The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-06-10
BY JAY LovEsToNE.


PRACTICALLY all Cuban railroads
l are tied up by general strike o
the railway workers.
The railroad brotherhood employees
OF the Cuban Railroad company, thu
Northern Railways of Cuba and tn,
Guantanamo & Western railroad have
just gone on strike in sympathy will
the workers on the struck United
Railways of Havana. Nearly twenty
thousand men are on strike now
This great strike is of twofold signi
ficance at this moment. First of all
the struggle of the railway worker.
in Cuba brings into bold relief the
character of the control over the basic
industries, exercised over the vassa'
republic of the Caribbean by the for
eign capitalists. The railway strike az
fords clear instance OF the nature
of the class war as it is waged in
those areas falling within the eco
nomic hinterland of the big capitalist
imperialist powers.
Secondly, this great strike of Cuban
railway workers is to be considered as
a phase and a symptom Of the general
unrest and discomfort now sweeping
the Latin-American and Pacific pos.
sessions, dependencies, protectorates
and spheres Of influence Of the Yam
kee imperialist ruling class.
Fight Against international Capitalism
The forces lined UP against the rail.
way workers fighting for an improve
ment in their conditions of employ
ment and the maintenance of their
right to organize are the combined
American, British and Cuban capital
list interests.
The Cuban Railroad Company is an
American-owned corporation. Among
its board of managers one will find
such notorious enemies of the work
ers in the United States as Percy A
Rockefeller, w. H. Woodin, and Ed
ward ]. Berwind. Mr.. Berwind, it will
be remembered, was one of the coal
barons who evicted the striking BIZ
luminous coal miners in the Fayette
and Somerset fields during the ma
tional coal strike of 1922. Mr.. Der
wind is also the guiding hand of the
New York traction interests which are
distinctly hostile to organized labor.
Percy Rockefeller needs little intro
duction to the American workers and
farmers. Mr.. Woodin is the director
of many huge corporations among
which are such anti-union organiza-
lions as the American Beet Sugar Cor
poration and the Westinghouse Elec.
trio Company.
The Northern Railways Of Cuba are
not owned outright by American CAPT
talists. Here there is a heavy invest
ment of native capital. The president
Of this company is the well-known ]
M. Tarafa. This is the same Colonel
Tarafa that has gotten away with
hundreds of thousands of dollars thru
reselling government bonds and ex
soldiers compensation certificates,
which he bought up at next to moth
ing and then disposed of them at hand
some prices after he became the dom.
mating figure in the native govern
ment. Colonel Tarafa is today one
of the most powerful, if not the most
powerful, of native capitalists.
The Guantanamo and Western Rail
road is controlled principally by New
England capitalists, tho outwardly the
ownership appears to be native.
The United Railways of Havana is
British-controlled corporation. Such
influential British capitalists as Briga
der General Archibald Jack is the
general manager and Sir Henry Ma
- n N