The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1928-09-04
10000 SIGNATURES ARE
COLLECTED BY WORKERS
in BIG OPEN SHOP STATE
William Patterson, Labor Veteran, Heads Ohio
Ticket
1000 Volunteers to Be Sent Thruout State On
Agitational Tours

CLEVELAND, O.. Sept. 3.-For
the first time in its history, the
Workers (Communist) Party has
qualified for position on the off
cial ballot in the great mining,
manufacturing and agricultural
state of Ohio.
The placing of the Communist
ticket on the Ohio ballot is a big
factor for the Workers (Commun-
ist) Party and a tribute to the en-
thusiasm with which the members
of the Party in the Ohio District
faced the tremendous task of collect
ing the 10000 signatures necessary
to comply with the terms of the law.
Mine, Steel Workers Aid.
Of the 10000 signatures, 10000
were collected in Cleveland alone.
In the mining and steel regions
the workers not only signed the
Communist petitions willingly. but
assisted in the securing of sigma
lures.
TIP willingness is attributed to
the active part played by the Party
in the great coal strike which ragged
in Ohio for over a year. The Com
munists stood with the left wing in
the United Mine Workers Union
against the operators and the Lewis
machine which deliberately sought
to break down the morale of the
strikers and send them back to work
on the employers terms. When the
strike was finally broken and the
union destroyed, the Communists
took the lead in fighting to build
the new union.
Open Shop State.
This is a state notorious for its
open shop drives, as the birthplace
of the infamous "Ohio gang" includ-
ing Warren Gamaliel Harding, Har-
ry Daugherty and Jess Smith, un-
official head of the bribe-collection
section of the department of justice.
Ohio has contributed more capital
ist presidents and presidential candi-
dates to the nation than any state in
the union. 1t threw up Mark Hanna.
the man who put electioneering on
a gold basis, and John D. Rockefel-
Ter, the oily king of gasoline got
his start there. Norman Thomas,
who is now leading what is left Of
the socialist party back to Jesus,
first saw the light of salvation in
Marion, O., the late Gemaliel's home
town.
The district organizer, l. Amter.
and the Campaign Committee of
Party District No. 5, with headouar-
ters in Cleveland. under the direc-
ton of N. Schaffer, mapped out a
plan for all sections of the state and
assigned quotas to each Party or
ganization in the district.
Workers Remember.
The steel workers of Youngstown,
Warren and other cities remembered
the great steel strike which was led
by William 2. Foster, candidate for
president on the Workers (Commun-
ist) Party ticket this year. They
know that today only the Commun-
lists are actively engaged propaganda
izing the workers in all industries
for militant trade unionism, the re-
dictionary leaders of the A. F. of L.
and the socialist party having gone
over bag and baggage to the en-
ploying classes.
Ohio was the first state to send a
revolutionist to Jail for opposition to
the war. Charles E. Ruthenberg,
late executive secretary of the
Workers (Communist) Party, deliv-
cred speech against the war short
" after it was declared in the pub
lie square of Cleveland and was sent
to jail in Canton prison for one
year.
Revolutionary Traditions.
1t was in Canton that Eugene v.
Debs was arrested for his famous
anti-war speech and sentenced tos
10 wears in Atlanta.
The left wing of the socialist par
ty of Ohio was expelled on the eve
of the socialist convention in Chi
cago in 1919 with the entire state
of Michigan. Ruthenberg, who was
secretary of the Cleveland section of
the socialist party, was the leader
of the left wing in Ohio and was
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