The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-01-16

Council 8, jammed the hall at Irving
Plaza Saturday where the mock
trial" of the leading officials of the
Council and the General Executive
Board of the Painters brotherhood
was transformed into a procedure
of indisputable indictment of the cor
rupt officialdom and their scabbing.
strike breaking policies. When pre-
siding judge Bordman summed up
the charges presented by prosecutor"
Weinstock and three witnesses, the
entire audience acted as the jury,
and shouted for the thunderous YER
diet of guilty"
All the members of the District
Council were present at the trial,
with the exception of its secretary,
Shapiro The official clique brought
with them a squad of some 80 strong
arm" men, to assist in the tactics
of disrupting the rank and-f1le gath
ering from the beginning to the end.
Their early tactics of direct intimida
ton were answered by a thunderous
roar of the workers, which convinced
the officialdom of the solid and de-
termined support behind the rank
and-file committee making the
charges. When other tactics, marked
by countless tricks and demogogy
failed to shake the iron discipline of
the workers, the entire gang marched
out Of the hall in the final attempt
to disrupt the trial But not a single
worker followed them.
WeinstOck Brings Charges.
In a speech lasting an hour Vein
stock quoted minutes of the Council
letters and other documents building
up an unshakable case of corruption,
strike breaking and betrayal of the
membership by the officials of the
District Council and the General Ex-
ecutive Board of the Brotherhood.
He quoted from the minutes ad-
missions made by leading official
that $4,000, had been spent during
the last strike in picketing wrong
places" He challenged D. G. officials
to explain the reason why their
henchmen accepted as little as one
third of the original amounts of their
bills presented after the strike. But
the question remained unanswered,
and Weinstock's charge that the
bills" represented outright corrup-
ton and plumber of the Unions
treasury, stood.
He related how on Oct. 3rd the
Freiheit charged a theft of some
$4,000 from the union treasury,
and how upon court investigation the
funds swindled reached around $780,
600. Weinstock, further established
the indisputable connection between
zausner, the responsible swnidler in
this fraud with the G.E.B. which
consistently shielded zausner and
still supports him.
Role of Socialists.
Weinstock cited articles from the
Socialist New Leader which in the
attempt to shield the corrupt Soci-
alist officials, carried articles entitled
Graft Charges Fall Through" he
cited, at the same time, the role of
the Forward which carried photo
graphs and large size ads of the arch
swindler, zausner.
Dealing at length with the betrayal
OF the strike by the Council and
Aekerly acting for the G.E.B., Vein
stock quoted from Ackerly's letter
to the bosses In which the boss was
guaranteed scabs for the purpose of
defeating the workers.
The defeat of the strike and the
so-called three scale agreement were
sealed by the signatures of Ackerly
and Shapiro. The Council, charged
Weinstock, is responsible for the pre-
sent condition because it acted in full
cooperation with Ackerly.
Drive Out Members.
AT the outset of his indictment
Weinstock placed responsibility on the
Council officials and the G.E.B. for
the appalling loss of membership and
squander of funds. The G.EB. is
responsible for the squander of $467,-
600 spent in the organization drive
which resulted in the loss of $4,000
members in the last 21a years, Vein
stock charged,
All OF his statements were confirmed
by the three witnesses, Girsh. Solo
mon and Sacks. The first two wit
nesses told of the strike breaking
activities of the G.E.B. in Los An
geles and Cleveland while Sacks fur
nished detailed proofs of numerous
cases where the workers locally had
been betrayed in the interests of the
bosses by members of the Council.
Numerous proofs of union mem
oers working below scale, with the
knowledge and through compulsion
by the Council officials were cited by
Weinstoek, and particularly through
his reference to the letter written by
members of Local 84S. Thunderous
applause broke out at the conclusion
of WeinStock's speech.
Official Defense"
Five of the District Council Off
Gals were given unlimited time to
make defense of the G.EB. or the
Council against the charges made.
but the defense was such that the
other officials Immediately refused
to acknowledge their spokesman as
representing either of these bodies.
Whatever was said by them, they de-
clared, was stated on individual re-
sponsibility. Boos and shouts of