davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star., 1934-03-25

three prominent C. W. A. jobs are being ac-
complished. The work in Anacosta Park is
progressing under the eye of Maj. Arthur and
his associates. This is one of the greatest Of
the entire program here, for at the peak, 1000
men were employed there, cleaning up the
future parkland and building levees, as well
as grading along the river banks.
For many years the Georgetown Citizens As
sociation and other groups have been attempt
ing to have the unsightly Aqueduct Bridge,
just upstream of Key Bridge, removed. In
vain the fight was carried along until C. w. A.
came. Then these workers began the taking
down of the old steel superstructure which
has been done, and the tearing down of the
stone piers that dot the Potomac River over
to the Virginia shore. C. w. A. workers have
torn these down materially and VIII 80 s.-.l---2t
Evening star., 1934-03-25
VaudeUiHe Stuff

How long you in jail for, Mose?"
Two weeks"
What de charger"
"No charge; everything am free"
"Ah mean. what have you did,"
Done shot NAH wife,. ~l,In. v4.,rt
nj "You all killed yo' wife am only in tada for
, two weeks?pG sore -" sa7nIIT : .L--
Oats au-dcn ~ g:ts hung ~ =
Evening star., 1934-03-25
NezU Deal
Continued from Ninth Page.


Restaurant along Pennsylvania avenue, has
been authorized; an addition to the Federal
warehouse along the railroad tracks in South
west Washington is under way, and several
jobs are in progress in the public buildings.
c UGH is the fairy godmother in the guise
- of the Public Works Administration, that
has come to this Cinderella, sitting among the
ashes, suffered to be content in days agone,
with the leftovers from the appropriations
table
Under the United states Engineer Omce
Evening star., 1934-03-25

midFebruary, however, the number has been
gradually tapering off President Roosevef's
new set-up to succeed C. W. A. has been IN
the making.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-06-09

| authorized to represent employees"
In reaching such a decision the
bill provides that the board can,
if it wants to do so, take a secret
ballot or it can:
utilize any other suitable method
to ascertain by whom or by what
labor organization they desire to
be represented"
Thus, the board can refuse to
recognize unions of workers choice,
under the pretense that such or
CARNATIONS do not comply with the
official government conception of a
/ union or organization of workers.
That government conception is that
such organization of workers must
be one that does not interfere with
the free flow of commerce or in any
way affect commerce. In other
words, the government demands
that such workers organizations"
must be one pledged in advance not
to take any action that may tie up
commerce-that is to strike.
1t is this union wrecking feature
Of the bill, this legalizing of COM
pany unionism, that meets with
loud acclaim by the whole capital
list press. In the New York Times of
Sunday, May 9th, Arthur Krock.
one OF the Times Washington cor
respondents, stated that the new
bill legalizes company unions. The
Philadelphia Inquirer of Monday.
May %, a rock-ribbed Republican
sheet, praised the Roosevelt Dem
ocratic administration for pushing
the Wagner Bill.
Splits Existing Organizations
Section 10 of the revised bill not
only does not compel an EMPLOYER
to recognize union shop even if
1t is organized into national or
international or independent union.
but 1t even shows the employer how
he can divide the workers on craft
lines in case they have industrial
organization. Each shop can have
as many kinds of group representa-
ton as desired, For example, take
an automobile plant. If there exists
! one powerful union in the plant,
the bosses and their agents can
split away department and create
a department organization, or even
an organization OF a few individuals
in department and the full power
OF the government will back UP
such splitting and union wrecking
activities. The clause guaranteeing
that (Section 10) reads as follows:
"The board shall decide whether
eligibility to participate in
choice of representatives shall be
determined upon the basis of en-
ployer unit, craft unit, plant unit,
or other appropriate unit. Each
unit may be given representation
according to its membership"
Other union wrecking provisions
are those which compel workers
representatives to produce before
the board their books. membership
lists, dues, and everything else per-
tanning to the conduct Of their or
ganization, Thus the government
agents can furnish the company
stoolpigeons the names of militant
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-06-09
Revised Wagner Bill Dangerous Weapon Against Labor

and another step towards fascism.
We shall do our best to expose it
and to arouse and organize
American workers against it,"
Since that time the Daily Worker
and the publications of the T.UUL.
and its unions have dealt with the
strike breaking character of the
Wagner Bill in numerous articles
and editorials. These are the only
papers and organizations that have
told the truth about the Wagner
Bill to the working class. The orig
inal draft has now been mended and
company unions given still more
legal recognition.
The reason for the speed-up of
the Wagner Bill is admitted by gov
eminent spokesman to be the strike
wave that is rising to great heights
throughout the country. All the
papers, in commenting upon the
bill, referred to the strikes of long
shoremen on the Pacific Coast, the
truckmen's strike in Minneapolis
and the electrical workers strike
in Toledo, Ohio.
The revised bill, like the original
bill, is an extension of Section Ia Of
the National Recovery Act. 1t is
not something that stands alone,
but must be considered in connec-
ton with the history of the MIRA.
With the present strike wave ris-
< 1I1Or hinlooK- ~,
militant forms, the Roosevelt ad-
miniStration now comes forth with
the amended Wagner Bill as a
means of outlawing strikes COM
pletely. In brief this bill:
1-Sets up permanent board
with power to prohibit strikes.
-Enforces compulsory arbitra-
ton.
3-Legalizes company unjonism.
4ESplits existing unions by es-
tablishing department organiza-
tions of workers in industry.
5-Causes to be Jailed without
trial anyone who resists strike
breaking and union wrecking de-
cisions of the board.
Cites organizations of labor
directly to the government, and
establishes prison parole sys-
tenn for labor.
The Board As a Permanent Strike
Breaking Agency
The old National Labor Board
which is now headed by Senator
Wagner, is to be abolished as soon
as the act is passed and the new
board to be created is to be known
as the National Industrial Adjust
ment Board, and, according to Sec
ton l of the amended Wagner Bill
its purpose is for the peaceful set
tlement of labor disputes,
The board is to consist of five
members-three appointed by the
President to represent "the public"
and one representing the employ
ers and one supposed to represent
labor. The labor representative is
to be chosen by the President, on
sdvice of Representatives of labor"
The three representatives Of the
public are to serve for five years
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-06-09

and can be again appointed at the
end of that time. The two repre-
sentatiVes of the employers and the
employees are to be chosen from
panels Of six-that is the President
appoints for terms of one year a
panel of six individuals represent
ing the workers and six representing
the bosses, who shall rotate in such
way that there will always be one
representative, but never more than
one, Of each on the board. Thus
there will never be more than one
person on the board even pretend
ing to speak for labor and these
will always be people of the calibre
of William Green, John L. Lewis,
George l.. Berry, Sydney Hillman
or Emil REEVE.
Enforces Compulsory Arbitration
Section 9 of the amended Wagner
Bill specifically states that the board
shall have power to act, and ap-
point any agent or agency to act
as arbitrator in labor disputes, when
parties agree to submit the whole
or any part of a labor dispute to
the arbitration of the board or its
appointees." This clause is decep-
lively used by the labor takers who
support the Wagner Bill to try to
deny that it means compulsory ar
bitration, but when we consider
that the board has the right to
decide "by whom or what labor or
ganization' workers desire to be rep
resented, as stated in Section 10
(a), we realize that there can al
ways be found excuses to claim that
parties" to the dispute who are
agents of the bosses or the govern
ment in the ranks of the workers.
agree to submit" to arbitration. In
the following sections we shall see
how this works out.
Legaiizes Company Unionism
In the revised Wagner Bill the
main emphasis is placed upon
company unionism. The very defini-
ton of labor organization places
the stamp of approval upon COM
pany unionism in these words from
Article 5, Section q:
THE term labor organization
means any organization or any
agency Of enapioye representation
committee, in which employees
participate and which exists for
the purpose, in whole or in part,
of dealing with employers con-
corning hours of labor, wages or
working conditions"
Provision for recognition by the
board of any organization, or in
dividual or group it chooses to rec
osnize is set forth in Article a of
Section 10 of the revised Wagner
Bill as follows:
In any disputes as TO who are
the representative of the en-
picyes, the board, if the dispute
might burden or affect commerce
or Obstruct the free few of com
merce, may investigate such dis
pufe and certify to the parties, in
writing, the name or names of
the individuals [ny einphasi1-
Fl. M. WI or labor organizations
that have been designated or
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-06-09
Legalizes the Company
Union; Enforces
"Arbitration''

ciSions in spite of the fact that the
labor takers who support the bill try
to interpret that section to mean
that it applies only to employers.
Thus, we see that the bill proposes
to put labor on prison parole basis
where one is compelled to report on
good behavior" for a period of
time to be determined by the board
or any member Of the board.
All in all the bill is the worst
legislative assault ever made in
this country against labor. Every
thing that organized labor has
fought for in this country over
period Of three quarters Of cen
fury can be set aside If this bill
can be put into effect.
Heavy Responsibility for Our Com
munist Party
Whether or not this bill becomes
law it must never be permitted to
arrest the mass movement against
hunger that is now surging forward
1t must meet with mass defiance
and the fight right now against its
passage should put in motion such
forces that its adoption by Con-
gress will be greeted with stormy
mass violation. More inSisistently
should we put forward our whole
program of struggle against the
New Deal" In this respect the
campaign for the passage of the
workers Unemployment Bill (R.H.
! 1899 is of tremendous Importance.
The fight against fascism in this
country and against fascism in gen.
eral must be developed into a power
full mass movement.
This must be combined with huge
protests and action against the
Hitler terror regime in Germany
around the demand for the liberia =
ton Of Comrsde Ernst Thaelmann.
leader Of the heroic Communist
Party of Germany the one force
that is mobilizing the masses for
the revolutionary overthrow of the
Nazi regime and for a Soviet Ger
many.
In this fight against the Revised
Wagner Bill, we must realize that
at this moment the government has
modified all its agents of treachery
and deception in the ranks of the
workers, to try to chain labor to
the Roosevelt Wall Street govern
ment.
In the fight against the Revised
Wagner Bill it i5 the duty of our
Party to give an impetus to the
mass movement that is now rapidly
rising in this country, That sort of
action can smash to pieces the anti
strike and company union and COM
pulsory arbitration drive. We must
take up the challenge Of the Wagner
Bill. the most vicious of all the leg
islation Of the New DEAL and
work with all our might to turn
the tide of struggle against the
whole Roosevelt program. which is
the program of Wall Street.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-06-09

frame-up on charges of 'inciting to
riot" of the farcical trial with its
cynical denial of the rights of the
defendants-all this and more is
graphically told in four-page
folder issued by the Eastern New
England District of the Interna-
tional Labor Defense, IL Hayward
Place, Boston, Mass.
Irrefutable proof of police brutal
ity, of deliberate intention to drown
in blood the anti-fascist demonstra-
ton, is presented in this leafet,
backed with Photographic proof of
police brutality against the arrested
workers and students.
The folder is issued as part Of the
I. l.. D. campaign against these
vicious sentences, for the freedom Of
the Karlsruhe" demonstrators, for
the right of workers to assemble
and protest. Funds are urgently
needed for this fight and should be
sent to the New England District
Of the I. L. D., IL Hayward Place
Boston, Mass.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-06-09

in Harvard University and Massa-
chusettS Institute of Technology,
among the Jewish people in Rox-
bury and Dorchester. The brutality
Of the police in their attack upon
the demonstration has exposed the
pretensions of Mayor Mansfield to
be a. friend of the Jewish people
and a foe of Hitlerism. The militant
self-defense of the twenty-one
workers and students in the court
has won the respect and support
Of all anti-fascists.
BY another dramatic coincidence
the next week brought the Soviet
steamer Dimitroff to the port of
Boston. The workers of Boston feel
that their struggle against the
Karlsruhe has been a fitting well
come to the first Soviet steamer to
visit this port, in the spirit of the
great revolutionary whose name the
ship so proudly bears.
The full story of the brutal po-
lice attack on the demonstration,
Of the bestial beating up Of the ar
rested demonstrators, of their
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-06-09

proposition as hopeless and con-
tented himself with utilizing a slip
made by Pete King, one of the de-
PENDANTS, longshore organizer of
the Marine Workers Industrial
Union, and removing him as at
torney.
The trial ended with sentences
of six, seven and eight months and
500 fines distributed among the
defendants.
To cap the climax, the Socialist
Party, after complete silence, held
a protest meeting against the Nazi
warship on May 28th, a whole week
after the ship had left port.
The struggle against the Nazi
warship undo9otedly made a dis
NAL failure Of the Nazi attempt to
carry good will in the city of
Boston. On the contrary, the visit
of the cruiser has resulted in wide
spread exposure and discussion of
the meaning and the menace of
fascism among the workers in
Charlestown, among the students
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-06-09
The Fight for Bread,
Wages, Is A Fight for
The Seizure of Power
v stches c. P. Call for
United Front COOHy
SabOtaged (

The fight for bread, for wages
the fight for Soviet power, they
are inextricabIy connected.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-06-09
Gives Board Power To
Prohibit Strikes;
Jail Pickets
BY H. NJ. wICKs

TTHE workers of the United
L States are moving against
the terrible conditions of hun
ger that for five years have
grown steadily worse. Tens
Of thousands are on strike.
Hundreds of thousands are
on strike or preparing to go on
strike-longshoremen, steel work
ers, textile workers, automobile
workers, miners, printers, electrical
workers. A new mighty wave Of
strikes is rising, surging to new and
higher levels Of struggle. More and
more we hear the slogan for a gen.
eral strike to smash through the
hunger drive-to turn the defensive
struggle against the NR.A. slave
codes into a counter offensive
against capitalism. Up from the
ranks of struggling workers, defiant
ly facing the combined attacks Of
the armed forces of CITY, state and
nation, there increases in volume
the slogan of the general strike.
On Saturday, May 18th, the re-
vised Wagner bill, known as the
National Industrial Adjustment
Act" was presented to the United
States Senate by the notorious
Tammany Hall Senator from New
York, Robert F. Wagner. 1t was
Immediately hailed by the capitalist
press. by industrial magnates and
by their kept newspaper editors as
means of preventing strikes. The
bill was brought forward under the
direct supervision Of President
Roosevelt.
New Weapon Against Labor
The Wagner Bill is the new
weapon the Roosevelt administra-
ton is trying to forge for use
against the great wave of working
class battles against MIRA. and its
hunger codes.
The Communist Party and the
Trade Union Unity League apprais-
ed correctly the Wagner Bill from
the day its first draft was published.
On March %, the Daily Worker
carried a first page story of the
exposure of the real working
class character Of the proposed bill
IN report of the speech and argu-
ment of Bill Dunno, representing
the National Committee of the T.U.
u
on Labor and Education. He stated:
The peace that the Wagner
Bill and the official program of
the American Federation Of La
Dor proposes is the pax Romano
the peace of death = for the
American working class. 1t is a
program of preparation for a new
drive against the working class.
preparation for imperialist war,
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-06-09

workers. Any member of the board,
representing the general public"
that is the government may, &C
cording to Article l of Section II,
have power to require by subpoena
The attendance and testimony of
witnesses and the production of all
such documentary evidence relat-
ing to any matter under complaint"
To make the turning over of such
documents more compulsory than
the usual court procedure, Article
3 of Section IL specifies:
NO person shall be excused
from attending and testifying or
from producing books, papers,
contracts, agreements and other
documents germane to the mat
ter under investigation before the
board, or in obedience to the sub
poena Of the board, on the ground
that the testimony, documentary
or otherwise, required of him, may
tend to incriminate him or sub
ject him to penalty or forfeit
ure.'
Can Jail without Trial All Who
Resist
All decisions of the board are
filed with the United States Dis
trict Courts, and in case of any re-
sistance to decisions the violator can
be hailed into court and sent to
prison for contempt of court. These
proceedings are carried out without
trial by jury-the federal circuit
court judge simply throws the vic
tim in jail for any length of time
he desires. Also there are strong
penalties provided for anyone who
resists or interferes with any men,
Der of the board carrying out the
strike breaking provisions of the
bill. Section II reads:
amy person who shall wiifulIy
assault, resist, prevent. impede. or
interfere with any member Of the
board or any of its agents or
agencies shall be punished by a
fine of not more than $4,000 or by
Imprisonment for not more than
ore year, or both"
For the worker the above full
sentence-fne and imprisonment
would mean anywhere from five to
ten years in Jail because, being I'M
able to pay the fine Of $1,000, he
would have to work it cut" at so
cents or dollar a day, in addition
to the year in prison.
Ties Labor Organizations to Gov
ernment, and Establishes Prison
Parole System
One of the vilest sections of the
bill is that section dealing with the
Prevention of Unfair Labor Prac-
tices," (Section 81 which provides
that all who are regarded by the
board as likely to violate the pro-
visions of the act shall be required
to make q report from time to
time showing the extent to which he
has complied with the order" of the
board or any District Court which
enforces the boards orders or its
own notifications OF such orders.
This clause applies to anyone who
may be suspected Of breaking or
intending to break any of the de-
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-06-09

fight against the whole system Of
exploitation, becomes. in other
words, an open class battle for
power.
Thus it comes about that a party
which will not strive to smash the
N. R. A. codes. which allies itself
with the A. F. Of L. officialdom
which does not organize mass strug-
giles for unemployment insurance.
can never seriously consider the
question Of the struggle for power.
And conversely, the Socialist Party,
because it pledges itself to the fight
against the dictatorship Of the pro-
letariat (it is opposed to all dicta-
torship) will inevitably betray the
day-to-day struggle against capital.
And the reason for this Comrade
Browder made excellently clear in
his speech at the Communist Con-
Yention when he declared:
II is true that all struggles for
daily bread, for milk for children,
against evictiOns, for unemploy-
ment relief, and insurance. for
wage increases, for the right to
organize and strike, etc, are di-
rectly connected up with the
question of revolution. Those who
are against revolution. who want
to maintain the capitalist system.
are prepared 10 sacrifice these
struggles of the workers in order
to help the capitalists preserve
their profits.
Only those can cOurageously
lead and stubbornly organize the
fight for the immediate interests
of the tOiling masses who know
that these things must be won
even though 1t means the destruc-
ton of capitalist profits, and who
draw the necessary conclusion
that the workers and farmers
must consciously prepare to over
throw capitalism.
That is to say, a party that does
not consciously prepare day in and
day out to raise the revolutionary
consciousness Of the masses for the
seizure of power through the smash
ing of the capitalist state machine,
such party cannot really defend
the wages and working conditions,
the daily life Of the masses.