The Daily Worker Newspaper, December 28, 1934, Page 1

Send Your Greetings Today to the Daily Worker for the Eleventh Anniversary ! eR ee eA OT RR TT Vol. XI, N . 310 Ee os Daily QA Worker CENTRAL ORGAN COMMUNIST PARTY U.S.A. (SECTION OF COMMUNIST INTERNATIONAL ) Entered as second-class matter at the Post Ofte at New York, N. ¥., under the Act of March 8, 1879. NEW YORK, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 28, 1934. ATI (Six Pages) EDITION ONAL Price 3 Cents KIROV KILLER ACCUSES FOREIGN C War Always for Profit, REPORT MAN | Strachey Tells Masses §} A|N IN NEW CONFESSION ADMITS PLOT TOKILL STALIN Zinoviev-Trotzky Group Also Worked for Intervention MOSCOW, Dec. 27.—The 14 members of the former Trotzky- ite-Zinoviey bioc, who hand in hand with White Guard fascist groups plotted and executed the terrorist murder of Sergei Kirov, and who were indicted and tried today by the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the U.S. S.R., will be shot as enemies of the working class and counter- reyolutionists, according to a re- port published this afternoon in Tzvestia, Soviet Government or- gan, press dispatches state. (Special to the Daily Worker) MOSCOW, Dec. 27 (By Wireless). —The plotting of widespread assas- sinations of leaders of the Commu- nist Party of the Soviet Union, in- cluding the general secretary of the Party, Joseph Stalin, and the giving of direct assistance to the murder- ous scheme by a foreign consulate (which, according to the reports of capitalist newspaper correspondents in Leningrad, is the consulate of the German Fascist Government, al- though this has not as yet been con- firmed), were contained in the in- dictment, published here today, against members of. the under- ground counter-revolutionist terror- ist “Leningrad Center.” Leonid Nikolaev, who murdered Sergei Kirov on instructions from the “Leningrad Center,” declared in his testimony that the Lenin- grad consul involved had offezed to obtain the aid of Leon Troizky in carrying out their terroristic attack against the leadership of the Soviet regime. The investigation established that despite the capitulation of the for- mer Zinoviev group, the secret work of the most active members of this bloc did not cease and con- tinued until very recently. This activity became particularly vigor- ous in 1933-1934, when a secret | counter - revolutionary terrorist group was formed in Leningrad led by the so-called “Leningrad Center.” According to the testimony of the ‘eoused Zvezdov and others, the organizational formation of this group took place gradually under the leadership of Rumyantsev and Kotolinoy. The group was formed on the basis of the former Trotz- kyite-Zinoviev bloc. Trotzkyite Terrorists The group was led by such lead- ers of the “Leningrad Center” as Kotolinov, Shatski and Nikolaev, all former members of the Zinoviev opposition. This is confirmed both by the testimony of members of this center and as well by the. testi- mony of other participants in the underground group. Nikolaev, con- firmed in his testimony of Dec. 13 that he belonged to a group of this former opposition which was con- ducting counter-revolutionary work, adding that “members of the group accepted the platform of the ‘Trotzkyite-Zinoviev bloc. They con- sidered it necessary to change the present party leadership by all pos- sible means.” ‘The essence of this platform is well-known from the entire history of the struggle of the former Zinoviev-Trotzkyite opposition against the Party. This was the platform denying the possibility of the construction of socialism in the U.S. 8S. R. This was the platform of capitulation to the bourgeoisie. The realization of this platform would have signified the loss of all the gains of the revolution and the restoration of the capitalists and landlords. The entire work of the under- ground counter-revolutionary ter- rorist group was conducted under conditions of strict secrecy. A preliminary investigation revealed that the basic task of the group was the striving to disorganize the leadership of the Soviet Govern- ment, by terrorist acts directed against the chief leaders of Soviet power. Thus, it hoped to secure an alteration in the present policy, in the spirit of the so-called Zinoviev- ‘Trotzkyite platform, Having lost all hope of mass sup- port and isolated as well as politi- caly doomed, the members of the anti-Soviet, seeing the hopelessness of bringing about their aims, took the path of direct terror. One of the accused, named Hanik, one of the active members of this group, char- acterizing its “ideological and poli- tical” position, admitted that they (Continued on Page 2) 600 FERA Workers Strike in Montana For Minimum Wage BUTTE, Mont., Dec. 27—Six hundred F.E.R.A. relief workers struck here yesterday against the Roosevelt hunger wages, which average five to six dollars a week. The relief workers, who are employed on the F.E.R.A. sewer project here, demand a guaran- teed thirty-hour week and a min- imum wage of $12.50. In addi- tion to the guaranteed minimum wage, the men demand that mar- ried men should receive $6 for the first dependent and $2.50 for each additional dependent. TRIAL OF 18 TO OPEN SOON Vigilantes, ‘Red’ Squad and Stool Pigeons Attack Communism By Jack Crane SACRAMENTO, Calif., Dec. 27.— Stool pigeons, vigilantes, American Legion leaders and the heads of various police “red squads” brought here by California bosses: for the trial of the eighteen workers charg- ed with violating the California Criminal Syndicalism Law, are openly boasting that “the Commu- nist Party is on trial” and are mak- ing no attempt to conceal their hope and belief that the trial of the 18 defendants will serve as a signal for a nation-wide sharpening of the pzesent attacks against the working class. ‘The same opinion is openly ex- pressed by District Attorney McAl- lister in such questions to prospec- tive jurors as “do you realize the Communist Party is virtually on trial in this case,” and his further statement, “If we prove that the Communist Party advocates, teaches and justifies the overthrow of the government, by force of arms, and aims to bring about a change in industrial ownership and control by force and violence, and unlawful means of terrorism, we prove the Communist Party illegal.” Judge Alters Quotation In this connection, it must be | noted that Judge Dal M. Lemmon, presiding, took upon himself to alter a quotation from the Declaration of Independence, used by the de- fense in a question to a juror. The quotaticn, which upholds the right of the people to overthrow govern- ment by revolution, was modified by the judge to read that the change in government must be brought about “lawfully.” Under Judge Lemmon’s ruling, the signers of the Declaration of Independence and the American colonists who overthrew British rule in this country, as well as Jefferson and Lincoln would have come with- in the scope of the California Crim- inal Syndicalism Law. | Trial of the eighteen defendants may start this week, as the jury is nearly selected and the challenges of the defense exhausted in its de- termined attempt to keep stool- pigeons, employes of the police de- partment, vigilantes and other anti- working class elements off the jury. Protests against the frame-up of the defendants and the attack on the Communist Party, with demands for the release of the eighteen work- ers and the repeal of the anti- working class criminal syndicalist Jaw should be sent immediately to Governor Frank Merriam, Judge Dal M. Lemmon, and District At- torney McAllister, all at Sacramento, California. Steamship Owners’ Association, In a letter addressed to the I. 8. U. and all its district and local bodies, the content of which will be simultaneously distributed in leaflet form to the seamen in all ports, the M. W. I. U. proposes the merger of all seamen’s unions into one powerful union in the industry that would guarantee rank and file control and full trade union democracy, and based on a program of struggle against the shipowners. Such action, the union said, American seamen in a strong position to defeat the 15,000 MINERS Rank and File in Two Unions Back Walkout At Wilkes-Barre WILKES-BARRE, Pa., Dec. 27,— A strike was called today by the United Anthracite Miners of Penn- sylvania, of the 15,000 miners work- ing in the collieries of the Glen Alden Coal Company, the world’s largest anthracite producer. The main reason for calling the strike, the union announces, is the wage cut for brakemen on motors, put over by the scheme of placing patchers in brakemen’s positions and paying them patchers’ scale of $3.18 a day. The rate for brakemen on motors is $5.28 a day. The strike vote was taken at a special meeting of the membership called last night. The Anthracite Miners Union is an independent organization formed some years ago after the reactionary Boylan lead- ership in the United Mine Workers of America (A. FP. of L.) disgusted the miners with their sell-out pol- icies. However, the Anthracite Union is also led by a different set of reactionaries who include such people as Thomas Maloney. There | are also members of the U.M.W.A. working in the mine. The rank and file of both unions favor strike struggle on the basis of a united front, with united front strike committees elected in each colliery, representing all those in the mine, regardless of which union they are in. Paterson C. P. Invites Keller toUnionDebate PATERSON, N. J., Dec. 27.—The local section of the Communist Party has challenged Eli Keller, | Lovestonite and reactionary man- ager of the American Federation of Silk Workers here, to appear at a mass meeting at Carpenter's tions in the union. The meeting will be addressed by Jack Stachel, acting secretary of the Trade Union Unity League, on “The Role of Political Parties in the Trade Unions.” Stachel will deal, during the course of his talk, with the conduct of various groups which were expelled from the Communist Party for their political renegacy. In a statement announcing the mass meeting the Communist Party called upon the silk workers to re- ject the proposed contract which | Keller’s committee has negotiated, The agreement, to be proposed to a meeting of shop chairmen and delegates of the local tomorrow pro- vides for the question of wages to be submitted to arbitration and be binding upon the workers, The Communist Party’s statement said in part: “The Communist Party advises the silk workers to reject the pro- posed contract. This contract is designed only for the benefit of the | Silk bosses. What good is a con- tract which leaves wage scales to be settled by arbitration? Does Keller and his negotiating committee think that the workers have forgotten the last contract with its ‘relations board’ which gave them a three per cent cut?” agreement and the industry. Tt has been Jan, 1, successfully put Atlantic ports p: New York port, would put the CALL STRIKE AGAINST CUT Hall on Monday to defend his ac-| seamen into one union will be an important step toward the eventual unification of the seamen and the longshoremen into one strong industrial union, the statement declared, the agreement on the Atlantic Coast is expected by The introduction of the same or a similar agreement on the Pacific Coast will follow if it is After adoption of the proposal by the National Bureau with representatives of the most important by the membership meeting of the seamen of the at the headquarters of the union, 140 Broad Street. The letter follows: answer to my question. That is what war is for.” I had just asked him what he | thought of Roosevelt’s recently pro- |fessed desire to “take the profits out of war.” The keeness of the answer and | its simplicity are typical. We chat-| | ted for almést an hour on the vari- | ous political developments of the | moment. | Strachey will speak tonight at| Mecca Temple, 55th Street, between | Sixth and Seventh Aves., under the | auspices of the New York City Com- | mittee of the American League Against War and Fascism. With a well trained, inquiring | and honest mind, this young Eng-/| lish intellectual who passed through | all the schools of ruling class ideol- | ogy, who was bred in the best that | bourgeois life can offer, is now an) energetic fighter against capitalism and its two monsters, war and fas- cism. “It-is fairy obvious, I should say,” he continued, “that the New Deal is giving birth to increasingly fas-} British Revolutionary Writer Laughs at Slogan ‘Take Profit Out of War’—Says NRA Is Step Toward Fascism—Speaks Tonight By Milton Howard John Strachey, famous revolutionary author, just ar-| | rived from England, leaned back in his chair and smiled in| cist features, All the preparations for fascism are coming right out of it, and as a result of it. We in Britain have our Sedition Bill. I see that you too are beginning to have your Congressional Commit- tees for the ‘i tigation of un- American activities’. These are similar phases in preparation for fascism.” “We Can Fight Fascism” After some comments of mine,| printed an official Nazi propaganda | Strachey replied very earnestly, “You must make it as clear as you | can that this development is not inevitably fated to succeed what- ever we may do. We in England, despite the many weaknesses in our fight, did succeed in creating a united front that was successful in confining some of the more oppressive features of the measure. We did wrest concessions. Our experience, as many other ex- periences elsewhere show us how real is the possibility of defeating (Continued on Page 2) We can fight it.) NAZIPURGE | Saar Newspapers Reveal Wholesale Killings of Storm Troopers | SAARBRUEKEN, Dec. 27.—One “Why that is perfectly ridiculous. War is the most prof- | hundred Storm Troopers have been itable activity there is for the capitalists under capitalism. | Killed in a new bloody “purge” by PRD Hitler, the newspaper Volksstimme reports, and 1,000 have been ar- rested in the past few days. Ac- cording to the Weltbuehne, more than 230 have been slain by Hitler's order and 3,000 to 4,000 arrested in Berlin alone. Many of the arrests were carried out on the pretext of | “sex abnormality.” ‘The Nazi paper Abendblatt story from Berlin stating that 300 ere arrested for sexual abnormal- ity “in a new cleaning action.” ces against Communists and other | militant workers were announced in Berlin. Chinese 13 MINERS — DIE IN BLAST | Explosion ofLocomotive Shatters Train Bear- ing Men to Work MONTGOMERY, W. Va., Dec. 27. —Thirteen coal miners were killed today and about 50 injured, 25 of them seriously when the locomotive of the train in which they were |riding to work was ripped apart by the explosion of the boiler. The explosion occurred one mile from Mine Number 5 of the Elk- horn-Piney Coal Company, a sub- sidiary of the Koppers Coal Com- pany, Most of the victims were killed almost instantly as the boiler, lifted into the air, crashed down on the coach immediately behind the loco- motive, cutting it in two and filling the wreckage with live steam. Some of the miners were scalded to death and others were seriously burned. There were about 100 men in the wrecked coach. Four escaped with- out injury. Early reports pointed to negli- gence on the part of the Koppers Coal Company, which operates the train, as the cause for the accident. A defective water injector which controls the amount of water in the boiler is believed to have caused the explosion. The train is not run as a@ common carrier but as a private means of transporting miners who live along the railroad line, to the mine, An hour after the explosion the scene and nearby hospitals were crowded with the wives, daughters and relatives of the victims, anxi- ously seeking information of the tragedy. improve the working conditions in The complete organization of all reported that the enforcement of across in the East. resent, it was unanimously approved at their meeting Wednesday night i ITALIAN ARMY IN NEW DRIVE Discovery of Rich Oil Deposits in Abyssinia Hastens Attack GENEVA, Dec. 27.—The discovery of rich oil deposits in Abyssinia was revealed today as the immediate cause of the armed invasion of that country by troops of the fascist Italian dictator, Mussolini, as the first phase in a renewed drive by the imperialist bandits for the loot- ing and partition of the Negro country. The oil districts are said to be located in the area now claimed by Italy, but which, according to offi- cial Italian maps issued at late as 1925, are shown to be well within the Abyssinian frontier. League of Nations’ circles admitted today that the struggle of the imperialist powers for oil is also behind the bloody war raging for the past three years and more in the Chaco, in which British and American im- perialists are fighting, through their puppet governments of Paraguay and Bolivia, respectively, for con- | trol of the much-coveted natural resources, With Italian troops, by tans and airplanes, penetrating each day further into Abyssinian territory, the native bourgeois rul- ers, fearful that a people’s war against the invaders would under- mine their own privileged position as the worst exploiters of the toil- ing native population, are refusing to arm the population, but are in- stead directing futile appeals to the League of Nations. This is the same disastrous policy which led to the betrayal of Manchuria to Japan by the Nanking government of the Kuomintang China, To all International, district and local bodies of the International Seamen’s Union, Brothers: The terms of the proposed agreement have not met with the approval of the East and Gulf seamen. Protests against the agreement have also come from the Pacific seamen, who realize that its en- forcement in the East would certainly be followed by efforts to put across a similar one on the West Coast. While this agreement undoubtedly contains a few important concessions, it by no means meets the demands for a $75 wage scale; for overtime pay; for increased manning scales and improved working conditions; for the abolition of the fink halls and shipping sharks and control of hiring by the workers; which were the principal demands put forward by all unions and which received the en- dorsement of all seamen, organized and unorgan- ined, supplemented | Red Army | Wins Battle | HONGKONG. Dec. 27.—Marching victoriously through Kweichow province, the Red Army of China today threatened Kweiyang, prov- | ineial capital. Kuomintang forces j admit that the capital will fall at| | any moment into the hands of the | Red Army, if it has not already been captured, The leading cities in the path of | the capitalis, such as Swangping, | Shiping and Changan to the north and east are already flying the red | flag with the hammer and sickle of | the Chinese Soviets. In its march to Szechuan prov- ince, after defeating Chiang Kai- | shek’s efforts to encircle and crush | the Soviets, the Red Army is mak- ing tremendous headway in Kwe! chow province, having already taken greater amounts of territory then that which fell into Chiang Kai- shek’s hands in Kiangsi province. Fearful of the rapid progress of the Chinese Soviets and Red Army jin many provinces throughout Chisna, Chiang Kai-shek has an- swered the frantic appeal of the provincial war lords for troops. At the same time he has promised them a subsidy of $600,000 a month. Jobless Miners Seize | Town Hall in Protest Against Unemployment LILLE, France, Dec. 27.—Police drove 200 jobless miners from the town hall of the village of Iwuy yesterday after an overnight protest against unemployment. The aroused miners stormed the town hall and occupied it. They spent the night there singing revolutionary songs and defying efforts to dislodge them. The wives and children of the miners also deserted their tradi- tional Christmas Eve occupations to demonstrate before the home of the Mayor. Merging of All Marine Unions Urged to Defeat Agreement N important step, vital to the interests of all American seamen, was made yesterday when the National Bureau of the Marine Workers’ Industrial Union proposed a united front of all unions in the industry to defeat the unsatisfactory agreement reached by the negotiations committee of the In- ternational Seamen's Union and the American various seamen’s owners and the aggressive policy (Continued on Page ! AR aaa i i t a tme On Christmas Day heavy senten- | Anniversary Edition Of the Daily Worker The combined Special Anni- versazy and Lenin Memorial Edi- tion of the Daily Worker will be printed Saturday, Jan. 19. An edition which every worker will wish to preserve, it will give a vivid account of the world- shaking events that have taken place during the present period. All orders for this edition should be placed NOW! All workers should send greet- ings and collect greetings. Use the coupon printed on an- other page! ORE UNIONS URGE INSURANCE ONSUL ~ JAN. 5 PARLEY Will Appear Jan. 19) ATC BACKING OF S.P. LOCALS Many Demonsirations To Be Held When Congress Opens YORK. — and A. F. o 0 give increa JOBLESS RISE 1% IN MONTH Successive Increase | in Unemployment | By Seymour Waldman (Daily Worker Washington Bureau) WASHINGTON, D. C., Dec. 27.— Unemployment during November, 1934, increased for the sixth suc- cessive New Deal month, to 11,- 459,000, as compared with 11,030,000 | for the corresponding month of last year, a jump of 429,000, William Green, President of the American | Federation of Labor, admitted to- |night in his regular monthly un- } employment report. A. F. of L. the National ployment the Congr gro} Soc lat sed 1 ment of the W: ment Ins! nee Bill governing bodies, | local | | Socialist-led Jobless Back Congress NEW Wo: imo gates to tee to vo the Nationa ployment I David Lasser, chairman of the Workers’ Unemployed Union of New York, a. leading Socialist Party member, is chairman of Local 10, Seamen are asking: Can we win more favorable terms than those contained in the proposed agree- ment? The answer is YES. Should we give up the right to strike? NEVER. The October strike forced the shipowners to “offer the crumbs” contained in the agreement, hoping we would be satisfied and because they believed our weak organization, and especially the lack of a united front between the gram of action and controlled by the rank and file, will make it impossible for the seamen to success- fully resist the terms agreed upon by the ship- the shipowners were FORCED to negotiate and even grant some concessions, in spite of these weaknesses and divisions in our ranks, then it is clear that an rank and file leadership and control, can compel |“Trade Union Reports,” he pointed | out, “showed that one per cent of the membership lost their jobs in! Plan Jan. 7 Demonstration November and three per cent more) FORT SMITH, A were laid off in the first part of| Final December.” Although (s figures throughout are an underesti- | tl mation of the total number unem- 2 ployed by several millions, they show the downward trend in jobs.|ployment I “A large part of the unemployed,” | demands to Roose’ said Green, have been “without gress. regular work for one or two years| A united front conference held or even more,” and “relief need has, here last week elected ten delegates increased rapidly.” Citing the in-| to the National Congress and to set crease in the relief rolls but char-|/Up a permanent united front com- acteristically failing to report or at-| mittee for relief and unempl tack the scaling down of relief or; ment insurance for Arkansas and the recent administration-big busi-| Eastern ©) ness wage-cutting drive in work re-| Among t lief and other projects, Green |Sented by Ne states: “September figures show / ates at the 1,100,000 more families, or 5,000,000 | United Farmers’ more individuals, on relief rolls| ty Relief Le: than in September last year and of the World, Unemployment Coun- reports from 145 cities show three) cCils, and locals of the Scissors’ | per cent more on relief rolls in| Workers, Glass Workers, Federation October than September and two|Of Teachers and the United Mine per cent more in November than| Workers of America. October and relief payments higher The conference went on record as by 10 per cent and eight per cent| Supporting the Rank and File Fed- | respectively in those two months.”|crationist, the Rank and File Coal- en's Union | “Striking Decline” in Jobs pee the autonomy movement in | Green's announcement reported All aor pene an unemployment increase of|/tynching. Other resolutions de= |“some 200.000 farm laborers who - | hadi ‘work last year.” ‘These figures manded a complete change in the taveth ben) iseaids “alow: aonttie~ relief administration and workers’ f repres tive: ing decline of employment on Pashia) es farms due largely to the drought.” 2 | Unemployment during the year in- | aT : | creased also, he added, “in con- petorene oh ad struction and on the railroads,” bara Ait the local wel- Elected 27.— The while “manufacturing, coal mines ete 38 areal ies ee | eit | Ww Alliance yes' y elected and wholesale and retail stores” ti ge tes to the nal Cort | showed “slight gains. gress for Unemployment Insurance. One of the delegates is Paul Ras- mussen, a leading member of the Socialist Party in Illinois. Local 1 of the Progressive Miners of America, the largest P.M.A. local, with a membership of 2.500 elected, William Frame, a militant miner, as their delegate to the National Congress, P.M.A. Local 43 of Nako- | Tries to Soften Figures | Despite the fact that he sought |to soften the effect of his cold arithmetical figures by describing | the continuing unemployment in- crease as “unusual at this season” and as “due largely to the normal | increase in population, which yearly | adds more than 460,000 to the army of job seekers,” Green declared that | mis also elected d In a | the relief figures “point to the in- number of the towns | in Southern Illinois the miners (Continued on Page 2) are electing delegates on the basis of getting credentials from a num- | ber of organizations for one dele- | gate. | The latest A. F. of L. local in | Chicago to elect delegates is the Metal Polishers Local 6. LURAY, Va.. Dec. 27—The So- | cialiss Party branch here has en- dorsed the National Congress for mployment and Social Insurance and elected a delegate to go to Washington. OLYPHANT, Pa., Dec. 27.— One delegate to the National Congress for Unemployment and Social Ins surance has been elected by the unions based upon a militant pro- Polish fraterhal lodge here. Ohio To Send 300 Delegates (Daily Worker Ohio Bureau) CLEVELAND, Ohio, Dec. 27.— | About 270 delegates to the National Congress for Unemployment Insur- | ance have already been elected in Ohio, It is expected that the entire State delegation will be over 300, LS.U. negotiating committee. If | and a strong united front under (Continued on Page 2)