davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Voice of action. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1933-1936, 1934-12-07
Foods Up 65 Percent,
But No More Relief

OLYMPIA, Wash, Dec. AL
though an increase of 65 per cent
is noted in price of standard
foods recommended by the Thurs
ton county relief department, re-
lief victims are still drawing the
same amount on their vouchers.
Yet the relief officials become
more and more hard-boiled when
asked for additional relief.
In an interview with Harry
Hopkins, Federal Emergency Re.
lief Administrator, quoted in the
American Magazine for Deem
Der, when asked, What should
an unemployed man do who feels
that he is not being adequately
cared for?" Mr.. Hopkins stated,
He should tell the world about
it. He has a legitimate griev-
ance."
This touching sentiment was
printed nicely and with due Gre
dit was hung in the waiting room
OF the Thurston County Welfare
offices in Olympia. 1t has been re-
Gently taken down.
Voice of action. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1933-1936, 1934-12-07
Cannery Workers Strike

ANACORTES, Wash, Dec. G.
About 30 workers in the Robin.
son Goldfish packing plant struck
Friday, Nov. 16, for a raise in
wages. They had been getting
$3.50 a day and struck for $3.50.
About half these workers were
on piece work and struck in SYM
pathy with those on day labor.
A representative of the Robin
son firm met the men at a meet
ing in the Eagles hall and offer
ed to compromise on a raise of 20
cents a day because he told them
that the firm could have the fish
packed much cheaper by sending
it East, and that the plant was
only operating to keep the local
men employed.
Since this was an unOrganized
strike and the men were mex
perienced in dealing with the
boss class, they failed to see
through this little pretense at
philanthropy and accepted the
compromise. Although a slight
gain was made the men now real
ize how much more successes
they could have under a rank
Voice of action. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1933-1936, 1934-12-07
Communists Win
Relief Voucher

ABERDEEN, Wash, Dec. g.
Faith in the Communist Party
won relief for Mrs. Gritten, 81
year old widow of this city. Al
though Mrs. Gritten is in poor
health she was cut off from'reliei
two months ago.
= A worker in the county indi-
gent department suggested that
she get work as a hOuse-keeper.
Mrs. Gritten applied for jobs in
spite of the fact that she had a
doctors certificate to the effect
that she was unable to work.
An appeal to the Communist
Party won her demands from the
Welfare Board and she is now
getting the munificent sum of
S1.75 week on a voucher and one
quart of milk a day through the
efforts of the West End unit.
Her physician, DR.. Milton Ora
ham and Mr.. Kenyon of the coun-
ty INDECENT department both
warned her to stay away from
the Communists but Mrs. Gritten
remains firm in the faith that
the Communist Party is the only
political party which leads the
fight for the daily needs of the
working class.
Voice of action. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1933-1936, 1934-12-07
Bellingham Stevedores
Demand Full Back Paw

BELLINGHAM, Wash, Dec. G
I-LOngshoremen here who struck
week ago today, refusing to
load two ships, were reported in
the capitalist press as going back
to work Monday pending arbitra-
ton.
The men had struck for full
back pay since the time they had
gone back to work after the mar
thine strike until the time the
Arbitration Board announced it's
decision. The boards decision was
that the award should be retro
active.
The company wanted to pay
overtime wages only for work
done over eight hours, but the
men demanded overtime pay for
all work done over six hours,
which was the work day decided
upon by the Arbitration Board.
The longshoremen refused to
go after their pay until they got
the full amount. Taylor, local
LILA president, was the only one
who went after his pay.
Voice of action. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1933-1936, 1934-12-07
Prosecutor Admits No
Violence AS Centralia
"RiOt" Case Begins

CENTRALIA, Wash, Dec. g.
In damned court room the case
of the Centralia riot" defend
ants came to trial, with Ku K1ux
Klan and state police weaving
through the crowds of workers.
The first day of the trial was
taken up with examination of
jurors, with workers circulating
Initiative 4 and the Voice of Ac-
tion during the recess and lunch
hours.
In his statement to the jury
on the second day of the trial the
prosecutor stated that there
were no acts of violence at the
foreclosure lat which the de-
PENDANTS were arrested) by the
defendants or anyone else, yet
he stated he is going to prove
that the four defendants are
guilty of starting riot, or keep
ing a sheriff from performing
his legal duty which is selling
peoples homes and setting them
out in the street.
The judge ruled against any
evidence of membership in the
xxx of the prosecution wit
nesses.
The case grew out of the dem
onstration to prevent the fore
closure of the Aust farm. Attor-
neys Davies of Centralia and
Lawrence Settler of Seattle are
defending the case.
Voice of action. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1933-1936, 1934-12-07
Arms Pact Revealed

WASHINGTON, Dec. 6AThe
stencil emanating from the SEN
ate munitions inquiry became
more nauseating yesterday when
the names of former President
Herbert Hoover and ex-House
Leader Tillman of Connecticut,
were definitely linked with the
armament racket.
Hoover, it was revealed, called
a conference of arms manufact-
urers when he was secretary of
commerce in 1925, after which
the American delegation to the
Geneva disarmament conference
accepted the mandates Of the
munktion racketeers and put
their program through at Gen.
eva.
Promised to Arm England
Even before the World War
started, it was discovered, the
United States secretly agreed to
furnish Great Britain with arms
when war came.
Voice of action. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1933-1936, 1934-12-07
Suoja Won't Quit

ASTORIA, Ore, Dec. Gin
spite of the fact that John Suoja,
clerk of the Pacific Coast Fish
cries Union, was voted out by the
rank and file of the Astoria and
Westport locals, he is refusing to
give up his office.
He was given a four months
vacation" with the hope that 1t
would be permanent, but he is
building up support for himself
to continue in office, it was re-
yealed here at meeting held to
study the record books of Mr..
SuOja.
A number of votes from the
small rivers down the coast, chief
ly from gill-netters, were intro
duced to keep Suoja in his job.
However, since the gill-netters
are far in arrears of their dues
the votes may not be legal. A
committee has been appointed to
investigate.
1t is pointed out by the Fish
ermen and Cannery Workers In
dustrial Union at Astoria that
only with the definite expulsion
of SuOja and control by rank and
file members, regardless of I'M
ion affiliations, forming a unit
ed front struggle for better fish
prices, can the fishermen win
their fight for better conditions.
Voice of action. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1933-1936, 1934-12-07
Criminal SyndicaliSm
Cases In MedfOrd and
Sacramento This Week

SEATTLE, Dec. 6tThree trials
indicating the growing populari-
ty of the vicious criminal syndi-
calism charge started this week.
The MedfOrd case opened We'd
nesday; the Centralia riot case
Monday, as did the Sacramento
criminal syndicalism frame-up.
In Roslyn, the vagrancy excuse
against Mark Halter was drop
ped, leaving only the riot charge
for him to meet. The prosecuting
attorney will press the riot trials
beginning December 10. Harry
Gross from Portland is repre-
senting the LID at these trials.
These unfair blows at the ad-
vance of the working class must
be met by mass strength. Pro-
tests alone will save these de-
PENDANTS from being railroaded
to penitentiaries for the sole Of
tense of unfolding the rights of
the working class. A list of adj
dresses to which protests should
be sent Immediately will be
found on page three of this issue
of the Voice of Action.
Speaking on criminal syndi-
calism, Wesley Randall, Dist
riot Secretary of the lid, is ad-
dressing a group at the Church
of the Peoples Forum at noon,
Sunday, Dec. 8.
Voice of action. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1933-1936, 1934-12-07
More About Sales Tax

Continued from Page II
the two constitutional tax am
endments on the November bal
lot which would have balanced"
the budget, Governor Martin
said: MY objection to the sales
tax is that it falls disportionate-
ly on the wage-earner and small
farmer, any family of small in
come and that complicates the
business and public relations of
the merchants. The sales tax is
desirable and probably would
be so recognized and accepted
if it is part of a balanced tax
system-a system that reaches
everybody proportionately."
But how this is to be done,
Governor Martin did not state.
Voice of action. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1933-1936, 1934-12-07
By Wesley Randall, Dist. Sec'y
International Labor Defense

Angelo Herndon, famous young
Negro working class leader, will
tell his story to the workers and
farmers of the Northwest this
month, when he tours the states
of Oregon, Washington and Ida
no.
Herndon faces Is to 20 years on
the Georgia chain gang, which
means certain death. No man can
live that long under the man-kill-
ing conditions on these gangs.
He has been rescued temporari-
ly, by the heroic efforts of work
ers who have raised, nickel by
nickel and dime by dime, the sum
OF $4,000. This is the bond set for
his release, while the case goes
to the U. s. Supreme Court on
appeal.
Organized Workers
The crime? Organizing the I'M
employed of Atlanta, white and
Negro together. Fighting for
equality for his race, social and
every other kind of equality"
The law? An old "inciting to in
surrection" act, passed by the
Southern slave masters in 1861,
to stop the rising revolt of the
slaves.
Since the days of the Civil War
that law had lain, unused and al
most forgotten" writes Herndon
in his pamphlet, you Cannot
Kill the Working Class" Now
the slaves Of the new order-the
white and black slaves of capital
ism-were organizing. In the eyes
of the Georgia masters, it was a
crime punishable by death"
Angelo Herndon was born a
free man, legally-but he has
known this modern slavery. Born
one of nine children, he entered
the mines in which his father had
shaved all his life, just as his
grandfather was born to slavery,
because his father was a slave.
Voice of action. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1933-1936, 1934-12-07
Linden Victim
OF Auto Crash

CONTINUED from Page One)
onto the pavement. None Of the
other occupants was injured.
The unsuccessful attempts were
made by the death car couple
to escape after the crash.
Emil Linden's death is felt as
real loss by the 1900 Fishermen
and Cannery Workers Union
members from San Diego to Cor
dova, who knew him and respect
ed his leadership in their strug-
giles for better working cOndi-
tions.
Mr.. Linden was born in Brook
Ign, New York, in 1902, and moved
with his parents to Michigan the
next year. In 1917 they came to
Astoria, where his parents, two
brothers and sister have resided
since.
Mr.. Linden was educated in
grade school and was a graduate
of Cox Trade school, Portland,
and followed the trade of carpen-
ter and mechanic.
........ Four Years in Party
Joining the Communist Party
four years ago, he served the
working class as International
Labor Defense organizer in Port
land for two years, then threw
his talent and energy into what
would have become his life work
organizing and building the
Fishermen and Cannery Workers
into an organization fighting for
better working conditions in the
industry.
Port Alexander, Ketchikan,
Everett, Anacortes cannery work
ers' strikes under the leadership
of the FCWIU and it's secretary,
Emil Linden, have won many
wage victories and concessions
from the cannery bosses.
THE Communist Party feels q
sharp loss at the death of Com
rade Linden" the district COM
mittee of the Communist Party
stated, commenting on Linden's
working class activity. "As a
Party member for the past four
years, and district committee
member since last March, he has
made great contributions toward
building the revolutionary move
ment in the Northwest"
Services for Mr.. Linden were
held Tuesday night at Rafferty's
undertaking parlors, Seattle, and
his body taken to Portland We'd
nesday by his family. Funeral
services were held Wednesday af-
ternoon in Portland followed by
interment in Rose Hill Cemetery.
Voice of action. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1933-1936, 1934-12-07
Relief Official Tries
To Force Mother Into
Life of Prostitution

SEATTLE, Dec. 6-Upon hear
ing her plea for relief for herself
and her five minor children, John
Hoban, relief investigator at
voucher station No. l, told Mrs.
Florence George he was sorry"
she couldn't get on relief and
suggested she try prostitution.
Mrs. George went to the vouch-
er station, 105th and Green
wood, asking for wood and food
for her children until the month
ly allowance was forwarded by
her former husband.
When relief heads discovered
she had an allowance, they got
the court to assign them the al
lOwance through the voucher de-
pot.
When she was interviewed by
Hoban, he asked her If she
couldn't get some men friends
to help her along with her child
rem"
Mrs. George stated in a sworn
affidavit before a notary public:
81 am supposed to receive $40
per month from my husband for
support of our five minor child
rem and myself. L do not re-
ceive this $40 regularly. L am
without funds and refused relief
from station No. /. Mr.. John Ho-
ban has asked me to make a
prostitute of myself to make a
living" (Signed) Florence George.
Voice of action. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1933-1936, 1934-12-07

and 10. A wide program of games
and entertainment is planned for
both days.
Cheapest and best dance in
town" is promised for Saturday
when the regular bazaar admit
lance of cents will also include
dancing with intermittent pro-
gram and games.
Articles Needed
A feature of both days will be
the Market Booth here all kinds
of donated foods may be pur-
chased. The committee asks that
more contributions for this booth
be made and reported to the LID,
300 Lyon building. Other articles
suitable for auctioning and sale
are still greatly needed.
A complete lunchroom service
will operate both days.
The committee promises sew
eral outstanding surprise feat
ures for the evening programs.
Don't miss the LID bazaar and
carnival.
Voice of action. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1933-1936, 1934-12-07
Endanger Chinese
SeamenS Recovery


ABERDEEN, Wash, Dec. g.
Five Chinese seamen were taken
out of the hospital and put back
to work on a Norwegian freigter
while they were still in serious
condition
These seamen had been injur-
ed while working on the ship and
were only given medical atten-
tiOn after a committee of long
shOremen demanded it from the
ships officers.
When the ship sailed, five of
the nine hurt were removed from
the hospital and put to work,
though they had not recovered
from their injuries.
Voice of action. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1933-1936, 1934-12-07
Vicious Speed-Up
In Aberdeen Mill

HOQUIAM, Dec. ga terrible
speed-up is reported by workers
at the Eureka sawmill (POlsOn
Lumber and Single Co.., Espe-
cially dock and yard workers are
speeded up to the limit. A So
called bonus system" is in effect
and the workers are compelled
to mark down everything they
do and hand it in to the office at
the end of the day.
In the case of piling lumber
or loading up for carrier drivers,
every piece and dimension has
to be marked down.
The workers are supposed to
do a certain amount of work, if
that amount is not fulfilled the
workers are put in the ''red"
which means that they did not
earn their wages.
Voice of action. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1933-1936, 1934-12-07

izing the teachers right of free
dom of expression.
In a letter to Worth Mcclure,
Superintendent of Schools, Mat
thews says:
'TThe criticism OF the Red Cross
is certainly untimely and unfair,
so far as this district is concern
ed. The villainous and untruth-
full attack made in the American
Mercury ought not to be copied
and circulated by our teachers.
l hope you will bring them under
speedy discipline and have this
unfair attack corrected, so far
as we are concerned"
The comment on Spivak's
American Mercury exposure of
the Red Cross, as printed in
the Teachers Bulletin, follows:
1T had to come. Organized hui
manitarianism has ranged itself
under the black banner of indus
trial and financial feudatories,
and marches in the barbaric pa
rade with professional baseball,
horce racing, boxing stock mar
ket, racketeering, real estate in
flaters, Hollywood sybarites and
the whole category of commercial
vices.
1T is a sickening tale of job
berry, dishonesty, hypocrisy, and
shame, that John l.. Spivak re-
veals in the November issue of
the American Mercury, under the
title, Shady Business in the Red
Cross" Under its charter granted
by Congress, the American Red
Cross is authorized TO carry on
a system of national and interna-
tional relief in time of peace"
Actually it is organized for
war, exacts military oath from
its nurses; which places them in
the combatant class, and has a
war reserve of $4,000,0O0 which it
refuses. to spend to relieve dis
tress even during this devastat-
ing economic cataclysm.
Maintained by Congressional
appropriations and by contribu-
tions from millions of American
citizens, it declines to open its
books to public inspection. All of
its millions of dollars it has de-
posted in Morgan banks or in
vested in corporations controlled
by the Morgans.
'EThe Red Cross has shown fav-
oritism in the distribution of re-
lief; it has manifested a distinct
against striking work
ers; it has Disseminated against
it has connived at peon-
age in the South; it has refused
relief to starving flood victims.
where it has expended two
and a half million dollars for sal
aries, travelling, stationary, rents
etc., it has spent one million for
relief.
THUS is the Red Gross DOM
mated by the financial dictat-
orship conferred in the financial
capital of the country; and its
resources of $32, 500, 900 are now
in the hands of these sancti-
monious highbinders who re-
fuse to conform to the require
ments of the Treaty Of Geneva
and the Act of Congress which
created the Red Cross"
Voice of action. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1933-1936, 1934-12-07
Dance Sunday

SEATTLE, Dc. Gan old time
and modern dance is being given
Sunday evening by Unit Z of the
Communist Party.
For music the dancers are 60
ing to enjoy the popular Pioneer
Hill Billies. Much competition is
expected for the prize waltz.
The dance will be at the IOGT
hall at 1109 Virginia street and it
starts at 8 p. m.
Voice of action. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1933-1936, 1934-12-07

Used to be held after the union
session and to which all fisher
men We're invited.
Mr.. Stuhr of the Copper River
and Prince William Sound fish
ermens union spoke on the strike
held there last summer and the
need of unity of all Alaskan fish
ermen and of the whole coast. He
suggested that an All-Fishermen
Conference be held where these
problems may be discussed and
acted upon.
Voice of action. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1933-1936, 1934-12-07
Dr.. Mark A. Matthews Demands Liberal Teachers Be Fe1
Red Cross Head Attacks
Seattle Teachers League

SEATTLE, Dec. 6-Because the
Seattle Teachers League publish
ed In their bulletin a comment
on an article from the American
Mercury by John L. Spivak on
the American Red Cross, Rev.
Mark A. Matthews, head OF the
local Red Cross, demands that
the teachers so criticizing the
Red Cross be fired, thus leopard
Voice of action. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1933-1936, 1934-12-07
Weber ReLeasd

PORTLAND, Dec. 6-John We
Der, manager of the Portland
Workers Bookshop, was releas-
ed Saturday, Dec. l, under $500
cash bond. Weber's bond had
been set at $1,000, and he had
been held for five weeks.
The defense, after persuading
tn court to cut the bond in half,
raised the $500 and released We
Der.
Weber is being held on charges
of criminal syndicalism for OPP
Grating the Workers BoOkshOp.
Voice of action. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1933-1936, 1934-12-07

This is plea
You cannot let die.
Young hands that love the feel of turf
Young feet that felt the rythm of the road;
Young bodies that have breathed the sun and air
Are not the stuff to culver in the shock
OF sizzling, terrorizing death.
This is vision
You need not let us die
You with your voices strong and full of courage,
Roaring a power dynamic through the world
Hurting defiant echoes from the walls
OF courts and prisons
Voices laundering the threats
OF clenchng hands, uplifted to the teeth
That grin and leer despoticaly at At you.
Voices, ripping knife-like at the robes
OF whte-sheeted terror Silver Shirted hatred
Voices shouting chanting, roaring
Unmuf1ed indignation
This is warning
You dare not let die!
Embattled Labor the picket line
Where bullets tnud through bodies black and white
Embatted gruntng sweating cursng
AT war with hunger hOrdes of hungers troops
Assailing you with treachery bullets, clubs
And all you Jobless, graphing with starvation
And beaten from your homes-you dare not! Dare not
For death will bring
Defeat one long, victorious stride
Our dusky fingers grasp the leash that holds
The baying horror from the Threats of millions
And millions more like like you
And this our assurance
You will not let die;
Through days and nights when bars
Are silhouetted grim against the sun and stars.
We sing the thought, and singing bear the hours
That pile upon insults, PAIN despair,
Outside hear the pounding of your feet
Hammering the pavement with determined beat.
Outside hear the roaring of your cry
Reaching the very rafters of the sky.
Outside feel your vibrant courage shake
The sleeping world alive awake.
We count the hours of life your courage gave us
And hope and know :. the working class will us
Dawn Lovelace
Voice of action. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1933-1936, 1934-12-07
lid Bazaar Promises
Vide Entertainment

SEATTLE Dec 6Fna plans being made by the Arrange
the 2nd Annual Carnival of
Labor Defense The organized three
lid
HerndOn, criminal syndiealism and prisoners relief
committee all
there will for both Saturday Sunday
Voice of action. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1933-1936, 1934-12-07
SPECIAL NEWS FOR THE
e. FISHERMEN e.

ASTORIA, Oregon Dec 6-The Alaska Fshermen's Union
which scheduled hold meeting Labor
found itself locked out in spite of the fact that
hall
Becoming disguised with the difficulty in finding
to unlock the doors the meeting adjourned Kaeva
ruined the attendance which
Voice of action. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1933-1936, 1934-12-07

and file organization such as the
Fishermen and Cannery Work
ers Industrial Union.
Voice of action. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1933-1936, 1934-12-07
Who Is Angelo Herndon!

Herndon started mining at the
age of 13.
Learns Value of Unity
He soon learned the value of
organization. Also he learned the
price paid by both Negro and
white workers, into the bosses
pockets, for the Jim-Crow system,
the racial division and hatred. He
learned the value of unity. He be-
gan to fight for organization, and
for equality for his race.
In 1880 he was unemployed.
He heard the question, Would
you rather fight or starve He
saw at a meeting of unemployed
white and Negro speakers on the
same platform, uniting In the
same struggle. He Joined the I'm
employment Councils. Later he
joined the Communist Party.
Herndon helped to organize
the first All-Southern Scottsboro
Conference. He led committees
and demonstrations for relief
and got it. The unemployed grew
stronger. The bosses retaliated
by arrests and frame-ups. Hern-
don was picked up, and charged
with violating this old slave in
surTection law.
Herndon Not free
Herndon is not free, He is only
out on bail "1S to 20 years in the
chain gang"-this sentence still
stands.
But this sentence, and the
death sentence facing the nine
Scottsboro boys can be stopped.
1t will be stopped. Working class
protest, the best legal assistance
that can be hired, will do it.
This is the story that Angelo
HerndOn will tell in the North
west. Every worker and farmer,
every working class sympathizer
and liberal, should hear Hern-
don.
We must give a rousing recep-
tion to this great young fighter
for the rights of the Negro people
and for the working class.
Voice of action. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1933-1936, 1934-12-07

Mr.. VIM. Bill" Wepner-You
misunderstood my letter. Please
write or come to Sumner. Anx-
ious to know your plans for
farm. Present lease expires Jan.
/, 1935.-D. w. 3S