The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-08-08

Inat Jne Amsterdam lHLeTud-
tional is making a determined bid
to capture the labor organizations
in the colonial countries, is now very
clear. Delegations are being sent
to the colonies, while with the recent
discussion in the international La
Dor Office quite stir has been made
about regulating compulsory native
labor internationally, the impression
being given that, in the present case,
Amsterdam representatives can ar
range favorable labor conditions for
the natives.
So far only one native organiza-
tion-the Union of Industrial and
Commercial Employees of South
Africa-has been lined up by Am
sterdam, but, only because the rank
and file have been badly misled by
reformist leaders like Kadalie, the
members having yet to find out that
Amsterdam defends the employers
and not working class interests.
How Amsterdam regards native
workers is shown by the following
fact, which, although a sidelight, is
none the less very in -uctive. While
the labor world had been left horri-
fled and speechless when learning Of
the inhuman labor conditions in the
French Congo, when even bourgeois
newspapers published articles adj
hitting that scores of thousands of
Negro workers had died in the
course of the construction of the
Brazzaville-Ocean Railroad, the Am
sterdam International was conspici-
Gus by it's silence. Scan the official
papers of this international as you
will and you will not find single
word about the abuses of the French
imperialists, not to speak of any
protest against these atrocities.
This organization calls itself an In
ternational Federation of Trade
Unions and yet it did not consider
it worth its while to express an
opinion on or even to mention the
fact that thousands of native work.
ers were being done to death by a
capitalist joint company.
But Amsterdam is wide awake
when the interests of the employers,
the exploiters, need defending. A
report happened to be published in
the press that in South West Africa
Former German colony, now man.
dated area of the South African
Union) the coal owners were in
humanity exploiting the Negro work
crs, that they were being taken adj
vantage of and lured by false prom
ises to sign unfavorable agreements.
Amsterdam lost no time in taking
up the cudgels for the employers. A
note published in this connection in
their "Press Reports" No. Is, of
April %, ISSUED weekly runs as
follows:
Exaggerated Reports of Colonial
Atrocities q. F. T. u. AS a rule
far too little attention is paid to
conditions in the colonies and pro-
tectorates. Sometimes, however, it
happens that exaggerated reports
get about, which do more harm than
good to the workers cause. Re-
Gently there have been wildly fan
tastic reports in the press concern
ing conditions in the mines of South
West Africa. 1t is rumored that
the Negroes in these mines are
grossly mishandled-for instance,
that they are induced to conclude
impossibly bad agreements with the
companies through the lue of "free
wife" offered by the employers. The
Labor Union of South West Africa,
which is affiliated with the IFTU, is
much annoyed by these reports; it
informs US, for instance, that if a
white employee in the service of the
mining company strikes native, he
is liable to criminal prosecution and
is furthermore discharged, this be-
ing in accordance with the law which
has been in force for over 20 years.
On the whole, the blacks are
humanely treated in South West
Africa, declared the centre. Their
working hours in the Tsumeb Mine
(the one concerning which the above
absurd statement was made) are 5
hours and thy are paid extra for
overtime, like the whites"
We do not claim that we know
exactly how things stand in South
West Africa. The capitalists and
their press take good care to pre-
vent any information about the
colonies leaking out. 1t is only on
rare occasions that workers abroad
get any first-hand information about
the position of their fellow-workers
suffering and dying under the lash
of their master for the sake of
super-profits. Neither do we know
how true the rumors about the
Tsumeb Mine may be. Nor is this
very important. We hold that the
working class and native workers in
particular suffer not because COM
municationsN as to the way native
workers are mishandled are some
/