American Labor Needs Strang Foreign Policy to Fight Fascism
BOHN, WILLIAM E.
American Labor Needs Strang Foreign Policy to Fight Fascism BELLIGERENT DICTATORSHIPS ARE IN UNITED FRONT TO SMASH DEMOCRACY EVERYWHERE—A NATIONAL LABOR PARTY IN U.S, MUST BE PREPARED TO ACT IN WAR...
...Soon we shall have a national Labor Party...
...There is no atibt that Labor will be offered a aodified and meaningless anti-in-jsnction law in return for .the sup-ajrt of the A. F. of L. unions...
...When they have an agency through which' they can express themselves they make themselves felt—as they did in New York and Bridgeport...
...The stage was set for a powerful Labor party campaign in the fall, with a candidate for Governor and nominees for the legislature...
...A Labor Party without a foreign policy has no right to take on the responsibilities of government...
...But the election returns show with almost as much force as the New York results that the workers carmot be herded, corraled, branded and delivered...
...In man-power and materials they have every advantage...
...And when they, have not they shrug their shoulders and simply stay bome...
...Here are the facts...
...Trade union men had better do some fast thinking...
...There is no doubt that some sort if deal was made to support Hague 1 return for a promise of a mild ad emasculated "labor" program a the legislature...
...Almost, but net quite...
...The New Jersey election, coming as it did after such promising preliminaries, was an almost total' loss, at least as far as the workers are concerned...
...Since we have inhabited this continent there have Been four major wars in Europe, and we have been up to the neck in all of them...
...If any one wishes to know how dangerous is the principle involved, one has only to turn to the history of the Gordon riets in London a century and a half ago...
...Two small children may pot Shrimp meat in one bucket, or a child may use his parentVbueket, ¦sftfetimeo sharing the nickels, but more often giving most of his earnings to the parent...
...One youngster, about 8 years old, kept nodding at Ids work, but stuck by his father BjtH the end...
...Whatever must take place or should take place can be managed peaceably," says British Labor...
...Democracy, by its very nature, is peaceful...
...But so did the Republican candidate, the ineffable Clee, Presbyterian minister and conductor of the biggest Bible class in the country...
...STILL HAS THE SANCTION OF THIS COUNTRY'S HIGHEST COURTS...
...powerful, militant and politi-(jjiy-eonscious labor movement ^ a magnificent opportunity to jgjgeata oa the other aide of the Bps River what was accom-JEm in New York—and threw Jpateed of being in a position of jajahnlminr importance, respect-ii (and feared), like the organized Saws in New York, Labor must »pfe sup at the table of the polit-fjdsod industrial bosses...
...a mob that went to W>rch . and worshipped God and » eighteen months pursued with-** relenting the men it hated until ***w those men dead at its feet...
...Of the Ave Hague - machine candidates four were' defeated and the one who was elected happened to be a man of outstanding merit on his own account...
...If the Labor Party convention OS December 5 comes throng* with a New Jersey A.L.P...
...Ignorance of birth dates and inadequate education are part of...
...President Wilson did not enter the World War without being sure that he had Labor practically solid behind him...
...QTthis subversive doctrine, more perilous to liberty than all the Communists now at large, there could not have been a more flagrant application than was made in the Haymarket case...
...Such signs, found almost everywhere in Louisiana, tfefe eviaenflfy suggested by some-oti$ vfjth an>ye tof the legal working age in the state...
...I*i county after county tens of thousands didn't come to meetings, didn't vote...
...He was suggesting that we give up neutrality, that we Hue up with the democratic nations...
...to this'day there lingers about their names and stories some undeserved reproach or some vague significance of wrong doing that keeps them from their true place in the evolution of human freedom...
...USED BY TOOLS OF RICH MEN'S REVENGE AT CHICAGO IN 1BB7...
...So far, none of the results that seemed to me then to be inevitable have come to pass...
...But behold, this too has proved to be but fallacious prophecy...
...But that was tide election...
...Legal Fiction of Implied Conspiracy By Which Haymarket Men Were Hanged MONSTROUS DOCTRINE...
...PEACE AGAINST FASCIST BELLIGERENCY "T^HE Fascist united'front faces a *• democratic world which is hesitant and divided...
...Up to this time France and Great Britain have been ineffective as against Germany and Italy...
...It is no secret that in both Great Britain and France conservatives in high position have deliberately encouraged the Fascists...
...With closer inspection 'by the 13...
...We must have a new League of Nations, we must have international law, international courts, perhaps even—4a-ternationai poBcei1* * -" < DEMOCRATIC UNITY AGAINST FASCISM 1*HAT is a Labor peace program...
...It proposes to substitute international cooperation for war...
...Thus far the method has failed...
...Its international program has been carefully thought through...
...By WILLIAM E. BOHN •I'M*, union of three Fascist ita-* tions comes just in time to mark the celebration of Armistice Day, The new treaty binding Italy, Germany and Japan names Com* munism as the common enemy...
...The campaign reached a new high niw apathy...
...The civilized nations do not fear defeat in war...
...The' new treaty can mean only one thing: a more consecutive and better coordinated struggle against democracy everywhere...
...Colonies are a drain rather than a help...
...American Labor Needs Strang Foreign Policy to Fight Fascism BELLIGERENT DICTATORSHIPS ARE IN UNITED FRONT TO SMASH DEMOCRACY EVERYWHERE—A NATIONAL LABOR PARTY IN U.S, MUST BE PREPARED TO ACT IN WAR AS WELL AS IN PEACE...
...It may be said to represent the democratic Labor- movement of Europe...
...Right now the strident triumvirate are carrying on two pithless wars against innocent Rations which are struggling to establish democratic unity in their countries...
...spectabi]i ty gone ravening and ijflege like a hound upon the ijrjt had been frightened, this Igfokge...
...All that they want is to keep out of war, and they think the best way to keep out is to declare in advance that we will not give any support to any belligerent power...
...Of these four unfortunate-men thus sacrificed to the Autocracy of Wealth, the figure most pathetic in my memory is Albert Parsons...
...Our concern is with the policy of the American government...
...Instead of ac overwhelming New Deal sweep d 1936 by a majority of 888,000 aft carried with it a two-to-one Btjority in the Assembly, Hague's n*ty will have to battle a hostile fipatue, ^controlled by the big bakers, insurance men and indus-Hklists and by the rural G.O.P...
...We must get them by negotiation...
...The answer which came back from the nation was confused...
...After fifty years, I look back upon it *ith undiminished horror, and undiminished astonishment...
...Large numbers of the Mexicans do not speak English well enough to be understood...
...instead of 1 or 2 a. m. and work in quite clean plants/ Children under 14 years are seldom, if ever, employed, babies are not brought to the sheds, and housing is measure-ably improved...
...The shrimp seasons, extending from March to June and from mid-August to mid-November, are honeycombed with stoppages of work whenever shrimp won't "run" or storms keep boats in port, or bad shrimp are dumped or processed slowly for closer inspection...
...he might hare been some one that had never heard of the accused men...
...Louisiana and Texas are now the center of exploitation for shrimp-working children...
...say "about" so many years...
...And they will not ship arms...
...In Louisiana Cajuns, of French descent, are substituted for the Mexicans and Negroes are used to a much greater extent than in Texas...
...One is "picking" the heads and hulls from the shrimp meat in preparation for canning...
...Four years ago, a union came into being in Biloxi, long used as a horrible example of bad .sanitary and labor conditions, and led a strike supported by police 'and townspeople.- Now pickers get a cent per pound for shrimp meat, and hour-workers receive 25 to 35 cents...
...S. Food and Drug Administration, some of the sanitary evils of :B* rtHmp industry have cleared up and undoubtedly will improve JJut for the children, only a complete wiping out of their labor will give" the new deal to which they a$ entitled...
...By CHARLES E. RUSSELL j^LMOST the whole of the strange story of legalized lynch-'M^lMf ***** 's known in "history as the Haymarket Affair PfefSftlander my professional observation...
...It was a mob *" Position and repute, of education (t s claim to refinement...
...Such is the monstrous dogma upon which the Chicago so-called Anarchists were put to death, and none other could be a more potent gag upon the freedom of expression guaranteed by the sacred holy Constitution or a more effective instrument of oppression and wrong...
...What is American Labor's foreign policy...
...Labor conditions can be equalized, raw materials made accessible, markets thrown open...
...It represents more than British Labor...
...Over doors to both sheds hung signs reading: -Children under 14 years are not permitted ;o work" (-or similar wording...
...1st due to the fact that it was impossible to get a separate place * the ballot for the Labor sup-asters of the New Deal, the huge-Ufcor vote was lumped- in with Frank Hague, mayor of Jersey Qty, boss of the state Democratic P«ty and would-be Jim Farley, esse the stupid mistake of con-•jfcring every Roosevelt vote a Hague vote and thought that he could tirade with them in blocks, aa he trades with and delivers the synthetic Hudson County vote...
...Workers, though starting at 4:30 or 5:30 a. m...
...We may suffer loss of trade, may even have a depression...
...He began to pretend a friendliness for Labor that was so synthetic that it fooled no one...
...Earnings of children, therefore, am hard to ascertain...
...They start the day at 4:30...
...What the democratic powers feaX is war itself...
...The perilous principle upon which the killing of these men was based has never been repudiated...
...Are we supposed to be farther from Europe than in 1823 ? Is this present alliance less dangerous than the old one...
...WORKERS BETRAYED |T BOTH PARTIES MM the disgust of the masses f'jf workers with both old parts), 'their feeling that they were virtually betrayed, led to the only Mtsral result...
...The Labor forces in both lands favor a decisive stand against the Fascist powers—even if it leads to "war...
...In Texas picking sheds, operated by canneries, 20 per cent of the pickers were estimated by the authors to be under 16 years, and 15 per cent under 14 years...
...But the doctrine that the Chief Justice of England found to be preposterous and intolerable in 1782, the Supreme Court of the United States solemnly affirmed and fastened upon us in '1887...
...Into the advancing ranks of a company of police coming to break up an orderly "and lawful assembly, some one threw a bomb that exploded with fatal results...
...were seen m one Louisiana picking shed at 5 o'clock in the3 morning, and sixteen in another shed nearby...
...pillars of so>-Ijfc of persons who believed in '"Prerogatives of wealth and ?xi luck...
...Its consequence, said the Chief Justice, would be to imperil all free discussion and destroy the very bases of human liberty...
...They oungest must stand es boxes in order to see over the top of the tables to reach the shrimp...
...In this shed ipahftdren stayed on the job" from a. m. until the last shrimp was...
...They didn't vote...
...MAY STILL MAKE SPOKEN OR PRINTED WORD A CAPITAL OFFENSE...
...When President Roosevelt spoke of a quarantine against governments which have liquidated-international morality, he took, a daring step...
...But the Popular Front in France and the Labor Party of England are for a more vigorous line of action...
...But because they had denounced the existing social system, it was assumed that they were respensible for the bomb and their ¦ lives were, demanded accordingly...
...next year will tell another story -and Labor will do the telling...
...In a way, the essence of it reappeared in the hounding.to death of Sacco and Vanzetti...
...split so engrossed the workers that they appeared to be more interested in mutual destruction than in fighting the good fight...
...of Election Day's genuine i...
...with some t»« out for supper...
...A Union Eliminates The Shrimp Nickel By JAMES E. Sisel and Sam B. Barton TD some five hundred and'fifty youngsters in 40 or 60 towns along the Gulf of Mexico, a nickel means more than an ice cream cone or a bottle of pop...
...No doubt Hitler and Mussolini, understanding nothing but force, are convinced that democracy is afraid to fight...
...Especially, what should American labor do...
...frequently put in a 3 to 5-hour day—earning correspondingly little...
...What should we do...
...It hangs today over the head of every man that suggests any measure of revolt against the existing social system...
...Tunis- are many things to show that American Labor realises the danger of the expanding dictatorship idea...
...Even the most solemn, silk-hatted diplomat will not be deceived by this preMussolini and Hitler, from the beginning, have centered their animosity on democracy as it exists in France, Great Britain and the United Spates...
...In the spring elections the anti-Hague movement grew to major proportions, almost equalling in strength and fervor the demand of the workers for a party of their own...
...anything and everything, as did Moore...
...The efforts of the Non-intervention Conference and of the Nine-Power Treaty Conference have been futile...
...r Children are used in two jobs...
...European Labor, then, has a policy at sharp variance with [American official neutrality.' What about American Labor...
...He promised...
...President Roosevelt was right when he said one-tenth of mankind is setting itself against nine-tenths...
...SPLIT EXPLOITED IN SUCTION OTILL pursuing the notion that *~ every Roosevelt vote was a Hague vote to.be delivered in bales like the Hudson County vote, Hague again had "his" legislature slaughter the anti-injunction bill, while at the same time conducting a reign of terror against the workers in "his" city...
...fSBfed at 9:20 p. HI...
...The time will come," I heard August Spies cry,- just ere the drop fell, "the time will come when our silence will speak more loudly than any Words...
...constructive program is International cooperation, but its immediate, defensive program is to arm against the Fascist powers...
...When we have a national Labor Party, it must be prepared to put a constructive policy in place of this negative one...
...The magnificent self-abnegation of bis act when he walked into the court room and voluntarily took his place with his accused and imperilled comrades—how think you has i t happened this has never been celebrated...
...What we have here, nineteen years after the World War, is a united front of black reaction against democracy and decency everywhere in the world...
...afternoon and works until closing time, which may be as late as 11 p. m. The writers saw one shed in Texas where 29 of the 41 headers were/Obviously under 16 years, 26 tt them "under 14...
...So will it come if justice be, indeed immutable, immortal and' inevitable...
...To stand over a table of slippery shrimp from 4:30 until 8:30 and then try to concentrate in school is too much, especially if the same child goes to a heading shed in the...
...Then Labor threw away its chance, which has been retrieved this week by Carl Holderman of the CI...
...But why is it so long upon the way...
...Moore emulated the idiotic Copeland and declared that he was for the A. F. of L., and dead Bet against the C.I.O...
...The British Labor Party |s_ the world's chief power for peace...
...The biggest •bloc of votes was cast by tBos* •who played golf, went to the movies or twiddled their thumbs...
...The A. F. of L.-C.I.O...
...So the C.I.O...
...Tn trying to find exact ages of children, the starting fact appeared that many children, both white and Negro...
...EVIL DOGMA STILL A' PERIL BECAUSE Lord George Gordon ** had delivered incendiary speeches inciting to violence, an attempt was made to hold him responsible for the outbreak that followed...
...The person that threw it was never produced, never made known, never designated...
...The results were a staggering blow for Hague and Hague ism...
...Murphy topped the poll' and Ellenstein ran second...
...The memorable words in which the then Chief Justice of England denounced this pernicious theory should be carried in the mind of every person enlisted for the fundamental rights of man...
...unions endorsed him while the A. F. of L. unions endorsed Moore...
...fax 1936 the New Deal, with the intent support of the labor move-nest, swept the state by the most jjjsjlli lug majuiHy in its history...
...support of the great majority of our people...
...They have thriftily utilized the interim in the killing of Chinamen and Spaniards...
...Second ot third grade for Id, 12 and 14-year-olds is not at all unusual...
...Two dollars is a very good wage for average pickers, and more often half that daily amount makes the average for the week...
...I • ' • 2?*MRKET AN ****ADICABLE BLOT j™8 is- the substance of the i*w7...
...it went mad with blind *•* of bate until it had, appeased * Primitive brutal' resentment 5j* a revenge that in essentials •"red nothing from the methods 5 th* jungle...
...Remembering 1917, they promise to refuse to lend money for war purposes...
...Meanwhile, the Hague machine named a' full slate of candidates for Newark Commissioners and' carried on a powerful drive, for all of them...
...In Newark, for example, the Secretary-Treasurer of the State Federation of Labor, the.able and aggressive Vincent J. Murphy, was named for the City Commission as a Labor candidate, .and he waged his campaign solely on the slogan that he was Labor's Choice...
...unions withdrew their endorsement from Clee, remaining poised at the end of a limb...
...In Texas heading sheds 128 children were under 16, representing 26 per cent of the headers found at work, and 106 of these were under 14 years...
...Labor, divided, threw away a golden opportunity...
...T3B workers thereupon took the only possible course under the circumstances...
...When all was done, I said to myself that in twenty years these men thus shamefully put to death would be shrined and honored as the John Browns of the labor movement...
...Immediately after last year's election Hague let it be known that he would nominate A. Harry Moore, colorless and sycophantic United States Senator (who had already served twice as Governor) for a third term, and that his election by (he was confident) a majority approximately the same as Roosevelt's last year would make him a natural candidate for President in 11940...
...Labor's response should be emphatic 1 approval...
...MONSTROUS GAG ON FREEDOM OF SPEECH IF a man denounces any phase of * the social order and some other man commits a crime against that order, the denouncer is guilty of that crime...
...No labor organization in this country has ever had occasion to work out a foreign policy...
...Jersey Labor Tires of Old-Party Control VETERAN NEWSPAPERMAN TRACES BACK-M GROUND OF WORKERS' DEMAND FOR A IPr LABOR PARTY ACROSS THE HUDSON— t» PAST ELECTION REVEALED HATRED OF V REPUBLICANS AND DEMOCRATS...
...the general picture of the labor force recruited for this new shrimp-territory...
...That this should have passed then without a widespread and insistent protest is one of the phases, of the story still incomprehensible to me...
...But deluded honesty or ruthless cupidity, the end was the same and history was blotched with one dark stain that will never be removed...
...MOST WORKERS UNDER 14 YEARS *?*HIS is Biloxi, where the union * has established a closed shop...
...War is inherently autocratic...
...A.F.OF L.-CJ.O...
...All reports agree that right now the majority of American citizens are well represented by the Neutrality Act...
...He promised Labor legislation—but, then, so do all candidates...
...We have tried to persuade blustering barbarians to act like civilized human beings—and we have failed...
...In the off-years, when there are a» elections, the anion label, ahop card and button should be your regoiar candidates...
...These three powers have not been idle hitherto...
...Many said they "ain't been going lately, not since last year," even though schools had been open a month or longer...
...M. FEIGENBAUM ME New Jersey election, result-*m\?t in the triumph (by an jgfgKagly small margin) of Frank fjgnes stooge, A. Harry Moore, ¦pen...
...fact that the comical Ellis Parker a, and for many years has been, a big shot in one of the...
...But democratic Labor in Europe does not believe in lying down before the black triangle of Fascism...
...He thought the 368,000 majority was his to do business with...
...So the C.I.O...
...This policy, officially declared by Congress, has the...
...It has again and again ado y t e d resolutions against dictatorship...
...This is true of many communities, but to Biloxi which processes eight million cans of shrimp annually, it has a special significance...
...Amidst our discussions, our fumbling for a policy, Labor's voice must ring clear for democratic unity against the newly cemented unity of Fascism...
...There is room in the world for all of us to breathe if we will but rid ourselves of this insanity of high tariffs, quotas, and economic self-sufficiency...
...More than a century ago the threat of the Holy Alliance drew the Monroe Doctrine from our President...
...But to avoid the greater, danger we court the leas...
...It has, in various ways, given suppottt to foreign brothers who have felt the heel of Fascism...
...dominant-rani ce—ii unities...
...It was never pretended that any of the men that were subsequently hanged threw the bomb, or knew of it or knew who threw it...
...Samples for eighteen children under 16 years show a range from 5- cents to 25 edits per hour, with the median r|te* at IS cents...
...In a way, it explains why Mooney and Billings are still in prison for a crime of which all the world knows they are absolutely innocent...
...The fight age-Bet the Third International is set down as the function of the new Holy Alliance...
...Bui the mob was a ** in broadcloth...
...This, it seems to me, gives the cue to American Labor...
...Japan has taken Manchukuo, Italy has taken Abyssinia, Germany and Italy have intervened in Spain, Nazism is kicking up trouble in Czechoslovakia...
...It does not stand for neutrality or peace-at-any-price...
...NJfBf B^EARy FOR CfcltO WORKf as ntVnPt i ' ehlfdren under 16, of 4 whom twenty looked to be wgJJ' under it...
...j|t the last minute the labor jawment threw its strength— as as it was—to the Hague ean-Jsey, and in return will get the wBu crumbs...
...Fighting for colonies is no way...
...It is the symbol of tedious work starting at 4 or 6 o'clock in the morning at a table piled with cold, wet and slippery shrimp...
...It was *»°b of what is still called the lp*r Element, of...
...ease calibre can be gauged by...
...There need be now no hesitation*" <t judgment upon the grim tragedy...
...And I said to myself this most dangerous doctrine that has been introduced in this case and affirmed by the highest tribunal will with the return of sanity and reason be utterly eliminated from our practice 'so that it can ensnare and ruin no more guiltless men...
...Great Britain and France have tried for years to deal with Germany and Italy by negotiation...
...The American Federation of Labor has rejoined the International Federation at Trade Unions...
...DENOUNCED BY BRITISH JUDGE IN 1782...
...I believe that when American Labor thinks the thing through^ it will repudiate it...
...They produced a platform that—in the words of Carl Holdermftn—might have been written by John Hamilton...
...If American workers fellow their tradition, they will not be content to sit here safe oh this continent while, democracy and Fascism line up for a fight in Europe...
...If any foreign power wants our steel or dynamite or poison gas, it most get them en the cash-and-carry basis...
...For Louisiana the proportions were 12 per cent and 5 per cent respectively...
...But while Hague smiled wickedly, said nothing and let the mutual destruction go on, the Clee backers were at least honest and consistent, if hopelessly reactionary...
...European Labor knows well that Mussolini ai\fl Hitler intend to fight...
...Farther westward, in the new shrimp frontier, organization has not yet come to win even these benefits for workers...
...We have had plenty of samples of their methods and their objectives...
...No one that knows the *ill wish to deny that among that pursued these men to ?***ere thousands that honestly the foundations of society BR* *•« attacked and there must be a notable and memorable retribution...
...In almost every picking and heading shed a nickel is the pay for a "bucket" of shrimp meat or of headed shrimp...
...We have only indications pointing in the direction of a future way of thinking...
...In Biloxi, Mississippi, there is a billboard reading, "The little shrimp nickel is a big factor in the progress of Biloxi...
...NEUTRALITY LAWS - PROVEN USELESS r' seems to me that this policy is mistaken and futile...
...That would make the shabby Hague tiie new Jim Farley...
...I think few rnen now fe*e^B«w so much of it...
...One would think mankind would remember that heroic deed when aught else had been forgotten...
...He expected a 50,000 majority...
...The "popular" Moore won *T tess than 45,000 majority—and »-tost his legislature...
...ejiS sight of three or four chil-d#en, ranging in age from 7 years opwerd, standing at 5 a. m. at a pcfciBg table is a cannery shed is set unusual in either Texas or Louisiana...
...American ¦ Labor has more sense of international responsibility than American citizens in general...
...He might have bees a raving maniac...
...By WM...
...What ought it to be...
...In Louisiana only a small portion of the many heading sheds were observed in operation, but in these 36 per cent of the headers were children, the majority apparently under 14 years...
...The other is "heading," or removing the heads only, before icing the shrimp for raw shipment...
...The hundreds of thousands' who stayed home (in cdhrparison with the magnificent turn-out in New York) are the answer to the cynicism of the bosses...
...We praying or fighting...
...All that we need is fair and free exchange' in the economic field and straight dealing politics...
...And Mayor Meyer Ellenstein ran for reelection largely on the issue of keeping Boss Hague out of Newark...
...The Horrors in Spain and' in China are parts of the same picture, actions in the same campaign...
...dnts sj«6Vor Iff cents, Only sgsvSr ttjesp cmfdren earned more tfian 11.30 a day...
...But there is also no doubt hi the minds af those able to read the election returns aright that by the very fact of that deal the Moore administration will not be able* to deliver...
...terrifying instance of the *» murder of innocent and help-** victims...
...There was unparceled apathy far the New Jersey wteig...
...They have not been shrined and honored...
...The work day rsns from 2'A hours to 10 hours, with a median of 5 hours Allowing for the same rate of earnings Aroughout the weak: day (since fcmeirs were sometimes taken for incomplete days) the total earn-¦Ua nw Iran 92 cants to $2.62...
...In the next one, vjtal interests of ours will be more directly involved than in any of the others...
...We may be sure that no future President will disregard Labor opinion in determining his moves...
...The Neutrality Act will not keep us out of any general conflict...
...WITH such short "runs" of " shrimp, there exists not the slightest excuse for using children...
...Mexicans and native whites, with comparatively few Negroes, make up the supply of shrimp workers...
Vol. 20 • November 1937 • No. 46
