The Daily Worker Newspaper, January 8, 1935, Page 2

Fascist Court Plans Qui Page 2 DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK. TUESDAY, JANUARY §8, 1935 fo we Was Leader Noted Lawyer Proves | Of Struggle Workers’ Insurance Bill | Biggest Increase War Funds Show In Hungary Budapest Senate Signs Indictment and Orders Rapid Action (Special to the Daily Worker) Constitutional Measure =. Leo J. Linder of International Juridical Associa- tion Cites Decisions on all Points, Spikes Attack by Green and others (Continued from Page 1) national debt stood at $28,484,- 000,” Roosevelt declared. He | gross debt on June 30, 1935, will amount to about $31,000,000,000. In | the budget message of last year it | was estimated that the national | debt on June 30, 1935, would amount | to $31,800,000,000.. According to the BUDAPEST, Jar The ead eae? ——- latest estimates, the debt will not -~- ment against R Special to the Daily Worker) 2 ,| Teach this amount by $800,000,000.” heroic and long aes er er WASHINGTON, D. C., Jan. 7.—‘Clearly the Workers The cut in the deficit and in the iscist leader, is now fixed and,; y. ‘ ‘3 », sbt, eee secet by the Minister of Justice, Unemployment and Social Insurance Bill, H. R. 2827, once| ational debt, of course, will be has been turned over to the Buda- pest Senate, which will carry the trial through rapid court pro- cedure in the middle of January. Trial in the “rapid” court robs the accused of even the most elementary pa tutional,” Leo. J. Linder, New ation, declared yesterday at the Na-@ d by Congress cannot possibly be attacked as unconsti- appearing in behalf of the International Juridicial Associ- greeted warmly by the financial mo- | guls, whose “corporate profits,” the President announced today, “in- creased considerably.” Quite obvi- ously, the fiscal improvement was | —__—_________ | made at the expense mainly of the| York constitutional attorney added: “It is estimated that the| means of defense and completely disregards all laws. The very fact that the authorities did not once try Rakosi in the 8% years of his imprisonment on the charges made against him, is in tional Congress for Unemployment Insurance. Linder examined every one of the constitutional objections heretofore raised in objection to the Workers’ Bill, and spiked for all time the ex- cuse which William Green had itself the severest infringement of | raised in the American Federation Hungarian law and indicates that} or Labor as an excuse for his bit- they are not concerned with bringing Rakosi to justice for his “actions in 1919,” themselves as a class on a fighter of another class. The Hungarian bourgeoisie is not even hesitating to circumvent its own laws, from which it demands the authority to anni- hilate those against whom they were directed. Was People’s Commissar Holding first place in the indict- ment is the charge that Rakosi is guilty of a whole series of ‘crimes’ committed during the Soviet regime in Hungary in 1919. After the defeat of the dictator- ship of the proletariat by the Te- action and forces of imperialist in- tervention in Hungary, a decree was passed in 1919 by the counter- revolutionary government whereby all People’s Commissars of the Hun- garian Soviet Republics were to be brought to trial and sentenced as quickly as possible. The indictment against the People’s Commissars ac- cused them of high treason, be- trayal of their country, 340 “mur- ders,” issuance of false money, rob- bery, limitation of personal free- dom, etc. The revolutionary laws and decrees of the Council of People’s Commissars as well as the sentences passed by the revolution- ary courts, served as the basis of the indictment. Many Sentenced to Death All the People’s Commissar were indicted on the basis of this decree of September, 1919 and of those im- prisoned, the majority were sen- tenced to death. Among those not “Sazrested and against whom pro- ~ cedur® is still running, was Rakosi, who had the position of Acting Commissar for Trade in the Coun- cil of People’s Commissars, In May Rakosi went to the front as polit- ical commissar of a division, 50 that he did not participate in all the meetings of the Council. The legal grounds for the con- tinuation of the procedure against Matthias Rakosi are shattered by the fact that procedure against but simply wish to revenge) ter denunciation of measure, In an analysis of the many rami- ications of the Workers’ Bill, Lin- der said that the Workers’ Bill provided for the. appropriation of the workers’ federal monies out of the Treasury | of the United States for the pay- ment of compensation of the un- employed, the sick, the aged and the disabled, the first now under | fire from Roosevelt in a forced labor drive, the others now are faced with complete abandonment by the Roosevelt relief administration, Cites Welfare Clause “The Constitution grants to Con- gress the power to ‘levy and collect taxes, pay debts and provides for the general welfare of the United States,’ Linder quoted, and brought forward the United States Supreme Court decision in the famous Sugar Bounty case, 163 U. S. 427, in which it declared that Congress may ex- ercise its power to spend money for any purpose which it deems the “general welfare.” Linder pointed out that in that case the court recognized the power of Congress to expend federal money out of “considerations of pure charity.” Citing this general Court,” Linder declared, “held that no taxpayer can properly raise any estimated three and a half million unemployed “employable” heads of question as to the use Congress} families, all of whom, according to makes of the proceeds of taxation.” | Roosevelt's plan, are to be taken Here this famous constitutional | off the relief rolls by July 1, or at lawyer brought in the case of a tax-| the latest, the Fall of 1935, and payer who sought to stop Congress| transferred to the various forced | from spending money for the build-| labor projects of the low-wage ing of the Panama Canal, and he| “single, new and greatly enlarged | cited the case of Wilson vs, Shaw, | plan” for “emergency employment.” | 204 U.S, 24, | Though one and a half million “un- | Legislative Power | employable” heads of families are to Linder, however, pointed out that | be tossed off the relief rolls by Feb. the bill may be challenged as un-| 1 1935, Roosevelt asks for only constitutional on the grounds of the | $900,000,000 for direct relief pur- delegation of legislative power, since | poses until July 1, 1935, when it is| it invests the Secretary of Labor eenociee the new mployment” | with wide discretion. But at the| program will be fully launched. same time he pointed out that the Supreme Court has invested far To Extend C. C. C. | wider power in the President, Cab-| In his budget message, the Presi- | inet members and Cabinet officers.|dent asks “that $4,000,000,000 be! |He then went on to say that the| appropriated by the Congress in one Bill names certain specific benefi-|Sum, subject to allocation by the ciaries who are to receive the com-| Executive (Roosevelt) principally pensation, the minimum and max-| for giving work to those unem-| |imum compensation to be reecived,| ployed on the relief rolls.” This | and the nature of the compensation | $4,000,000,000, Roosevelt stated in a fixed. He then compared it to the| special budget press conference Sat- power given to the President to fix| urday, will also take care of the tariffs and duties, the power of the | militaristic Civilian Conservation Commissioner of Internal Revenues | Corps, the operation and guidance |to adjust the rate of excess profits, | the power given to the Secretary of | the Treasury to fix the-standards of quality and fitness of imports, and pointed out that the Supreme | Court has never reversed these. | Although no specific amount is | | appropriated in the bill, Linder de- of which is under the War Depart- ment. What “the extension and enlargement of the successful work of the C.C.C.,” called for in Friday's opening presidential message, will | mean for the next fiscal year in| | dollars and cents can only be | guessed but it is certain that it will | go well above the $301,037,315 cur- | rent expenses for the fiscal year |clared that the bill is nevertheless constitutional, for general appropri- jations are common, welfare clause, Linder showed how On the ques- Congress has spent money for the | tion of violation of “due process,” purchase of Louisiana from France, | he showed that the bill does not in-| of Alaska from Russia, and has|volve the setting up of reserves | made outright gifts to the various | created by enforced contributions by | States, appropriated millions for employers and employees, and that | and education. And in the last few| bill consider himself deprived of years, under this same “welfare | property. | clause. Linder showed how Con-| Lastly, Linder blasted the ques- | gress has spent money and appro-|tion of unconstitutionality on the priated billions for the R. F. C., H.| grounds of State Rights, and point- O. L. C,, F. H. A., and other Roose-| ing to the far wider provisions on velt bodies. |the same instance of the Recon- | Citing this same Sugar Bounty | struction Finance Corporation (R. | Case, Linder pointed out that the| F.C.) and the Agricultural Adjust- | Supreme Court declared that the| ment Act (A. A. A), declared, in| courts have never attempted to set | closing, that “the Bill is, in view limitations to the power of Congress | of the foregoing, clearly constitu- to spend money. “The Supreme’ tional.” | Unemployed, USSR 24 | | has been meeting with the veterans’ | officials. The Mayor and the Workers ending this June 30. In addition to asking that all of | the present “emergency taxes” be| made permanent, Roosevelt indi- cated emphatically at his Saturday | jagriculture, internal improvements |thereby no person could under the | conference that if Congress. should pass the veterans’ bonus over his head it will be paid by new taxes. That is, it will not come substan- tially out of taxes on the big prof- its inereased so handsomely by the| New Deal but will be taken from the wage earners and salaried} classes, Against Debt Cancellation Discussing the bonus, Roosevelt | announced that he would not stand | for what he described as any min- ority like the veterans who, he said, seek to have debts. forgiven by the government, He indicated, thereby, that he is still opposed to cancelling | the insupportable debts of the small | and middle farmers. Asked Satur- those People’s Commissars who were members of the Social- | Democratic Party, were stopped | (Contttued from Pages) and they were allowed to come | back unmolested to Hungary, Gas, where they were politically active. line began to march around City Hall. The line grew each minute Mayor, we want to present a list of griey- ances. LaGUARDIA: Have you got them written out? GONSHAK: No, we have notes, LaGUARDIA: Write them out é « | The following conversation then | ensued: a Hit by LaGuardia GONSHAK? Me: | day whether he expects to “balance |the budget” by 1937, Roosevelt re- | Plied blithely that hope springs \eternal. In his budget message, | however, he declares that he is “sub- | mitting to the Congress a budget |for the fiscal year 1936 which bal- Another point which makes the legal grounds for a trial against the People’s Commissars ques- * ‘tionable is the fact that the sen- tenced People’s Commissars were in 1921-22 exchanged for Hun- garian officers captured by the Soviet Union. By this act pro- cedure against all former commis- sars was stopped, as the case of the Social- Democratic People’s Commissars actually show. A still more significant feature of the unreasoning savagery of the Hungarian fascists is the fact that when Rakosi was arrested in 1925, he was indicted only under the state protection law of March, 1921, for his activity at the time. | Since the Hungarian criminal code nevertheless prescribes that all pending procedures against _the accused are to be united and since |as new hundreds joined the ranks, | Workers poured out of nearby build- | |ings for their lunch but remained | |to watch the demonstration, many | |of them buying copies of the Daily Worker. A three-piece band, representing | the Young Liberators of Harlem, | preceded the march, the dull boom | |of the bass drum keeping time with | | ances except for expenditures to| | give work to the unemployed.” “If | this budget receives the approval of | the Congress, the country will | henceforth have the assurance that, | with the single exception of this | item, every current expenditure of whatever nature will be fully cov- jered by our estimates of current | receipts. Such deficit as occurs will | be due solely to this cause, and it may be expected to decline as and I'll see them. GONSHAK: We've got notes and we want to present our griev- ances, We've got a right to pre- sent our grievances to the seat of government. LaGUARDIA: If you came this close to the seat of government in Russia you know what would happen to you, don’t you? GONSHAK: We're not discus- sing Russia, We have a list of | the heavy thud of the rain-soaked | feet and the steady chant: “We| Want Unemployment Insurance.” By the time a committee of two, composed of Sam Gonshak of the Unemployment Councils and Tim Holmes, Negro executive of the Needle Trades Workers Industrial Union. filed through the police lines towards the City Hall steps, the demonstration had swelled to at Specific grievances here.” | The Mayor walked off, chortling | at his little joke, borrowed in its entirety from the literary arsenal of William Randolph Hearst. The |workers were “ushered” out by the police. Indignation among the crowd, by now tightly packed on the east side of the Plaza, rose high as Tim | rapidly as private industry is able to reemploy those who now are without work.” In addition to refusing to restore the final 5 per cent of the 15 per cent Federal employes’ wage cut until July 1 rather than on Jan- uary 1 as requested by Federal em- ployee organizations, Roosevelt pro- posed “the continuation of the 3- neither in the indictment nor in least 4,000. Mounted police guarded | the east and west ends of the Plaza, | Holmes described the treatment the | cent postage rate for non-local first | workers committee had received at| class mail,” one of the main pur- bebe the trial of Rakosi in 1925 was the procedure of 1919 mentioned, it was taken for granted that that procedure against Rakosi, as against all the former People’s Commissars, had been stopped. Protests Win while men on foot watched the {other entrances. At a number of entrance in City Hall Park the | police had placed vark benches to | prevent the unemployed from com- | ing in. Refused An Interview | “You can’t see the Mayor,” Lieu- | tenant Harten of LaGuardia’s staff told Gonshak and Holmes. Upon hearing this the men walked e out and reported to the waiting ] crowd. “We demand the Mayor see | The Release Ot Gramse |our delegation,” the workers began | to shout in unison. So loud and ef- Antonio Gramsci, Communist | tectively did the workers voice their leader of the Italian masses and/ ‘i demands that a group of aldermen, tortured for years to the point of j death in the dungeons of Mussolini, | who had just adjourned their meet- « j-| ing, rushed to the windows of the has just been released “on condi. |second story of City Hall to watch tions,’ according to a radiogram) é yesterday received by the Unita| the proceedings. One of the signs Gperaia, Ttalian language Commu-| facing the aldermen bore the legend. nist newspaper published in New) ¢. Alderman Sullivan — You're York | Supposed To Be The People’s 4 Representative. Why Did You Gramsci was hurriedly set free at “ the moment that an international) Vote for the Sales Tax? the hands of the Mayor. Flays “Pro-Labor” Mayor Mark Boerum was cheered to the echo when he attacked the “liberal Mayor LaGuardia.” “I remember | when LaGuardia posed as a friend of the workers,” Boerum related. “Why, he even marched on a picket | line during a fur strike some years ago. Look at him now. A workers’ delegation can’t even be seen by j him. We're going to come back in greater numbers and he will see us,” | Boerum concluded. | Speaker after speaker was. lifted |on the shoulders of their fellow- | workers to make brief speeches. All| of them flayed the pseudo-liberalism of the Mayor, his hollow talk of unemployment insurance and _ his refusal to endorse the Workers Un- employment Insurance Bill or see a delegation of New York unem- ployed. After resolving to organize an even! | mightier demonstration, the crowd | marched up Center Street towards Union Square. There they marched past Klein’s store, where a strike is delegation headed by Romain Rol- land and othrs had arrived at Rome Police Inspector Camille Pierne, in | now going on, stopped and shouted, charge of the 100 patrolmen, 20)|“Don’t buy at Klein's” and “Support poses of which is to make the people bear a large part of the bur- den of the graft-laden steamship and aircraft subsidies—the heads of which concerns pay notoriously low wages, . Business Activity Roosevelt, in his summary of the year just ended and for the period which goes halfway through 1935, declared that “Business was sub- stantially more active during the fiscal year 1934 than in either of the two preceding final years.” He stated that “. .. the total number of unemployed at the end of the fiscal year 1934, although still very large, decreased by about 2,000,000, as compared with June, 1933, and 4,000,000, as compared -with the worst point of the depression, which fell in March, 1933.” He neglected to point out here, however, that the June, 1933, employment increase was caused mainly by speculative production, while the March, 1933, period was the lowest point of the economic crisis. He is also silent about the American Federation of Labor's conservatively estimated announcement that in November, clothing and shelter) declined dur- ing the period of the New Deal. In fact, as admitted by Emergency | Council head, Donald R. Richberg, | in one of his special reports to the | President, the real wages of manu- facturing workers, between June, 1933, and June, 1934, decreased 1.1 per cent. That Roosevelt is correct when he states that “corporate | Profits” “increased considerably” is | borne out by the 1934 net profits | report made by 392 companies to the Standard Statistics Co. This | report showed that these concerns made an increase of 609 per cent over the corresponding period of 1933, War Appropriations What the new billion dollar} Roosevelt War preparation drive | signifies for workers and poor farmers and their allies is apparent when it is realized that the more than $800,000,000 budgeted for 1936) does not include the hundreds of | millions which will be taken from the four billion dollar “employ- ment” fund for the “extension and enlargement of the successful work” of the fascist-tinted Civilian Con- servation Corps. It is certain that the total for the C. C. C, which Assistant Secretary of War Wood- ring hopes will provide capitalism’s | “economic storm troops,” will go well over the $301,037,315 (allocated under the guise of “Public Works”) estimated for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1935. Furthermore, the new military | sums budgeted for the fiscal year ending June 1936 follow right on the heels of regular War and Navy Department 1935 appropriations | totalling $566,736,984 and so-called | Public Works allocations for war- | ships, airplanes and ammunition | which came to $406,222,503. This | 1934 or fiscal year 1935 total, which comes to $972,959,487, it will be re-| called, does not include the $726,244 sum for the new air corps head- quarters. It does not include the $525,000 which was used for for- | tifying the highly strategic Panama Canal, or a substantial part of the $25,326,740 which was used to out- fit and officer the Coast Guard, one of the strongest potential war ser- | vice adjuncts of the Navy. Nor does it include any part of the hundreds of millions allocated to Army engineers for rivers and harbors, a substantial part of which went for seacoast defense for chan- nelling and dredging and surveys of the ocean floor for submarine operations in addition to supplying War Department engineers with continual war training. Nor the $50,000,000 Tennessee Valley Ad- ministration, a great part of which is involved in the construction of the world’s largest integrated elec- trical power production system, ob- viously a huge power reserve for | war plant operations, | National Guard Funds Similarly, the $802,107,158 provided | by the new budget for “national defense” ‘does not include such “non-military activities” as the $51,166,020 listed for the War De- partment’s Quartermaster Corps, the Signal Corps and the Corps of Engineers. Nor the $8,000,000 for the “operation and maintenance” of the Panama Canal, exclusive of sums for “sanitation” and “civil government.” The domestic equivalent or fascist side of the War Department. looms | significantly in the budgetary total | of $30,812,798, or an increase of $1,810,424 for the National Guard | which was used as the main strike- breaking force of the employers | during the 1933 and 1934 strike | waves. “ .. , provision is made | for the entire cost to the Federal Government for the equipment, maintenance, and training of the National Guard, except the pay and allowances of commissioned officers of the Regular Army as instructors,” the budget declares. The Navy Department section, “Additional Enlisted Men,” tears | away the pacifist cloak under which the New Deal government has launched its program for a navy “second to none” in preparation for the threatening imperialist war in the Pacific. “The estimates ($489,- | 871,347) provide for a gradual in- crease in the enlisted strength of the Navy from 82,500 men on July 1, 1935, to 93,500 men on June 30, 1936. This increase of 11,000 men is considered necessary to man the new ships that will be in commis- sion, to increase the complement of men on the larger vessels, and for increased requirements for avia- tion activities.” This follows three days after President Roosevelt's Friday dec- laration, “I believe . . . that our tude toward other nations is coming to be understood and appreciated. The maintenance of international Peace is a matter in which we are deeply and unselfishly concerned. . .” The President's resume of the financial plan of the Budget for 1936, as compared with 1934 and 1935, all of which for 1936 is an es- timate seven-twelfths of which is an estimate for 1935, and all known for 1934, shows: Receipts of $3,422,000,000 for 1936 as against $3,123,000,000 for 1935 and $2,763,000,000 for 1934. Total regular expenditures (op- erations and maintenance of regular departments and establishments, Veterans’ pensions and benefits, in- terest on national debt, tax refunds exclusive of. processing expenditures) of $3,302,000,000 for 1936 as com- pared with $2,748,000,000 for 1935 and $2,462,000,000 for 1934. ck Trial for Matthias Rakosi New I.S.U. Agreement Means Cuts, Speed-up, | Ship’s Crew Reports Workers Eliminated, Wages of Higher-Paid Men. Slashed, ‘Eight-Hour-Day’ Not Enforced, * ‘American Shipper’. Seamen Show ‘That the new agreement being forced upon the seamen | by the officials of the International Seamen’s Union does not | mean an improvement in the conditions of the workers, was illustrated in a report given the Daily Worker by a’ group of sailors off the “American Shipper,” American Merchant liner, The workers report that, al-® M ESA Parley Sidetracked by Clique Fights Vital Lours of Wages and Conditions Not Touched By Convention By SANDOR VOROS (Special to the Daily Worker) CLEVELAND, Ohio, Jan. 7.— After sending a telegram endorsing the National Congress for Unem- Ployment and Social Insurance meeting in Washington and in- structing its delegate there to act for the organiation, the convention of the Mechanics’ Educational So- ciety of America here adjourned are six now. The ‘our eliminated own peaceful and neighborly atti- | though the increase from $55 a month for able bodied seamen to the $57.50 scale was put into effect, reduction of the crew and cuts in wages of workers in other crafts, has reduced the company’s total Payroll and increased the speed-up. The workers are greatly incensed over the trick and it is expected that a struggle will develop. | In line with the general policy of | the shipowners, the “American Shipper” eliminated its passenger service. Elimination of many ships, as passenger carriers, an agreed pol- icy among the shipowners, results | in many sailors, stewards, cooks and others being thrown out of em- ployment. On the “American Ship- per” it resulted in the firing of all stewards, bell boys, most of the waiters, cooks, ship's doctor and others, Other Ratings Cut In addition the following rules were put in effect for those remain- | ing in the crew: in place of the for- mer ten able-bodied seamen, there are replaced by three ordinary sea- men at $40 a month. The wages of the latter have not been increased. The chief engineer was given a $50 per month cut. The carpenter was cut $5 a month. One of the mates was cut $20 a month, The deck en- gineer had his wages cut from $95 a month to $67.50. The boatswain was cut from $75 to $67.50 per month. The reduction of the crew will in- crease work for those remaining. As an example the workers point out that able-bodied seamen must stand quartermaster’s watch, although at seamen’s pay. Cheated of Overtime The workers having returned from a trip to Manchester and Liv- erpool are especially enraged at be- ing cheated out of 70 hours’ over- time they put in. The new agree- ment provides for no oyertime pay- ment, merely declaring that there must be an eight-hour shift. But the company refuses to increase the crew and forces the reduced num- ber to work extra hours. The workers further report that the new agreement is accompanied by the most rigid discrimination against known union workers, This is chiefly done through a supposed strict adherence to regulation gov- erning the hiring of seamen. As an example they cited the case of one seaman, a union worker, who was not hired prior to their last sailing because his lifeboat ticket was con- sidered too old and not approved by the Shipping Commission. On the other hand they point out that another seaman who was hired had a lifeboat ticket that was 20 years old. The seamen declared that they now realize that the Marine Work- ers Industrial Union is absolutely correct when it called upon the sea- men to unite in a fight against the new agreement—it means a fight, against a wage cut for them. Forced Labor for Seamen BALTIMORE, Md., Jan, 7—A policy of forced labor for unem- Ployed seamen is being carried through by the local director of Seamen's Relief here. More. than 300 seamen are re- ported to have been sent by truck to the Coast Guard station, where they are forced to work 30 hours a week for a miserable handout of food and shelter. The trucks leave from 1114 East Baltimore Street daily and as a result of this pro- gram there are already 90 beds va- cant at the main project at 508 Ann Street, according to a state- ment by some of the men still re- maining there. FDR. Gets Demand | For Workers’ Bill (Continued from Page 1) gation he “has no power’’ or author- ity to take action for the Workers’ Bill. Shaw, a railroad worker, head of the delegation visiting Garner, demanded that Garner present the Workers’ Bill in the Senate, Garner replied he would “have to look it over.” Shaw in reply declared that the masses will continue the fight to force the Roosevelt government to act on behalf of the starving millions and pass the Workers’ Bill. Joseph Byrnes, Speaker of the House, was “busy” and refused to see the delegation from the Con- gress for Unemployment Insurance. He gave a vague promise that he might see them later. Miss Perkins, Secretary of Labor, was “too busy” to wait when the delegation visiting her was held up a little. Edward McGrady, former A. F. of L. leader and now Assistant Secretary of La- bor, for more than two hours heard one worker after another tell of suffering in the mining fields, in the professions, in the auto industry, in every part of the country. His final answer was that he has his own Personal oninion on the Workers’ Bill but he can’t give it officially, and that the Department of Labor is still “studying all bills’ and has no opinion yet on what bill it will support. The delegates pressed Mc- Grady: “what are you going to do, \what is the Department of Labor going to do about the suffering which you admit exists” and he al- ways evaded and replied that the question was being “studied.” He (Posed as a “friend of labor” and ‘former worker himself, but refused to make a single proposal for any action of the Department of Labor to better the conditions. When a miner's wife from West Virginia took up death of children and mothers in the mining fields he said, “I would be glad to send you some booklets of the Department | of Labor on child care.” The miner’s \wife replied, “Books won’t buy milk and orange juice for babies.” Amter Heads Group A mass delegation headed by Is- rael Amter, member of the Na- tional Action Committee set up by Congress, met for two hours with Aubrey Williams, first assistant Federal Relief Administrator, Hop- kins, administrator, was “sick.” Amter cited the relief slashing poli- cies of the Roosevelt Administra- Roosevelt budgeted $472,000,000 (including refunds from ssing tion, the discrimination against Negroes, the starvation doles, and Federation of Labor Building to see Green and demand his support and the support of the ‘A. F. of Ly Ex- ecutive Council for the Workers’ Bill. Green was out of town, and the delegation was met by William Robbins, of the Typographical Union, on behalf of the Executive Council. Robbins refused to make any definite statement on his stand on the Workers’ Bill, merely stating he would refer it to the Executive Council of the A. F. of L. for ac- tion, When Robbins said, “We are doing the best we can,” in answer | to the conditions described to him | by the delegates, there was general laughter. These delegations, elected in the morning session of the Congress, were all represenattive. They were composed of workers from all basic industries, of members of all po- litical parties, and all types of un- employed organizations. They in- cluded men and women, Negro and white, youth and aged, native and foreign born. They were well equipped to make their needs and wants knows to the government of the United States. | Suffering was written on their faces. They appeared to demand bread and jobs, decent relief and real unemployment insurance, an end to discrimination and starva- tion. When the Roosevelt government gave its answer, of evasion, of “study” and of refusal to act, the Congress delegates were unanimous in their firm resolve to wage a de- termined fight to force the Roose- velt government to take action and pass the Workers’ Bill (H. R. 2827). A delegation of four youth rep- resentatives, led by Waldo McNutt | of Kansas, went to.see Robert Fech- | ner, director of the Civilian Con- | servation Camps, yesterday, and laid before him the dreadful condi- tion of rotten food, bad housing, and lack of medical care in. the | campe, Fechner and aides stated that they were in possession of letters praising the camps and professed not to understand how such stories could be true. : The delegation left with the firm resolve to fight for the Workers’ Bill, H. R. 2827, Still another delegation, headed by Pat Toohey and comprised of 13 of the Congress delegates, placed the Congress demands before Sec- | retary of the Interior Ickes, When asked if he favored the payment of union wage rates on P. W. A. Projects, Ickes answered that he favored P. W. A. scales and had as yet received no complaints from trade union officials. When asked about the wage rates to apply on the new works program of Roose- velt, Ickes professed to know nothing. yesterday without touching any of the burning questions of wages, im- mediate working conditions or or- ganization in the auto industry. The convention almost broke up in chaos on Saturday night, when a fight was provoked by the Griffin clique. An unscrupulous struggle |for personal power between Griffin and Smith marked the entire con- vention with a continuous inter- change of slanderous attacks, Although going on record for in- dependent political action and for the workers’ ticket and alteration of the constitution, advising unity. with all metal unions to be decided locally, the convention, dealt mainly with technical inner reorganization problems. No orientation for, strike struggles, wage increases or mass organization efforts, vitally affect- ing membership, was arrived at. Maurice Sugar addressed the con- vention Saturday, exposing the N, I. R. A. and Hearst’s attack against the Communists, urging strikes to defeat N. I. R. A. He exposed the proposed annual wage as a measure of preventing real unemployment insurance. 4 Dues and capita tax came up again Saturday night for the fourth time in convention. Delegates vio- lently protested this sidetracking of more important issues. A decision was made leaving dues to the dis- tricts and fixing a two-dollar capita tax, with New York. locals” paying only one dollar. A strike clause passed, rank and file full power. + ‘The Women’s. Auxiliary becomes part of the M. E. S. A., with their own constitution, under the juris- diction of the District. Committees of the M. E. S, A. wet Griffin on Friday was assigned as organizer to Torrington, Conn, He was given one hundred dollars for expenses. Saturday he resigned as a national officer. “His resignation was not taken seriously: Griffin demanded $500 back ‘wages for the period he spent in the East’ without Permission, viciously attacking the organization. ‘ 33 All other points hot taken up by the convention ‘were referred to a committee. : é The delegates’ left the conven- tion determined to crush both the Griffin and Smith cliques and save the M. E. S. A. Betty Gow Tells — Story of Kidnaping (Continued from Page 1) friends” in Detroit. ‘This was seen as an attempt to link the abduction to members of the notorious “Purple Gang” of the auto city. Miss Gow admitted having some male friends in Detroit. 3 Reilly then probed into her as- vation with Charles (Red) John- son, an employee aboard ‘the yacht of Thomas Lamont. Miss Gow ad- mitted having gone to a number of Places with Johnson, including a roadhouse. ~ ‘ Questioned on ‘Thumbguard The insinuation that she had _ “planted” the baby’s thumb guard in the roadway was bitterly re- sented by the witness. She had testified that she had. picked up the little aluminum guard about two months after the kidnapping, re- turning to the Lindbergh home in Hopewell, on a roadway. “Are you sure you didn’t drop it ~ on your way down?” Reilly insisted. “I did not!” Miss: Gow flashed giving 4 jback, flushing’ angrily. °° . At one point in her testimony, the packed courtroom, obviously sym= 4 pathetic to the nurse, applauded. After describing in detail her dis- covery that the child was gone on the night of the kidnapping, Reilly began’a long series of questions, ap- parently disconnected. “~*~ Most of them dealt with Miss Gow's backgrourid, the fact that she had received $650 from the State of New Jersey to appear as a wit- ness and her friendship with Johnson. i : After ceding the witness stand to Joseph Wolf, a state trooper, at 2:15, Miss Gow collapsed. Missionaries Report Red Army Victories in Szechuan Province mounted police and about a score of | the Klein strikers.” ‘i to visit him and make strenuous taxes) for the Agricultural Adjust- demanded a clear-cut statement of wa efforts to save his life from the ravages of disease and imprison- ment. A symbol of the thousands of ' barbarically confined political pris- * oneérs brutally mistreated on the “island dungeons” of fascist Italy, Antonio Gramsci had, up to the time when world pinion and an imminent investigation of Italian prison conditions forced his free- ‘dom, been the subject of thousands of demonstrations, petitions and campaigns the world over. How Gramsci is now living, even his whereabouts, is at present unknown. |Plainclothesmen, sensed the determi- | nation of the workers. After a brief | conference with the leaders of the | demonstration, he agreed to let three | of them in. |_ Gonshak, Holmes and | Boerum, representing the Fur Work- |ers’ Industrial Union, were escorted into the City Hall by the insnector as the workers cheered their partial victory. | Just outside of the Mayor's of- fice, the committee was again met by Lieut. Harten. Just as Harten began to argue with the workers, the group spied LaGuardia walking out of the recepion room where he The paraders circled Union Square and came around in front of the Ohrbach department store, where again they shouted slogans in support of the Ohrbach strikers. Show your determination to | support the Daily Worker against the efforts to suppress it. Send your greeting on its Eleventh An- niversary! Get your friends and shopmates to become regular | readers! | aly ae igs ee i | C. P. Units—Greet the Daily Worker on its 11th Anniversary! | rates, 1934, unemployment had increased 429,000, as compared with the corre- sponding month of 1933, the sixth successive monthly unemployment increase. “Reflecting higher wage rates and an expansion in total hours worked, industrial payrolls averaged sharply higher over the year,” the President reported. He significantly omitted to point out, however, that while the workers obtained an increase in nominal wages, and especially wage through strikes and other militant collective efforts, the work- ers’ real wages (what necessaries they can buy in terms of food, ment Administration for 1936 as compared with $788,000,000 for 1935 (most of which went to the mort- gage holders, insurance companies a big farmers) and $290,000,000 for Organizations—Send your greet- ings to the Daily Worker on its Eleventh Anniversary, Your greetings should reach the ‘Daily’ before January 12th. Send your greeting to the Daily Worker today, so that your name can be placed on the Honor Roll in the special edition! relief. policy and endorsement of ‘the Workers’ Bill H.R. 2827. A dozen other delegates took the floor and related relief conditions and Police terror and demanded the statement of the Administration. Williams declared his full support of the Roosevelt program of denial of real unemployment insurance, Promised to take up any cases of discrimination, and promised noth- ing in the way of better relief con- ditions or increased relief.. He took no stand for the Workers’ Bill. A delegation from the Congress, composed of members of the A. F. of L. from many unions visited the | compelled the Mayor to grant their 200 French Jobless Win Increased Relief: PARIS, Jan. 7—About 200 unem- Ployed workers forced their way into. the Mayor's office at Temple- mars, a village in the vicinity of Aeclin (north France), and held the premises for four hours, demand- ing that benefits be paid them for Sundays as well as for week days. In the face of the police force sent against them, the determined attitude of the unemployed finally HONGKONG, Jan. 7.--American missionaries, hurriedly decamping from ‘Siushan’ in Southeastern Szechuan to the safety of the im- perialist gunboats on the lower Yangtze River, told of the steady advance of the Chinese Red Army clear into Szechuan Province. Three divisions of Kuomintang troops are pursuing the workers’ and peasants’ forces, vainly at- tempting to head them off. The Communist troops had made the long march from. Kweiyang, in Kweichow Province, to the Szech= demand, uan border in an incredibly short ee | time I’ ‘