The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-11-17
WORKERS BILL PROVIDES
REAL JOBLESS INSURANCE

/ decreased the stock Of those very
necessities for want Of which the
masses were suffering.
Who will blame us for being
Skeptical about the Brain Trust
thinking up new means of estab-
fishing social security? Our skepti-
ciSm is the more justified as the
spokesman Of the Brain Trust are
already telling US of the rather
positive than negative character" OF
the measures of social security.
The Newest Promises
The major feature of the new
card to be played out Of the New
Deal deck of Roosevelt will be rather
to provide jobs than job insurance.
We may be permitted question
II the American capitalists had it
within their power to provide the
necessary jobs. why didn't they pro-
vide them during the last five yearsP
Another Brain Trust proposal is
the distribution of the few jobs that
are left among the many workers.
A wonderful Solutionl But the i'm
mediate problem Of the working
class is its unbeheyably low collec-
tive income. Only the Brain Trust
will be able to explain how the dis
tribution Of that low collective in
come among greater mass of work
ers will improve matters for the
workers. But no matter how glib
this explanation may be, it will not
fill the stomachs Of the hungry
workers.
The problem is simply this: there
is enough of the necessities of life
to feed and to house and to clothe
the masses. One of two steps must
be taken. Either the capacity of
society to produce the necessities of
life is put at the disposal of the
masses of workers, or the masses
are supplied with the necessary
funds to procure these necessities by
buying them. The needy masses
either are to be given everything, or
they must be given the money so
they can buy everything they need
10 exist.
Since in this capitalist world of
ours all measures are taken in ac-
cordance with the regulations of the
profit interests of the capitalists, the
second form of solution is the only
feasible one within capitalism. The
workers must be supplied with the
funds to obtain the necessities of
existence for themselves and their
families. The only method TO sup
ply them with these funds is the
method of social insurance.
What Is Real Social Insurance?
The Social Insurance Bill H. R.
1898 embodieS all requirements of
such social insurance. All the re-
quirements In H. r. 1898 are indis-
pensable for the solution Of the
problem.
First, it provides an income insur-
ance which goes into operation any
time the workers income stops
through no fault OF their own -
through sickness, accident, disabil-
ity, old age, maternity, unemploy-
ment, etc. It keeps in operation as
long as the need persists,
Second, adequacy of the 4nsur-
ance: By providing for an insurance
OF $40 per week, with So for every
dependent, the workers under the
provisions of the Bill are guaranteed
a minimum of subsistence, and this
is the least that they must be
guaranteed.
Third, the Bill provides the in
surance to all workers irrespective
OF their place Of birth, their Ian
guage, their religion, their politics,
or the color of their skin. This, too.
is the least that can be demanded.
Fourth, the Bill provides that the
funds for this insurance be accu-
mulated entirely by taxation o. the
rich, their fortunes, their incomes
from profit, and by transferring
from the government budget an the
funds provided for destructive and