a mass cam~- paign by the International Labor Defense, is on a speaking tour || for Scottsboro and his own case, | on the West ‘Coast, BAN SOUGHT AGAINST 6. P. Moke WF, ‘Official Gives | Memorandum to House | | Committee WASHINGTON, D. C., Dec. 20.— | Another call for the “outlawing of | | the Communist Party” | today in a special memorandum submitted to the Dickstein House ing “un-Ameri- | Committee investigat |can” activities, by G. K. Brobeck, | |national legislative representative | | of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. Brobeck’s proposal, made without | any consultation of the wishes of | | the rank and file of the organiza- | | tion, follows similar proposals made | i recently by the U. S. Chamber of | Commerce and the National Asso- | ciation of Manufacturers. Brobeck proposed a s point plan | to “crush Communism His plan, | in addition to the “outlawing of the | Communist Party,” includes a | wholesale attack on all foreign- born workers together with a de- | portation drive. He also attacked} the bonus marchers who gathered to demand their back pay, and called for the closing of al] Communist children’s camps, and the registra- | tion and finger-printing of all aliens | in a nation-wide police system. | Brobeck cited the Daily Worker as | |an example of what he would like to see suppressed. It is net enough that you read | the Daily Worker. You must get others to read the paper, and to subscribe for it. F ANY recent development makes clear the urgent need for building the most inclusive united front of all workers, it is the 11-point program which has just been agreed upon by the secret conference of leading capitalist employers at White Sulphur Springs. In this program, we have the “united front” platform of the Wall Street monopolies and lead- ing manufacturers from every.corner of the coun- try, carefully worked out by a special committee, This 11-point at the American program shows very clearly at just what positions the employers expect to strike working class in their newly or- ganized anti-labor offensive. * * * We are the main proposals of the 11-point in- dustrialists “united front” program? First, the employers demand that the revised N.R.A. codes shall make bluntly plain that the N.R. A. definitely supports the open shop, company open shop reaction. This is a direct demand for the “free choice” of the open shop and the company union, a de- mand that Roosevelt's deliberate ambiguity in Sec- tion 7-A be now replaced by blunt anti-union de- finition. Second, the employers demand a nation-wide drive against all wage levels, demanding an imme- diate lowering of all wage scales, particularly in | Big Business Presents Its ‘United Front’ Program for Action AN EDITORIAL Here is the demand for universal scabbery and spokesmen. Giving final ting wages building industry, recently expressed by several to new starvation levels, the employers demand that the “wage rate paid for work relief shall always be substantially less than the rate paid for similar work in private industry...” OUNDING out this newly organized offensive and follows a similar demand leading Roosevelt emphasis to their demand for cut- * * * the was made | , | whole life of the country, | that he placed his “ Leaders in Wall Street Picked by President To Plan for Conflict of the duPont r ing comn 1 to wage is to hava an absolute “You never hear of a democracy ” duPont ng a successful war. of industria War Departm fices: DuPont's statement came after it was own that the coun | has appointed to work v Department were r | T. C. Harris, dire mobilization plans. These include Owen D. Young, of the General Electric Corpora Irene duPont, of tions monopol, the Radio Cor d by Col. General E Dawes, Hoover's vice- president and banker, and T. J. Hoover, brother of ex-president Hoover. Following the revelation of the duPonts on the War Department mobilization apparatus, it was shown yesterday thet more than $268,923,000 of P.W.A. funds went to the duPonts in government purchases of gun powder, giving them a 30 per cent profit. If war were declared tomorrow, the Roosevelt government's war | machine could leap into instant ace n “from scratch” with the mo- bilization of a 2,000,000 men army and the instant militarization of the Colonel T. C. Harris told the Senate muni- tions committee yesterday. Baruch Records Disappear It was also revealed that the 1918-19 income records of Bernard | Baruch, Roosevelt's newly appointed head of the war mobilization com- mission “to take the profits out of a have strangely disappeared from the files of the Bureau of In- ternal Revenue. These records are usually burned, the Bureau x= plained It is well known that Baruch, as head of the War Industries Board | in 1917, made over $50,000,000 in war | material speculations in Wall Street. Baruch has “refuted” the allega- tions of huge war profits by stating ‘entire fortune in Liberty Bonds,” which paid 4-5 per cent returns. The investigations of the Senate committce show that the Wall Street monopolists are now in com- plete control of the Roosevelt war mobilization, which is the largest on record. The direct tic-up of the Roosevelt government with the Wali Screet monopolies for war prepara- tions in defense of Wall Street in- vestments has razely been so cleariy shown as in the present investiga= tions, despite the reluctance of the against the whole American working class, employers outline in just what direction the Roose- velt government will move in its relief measures the prospects for increasing Wall Street markets which affect the welfare of more than 15,000,000 ‘ abroad, the employers demand: “Recognition of | workers and their families. ane er ee . the fact that increase of domestic production costs | ‘Their program demands an immediate and | pop yn, NT Gevelop more lessens ability to compete in foreign markets.” drastic curtailment of all Federal relief appropria- Powerfnl soregelet’ on the: late To drive this point home still further, the em- | tions to the states, an end forever to any Federal | o-Kers for adequate winter re- ployers demand the “removal of artificial restraints | plans for nation-wide relief, the placing of all re- lief, against: lay-offs, and for bets curtailing volume and increasing costs whether of | jief responsibilities on the localities and on private | {* “orkins conditions. Get new | readers, and ask them to sube material or of labor.” This is a direct blow at the union scales in th scribe to the paper. union industries. In two distinct places, the employers demand the immediate lowering of wage scales. Discussing unions, and full powers of the employers to smash trade unions. “The new act,” demand the em- ployers, “shall require provisions... giving to labor the right deal with employers either individually or collectively, directly through their representatives of their own free choice without intimidation or coercion from any source... .” As if to remove any doubts as to their ganing, the employers will demand of Roosevelt @nd Con- gress that “men shall be protected in their right to join or refrain from joining any labor organiza- 4 tion.” including Owen D. Young, of General Electric; John J. Raskob, of General Motors, and Silas Strawn, Chicago financier. This “united front” 11-point program of the em- ployers is not merely some academic statement. It is the definitely worked out plan which the most powerful industrial groups, called together by the U, 8. Chamber of Commerce and the Na- tional Association of Manufacturers after the recent Congress of American Industry in New York, have finally agreed to present to Roosevelt and Congress for immediate action! — Senate committee to uncover the BIDDEFORD, Me., Dec, 20.—The full situation. Biddeford Local of the Socialist Party of Maine, has unanimouslyy voted to endorse the National Con- gress for Unemployment and Social Insurance. The secretary was in- structed to order $5 worth of leaf- Jets calling for the National Con- gress and an equivalent number of , copies of the Workers’ Bill in order that the local mich’ a ress them out (Continued on Page 2} sae am Dane Od ” iGentinlind