COMMUNISTS CENSURED
BALDWIN
COMMUNISTS CENSURED BY BALDWIN Says They Deliberately Broke Up Meeting—Whal Vladeck Would Have Said. Tbt International Committee for Political Prisoners, which held • meeting in Town Hal! Monday...
...I have sharpened my pen against no one from rancour...
...But I know that if the Hungarian people is to advance and prosper it cannot bear another grain, of the lies which have already been imposed upon it...
...My own nature denies me any substantially greater objectivity than I can now preserve...
...V \ "Red" Utter Up Again i The breaking point, waa reached a , little later when Kirkwood intervened i with a remark that touched a fester-i ing Tory sore...
...First of all the political prisoners of old were treated with a deference which i* due to people prosecuted for idea...
...An Illuminating Reply The reply of Sir William Joynson-Hicks was illuminating...
...in' ysj** "Beside*, under the Os*r th* pots litieals wer* looked upon by'the, whole world at martyr*'for a holy...
...I was falsely charged with preparing a revolu- i lion which sent sky-high the foundations of the old order...
...But tha tremendous agitation* over the Taff Vale and Osborne judgment* are not *o remote as to fail to convey a moral to Premier Baldwin...
...To history, for I know things which no one else can know...
...We charge the jobbers with violation of the agreement signed last month and effective Feb...
...E. E. A. Winslow of Yale...
...wood, Labor member for Dumbarton...
...It is bad enough that the tale of the events of 1848 should have been distorted...
...opinion*1 oh matter* ' of Socialism and, Soviet policy...
...I was not charged with what I now blame myself for...
...Prof...
...I am writing the reminiscences of a wounded man, a man still suffering from his injuries: I do not deny it...
...This proved to be th* limit of Tory endurance and amid confusion Kirkwood was...
...Thinking of the Worker...
...Burnham at Wednesday's hearing as a "dangerous lung disease often leading to tuberculosis...
...to myself, for I am being bombarded with charges which are aimed through me at the memory of the October Revolution, and, still worse, at its living idea...
...Tho prison administration a* a rule looked up to tho political prii-oner and conceded hia light to better treatment...
...The jobbers do not have garments made up in their establishments, but sublet the work to contractors...
...2) restricting compensation for silicosis to workers who have been employed five years continuously...
...I was not charged with What I blame myself for, namely, with failing to remain in France in September, 1914, to take up there the battle for the Independence of my country...
...Premier Baldwin made a conciliatory speech and then moved an amendment which declared that ao important a measure should not bo introduced as a private niembef^h bill., Tho amendment, waa accepted by a vote of 326 to' 168...
...shouted Kirkwood...
...Monday night which ended in disorder when Communists refused to allow B. Oharney Vladeck, manager of Jewish Daily Forward to be heard, hai issued a statement placing the blame for the disturbance squarely on the Worker*' party...
...LONDON—Two spectacular *venta in the evolution of British Labor occurred last week when the Labor members of Parliament, h*ad*d by former Premier Mac Donald, walked out of the Hon* of Commons and th* next day Premier Baldwin intervened against a private bill intended to prevent trade union* from financing the Labor party...
...Under the agreement the jobbers promised to furnish labor costs on every bundle of garments made up for them by contractors...
...We felt confident that ear disturbance by Communists v)eald only condemn them, not our Bpnsttt in behalf of prisoners ia til countries...
...They have been recommended by Governor Smith for passage and have received the support of Health Commissioner Frank Monag-han of Nsw York, Health Commissioner George W. Goler of Rochester, State Industrial Commissioner James Hamilton, The bills have also been endorsed by the following industrial hygiene experts: Prof...
...HUGE GAINS FOR LONDON LABOR - —".— > Suspension of Kirk wood Stirs Labor M. P. s—Attack of Trade Unions Dropped- ^ LONDON...
...If they sre willing to pay that price for the sake of-their blind loyalty to tlfe Soviet Government, right or wrong, they are welcome to it...
...Labor's amendments, known-.a* Assembly Bills Nos...
...schemes," she said, "were (1) listing a restricted number of trades where workers shall be entitled to compensation for silicosis...
...Labor's case I was presented by Mrs...
...By COUNT MICHAEL KAR0LY1 MY theme is not the fragment of world history of which, by the inscrutable will of Fate, I became the instrument...
...These are my memoirs...
...It would %t ridiculous to conduct a «i«v«ai«nt for the relief and release of prisoners throughout the world and lgnefe that, plain fact...
...Sooner or later the truth will spread over the country, the truth to which it has sacred title, and which it needs as it needs its daily bread...
...Political Fund Bill Killed -The collapse of the bill to prevent trade union financial support of the Labor party had been predicted ia Labor circles for several weeks...
...I believe this because I know that the hundred who hear me and understand wilt not keep silence...
...The International Committee for Political Prisoners will go ahead on Its way, collecting money for clothes, food, reading matter for prisoners and their families in all the countries With which we can establish contacts.' We expect to rslsa considerable money from American liberals And trade unions...
...Edward R. Baldwin, head of the Troudeau Foundation, Saranac...
...They pavs refused cooperation on the Mound thst Russia is included among we countries with politicsl prisoners, ..JBOring the fsct that the Russian •rernment officially recognises two fjPwe'f agencies through which money, food and clothes can be sent all over the world to Russian prisoners, if J "We hops by these efforts not only te units present sestttered agencies *hleh sre sending relief to the prisoners of Europe end India but to wage a campaign against imprison-jjjtray persons anywhere merely for weir views and opinions...
...Liberalism ha* bo**) v«* ri duc.d from M I* a pitiful *fs...
...201, 202, 208 and 204, have been endorsed by the State Federation of Labor, Workers' Health Bureau, the Building and Allied Trades Compensation Bureau, the Machinists' Union, the Cleaners and Dyers, the Central Trades and Labor Council, the Stone Cutters, and the Painters' Unions of this State...
...there Sre some of us still living who will make sure that the tale of 1918 shall not be...
...The ideas of this Revolution are the path along which , the Hungarian people can discover i itself again...
...Some refrained from voting and others voted against suspension...
...h„n, The pretense of tho Tory member* who favored the bill ia not only revealed by the fact that only 66 genuine complaint* had been regigUred in 12 years by trade unionists against political contributions, That, pro* tens* is also revealed in th* ftVct that -the Trade Union Act of 1913 perrrtiU member* of trade unions to be ekV empt from paying such contribution*' If they make written application io* exemption...
...suspended by a vote of 246 to 119...
...In many prison* he enjoyed bettor food and he alway* enjoyed bettor treatment than the criminals...
...i '. »: ¦ Five hundred delegates, represent-• ing organised Labor in New York ) State, appeared on Wednesday be ' fore the Joint Labor and Industries 1 Committee in Albany to speak in ' favor of four amendments to the ' occupational disease section of the 1 Compensation Law, providing''compensation for silicosis, benzol poisoning, naphtha and gasoline poisoning and skin infections...
...In 12 years there have been only 66 complaints...
...8) discriminating* against a large body of worker's by excluding all but one of the factory trades in which silicosis is common...
...1 ( As The New Leader goes to pfess the negotiations art being cont i n u e d . Hungarian LeacWt A Pledges Life to Ideal of 1918 Revolution (Despite the gnu placed on Count Karolyi by the Stat* Department, The New header feel* the American people have a right to hear hie view...
...My tone will be the tone of confession, and the reader will judge instinctively whether it rings true...
...I had much to forget before I could fool myself sufficiently at rest in spirit sad unbiassed in judgment to venture to begin...
...I was not charged with what I blame myself for, namely, .with voluntarily entering the army though a pacifist...
...I feel my conscience clear...
...Now I know that that is impossible...
...If it could serve the Hungarian people to drive me out as a scapegoat into the desert of calumny and proscription, if I could feel that on this its happiness or even its peace of mind depended, I should accept and endure its fate...
...I see clearly the havoc of the spiritual perplexity and the irresolution and inactivity of the nation, perhaps just at the critical moment, which arose from the misrepresentation from right and left alike of the deep and tragic idea of its flrst great revolution, the idea of 1848, and indeed of 1840, and from the national indifference to the gross distortion of this event, the greatest in its modern history, by its historians and teachers and politicians...
...24 by mutual agreement, particularly Clause Ten, which reads es follows: "In view of the fact that the cost of labor in each garment is established by agreement between the union and the manufacturers, either as the basis of a fixed schedule for specific work and styles or on the basis of settlement between the parties with respect to the non-scheduled styles of wear, each member of the association agrees to specify on each order blank the cost of labor of each style as a distinct and separate item...
...We even invltefd Communist speakers to state their case at last night's meeting...
...We have offered them far cooperation...
...Neither did tho Government object to the exiles being employed...
...The* worker's did not walk out, trat remained in the shops at their machines waiting: for a settlement...
...I promise neither every link in the chaih of events nor to probe at any depth into the procession of causes...
...In the course of five years between 1904 and 11108 I spent considerable time in Russian prisons, having been arretted thirteen tlrrie* snd having experienced conditions in a number of prisons both in Poland and Russia...
...While am»' nesty U being granted to forme*/ member* of th* White armMrSl people who fought against the m. viet...
...These fact*, elicited by Sir Henry Slesser, are of special significance when it ia recalled that the membership of trade unions steadily rote during the war period, and in 1920 reached the colossal total of 6,988,000...
...with arm* in their, hande, am* nesty Is denied to idealist* and mar* tyra who never fought againstiRu*» lie, who cooperated with and woekoft, within tho Red Army daring-tho hvr vaslon* and whose only crime Ur that of holding their ow...
...The statement over the signature, of Roger N. Baldwin, temporary chairman, reads: "The Committee was advised In •dvanet of the Town Hall meeting that'members of the Workers' party would be present in force to protest against any reference to political prisoners In Russia...
...The official committee of the local Workers' fisrly waited on us to advise us and ocaf Workrs' psrty press played , played up the protest on its front pagss...
...We therefore weloomt the oeoatlon of the publication of Count Karolyi'* memoire to help break the wall of lupprestum which Secretary Hughe* hat built around him...
...We do not propose to Mai our eyes to the fact thst*the iasian Government perseeutet for •piqfaas Jastlik* ether governments...
...President Morris Sigman of the International Ladies Garment Workers' Union and chief union spokesman, said: "We charge the jobbers with specific and flagrant violation of the agreement, particularly that clause with respect to the schedule of prices which for the first time would have stabilized labor cost in an industry which has been cursed by haggling in the shops between workers and employers on what should be the rate of pay for piece work...
...Emery R. Hayhurst of Ohio State University...
...I can keep silence no longer...
...Burnham aaid, although "many case* of sudden death have occurred from benzol fumes...
...Vital Need of Truth If the truth concerning the cause which I represent were permanently distorted before it, it would suffer from this lie spiritual injury which might be its destruction...
...The main contention between the union and the jobbers is the price schedule for garments .which was signed on Feb...
...At this moment I am thinking above all of the workers of Hungary, for what I have written I have written for them...
...Lewinski-Corwin of the New...
...These disturbances by Communistsat meetings where the Soviet Government is criticized sre not new...
...I had put my conscience to sleep...
...Th* Liberals w*r* placed in an embarrassing situation...
...The political now ia looked upon...
...Between the people , and its path its enemies, who are also mine, have thrown up barricades | Of calimny...
...nay, all the ¦off for itLABOR IN PLEA L AT ALBANY . Urges Adoption of Proposed ; Amendments to Compensation Act t...
...We did carry it through to the last speakers and we got the facta serosa, completely covering Russia as well...
...This letter bore internal . evidence of forgery, but it appeared at i time that did not permit a < thorough investigation and disclosure of its real character before th* election...
...When exiled to Siberia, or to other places of exile, tha Government considered it its duty to allow hira a monthly stipend which wae quite meagre but insured tht political against starvation...
...Oilman Thompson, President of the Reconstruction Hospital...
...Through the events of a past filled with straggle, my book looks towards this confidently expected future of a happy com-¦uaity...
...They are published here by Albert and Charles Hani, to whdm Tkt New Leader acknowledge* it* indebtedness i„r permission to reprint the following, the Foreword to the book.— Editor, The New Leader...
...Four years my enemies have spoken 'and I have kept silence...
...er explained to the satisfaction of . reasonable people th* ZinovMT letter I which they published on th* ova of i the election...
...th* world...
...They only make the task of getting their rights much mote -difficult...
...In spite of thla significant statement some Tories wer* determined to fight for the Political Levy BUI...
...Strong opposition to the Miller-Truman Silicosis Bill, introduced by the employers to counteract Labor's bill, was voiced by the representatives of th* State Federation of Labor and the Workers' Health Bureau on the grounds that the Miller-Truman bill "is a menace" to Labor's interests...
...The Tori** hav* n*v...
...Sheridan Baketel of the Long Island College of Physicians...
...with them I should be glad once more to help to bring together the material for building a new world...
...Late in February Sir Henry' 81*8-ser, the former Solicitor General, asked the Home Secretary for "a yearly return showing the number of complaints made to the Registrar of Friendly Societies by members of trade unions under Section 8 of The Trade Union Act of mB.WUr this section members Of unions ire permitted to complain of contributions for political purposes...
...i' DRESSMAKERS STRIKE 30,000 Cease Work in N. Y. Shops to Enforce Settlement * Thirty thousand dressmakers ceased work on Tuesday and 2,000 shops under the jurisdiction of the Joint Board of the Cloak and Dress Unions are Idle...
...growing stringency of my self-criticism would ever have been able entirely to outweigh the bitterness which I still feel towards certain persons and groups...
...cause forbids me to be more forbearing than I have seen in this book...
...to write them was a duty to history and to myself...
...The union points out that, .although the jobbers signed the" agreement recognizing tho schedule • of prices, the dikputeM point in th* controversy, they now claim tbey are not a party to it, although the agreement specifically states that they are...
...We preferred to stand by our program and to attempt to carry It through...
...The October Revolution is the ¦ great moment in the life of the Hun-, garian people in which it attained conscious existence, in which it discovered itself...
...Prof...
...That is one of the reasons why I have so long delayed KmX^&M t/inkth...
...Yandell Henderson of Yale...
...I was falsely charged with undermining the front with my pacifist ideas after my return home...
...From out of the many dark pages which I have had to write, I firmly believe that some light will come to pierce the mists of prejudice in which so msny spirits at home are enveloped...
...causa and had thi auppoH yf hfox grmslve public opinion, througWu...
...Money raised for Communist prisoners or for other prisoners who are reached by the Communist international relief agency will be sent through that organization...
...without thinking it out I had imagined that it was possible to fight for principles without adjusting one's whole life to them...
...which, therefore, it is my duty to do my utmost to repel...
...Labor's Silicosis bill provides compensation for all workers affected by silica dust, including quarry workers, stone cutters, rock drillers, miners, potters, sand blasters, emery grinders, polishers and buffers...
...The walkout, of the...
...I could forget their sins against myself, I can never forgive the *vil they have done to Hungary...
...As I have already said, if these lines tomorrow reach no more than a hundred people, it is enough...
...This Political Levy Bill would, if passed, Oven prevent a union loan to the Labor party or the financing of th* Daily Herald...
...heart and brain alike told me that the world of rank and wealth in which I was living was not my world, and I should have acted accordingly and have renounced, at latest in the summer of 1917, all the privileges which I owed to my birth...
...Ua«r»s*do«fd gaia* for Labor anal another • l*df • hisimsi blow aft the Lib- % Oral parly la the result of th* London .l.ctions held last...
...I was falsely charged with betraying the country, in my friendship with the Entente, at a time when my fellow-countrymen were fighting shoulder to* shoulder with the arch-enemies of the Entente...
...The present law provides no compensation for benzol poisoning, Mrs...
...I have renounced my class, and, after ripe experience and heart-searching, I have chosen a new community, community with the workers of Hungary...
...This brought cri*» Of protest from th* Tory benche* which Kirkwood accepted as a challenge...
...Despite everything which exists now...
...aa an enemy, as tuto more dangerous to th* State than the criminal, and it,treated accordingly...
...Hut I have wrestled with myself to obtain objectivity...
...Th* walkout Cam* as a protest against th* suspension of David Kirk...
...The death rat* among stone cutters from tuberculosis, she told the committee, has Increased 144 per cent in 23 years...
...Th* Russian Govemtrjent has now been recognised by nearly al| capitalistic governments of ,tha worldt' TTier* Is M longer any dan-g*r of blockade or invasion, the* Soviet Government, aunported by a well organized Bad Army, fa a* strong aa the Car's erver was »n(i, there U tip lon^et...
...York Academy of Medicine...
...Emerson of the College of Physicians and Surgeons...
...The employers' bill seeks to "introduce schemes which have no precedent in any of the compensation laws in this country and which will rob workers of their rights under the New York Law," Mrs...
...The workers of 57 trades In New York State are exposed to poisoning by benzol and other 'coal-tar products', according to the Central Trades and Labor Council of Greater New York, which was represented 1 by a large delegation at Albany...
...ny oxcuaa fok prosecuting and persecuting poliUcal opponents and diiienUrs...
...The Albany representa-i tive of the New York City Health ; Department, A. B. Walling, also ; spoke for Labor's amendment...
...1 Labor has gained It ***** and .now ha* 38 in lb* County C*«n- . cil...
...These new...
...U' shall try «,"«pea* , to the Hungarian people...
...Prof...
...If ever a people needed truth, this people does...
...The Socialists and &*»*•* iatlenioto-who dissent tr*m ,th*> roJ**' ing Communists of Rttaeiaaio &itsf played to the world by a waller* g*nls*d machinery of ptope}r*tida ad counter-revolutlonlit...
...I want , to lay bare, In the flrst place to myself, the mainsprings of my actions...
...Silicosis was described by Mrs...
...I am glad to believe that if only a hundred of those to whom I want to speak hear my voice, my voice, supported by the irresistible voice of facts, will make a breach in the wall of calumny and the dense growth of malevolent invention which has covered it in the course of four years...
...I think it will be realised what it means when I claim innocence of the charge made against me, but make other charges against myself...
...Up to May 31, 1922," he *aid, "there have been 68 complaints, f|| of which tinned out not to b* com-plaints within the Act - **'$ "From May 31,1922, to the tWSjSfif date, there hav* been 27 complaint** three of which turned out not to bo within the Act "Thus, the net total number of complaint* under tha Section from March 7,1818, the date of the copu-.mencement of tho Act, to the present time, haa been 66...
...Communists do not believe in free Speech except for themselves, while We believe in it for them and for til ether parties in the United States and elsewhere...
...Kirkwood is on* of the most loved members from th* Clyd* and his p»r-[ sis tent attack* on Tory member* h*v* stung them to resentment Th* Labor "strike" cams -daring the presentation by Foreign Secretary Austen Chamberlain of a frola Chamberlain's remark* brought • tha response from Kirkwood, "H* mad* the war...
...He decided to lave his party frem « disastrous blunder although it waa known that several members of the Cabinet were pledged to support the bill and that a majority of the Conservatives favored it...
...By such action as that last night they slienate the support of liberals who believe in free speech on principle...
...Th* Conservative* hav* a majority of v 84 members...
...COMMUNISTS CENSURED BY BALDWIN Says They Deliberately Broke Up Meeting—Whal Vladeck Would Have Said...
...During tht last several years I read very carefully everything that appeared in the public press pertaining to the condition of political prisoners in the Soviets and by comparison I feel justified in saying that condition* then were considerably bettor...
...1 . "What about the red letter...
...it must no longer give way to self-deception...
...We were confronted with rba alternative of calling off the speakers to whom the Communists objected or accepting ah* interruptions and disorder they threatened...
...This proposal has.been advanced several times in the last tan years, bat in each case It has encountered sufficient opposition to defeat it...
...This they failed to do...
...Burnham told the Labor and Industries Committee...
...The memoin of this great Hungarian leader were written abroad in natione not bletted with the advantage* of American democracy a* adminietered by Charles K. Hughe...
...With them I feel myself in-dissolubly-bound...
...sThe following;, from a prepared CJW of Vladeck's address, is what Jb* Communists did not wish to fffn him say: ' "According: to my best knowledge if., and belief th* present condition of political prisoners in Russia is lu very many respect* a great deal won* than it ever wa* under the Czart...
...When in .exile tfoy.aja, not permitted to gat employing**, and th* stipend is even mora meagiwl thin that of tha Caariat Gevoriiieetst and is irregular...
...It* most important section provided that trad* union funds must be used only for...
...Labor member* followed amid jeer* of the Tories and shaking of fists, a When three Clyde member* were suspended last year only the mora radical of the Labor members walked out Th* "strike" last week il considered evidence of more effective unity, for not a Labor man was left in the House to hear Mr...
...Grace M. Burnham, director of the Workers' ! Health Bureau, which drafted the four Mils...
...indue* trial purposes...
...Chamberlain conclude his statement...
...Alice Hamilton of Harvard...
...Frederick Peterson of Bellevue Hospital...
...The association hereby guarantees the payment by its memhere of the, labor coat ascertained above tat forth and agrees to p»y to the union, in behalf of itt members affected, the difference of such labor cost and any letsbf amount or amounts paid b y ant1 of its members...
Vol. 2 • March 1925 • No. 11
