davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1925-05-06
A BIackshirt Whitewash

| The senate commission appointed to sift the
charges of completely in the murder of the socialist
Deputy Matteotti, made against Premier NIusso
ini brought in report absolying the dictatorship
from blame and treating the case as a criminal one
involving only those directly implicated in it.
1t is reported that the king, using his royal
perOgatve ordered the commission to bring in such
a report 1t is also undoubtedly true that Mus
soln using his assassin's dagger ordered the king
to order the commission to whitewash the fascist
regime pain of losing his royal head
Matteotti's widow may appeal, but this will do
her little good. The senate and parliament are
the tool of the fascist government which is yet
supported by the capitalists, who prefer the devil
they know to the devil that breakdown of Mus
solini's rule might let loose on them.
1t may be only coincidence, but it is neverthe-
less significant that Thomas Lamont, big figure in
the House of Morgan was in Rome recently. What
he said to Mussolini and the king of Italy we do
not know. But there is doubt but Lamont and
Morgan are not anxious to see the fascist regime
replaced by one not so easily handled. The action
If the senate commission coming on the heels of
Wall Streets emissary may be only coincidence,
out it is very suspicious one.
The Italian COURTS like the American courts,
serve the interests of the class that controls the
government This is never so apparent as when
that government is faced wit ha crisis. The power
of Mussolini and his cutthrOats hangs by slender
thread. While he was i'll recently the peasants
were Selling the estates of the Roman mobiles and
building nice little gallows which to hang their
owners If the senate commission appointed to
probe the MatteOtti murder hailed Mussolini be-
fore the public as the principal culprit his gov
eminent would not last long
In which event the gallows would not be idle.
Hence the whitewash
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1925-05-06


THE elections in Belgium, which
took place on the 9Th of April,
have resulted in a great victory for
the socialist party and defeat for
the liberal party, and have also given
the Communist Party of. Belgium the
opportunity of sending its first rep
resentatives to parliament. The Ia
Dor party has become the strongest
group In the chamber, in which no
party possesses an absolute majority.
The government which will be form
ed will necessarily be a coalition gov
eminent It can already be seen that
this government will meet with great
difficulties in the chamber itself.
Belgium has three great traditional
parties:
1. The catholic party. This con-
sentative party finds it's support in the
rural districts, where the influence
of the clergy and Of the big landown-
ers is very great among the small
peasants. 1t is8also supported by
the catholic sections of the middle
classes and the workers in the chris
tian trade unions, which latter com
prise 100000 organized workers. Be-
fore the war, when1a system of plural
voting prevailed, it welded power
alone. su
2. The liberal party. This party
is the party of the industrial and
commercial big bourgeoisie, as well
as of the petty bourgeoisie of the in
dustrial centers After having for
many years fought along with the
Belgium labor (socialist) party
against the catholic domination, it
abandoned its anti-clericalism in or
der, after the war, to form a catholic
liberal bloc.
8. The labor party. Founded forty
years ago the Belgian labor party is
not purely political party but com
prises political, educational, GONZALES
cent, cooperative, trade union and
provident organizations, which are
closely allied with one another. This
is the sole explanation of it's strength
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1925-05-06
Rather Disappointing

The Chicago Tribune is not entirely pleased with
the way things are going in Italy. When Mus
solni seized power the fascist regime was greeted
by the Tribune with acclaim. For the capitalists,
this was delightful change from the days when
the workers appeared to be on the threshold of
power, when people expected every day to read
of the establishment of Soviet republic in Italy.
Mussolini and his dictatorship saved the day
temporarily for capitalism and the American cap
itaist press was not slow to make proper acknowl-
edgement In fact it may not be known until the
workers of Italy throw the archives of the bour-
geois government open to the world, how closely
connected the capitalists of Wall Street were to
the plot that landed Mussoini on the throne as
dictator 1t is known that the then Ambassador
Washburn Child greeted Mussoini on the success
Of his violent revolutions as the American ambas-
sador to Spain greeted Primo de Rivera later ON.
But the American capitalists are disappointed
in the result of the fascist regime 1t doesn't
work. The masses against it and their opposi-
ton is NOT lessening but becoming more pro
nounced. The workers who were at first deluded
by the fine phrases of Mussolini and his assassins,
now see that the dictatorship which promised to
give square deal to all classes" (as if this were
possible) is only government Of the capitalist
class, like all governments except that Of Soviet
Russia
The broad masses in opposition to Mussolini are
becoming holder. The Matteotti murder will not
down The dictatorship of the majority by a
minority has proven a failure Therefore the
Tribune washes its filthy hands Of the Italian
nluddle and calls il day.
The Tribune changes its mind occasionally IT
once favored the child labor amendment II sud
denly switched and discovered revolution lurking
in every clause of that innocuous bill 1t now
leaves Mussolini in the lurch. It's the old story
Of rats deserving a sinking ship.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1925-05-06
AnSwer the International Open
Shop!

With the dispatches from Britain one may see
clearly why the British labor unions are seeking
despite every obstacle put in their way by the
Amsterdam socialist reformists and the outspoken
reactionary capitalist forces to unite themselves
with the Russian unions and work for world trade
union unity.
The mine owners Of England, considered as
whole, cannot pay even the starvation wage needed
to keep the miners and their families alive-and
still pay profits. This is because all mines are
privately owned, many use out of date machinery,
inefficient methods, and each one has a group of
leeches consisting of stockholders and overlapping
managerial boards eating up vast expenses. The
miners of England have rightly demanded national
ization of the mines and organization of the in
dustry into unit to produce efficiently.
The railroads have begun an open shop drive,
in which they ask longer hours, wage cuts and
wholesale discharges. The company has gone to
division organizations and asked the to accept
these conditions and has refused to deal with the
national unions. A giant lockout thus threatens.
In addition the employers in the metal trades
propose that from three to five and half hours be
added to the working week with practical aboli-
ton of overtime penalty rates. They cite the fact
that Greman workers, driven under the Dawes
slave plan, are working 60 and more hours per
week, and say they cannot meet competition I'M
less the British unions agree to longer hours and
less wages,
The plan of General Dawes, characterized as the
international open shopper" is the battering ram
used by the employers of all the world to beat down
the living standards of the workers. The British
workers have instinctively and definitely turned
to the only source of labor unity and militant
struggle in the international labor union movement
the Red international of Labor Unions.
The masses Of the British workers are not going
to take a beating lying down. The British unions,
the strongest section of the Amsterdam Interna-
tional are determined upon the immediate unity
of that body with the r. I. L. u, and woe be unto
any hesitating refOrmists and reactionary labor
takers who stand in the way.
This brings to mind the status of the American
Federation of Labor and other great American
unions. Are they going to meet the same inter
national open shop drive with class collaboration
or a united fighting front? 1t is up to the Amer
lean miitants to point the way.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1925-05-06
Another Coolidge AppOintee

We are entertained by the news that President
Coolidge will appoint John B. Stetson, Jr., of Penn
sylvania, as minister to Finland.
Mr. StetsOn, it must be remembered, is the son
of the founder of the famous scab hat manufacture
ing company.
Bolshevik persons are perhaps inclined to be
critical, but the appointment by Coolidge of one
after another of the most brassfaced enemies of
the workers somehow seems to indicate that John
Il. Lewis and Mother Jones were not exactly cor
rect in their touting Mr. Coolidge in the last cleo
ton as a great friend of the workers.
The country had not yet finished vomiting over
the Warren appointment, until the most expert of
Of liars about Soviet Russia in the Far Eastern
department of the state department was made con
sui general at HankOw, China. Now, one of the
outstanding open shoppers of the nation is sent
to an important post in a country which is OBJ
ligated to the United States bankers and which is
expected to continue its role as barrier to Boil
shevism.
Doubtless it is fitting that white guard Finnish
heads should wear scab hats and consOrt with
their open shop sponsor LabOring men and women
who are inclined to show surprise that Coolidge
should appoint avowed enemies of organized labor
to responsible posts, may be reminded that Coo
lidge represents capitalist political party in a
capitalist government, and that not until labor
as a mass supports a political party of the work
ers, overthrows capitalist rule and establishes a
workers and farmers government, can they ex
pect anything different.
The Workers (COmmunist) Party of America
is organized for this special purpose, and workers
who are disillusioned with labor support of cap
italist government, should join and support the
Workers Party.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1925-05-06

from the workers the practical side OF
industry, but also impart theoretical
knowledge to the latter.
By this means the workers are
now beginning to come forward with
business-like proposals at the produc-
ton conferences, thus helping to rem
edy shortcomings, which, altho small
are quite important, whereas in the
pre-revolutionary period, these ques-
tons were left entirely to the discrim-
nation of the factory management
and technical staff.
AS result OF systematic confer
ences on production, in which the
administration, the higher and lower
technical agronomical personnel, the
representatives of trade union and
party organizations factory commit
tees and Communist nuclei) as we'll
as large numbers of factory workers
participate-our sugar industry which
was all but destroyed by 10 years of
imperialist and civil war, foreign in
W. fSheAch anu biothdutg 10 HOW DtblH-
ming to revive. And in this revival of
the sugar industry, in this move for
ward, our red students, young engi-
neers and agronomists who, coming
from the working class and the peas
antry, have been trained and edu-
Gated in the Soviet high schools in
the spirit Of socialist construction, are
playing no small role.-President of
the workers correspondents bureau
in the Shpoliansk state sugar factory
"a worker (signature) Mem
Der of the bureau; Vinnichenko, a wo.
man teacher, Bogatyrev, red proba
toner.
The above signatures are counter.
signed and stamped with the Official
stamp Of the factory committee OF the
Shpoliansy sugar factory.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1925-05-06
Sunny Jim, the Slum Proletarian azReste Dunbar
By Robin E. Dunbar

the losers in life's lottery. The soon
er they are gone and forgotten, the
better. What is the use of spending
much time over the downand-outs
anyway? No use at all Yet the
members of the buns brigade have
the mean CAPACITY of writing their
names. more ldelibly in the mem
cries of the populace than the cur
rent millionaires. More of the citi-
zenry of this town remember old dis
reputable Sunny Jim than old What's
His-Name who used to own and edit
the Los Angeles Times? His name
was Otis! Yes, that's it,
Col. or was it Gen. Otis? Nobody
processes to recollect his first name,
while everybody has a vivid picture
Of poor old Sunny Jim. Both are sup
posed to have passed out of the field
of contemporary interest; Otis is gone
where the MacNamaras can't blow
him up; Jim has left the scenes and
the scenery of the old haunts. The
Burbank was a stock house in Jim's
day; it played Peg o. My Heart
while Jim painted the set Now it is
a burlesque house, showing vulgar wo-
men in nude undress and playing on
the sex excitement. Sailors and des-
ert rats and lewd men and sex-starved
slaves pour out their wages seeking
Tor false relief from animal appetites.
They, like Jim, set their innards on
llre, and commit self-destruction while
under a wholly natura! animal i'm
pulse. Sunny Jim? Another bright
man gone wrong under the iron heel
Of capitalism. The pressure of that
h0el sets the whole world awry.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1925-05-06
The Recent Elections in Belgium B. E..s.,

Ollie party also suffers severe re
verse in the loss Of two seats. In
posing as the only party of law and
order 1t endeavored to rally round ii
all the patriotic elements in order to
obtain the absolute majority. In Brus-
sells it concluded an election alliance
with the fascists, whose leader ran on
the catholic ticket.
The defeat of the bourgeois parties
is partly to be accounted for by the
impotence Of the last coalition gov
ernments who were unable to do any
thing to prevent the fall of the Bel
gian franc and the increase in prices.
The Belgian labor party, which was
the great opposition party, reaps the
benefit of this defeat, which constitu-
ted condemnation of the incapacity
Of the bourgeois parties. This, how
ever, is not the sole explanation Of the
socialist victory.
The Belgian labor party, by retain
ing the form of its organization upon
centralized basis, preserves its in
fluence upon the great masses of the
proletariat and at the same time wins
the support Of the backward sections
Of the working class and is also be-
ginning to penetrate into the petty
bourgeoisie and the peasantry. For
years its tactics have consisted in
repudiating even the appearance of
being class war party. In every
situation it subordinates the interests
of the proletariat to the interests Of
the capitalist state. Excluded from
participation in the ministry, it works
with the bourgeoisie in a great num-
Der of committees. 1t is the COLA
borator with the industrial magnates
on the national committee for indus
trial production. 1t nips in the bud
any inclination to fight on the part of
the proletariat, and when strikes
break out it sabotages them Gin the
interests of the community" 1t poses
as the great party of the left, which
respects the firmly established order,
is loyal to the monarchy and is hos
tile to any revolutionary action. The
christian workers, the petty bourgeois
and the intellectuals are gradually
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1925-05-06

(shopliansky State Sugar Factory,
Kiev, Gubernia, Soviet Ukraine, U. S.
S. R.)
DREVIoUS to the revolution our
4 bourgeois students devoted most
of their time to the study of theoreti-
cal subjects and paid very little atten-
ton to acquiring practical knowledge
Of production.
On the other hand. the private SUI
gar manufacturers themselves gave
little encouragement to the students
in the way Of giving them opportuni-
ties for practice.
Consequently, engineers were grad
uated from the engineering institutes,
who were often overburdened with ut
terly unnecessary theoretical knowl-
edge, and who were unfit for practic-
ally directing our industrial produc-
ton.
THE October NOV. Z, 1910 revolu-
l. ton established the power of the
working class firmly and the sugar
industry was taken over by the SUI
gar trust, which together with other
trusts comes under the supreme coun
Gil OF national economy Of the Union
OF Socialist Soviet Republics.
AT the same time. those revolution
airy students in our high schools land
they are mostly of working class and
peasant origin) who have selected the
sugar industry as their speciality are
given every opportunity to spend two
to four months every year in the beet
sugar and refining works during the
period Of production as well as dur
ing the repairing period.
THE workers as a whole have beer
l. -iven an opportunity TO take consci
GUS and useful part in production to
a large degree owing to these revolu-
tionary students who not only learn
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1925-05-06
By A. Harbaru

coming over to it.
The Communist Party is capturing
the elite Of the class conscious sec
tons of the proletariat. In spite OF
the reformist and democratic tradi-
tions which prevail among the Bel
gian workers, in spite of the weak re-
sources it had in the election cam
paign, which met with resistance on
all sides, in spite of the terror or
ganized against its supporters by the
socialists Of the Borinage district and
of the Flemish provinces, the Com
munist Party Of Belgium received "a.
600 votes and captured two seats:
Jacquemotte in Brussels and Won
Overstraaten in Liege. The Commun-
list Party only met with a failure in
Charleroi, where it obtained 5000
votes. In Seraing it obtained Just as
many votes as the Belgian labor party
The Communist Party of Belgium
showed itself to be a party of the
workers which from now on must be
reckoned with, and which will. know
how to win the confidence of an ever
increasing number of workers.
At the moment Of writing 1t is i'm.
possible to predict to which party
will fall the task of forming the gov
eminent. A new catholic-liberal coal
ition? But the liberals appear to be
determined to remain in the opposi-
ton. Coalition of the three parties?
This idea finds no supporters and
seems only to be possible in the form
of cabinet of experts. There re-
mains the possibility of catholic gov
eminent supported by the liberals.
And finally, there is possibility of a
very questionable left government,
democratic government" which will
be formed by Vandervelde with the
support of group of Flemish catho-
lies, democratic liberals and christian
democrats.
The hopes of the socialists are di-
rected to this solution, the realization
of which depends upon the attitude
which the Flemish catholics will take.
Vandervelde, who is an astute man
enverer, has already laid down the
program of such a government.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1925-05-06

slip him a dime or a quarter or four
bits even; they felt sorry for him.
But it didn't do him no good. He
would just go and drink it up. II
was awful. One day he threw an ak
at me and the handle hit me on the
ankle, and told Jim, Look ahere, Jim,
you've got to cut that eut! 1t hurt
like sixty. If the blade had struck
me, it might have cut my leg. l didn't
have much to do with him after that
| wouldn't mess up with him. Says
to myself, he'll get me into some
sort of scrape and then slip out of it
himself and let me swing for it. He's
always slipping out of everything. He
could blackjack a man and get out
of it; while 1 couldn't do nothing"
did you ever drink with him; get
drunk with him and so on?"
ooh, wasn't never much of hand
to drink. You see, always had my
horse and wagon. 1 could go out and
get a good price for hauling away
rubbish; but Jim didn't have moth
ing; tho he wouldn't beg; he was
too proud for that. In a way l felt
sorry for jim; but wasn't it awful the
way he ended?"
This story was written for a union
paper, that processes to circulate
amongst the workers of Los Angeles
The dope proved too strong for the
editors weak stomach, and so it is
handed on to this journal, whose
readers aren't so squeamish.
The point is: Amongst the bour-
geoisie it isn't polite to speak about
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1925-05-06

(more than 100000 members) and its
cohesion.
In addition to these three great
parties there exist the Communist
Party, whose influence, while still
weak, is growing from day to day,
and the front party, nationalist
Flemish party which demands COM
plete autonomy for the Flemish pro-
vinces of the country.
In November, 1921, the parliament
airy elections gave the following re-
suits:
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1925-05-06

rhis old haunts; shack on the corner
Of Gath street and st. Andrews Place,
block from Jerry's room. He bought
wine from the winery nearby, which
he could purchase then in the pre-
war period, for two bits a gallon,
kept his skin soaked full of gin fau-
del and muscatel and then added wood
alcohol ad lib and other vile con-
coctions after the manner of buying
as long as he could beg, borrow or
steal cent whereby to purchase
them.
Jerry, hain't got cent Lend me
a dime and I'll go down town; and to-
night when l come home, I'll have
$780, And sure enough. when he came
home, he showed me two twenties and
tent"
"The question is, Jerry, where did
he get his money!"
II don't know; all l know is he got
it. Why Jim was a smart man; well
educated too. He was born in Ger
many and he had painted the pictures
Of some famous men there and got
lots of money for 'em too. His folks
was worth thousands and thousands
Of dollars; but he wouldn't have any
thing to do with them. He was too
proud. In a way you had to pity the
man. He got so nobody would have
him around; they all would turn him
out. He had an incurable disease.
i The doctor said something was eat
ing his vitals out. He didn't know
what it was; but it was terrible. When
Jim came home with that sixty dol
lars, he would go over to the winery
and buy five gallons of wine, and
stay in the house until he drank it
all up. One time he said, Jerry, if
you are going to drive your horse and
wagon down town, l want you to take
me to the wholesale house over on
the San Fernando road, and want to
get some wine and fetch it home and
drink it up And when / told him,
Jim, you ought not to act like that
re would say, Shut your mouth.
That's my business And that's just
the way he would do. He wasn't right;
he was crooked and he was crazy,
but some way you had to feel sorry
for him."
why did they call him Sunny
JIM? He was the crabbiest, mean
est, dirtiest, grouchiest specimen OF
humanity it ever became my misfor-
tune to meet? Ugh! His whiskers
were one filthy mat of corruption;
his clothes were soaking with slime
of the cutters and the sewers; his
hands and face were caked with filth
He was so repulsive that few men and
women had the nerve to look him
squarely in the face. And yet they
called him Sunny Jim"
"Oh, guess the boys just did that
TO have their way. He was awful
grouchy. He would hit his best
friend with that blackjack over
nothing. / knew a man who offered
him big peach once. Jim knocked
it into the gutter and hit the mans
wrist such lick with that billy it
almost broke it,"
Didn't the police arrest him?"
1.-THE took him in hundreds OF
lines for being drunk and making
trouble, but they knew he wasn't
right and so they turned him out
after warning him to keep off the
streets as much as he could"
1 "He used to walk around in the
rainlin his stocking feet, didn't her.
pe"Yes, and lots Of times he'd never
come home, but sleep in an alley; or
in some box car. The boys used to