The Daily Worker Newspaper, January 29, 1935, Page 2

eeeeri iid rarer y) ‘ Page 2 DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, TUESDAY, JANUARY 29, 1935 F (Continue Italian Fascist Government main- tains in the United States a num- ber of agents of its secret police, the Ovra,” he said. “Those initials stand for the Italian words m ing, roughly, ‘For the Security of the State,” I named, as one of > these in touch with the Ovra, an = Italian citizen who is a very in- fluential professor at Columbia University.’ ce ‘Mr. Valenti Tias educator Casa Ital Italiana has been Fascist - controlled a times. It remained for M to disclose, and for the Oo. sional investigators of F conceal, the fact that i is a Fascist secret agent Italiana has been defended, repeat- | edly, against accusations of spread- | ing Fascist propaganda, by Presi- | dent Nicholas Murray Butler, of | Columbia University. It was Butler | who proposed the tion. It is| housed in a ma ent $500,000 | building. “I told the Committee that the Ovra agents send to the Rome government or to the Italian con- suls the names of Italian-Amer- ieans, some of them citizens of the United States, who manifest any hostility te Rome cr Fascism,” the editor continued. “I said that on the basis of reports from these Ovra agents, the Rome govern- | ment and its consuls in the United States have terrorized Italian- Americans here and their rela- | tives in Italy. I named one busi- | ness man who withdrew advertis- | ing from my anti-Fascist news- paper, regretfully showing me a letter from the Propaganda Min- istry in Rome, serving notice that if he did not withdraw it, his busi- ness would be ruined. “I named an American citizen in Yonkers who has been perse- cuted for being ‘disloyal’ to Rome and Fascism. This person was seen at anti-Fascist demonstra- tions. Efforts were made to em- barrass him here. His relatives in Italy were arrested and warned that If he did not relent, all of them would suffer for it. I testi- fied that Italian consuls in New York City, Yonkers and Detroit have participated in such perse- cutions, “I told the Committee that Italian Consuls here have taken part in programs of ‘educational | work’ handled jointly by Catholic | parcachial schools and Fascist education and propaganda authorities in Rome. These schools are sending Italian-American chil- dren to Italy ostensibly for vaca- tions but actually to initiate them in the Fascist movement under the guidance of authorities in charge | of educational work of the Fascist State.” Editor Waits in Vain When he fnished his testimony in July, Valenti was assured that he would be called back to present to the Committee further documentary ~€vidence for the record. He was as- “Bured his leads would be investi- gated. He was subpoenaed for last September 7. But when he appeared on that day, in executive session, he waited in vain for a hearing. He was told to wait. He did, but was never called. : Later Valenti and a group of Italian liberals protested to the McCormack - Dickstein Committee against its evasion of Italian Fas- cist activity. They were promised that he would be heard during the ‘week of December 17. Valenti was scheduled to testify on January 20. But on December 15, the Commit- tee Secretary wrote Valenti’s rep- resentative in Washington as fol- lows: Italian Consuls Here Intimidate Anti-Fascist Workers LaGuardia ordered a heavy detachment of police to protect the Italian Fascist meeting at the Yankee Stadium last Columbus Day. The photo shows the police sending their horses against the ranks of the anti-Fascist workers in an attempt to break up the demenstration. Corriere D’America, is maintained by the Fascist Government through a well-known Fascist, Vinzo Comiti, | formerly an organizer for the de-| funct Fascist America, League of North now one of Pope's privat He is there to wi vities of the newspaper, just agents do through- as government out Italy. “For this, Pope receives the offi- cial Italian Fascist news agency telegrams free of charge, and, more important, the support of the Cath- | olic Church, which promotes the Pope papers, and the advertising of the American Steamship companies, Italian-American banks, and num- erous American importers of Italian goods. Mussolini: Censorship “Of course, Mussolini exerts a censorship here, forcing papers to sponsor fascist ideology as well as the Rome Government. Then Tresca made a statement which explains the document re- | produced here. He said: “Italian Consuls, upon hearing that an Italian-American has manifested any anti-Fascist sen- | timent, send these citizens form letters saying that they are ‘in- vited’ to come to our office. This is calculated to frighten the anti- Fascist, When he arrives at the Consulate, the Consul questions him about his political opinions, asking why he has gone to an anti-Fascist meeting and inform- ing him he had better stop ‘so that your family in Italy may live in peace.’ ” Officiais Get Tasks Mr. Tresca told me that in July, 1930, Mussolini called to Rome Ed- ward Corsi, now a LaGuardia Fusion official; Almarendo Porta- foglio, rich Italian clothing manu- facturer and former president of the Gianniti Bank of Sicily, and Judge Salvatore Cotillo of the New York State Supreme Court. “These three were given specific tasks to carry out for Mussolini in the United States on behalf of Fas- cism,” continued Tresca. must liquidate a controyers tween Fascists and anti-Fascists i the Italian Hospital. The: must bring the Grand Lo (New York) of the Sons of Italy back into the fold of the National, Fascist leadership.” The Grand Lodge of New York State withdrew from the Sons of Italy at a convention several years “In arranging final plans for the testimony to be received at the Public Hearing during the week of December 17th, the Chairman of the Committee has decided to con- fine the considerations before the Committee entirely to those sub- jects relative to Communist activ- ities in the United States.” Now it happens that Congress- man Dickstein is a recognized ‘creature of Tammany Halg And that Generoso Pope is a This series of sensational ar- ticles started in the Daily Work- er Friday, Jan. 25. A limited supply of back numbers is still available. Telephone Algonquin 4-7954, or write 50 East 13th St., New York, N. Y. of the Grand Lodge until he became a Supreme Court Juage, and still active in it. cons Mr. Pope also has had derable to do with forcing the | Grand Lodge with its 100,000 mem- | bers to publicly repent its previous anti-Fascist stand. “Judge Eugenio Alessandro, a Philadelphia Judge, regularly, for four or five years, has been going to Rome annually to report to Mus- solini on the progress of Fascist propaganda and activities among the 3,000,000 Italian-Americans. He goes h Giovanni di Silvestro, head of the Sons of Italy. Tresca Not Called The McCormack-Dickestein Com- mittee never bothered to call Tres -though he has been in the news of the capitalist press repeatedly in connection with anti- jes, and through his imprison- nt by American authorities for “distributing birth-control informa- tion illegally” was fought with much publicit by the Civil Liberties which contended it was a frame-up backed by Mussolini. From other rces the Daily Worker has information that Pascis propaganda is being ried on in language classes subsidized by the nm government through the agency of the local New York con- sulate, the Casa Italiana, or both, at the Lower West Side Center of the Children’s Aid Society. ‘ussolini ac- | The Children’s Aid Society is aj public social service agency partly subsidized by the City of New York. The Daily Worker has direct in- formation that the language class conducted in its Center at 219 Sul- livan Street is subsidized in full by the Italian government. Distribute Fascist Hymn Mrs. Zelinda Mennillo, director of the Center, had printed, at the ex- pense of the Center, several thou- sand copies of the Fascist hymn, “Giovinezza.” These buted to adult workers in the neighborhood who participate in ac- tivities at the center. The head of the Agmar Press, 55 King Street, has confirmed that the order was printed there at the expense of the Children’s Aid Society. power in Tammany Hall and a Mussolini henchman. It may be a mere coincidence, but I doubt it. Particularly since, Valenti said, | Mr. Dickstein is a personal friend of Mr. Pope, and Mr. Pope gave a private banquet for Mr. Dickstein on the Sunday preceding the date on which Mr. Valenti would have testfied but for the sudden decision to exclude every> thing besides ‘Communist’ activ- ities.” Valenti himself is said to have been threatened by gangsters work- ing for publisher Pope. Carlo Tresca, well-known editor of Il Martello, anti-Fascist language newspaper of New York, made this charge in his newspaper. He sent @ news release on it to all Man- hattan city editors for last Oct. 31. This release declared that, “an at- tempt is being made by Generoso Pope in this city to exercise censor- ship over the Italian language press by means of gangsters. An attempt is being made to inaugurate in the Italian colony in the United States the same political regime im the press as prevails today in Musso- lint’s Italy.” The despatch said Pope “physically attacked” and “threat- eped with a revolver” one of his edi- tors who was active in the News- paper Guild. It said that the editor of La Stampa Libera (Valenti) re- cently had been visited by “under- world characters” who were known to have been employed previously by Pope. Tresca’s release said: “These people ‘requested’ that La Stampa Libera cease to publish criticism of Pope. The editor of La Stampa Libera refused repeatedly to make any such commitments. On the occasion of their last visit, the underworld characters informed the | editor that they would not call again, and that the editor ‘knew! what that means.’ | I interviewed Carlo Tresca. | Tresca told me: | “In the Italian cozony It is a well- | ‘known fact that direct control of Pope's newspapers, I Progresso and ) ago, declaring itself autonomous and opposed to the Fascist national leadership. “But the Grand Lodge has been brought back into the fold,” Tresca declared, “and this, largely through the efforts of certain prominent | Italian-American politicians, espe- | cially Judge Cotillo, Grand Master The Daily Worker is informed that workers in these classes have protested against the singing of the Fascist song in the singing class connected with the lenguage course, and that these protest met insulting rebuffs. One, James Brotto, 154 information, pzotested and was FASCIST COMMAND TO U. S. WORKER! SIA AGENZIA CONSOLARE D'ITALIA ‘te maw orment mers Yenkes, N ¥798 ato so SKM Voslia complacerst ch precentarst nemonalerente im questo R. ufficio (Necowrhan 703) Te CONSOLARE e ‘This official command from the Italian Consulate in Yonkers com- mands an American worker to “appear personally” for an unstated purpose. This diplomat and others, powerful Fascist representatives and influential Fascist secret agents, were accused before the McCor- mack-Dickstein Committee of persecuting this and other American workers for anti-Fascist views. The Committee is whitewashing the —— oon answered by his. singing teacher: “You must be an Italian Jew! Any- body in this class can be a Fascist if he wants to.” Another witness in a secret ses- sion of the McCormack-Dickstein Committee was Peter Allegra, who worked for the DeNobile Cigar | Company, 512 Hamilton Street, Long Island City, continuously for 23 years, only to be fired after be- coming General Secretary of the old Anti-Fascist Alliance of North America in 1925. | Tells of Persecution Allegra told me about his ap- pearance before the Committee. He said he accompanied Valenti to testify, not only on his old story, which was thoroughly publicized in the press at the time, but on the manner in which he has been per- secuted since then. After vainly seeking work, he said, he managed to set up a small cigar-making shop of his own with his life’s savinge. Because of Fascist pressure on cigar dealers, he said, he is still barely able to eke out an existence. Al- legra said he was told that he would be called by the Committee when Valenti returned with documents, but never heard from the Com- mittee again. This might have been the last of | Italian Fascism as far as the McCormack - Dickstein Committee Was concerned, but for two facts: Valenti continued to seek to place his evidence in the record of the Committee even after he was re- fused an opportunity to testify publicly; and «the Committee has discovered, meanwhile, that the facts about the Valenti testimony are known. Officials Pass Buck Since then Valenti has conferred privately with Chairman McCor- mack of the Congressional Commit tee, The material has been turned over to the Department of State for “Investigation.” This is merely an- | other buck-passing gesture. It would 22,000 Drivers Out on Strike (Continued from Page 1) |“These fellows will be stopped. It | takes a couple of days before they jall find out that there is a strike on.” Officials of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, of which the strikers are members, continued to issue statements that the strike is not sanctioned officially, and is “just @ rank and file movement.” Almost the entire day none could be found for an interview, as they were in conference with Justice Humphrey, who heard further argu- | ments on the injunction which he had not signed yet. Later an- nouncement was made that the Committee of 25 was leading the strike. Arthur McKeever, secretary of |the Merchant Truckmen’s Associa- | tion stated that after an inspection | tour, it was found that virtually all |of the 3,000 trucks owned by the | members of the association were al- ready idle, While top officials of the team- sters union are dickering in court and issue repeated warnings that the situation is out of their hands and may develop into a general strike, the workers are going ahead to make the strike 100 per cent ef- fective. Picket squad cars have been flying in all directions checking up on picketing of every pier and garage. Almost unanimously, teamsters express a determination to defeat the injunction through effective strike action, and give clear evidence | that the officials simply had to trail | along behind the powerful rank and file forces that has been collecting | UP. while they were dickering with | Judges and politicians to prove that ioe injunction is “illegal,” Michael Cashal, vice-president of the Broth- | erhood’ of Teamsters, and Joseph | Ryan, President of the International |Longshoremen’s Association and [seni of the Central Labor Council again declared today that Commu- | nists are responsible for the devel- | opment of the strike, because of the continual agitation through leaflets (and groups within the locals, to | fight the Humphrey injunction. A story apparently released by the same labor officials, who are so |anxious to disclaim any responsi- | bility for the splendid demonstra- | tion of the teamsters and printed jin all capitalist papers, alleged that \the Marine Workers Industrial | Union, with headquarters at 140 | Broad Street, issued a call for the, strike, effective last midnight. M. W. I. U. Gives Support The Marine Workers Industrial Union has issued a leaflet pledging |full support of the striking truck- men, but denied that it had issued the call for the strike. The Marine | Workers Industrial Union, however, | will take immediate action to mobil- lize all its forces for the winning | of the strike by giving the greatest suppott to the truckers and long- | shoremen. The union, in its leaflet, also called on all longshoremen to sup- |port the striking truckers, The union is now endeavoring to | affiliate its members with locals of the International Seamen's Union |of the A. F. of L. on the basis of |@ united fight for union conditions |on all ships. The union has also jand 229 Tenth Avenue for the use of the strikers. Many truckmen are \already taking advantage of this | offer. In New York offered its halls at 140 Broad Street | not curprise me if, in its final re-| When a reporter of the Daily port, the Committee should make| Worker tried to interview Joseph | still another face-saving play, such|Ryan, yesterday, Ryan bellowed: were distri- | | well as the Fascist dictatorship in| | Italy. as referring to this evidence and| “What? You fellows have a nerve si ting still further “investiga-|to ask me for a statement after tio what you did to me! You'll get Behind all this is the Tammany |" statements from me! Get out!” Hall connection of Congressman| All efforts to question him on his Samuel Dickstein. It is a recognized | Tecent statements of Communists fact that Tammany Hall is an in- | Sanizing a general strike in New strument of the big bankers who | York were fruitless, as he only let ‘ forth a volume of vituperations, Huanes “she: Clty. of New ork *S | obviously furious at the way the rank and file upsurge in the locals Invest in Fascist Countries ‘The House of Morgan has floated | millions of dollars worth of bonds to finance the Hitler dictatorship, just one amounting to $100,000,000. This gives Morgan a continuing interest Bleecker street, according to my j in sustaining the capitalist dictator- | ship in Italy. Besides, top im- | perialists of American industry have | direct interests in Fascist Italy. The |General Electric, a Morgan giant, |owns a vast interest in public | utilities in Fascist Italy. Thus top industrialists have a direct, imme- | diate interest in sustaining the op- | pression of the Italian masses through the Mussolini dictatorship— and in protecting exposure of the blows this dictatorshp directs across the Atlantic, at Italian-Americans in the United States, including citizens. More important, this same hand- ful of American imperialists, busily repressing the American masses through the Roosevelt government and plotting to sustain their rule by open fascist dictatorship when nec- essary, are aiso looking to the Ital- ian brand of Fascism as a possible “way out” for them. During this investigation I have been told re- | peatedly by individuals close to his circles that Gerard Swope of the General Electric is consciously seek- jing means cf “applying” Mussolini’s | “corporate state” dictatorship in the | United States, Swope as much as admitted this publicly when he ap- plauded a recent N.R.A. conclave of big business men with the gleeful exclamation to the Washington press, “Nothing like this ever hap- pened except perhaps in modern Italy.” | We have seen how the McCor- | mack-Dickstein Committee covered | up the Fascist army plot, according | to the wishes of individuals close to | the House of Morgan. All the evi- | dence here presented points to con- | clusion that these same influences are behind the whitewashing of Italian Fascist activities here dis- closed, \has placed him and other labor leaders on the “spot.” Between 20,- |000 and 25,000 longshoremen will be affected if the truckmen’s strike | remains solid. The Trade Union Unity Council and New York A. F, of L. Trade Union Committee for Unemploy- ment and Social Insurance have issued statgnents to their affiliated |organizations and to the entire la- |bor movement for immediate action |to support the truckmen. The truckmen and longshoremen are called upon to take the situation in their own hands and make the strike against the injunction and for union conditions 100 per cent effective. The workers are advised to elect a large strike committee representing all locals, garages and piers. Despite the severe cold 30 strik- ers picketed at 374 Street and 11th ‘Avenue and turned back every truck | that attempted to pass, Nick Mazro, N. J. had driven 40 miles from Manville; N. J., not knowing there was a strike. The pickets made an exception in his case and permitted |him to pass. But Mazro refused the offer, stating that he would |park right on the spot until his jbosses telephoned him that he has obtained the union's permission for Mazro to drive the truck or to take it back. Hundreds of policemen have been stationed at all piers and garages. But hardly any violence has been reported during the day as thus far es was no attempt to use scabs. NAZI PAPER PRINTS PROTEST BRUNSWICK, Jan, 28—The Nazi | “Braunschweiger Zeitung” has pub- |lished a letter from a reader ex- pressing astonishment at the fact that Herr Schacht, all-powerful Minister for Economy, should be spending his holiday with his family n Switzerland at a time when the lack of foreign currency is making traveling abroad impossible for any- one, driving a truck from Summerville, | THOMAS BOYD ‘Thomas Boyd, Novelist, C. P. ‘Candidate,Dies' BRIDGEPORT, Conn., Jan. 28.— Thomas Boyd, widely-known novel- (ist, world war veteran who held the | Croix de Guerre as the result of | service in St, Mihiel, Soisson and | Belleau Wood, and Communist can- | didate for Governor of Vermont in} the last state election, died on Sun- | |day afternoon of a cerebral | | haemorrhage in the home of a} friend. He was thirty-six years old. | Boyd, whose health was shattered | during the war, who wrote the war| novel, “Through the Wheat” which was universally acclaimed by critics and readers as an important con- | tribution to the literature of the | | World War, joined the Communist | Party after long years of critical observation of the society in which , he lived. His observation and ex- | perience brought him, during the | current economic crisis, to the con- | | Viction that only the Communist | Program offered the key for the re- | organization of society. Boyd wrote several biographies |of American historical figures and | -was planning at the time of his death, to write a history of Amer- | ican revolt. | Michael Gold, discussing Boyd's | literary work and his activity in| the Communist Party, in “Change the World” on Dec. 3, said: | “Boyd is a first rate talent, crea- | \tive, vital and productive. Such | writing as Boyd’s is an integral part. of the revolutionary movement.” | Reply Is Made ToAttack Upon | Steel Parley (Continued from Page 1) | recently by President Tighe rep- | resent nothing more than an at- | tempt to force the old guard reac- tionary policies of the union’s pres- ent officialdom down the throats of the members. “Tighe’s so-called ‘outlawing’ of | | the conference is such a move, in| | which he tries to establish that the | international executive board, and | | not the rank and file, the member- | ship—are the union. “There is nothing ‘illegal’ about } the conference. It is called on} | the decision of an earlier joint dis- trict meeting held in the West End, | Pittsburgh, on Dec. 30, which was! | attended by 180 elected delegates | from the sub-lodges of five dis-| | tricts. Every member of the inter- | national executive board was pres- jent at the time except Tighe, and | they said no word against the con- | | ference. The same resolution pro-| | vided for inviting representatives of | the local unions of the United Mine | Workers and the Aluminum Work- | | ers Union. “The rank and file, the member-! | ship, is in revolt against Tighe’s do- | nothing policies and against the de- | lays of the Steel Labor Board,| | which allow the companies time to | | build their ‘dummy’ unions. But our purpose is not to build a dif- ferent union, as Tighe charges, but to make of the A. A. a democratic union representing the interests of its members. “Our demands were drawn up at the 59th convention last year: $1 an hour minimum wage; the six-hour day, five-day week; abolition of the company unions; recognition of our | | union; equal rights for Negro work- | ers; enactment of the Workers Un- | employment and Social Insurance Act (H. R. Bill 2827) by Congress. “Because we are determined to fight for these demands if necessary, | Tighe tries to raise the outworn |‘red scare,’ -howling ‘Communists’ | and ‘Reds’ at the militants. He does | this only to split our ranks. It is | the same maneuver to which the companies resort when they desire to split us. “Are these demands red? Does | fighting for them make us Com- munists? If so—very well, but we are going to fight for them just the same, and no splitting maneuvers will turn us from our course, “The membership, the rank and file of the A. A., will be represented at the Feb. 3 conference.” WORLDWIDE JAPANESE BROADCAST TOKYO, Jan, 28.—The activities of the official Japanese broadcasting stations are soon to extend by short~ wave transmission capable of being picked up throughout the whole world, it was revealed here today. In well-informed circles it is ex- pected that Minister for Foreign Affairs Hirota will devote the $500.- 000 formerly paid to the League of KELLER IN WAKE RESIGNS» SILK UNION POST OF DEFEAT Leader of Repudiated Manager—Phillian PATERSON, N. J., Jan. 1716 of the American Federa: Lovestoneites Quits as Is Nominated at the General Membership Meeting 28.—Following the acceptance of the resignation of Eli Keller as general manager of Local tion of Silk Workers, Paterson District, last Thursday, the rank and file workers at the gen- jeral membership meeting of the plain goods department ‘Hungarian Union Men Back Rakosi (Continued from Page 1) place west of the city of Donau, where a state of civil war reigned and where the advance troops of the revolutionary armies met the counter-revolution, Those who were at that time ex- ecuted as spies of the counter- revolutionary forces have now be- come the basis of the “indictment” against Rakosi, although the court today admitted that the ones “le- gally” responsible for the execu- tions had long been sentenced and punished. Witness Verifies Testimony Rakosi made very clear that by the laws of the Red Army itself none but the Army’s leadership was en- trusted with the right of execution. Throughout the period of the Hun- garian Soviets his chief office had been Commissar for Trade. In the brief interval in which he acted as Political commissar for an army division he had been besieged with his troops out of all touch with the general staff. The witness Herczeg | completely verified this tesimony. Rakosi suddenly asked Herczeg what part the Italian army mission ‘had played in the counter-revolu- tion. The witness was about to | answer when the presiding judge ordered him to shut up. “Weren't the Red soldiers bribed with Russian gold?” the judge inquired. “We needed no hired mercen- aries,” Rakosi answered meaning- fully. The judge’s color rose. “Gold would never have made our soldiers so heroic,” the defendant added “Even the prisoners we took freely contributed to the fighting fund of the Socialist and Communist Parties.” Green Admits PowerBehind Workers Bill (Continued from Page 1) sumable goods?” Black asked Green. “Yes,” was the reply. On Side of Big Business Herbert Banjamin, Executive Sec- retary of the National Action Com- |mittee for Genuine Social Insur- | ance, now in the Capitol waiting to appear before the Senate Fin- ance Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee to urge a favorable report on the Workers’ Bill (H. R, 2827), attacked Green's statement as “an effort to support the attempt of big business to block enactment of genuine unemploy- ment and social insurance.” Benjamin declared: “This is to be seen from the fact that Green merely offers a few mild amend- ments to a measure which is fun- damentally opposed to the principle insurance. The position of the cial insurance will be presented not |by Mr. Green, but by their own representatives when they appear this week. “I call upon workers everywhere to renew and intensify their oppo- sition to the Wagner-Lewis Bill and to repudiate the position of Green by sending more telegrams and resolutions to the members of the House Labor Committee, the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee.” Green’s Proposals Green advised a federal law which would make it necessary for the States to adopt “minimum” stand- ards to be eligible for government financial assistance in the admin- istration of State “unemployment insurance” laws. Green “recommended”: 1. Minimum “payments up to at least $15 a week.” This is in sub- stantial agreement with the Wag- ner-Lewis “maximum” of $15 a week in view of the experience of workers, under the N. R. A. in find- ing out that the so-called minimum is in reality the maximum. 2, Instead of the Wagner bill proposal for a 3 per cent tax on payrolls a 5 per cent tax, under which, he said, “the benefit period could be extended to not less than 26 weeks in any one year.” The Wagner bill proposes a 15-week benefit period. Neither suggests satisfactorily what the worker is to live on the rest of the year. 3. “A waiting period not to ex- ceed one week,” instead of the four weeks’ period provided for in the Wagner bill. Are you passing your copy of the Daily Worker to someone else Nations to foreign propaganda, to read? \ of real unemployment and social | workers on unemployment and so- | —$put forward Sarkis Phillian for the vacated office. In resigning, the leader of the bankrupt Lovestoneites here read his own statement before the joint executive board, which represents about 10,000 members of the silk federation. Keller said that he | could-not work with the new people ;whom the workers have elected to jthe joint board from the various departments in the last elections. In these elections the rank and filé in the plain goods department com- | pletely repudiated the bankrupt | Lovestoneite renegades from Com- munism and elected their own slate, When Keller finished his state- ment of resignation, Keller made |the face-saving gesture of saying that he was resigning “under doc- tor’s orders.” The resignation was unanimously accepted. Phillian Nominated Sarkis Phillian, the rank ‘and file candidate, was nominated at the Saturday meeting of the broadsilk department for the election of gen- eral manager and other officials to jtake place Saturday, Feb. 16. The broadsilk department also nomi- jnated candidates for four organ- | izers, to be elected at the same elec- tions. Sarkis Phillian is now serving his | second term on the executive board. He ran for reelection on the rank and file slate in the last elections which won a complete victory over | the so-called “progressive slate” of Keller. He is a weaver by trade, and is now working in the Paterson mills, He has long been known for his militancy on the picket lines, fighting a continuous battle against | injunctions and for the demands of the silk workers. He was largely responsible, in his position as a, member of the executive board, for unifying all the independent silk workers unions. He helped to merge all the existing unions into the American Federation of Silk Work- ers. He fought against the betrayals in the last general silk strike. not only against Gorman and McMa- |hon, but also against Eli Keller and | his machine rule. Williams Is Reactionary The other candidate, who was nominated by the conservative group in the jacquard department, Alex Williams, is one of the or- ganizers of the jacquard depart- ment. He is well known to the Pat- |erson workers as one who in. every | strike has sent the jacquard work- jers back to the mills. In the last | strike, picket lines had to be put | around the shops of which he is or- ganizer. He. with Keller, is equally responsible for the mishandling of the last general textile strike, in |which the Paterson workers were | Sent back without even a vote, and which caused demoralization in the union ranks. Keller's resignation shows the complete bankruptcy of the policies of the Lovestone renegades from (Communism leadership in the | Unions, and conclusively proves the | statements of the rank and file that | Keller was in the union. not repre- | senting the interests of the workers. |He has proven himself, while in | the union leadership, as endorsing the same policies as Gorman and | McMahon, The capitalist papers of Paterson lyesterday stated that Keller re- signed because he could not put over |& scab contract which offered no | wage scales to the silk workers, a | contract which left the question of wages to the arbitration boards. He wished a secret ballot on such a contract, but the workers over= | whelmingly rejected this proposal. 4. No employee contributions, which the Wagner bill allows the States to collect.- Old Age Scheme Green’s recommendations for “old age assistance” outlined: 1. “Total monthly pensions” of “not less than $50 a month .. .” | instead of the possible $30 a month | Proposed by the Roosevelt admin- ‘payrolls, a 5 per cent tax, under {give the aged the same as the un- employed—a minimum of $10 a week, plus $3 for each dependent. 2. The reduction of the age limit to 60. Under the Wagner-Lewis bill the age limit is 70, and 65 after | Jan. 1, 1940, In speaking on the Wagner-Lewis bill, Green admitted that the bill “will become operative in two years’ | time,” that the proposed social in- | Surance board includes no “labor representative,” that the bill places the primary responsibility on the States, and that the bill “fails, in fact, to establish any standards whatever for State laws.” He added: “It does not prohibit compulsory employee contributions; it does not fix the length of the waiting period; it does not establish the amount of benefits to be paid nor the time during which the payment of bene- fits shall continue. . . .” Co-operating with the Roosevelt administration in not opposing its determination to prevent the enact- ment of real unemployment insur- ance, Green offered the subsidy plan as “the most satisfactory basis for a permanent, national unem- ployment insurance program,” de- spite his earlier admission, in his statement, that “our employment problem is not a state problem.”