The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-10-28
COMMUNIST PARTY MAKES UNEMPLOYMENT
RELIEF AND SOCIAL INSURANCE CHIEF
ISSUES OF new YORK ELECTION CAMP AICN
Hundreds of Jobless
Workers Are Dying
from Hunger
By l. AMTER


Communist Party has made
unemployment relief and I'M
employed and social insurance
the outstanding issues Of the
election campaign. The stu
alton of the whole working
class is menaced by the Ma
tional Recovery Act, which is
fast breaking down, and the
only security that the workers
can have is insurance at the
expense of the employers and
the government.
Have workers gone hungry
Are workers hungry today?
They are. The states and cities
do not pretend to be taking
care of all the unemployed.
More than 1000 municipalities
are bankrupt. New York City
has never provided for all the
unemployed. Up to about three
months ago there were only
254,OO0 heads of families on
the relief rolls. Now they have
thrown more than 10000 off
the rolls, so that only 10000
families are being cared for.
But there are admittedly more
than 100000 unemployed in
New York City. What is hap
pening to the rest?
The single workers get no relief
outside of the f1ophouSes and soup
kitchens. The young workers get no
ICIlCl WIldbGNGIs 1GllS VI btlOQoe1llo VI
Negro workers get no relief.
How do they live? There was a
time when an occasional notice in the
newspapers would record deaths from
starvation. This is no longer news"
but it is happening every day.
Hundreds Of people are dying in the
hospitals from hunger. One out Of
every fifth child in New York-and
throughout the country--is hungry.
In some parts, particularly in the
South, the situation is even worse.
In Negro and Latin American Harlem
one out Of every third child is slowly
starving. More than $4,000 dispos-
eess notices were served last year
in New York City. Rents remain
high and as a consequence two, three
or four families occupy one fat while
more than IA per cent of all apart
ments in New York are empty.
Above 1t all is the lessened buying
power Of the dollar, owing to inf1a-
ton. There has not only been a
direct reduction in relief, which is
considerable, but also the vouchers
handed out to the unemployed return
them less food. The government re-
ports show that the cost of food
stuffs rises a small percentage a week.
When we examine the reports, how
ever, we find that the food that the
rich eat has gone up only slightly,
but the food stuffs mat the workers
require have gone up sky high. Thus
in one week cheese increased II per
cent in price, sugar IA per cent, rolled
cabbage "a per cent, lard IS per cent,
onions 30 per cent, eggs 54 per cent,
Hour SO per cent, potatoes LOT per
cent.
This means increased hunger not
only for the unemployed but also for
the employed worker, who has work
only for a short period.
What Ia to be done about this sit
uation-now In the fifth year Of the
crisis with no outlook of improve
ment. but with every sign pointing
DO another crash? Harry L. Hopkins,
federal relief director, declares that
the unemployed this winter will re-
ceive the worst beating in the history
OF the country" He means by this
that funds for relief are low and
no efforts are being made by the
government to raise them. In launch
ing the Community Fund drive
Roosevelt recently declared that re-
lief depends mainly on private char
N.Y." The rich have from year to
year contributed a smaller proportion
Of the charity funds. The workers
in the shops have been compelled to
contribute whether they wished or
were able to do so or not. The $780,
000, 900 appropriated by the govern
ment. is not all to be consumed. The
greater part of the public works"
money Is being used for war purposes
for war vessels, airplanes, naval
bases, army barracks, motorization
and discrimination of the army, etc.
The Communist Party alone de-
clares that the unemployed can be
given decent relief only through put
ting progressively Increasing taxes on
AZ income above $1,000, by cutting
the salaries Of all public officials. The
Communist Party agrees TO cut taxes
but only for the small taxpayer, and
to shift the burden to the rich. The
Communist Party proposes 81 a week
for each unemployed plus SIS for each
dependent, with no discrimination
against Negroes, foreign-born and
single workers, who are the worst
sufferers. It proposes food, clothes
and shoes for the children; govern
ment maintenance of children with
drawn from industry; free rent, gas
water and electricity for the unem-
ployed; no foreclosures on the prop-