The Daily Worker Newspaper, February 20, 1935, Page 1

Against U.S. Attacks on U.S.S.R! Mass in Thousands in Madison Square Garden Monday Night! Sei Daily Workers at Strike Meetings Of Your Union Press Run Yesterday—44,900 Vol. XII, No. 44 Entered as second-class m: New York, N. Y., > * under the Act of March 8, 1879. Daily .QA Worker CENTRAL ORGAN COMMUNIST PARTY U.S.A. (SECTION OF COMMUNIST INTERNATIONAL ) atter at the Post Office at YEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 1935 NATIONAL EDITIO (Six Pages) Price 3 Cents ELEVATOR ‘TRUCE’ ANGERS WORKERS Demand for Insurance Cannot Be Stilled, Says Browder HOUSE NATIONAL GUARD INCREASE IS 80 FOR BREAKING STRIKES Bill to Train Reserve| Army of CCC Boys Is Reported MORE WAR PLANES Total War Pr Program of U. S. Now Reaches Five Billions WASHINGTON, D. C., Feb. 19.— Heavy appropriations to prepare the National Guard for coming strikes, a plan to enlist jobless C. C. C. youths for an indefinite period in a reserve army, and the largest war| budget in American history were! reported for action today by the House Committee on Appropriations. The measures contained a warn- ing to all other countries that the Roosevelt. government is planning | a military-naval machine second to| none, Congress is considering the plan| of Chief of Staff General Douglas | MacArthur, notorious for his attack | against the veterans in Washington | on “Bloody Thursday,” who has pro-| posed that ell C. ©. C. boys be given |next few weks, should be rushed to two more months of military train-| the national office of the I. L. D., ing, and then enrolled for a certain | Room 610, 80 East 11th Street, New | “at a small sti- is, City, number of years } pend,” he said, “of let us say, $1 a mor | Millions for National Guard Svivadier-General Seth E, How- ard of the California National | G 1 presosed and received recom- | mondation for increased appropria- | tions for the National Guard on the, grounds that the “strike situation throughout the nation” requires it. | Roos; t budget gives these strikebreaking State troops over $25.999,000. for their next year’s expens' 000 th a@ naval base at Hawaii from the proposed $300,000,000 “public works” bill that will soon be introduced, the| hand and loading a gun with the total war budget for the next twelve | other, Mussolini late today gave the months reaches one billion dollars. Increase in Army On a direct order from Roose- velt, the army was increased from frontier. 128,000 to 165.000 enlisted men. The army bill also provided for! tionary measures of a stronger na- 547 new airplanes, the immediate | ture.” strengthening of the National Guard, and the rapid motorization of the army’s Cavalry Corps. Budget estimates for War Depart- ment items were sharply revised and are $49,230,715 over the 1935 appro- priations. Changes permit fourteen days’ training for 20,000 instead of 16,000 reserve officers; 42 days at camp for R. O. T. C. students; and 97 more planes. More War Planes Airplane procurement would come out of $45,383,400 provided for the Air Corps plus a contract authoriza- tion of $7,686,753, The committee estimated the plane purchase pro- | gram would leave the army by June 30, 1936, with more than 1,500 serviceable craft. | The bill carried $2,226,000 for air- | plane radio equipment and $470,000 for modernizing radio station equip- | ment. “Taking the navy into ac- count,” the report said, “the 1936 budget for national defense is ap- proximately $100,000,000 in excess of the largest regular annual appropri- enactment of the budget law.” The budget for the navy was $477,224,000 for the next fiscal year. Five Billion for War ‘The Roosevelt government has al- ready outlined a war program that reaches close to five billion dollars. : With all possible speed, the naval / bases in the Pacific and throughout the South American waters are be- : , ing geared for war-time efficiency, Together with the war survey of American industry, the Roosevelt government plans to be ready for war action without losing a mo- ment. That the Roosevelt govern- ment iz e*ming for another impe- \ rlalisi war is mo Jonger even denied \ by influential official quarters, ae ations for national defense since, | into account the $20,000,- | expected very shortly for | | jown stuggles. FUND UGHT Rush Funds | Today to Aid| Scottsboro) “We' the workers of the Domestic Workers Union of Harlem realize the importance of the urgent need | for funds to carry on the Scotts- boro and Herndon defense, even | though unable to pay our rent. We send you this dollar as our con- tribution toward the defense.” This letter, received by the In- ternational Labor Defense, indicates the deep realization by the most jexploited of the Negro and white workers, of the importance of the Scottsboro-Herndon fight to their It can bé placed alongside the jcontribution of $7 literally collected |penny by penny, from the starving Negro workers of Birmingham, for the defense, Funds urgently needed to carry on the Scottsboro campaign, and |the defense of Angelo Herndon, whose case is due to come up before ithe U.S. Supreme Court within the WAR SPURRED BY MUSSOLINI Troops Moved Behind | Gestures of Setting Up Neutral Zone ROME. Feb. 19—Playing the game | of gesturing “negotiations” with one | world press a palpably vicious tale | of Abyssinia’s refusal to set up aj} |“neutral zone” on the Ethiopia Therefore, Mussolini an- nounced, he would take “precau- What character of the Ethiopian “refusal” to negotiate was, a gov- ernment spokesman was unwilling to explain to the newspapermen pres- ent, who asked him point blank for additional information. That Italian imperialism is merely marking time, in order to better launch a terrific onslaught against the Negro nation of Abyssinia, is certain from much specific evidence uncovered today. A few days ago, prior to the departure of 2,000 colo- nial troops from Naples, a number of streamlined armored trains were freighted to Somaliland. They will be used to transport squadrons rap- idly from one section of the battle front to the other. New battalions of soldiers left Messina today and will be followed CALLS FDA, TO JOBLESS 5 SRG | {Communist and Other | Leaders Speak Before Senate Groups WASHINGTON, D. C., Feb. 19—/ Branding the administration's Wag- | ner-Lewis “social security” bill as! a new insult flung in the face of | the millions of unemployed, Farl | Browder, general secretary of the| | Communist Party, today spoke for | the Workers Bill before the Senate Finance Committee, which is con- | ducting hearings on the Wagner- | | Lewis bill. Among other trade union and un- employed leaders who spoke before | the committee were Herbert Benja- | min, secretary of the National Joint | Action Committee for Genuine So- cial Insurance; Israel Amter, secre- tary of the National Unemployment Councils; David Gordon, New York secretary of the A. F. of L. Trade Union Committee’ for Unemploy- ment Insurance; and Nathan Cron- heim, for the Local Action Commit- ; tee of the Philadelphia division of the Inter-Professional Association | for Unemployment Insurance, | Senators Avoid Questioning The Senate Finance Committee, quite obviously, had decided to re- | frain from questioning Browder, the trade union and the unemployed representatives to keep the discus- sion on the Workers’ Bill down to a minimum without conflicting with the democratic pretense made in| scheduling spokesmen for the Com- | munist Party and other working class organizations. After the conclusion of each address, Senator Pat Harri- | son of Mississippi, chairman of the | Committee, declared, “All right,” } LL UL | and called the next witness. [Following is the text of Browder’s | statement to the Committee.) | Feb, 19, 1935.) Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of | the Committee: Speaking for the Communist Party, for the approximately 600,000 organized workers who have en-| dorsed our program, and for the! several millions who have endorsed } our position on unemployment in- surance, I want to oppose the Bill | before this Committee which em-| bodies the Administration concep- tion of unemployment, old-age, and social insurance. Government Responsible It is the position of the Commu- nist Party that it is the responsi- bility of the national Government to provide, against all those vicissi- tudes of life which are beyond in- dividual or group control, a guaran- tee of a minimum standard of de- cent livelihood equal to the average of the individual or group when normally employed. This, always a vital necessity, has now, due to the economic crisis and the protracted depression, become literally a mat- ter of life and death for millions, and for the main bulk of the popu- lation a basic factor for maintain- ing standards of life. Any proposed legislative enact- ment which claims to forward this} aim of social security must be! judged by the degree to which it embodies the following provisions: 1) It must maintain the living by several thousand troops tomor- row. HE “truce” which Mayor LaGuardia is attempt- ing to force on the building service workers, if it goes through, means a serious defeat for their de- mands, . This “truce,” signed by James dent of the Building Service Employees Union, and the union attorney, MacGuire, halted the strike of the building service workers at the terms of the employers. What are the terms of this “truce”? They put into force for six months the decision of Mayor LaGuardia’s arbitration board. The “truce” rejects the demands of the workers for minimum wages for all categories and enforces for a six months’ period the one low minimum wage, without higher mini- (Continued on Page 2) arbitration. Bambrick, presi- | to deal a serious has temporarily This “victory” is Francis Gorman The Building TALKS ON BI EARL BROWDER (.P. MENAGED IN MISSOURI Legislative Committee Approves Legion’s “Sedition” Bill ST. LOUIS, Mo., Feb. 19.—A bill | to outlaw the Communist Party on grounds of “sedition” proved by the Hou the State legislature. This makes the seventh state in the country which is now consider- ing such measures, the others being Washington, Georgia, New York, | Ohio, New Hampshire and Califor- nia. The bill was introduced by Repre- sentative Ryan of Webster County and carries the endorsement of the “Americanization Committee of the Committee of | American Legion.” The Communist Party is issuing a call to trade union and working fight against this measure, | also organizing mass delegati | the civil rights of the people.’ One Is Freed In Coast Trial By Michael Quin (Speciai to the Daily $vorker) SACRAMENTO, Calif., Feb. 19.— John Fisher, one of the Sacramento defendants in the criminal syndi- calism trial here, was freed yester- day on account of insufficient evi- dence after seven months’ imprison- ment awaiting trial. The prosecution’s case is rapidly crumbling under the hammer blows of the defense, but the frame-up political machine and hand-picked jury still constitute a serious menace to the remaining defendants. Leo Gallagher, International Labor De- fense attorney, yesterday demanded that count five, relating to “overt acts” be dvopped. Judge Lemmon was forced to admit that there is at best only the most slender evi- dence against a few of the defend- ants on this count and no evidence | against most of them. Neil McAllister, appointed special (Continued on Page 2) By signing this agreement, Bambrick has helped blow at the demands of the build- ing service workers and has given in to the tactics of the Realty Board. Bambrick said, “We won.” similar to the “victory” claimed by in the textile general strike. This “victory” was followed by wholesale blacklistings, attacks on the union and on wages, Service Workers must reject the “truce” terms imposed by LaGuardia through his strikebreaking threats, by the Realty Board, and ac- cepted by Bambrick. To accept this “truce” means GROUP BACKS R has been ap-| | class organizations to organize a| should give wide publicity among It is|the workers that a strike is on in| ms to | the Anthracite, and that they should go to the State capitol to fight for | not to permit themselves to be used -AN EDITORIAL mums for semi-skilled and skilled. The “truce” Stipulates that all disputes must be submitted to WRIT DEFIED BY MINERS: APPEAL FILED United Hine Workers Union Men Urged to Back Fight (Special to the Daily Worker) WILKES-BARRE, Pa., Feb. 19.—| Following a meeting of the general | body of the Glen Alden Coal Com-| pany miners, the United Anthracite Minezs of Pennsylyania, which is leading the miners’ strike here, an- |mounced today that the strike will continue despite the injunction of | Judge Valentine which orders the | workers to return to work. | An appeal against the injunction will be immediately filed with the| State Supreme Court at Philadel- | phia. The independent union has | refused to place its complaints be- fore the Anthracite Board of Con- ciliation on the ground that that) | body is composed only of represen- | tatives of the coal companies and | top officials of the United Mine Workers Union of the A. F. of L. | from which it cannot expect justice. Union Statement Through its attorney, Marianelli, the U. A. M. of P. declared: “While the court’s preliminary in- | junction and the new union's appeal |is of utmost importance to the new union it is also important to the U. M. W. A. and all other groups of organized labor because of the issue involved.” | The Glen Alden Company has not | openly made attempts to operate any of its mines for four days. | Sharks Active Employment sharks are reported | active in Pittsburgh attempting to recruit scabs. | The Luzerne County Unemployed | Council as well as the Communist Party have sent appeals to their re- spective organizations in Allegheny County (Pittsburgh) that they | las tenn N.B. qs Ristices ‘Get Runaround Refused an audience by Mayor | | LaGuardia Monday, when they | came to request his intervention to settle their walkout, a large dele- gation of National Biscuit Company strikers went to the Regional Labor Board, at 45 Broadway, yesterday. | Ben Golden, executive secretary of the Board, questioned whether the case was under the jurisdiction of the National or the Regional La- bor Board. It did not “concern Sec- tion 7A of the N.R.A.,” Golden said. The workers, however, pointed out that the very existence of their union is now at stake as the com- pany is recruiting scabs and re- fuses to negotiate with them. About 30 scabs reported at the | Tenth Street and Avenue D plant and are housed and fed by the com- pany inside the plent. Eighteen scabs. were brought in yesterday heavily guarded by a cordon of police. All pedestrians and pickets was cleared off the block when the strikebreakers were herded in, recognition. the terms of the ‘armistice.” industries, when the workers gave and accepted a similar “truce,” the workers’ demands, all categories. to give up for six months the demands for higher wages, decent working conditions, shorter hours, and The building service workers are dissatisfied with They such compulsory arbitration has brought about in the textile, auto, steel and other industries. it meant company That is what the present “truce” will mean to the building service workers, LaGuardia says that after six months, the wages will be re-classified, and the wage minimums set for But the “truce” leaves open as to ECORD WAR FUND NEW BUILDING STRIKE LOOMS IN BROOKLYN AND MANHATTAN AREAS Espionage Act Revival | E | Is Pushed by Roosevelt Navy Department Introduces McCormack Anti- Labor Measure in Affairs Cc (Daily Worker Weanicied Bureau) WASHINGTON, D. C., Feb. 19.— The Roosevelt Navy Department's | Proposal to set heavy penalties for | urging or soliciting members of the Military, Naval or Reserye forces to disobey regulations, and. to provide for confiscation of publications or letters doing this, was sent today to the House Military Affairs Com- mittee, The bill was introduced by Rep- resentative John W. McCormack, Chairman of the Dickstein-McCor- mack Committee. It covers one of the recommendations made by the Committee which suppressed and | whitewashed fascist developments jand falsely attacked the revolution- ary workers’ movement. Legislative experts pointed out to the Daily Worker that one of the immediate effects of Bowormack's Congress Military ommittee |bill would be to re-enact a passage of the wartime espionage act of 1917 which was repealed following the Armistice. This World War jlegislation, under which trade unionists both in and out of the revolutionary movement were per- Secuted, provided for searches and | Seizures under warrants issued on | jany of a multitude of pretenses. The McCormack bill would pro- vide confiscation of publications or \letters “under a search warrant is- tit pursuant to the provisions of Title XI of the Act entitled, “Act to {punish interference . Espionage,” jand so on. This is the Wartime | Espionage Act. The title referred to contain twenty-three sections. \It authorizes searches and seizures issued by any United States Com- | (Continued on Page 2) COMMUNISTS” PLEDGE AID Call for the Unstinted Support to Building Service Men Charging Mayor LaGuardia, agent of the big bankers and property Sharks, “with having prepared a premeditated campaign of murder of striking workers, and of police strikebreaking on a wholesale scale,” the New York District of the Com- munist Party issued an appeal yes- terday to the whole labor movement to answer the challenge of the Wall Street city administration by throw- ing their whole solid support to help the building service men defeat the | treacherous hunger award and win their demands. Text of Call The ringing call of solidarity of the Communist Party says in full: “The New York District of the Communist Party fully and whole- heartedly supports the building service workers against the shameful starvation award of the Mayor's Arbitration Board. The building service workers voted overwhelmingly to strike for de- cent minimum wages for all workers, for human conditions of work, against the frightful ex- ploitation forced upon them by the real estate magnates. They are fighting for the right to main- tain their families, for the right (Continued on Page 2) | ENABLE THEM know what | TACKING THE In these up their strike MANDS? the workers. | what minimum wi THE SIX MONTHS’ TRUCE IS PUT OVER BY LAGUARDIA AND THE REALTY BOARD TO ‘PACT’ GIVES. MEN NOTHING Mayor and Bambrick Are Targets of Work- ers’ Resentment | ea | Resentment against the breaking of the growing elevator strike move- ment by Mayor LaGuardia, federal and local officials, through an agreement to arbitrate, mounted high among building maintenance workers yesterday. Dissatisfaction with James J. Bambrick, president of Local 32B of the Building Serv- ice Employes International Union, was rife among the members of his | organization, However, it was Mayor LaGuardia | for whom most of the epithets were |reserved, “LaGuardia, the strike- |breaker” was a common phrase among the men yesterday, where it | Was not something more profane. Among older trade unionists the ac- j tions of the mayor recalled the| | Strike-breaking mobilization of the | |police when a transit strike threat- |ened some years ago in the city. Others felt that the mayor was us- ing the strikebreaking not only to| aid the large real estate operators and financial institutions, which gv or control most of the city’s | Skyscrapers, but to pose as a hero, in much the same fashion as the | |then Governor Coolidge of Massa- ;chusetts did when he broke the \ (Continued on Page. 2) | Building Men! Reject LaGuardia’s Arbitration! Strike! ‘age will be set after six months. TO USE THIS TIME FOR AT- UNION STILL FURTHER, FOR DISMISSAL AND BLACKLIST OF MILITANT UNION MEMBERS. WHAT GUARANTEE HAVE THE WORKERS THAT AFTER SIX MONTHS THEY WILL BE IN unions, union-smashing, blacklist and a loss of all | A BETTER POSITION TO WIN THEIR DE- The real estate sharks and strikebreaker | LaGuardia will be better prenared to act against In fact, the Realty Board wili use these six (Continued on Page 2) Service Man in Five Harlem Buildings Stay on Strike 2,000 TIL L OUT Agreenients A ttacked By Workers for Not Taking Up Wages Great dissatisfaction was by the building against the “truce” voiced service workers signed in City Hall early Tuesday morning where- of by the workers most of the struck buildings e ordered back to work by officials of the Build- ing Service.Emovloyes Union The “truce,” which gave up the demands of the service workers for a six-months period, was signed by James Bambrick, president of the union, ‘and the building owners, representatives. | In all sections of the city big mass meetings were called last night and tonight, at which a vote on the “truce” was expected to be taken up, | Statements of section union offi- | cials as well as the rank and file indicated that the }union members, strike may break out again at any |moment in large sections of the nee In a press conference late yester= |day afternoon Bambrick. president of the union declared that 2,000 service workers in one hundred buildings are still striking. Bambrick de- clared that a conference will be held today between union officials and representatives of the Mid-Town Realty Owners, the Pennzone Asso- ciation, the Association of Mer- chants and Property Owners. The union leaders will demand at these conferences. Bambrick said, | the forty-hour week, the closed shop agreements, and a classified wage scale, with the lowest minimum for the poorest paid category to be $26, $23 and $20 per week according to the height of the b: These demands tomoetings conference, Bambrick told reporters, are to include buildings under the “truce” agreement with LaGuardia, that is, those who previously signed the arbitration agreement with La Guardia. The closed shop agree- ment will be demarided for all build- ings he said, 600 Have Closed Shop Six hundred and forty buildings now have the closed shop agree- ment, he said, mainly in the fur, garment and textile centers. Three | to four thousand buildings not cov- ered by the “truce” with LaGuardia, are oven to “noundings” he said, | meaning strike. Six thousand build- ings come under the “truce” agree- ment with LaGuardia, he said. Those buildings which come to | agreement with the union at to- morrow's conference, Bambrick said, will begin the new scale of pay March 1. When questioned regarding the | Statement of Shortiman, strike com- mittee member. challenging Bam- brick’s power to accept the “truce,” | Bambrick replied, “They all look | alike up there. Some one else might | have said that.” | In a statement issued late yester- at |day afternoon Bambrick tried to soften the wing anger of the workers by aining” his actions. He said the ttlement” covered (Continued on Page 2) | Resolution on Y. C. L. To Appear Tomorrow | ‘The resolution adopted by the en- |larged meeting of the National | Committee of the Young Commu- | nist League will appear in full in tomorrow's edition of the Daily | Worker, | Every member of the Young Com- munist League has been urged to provide himself with a copy of t