The Daily Worker Newspaper, January 8, 1935, Page 3

DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, TUESDAY, JANUARY Page 3 BENJAMIN LASHES ROOSEVELT RELIEF POLICY AT PARLEY US. Must Give Proper Relief, Says Leader Delegates Told United Action Will Win Real Social Insurance By HOWARD BOLDT (Daily Worker Staff Correspondent) WASHINGTON, D. C., Jan. 7.— The main report of the National Sponsoring Committee for the Na- tional Congress for Unemployment Insurance was delivered by Herbert Benjamin, national executive secre- tary, and was unanimously en- dorsed by the assembled delegates. The report, delivered yesterday and punctuated with the ringing | applause of the host of delegates from the shops and trade unions, | the unemployed workers and those in the fraternal organizations, searched into the so-called achieve- ments of the Roosevelt New Deal and examined into the ever increas- ing attacks upon the employed and unemployed masses. “Yesterday,” Benjamin said, “the Chief Executive of the United States government, speaking in the midst of the sixth year of un- paralleled crisis, in the course of which millions have been deprived of their livelihood, in the course of which millions have lost their homes and suffered the breaking up of their families, speaking in the sixth year of crisis, which still leaves sixteen million unemployed in this country, the chief executive of this nation saw fit to direct his entire message to the one focal point that the Federal government must and shall end the business of relief. “We therefore must meet here to- day with the very serious purpose of issuing as against this pro- nouncement of President Roosevelt, our declaration that now in the midst of this sixth crisis winter, it is high time that the government | shall understand that it is our pur- pose that the government shall tinally begin and not end the busi- ness of providing relief for the un- employed.” Benjamin then pointed out that it has taken these six years for one President to come around to the viewpoint of his predecessor, Her- bert Hoover, who at the beginning of the crisis stated that there was no cause for concern. This policy of Hoover, Benjamin stated, was again expressed by Roosevelt. Cash Relief Called Dole “Giving cash to the unemployed,” he continued, “is described asa dole, and in place of this we are told that a works program will be de- veloved and that that will be the source of our. salvation. We. are told of a works program after more than two years of the New Deal and after nearly two years of the N. I. R. A., which, on its inaugura- tion, was supposed to have provided jobs for at least six millions of the unemployed by Labor Day, 1933. We are told that jobs will be provided for us now on the following condi- tions: firstly, on the basis of useful work, which useful work, however, is not to compete with private in- dustry. We are told that on the one hand the administration has no intention—and we can believe that—of in any way interfering with the profits of those who own the wealth and the sources of wealth of this country, that in no way will they suffer competition, and that, on the other hand, we are never- o— hs HERBERT BENJAMIN i | | _ Executive Secretary Sponsoring Committee of the Na- of the tional Congress for Unemploy- | ment and Social Insurance. fight for unemployment and social | insurance.” He pointed to the rising tide of | unemployment, which, despite the ballyhoo of the Roosevelt regime, has not been appreciably reduced | during nearly two years of the N. R. A. and has again risen sharply. He quoted the report of William Green of the American Federation of Labor, who reported that unem- ployment had risen during Novem- ber for the sixth consecutive month and had reached a point of 808,000 above that given by Green a year ago. Wages, he said, and here again he referred to the A. F. of | L, reports, had dropped from the March, 1933, average of $19.05 a week for industrial workers during the lowest point of the capitalist |crisis, to $19.05 a week on the | average for September, 1934. Pro- | duction, he showed, has reached new low levels, and since the pur- chasing power of the masses had not risen, and warehouses remain | | filled with goods, would drop still | further. He counterposed. the social and unemployment schemes and maneu- | vers of Roosevelt to the provisions of the Workers’ Unemployment In- | surance Bill—the “reserves” schemes and the “acturial bases” which Roosevelt has demanded. He pointed to the increasing tax burden on the masses and the attempts to foist still more sales taxes upon their backs. Meets Green’s Charges Every label of “unconstitutional- | ity, impracticability” and the count- less evasions and slanders raised by | the Greens and the Lewises, every attack upon the Workers’ Unem- | ployment and Social Insurance Bill | | Was met and countered by Benja- min. “It, therefore, becomes our task to work our forces so that we will be able to overcome the objections and all the obstacles that will be | put in our way,” he said. “The | present congress must take steps to mobilize our forces in order that we may do just that. We are carrying through this congress in the face | of bitter opposition on the part of | those who are trying to defend the interest of wealth and privilege. We have the American Federation of Labor calling upon its membership not to participate in this congress. Well, we succeeded in spite of this opposition, in spite of this sabotage —we succeeded in securing in this congress delegates from at least 300 locals of the American Federation | In Sub-Session Maternity Aid|Sgcialist Leader, Textile Worker Drive Planned| Forced on Their Sex By Economie Crisis dian St | By GRACE HUTCHINS (Special to the Daily Worker) | “Don’t push the Negro women | workers away from you. Draw them closer. They are a little afraid of you, But when they un- derstand that you want them they will work with you for social insur- ance, Help them and get them to | help you in the fight for the Work- | jers’ Bill.” Mary Sidney of Detroit, Michigan, | was speaking at the women’s sub- session of the National Congress for | , Farmers Stress Unity in Struggle for Right to Live Broadus Mitchell, Maryland Leader of S. P., Declares He Will Work in His Party for United Front —-U. T. W. Members Map Fight to Make Leaders Carry Out Decision Backing Workers’ Bill (Special to the Daily Worker) WASHINGTON, D. C., Jan. 7—| The speech of Earl Browder, general secretary of the Communist Party, which was received with prolonged applause and cheers, at the Sunday session of the National Unemploy- ment Insurance Congress, followed immediately after the speech of Professor Broadus Mitchell, of Johns Hopkins University, Balti- more, who was candidate of the So- cialist Party for governor of Mary- land in the recent elections. The entire audience rose and sang “Soli- darity Forever” as the culmination you that your demands in the Work- ers’ Bill, so far from being extreme | are very moderate. “We have been working in co- operation with legislators, with ad- ministrators, with advisors who are too far governed by the inhibitions of the capitalist system. The be- ginning of wisdom in our fight for social security in my opinion is to hands with every group which es- pouses these principles and holds these objects I shall not cease te speak to the widest audience that will listen to me asking for a united front.” Professor Mitchell's warmly applauded. Textile Workers’ Struggle The subsessions and conferences speech was make it clear to all workers of America that our interest is dia- | held in connection with the Na- | metrically opposed to the interest of | tional Congress for Unemployment | the capitalist class. |Insurance were most valuable in “Let us get away from the old |crystalizing concrete programs for | fear, the old notions that belong to | action and in exchange of experi- Unemployment and Social Insur- | of a dramatic and prolonged demon- ance Monday morning. Her voice | stration, when Browder ce oxi finished. | |rose clearly above the heavier voice | Mitchell, speaking as an individual an age of economic insufficiency. | “Organize Forty Miilion” | between this situation and the pro- |must be the demand for amend- of men delegates meeting in sub- | sessions in other parts of the audi- | |torium. She was calling for a wider front and more united action be- | tween Negro and white women in| working for the Bill, H. R. 2627. | Quite a united front already these | 400 women delegates at the Con- gress represented. A rubber worker, who is a member of the Y. W. C. A. in Providence, R. I., a member of the Socialist Party in Reading, Pa., | @ newspaper woman from a met- ropolitan daily, an alumna of the Bryn Mawr Summer School for women workers, and a man who recognizes the importance of women | among the unemployed in Wau- kegan, Illinois. These and a number of others spoke on the problems of women | in relation to unemployment and | social insurance at a lively session, | of which Clara Bodian, secretary of | the United Council of Working Class Women, was the chairman. For Maternity Insurance | After a report by Margaret Cowl, | editor of the Working Woman, on | what is involved in maternity in- | surance and a Women’s Bill of Rights, Mrs. Nelson of the Reading Socialist Party described what she | saw last summer in the Soviet Union. As a worker in the Reading birth control clinic, she knows at first hand what working class women in the United States are up against, how they cannot get the information they so desperately need on spacing and limiting the number of their children. She was | much impressed by the contrast | tection of women in the U. S. S, R. Jessie O'Connor of the American League Against War and Fascism in Pittsburgh pointed out that the present birth control laws represent, class legislation, since every woman | with money enough to consult aj} private physician learns as a mat- ter of course how to control the number of children she has. But for lack of such information work- | ing class mothers often resort to | poisonous medicines or worthless contraceptives. Included in the struggle for maternity insurance | ment of Section 211 and other anti- birth control sections of the Crim- inal Code. Speaking for jobless single women | in the hard coal region of Pennsyl- | vania, Stella Mailey of the Bryn) Mawr Summer School almunae as- sociation stated that ten per cent | of the girls in one mining town | were driven to sell themselves in prostitution because they could find Socialist, urged the united front. Speaking of his predecessor on the platform, Browder stated, “I want to express my appreciation for the support that was expressed by the previous speaker, Mr. Mit- chell, a leading member of the So- cialist Party. We Communists are very glad to extend a hand to ali Socialists who join with us in this fight, together with all the other workers of all parties who are rally- ing around this Workers’ Bill.” rowder’s address at this point and throughout was punctuated by a thunderous applause. Mitchell for Unity “It is also good,” Browder con- tinued, “that we have had the let- ter of good wishes to the Congress from the princinal leader of the So- cialist Party, Mr. Norman Thomas. We can express the hove that this letter may help to bring the whole Socialist Party into this movement {in the not distant future.” Professor Mitchell, who is a mem- ber of the National Sponsoring Com- mittee of the Congress, declared, in part: “This audience today repre- sents approximately a million people who know what is wrong with us. They know that we are appealing for social security in the midst of plenty, and deliberate destruction of plenty, because we continue to per- mit ourselves to be ruled by the capitalist class. I want to say to “More than anything else the one | policy of the government which robs | it of an answer to your utmost de- mands is that it has engaged in destroying food and ciothing when 28,000,000 of peopie are without means of support. If we listen to the old caution our protests will be weakened, our demands will not be answered. The hope is to organize not one million, but forty million demanding that in an age of plenty those who have produced the plenty shall receive it. “We ought not in this age of abundance, in this age of enormous mechanical resources to be bother- ing our heads at all about social security, we ought to be able to muster our strength to take ad- vantage of social opportunities. | What we ought to do in my judg- ment is not simply to insist upon socializing a part of the product but to socialize the whole of the products. We are invited by abun- dance to destroy scarcity Now we fail to do this so long as we fight among ourselves. am. entirely without authorization to speak for the political party to which I belong, or for any portion of it. I do, however, speak as an individual and as an individual So- cialist. While I do what lies in my power to convince those of my own | party of the necessity of joining forever. | “T want to make it clear that T| |ences, There were subsessions and conferences of unemployed organ- | izations, A. F. of L. delegates, vet- |erans, Negro, women, farmers, fra- ternal, youth, language, professional and social workers, cultural, and by industries. The A. F. of L. and | unemployment conference have | been reported on briefly elsewhere |in the Daily Worker. In the textile conference, 50 or |more delegates belonging to United | Textile Workers and other textile loca! unions took up principally the | question of forcing Francis Gorman |and other U. T. W. leaders to live up to the mandate of the last con- vention and fight for the Workers’ | Bil (H. R. 2827), Although the last |v. T. W. convention endorsed the | bill, Gorman, Thomas, MacMahon. president and other international | officials are fighting the bill. Del- egates from New England, Pennsyl- | vania and the South told how they |came to the Congress, elected by | their local unions, in spite of the | attempts of these international of- |ficials to prevent them from com- | ing. Rank and File Textile Conference The discussion centered around the necessity to spread the Inter- state Conference Against Discrim- ination and the Stretchout, to which scores of New England local unions belong, to every textile State in the union. This is a rank and file or- ganization consisting of delegates from U. T. W. locals which fights against discrimination and the stretchout and puts pressure on the international officials for such a fight. Today a delegation from the tex- tile conference is to visit Go: and MacMahon and bring for the demands that work the Workers’ Bill, take some act jagainst the discrimination and against the stretchou A motion was passed to call on all U. T. W. locals to protest against the expulsion of George Heslen as president of the Nashua U. T. W. local, because he pursued militant policies. Because Horace Riviere | fought him and attempted to pre- vent a militant policy, Haslen was forced out of the local by Riviere. a part of Gorman’s machine len was also fired from his lost his commission could not get food ti All kinds of false charges were made against him, Farmers Make Demands Fifty farmers and farm workers meeting in a separate session de- cided unanimously today to demand of their congressmen on Monday that the Farmers Emergency Relief | Bill be introduced in the Seventy- | fourth Congress. A second major | decision of this special meeting was |the endorsement of the proposed | farmers relief conference to be held oe they for Has- ‘in South Dakota during the latter part of March, Discussion of both farm workers and farmers showed that around the Major issue of relief the great masses of the exploited toilers on | the countryside can and should rally ltor effective struggle. Delegate after delegate brought forth the} | necessity for this united front of | Small farmers and farm workers in | their common interest. The farm session adopted a mo- | | tion heartily endorsing the Workers | | Unemployment and Social Insur- ance Bill and pledging to support | the struggle for its enactment. The farmers present were urged to at- | tend the National Conference of | Agricultural, Lumber and Rural Workers which meets here on Jan. 8 and 9. Professionals Pledge Fight (Special to the Daily Worker) WASHINGTON, D. C., Jan. 7.— The professional and experts group of the National Congress for Unem- ployment and Social Insurance, comprising 453 representatives of 202 professional groups, decided in caucus to support the Lundeen Bill through the Inter-Professional Asso- ciation for Social Insurance. The representatives have agreed to carry to their organiations a rec- ommendation for affiliation, by or- ganizations and as individuals, with the Inter-Professional Association. In a resolution presented” by the American Newspaper Guild, the professional group pronounced its jintention to support the Guild in jits strikes, boycotts and other at- | (Special to the Daily Worker) | WASHINGTON, D. C., Jan. 7— The assembled delegates to the Na- ; tional Congress for Unemployment | Insurance yesterday heard the re- | ports by the various sub-sessions | which had met to decide upon policy lin the various trade union, unem- | ployed, women, veteran and other groups. Max Bedacht, who opened the re- ports, declared that the fraternal groups here had declared their com- plete unanimity with the proceed- ings and reports, and had pledged their untiring efforts to mobilize all of the 20,000,000 members of the fraternal organizations in the United States in support of the Workers Unemployment. Old Age {and Social Insurance Act. 2827. which was introduced into H. R.| 5 a | a e Unions and Fraternal Groups Ex-Servicemen | Map Plan in Insurance F; ight Back Workers’ For Insurance | against six others now | trial be smashed, Fred Keenan, a membe: of the State Executive Board of the So- | cialist Party of Colorado and a member of the A. F. of L. for thirty ; years, denounced the leadership of both organizations for their sabo- tage of the Congress and for the barriers that they have erected to | stop the unity of the working class. “But I want to tell you something,” he said, “here’s one from the city of Denver that is going to support this vroposition (the Workers’ Bill) in spite of any leadership, whether it’s | industrial, economic or political.” Long applause greeted him as he areeted the members of the Socialist Party and the A. F. of L., who. like himself, faced expulsion for their | working class solidarity. awaiting Fight for Bill | eed (Special to the Daily Worker) WASHINGTON, D. C., Jan. 7. Twenty-eight delegates from veter- ans’ organizations, including chap- | ters and posts of the Veterans of | | Foreign Wars, the American League, the Workers’ Ex-Servicemen’s | League, the Veterans’ National Rank | and File Committee, together rep- resenting 55.000 members, unani- mously voted to co-operate with other delegates assembled at the National Congress for Unempioy- ment and Social Insurance in fight- ing for the passage of the Lundeen Bill, H. R. 2827. | They voiced their recognition that though the veterans have their own special claim on their former | employer, the United States Gov- Disabled Veterans of the World War, | Workers’ Bill : Demand Put To AFL Heads Union Delegation From Congress Presents Resolution WASHINGTON, Jan. 7—A de« mand that the Executive Council of the A. F. of L. begin a nation-wide referendum 1 F. of L. unions on the Workers Unempioyment In- nce Bill was presented today to the Council by a delegation of F. of L. members present at the b ional Congress for Social and Unemployment Insurance meeting The demand, presented in the form of a resolution passed by the A. F. of L. delegates meeting in conference, was also passed by the Congress. The full text follows Trade Union Resolution Whereas, The National Congress for Unemployment. and Social In- surance attended by 3,000 dele- gates from all sections of the working population for a united and determined fight to win un- employment and social insurance as embodied in the Workers’ Bill, H. R. 2827 (formerly H. R. 7598); and Whereas, At this Congress there are more than 300 representatives of unions of the American Fed- eration of Labor officially elected by their locals and central bodies, who have unanimously endorsed the Workers’ Bill; and Whereas, This large delegation of A. F. of L. representatives is a reflection of the deep going senti- ment for the Workers’ Bill in the American Federation of Labor as the only genuine plan for unem- ployment insurance thus far pre- sented and this sentiment has al- ready been expressed in the en- dorsement of the Workers’ Bill by nearly 3,000 local unions, scores of central bodies, several State Federations of Labor and five In- ternational Unions and seven In- ternational Union Conventions; and Whereas. This tremendous rep- resentation at the Congress and this widespread demand of the A. F. of L. members for the Workers’ Bill has developed in spite of the Open opposition of the Executive Council of the A. F. of L. to a genuine plan for unemployment insurance; and | Whereas, The Executive Coun- cil, without the consent of the membership, is instead supporting the administration program which involves a wholesale wage-cut- ting in the public works program and a bill for so-called unemploy- ment “insurance” which excludes half of the working population | and all of the present unemployed | workers; and | Whereas, The Workers’ Bill pro- vides adequate protection for the millions at present unemployed, all workers regardless of race, coloy, political affiliation, or na- tionality, demands that the funds come from the incomes of the higher brackets and covers the unemployed on a national scale, | while on the other hand the ad- ministration-Green bill calls for a reserve plan, state by state, cov- ering a small portion of the em- Ployed workers for a limited pe- riod by an indirect wage cutting Plan of taxes on payrolls; Therefore be it resolved, That the delegation of 300 members of the A. F. of L. representing their local unions go on record endors- theless to be provided with useful | of Labor. tempts to gain true freedom of the | Coneress last Friday. A host of A. F. of L. trade union- | ernment, in the form of adjusted | no jobs of any kind. work.” The nature of such work, Benja- min declared, has ben clearly pre- sented in the Civilian Conservation Corps, which Roosevelt has declared will be continued and enlarged, a of work, in one phase} the militaristic and concentration na- ture, is akin to the same camps in fascist Italy, fascist Germany and fascist Poland. Another phase of this, he con- tinued, is expressed in the Roose- velt, intention to enlist the unem- ployed into isolated poverty-stricken communities, where they will eke out a bare existence and be re- moved from society and civilized life, Political Character of Parley Still another, Benjamin said, is the support given by the Roosevelt. regime to the starvation self-help schemes where workers are sent to scratch each other’s backs. Every section of the population was taken under the searching microscope of Benjamin’s scintillat- ing analysis—farmers, Negro people, the industrial population, the un- employed masses, foreign-born—and the class relations and forces brought into play as each group seeks to find political expression for its needs. “We see the reflection of this in the broadened political character of our Congress. Today it is not only the more advanced among the masses that realize the problem be- fore us, today vast masses who are still divided on other questions, par- ticularly on political questions, still retaining many differences of opin- fon, find it possible to unite as they have done in this Congress, in a PHAT’S ON Philadelphia, Pa. ORGANIZATIONS — Attention! All organizations are asked not to ar- range any affairs on April 26, 1935. The Fretheit Gesangs Farein has this date for its Grand ith Annual Concert in the Academy of Musie. ‘ “Ernst Thaelmann,” sound picture, first time in Philadelphia. Nature Friends Play. German Singing So- ciety. H. M. Wicks, speaker. Ail at Liebknecht-Kirovy Memorial Meet- ing. Wed., Jan. 9, 8 p.m. at Gewerbe Hall, 2532 N. 2nd St. Adm. 30¢. Auspices, Northeast Sec. C.P. Only Showing in South Phila. A sound picture showing the life and struggles of Ernst Thaelmann. Also anti-fasciet struggles in U.S., France, England, Friday, Jan. 11, 8 p.m. at 1208 Tasker St. Adm. 25¢. “Other organizations have like- wise done their utmost to prevent the support of this congress, to pre- vent their membership from taking | part in the fight for unemployment and social insurance and to pre- vent their participation in this con- gress. We have overcome this. We have made it clear to a large num- ber of workers that today it is not sufficient to give lip-service to the idea of social and unemployment insurance. We have a right to de- mand of those who claim that they | speak in the name of unemploy- | ment insurance that they shall give more than lip-service and that they shall give aid to the fight for the struggle for our demands. That is | the purpose that brings us to this congress. There are those that say they are in favor of this Workers’ Bill, that it is the best bill there is —yet they are absent from this con- gress. We must now say to them that it is not sufficient that you give us your approval. We need them in our fighting ranks. We need their help to bring their fol- lowers into joint action. The strug- gle for unemployment and social in- surance cannot be made effective unless all persons in need of it are in this struggle—all workers united regardless of occupation or indus- try, regardless of sex or color, re- gardiless of political opinion, regard- less of organizational affiliation— into one fighting body.” ‘Store Strike Leaders Are Silent After Parley Of 5 Days With Bosses MILWAUKEE, Wis.. Jan. 7.— After a five-day conference with representatives of the Boston Store, officials of the striking departent | store workers’ union failed to sub- mit any proposals for consideration at a strikers’ meeting held last Thursday night. Phillip Koerner, president of the Retail Clerks’ Un- ion, declared that there was nothing to propose. The meeting marked the begining of the 6th week of the strike of 1000 workers. Despite the bitter cold picket lines continue and with the support of the Communist Party, and active rank and file workers in A. F. of L, locals and Socialist Party branches there are occasional mess picket demonstrations. | C. P. Units—Grest the Daily Worker en its 11th Anniversary! Mary Borich of West Virginia spoke for those who live in isolated mining camps. Although ill from | tuberculosis, dropsy or other dis- | eases, miners’ wives must go on having more children and nursing them when they have not money | to buy milk. | How to Work for H. R. 2827 | On practical methods of organ- ization to work for the passage of the Workers’ Bill (H. R, 2827) there were many plans proposed. Made- lina Rodina, rubber worker of | Providence, R. I., finds that most of the girls in industry in her center are not organized in any trade union, but do belong to the Y. W. Cc. A. She urged the delegates to join that organization and become acquainted with the girls who are members. Dora Rich of the United Council of Working Class Women, New York, described the need of social insurance among the wives of job- jess workers and other women at home. Through such an organiza- tion as the Councils, women may unite in support of the Workers’ | Bill. Representing the American Federation of Labor Committee for Unemployment Insurance, Charlotte Todes appealed to the delegates to | work for the bill in the trade) unions, especially in those indus- tries where there are More women than men, as in the needle trades. Members of women’s auxiliaries should press for the bill within their own organizations. Dorothy McConnell spoke on the work of the American League Against War and Fascism in organizing women. “Don't put this convention away in a bureau drawer and forget about it when you get home,” said Ella Reeve (Mother) Bloor, as the sub-session drew to a ciose. “Follow it up in your local center with a cetermined campaign for immediate relief for jobless workers.” Later, amidst wayes of applause, an ovation that marked one of the high points in the Congress, Mother Bloor brought a report from the women’s sub-session to the main body of the Congress: “Women can fight even better than men can,” she declared. “Don't say to the wife when you get back home and she asks you about the Congress ‘Oh, you wouldn't under- stand.’ Women do understand. Bring maternity insurance before the groups at home in an organized way. Get support for it. Translate | white collar, cultural and technical press and to enforce its rights to collective bargaining. The group decided that “profes- sional workers” would be taken to mean all the customary old line professions (such as medicine, law, architecture, etc.) and all other workers (such as artists, engineers, chemists, physicists, technicians, ete.). The sense of the meeting and a later session of the Inter-Profes- sional Association, open to all pro- fessionals, was that the professional worker had come to realize that he was subject to the same economic handicaps and insecurity as the manual worker, and that his aim in social insurance was really the same as that of the manual worker. The composition of the profes- sional and experts group was: Fifty- three teachers and social workers, 102 office workers (who are in- cluded in the Inter-Professional As- sociation) and 298 professional “Those in the fraternal movement seek some sort of social security,” Bedacht declared. “But they fully understand that no system which is | on ‘an actuarial basis’ can take care | of the masses. We know that the| workers cannot pay and that the bosses will not pay. It is a problem | not of an actuary. but a problem of | people, of society, of government. When the United States went to war they did not start out on an actuarial basis by collecting pennies —they decided upon the number of | guns, of pounds of powder and poi- | son gas, of tons of vessels of war— and they found the means to nay. Today the immediate problem is of | saving lives. “The auestion is also raised of | constitutionality.” Bedacht contin-| ued. “The guiding principle must be to supply the needs of the masses. If such a thing is unconsti- tutional, we must change the Con- stitution that stands in the way.” O'Donnell Gets Ovation workers proper. Medical Sub-Session which supplements the Workers’ Unemployment and Social Insur- ance Bill in that it will provide full | medical care to the entire working population of the country, employed or unemployed, will be presented to | the National Congress by the dele- | |gates from the medical profession who drew up the bill at a special conference. The bill provides for full medical care at the expense of the government and employers, ad- ministered through Joint Health Commissions representing workers’ and farmers’ organizations and medical professionals and workers. Negro and Mexican Children on Strike at Unsafe School LOS ANGELES, Cal., Jan. 7.—A group of Negro and Mexican chil- dren are on strike here against an order of the Los Angeles school authorities forcing them to attend a dangerous school building which was condemned as a result of the last earthquake here. to attend the school. Their demands are being supported by the Young Pioneers, and the Young Liberators, the spirit of unity in this Congress into organized action.” the youth section of the League of Struggle for Negro Rights. A Workers’ Health Insurance Bill, The striking children are refusing | The | Plauded assembled delegates ap- vigorously when Bill! O'Donnell, who was released from | | prison in New Jersey, where he was {held for his participation in the; farm workers’: strike at Bridgeton last summer, spoke. the last seven months did I come to realize after having been a sol- dier and a state trooper. . . that I have become class conscious at the age of forty-seven.” He stated that his release from a six-month sen- tence was only due to the tremen- dous mass pressure raised in his be- half. And as each new speaker took the stand to report, another drama in | the struggles of the employed and unemployed was unfolded. Dirk | DeJonge, chairman of the Oregon delegation, who is still free pending appeal of his seven-year sentence on a charge of criminal syndicalism. reported in a slow and measured tone. He had been sentenced for his activities in behalf of the unem- ployed during the recent historic West Coast Marine Strike. He ap- pealed to the assembled delegates to lend their support to the resolution which his delegation would intro- duce against criminal syndicalism, Delegates Greet Keenan He urged the delegates to send resolutions of protest to District At- torney Bain of Portland demanding not only himself. but that two other workers who have bten sentenced be freed, and that the charges ists, elected by their unions, took the floor and pledged their support of the Workers’ Bill—Mrs. T, Wilson of the Enamel Union of Canton. Ohio; O. L. Posner of the League of Nations Lodge 195 of the Amalga- mated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers; the former president of the Nashua, N. H., United Textile Workers, who was expelled and ousted for his support of the Work- ers’ Bill; O. J. Hall of the Midvale Steel Federal Union 1889: Russell Eskin of Local 4439 of the U. M. W. of A. Louis Delaney, of Local 20 of the Mechanics Educational Socicty, re- ported that the Natioral Conven- tion of his union. which is now in session in Cleveland, had iust en- dorsed the new Workers’ Bill and pledged its full support to the Con- gress. Nathan Patton. a Negro, member of the United Citizens League and member of the City Council of Campbell. Ohio. declared that his city had been the thirteenth to in-| compensation (the bonus), never- theless their problem of unemplo; ment and insecurity is essentially \identical with that of all other work- |ers. They voiced as their sentiment that even if adjusted comnensation | is paid to veterans it would not last |long, and if paid might serve to | give the government an excuse for cutting off unemployed veterans from all further relief. | It was pointed out that one and a half million world war veterans are unemploved, and two and a “| half million veterans of all Amer- ican wars. Since the: average age of world war veterans is 42 and of all veterans, 45 years, their unem- ployment problem is a particularly | difficult one, it was stressed. Protest was made against the forc- ing of sixty to seventy-five thousand | veterans into C. C. C. camps. and the others who are obliged to live in government flop houses and transi- | ent establishments. New camps for veterans estab- ing the Workers’ Bill (H. R, 2827) | and demanding that the Executive Council of the American Federa- tion of Labor endorse and fight for the adoption of the Workers’ Bill as the only genuine plan of unemployment insurance. | And be it further resolved, That the delegation of A. F. of L. mem- bers of the National Congress de- mands that the Executive Council of the American Federation of Labor initiate a referendum of the membership through the Interna= tional Unions to register the opin- | jon of the members of the A. F. ; of L. on the Workers’ Bill, and | that the Executive Council carry out this mandate of the member- ship regardless of their individual Opposition; also, that the Execu- tive Council endorse the building | of unemployed relief committees | in the local unions of the country for immediate relief of the unem- ployed. lished work projects by the govern- | N e gs lk 0, Wh ite ment were denounced as forerun- mets the new Workers’ Bill, H. R./ners of American concentration S {camps. It was pointed out that they Negro Delegate Appeals for Unity | are located in the swamps and in- Manning Johnson, of the Trade | accessible points, superintended by Union Unity League of New York | FERA officials and the district po- “I want to state that only within| City, a Negro worker, brought thun- to the delegates to carry forward the unity begun here. “The unity of this Concres; must not be de- stroyed.” he szid. “We must carry forward the work begun here to complete unanimity of all groups. The unity begun here must be maintained—not only here today, but everywhere tomorrow. The shops. the mines and the mills can | be made the strongholds for unem- ployment insurance if we do this. We owe this not only to ours: but to the entire working cla: | Harvey Weisel, of the Discrimi- , Nation and Stretch-out Council of the United Textile Workers of America, representing 20,000 work- ers in the New England area, joined in the unanimous support rolled up | behind the deliberations of this his- toric Congress and pledged support of the Workers Bill. He appeal to the delegates from the U. T. W. unions to reach the permanent of- fices which his group will set up in Washington to fight against the dis- crimination growing out of the re- cent textile strike. Send your greeting to the Daily | Worker today, so that rour name can be placed on the Honor Roll in the special edition! | derous applause when he appezled | | lice. On Jan. 24 a veteran's march on Washington is to be organized. | Cleveland A.F.L. Local Writes Congressmen |to Support Measure | CLEVELAND, Ohio, Jan. 7—A \letter to all congressmen calling Unity Is Urged InFight forBill (Special to the Daily Worker) | WASHINGTON, Jan. 7—Onae iundred and fifty delegates at- tended the sub-session on the Negro and Unemployment Insurance held at the National Congress for Un- |employment and Social Insurance. |Lewis, of the Baltimore Urban | League, acted as chairman of the Conference, and A, W. Berry of the for their support of the Workers’ New York League of Struggle for Unemployment Insurance Bill, H.|Negro Rights, led the discussion, . | R. 2827, has been sent from here by | Thus two organizations which ere the Brotherhood of Painters, Deco- rators and Paperhangers Local Un- ion 867, last week. | The letter pointed out that the Unemployment Congress in Wash- ington included delegates from | American Federation of Labor io- cals as well as representatives from every type of workers’ organiza- tions, trade unions, professionals, religious and fraternal orders, “all united into one for the demand of | Unemployment end Social Insur- ance based on the Workers’ Bill.” It was the unanimous decision of Local 867 of the Painters Union \that this letter should be sent to j the United States Congress as a means of supporting the demands of the Workers’ Congress in Wash- ington |far apart in their basic program ‘stood united in the demand for ‘adequate unemployment insurance. | The need for united action of Nogro anc white was stressed in the speeches of the delegates. Del- egate Ccouton of Gallup, New |Mexico, who is president of the Na- tional Miners Union there, drew applause when he told of the united front in Gallup which reaches from children’s organizations to the j adults in the union. | The resciution adopted by the | |conference condemned the AAA | and the latest relief policies of the ; administration as inimical to the j \interesis of Negroes and demanded the adoption of HR 2827 as the only bill which provides genuine insur- ance for both Negroes and whites. |