The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-06-05
You Must Free the Imperial
Valley Prisoners

And the conditions existing in the Imperial
Valley present only a small picture of the ex-
ploitation and misery under which workers in
capitalist countries exist.
Stir Up Race Hatred
The age-old trick of those who exploit, OF
playing one race or nationality agairEt another
is prevalent in Imperial Valley. Race segrega-
ton and discrimination fostered by the bosses
and their hirelngs keep the workers apart and
unorganized In one section of the towns live
the whites while in another dwell the Mexicans,
Filpinos, Negroes and others in their ramShacKle
novels In the white sections store windows
display large signs For White Trade Only"
Race hatred is further engendered in the
matter of wages White workers in the sheds
are paid at rates ranging from 60 cents to
dollar an hour, while the field workers, mainly
NIeMcans Negroes and Filipinos, toll 16 and Is
hours day at Is to IS cents per hour. Another
dirty method of tanning the sparks OF race
hatred is by cutting the wages of one group
of workers by telling them that another group
will work cheaper Mexican workers are told
the Filipino workers have agreed to take the
jobs at a few cents less; Filipino or Negro
workers are likewise victimzed by lies that the
Mexicans will work for less.
Defraud Workers
The vicious contract system affords another
means of defrauding the workers of part OF
their miserable wages. Large land holdings are
leased to the tenants by the huge combines
which own the land AS the harvest season
approaches the tenants conclude contracts with
"pickers," or labor contractors. These contract
ors, usually japanese, Mexicans or Filpinos
agree to furnish the laborers needed to harvest
the crops. Wages are arbitrarily set by the ten
ants while the pickers contractors, receive
a certain per centage, usually around two cents
a crate as commission. The tenants retain
Is per cent of the contractors commission until
the completion of the harvest as a guarantee
of fulfiIlment of the contract The pickers IN
turn hold out 25 per cent of the workers wages
until the final settlement of accounts is made.
1t is not an uncommon occurrence, however, for
the contractor to disappear" near the end OF
the harvest or the tenant refuse to pay the
contractor on a pretext of bad crops. In both
cases it is the worker who is left holding the
short end of the stick, and the big companies
which own the land are protected from any
blame while at the same time they are as
sured their profits
Government Serves Bosses
Recourse to the hypocritical State Department
of Labor has been tried but without success.
1t is too easy for the large land companies to
curl the labor department puppets into the palms
of their hands.
Living conditions in the valley are wretched.
Workers live in make-shift company camps con-
sisting of ancient tents and Undiscovered
thatched shacks Mud-caked irrigation bitches
bring the workers their drinking water which
is scarcely fit for animal consumption AS
result of the complete lack of sanitation, dis
ease and death are the playmates of the workers
children.
Such are some of the conditions against which
the Imperial Valley prisoners were struggling
And it is for their fight that the bosses have
grabbed them and railroaded them to prison
under provisions of the hateful Criminal Syndi
calism Law of California. The fight of the In
ternational Labor Defense and affiliated organ
izations against the Criminal Syndicalism Law
and to free Erickson, Sklar, Spector and the
other Valley prisoners i some in which every
worker is concerned. This law can and is being
used against any individual holding membership
in any working class organization which takes
up the challenge of the capitalist masters and
fights for better conditions.
There is no telling who will be the next
| framed under this infamous class-law; our only
| hope is to get rid of it. Every worker is duty
bound to sign the petition being prepared for
circulation by the international Labor Defense
for the repeal of this law One hundred and
eleven thousand signatures will be necessary to
place the issue upon the ballot in the next
election
Your turn may be next, fellow worker. No
worker is safe as long as this vicious law is
being used rs weapon against our class,
Fight criminal syndicalism laws.
Freedom for the Imperial Valley prisoners.