davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-02-22
'.ByoadUay Melody" Excellent
Fare N0W at the Aston Theatre

ONE of the best "all-talkie" pro-
v grams yet to be presented on
Broadway is now being shown at
the Astor Theatre. This is "The
Broadway Melody" Metro talking
picture that deserves the palm.
The film program opens with a
short playlet, likewise "all-talkie,"
by Kenyon Nicholson. This was di-
rected by Lionel Barrymore and is
also a Metro product. The scenario
is from a playlet included in book
of plays by Nicholson called Gear
den Varieties" and was shown previ-
ously on the speaking stage at the
Provincetown Playhouse. An episode
near an American rest camp in
France during the war it is particu-
larly well and realistically acted by
cast of four in which Robert Ames'
work is outstanding.
The main feature of the bill is
one of those intriguing connections
of Broadway life, but this time in
stead of the usual hokum and vir-
tue shining and triumphing through
the paint and powder of the thea
trical atmosphere, we see what really
probably happens to many young
girls who after experiencing "suc-
cess" on the stage in the hinterlands
come to New York to strive for the
award, acclaim and prestige that
this city alone gives in theatredom.
Splendidly acted by Anita Page and
Bessie Love as a "Sister Act"
Charles King as a song ambulance
man, with the secondary roles cast
to perfection, the production, which
was written by Edmund Goulding
and directed by Harry Beaumont,
hits the bulls eye squarely in the
center.
Briefly, the plot concerns itself
with the adventures of the two girls
on Broadway via the song factory,
beauty review and wealthy rounder
with many fresh turns and twists
to the plot that keep ones interest.
Seldom has the lure and glamor of
back-stage been reproduced so faith
fully. The picture is notable too for
the complete triumph of Bessie Love,
who registers the hit of her career.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-02-22
MACHINE GUNS
AID Fascist
Italian Workers Picket
Blackshirt Affair
(Bu a Worker Correspondent

by Worker Correspondent
CLEVELAND, (By MaiD On
Sunday, February 10, the fascists
commemorated the death of General
Cadorna at Mayfield Church of this
city.
All the patriotic lodges were in
formed of the memorial and were
asked to participate. The Italian
consul, Mr.. Valeriani, called the ex-
combatants to the memorial.
The anti-fascisti were on the job,
there being about 200 present, be-
ing led by the Anti-Fascist League
of this city. On arrival, they found
on the four-corners four cars with
machine guns and police. About So
GO policemen walked around, guard
ing the church and preventing any
thing that might happen. They
searched the lines of anti-fascists
who were picketing the church, but
found no weapons, and they made
no arrests.
Inside the church, during the en-
tire ceremony, not one blackshirt ap-
peared. This is sign that in Cleve-
land the great majority of the
Italians are anti-fascist. Valerie
Valeriani has already obtained his
passports to leave the country.
The night before the memorial,
Italian anti-fascist leaflets were dis
tributed in the Italian sections of
the city. Hundreds of the popula-
ton were aroused against fascism
and inside the church there were
chiefly young boys, a few repre-
.sentatives of the bearers, but
very few of the Italian population
were interested enough to show up.
The Italian workers protest very
vigorously against the interference
of the police, and want to know what
the police are doing by accepting
mobilization at the hands of the
fascists against the Italian workers,
rs per cent Of whom are American
citizens. In the lodges the fascists
meet with no response, in spite of
the fact that the fascist paper ia
Voce del Populo' is printed here.
There is no sympathy for the Musso-
lini regime in Cleveland.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-02-22
SLAVE 20 YEARS
WORKERS FIRED
Make S35 in 2 Weeks;
Work II Hours a Day

by Ct Worker Correspondent
1t happened here in Cleveland a
couple of days ago in one shop, the
Cleveland Welding Co., that the
slaves started to talk about organ
izing union, so the company dis
charged the old workers that were
Shaving for the company 20 and Is
years. If those slaves only had a
leader, the company could not dis
charge those poor slaves. They would
organize today.
The slaves are working day shift
10 and IL hours; piece work; they
are making-some of them-$30 and
S35 in two weeks. Night shift is
working Is hours. If they work at
day rates, they get 35 cents an hour.
Next to this shop is the Midland
Steel Company, paying 35 cents an
hour day rate. On piece-work
those slaves at Midland Steel Co.
are making-some SC, some So in
8 hours. Slaves are willing to or
ganize in those two shops, only there
are no leaders to organize them.
From my point of view, l think
it would be a coed idea to have
some pamphlets printed in English,
Hungarian and Slovak, as most of
the slaves speak Slovak, and dis
tribute them in front of the factory
on Saturday when they go home
from work. And it should be
printed where they could meet on
Sunday, and talk things overflow
they should organize.
Many times / am thinking of those
poor slaves that are working for the
railroad companies, as section hands,
freight handlers. There must be
some way to organize them into one
union. Those fellows are working
for IS cents and 80 cents an hour
for 8 hours a day. They are the
cheapest slaves IN the market, and
even for this kind of work the en-
ployment agency robbers charge SO
and 81 for a job. %
I am going to join the Communist
Party and help to organize the
M. P.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-02-22

But my critics have no groun,
for such heat and self-praise a.
they display. They would d.
well to indulge. in some health,
self-criticism, for they have ais
made the mistake of failing to cen
ter the attack upon the A. F. of [
bureaucracy and the S. P. The fact
are these: The 9Th World Congress
Theses laid the utmost stress upoi
the necessity for struggle agains
social democracy. But neither tn,
Majority nor the Minority of oul
Gee took this seriously as apply
ing to the United States. Doubt
less this was because of the weak
ness of the A. F. of L. and the S. P.
the liquidation of the labor part,
movement, on the one hand, and tn,
luxuriant growth of open bourgeoi
reformism on the other. So, instea,
of directing the main fire agains
social reformism, it continued to b,
directed against capitalist reformisn
Al SSllSi Ill. VudAly dUCuIHcilIS NliE
Guiding the Majority and Minorit,
theses and my own article now un
der fire) were written around thi.
wrong line. 1t was another case o.
American exceptionalism to the lin,
of the Comintern. Only when tn,
mistake was pointed out by con
crete criticism (Which agree with
from the Comintern, contained il
a draft of the approaching decision
received several weeks ago, did tn,
comrades make a quick "about face
and try more or less futilely to re
orientate themselves to the new
line. They have thereby not onl!
made new mistakes, which l hav,
criticized in the foregoing, but the!
have also exhibited a pitiful lacl
of Bolshevik self criticism by failing
to point out their own errors whel
they changed their line.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-02-22
''MATI HARP at the Burke
Theatre, Bronx.

"Mati Hari," the Red Dancer, a
film which deals with a spy's career
during the war, will be shown at the
Burke Theatre on Sunday and Mon
day, February "a and 25. Mata Hari
has been called by many historians
the most sinister spy of the great
war. A great number of legends
have sprung up around Mata Hari
since her death. Mystic, erotic,
fatalist, she was known as the "Red
Dancer" and was born in Holland
of Dutch and English parents.
The principal character is inter-
preted by the famous German act
ress, Malta Sonia. Supporting her
are Fritz Kertnay and Wolfgant
Ziltzer.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-02-22

Bourgeois reformism was a method
of struggle of the capitalists against
the trade unions in this period of
industrial activity. A basic part of
the open shop campaign, it drove
them out of trustified industry and
into precarious existence in
lighter, competitive industry. Not
an era of prosperity, but direct
pressure from the masses undergo
ing rehabilitation, and the CROWN.
war situation, will make the eu-
ployers use the A. F. of 7, more ia
the industries against the workers,
ami this will be along the lines of
company unionization that | have
indicated.
Here let me dispose of the critic
ism, made by both Majority and
Minority, that l challenge the ex-
istence of real base for the revo-
lutionary unions by making it con-
tingent upon whether or not the old
unions will grow. This is direct
misrepresentation of my position.
For me the basis of the new unions
is clear, among the great masses of
unskilled and semi-skilled workers
which the A. F. of L. cannot or
ganize. What do in my article is
to polemize against ''the writings
and speeches of Comrade Pepper,
Lovestone and Weinstone" which,
while tipping the hat to the new
unions, either directly propose or
imply such theories of the rebuild
ing of the A. F. of L. on a mass
scale as to leave practically no base
whatever for the new unions. l am
correct in saying that the question
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-02-22

skilled and semi-skilled into the A..
+. of l.. unions.
trade BitteIman.
formism into a semi-company union
ism form of social reformism. When
the Comintern speaks of this graft
ing on tendency it does not mean
only that the trade union and social
democratic party leaders are being
drawn into the government to facil-
itate war preparations, which is
about all that Comrade Bittelman's
theory sees, but also that the graft
ing on" process proceeds directly in
the industries in movements for Gin
dustrial peace" industrial demo-
cracy", etc. Neither Comrade Bittel-
man nor Comrade Pepper explains
the latter process, which | have con-
cretized under the formula Of the
company-unionization of the trade
unions. The meaning of the propo-
sal of the president of the Taylor
Society for the recognition of the
trade unions by big capital (Which
Comrade Bittelman cites in support
of his proposition) is exactly COM
pany unionization, not the rebuilding
of old line craft unionism.
Comrade Bittelman's theory also
tends too mechanically and too COM
pletely to separate the unskilled and
skilled in the national union centers.
We are now entering upon a pro-
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-02-22
Hold Annual Ball of
Freiheit Chorus TOnite

The annual ball of the Freiheit
Gesangs Verein will be given at the
Manhattan Lyceum, &c E. Fourth
ST., tonight.
Representatives of every section
of the working class movement are
expected to attend the event. Com
mittees urge workers to obtain their
tickets before the last minute rush.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-02-22


On Wednesday, Feb. 6, most every
afternoon newspaper in New York
City, recorded the great garment,
cloak and furriers' strike called by
the Needle Trade Workers Indus
trial Union of America.
On the day following, every ma
tive and foreign language paper in
the city gave some news about the
strike. Since the strike began up
to Monday, Feb. IL, from small news
items to large front page articles
dealing with the dressmalsers' strike,
have appeared in even the capital
ist dailies.
Yet there was one paper, for
eign language daily that boasts of
being ''the first and only Spanish
American newspaper in the United
States" that did not even attempt
to publish a single line about the
strike.
Surely, $4,000 workers from one
industry going on strike in a single
day ought to be some kind of news
for any newspaper.
Yet, La Prensa, considered by
many intellectuals as a liberal
newspaper, deliberately boycotted
the news of the strike And why?
Are we to believe that La Prensa
caters only and is supported mainly
by intellectuals, students, teachers,
merchants and professionals?
Not at all. Watch the newsstands
and you will agree with the writer
that so of its readers are working
men and women. Latin-American
workers know of the anti-labor char
acter of this paper.
Jose Camprubf, the publisher and
founder of La Prensa has never left
a stone unturned when it comes to
"handing it to the Communists"
Jose M. Torres-Perona, secretary
and assistant to the publisher is an
other labor Halter. The last time
our friend Perona visited Madrid
he was almost kissed by His Royal
Highness. The king and Dictator
Rivera know who are their friends
in America.
ARD last hnt not least, we have
Aware, the Arthur Brisbane of the
Spanish press and the biggest anti
feet. A week does not pass but AL
fcct. A week does not pass bat Al
varo takes a whack at the Commu-
nists. Within the last three years
this man has made up scores of re-
evolutionary plots in Mexico City,
Barcelona, etc, and branding them
Bolsheviks. Lying articles about
Soviet Russia are a weekly feature
in the news and editorial columns
Of this reactionary, Tammany Hail
controlled paper.
But the question still arises, why
does La Prensa refuse to publish
strike news. Does the insertion of
news dealing with the dress strike
affect the paper financially?
! guess it does. On Tuesday, Feb.
5. about seven firms advertised for
lie workers in the classified want
ads of this paper, and since the
strike began the number Of these ads
inserted by dress manufacturers has
iaeieased BIZ leaps and bounds. BY
Monday, Feb. ~, the ads hal 81
ready reached fifty. Think of it, so
advertisements, probably from scab
joints, wanting the Spanish workers
to scab on their fellow workers in
the needle trades.
La Prensa has become a recruit
ing station for scabs and should be
unmasied to the Latin-American
workers for what it is worth. Span
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-02-22
ADS RECRUITING SCABS
P,ensa Columns Used by Dress Bosses

ish speaking working women and
girls, do not scab on your fellow
workers in the needle trades, but
join the Needle Trades Industrial
Workers Union of America and help
your comrades fight for the five
day forty-hour week and living
wage and the abolition of the sweat
shop system of exploitation.
L. N, A SPANISH WORKER.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-02-22
WOLVES ATTACK TRAIN.

CONSTANTINOPLE, (By Mail)
Wolves have attacked the ma
rooned Simplon-Orient express,
snowbound 60 miles from here.
Fresh snowfalls added to the diff
Guilty. Passengers are being taken
to a nearby seaport.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-02-22
Chopper, LOzowick Do
Decorations for New
Masses Spring Dance

William Chopper, Louis Lozowick
and other well-known artists have
prepared new artistic decorations
for Webster Hall for the night of
the New Masses Spring Carnival,
next Friday evening. These decora-
tions, according to the arrangements
committee, will be unlike any ever
made before.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-02-22

longed period of dual unionism. The
new revolutionary center, the T. U.
e. L., will be based upon the masses
of semi-skilled and unsl1illed, and
the old unions are based upon the
labor aristocracy. But this does not
imply that the division of skilled
and unskilled between the two cent
ers is exact or that we shall ac-
quiesce in it. Such ideas lead
straight to the abandonment of the
old unions to Green and Company.
We must realize that there will be
war to the knife between the two
centers for control of the masses.
The major task of the T. U. E. L.,
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-02-22
Landy Speaks at Bronx
Open Forum Sun. Eve

A. Landy will speak on Gamer
lean Theories of the Class Strug-
gle" at the Bronx Open Forum,
1880 wilkins Ave-, Sunday evening
at 8 o'clock. Questions and discus
sion will follow his talk.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-02-22

Unions upon the skilled and unskilled,
etc.
AS for the criticisms to the effect
that I have made the growth Of the
new unions contingent upon no
growth of the old unions, that I do
not see the economic base of social
reformism, and that ignore the de-
cisiye role of the Party in the strug-
gle, have shown in the above that
they do not apply. The weak spot
in the article is it's failure to make
clear the fact that although there
has been such a vast growth of open
bourgeois reformism, social reform
ism, centering in the A. F.
of L. bureaucracy, remains the
main danger and that we must con-
centrate our main fire against it.
Of course, the article calls for the
most relentless struggle against this
corrupt leadership, but this is not
enough.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-02-22
Criticism Of Majority of Gee.

The Gee Majority statement cri-
ticising my article in "The Commu-
mist" tries to defend this theory of
the rebuilding of the A. F, of L.
by quoting the Comintern theses to
the effect that "the process of sta
bilization creates an economic basis
for social democracy and, on the
other hand, the contradictions Of
sterilization create basis for the
development of the Communist
Parties. This Comintern analysis
is correct, but what the Majority
comrades foil to see is that the eH-
istence of such base for reformism
does not necessarily imply re-
growth Of the 4. F. Of L. unions,
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-02-22

las they forcsee it. The elaborate
machinery of bourgeois reformism
must be reckoned with.
1t is the characteristic of the
American situation that during the
past several years, when the basis
of the corrupted upper strata Of the
working class was broadest, when
the cultivation of reformist illusions
was not widespread, when 'pros-
perity'' was at greater heights than
ever before, that was exactly the
time of the decline of the A. F. of
L. The employers were able to sub
stitute their own direct bourgeois
systems of reformism for traditional
social democratic trade unionism.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-02-22
s. In Conclusion.

Now let me briefly summarize by
indicating the strong and weak
points of my article in "The Com
munist". In spite of number Of
hastily written phrases, the article
is correct in pointing out, among
other things, the decline of the A..
F. of L. as an organ of struggle of
the workers, its crisis as reformist
organization, the incorporation of
the A. F. of L. bureaucracy into the
war machine of American imperial
ism, the concrete process Company
unionization) of the grating on Of
the reactionary trade unions to the
employers industrial organizations,
the exposure of the fallacies Of the
rebuilding Of the A. F. of l.. on
mass basis, the surrender of the A.
F. of L. bureaucracy to bourgeois
reformism and the emergence of a
new fascist-like social reformism,
the basing of the new revolutionary
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-02-22
Criticism of Comrade BitteIman.

SAAsANhCEh w wv
Comrade Bittelman sees a some
what different line of trade union
development than Comrade Pepper,
but also an incorrect line. He does
not seem to anticipate the rebuilding
of the A. f. of L., with the inclusion
of great masses of semi-skilled and
Nor, on the other hand,
does he accept the company -unioni-
cation process which l have outlined.
What he sees is Strengthening of
the A. F. of L." Getting the action
of the Taylor Society and the growth
of the Music group as examples),
in the direction of ex-
tending it along lines of craft unions
of skilled workers.
This theory of new growth Of
craft unionism, more or less of ira
ditional type, is based upon a static
conception of the role of reformism.
1t does not see crisis or decline pos
sible with reformist trade unions.
Moreover, it has only an abstract
conception of the actual process of
the grating of the trade unions on
to the organizations of the capital
lists. 1t does not see the merging
ideologically and organizationally of
bourgeois reforn1ism and social re-
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-02-22

likewise of our Party, will be to or
ganize the unorganized masses Of
unskilled and semi-skilled; but we
will also fight to win away the skill
led and other workers affiliated to
the A. F. of l.. unions. On the other
hand, the A. F. of L. will fight not
only to control the skilled workers,
but also to defeat our efforts to er-
ganize the unskilled and to bring
these under its own treacherous in
fluence. Failure to see this over
tapping struggle means not to under
stand the strike breaking role of the
A. F. of L. 1t leads to quitting the
old unions.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-02-22

This is the concluding article
of omrade Foster on the issues
raised in his article ''The Decline
of the A. +. of L." in the JAM
Feb. issue of 1.-THE Communist,
and in the editorial answer in the
same issue as well as in the state
In "The Communist" for May,
1928, Comrade Pepper put forth his
ideas of the perspectives of the A.
F. of L. Inasmuch as this article
has never been repudiated by Com
rnde Lovestone and the others of
the Gee Majority it may be assumed
that they subscribe to it also, especi-
ally as it doyetails with their gen
eral political line. In the article in
question Comrade Pepper outlined
three possible lines Of labor union
development, point one of which
reads, can influx Of new masses in
to the American Federation of La
Dor" Then he proceeds to show how
"new millions of unskilled workers
streaned into the trade unions" in
Great Britain in the nineties, and
how curing the war period many
millions Of workers were organized
into the German and American trade
unions. The implications are clear.
It is a theory Of the rebuilding of
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-02-22

''ANAaS CAa ~ ny OVAhA aAS AsAttSi"oh
and other comrades of the Oppo-
sition.
the A. f. of L. on a mass scale, in
Guiding not only skilled workers but
great sections of unskilled and semi
skilled.
Comrade Peppers theory flows d.
1cctly out of the Gee Majority's
economic analysis, which forsees a
long period of prosperity, during
which, the assumption is, the re-
formist unions will grow, more or
less as they did in pre-war periods
of industrial activity. But this the
oTy has many holes in it. To begin
with, it is based upon the usual
over estimation of the Gee major
ity regarding the strength of Amer
lean imperialism. 1t ignores the
inner contradictions. 1t
also ignores the whole concrete pro-
cess of the grating of the trade
unions onto the organizations of the
Finally, it is in conflict
with the general trend of reformist
development in this country.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-02-22
By WILLIAM z. FOSTER.

of the base the of
voved when these comrades skilled and semed
conceptions which look forward to f. of l..
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-02-22

nent on it by Comrade Bittelman
and other comrades Of the Oppo-
sition.