The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-09-14
"Iumping-Falc Jesus!"

as well as the mate, who stood at the
winch. Even the cadets had to turn
to and get their hands warm. Stanley
asked them innocently.:. aYoure get
ting a dollar an hour for this, too,
aren't you, and day off tomorrow"
The two embryo officers looked at
Stanley in surprise. Now they were
beginning to understand why the
mate had rustled them out of their
after. dinner snooZe so roughly.
80 you fellers are getting dol
lar an hour out of this, 5hey?"
Sure, amt your y
The Cadets motioned hopelessly
with their hands, and.seeihg the mate
peering down into the hold, didn't
say any more At four o'clock, Slim
y knocked off to take the wheel. Later,
when he came into2 the riaessroom to
put the feedbag on, he noticed the
men looking pretty important. STAN
ley grabbed him by the arm and
whispered: injecting tonight, eight
O'clock" 80;
Sims ears wiggled with surprise.
Gunnar nodded, and fffoJibned in the
direction of the bos,n. The blackgang
seemed to be in on1ftSitoo, judging
from their looks. They all behaved
like pack of school kids preparing
to play joke on teacher.
About six bells, the 'bosn came into
the focastle and toldnthe men to go
up to the mates roen., The men
locked at each other They went up
all in bunch. witnesses were al
ways handy, when entering an Off
cff nj
his desk, with white sheet and
some bills rin front Of HIM He didn't
look very happy. Gunnar Suonil'' he
called Three dollars for three hours
work" Then came the 9rest of the
men. The names of the bos'n and
cadets were not on the list.
BY eight o'clock, the fcScastle mess
room was lively. 1t looked more like
e a celebration than q meeting. Bar
ney had loosened up with dozen
bottles OF beer; Fritz came through
with some kurninel that he had been
nursing since Copenhagen. He had
brought the mfdships mess man along
to the meeting, young Filipino
rs who was.so overMorhets ohe spent all
his offtime sleepings The Professor
opened up a bottle, Of vodka which
he had meant as birthday gift for
his dad. But the surprise of the eve
ming was the oilers whom the men
always referred to as ssMaonface." He
got this name because I. he always
looked SO serious, with, dark hollow
holes under his eyes. He bunked with
Barney, VINO always insisted to the
men that ''Nloonface is all right, once
you get to know his ways. He was
gassed in the war, and has lung
trouble, that's what makes him Sc
cranky" Tonight Mo0nface sat in a
corner Of the messroon alongside
Barney, with an open box of Rus
nan candies in 'front.' of him.
EVERYBODY was talking about
l. what had taken place that day
Z What the mate had said, what Gun
, mar had said, and whattthe skipper
( had said The Professor felt i1npor-
: stant and began to act like an ABB
2 In fact, all the men, were. breezy in
/, new way. Stanley had -the center
> Of the deck. His eyes were lit up with
. dissatisfaction and kammel, and he
chanted a ditty about the tinker with
tte big belly-scrstcheE apd the long
(, blby-fetcher, Eddie was telling
Blackie:
"Yoah, I was on the committee
Est."
what committee"
The strike committed"
What the bells tlWt?'.
Hey, Slinyyou come here and tell
Nnn what a strike committee isl"
: "A strike COMMITTEES. according to
: the laws otoi1r red trade unions, is
4 a committee elected by the majority
of the workers. involved And it has
the power arrsi responsibility to direct
the strike in the name of ALL
Yeah, but the whole deck gang
amt in the Marine Workers In
dustrial Union already,is it?"
=. Don't make any difference an
swered Slim, THE ne.1applies to
the Ship Committee, that's what we
: ought to build right npW. That would
2 bake care of everything, that comes
up" s
The Swede was listening in, and
wanted to have more details. Slim
explained that each department
should propose two men, making a
:. committee of six, plus one or two
from midships if possible. "a CON-
e mittee like that could straighten out
everything, whether it had 10 do with
the steward, the chief engineer, the
skipper or anyone" ~.
= "Yes," considered the Swede, "but
: you was all up there today!"
. That's just it! We didn't have a
y regular ships committee, but tenn
!. porary Action Committee
"Well, suppose everybody's got
10 line up in your red union after the
, committees set up?" The. Swede was
suspicious. ,,ct
mot at ALL But what's the use OF
+ hlking? Let's set this committee up
light now, and no questions asked
whether you're Wobbly, IS.U
h.wT.U, or unorganizedI,'s'
NOsT of the men were, listening in
q by now. Shorty came in, freshly
Washed, his face shining like a
banked baby's behind. ,
Simple as pie" explained Slim.
How many of us here noW--fifteen,
Eighteen men. Each department
hould set up two candidates, then
The Eskimo broke in; II know what
tou're aiming at.-Just like on them
russian ships, hey9" He laughed sar-