The Daily Worker Newspaper, February 26, 1935, Page 2

Y WORKER, NEW YORK, TUESDA Y, FEBRUARY 26, 1935 1,000 Educators Denounce Hearst As Menace To Progress ‘WOULDN'T TOUCH HIM W ITH TEN- al | FOOT POLE, | ISTORIAN DECLARES Nation-Wide Federation of Teachers, Clerics and Newspapermen Favored To Combat Attacks Of Yellow Jourzalism ATLANTIC CITY, N. J., Feb. 24.—More than one thou- sand leading teachers and educators of the country, meeting here at the fifty-sixth annual convention of the National} Education Association, cheered as Dr. Charles Beard, noted | historian, branded William Randolph Hearst as a menace to all standards of honesty and? - progress. The educators’ group passed a Tesolution asking the Nye Senate Committee to “investigate any re- lationship that may exist between the Hearst papers, industrial and financial interests and the spurious anti-Red campaign now current in the press.” Charged With Muckraking Hearst, who has been running en organized campaign against all pro- gressive thinking in the schools, under the banner of a vicious anti- Communist drive, was denounced by Dr. Beard Beard said: “There is not a cess- pool of vice and crime which Hearst has not raked and exploited for money-making purposes. No per- son with intellectual honesty or moral integrity will touch him with a ten-foot pole for any purpose or to gain any end. Unless those who represent American scholarship, science and the right of a free peo- ple to discuss public questions freely stand together against his insidious influences he will assassinate them individually by every method known to yellow journalism—only cowards can be intimidated by Hearst.” Resolution Passed A resolution was also passed urging the Nye Committee to “in- vestigate the propaganda in the newspapers, schools, motion pic- tures and radio carried forward to increase the fear of war and pro- mote the sale of munitions.” To combat the reactionary ten- dencies of Hearst, a resolution was passed favoring a nation-wide fed- eration of teachers, clergymen and newspapermen to safeguard the freedom of the press and of dis- cussion. Union Wages Are Demanded (Continued from Page 1) a copy of the Unemployment Coun- cil ‘call to its affiliated organiza- tions. This call stated: “It is imperative that all employed and unemployed, organized and un- | organized workers throughout the country be mobilized for vigorous resistance to President Roosevelt’s attempt to override the Senate vote on prevailing wage amendment to Public Works Bill. We urge thet Congressmen and Senators be de- luge* with telegrams and resolu- tions from all organizations, mass meetings, etc., demanding the in- clusion of the prevailing and union wage provision. Demands Set Forth “Wherever possible, joint mass meetings and outdoor demonstra- tions should be organized within two weeks in cooperation with local central labor bodies and other trade union organizations. Ali actions must serve to raise the demands for the prevailing wage, for mini- | mum number of hours to insure adequate income, for adequate cash ‘relief to all unemployed regardless of whether they can be provided with public works jobs or not, for -immediate enactment of the Work- ers Unemployment, Old Age and Social Insurance Bill, H. R. 2827, Which provides for compensation | equal to average wages for all time lost. Through united militant ac- tion, the gdministration’s vicious at- tack on the living standards of the American masses can and will be defeated. Urge vou go into such ac- tion immediately.” In a telegram to the Senate Ap- | propriations Committee the Na- tional Unemployment Council de- manded that trade union rates be paid on all work relief jobs. The telegram further demanded the en- actment of the Workers’ Bill, H. R. 2827. Press Barrage Begun WASHINGTON, Feb. 25.—Speaker Joseph W. Byrnes, an administra- tion leader, today expressed the be- | lief that the House would stand by | Roosevelt's demand for a slave wage | on work relief. Meanwhile, a newspaper barrage was started to bring about “mass pressure” in the form of telegrams from mayors and governors, social work leaders and others in support of the Roosevelt “security wage” of | not more than an average of $50 a month for work relief. In Atlantic City, Jesse Jones, chairman of the RFC, told a con- vention of the National Education Association that public support should be raliied behind the Roose- velt. stervetion wage. Senators and Representatives yes- terday admitted that a tremendous mass movement was afoot and that they were being deluged with tele- grams and resolutions demanding that trade union wages be paid all Telief workers. Urge Unity in ScottsboroCase (Continued from Page 1) | Rep amR Sstussead | of the American Scottsboro Com- mittee and shameless disrupter of | the Scottsboro defense, has stated: | “Those who believe in justice and freedom for the Scottsboro boys should take hope for a fa- | vorable verdict if the brilliant, masterly presentation such as At- torney Samuel S. Leibowitz made for the constitutional rights of these boys is to weigh in the mat- ter as it is now before the high- est tribunal of our land... . His powerful plea for the rights of Negro citizens to sit on grand and Petit juries and his vivid presen- tation of the denial of that right in the Scottsboro case was a mas- ter stroke for Negroes’ rights, and certainly was a complete answer to any who have doubted his ability to defend these boys be- fore the U. S. Supreme Court.” In other words, Mr. Pollak did | not even figure in the case. { To Dr. Hynes and his high-class Unele Tom friends, the Scottsboro | hearings were significant only so far as they vindicated Mr. Leibo- | vi and only so far as they provide ringboard for further attacks on the unity of the Scottsboro mass defense, The Negro reformist newspapers— the Amsterdam News, the New York | Age, etc.—are leaving no stone un- | turned to build the reputation of a/| law at the expense of the Scotts- | boro boys. Evade Unity | Not once do these lackeys mention | the necessity of the broadest unity of the Negro masses and white toil- | ers in struggle for the lives and | freedom of They have already feverishly begun | the task of building the confidence | of the Negro people in the U. S. Supreme Court by trying to lull them into depending upon the “fair- r ’ of these puppets of their white ruling class masters. The enemies of the Scottsboro boys in an effort to divide the mass defense which must go hand in| jhand with the legal defense are raising the false cry that the par- ticipation of Mr. Leibowitz is a’ re- versal of the I. L. D. position. But | it must be sharply pointed out first that since the beginning of the Scottsboro case the I. L. D. and its | supporting organizations have con- sistently followed a policy of unit- ing the entire Scottsboro defense. For almost four years only the strength and power of this unity has saved the lives of the Scottsboro boys. Secondly, as Mr. Leibowitz stood in the Supreme Court present- jing the facts of the Patterson- | Norris appeals he was during that | | moment actually fighting for the lives of the Scottsboro boys. There can be oes of forces while | they are actively engaged in fight- | ing for the Scottsboro boys, for this is the purpose of the united front. | Sincere Unity I. L. D. Policy Not only was there no reversal of | the position of the-I. L. D. but there | was the most conscientious and | sincere carrying out of the united |front by the I. L. D. in a manner which convinces all honest elements {of the correctness of the united front tactic in fighting for the lives | of the Scottsboro boys. Hand in | the Scottsboro boys. | Demand Union Wages on Work Relief Jobs | (Continued: from Page 1 tile and the other industries of the coun- jobs, They want these conditions ernment jobs as well as on private jobs. This fight must now be the fight of all workers. Roosevelt's “security wage” should The “prevailing wage” non- sense should be exposed, The fight should be rejected. be for the union wage. This is the only way to preven 500 Workers \Ohio Struggle Augurs Demonstrate For Relief NEW CASTLE, Pa., Feb. 25.— Marching through a blinding sleet storm, 500 unemployed workers demonstrated here last Saturday to place their relief demands before the local relief officials. An eight point list of demands were presented by the committee for: adoption of the workers mini- mum cash relief budget; adequate medical and dental treatment; rec- ognition of all union committees; all works division funds for housing projects; full share of surplus food; six hour day, thirty hour week; $1 an hour minmum wage; endorse- ment of the Workers’ Bill H.R. 2827; the stopping of foreclosures and sheriffs’ sales. hand with this policy goes the duty of the I. L. D. and all its support- ers to expose ali those who in ef-| fect are weakening the defense of the Scottsboro boys. The future tasks in the effort to set the Scottsboro boys free are clear. They consist in immediately consolidating all friends of the Scottsboro boys—Negro and white— into a powerful unity to bombard the Supreme Court in reversing the Patterson-Norris lynch verdicts. It is plain that the George E. Haynes’, the Amsterdam News’, the New York Ages’ and all their disruptive cohorts will continue their attempts to split the Scottsboro defense into pieces. Basic Issue Not only does the unconstitutional exclusion of Negroes from juries show that Patterson and Norris were indicted, tried and sentenced illegally, but it shows that all Ne- | groes who are imprisoned and tor- tured by the brutal state officials of the Southern lynch system are | deprived of their rights in a vicious | flouting of the fundamental rights of the Negro people. This basic issue must be made the rallying point for the widest sections of the Negro population and white sym- pathizers in a gigantic struggle for the lives and freedom of the Scotts- boro boys and for the complete Political, economic, and __ social equality of the Negro people. The lead of the I. L. D. in unit- ing the legal defense must serve to the Rev. Haynes’ group for uniting all true friends of the Scottsboro boys and all true fighters for Negro freedom and constitutional rights, This unity must be sextended. The present | Scottsboro Action Committees should approach those who adhere to the Rev. Haynes group for united action. Joint mass meet- ings to report the supreme court hearings; post cards and resolu- tions to the supreme court; re- ports on the hearings in all churches and lodges; campaign for funds for the defense. The Scottsboro Action Commit- tees should be real united front organs uniting around the Scotts- boro issue and the constitutional rights of Negroes, with the broad- est representation of churches, lodges, clubs and mass organiza- tions. For a united front on the free- dom of the Scottsboro boys and the civil rights for Negroes! The workers want union wages, union conditions and union recognition on all ) general wage cutting drive, not only by Roosevelt, but in private industry as well. Bvery local union workers’ meetings, on gov- § and Congressman. jobs should be insepa: t a new, tions for the union wage and against the “security wage” should be adopted in every Telegrams, letters and resolutions should be sent to every Senator Special protest meetings should be or- ganized on the broadest united front basis to draw all workers into this fight. fight for union wages on all work relief the fight for adequate relief and for the Workers Social Insurance Bill H. R. 2827. Communists in every city, in every trade union, should should act. Resolu- week, tl in every workers’ take the initiative. organization, Around the fight for union wages and the 30-hour he united front of the workers should be advanced; the trade unions of the A. F. of L. should be built. All readers of the Daily Worker, all mil- itant workers, all Communist Party mem- The Let us wages! ably bound up with Let us Senators bers are urged to raise this question in their trade union. all get together to fight for union Let us unitedly defeat Roosevelt’s plan to cut wages. quickly register our demands with and Congressmen! Rubber Strike Wave 900 Strikers at Ohio Rubber Co. Meet Attacks | Of Hired Thugs with Fighting Spirit and Brickbats, Keeping Scabs from Plant WILLOUGHBY, Ohio, Feb. 25— the Cleveland gangsters, dignified ment to the city charter that would |The rubber industry strike wave, | with the title of “deputy sheriff” | practically prevent workers’ and which every one in this section has | seen coming, has been brought | nearer by the strike in the Ohio | | Rubber Company. The Federal Court at Cincinnati has announced |that the Goodrich and Firestone election cases would be heard in| April. But the absence of union | representatives at the hearing | points to the fact that the rubber ; Workers in the largest companies | pol not counting on the court for a solution of their problems. | Meanwhile 900 employees of the Ohio Rubber Company, members of | | the United Rubber Workers’ Union, | Federal Local 18284, have been meeting the gas bombs and black- | jacks of the company thugs with | stones, bricks, bolts and a solid | mass picket line. | The policy of the local govern- | ment is to use company strong-arm men against the strikers, saving the | police as a reserve to be called out | Jater. At the present time, the | | Police pose as “friends” of the | strikers, even urging them to “keep |out the scabs.” | Notorious Scab-Herder on Job | William Frew Long, head of the | Associated Industries of Cleveland, \long known as a top-notch scab- | herder and connected with the anti- when the strike broke out. Company Refuses Demands At the only meeting held so far with union representatives, the company refused all of the de- mands. These are for recognition of the union as against the com- pany union, and for seniority rights. At this conference, Lake County Sheriff Kilcawley and County Prosecutor Daniels were brought in as “neutral members.” |The deputizing of the Cleveland gangsters and the clouds of tear gas have convinced the strikers that this “neutrality” is lined solidly be- hind the Ohio Rubber Company. The importance of the Ohio Rub- ber Company strike for the entire industry makes it apparent that the lefforts of the company to. smash the strike and the A. F. of L. union have just begun. In spite of the success of the workers so far in tying up the plant, it is clear that several steps must be taken to strengthen the strike as the com- pany increases its attacks. New Steps Proposed A broad strike committee consist- ling of the most militant and active | | strikers should be elected. At the | present time negotiations and the | direction of the strike are in the | |labor “Secret Seven” committee of hands of the officers, together with the Cleveland Chamber of Com- George Roberts of Akron. Compul- merce, is “handling” the strike for | sory arbitration should not be per- | the company. Under his expert mitted or any return to work with- |guidance, the company has been out all the workers voting on the | trying to bring in seabs and well- | settlement. | guarded truckloads of food for those on the inside. Most of these are office workers and foremen who have been in the plant since the | | beginning of the strike and are| | afraid to come out. In spite of the | | heavy attack on the pickets, the | arrest of six of them, the injuring | |of many more and the. gassing of | | Women and school children, not one | All strikers, their wives amd chil- dren, as well as the unemployed and sympathizers, should be on the picket line. To make this effec- tive, the strike demands should be broadened to include hiring of some of the laid-off men, relief for the ‘unemployed, abolition of speed-up, higher wages to meet the rising cost of living. Wide publicity should be eeaetedt Front Acts Against Bill in Detroit By A. B. Magil (Special to the Daily Worker) DETROIT, Mich., Feb. 25.—Joint | action against a proposed amend- | workers’ parties from participating | in elections was decided on today at et conference of representatives of | | the Socialist, Proletarian and Com- munist Parties. | The joint committee of the three | parties decided to launch a protest campaign, contacting organizations and individuals, with the immediate | objective of compelling the City | Council to grant a public hearing | on the proposed amendment. The amendment proposes that in- | stead of nominating petition signa- | tures, checking of which costs $10,- | 000, every candidate be required to pay a fee equal to three per cent of | the annual salary of the office he is | hundred dollars. Candidates receiving more than | cessful candidates will have their | fee returned to them; the others | lose it. | If the amendment is passed by the City Council, it automatically | goes on the ballot in the elections | April first for approval of the voters. | Following the meeting of the joint committee, Al Renner of the Prole- tarian Party, and Max Salzman of the Communist Party, denounced the measure before the City Council. Leader of S.P. Is Convicted In Arkansas FORT SMITH, Ark., Feb. 25.— | Rev. Claude C. Williams, leading | Socialist, one of eight persons ar- | ested last week in connection with | | the strike preparations of relief single scab has been able to pene- | given the strike in order to enlist . | trate the picket line and get inside. | the support of the rest of the work- | Malad was ouried ericay niet | On the contrary, the determined |ers and farmers in the county, and |” ® charge of barratry e resistance of the strikers has landed a number of scabs and foremen in | the hospital and injured several of | protests should be organized against the city and county authorities for aiding the attacks on the strikers. Congress Group Votes | Another $38,000,000 | For Pacific War Bases | WASHINGTON, Feb. 25.—The | | Roosevelt war program proceeded | | another step forward today as the | | House Committee on Naval Affairs | | voted favorably on the measure | | Siving $38,000,000 for the building of naval bases and shipyards in | Hawaii, the Canal Zone, and the | | Pacific Coast. | Ten million dollars will go to an | immense floating drydock in Ha- wail, naval outpost in the Pacific. | ‘There will also be millions for | airplane bases in Hawaii and the Canal Zone. The significant fact of the whole matter is that the money is ex- pected to come from P.W.A. funds, originally planned for “public | works.” Roosevelt is rapidly building a record-breaking war machine in the Pacific as Wall Street monopolies are getting ready to plunder the Far East, including the territory of the Soviet Union and Soviet China. Deterding in Germany In War Deal with Nazis (Special to the Daily Worker) BERLIN, Feb. 25 (By Cable).— Sir Henry Deterding, British capi- talist and president of the Shell Oil, Ltd., arrived in Berlin yesterday, according to reliable information. Deterding is to carry on negotia- tions concerning supplying Germany with fuel for military purposes, duty exempt. Actually this is a loan to Germany, to be paid back in kind. Deterding is soon to be received by Hitler, it is reported. | litigation). The jury took only five minutes to return its verdict of “guilty” against the minister who was re- cently ousted from his church be- cause he supported the struggles of the sharecroppers against appalling conditions, Eight relief workers are docked for trial on the same charge, in- cluding Horace Bruan, young Com- monwealth College graduate, who earlier in the week was convicted on anarchy accusations in the State’s second such case in recent weeks. The relief workers are de- |manding more food and better | working conditions. Landslides in England LONDON, Feb. 24 (U.P.).—Snow- storms and landslides today had climaxed a week of unsettled weath- er throughout England. Inhabitants of the town of Abertysswg, Wales, were reported to be alarmed by the the “moving mountain” which is. | said to be again moving as a result of recent heavy rains and is threat- ening the township, TRIAL OF FIFTH VICTIM IN SYNDICALISM CASE DELAYED IN PORTLAND | Tide of Fascist Legislation Rises in Oregon as First Four in Syndicalism Trials Are Con- victed Under New 10-Juror Law By Dawn Lovelace PORTLAND, Ore., Feb. 25.—The trial of Earl Stewara, fifth of Oregon’s nine criminal syndicalism defendants to face trial, has been postponed to April 15. The trial was originally set for March 4, but rising protests have forced | the delay. The Oregon criminal syndicalism law has claimed | four victims out of the nine indicted running for, but not more than two } fifty per cent of the vote of the suc- | actions of Mount Troedrhifuwch, | Service Strike Blocked Again (Continued from Page 1) they had to deal with Merritt. As @ result, the realty owners them- | selves were to be present when the conference met again last night at 7:30 at the Hotel Commodore. Mahoney told a Daily Worker re- porter the conference would prob- ably last through the night and that he thought a settlement would be reached in this conference. This was in line with Bambrick’s state- ment that there would be only, one session. The agreement made by union of- ficials to call no strikes during the conference, threw away the union’s strongest weapon by removing all Pressure against the realty owners while a settlement was being reached. Strike Put Off Again Postponement of the strike which would have involved 20,000 building service workers in the garment and | fur districts of Manhattan, followed Bambrick’s appeal to Francis B. Biddle, chairman of the National Labor Relations Board, Upon receiving word from Biddle that he had asked Judge Jeremiah T. Mahoney, chairman of the New York Labor Relations Board to act as mediator, Bambrick issued orders to the 400 shop stewards in the dis- trict to stand by for twenty-four hours. Bambrick stated that he had telegraphed to Washington because the union would have. no. further dealings with the Curran arbitra- tion committee, appointed by Mayor LaGuardia, The realty owners on the other hand, broke off confer- ences, declaring they would deal with the union only through the Curran committee. 66 Buildings Sign Individual agreements have been signed with sixty-six buildings in the garment and fur district. The union demands minimum wages of $22, $24, and $26 for porters, de- Pending on the size of the building, with a graduated scale for other employes. The owners, most of them mem- bers of the Midtown Realty Owners’ Association and the Penn Zone As- sociation, offered flat minimums for all classifications of employes at $20, $22 and $24, refusing to con- sider a graduated scale. If this of- fer was turned down, the owners Proposed arbitration by the Curran committee, whose earlier award had been entirely in keeping with the wishes of the owners. A partial victory was scored at the Salmon buildings, according to union officials. The property at 55 West 42nd Street, one of the three Salmon buildings involved, agreed to take back the union men who were locked out last week. Teachers Fight Pay Cut DULUTH, Minn.—(F.P.)—More than 500 teachers in Duluth public schools have refused to sign con- tracts for the present fiscal year to protest a 24 per cent pay slash. The dead-line for their return expired February 15 with but 215 of some 750 teachers having signed con- tracts. The school directors are threatening the teachers with loss of pension rights if they do not fal! in line. | Se, ee a ie eee Ae ee | CALIFORNIA ‘JUSTICE’? AND THE SACRAMENTO CASE Determined by means of the! | Criminal Syndicalism trial of the | | Seventeen working class organizers | | and the drive for the passage of | suppressive laws in the Legislature | to outlaw strikes and working class | | struggles in California the prosecu- tion representing capitalist inter- ests is bringing the entire agricul-| tural strike wave of 1933 and 1934| | into the trial as evidence against | | the defendants. | Ranch owners and deputy sher- | iffs from Contra Costa County and} the San Joaquin Valley have been | | Placed on the witness stand, whose | lying testimony beclouds the issues | and hides the fact that strike strug- | gles under militant leadership have | resulted in raising wages for tens of thousands of workers. The giant cotton strike of 1933 in| which three workers were killed and | | about thirty men and women were | | wounded by the ruthless violence of , armed vigilantes was introduced as | railroading evidence against the de- fendants, Ranch owner Frank M. Peterson, who not only participated in the vigilante attack at Pixley, but was accuséd by workers of having been one of the killers, took the stand last Friday (Feb. 8) and gave testimony which was not only aimed directly at me but reflected upon all of the seventeen defendants. | | Signed Warrant | | He 4s the person who signed the| ! psiwweseacresaerms emcee warrant charging me with criminal Syndicalism and whom subsequently I sued for false arrest. I faced trial on this charge upon evidence that was so flimsy that even the jury, composed mostly of ranchers, dis- agreed, and consequently ithe charges were dismissed. This testi- mony again is being used against me in this present trial and also reflects as railroading evidence against the other defendants, This ruthless killing and wound- ing of the strikers resulted in a nation-wide protest which forced the fact finding commission ap- pointed by Governor Rolph to ad- mit the fact that workers’ civil rights were being violated through- out the agricultural fields. This re- sulted in forcing the local authori- ties to stage a fake trial of eight growers on the charge of murder. They were subsequently acquitted. Next year the workers placed a boycott on Peterson's ranch and the others who participated in the killing. Merely “Disturbances” The vicious framed testimony of one of the deputy sheriffs now goes so far as to declare that there was no strike at all, merely disturb- ances caused by agitators.. The most treacherous aspect of Rancher Pe- | terson’s testimony is the accusation that the workers themselves had By PAT © done the killing in spite of the fact that no vigilantes were touched by bullets. He has given an elaborate and carefully rehearsed account of the historic scene in Pixley as an eye- witness and declares that the shots were fired from the doorway and the second floor of the strike head- quarters, which was the local office of the Cannery and Agricultural Workers’ Industrial Union. He de- nies the presence of vigilantes de- spite the fact that he admits hav- ing been summoned from his ranch at Earlimart by Jack Hill, son of Sheriff Hill, who stated that “Hell was popping.” The truth is that there was no “hell popping” whatso- ever until the vigilantes mobilized and attacked the workers. Peterson at first denied that he was armed, and it was not until International Labor Defense Attorney Leo Galla- gher had grilled him for more than an hour that he admitted he had brought his shotgun with him from Earlimart. Intending to firmly link the whole of his lying testimony with the C. 8. defendants, Peterson stated that he heard me make a speech shortly before the Pixley massacre in which he quoted me as saying, “If they want trouble, we'll give it to them. We'll take the law in our own Hands. We'll make the streets of Pixley as red as Harlan, Kentucky.” HAMBERS What I really said on that day was: “Plans have been made by the growers for a concentrated at- tack at all points. We are faced with the immediate task of solidi- fying our ranks and refuse to be intimidated by any attacks what- soever. It is evident that they are determined to make Pixley a sec- ond Harlan, Kentucky. Under the Jaws we have the right to organ- ize, strike and picket, and these rights must not be relinquished by us nor violated by unlawful attacks of vigilantes or police. Already, force and violence and bodily harm has been inflicted on us by the growers. Our appeal to the county authorities, as well as to the State to disarm the growers and protect our rights has met with no re- sponse. We must be ready and will be ready to use all force that is necessary to do what under the law we have a right to do. From now on we must be fully determined, no matter what the suffering or vio- lence is committed aaginst us to carry on until our strike is won.” It is impossible for one short. statement to describe the full evi- dence on which the prosecution hopes to railroad us. Over one hun- dred and fifty items of working class literature which has been openly published, displayed and sold for many years has been introduced against us. The witnesses who have already testified against us are six police Officers, five stool pigeons, a clerk from the State Department of. Criminal Identification, two ranch owners and a former deputy sher- iff of Contra Costa County. All of these witnesses are definitely under the thumb of the special prosecutor, Neil R. McAllister, who was defeated by the people for re- election as district attorney and Subsequently appointed by Attorney General U. S. Webb to continue the prosecution of the C. S. cases. Behind the scenes we have a united front of the capitalist oli- garchy who are pulling every string to get convictions. Some of these organizations are, the Industrial Association of San Francisco, the P. G, and E., the Bank of America, the California Packing Corp., the State Agricutlural Bureau, all ihe Ciambers of Commerce and the Associated Farmers. It is a united front of capital against the whole working class who are rebelling against the miserable conditions forced on them by the social order. All their evidence is framed and rehearsed and cross-examination by Attorney Gallagher and the de- fendants is hampered by constant objections of the prosecution which are sustained by the court. The testimony is being submitted to a reactionary jury, hand-picked by the prosecution after the defense had exhausted its challenges, The prosecution had eighteen challenges left, so they cleaned out anyone whom they had any doubts about and installed jurors whom they could trust to aid in the railroad- ing. Mass Protest Needed Faced with this grim railroading Machine, we have only one hope of avoiding convictions and sentences to the penitentiary. That. is an immediate and powerful protest from the working class and their friends throughout the country. It is not a matter concerning only the defendants ni this case. It is a matter of vital concern to every worker, This is a test case in Cal- ifornia which will determine the future activity of the workers, Con- viction in this case means that the iron heel of the C. S. law will come down on every workers’ organiza- tion and will also be used against any progressive thinking man or woman or any group sponsoring freedom of speech and organization. Fight for these demands: Freedom of all working class pris- oners including the eighteen C. S. defendants. Against anti-working class legis- lation. For passage of the C. 8. law re- pe bill now pending in Legisla- jure, Unity of action of all people in defense of workers’ rights Build the United Front as a result of the West Coast mari- time strike last summer. Don Clus- ter, Young Communist League or- @anizer, was sentenced to a year and paroled “because of his youth;” Dirk De Jonge was sentenced to seven years, and faces trial on a second indictment brought since his conviction and sentence on the first; Kyle Pugh, of Medford, whose “crime” was selling literature, was sentenced to five years; and Edward Denny, organizer of the unemployed single workers, to two years. Indictments Are Reprisal Steward is the last of four work- ers named on an_ indictment brought about as.a ruling class .re- prisal to the indignant protests of Portland workers against the shoot- ing down of strikers last summer, Like Cluster, de Jonge and Denny, he is charged with “presiding. at, conducting and assisting in con- ducting an assemblage of persons, to-wit, the Communist Party, which assemblage did then and there un- lawfully and feloniously advocate the doctrines of criminal syndical- ism and sabotage.” The meeting was a public mass rally in defense of the strikers. ‘Throughout the trials of the other defendants, the State has clearly shown that the reactionary indus- trial interests are out to suppress working class organizations and lit- erature. The criminal syndicalism cases in Oregon and California have a direct connection with the pro- posed federal legislation barring working class publications from the mails, and striking at labor organ- izations through new drastic “sedi- tion” laws. They are part of the Roosevelt-Hearst-Macfadden drive against the working class. The growing attacks on the toil- ing population of Oregon are shown in the flood of open anti-labor leg- islation introdticed ‘at the present session of the legislature. One measure would outlaw po- litical parties and independent can- didates who are members of, or affiliated with, any political party or organization “which advocates the overthrow by force and violence of local, state or national govern- ment, by radio, speech or press.” It would also disfranchise persons be- longing to or affiliated with such organizations. i Another measure would inval- idate, in effect, the recall, initiative and referendum by out-lawing the circulation of petitions. Still an- other, recently killed in the Senate, would have done away with the jury system in large counties, set- ting up a “jury commissioner” ap- pointed by the Circuit Judges, wha would hand-pick juries. : At present Oregon has a-“ten jur- or” law, slipped over on. the workers under a subterfuge, which provides than ten out of the twelve jurors are sufficient for conviction. One of the first cases to be tried under this law was a worker charged with “assault and battery,” by a welfare functionary. : Convicted by Ten-Juror Law All of Portland's criminal syndi- calism convictions were obtained through the provisions of the ten- juror law: Cluster convicted, 11 to 1; De Jonge, 10 to 2; Denny, 10 to 2. Another legislative proposal would remove the restrictions against par- ticipation by state police in labor disputes; set up fascist machinery Placing labor unions under the con- trol of the governor; outlawing picketing in strikes. A “whipping bill” was also intro- duced, providing lashes as punish- ment for crimes of “violence.” How much of this pro-Fascist legislation will be enacted will not be known until the Legislature completes its work, It depends, in the final an- alysis, upon the extent and power of the organized protest campaign against these undisguised fascist moves, Hearst‘Expert’ Never in USSR (Continued from Page 1) distributed grain alone, excluding money or other income, was one ton, forty-six pounds. You can’t starve on that, especially as each farmer has a vegetable garden and usually some livestock, and also gets vegetables and money from the collective farm, _ A typical report to the peasants’ paper by Ukrainian collective farm- ers is the following from V. Lipo- vati and L. Tobolchenko, from the collective farm Red Dawn near Poltava in the village named Ma- chuhka, on January of this year: “Before the revolution our vil- lage had a church, small peasant huts, and one big estate of about 900 acres belonging to the kuiak. There was hunger, cold, disease then, and only 15 per cent of the people were literate. “Now the collective farm unites 317 families, possesses new barns, stables and farmhouses; the pig farm has 181 swine, the cow barns 102 cows,” if i