"The exposure cheat- 1 iW 1 iW istll V V VB iH
and knavery one the I I fl rfl H I mWm Itf tL Hi
of Socialist I B ft m Hf aiM aiB Hl
Leon Trotsky. fl 1 iVfl iLI fl ikliLfl HV t r itf 1 sLfl 1 HliB 1 H ft B
NO. 176. CLEVELAND, OHIO, SAtAdAY. .11 Mi. i. PRIC E FIVE CENTS.
SACCO-VANZETTI CASE
iN COURT.
Jury Selected From Hundreds
of Talesmen.
Nicolo Sacco and Bartholomew Van
zetti, radical labor unionists and lead
ers, charged with" murder are now on
trial at Dedam, Mass.
The selection of the jury began on
May 31 and for 5 days an examina
tion of hundreds of talesmen proceed
ed before the prosecution and the de
fense were able to pick 12 men who
will decide the fates of the two men
The accused are jointly charged
with the murder on April 15, 1920 of
Frederick A. Paimenter, paymaster
of the Slater and Merrill Shoe Com
pany at Braintree, Mass. and Ales
sandro Beradelli, a special officer.
The trials began In a sensational
hunt for jurymen, several hundred
men being examined in- the search
for 12 men fit for the responsibility
of jury duty. The wide publicity given
the case, which is comparable to the
Mooney Case in the appearance of a
frame-up, being responsible for great
prejudice in the minds of practically
all inhabitants of that section. The
city of Dedham and all Norfalk
County were scoured for talesmen
when the first panel of 125 men was
exausted. Talesmen were taken from
their homes and work for examina
tion for duty. A bride groom was
taken from his wedding breakfast.
Many were excused on account of pre
judice in the case and others on ac
count of being opposed to capital
punishment.
Defense Counsel Strong.'
The defendants have a strong legal
counsel at their service. They are:
William J. Callahan, Fred H. Moore,
John A. Lyons, John W. McAnarney
and J. J. McAnarney. Moore is ac
counted one of the best- labor attor
neys in the United States, having
served in that capacity in many not
able labor cases, the "Everett Mas
sacre" of the I. W. W. at Everett, i
Washington, several years ago, being
tei4.J!i?..-mot-uccessft:l fighu.
It is asserted that the defense will
'jot only prove their innocence in the
murders but will be able to throw
(heavy shadows of suspicion of "fram
ing" them for the electric chair, upon
i their accusers. Sacco and Vanzetti
have in the past been active in several
labor strikes and were known to the
authorities as r-tive in the revolu
tionary movement. Their activities in
the labor movement is given as the
reasons for the charges against them,
in the absnce of the real murderers
ever being located. The Civil Liberties
Union of New York is active in rais
ing money for the defense of the two
accused men.
Since the trial opened the jury has
been taken on a sight seeing tour of
the scenes of the murder. The defend
ants waived their legal right to ac
company the party, having already
been carried over the ground in the
"third degree" thru which they were
put by the police after their arrest.
Cleveland Building
Strike Getting
Settled.
General Wage Cut Basis of Set
tlement. Closed Shop Principle
Retained.
The strike of the Cleveland build
ing trades which has been on since
May 1 is getting settled after a
fashion. A general wage cut approxi
mating 17 per cent with the retention
of the closed shop principle for the
unions forms the general basis upon
which workers in the 20 crafts are
returning to work.
After sevral weexs of sparring for
advantage an arbitration board com
posed of representatives of the em
ployers, the unions and that fictitious
element "the public", wa3 formed to
consider all matters at issue. It
naturally followed that a general and
decisive wage cut was seen as the
only possible way out.
While the board of arbitration has
been the general supervisor of nego
tiations for settlement, several unions
have not waived their rights to nego
tiate for themselves at the same' time.
The result is that some unions are
still, even with one foot slipping into
the mire of reduced wages, making a
stand for some of the hard won fruits
of past conquests.
Building laborers have, thrown up
the sponge in the middle of the first
week's resumption of work after try
ing to survive on a wage of 57 and
GO cents an hour. Many jobs were
struck because of the dissatisfaction
on this account. The question of re
maining at work if union laborers
failed to show up last Monday morn
ing, was a question to Brickjayers
were to consider at a meeting Sunday
when they met to consider the ar
bitration award.
1 UP FROM SLAVEY TO POWER!
SI
graa ;ekeni
i rlV Mum
Packers Still Cry
'Down With Wages'
(By The Federated Press.)
1
5c AN HOUR, WAGE OF
AMERICAN FARMER.
Chicago. Reductions in the pny of
approximately 02,000 paoking-house
workers are asked by the "Big Five"
in an application filed with Federal
Judge Samuel Alschuler, impartial ar
bitrator agreed upon by the employers
and workers in the industry during
the wartime disputes. The packers re
quest permission to cut wages in the
stockyards 5 cents an hour, effective;
June 19, together with a reduction in
the piecework scale equivalent to the
hour rate. The petition states that
changed economic conditions have re
sulted in giving labor an "inordinate
portion of what it is producing."
Dennis Lane, secretary-treasurer of
the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and
Butcher Workmen, intimated tlwi. he
believed the packers are actuated by
other motives than their announced
lesire to aid the farmer or provide
jobs for the jobless. He is of the
opinion the packers are trying to force
a strike with the object of smashing
the unions with the army of unemployed.
The agreement under which the
men are working at present was
signed in Washington, March 23, at
a meeting between the government
and the packers and the unions, got
together at the instance of Lane at
i time when, with big wage cuts
threatened, a nation-wide strike seem
ed imminent. As it was hourly wages,
under that agreement, were cut 8c
:md the piecework scale 12 Vt per cent.
At that time it was not expected that
further action by the packers towards
ower wages would be taken untiLl
early in August, a month before the
present agreement expires.
The reduction, it it goes through,
would mean a saving to the "Big
Five' of $6,500,000 a year.
BANCRUPTCY INEVITABLE
LOT OF RURAL PRODUCERS.
A Little Talk With Gompers
BEFORE THE A. F. OF L. CONVENTION AT HIS HEADQUAR
TERS, ROOM 567 ALBANY HOTEL, DENVER, COLORADO.
The American Farmer is worse off
than any peasant of Europe.
He is working fsr 5c an hour and
he feeds this country and a great part
of the world. Bankruptcy stares him
in the face.
This is the wage American farmers
of the mid-continental regions of the
U. S. are receiving in this year of
1921, says Senator Norris.
Senator Norris is sponsoring a bill
for farmers' relief. He calls it the
Farmers Financing Corporation bill.
It provides for the formation of a
corporation composed of the Secre
tary of Agriculture and four others
as directors. $100,000,000 is to be set
aside from guvernment funds to fin
ance exports of cotton, wheat and
other farm products. It Is expected to
finance itself once it is set agoing.
Unless some means are taken for
i raklical change in the world mar
keting of American farm products,
the American farmer will be reduced
to the lowest position of any wealth
producer in the country. With debts
to pay on invested capital, in land.
implements, stock and farm equip
ment, says the Senator, virtual im
poverishment on an unorecedented
scale willW)e his lot.
Organized Greed
Drives Thousands
to Starve.
Half Million in New England at
Hunger Point.
(By The Federated Press,
By M. I). Litman, Secretary Workers' Defense Union, Denver, Colorado.
Gale Loses Fight
On Habeas Corpus
Linn A. E. Gale, former editor and
publisher of Gale's Magazine, a cotn-
munist monthly magazine, published!
at Mexico City, Mexico, has lost his
fight on an application for a writ of
habeas corpus to transfer his case
from the military to the civil courts.
Judge West, of San Antonio, Texas,
before whom the hearing was held,
ruled that evidence tended to show
that the Albany, New York deaft
board had mailed a notice of induc
tion into the army to Gale on March
28, 1918, and that Gale had received
proper notice.
He also held that according to the
evidence, Gale was, to all intents, a
soldier after April 4, 1918, and there
fore subject to military laws, and that
evidence showed he willfully absented
himself from the United States to
escape the draft.
Gale was arrested at Laredo in
April, after he had been expelled
from Mexico by President Obregon
The Toiler correspondent states
that Gale and his attorney, Samuel
Castelton of Atlanta, Ga., nuide
Shakespeare says there is nothing
in a name, and surely there is much
less in a number; but I shall never
forget Room 567 Albany Hotel, Den
ver, Colorado. Ever since I have been a
"red'' and for some time a member
of the A. F. of L., I have heard and
talked so much of Gompers and his
misleadership, that when I passed the
Albany Hotel during lunch hour four
days before the A. F. of L. convention,
an unconquerable desite to see Sam
my at his headquarters gripped me
and as if some automaton would carry
me off, I suddenly found myself go
ing up the elevator to the fifth floor.
A sign on the door, below the room
number 567, read as follows: Office
of the President of the American Fed
eration of Labor.
A sort of a bashful feeling and a
quickening of my pulse came over me,
I opened the door and found myself
inside of the Sanctum-Sanctorium of
the A. F. of L. Generalisimo and
Chief Tactician. The busy office, with
I bustling secretaries and messengers
I running back and forth "with the
Final Ukaz to the labor front, failed
to materialize. I was rather supiised
at the emptiness of the room. In the
distance near a window sat a well
dressed man of about forty, wno
looked like an oil-stock salesman and
to the right was an open door where
I could see a short gray-haired, pom
pous little fellow talking to a woman
dressed in dark. "It Is Sammy him
self!" was the quick thought than ran
through my mind. Yes, Sammy him
self; but not by himself anytmorc. He
is winding up his honeymoon.
Approaching the man near the win
dow, I asked him if he was one of
the A. F. of L. officials and he said
yes. I introduced myself as the Sec
retary of the Workers' Defense Union
of Denver, that defended last year's
raid victims and he looked at me as
if he did not know there was such
an organization in existence, and I
addressed him as follows:
"Will you please answer this ques
tlon: Is it right for the A. F. of L
to mnkc this hotel its convention head
quarters, in view of the fact that
only a month ago Robert Minor, who
spoke against the Open Shop in Den
vor, was not allowed to lecture In the
Albany Hotel Ball Room by the man-
for a beanery.
was l:lo. "in
there only 15
hours." With
clock showed it
must have been
es, it seemed like
ent I told
the waitress that i just had a "Little
Talk with Gompers,'! "Who is Gom
pers?" she asked with a surprised
look on her face.
THE DUTIES OF A COMMUNIST IN RUSSIA.
strong fight for the writ. It !s thot
that Gale will now be tried by court agement, because they were against
martial for deertlon. His defense is
being backed by friends in this coun
try and by workers' organisations in
Mexico where he has many friends.
the topic . and the management re
turned the money paid for the use of
the hall to the committee?" The man
I addressed told me that I must be
mistaken, that there is no one he
knew by the name of Robert Minor
lecturing against the Open Shop, tjjat
it must have been a man by the name
of Meisel or some name that sounded
like it.
Before I could utter another word,
the Generalisimo himself came out
from the inner room and pushing
himself as close up to me as pos
sible, he said: "My name is Gompers,
What do you want?" I again told him
of how Robert Minor was not allowed
to speak against the Open Shop in
the present headquarters of the A.
F. of L., and asked him if he knew
Minor. He told me that he knew Minor
and that the hotel arrangements were
made for him six months ago. I then
asked him what he thought of having
his headquarters in a hotel which is
for the Open Shop. With a curt heavy
voice he replied: "That's none of your
business what I think." Pushing him
self still closer to me until it seemed
as if he was trying to back me to the
door, he went on: "You are crude, im
pudent, insolent and ever-bearing. It
is none of your affairs where we
make our headquarters." I felt sick.
"Do you think that we can live in a
stable," he continued. "Do you live in
n stable?" I confessed to him that I
did once when I was broke. My vo
cabulary seemed to have failed me
and I barked out at him: "Most work
ers live in stables anyway." The old
crook got excited and growled at me:
"You belong in a stable." There was
an inner feeling urging me to stay
and not to leave, but words failed me.
"Things will soon change." I said in
a low voice. "Go on, go out, go on."
Gompers yelled and turning around
so as to ignore me, he engaged into
a conversation with the man near the
window.
The excitement of talking face to
face with the Czar of Labor, made me
feel as if I were walking through an
abyss. I closed the door of room 567,
looked back at the sign and said to
myself. "So that is the way the leader
of American Labor talks to a worker
who was seeking reasonable information."
in tnc loooy oi the hotel, one
could see a hundred or more Crea
tures that once were workers, they
looked like shrewd politicians with
contended faces and smooth hands.
They were the deputies and the hench
men that are coached and primed to
re-elect Sammy. Dejected in spirit 1
reached the street and made a dash
The City of Denver is giving the
A. F. of L. a cold reception. Thev re
fused to decorate the streets with
American Flags unless the A. F. of
L. stood the cost, they did not donate
the Municipal Auditorium, as is some
times done for many important con
ventions. No official wellcome by the
City of Denver. The delegates are
slipping into town like prodigal sons.
No one officially will dare to welcome
the A. F. of L., in yjew of the Open
Shop fight carried on by the Civic
and Commercial Association. The
press is busy with the Pueblo flood
and seems to side-track the convention.
Some of the bin firms are display
ing cards in their windows to the ef
feet that "money spent here will not
be used to the detriment of labor."
They are the 'very individuals that
support the Conn lereial Associations
Rejoice you workers and toilers,
your interests are in safe hands.
, o
Court Rules Against
Alexander Howat
GREAT DANGERS, GREAT RESPONSIBILITIES, HARD WORK
AND AN IRON DISCIPLINE MAKE THE LIFE OF THE
RULING PARTY ANYTHING, BUT AN EASY ONE.
By M. Olgin. Translated by S. Smith.
From "Jewish Daily Forward", New York.
A communist in Russia is a man
who must face reality anil act. Upon
him depends everything. He is res
ponsible for everything. He must con
sider everything. He must set a good
example. He must lead.
A Communist is a man who takes
upon himself the task of carrying
through the revolution to its very end,
and of establishing socialism. He must
never say no. He must always forge
ahead. He must live up to the de
cisions of the Soviets, live up to the
demands of the Communist Party. He
must fear nothing. He must never
stop because of difficulties in the
way. He has undertaken the task and
he must not complain.
A Communist is a fighter. All the
Communists of a city are united in
one military organization, called "a
division with a special end in view."
All the members of this organization
must know how to use a rifle and
machine gun. If they do not know they
take lessons several .times a week. I
The State Supreme Court of Kansas knew Communists who on three morn
in a sweeping decision. on June 11, up-J ings a week had to rise at six o'clock
held the Kansas Industrial Court law and go for military training, to learn
in affirming the decision of the Craw-i to march and shoot. I saw Commun-
ford County district court sentencing! ists who were tired, exhausted, hung
Alexander Howat, miners' leader, to
one year in jail.
Howat was indicted several months
ago for calling n mine strike against
the ruling of the Industrial Court. He
was tried, found guQty and sentenced
to one year in prison. His appeal to
the highest stnto Court was based
upon eight issues Involving the con
stitutionality of thf Industrial Court.
The law was held Jid on all of the
eight issues raised.
Howat is held In great esteem by
the coal miners of ; Kansas, of which
district he is proildtnt. Many rank
and file strikes have been pulled by
the miners to show their solidarity
with their chief. It is not expected
that the Supreme Court's decision will
have any mollifying effect upon the
temper of the militant miners.
-a
Shrcveport. La. A gang of masked
men lured R. G. Van Hess, former
president of the Central Trades and
Labor Council, from his home, tarred
and feathered him, later forcing him
aboard a train foY Marshall. Texas,
ccording to a phase message from
there received !' his wife.
ry, but they attended ror military
training. What is it all for? So that
they may be able to defend the city
in time of an insurrection. Every
Communist of every city is connected
with headquarters which serve as a
mobilizing point. If he receives a call
by telephone or courier, he must im
mediately report to headquarters with
his gun. Thus all the Communists of
the City of Moscow can be mobilized
within an hour. It would only take
half an hour to mobilize the Commun
ists of a smaller city. In the event of
a counter-revolutionary movement in
n city, the Communists will be the
first to fight and the first to die. This
is not an empty phrase with them.
Comnunista to the Front.
I happened to be in the city of Nis
ni Novograd at a time when there
was a feeling of restlessness among
the military units there. It did not
come to anything serious, but there
was the fear that there might be an
uprising. The Communists were rail
ed out. Several hundred of them as
semhled in the building of the Exec
utive Committee of the Communists
and remained there for three days ard
three nights with their guns in hand.
Sentries were posted. Patrols were
organized. No one undressed in all
this time. They ate and slept on the
floor above. We're it necessary they
would throw themselves to the de
fense of the revolution with their life
and blood. Just what chance their
number would have against a far
superior force they did not ask. Per
haps they figured that only a part ot
the enemy would be against them,
while another part would join them.
However that might have been, they
were ready. They came to fight and
to die. Thus it was all over Russia.
This is not merely a part of the pro
gramme, it is a terrible reality.
When the Poles took Minsk what
was the first thing they did? They
slaughtered the Communists. When
Denikin or Petlura have taken a city
in Ukraina, who were the first vic
tims? The Communists. When the
"whites" had possession of Baku,
whom did they shoot as one shoots
mad dogs? The Communists. In Vla
dimir a commisar told me how, es
caping from Baku, he passed through
Charkow to Soviet Russia. It was like
a story from the Arabian Nights. I
could not believe that a human being
would be able to go through all that
and remain alive. Of one thing he was
positive: if they learned that he was
a Communist they would snoot mm
on the spot.
I met with many Communists and
spoke to them not as a newspaper man
but as a good acquintance of theirs. I
spent many weeks in the houses of
active Communists. And do you know
what I heard in the most sacred mo
ments, when hearts open and secret
thoughts ore uttered? "Wo will al
ways be hung," I heard more than
once. If the revolution should fail, if
a change should come about, the Com
munists will be the first ones to be
shot and hung. They know that. They
don't deceive themselves. And they
stick right to it. They lose no courage
They keep active.
A Communist must be ready to sac
riflce his life. You should have been
In Russia in September, October and
November, when the Russian army
relented before the Poles and Wran
gel kept moving north, ever nearer.
Russia was at that time as if under
(Continued on page 2.)
N. Y. Bureau).
New Haven, Conn. One hundred
thousand families in Connecticut are
in desperate straits for lack of ivrlr .
and their families literally will be
facing starvation if unemployment
'onditions do not improve, according
to I. N. Ornburn, secretary of the
Connecticut State Federation of La
)or. Bridgeport, Waterbury and New
'laven are the worst sufferers.
It is in this state that the organ
zed employing and financial interests
just now are centering their drive
against unionism, and the campaign is
being directed from this city. The
local Chamber of Commerce has joined
forces with the "open shop" council
of employers, and the tactics they
have adopted have become so offensive
that Patrick F. O'Meara, president of
the State Federation of Labor, has
announced the resignation of the two
labor delgotes from the deliberations
of the Chamber of Commerce. The
effect of this is to sever the last
formal link between capital and labor
here.
The employers, however, are com
placent. They point with satisfaction
to the fact- that there are about five
men for every available job. They say
openly that they have launched their
"open shop" campaign at a time cal
culated to be most effective.
Labor union officials, notwith
standing, point to the fact that the
union memberships are virtually un
affected by the employers' offensive.
"The employers are finding they
can't force workers to abandon their
union affiliations even in the face of
starvation," they say.
The number of men idle in New
Haven is about 20,000; in Bridgeport,
30,000, and in Waterbury 28,000.
Conditions throughout the indus
trial sections of New England are very
similar. Springfield, Fall River, Pro
vidence, Hartfofrd and Manchester
report thousands out of work.
In Danbury the hat manufacturers,
generally speaking, are said to be
signing up again with the unions in
all cases where such agreements were
in existence. The principal exception
is t he- Hill and Loper factory, which
recently announced It would conduct
an "open shop." The union men quit,
ami an attempt is being made to fill
their places with non-union men.
1 o 1
JUST A REHEARSAL.
The capitalists are on strike and
they don't care a damn. Too bad, we
workers can't throw them info jail
like they do us when we do likewise.
History is repeating itself. What
took place after the Civil War will
take place here a great financial
disaster. The prtsent is only a re
hearsal for what will come in 1984-27.
C. Caaaell.
I
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