OFFICIAL ORGAN

of the

Industrial Workers

o f? t he W o r l d

ONE UNION ONE LABEL ONE EM̂ VIY

VOL."XX!.- No 1 7 — ( W h c l e No. 2 0 * )

125 Freed in Minneapolis WPA Cose

C H I C A G O , ILL. , F E B R U A R Y 10, 1940 Five Cents a Copy

Cleveland Boss Checkst Off AFL Dues; Slaves Get Ho Union Cjard or Receipt

; MANUMCnii&ltS • They Invite ; ARE WELL PAID | \ i / U / . ;

TK.it the more skillful muni;- ' I \ A f l A f 1 * 0 facturcrs of public opinion get a | • ; • substantia! reward for their services j • f - / / f t ? : • / ? • ' ft " T " I I I I I is shown by the «iit- of the persona* I '; I 4 ^ ^ / ^ ' ^ / } I H K P H n I n

" earnings of the top-notchers in the 1 t | ? / • & * ^ I U I \ C I I U I U

Unemployment Blamed For Rise of Crime

PROVIDENCE, It. I.—t'tie tuple snent was blamed by :Judge (J. Fri ,-i ick Frost of the superior court ( the great! wave of crime an.o

j I. U. 440 Ready ', i To Step in with j j

Real Union Actioa f By BILL PECZKO

CLEVELAND, O . - ( W N S ) — " M y name is Mr. Doe. My address is so and , Cleveland, Ohio. I work at Mitchell Metal Products. 05th St., arid O d e r Ave." .

Further remarks by Mr..Doe are as follows.*-

•'Too goddamn cheap. It- is a sweat Shop—he,is taking money out of our pay checks for a uniou (Tl. which does not give book or stamps. I think

| we're setting made. Theti are many [ of* us fellows which will jglad^r help to put your union ( I W W j y C . Plea-tc hurry, the owner has a bmich or mcjn for his stoogi's as stewards." ' I

I And this is the picture of the con-ditions at the Mitchell Mj-tal pro-: ducts company of Cleveland,X)hio, organized by tho' Anerican Federa-

j tjtin of Labor a year ago last Novetn-

i I An unemployed member of • the IwW Becking employment at this plant was to|d by the wbrkcrs in tlta ' victory in tK^ g'reat economic ai.-r. of organised labor! •Everywhere Uie nrgaiiization of l.U W i-,' spelling . the doom of |i.u wages, speedup and insecurity.

"The militant organization of labor • :i a wide scale has indirectly ^bene-rittell t(je \\

. !

INDUSTRIAL WORKER

ABOLITION OF THE W A G E S Y S T E M E D I T O R I A L ONE BIG UNION OF ALL THE WORKERS

I l l f l l l ^ ^ i« tical philosophy, yesterday, today, and forever. I « t I I f T h c . i ^ W ia not among those that get sore at

F e b r u a r y ^ O , 1940

; "An Injury to One is an Injury to AH"

ONfc UNION—ONE LApEL—ONE ENEMY

OFFICIAL ORGAN

SUBSCRIPTION RATES United States, ^ne year , — Si* months Bundle orders, U. S Canada'"and other Fort Bundles, adcfc Post »ge

mi "> ' • *?:-

• • • 'H.:

I

bltehul every week at.2422 N. Holflted St., Chicago, 111.

C A R L K E L L E R . E d i t o r » " d B u . i n M . M a n a i e r

... LOVE^EAST

From its inceptionjthc IVVW has held that the interests, of the employing class are always in conflict with the. Interests of the working class. Other organizations called lal>or unions do not .share this 'view. Kill CJreen, speaking for the AFL, of which he is president, clearly described the stand-of his organization on this question the oth\i' day at Miami.

* "v\V do not hate employers. We are not hostile - to4 them. We Vint. to cooperate them. We

want better business'because that means better1

wages. ' Thus thjsjspokesman for the AFL ex-pressed the attitudo of all those who seek to guide labor along the road of class collaboration,

Let it be said here that we of the IWW are not particularly concerned with promoting hatred of the employers though there is a lot of that among workers, and unqtlestionfbly it is justified. What we direct our hostility against is the employers system.

We hate the capitalist system atfd we see no way of cooperating with, capitalists through which we can Improve our lot as workers. Neith-er do we fall for the obvjous falsehood that better business means better wages. Better business, at best, means more work but not better wages. •

Green himself probably knows that improve-ment in wages and working conditions are the result of struggle, on fhe part of workers against employers, not with' them in a cooperative en-deavor.But Green is pajnfully anxious to please the employers of America. He has something to sell them and he is niost anxious to convince them

the government because it fails to do something for» labor. The IWW knows that labor has it with-in its power to set up Its own machinery for re-moving the obstacles that stanjj in the way of progress toward a more satisfactory life.

To date nobody has attempted; as far as know, to prove that labor's share of the wealth produced varies according to the party in power.

N0.7 PROBLEM It seems just aboufeveryone agrees that unem-

ployment Is still the No. 1 problem in America, [trk, however, as we have before in

these columns, ihat th'ere is a way of abolishing unemployment that doesn't appeal to us at all.

Iielieve in the Nazi way or the Russian

sure that we are able? to find a way to eryone at reasonable hours and with an income, and at the same time guarantee

wider and deeper reaching democracy than man has ever enjoyed beforei It will take a rank and file industrial union movement to' usher in^

OFFICIAL J •-NOTICES

day. " A f t e r all, t h e r e is l i t t le o r no u n e m p l o y m e n t

in most pen i t en t i a r i e s a n d work houses . T h a t ' s t h e fascis t method of p u t t i n g people to work . T h e y boast abou t it, too. j ' '

A m e r i c a n cap i t a l i s t s a lso p robab ly have s e m e r CHICAGO such solut ion in mind bu t they' l l neve r pu t it over i Regular Chicago general mcmber-if l abor shows good j u d g e m e n t a n d o rgan izes | ship meeting is ^o be held Friday,

BUFFALO Fellow Worker R. Schriber has

been elected secretary of the Buf-falo MTW branch to succeed Fellow Worker Sheehan. Address commun-ications to p. O. Box 298.

MAIL TO SPOKANE There is mail at the Spokane hull

tpr the following fellow -workers: ; Osall, Paul Luoto, Paul Hend-

rick, and Morris Lorensen. Address communications to P. O. Box 1636.— Ed. A. Sturdiv.nd, Br. Sec'y.

WANTED: EVERETT MASSACRE' yone having an extra copy of

Everett Massacre" (cloth-bound) and wishing to sell it, please get in touch with the Seattle IWW branch, stating price, asked. Write to Branch Secretary. B».x :1G5, Seattle, Wash.

PUUMANC0. MAKES BETTER BOX

M d » / February 16:' Friends of II Proletario will hold a grand festi-val for the benefit of the Italian language organ of the IWW at Irving Plaza hall. IYving Place and 15th St., New York City. The MTW, IU 310-3.10. the Finnish | and Hungarian groups plan tc operate. Admission* 4? ceni N e w Y o r k II P r o l e t a r i o G r o u p

right from now pn.'

FARM WORKDAY The Department- of Agriculture reports hired

hands'in New England, Midale Atlantic, and Mid-western states worked on an average of about 10 hours a day. A workday of n1t»re than 10 hours was reported for hired farm workers ii Wisconsin and Vermont, while in a few southern ahd,far western states the average workday was loss than 9 hours a day. The survey was for the month of''November when the sun rises late and sets early. The. investigators ought to stick around fit cotton chopping time.

SCHOOLS The American public school system is on the

pjftn as never before in recent years; and this time its critics are bigger businessmen, not work-er | who tired of having their children filled with distorted history and a phony concept of economic aptf social questions. Business is on an economy rampage andyit dogsn't care much what it hits.

MANHATTAN 1U 510 Address all communication!

Manhattan IU 510 branch Ignatz who is the incoming secreti and acting GOC j chairman pond:

t the IU 510

j /icial membership gives its regular for the j I monthly dance and entertainment

njj begins

that he has a better proposition for those who hire | Strange though thai it should pick on schools, for

; ; mm . §g fe fc

JV

labor than has his chief rival in the labor selling business.

Occasionally one hears a response to this "peace and good will" spitit of boss-friendly unionism from employers who have accepted misled labor': olive branch. Hear one of these employers speak-ing at a. luncheon gi\^n recently by the Ladies' Garment Workers union at the Hotel P^rk Central in New York. '

"No matter how bad I've been.'f he said, "there's no use.fighting any more. We can't. I'r glad to see ,vou enjoying a -luncheon :the bosse cqn no longer afford."

To which a "labor" correspondent of a "labor' paper added as dressing this remark set in bold face tvpc by a "labor"' editor: "Of course hp was kidding about the bosses' financial condition. Tht'v/are more prosperous now than they when\H»ey fought the unions."

And so everybody, is happy. Everybody, that is,-exceptHh^e workers who pay the dues and as-sessments to make such liltle .love feasts wherq union leaders entertain employer representatives

'possible. Also not so happy are those workers who .have been -crowded out of both ihe uniaji and ine industry because of speedup and the general

- failure ofthis kind of unionist to function in the . interests of the working class.

No IWW union entertains the fantastic notion that it can dispossess the employers while .the great mass of workers remain unorganized, while most of those organized belong to unions thaf are dominated by employers or by reactionary -lead*

•. ers. and while the capitalist system still carries .on with substantial vigor. On the other hand, jro IWW union will ever accept the error that a worthy industrial peace can be proclaimed by labor so long as this or any. other system of ex-ploitation lasts. J •

REASON FOR HATE Alj economic and legal arguments aside, how

can those who lielieve in ail-inherent human good-ness of the fmploying class account for the fact that theiyf are millions in want of even proper food, sufficient clothing, and decent homes? Most people dislike to see a dumb animal suffer. Our capitalists, having ^he-meana to assuage the suf-fering of millions of their own kind, refuse to be touched.

Yes, it's thtf system that's all wrong, but let us not waste too much thought or sympathy on what will happen to the capitalists when capital-ism finally gives way to the workers common-wealth. Particularly irinte the worst that can hap-pen to them is that they will have to go to work at some useful occupation which they are able to handle.

MERRY-GO-ROUND "The politician? in office didn't deliver, the

goods. Kick thenvout and get a new set. Appoint a new guardian Tor labor, make the government a -sort of "commissioner for %the po*r". but din't do anything about the-fundamental j)rtfblems that lie at the rpot of our economic evifs. That's poli-

itfytiy have served The system well. I Many cities report a shortening of the school year and the elimination of certain "cultural" courses is common practice everywhere. Along with that there is a reduction in teaching staffs and a cutting of salaries. Sclfoolhouse building is far behind increased needs (brought about by pop-ulation growth and th The capitalist class finds it possible to keep

prices mj in the face of an over supply of goods but it wems they can't do much about holding them down when there is a threatened scarcity.

Where industry reaches j)ear-monopoly stages it is possible for the owners of the good things of life to cut off production on short .notice and to store away surpluses to such an extent that even a first class.depression doesn't bring down tihe cost of living as used to be the case in earlier Oises of economic upset. When they think it necessary, the employers can even get govern-ment help in destr9.ving foodstuffs in order to save the. price structure.

On the other hand, experience in the present war shows that the job of keeping prices down to Within reach of even an employed worker is a hard job. Mn spite of all thy workers about workers. The Industrial Worker, depends largely for its news service on actual workers in industry, and on those looking for jobs. He. a re firmly convinced the more we depend on such correspondents the better

February 10, 1940 INDUSTRIAL WORKER

Industrial Mobilization Rlan: Twenty Year Conspiracy Against Workers

fty fjtbar Anti-War /Council-1 • i I T h e e f f e c t o f o r g a n i z a t i o n s o f

M a n y p e o p l e r e m e m b e r t h e p o w e r *

v e s t e d in P r e s i d e n t W i l s o n d u r i n g t h e

, w a r . T*he-«e p o w e r a w e r e mi ld in c o m -

p a r i s o n With" t h e j w w e r s t h a t w i l l b e

v e n t e d In the' P r e s i d e n t if t h e Unite«f

S t a t e s g e t * i n t o w a r t o d a y — t h a t is

i f the w W a r D e p a r t m e n t h a s i t s w a y

a n d t h e A m e r i c a n p e o p l e needpt t h e

I N D U S T R I A L M O B H J Z A T I O N D A Y

P L A N S . I m m e d i a t e l y a f t e r t h e W o r l d W a r .

t h e W a r " a n d N a v y D e p a r t m e n t s e t t

d e f r a u d t h e a m e i i c a n p e o p l e o f - t h e i r ^

ci \ /( l l i b e r t i e s In t h e e v e n t o f a n o t h e r |

R e c e n t l y S e n a t o r P a t M c C a r r o n .«

D a y p l a n s a n d h a d it m a d e a P u b l i c ! t , ; r m . , l f W I ? 0 S j s n r c | V t , l t t h a t c a m e j

D o c u m e n t . N o r m a l l y a l l P u b l i c D o c u - ' , n r e c e n t l y f l o r a N e w E n g l a n d . A : m e n t s c a n b e s e c u r e d b y s i m p l y w r i t - I m t . m | u . r „'f u N V w F . n g l a n d D e m 6 - j

i n g t o ( h e U n i t e d S t a t e * P r i n t i n g I>7- , . I u l V S u i t , . , , - p o r t e d that p a r t m e n t a n d p a y i n g t h e c o s t o f p r i n t - t | n . v h ; ( ( , b c t . ^ t o u m k . r , U n d

I n t h y c a s e o f t h e " M " l > a j p l a n s , j t h a t #aKC ^ . a U . „ a r t , a i 1 C a d y w o r k e d

i d e t a i l . E x a m p l e : . A papejr b o x

l i e * it c l e a r . A c t u a l l y t h e j B o a r d

wi l l t a k e o v e r t h e s e a c t i v t i e s

w h i c h h a v e , b e e n p e r f o r m e d b y

t h e t r a d e u n i o n * . T h e u n i o n

p o w e r t o r e p r e s e n t w o r k e r i in

b a r g a h i y i g w i t h e m p l o y e r * . T h e i r

o u t ' t h e o r d e r s o f t h e m i l i t a r y

o f w h a t t h e p l a n s - t i

p o l i t i c i a n s j u s t

' s u b j e c t c l a s s .

thfnsrs o f l i f e ,

f h t " t o d e r i d e j

- w e a p o n is t o j

" B r o t h e r J o h n , '

, C i v i c C e n t e r , c a u s e d a n e a r - r i o t w h e n h e

j 1 , 0 0 0 q u a r t e r s t o h u n g r y m e n a n d w o m e n ,

j i s s o u n u s u a l a p a s t i m e t h e s e d a y s t h a t t h e

t f o r q u e s t i o n i n g .

'You Can't Stnke;

i t s e l f b e t h e p a w n o f s o l o n g wi l l l a b o r b e

T h e s t r i k e is labor's

a n d n a t u r a l w e a p o n - i foi» m o r e o f t h e goo'd

w h o , t h e n h a s t h e

w h e n a m i w h e r e t h a i b e i u s e d ? T h e cap: ta l i : t o f i g u r e o u t t h e

o f e x p l o i t a t i o n . * A nd

i snj t n s k i n ^ _ f i > r a n y t h i n g t h a t be -

l o n g s t o s o m e o n e e l s e ; in s t r i k i n g

l a b o r is j u s t d e m a n d i n g a l i t t l e m o r e j o f w h a t it r i g h t f u l l y ! i . w n s . - — X 1 8 8 -i 6 7 1 .

UPHOLDS UNION b a r e f o o t e d h a b i t u e o f t h e L o s A n g e l e s "J"Q P I C K E T

s t a r t e d d i s t r i b u t i n g j

government—the government,,

' S i g n i f i c a n t a n d t r a g i c w a s

w a y t t h e W P A - s t r i k e r * j l e t t h e

o n o f f i c i a l s g u i d e t h e p r o t e c t m o v e -

m e n t l a s t s u n y n e r . W i t h t h e i joss i -b l e " e x c e p t i o n df M i n n e a p o l i s w h v r e

t h e w o r k e r s f o u g h t n i i l i tant ly ,* t h e WPA-work s h o w e d l i t t l e Ini t ia-

t i v e . T h e y a i ^ p l a u d e d j w i l d l y tvnen

W o r k e r s A l l i a h v e s t o b g o s , s h o u t e d t h a t P r e s i d e n t R o o s e y ^ l t i s b e h i n d

t h e m o n e h u n d r e d p e r c e n t a n d , a l -t h o u g h t e m p o r a r i l y s t u n n e d a c c e p t e d w i t h o u t a m u r m u r q s p r o t e s t t h e

Oil Cofripany Greases Pa m It's Old American Custom

But City Officials Now Fear They \ • "Tore Their Pants" When They Foiled To Cover Up Deals With Employers

M o s t P o t e n t W e a p o n

i l o n g u s labpi

F e e d i n g t h e h u n g r y | C A N N E D M U S I C

p o l i c e p u l l e d h i m " "

T U L S A , O k l a . — I n v e s t i g a t o r s . o f

" u n - A m e r i c a n " " " a c , l i v t l e s w o u l d f i n d

a : i^h f i e l d * f o r t h e i r d i g g i n g s In O k l u h o u u i .

W h%n* ' the , v i c e - p r e s i d e n t o f ' a

$ 5 0 , 0 0 0 , 0 0 0 c o r p o r a t i o n s ( M i d - C o n -

t i n e n t P e t r o l e u m ' C o r p . ) c a n c o r r u p t

a n d t a p e t h e v i r t u e s o f a w h o l e s t a t e b y h a n d i n g o u t l u m p s u m s o f $ 3 0 , -

0 0 0 t o p o l i t i c a l p a n t s j t e s a n d j a c k a l s

in a n n u d e a v o r t o d e n y a g r o u p o f

m e n t h e i r rifijhts, t h e n s u r l y d e m o c r a -

c y is p r e t t y . . w e l l a l o n g t h e r o a d t o w -a r d d i c t a t o r s h i p ,

A f i n e e x a m p l e o f t h e o ld t r a d i -

t i o n a l A m e r i c a n w a y o f h a n d l i n g s t r i k e s i* f u r n i s h e d by t h e c i t y o f f i -

c i a l * o f T u l s a w o r k i n g in p e r f e c t

h a r m o n y w i t h a n d u n d e r p a y o f t h e

s t i u c k co»»r>any. S u y s t h e T u l s a o i l '

a t r u c e r s ' b u l l e t i n o f J a n u a r y 2 2 :

" A c c o r d i n g t o t e s t i m o n y g i v e n t o

N I . R B in T u l s a by f o r m e r p o l i c e c o m -

m i s s i o n e r . F l o y d R h e a m s j Mr. J.- C .

D e n t o n h a d b e e n v e r y k i n d

d u r i n g t h e p a s t t h r e e w e e k s h a s f a l -

len* t h r o u g h , t h e s t r i k e r s r e p o r t , he* .

caus«> b i g b u s i n e s s , arfjl m a n u f a c t u r e r s

o f tJfc e n t i r e s o u t h w e s t a r e teicUiHtr

t h e c o m p a n y a n d t h e }

m i n e d n o t ' t o a l l o w t o IjVfc. .

IT'S A GREAT SYSTEM -By JOHN u'lXF.

rSTEM I CF. - J

P U R E L O G I C

W r le N e i v R e p u b l i c , S i tu -

ar t C h a s e u s e s , t h e m e t h o d s o f t h e i

D i e s C o m m i t t e e - t o p r o v e t h a t I):»ttfnius, J r . o f the^

U n i t e d S t a t e s S t e e l C o r p . , is a t r a i n -

i n g s c h o o l f o r v i e W . R. A .

F e d e r a l L a b o r B o x

" W a r T r a d e A d m i n i s t r a t i o n , w h i c h

wi l l c o n t r o l a l l e x p o r t s a n d i m p o r t s ,

" a n d d o e v e r y t h i n g ; n e c e s s a r y t o

" f u r t h e r t h e e c o n o m i c i s o l a t i o n o f

t h e ' e n e m y . "

~ " W a r L a b o r A d m i n i s t r a t i o n , w h i c h

wi l l c o n t r o l l a b o r r e l a t i o n a n d . t a k e

m e a s u r e s t o p r o v i d e t h e e s a e n t i u l w a r

I n d u s t r i e s w i l h a d e q u a t e a n d p e a c e -

f u l , l a b o r s u p p l i e s .

" P u b l i c R e l a t i o n s A d m i n i s t r a t i o n ,

( i n o t h e r w o r d s - c e n s o r s h i p ) w i l l " e o -

o r d i n a l a n d d i r e c t t h e n a t i o n a l p u b -

l i c i t y o c t i v t i e s s o a s t o i n s u r e t h a t

t h e p u r p o s e s , v i e w s a n d p r o g r e s s o f

t h e g o y e r ' p m e n t in p r o s e c u t i o n o f t h e

w a r u r e pri>pcrly a n d a d e q u a t e l y p r e -

s t f h t e d t o t h e p e o p j e . "

" S e l e c t i v e S e r v i c e A d m i n i s t r a t i o n ,

wi l ) d i r e c t c o n s c r i p t i o n o f m a n . p o w e r

f o r t h e a r m y f o r c e r f .

" P r i c e ' C o n t r o l /Coinmisunon. w i l l 1H? a qua,-

T cbruary 1 Q, 1 9 4 0 I N D U S T R I A L W O R K E R

" W e ' r e t h e p e o p l e t h a t l ive . Can't n o b o d y w i p e us o u t , " say* M a J o a d a s t h e J o a d f a m i l y t r u d g e s its w e a r y w a y o n w a r d in s e a r c h of f o o d a n d a h o m e a t t h e c lo se of w h a t c r i t i c s ca l l t h e g r e a t e s t f i l m e v e r m a d e in H o l l y w o o d .

CLEVELAND BOSS COLLECTS DUES fORAFU MEN WANT IWW

RENO HUGHES DIES AS/RESULT OF j4f6CIDENT thje Industrial Worker

'the.columns of r will carry the

BALTIMORE — Fepow Worker Reno Hu$rh