Media
Issue Date
1939-10-20
Volume
1
Issue Number
20
Plaintext
SECURITY
IN
UNITY
7he Seafarers' Log
Seafarers' International Union of North America
OfficialOrgan oftheAtlantk:,Gulf and Great Lakes Seamen
BROTHERHOOD
OF THE
SEA
VOL. I NEW YORK, N. Y„ FRIDAY, OCT. 20, 1939 446 NO. 20
NiMU RAISES HELL ON SS ACADIA
Matthew '' Duke'' Dushane, SIU Atlantic Dist. Chairman,
and Joseph P. Ryan, ILA President, at AFL
Convention in Cincinnati.
DUSHANE REPORTS PROGRESS
AT A. F. OF L. CONVENTION
Further Cooperation Pledged By
Ryan ̂ |nd Bradley of ILA
WINGATE RUNS AFOUL OF LAW
RACKETEERS MUST BE
ELIMINATED FROM
SEAMENS' UNIONS
SS Seatraia
N'ew Oiieans,
Havana, Cuba.
Oct. 19, 1939.
Editor, the "LOG";
All indications are that we
have the NMU on the defensive
which, logically enough, precede.s
defeat. Any organization must ei
ther go up or down—ahead or
astern—in ships' language. We
are going ahead, with the moral
justification that we are right,
and that we are going to estab
lish on a nationwide scale that
type, of maritime union which he
longs to the seamen who com
pose it, and reacts only to the
will of the members who alone
are the governing body.
We are on the aggressive be
cause we have no treachery, no
act, and no affiliations to defend.
The Seafarers' International Un
ion must continue to be formed
of progressive members of the
.'American Federation of Labor,
revolting bona fide seamen of the
degenerate National Maritime
Union, and the proven seamen
of the Pacific Coast, from which
elements the SIU was organized.
Eliminate Itacketeeis
There is only one program for
the SIU to fulfill, and that is the
complete elimination of every la
(Coittinncd on Page 2)
New Ycrk, Oct. 18—Last Monday night's Atlantic Dis
trict Hcadciuarters meeting got under way at 7:00 o'clotik
sharp with a large ;ind enthusiastic group of members in
attendance.
Emergency Board Dhairman "Duke"' Dushane. just re
turned from the AFL Convention in Cincinnati, reported on
what had taken place theie, and stated that the Convention
had gone on record to support the Seafarer.s' in every Avay
possible. He reported that President Harry Lundeborg had
been unable to atlend because of a little trouble on the West
Coast, but that he had submitted^
a written report of the progress
of the SIU to the AFL Executive
Council. "Duke" represented both
the Atlantic and Gulf Districts
for the SIU, and stated that the
organization had come in for
plenty of favorable c.oiiuueill. He
further reported that a spirit of
closer cooperation between the
SIU, the ILA, and the ILA Mar
ine Division was pi'omised by
ILA President Joe Ryan and Cap
tain Bill Bradioy of the Marine
Division. In the past year the
ILA has been of considerable as
sistance to the SIU, and it is
hoped that, with their complete
support, more ships will be or
ganized into the Seafarers'.
Wingate Caught
"Duke" stated that he had
stopped in at Baltimore on his
return from the Convention to
sign an ailldavit regarding the
check upon which Wingate, ex
Baltimore Dispatcher, had forged
his endorsement, and that the
money would be repaid to the
Union by the hank as soon as
the insurance company OK's pay
ment. It is reported that Win
gate. alias Mingate, is somewhere
in Kansas in the toils of the law,
having run afoul of them when
he attempted to sell a stolen car
he had taken with him when he
left Baltimore.
The Quarterly Finance Commit
tee reported to the meeting that
they had found the books in per
fect order, and announced a gain
of 5i2 members over the previ
ous quarter. The Committee was
composed of L. P. Lewis, M.
Whitehurst, Frank Deyo, Wm.
Hamilton and Roscoe McCarthy.
Howard Beiui, of the Investi
gating Committee, elected at the
previous meeting, reported that
all of the beefs on the SS Cor
ni.sh had been straightened out,
but cautioned the members as
follows; "He seemed very sin
cere about it all, but don't take
any stock in what he says until
you see the results with your
own eyes." In other words, if
(Continued on Page 4) ,
Comrats in A Dither
OverSIUSUPConihlnt
Philadelphia, Oct. 14—Looks as
if the progressive action of the
SIU is too militant for the com
mies in the NMU. In other words,
it is too much on the order of the
SUP, so the CommyI0 said to
the Nazi0, "Look here, comrats,
this will never do, we have used
every trick in our bag for the
past five years, trying to rule or
ruin the SUP. Now we have an
SUP, in our own backyard, by the
name of the SIU; so rally round,
you Unionwrecking comrats, and
let's split this combine before we
lose our pie. How in the Hell
can we sell out for phoney agree
ments and two bit war bonus
with a militant union in the
field? Why, at the rate this SIU
is going, it won't be I^g before
the few duespaying members
that we have left gets wise—and
then where the Hell will we be?
Why, it might get so bad that
our misguided mpmbers will be
come enlightened and walk off
the Fink training ships, and re
fuse to ship out of the Fink Com
mi,''sion halls! If that comes to
pass, where the Hell are we go
ing to get our finks from to fink
on our rank and file when they
go on strike? So fellow comrats,
the SIU and the SUP combine
must be split up if we are going
to keep a split in Labor, and if
we can't keep a split in Labor,
goodbye commienazi.
"Let's take a look at the past;
(Continued on Page 4)
PASSENGERS CGMPLAIN OF
INSOLENCE OF NMU CREW
Commissars in Their Anxiety to Fink
Ship Many NonSeamen
OFFICERS THREATENED
New York, Oct. 20—The Eastern Steamship liner Acadia,
under charter to the U.S. Lines, arrived in New York last
night after what passengers described as an exceedingly hec-
tic trip across the Atlantic. Not only was the weather bad,
but also the crew, particularly the members of the steward's
department.
The Acadia carried 520 refugees from Europe, 482 of
whom were American citizens fleeting from the dangers of
war. The ship was caught in the same storm that battered
the SS President Harding, but the passengers didn't complain
about the storm, and were volu^
hie in their protests against the i ,i decent war bonus, and war risk
service, and insolence of the
crew.
One passenger stated; "Some
times when the head stewards
would issue orders to stewards,
union delegates would tell the
stewards they didn't have to exe
cute the orders." Another com
plained that "The service was
desperate. Th6 stewards refused i
to clean up and were very inso
lent."
Ofliccrs Threatened
One officer claimed that he and
se eral other officers were threat
ened when they tried to maintain
discipline, and he added that, for
the first three days, the ship was
not even properly cleaned. An
o'ther officer said that even Capt.
Alien was addressed in abusive
language, but the Captain denied
it
It will be remembered that SIU
members refused to sail the Aca
dlsi. unless they were guaranteed
insurance, and the ships were
manned by men shipped out of
the NMU hall, making them, as
far as the SIU is concerned, finks.
XonSeainen in Crew
According to reports in the lo
cal press, the Acadia carried 136
stewards, of whom 67 were col
ored men who had never been to
sea before,—which is a clear in
dication of to what lengths the
NMU officials went to get their
membership to scab on the Sea
farers' International Union. It is
stated that a NMU delegate ad
mitted that many inexperienced
Negroes had to be hired when the
ship left New York, as they could
not. get enough of their own mem
bers to fink.
All .Sorts of Finks
The stories in the local papers
state that much of the trouble
was due to conflict of opinions be
tween members of the NMU and
(Continued on Page 4)
New Agreement Negotiated
With Cuba Distilling Co.
New Closed Shop Contract Blocks
' Commies' Plans to Take Over
4
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CLRRAN'S HOPES GET JOLT
*Ncw York, Oct, 19—Throwing the lie in the face of the
announceinent by the NMIJ top flight commissars that they
were going to take over the Cuba Distilling ships, the SIU
e'arly this tveek concluded negotiations on the terms of a new
agreement, and it is now signed, sealed and delivered.
The new contract embodies, of course, an airtight closed
shop clause, and hhing through the Ilall; Provision is also
made for paid vacatioms, and the questjefh of overtime.,is not
neglected. A raise in wages is included'in the new agreement, "
and the matter of coffeetime is well provided for.
Uoiiiniissars Foiled
So,if the commissars had any i SIU members, and are just
ideas about taking over these
ships, they may as well stow
them away in the moth balls,—
at least until September 30th,
1940 rolls around as the new
agreement does not terminate
until that date. As a matter of
fact, "FourBitJoe" and the rest
of the top fraction of the NMU
know that they have nothing to
putting up a big bluff. Perhaps, if
they weren't so busily occupied
in following out the orders and
policies of the Communist Party,
they might really accomplish
something beneficial for their
membership.
SIU Getting Results
While NMU officials seem satis
(Continued on Page 4)
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Friday, Oct. 20, 1939
Published by the
Seafarers' Internatioaal Union
of North America
Affiliated with the American Federation of Labor
HARRY LUNDEBERG, Acting Presldeiit
110 Market Street, Room 402, San Francisco, Calif.
, Atlantic District
HEADQUARTERS
New York (Phone: BOwling Green 93437) 2 Stone Street
BRANCHES
Boston 333 Atlantic Avenue
Providence 465 So. Main Street
Philadelphia 5 Nortli 6th Street
Baltimore 14 North Gay Street
Norfolk 60 Commercial Place
San Juan, Puerto Rico ....8 Govadonga Street
Gulf District
' HEADQUARTERS
New Orleans ..309 Chartres Street
BRAl^GHSS
Savannah 218 East Bay Street
JacksonTllIe 13« Bay Street
Miami 809 N. E. First Avenue
Tampa 206 Franklin Street
Mobile 55 So. Conception Street
Houston 1712 75th Street
Great Lakes District
HEADQUARTERS
Detroit 1038 Third Street
AQDRESS ALL CORRESPONDENCE CONCERNING THIS
PUBLICATION TO:
"THE SEAFARERS' LOG"
P. O. Box 522, Church St. Annex, New York, N. Y.
It
ilk
EDITORIAL
AVith the election of officers just around the corner,—
starting on November 1st, to be exact,—it behooves all of tis
to really awaken to the fact that the election is something
of utmost importance to tlie entire'membership, and is not
to be taken too lightly. AVitii thi.s thouglit in mind, let's all
take a careful look at the list of candidates for office, and
pick out the men we believe are best fitted to represent us
during the coming year.
Above and beyond the qualifieations of having three
year's discharges, and of being a citizen of the U.S., we must
also look for other e.xtreimdy necessary attributes in the men
for whom we inteiid to vote. They mu.st be capable,—both
mentally and physically; they must be fearless, militant,
Iionest, atid not afraid of plenty of hard Avork!
AViien picking the candidate for Avhom you ijitend to cast
your vote, ask yourself these questions: Is he sufficiently in
telligent?—Is he hone.st?:—Is he a hard worker?—Can he
take it, as Avell as hand it out ?—Does he fully understand
the needs of .seamen?—Is he ready and willing to go to bat
for us?—Is fie a Communist?—And, last but not least;—What
is Ills past record ;
' HONESTY MANDATORY
Race, color, qr creed .should not be any bar against any
nomijiee,, and neither .should age, nor the lack of it! Just
because a man is young, it does not necessarily follow that he
is not Avise in the ways of Union adtiiinislralion; and, cou
A'crsely, neither does it hold true if he is AA^ell along in years.
Neither youth nor age necessarily precludes the fact that a
man may be ca])able, and well qualified. The chief qualifica
tion is'HONESTY! If you don't elect honest officers, you
are sticking your chin right out, and inviting the old ISU,
with its Gus Brown, Dave Grange, et all Nor do we want
it to become controlled by Communists, as is the NMU! Let's
keep it as it is,—an honest, progressive seamen's Union, run
by seamen, for seamen I
Some time hgo Ave Avrote an editorial in whicli we stated
that this election is not to be regarded as a popularity con
' tAst, and AA'C wish to reiterate that it mu.st NOT be alloAved
to turn into anything of the sort. Voting for any man just
because he happens to be a personal friend of yours is nof
, going to help you personally. However, if we were all to
fivtU take the attitude that *ve Avere looking out for our personal m
w
m
m/
welfare, the organization would soon fall apart,
nu
Our ulti
xai* LVi/lftlirirbe the most good for the greatest number.
OUARm AGAINST COMMIES
That the Red inenace in the seamen's labor moA'ement is
not a mere figment of the imagination, Ave Avell knoAV from
the situation which at present obtains in the NMU. Conse
quently, Ave mu.st bh completely on our guard to see that the
Conimy.s.ate not given uny opportunity to gain control of
H^^he SIU. We do not have any personal feelings regarding
the political beliefs of the Communists, except that AVC do
^I'lknow that they are not intere.sted in the seamen as seamen,
ratheri S a ineans. to an end. The Commys regard the
^fejseameu iuei'clyais tools with which to further their own nefa
RACKETEERS
{Continued from Page 1)
bor racketeer, and such treach
erous organizations as the Com
munist pollllcal machine, from
the Held of maritime labor—lock,
stock and barrel. ThUs unham
pered and unhandicapped, we
shall be able to concentrate our
entire energies to the task of in
suring for MEN, ON THE SHIPS
AT SEA, that worldfamous
American Standard t>f Living,; a
life worth living, and the tradi
tional home for seamen and their
dependents Avhlch have never
been realized beyond the dream
stage. Not until this has been ac
complished, entirely and unre
servedly, can there be peace and
contentment in maritimo labor,
or a stable marine transport in
dustry. There Avill be no end.'of
pieseiit chaotic conditions of
shipping until this has been re
alized.
NMU MhSsed Opportunity
The socalled National Marl
time Union deliberately failed to
take advantage of the golden op
portunity during the first year of
its existence, and at strategic
times since, to establish, those
conditions seamen want, and are
determined to haA'c. The NMU
neglected to secure any agree
ment whatever until progressive
seamen realized the futility of
securing any action by the Na
tional Maritime Union, and or
ganized to form the Seafarers'
International Union. Then, and
only then did the National Mari
time Union, dominated by Gom
niiinlst ofHclals, hasten to ohlain
an agreement AT ANY PRICE,
from the shipowners for the pur
pose of retaining control of as
many ships as possible, and re
sulting dues and assessments.
The National Maritime Union
agreement, then signed, was de
cidedely inferior to the condi
tions which the rank and file
themselves had established on
the ships. WHY? The Communist
Party, dominating the National
Maritime Union, has consistent
ly misled the membership,
spreading false hopes which have
never gone beyond the paper
stage. They have agitated for
conditions which they never in
tended to gain, but have offered
excuse after excuse, and passed
the buck time and again. WHY ?
Coiniiiy's Program
To get to the bottom of the
subject, the Comnmiii.st political
machine, for the benefit of top
ranking officialis Avho compose
the socalled top fraction, and
not for the benefit of the blind,
fanatic, gullible, and therefore,
rubberstamp yesuieu, who form
the rank and file of the parly,
and certainly not for the benefit
of seamen Avho go to sea for a
life occupation, t h f i v e s and
grows on false promises, pover
ty, misery and confusion of sea
men and Labor in general. The
more discontent and misery, the
better the outliook for the Party.
Therefore, it must be understood
that the Communist Party lead
ership, for the preservation of its
particular racket, must do all in
its power to prevent any sub
stantial improvement in the con
ditions Of seamen or other labor,
for the vei^ reason that once the
worker secured satisfactory con
ditions and a contented life, he
BALTIMORE BRANCH GETS
STRANGE CALL FOR MEN
Members Warned Against Commies
Sneaking Into Organization
NEW SHIPS UNDER WAY
Baltimore, Md., October 13, 1939—Everything pretty
much as usual down here with the exception that we are
getting calls from some very strange places these days. One
of the calls was from Mooremac who very graciously an
nounced that they we.nted to ship some of our men on their
ships. Of course they had an agreement Avith NMU, etc., etc.,
etc.; but that would be all right as our men could clear
themseh'^es thrbugh the NMU Hall for the jobs. Naturally
enough this touching generosity caused our dispatcher to
burst into tears, but after controlling himself long enough to
elect a special Aveeplng commit.^ ^
tee for the purpose of soliciting
enough handkerchiefs so that the
entire SIU membership
have a good cry over the sad
plight of the Mooremac Line; he
went back to the phone and told
the Company official that the men
Avere so broken up over the sad,
sad story they weie unable to
ship and therefore he recommend
ed tluit they get in touch Avlth
Hoffman's Island where the NMU
trains the "Fink ' Reserves" and
maybe he could get enough pants
pressers from there to sail the
ship.
llt'a.scm for Shortage
Going a little deeper into the
matter, we find that due to ship
ping finks on their oAvn struch
shipSi and those of the SIU when
they demanded adequate Avar
bonuses; the r*JMU is short of
men and unable to make replace
ments. The NMU have many
reasons and alibis for not having
men, but the real reason is, of
course, thatduring the last six
would not be interested in false
revolutionary ways out, calculat
ed to eventually make him a
slave of a dictatorship. The PaMy
would promptly lose its support
on the basis of its theories, and
consequently, its source of easy
money and graft Avhith its offici
als now enjoy.
The Communist Party prefers
to disguise the truth of its ac
tions, and its real purpose, from
all except the top fraction, by
means of skillful propaganda.
Phoney Organizers
We, therefore, come to the fi
nal conclusion that we must
build and maintain 'our Union as
an organization which is com
posed of seamen alone, for the
benefit of men actively employed
on ships, and not flybynight or
ganizers who know nqthing of
the praeUcal problems of sea
men. but who are educated in
foreign isms and highpressure
salesmanship, for the purpose of
injecting themselves into the La
bor movement to establish a
source of easy money, and a life
of leisure for a group of bureau
cratic parasites, at the expense
of the men who work for a liv
ing.
F'raternally yours,
Waldo Gripe, No. 112,
Deck Delegate,
SS Seatrain
NCAV Orleans.
months they .have lost more than
tAvothirds of their membership
could and are due to lose the feY' they
have left before the end of thft
year. We hear rumors of another
NMU assessment coming up
shortly, and understand this lat
est grab is to be called a "Going
Away" assessment. Looks like
they've found a good name for an
assessment at last. As to Ayho is
"Going Away" we'll have to take
John L. Lewis' Avord that the
Commienazls are going away
from the CIO and going away
fast.
Warning to Menil)ers
As a word of warning to all
members, remember that on or
ders from Moscow the Party Line
in the U.S. is now "Get back into
the A. F. of L." In line with that
you'll note the various peace ges
tures that have been tendered
the A. F. of L. organizations.late
ly. The membership of our sis
ter organization, the CTU radio
men, are being bombarded Avith
peace letters, and "let's get to
gether" epistles from the Comie
nazi controlled ACA, and just, the
other day all waterfront organ
izations in this port, except the
SIU and the CTU, received an in
vitation to join a nonpartisan
marine council. It'.s the same old
stunt that was back of the now
defunct West Coast "Federation,"
Get everybody together because
they are easier handled that way,
then the Party leaders jump for
control. The fact that neither
McKay of the SIU, or McDonald
of the CTU, got a bid to repre
sent their organizations at the
socalled nonpartisan council,
brands the move as Commienazi
inspired, since the ability of
these, gentlemen to smell a Cont
mienazi a mile away, even if he
Avas drenched in South Broadway
foofoo at a dollar an ounce, is
well knoAvn, and they'd be sura
to throw the Avell known monkey
wrench into the AVCII known ma
chinery.
rious plan to cqntrpl transportation in the United States. Be
fore you vote for any man running for office, fie sure—afiove
all things—that he is not a Communist!
NOW:—THDfK CAREFULLY—LOOK BEFORE YOU
LEAP—VOTE FOR THE RIGHT MEN! DON'T BE
FOOLED NOR MISLED BY ANY ELECTIONEERING
PROPAGANDA! DON'TJORGET THAT WE CAN NOT
AFFORD TO MAKE A BACKWARD STEP—WE MUST
GO FORWARD—EVER PROGRESSING! DON'T ALLOW
ANY PHONIES OR PIE CARDS TO RULE THE RES
TINIES OF THE S E A P A R E R S ' INTERNATIONAL
UNION!
VOTE CAREFULLYAND RIGHT!
ft. ©Ill
S? LAW "
New Ships
Workon the three ships being
built at the Sparrows Point yards
of the Bethlehem Steel Company
for the Seas Shipping Company
Avas begun recently. The neAV
ships are of 15,200 tons displace
ment, 485 foot over all and have
a speed of fifteen and a hall
knots. The building of these
ships is in line with the Mari
time Commission's rehabilitation
program, which calls for the
building of 137 ships at a cost of
$350,'000,000. The Commission Is
well ahead of its original pro
grain of fifty ships a year fo4 ten
years. So far, twentytwo vessels
have been launched and it is ex
pected that fifteen to twenty
more will be smacked on the'
snoot with a bottle of Shipown
er's champagne (hicarbonateot
soda) before the end of the year.
J
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l^y. Oct. ̂ ,1939 THE SEAFARERS' LOG 3
CURRAN ATTEMPTS TO SMEAR
SiU WITH PHONEY LIES!
Commissars Unwanted by SIU, and
Gulf NMU Members Disgusted
SIU FEARED BY COMMISSARS
The higlily publicized closing remarks of Joe Curran, at
the recent NMU convention in New Orleans, are, as usual,
just another, and smellier rehash of the old well known hooey,
—to say nothing of a pack of damned lies!
Curran piously declares that the SIU Charter Avas granted
to Harry Lundeberg only on the condition that "within one
year's time he would deliver all the members of the NMU
back into the American Federation of That's lie
number one, and we defy "NoCoffeeTime" to prove it.
In the first place, the SIU does not want ALL the members
of the NMU,—nor does the AFL. There are certain elements
within the NMU who have no business whatsoever in the
seamen^ labor movement, nor in any other labor movement,
—and we most certainly do NOT want them within the ranks
of the SIU. We refer, of course, to the strong CP faction
which completely dominates the policy of the NMU. Not that
we have any political axes to grind, but we just can't see
'that the Stalinists are of any particular value to the Labor
movement, as we arc only too Avell acquainted Avith their aims.
NMU MEN SAILED TANKERS
Lie number tAvo: Spouts the Great (?) Joe: "The only
fiones they (SIU) have been able to organize so far . . ̂ are
|the three and four time losers, the men who make a practice
|of waiting for a strike "to occu^ so that they can carry on
itheir profession of scabbing on the rank and file. ..." Un
less Ave are A'cry sadly mistaken, and Ave're certain that we
iren't, the NMU is overloaded Avith AvhitcAvashed finks Avho
pailed the ships during the '36'37 strike, and Avcre taken into
the NMU after being assessed heavy fines. As for the gen
pral membership of the SIU being finks,—^we also defy Cur
j, who was never a union man until the comrats built him
ap, to prove that statement.' 'Ten Avili get you fifty that he
can't do it ! Furthermore, countle.ss NMU members sailed
fthe tankers during that recent socalled strike, and Ave have
'yet to hear of the commissars expelling one single member
|:for haA'ing done so I
GULP NMU DISGUSTED
Speaking further of the SIU, Curran says: "Of course
I there are some in there Avho are not scabs. There are some
1 who have been intimidated. There are others Avho have been
confused. And there are still some AVIIO have been driven
into the SIU by tactics that Avere applied here in the Gulf.'
That is lie number three! No member of tiie SIU has ever
[been forced into it against his oAvn Avill, nor have any been
[confused. But when Joe declares that some were driven into
l^the SIU on account of the tactics in the Gulf,—^he is abso^
[lutely right! The "rule or ruin" policy applied by the com
ssars in the Gulf District disgusted many rank and filers
thoroughly that they left the NMU, and joined a Union
which they knew that they would be assured of complete
iemocracy:—the SIU!
Joe then goes to great lengths to name tAventyfive or so
Irdent rank and filers who refused to go along with the
jhoney comic program in the Gulf District, many of Avhom
I'cre among those Avho were leaders in the rank and file move
lent Avhen it started in 1936. He calls these men "killers",
'Aveedheads';, and "dopefiends." It so happens that we
enow quite a fcAV of these men personally, and Ave knoAv that
|hey are not as he Avould like .to paint them.
MANDELL AN OPPORTUNIST _
Curran's praise of the NMU attorneys. Standard and
[andell ,also gives us a big laugh. There is no need, at this
[inie, to go into Standard's record, but regarding Mandell,
i^e'd like to say that he has ever been an opportunist. Be
fore the ISU firsf came into poAver i'l the Gulf, Mandell
flayed ball Avith whatever labor organization Avas in poAver.
rhen, Avhcn the ISU came along, he managed to move in as
le attorney for that outfit. When he foresaAV that the ISU
|as going to fold, he took steps to protect himself, and
ligned himself Avith the CIO Refinery Workers' Union. At
le start of the '36'37 strike, the real rank and filers Avanted
|thing to do with Mandell, and did, in fact, openly refer to
as being "phoney". However, he nevertheless managed
Imuscle in. It is doubt'ess thatthere are better, and abler
lorneys than Mandell in tlie Gulf, but as far as the com
psars are concerned he is tops. 'Nuf sed! Oh Avell,—praise
such as Curran is^to be very lightly .regarded, as it is
Ictically tantamount to condemnation in the eyes of others!
^Curran states that Jack "Rasputin" LftAvrenson, Moc:
me and otl^rs were "practically driAren out of the leader
Bp of the organization through crooked election." At this
SHIPPING REP8RTE0
FAIR IN mum.
Keen Interest Shown
In Nominations
NO PHONEY BEEFS
Baltimorei Md,. Oct. 3 Ship
ping continues to maintain a
.steady average out of thi.s port,
with the return of the Buil Line's
Eiizafieth, Heien, and Marjory to
service heiping out considerabiy.
The SUP also participated in the
pickup Avith the a.ssigulng of a
fuii crew to the Honoiuiuan,
However, an air of uncertainty
on the part of tiie shipowners Is
noticeable these days, particular
ly in the Intercoastal and Off
shore Lines, with the former still
wary as to the situation on the
Coast, and the latter getting grey
hairs over the pro.spect of the
new "Cash and. Carry" neutrality
Bill which provides that all car
goes to belligerents must be car
ried in foreign flag ships. The
shipowners are making a strong
protest to Washington, pointing
out that if the new neutrality
law is adopted as it now stands,
tAvothii'ds of American shipping
will be taken frorh the seas, with
an estimated loss, to the business
of 250 million dollars. Ordinarily,
such a bill would have no hope
of getting anyAVhoi'e, but with
pui)iic opinion so aroused ovei
the entire neutrality question,
anything is likely to happen.
.Sliips Chartered
A "bareboat" charter of the
sixteen ships comprising the
fleets of the Oriole, American
Hampton Roads, and American
France Lines has been aAvarded
to the United States Lines by
Maritime Commission, and it has
been announced that the ships
Avill base out of this port. The
fleet consists of the: Capiilo, Sa
tartia, Schodack, Coilamer, Arti
gas, Capuiiii, Cold Harbor, City
of Flint, Independence Hail, Le
high, Liberty, McKeesport,. Qua
ker City, Sarcoxle, Pipestone
County, and Vincent.
Keen Interest Sliown
Nominations for officers, which
began a couple of meetings ago,
were concluded here Monday
night, with a goodly list of can
didates running for the variou,s
offices. The number of members
nominated, and the keen interest
shown by the average member in
this important matter is a good
sign, and indicates that the demo
cratic setup of the SIU is Aveil
founded and eliminates the possi
bility of any hophead with Ciji'
ransky ambitions ever being able
to take over. When you find an
NOTICE
ROA' DUGAN (A.B.), for
merly employed on the SS Ro
bin Goodfeliow, kindly com
municate with Frederick R.
Graves, 44 Whitehall Street,
New York City, regarding an
accident to OTTO WAN'NE
(A.B.) on or about Dec. 1,
1938 in the port of IVfomhasa,
East Africa.
organization free from the petty
larceny cliques so prevalent in
some of the labor organizations
of today, you've found an organ
ization that is on its way to the
top.
Organizing Progresses
The business of getting our
men on dualunion and company
union ships is going ahead at a
good pace down here, and with
in a couple of months we hope
to have slipped enougii men
aboard one Line to take it over
completely. The men wangled in
on these jobs are not "key" men
hut are shipped in strict accord
ance Avlth the shipping rules
through the Hall, and it says a
lot for the membership that
every man shipped is proving
himself a Avorker for the SIU,
and producing good results in the
way of getting other members
aboard. There's more than one
way of killing a cat, and if
thumping your fist on the big
shot's de.sk or calling a strike
doesn't get you anywhere;, then,
what the hell; try something
else. It's results that count in
this man's world. When you run
into a Lough bird, be tough right
back at him, but if he's using the
old oil. steal his thunder and be
slicker.^nd oilier than he is. It's
the only way you can win. The
nut who doesn't know how to
fight except with a club In his
hand never gels anywhere ex
cept, perhaps, the cemetery.
No More Plioney Beef.s
Beefs, like Tennyson's brook,
go on forevei", but there are beefs
and there are beefs, and we note
that nine out of every ten that
comes up these days are of the
legitimate type and not the pho
ney, personal grudge type that
plagued the organization during
its first year, and gave everyone
concerned a lot of trouble. It's
a good sign showing that the old
timers who took it on the chin
during the years Aviieii there was
nothing on this coast to choose
from, but the dictatorial N'MU,
and still phonier Indepenilents
and nthcr successors to the ISU,
are getting their morale hack
and Avith good leadership are
ready to go to town for the SIU
and the spirit of American Union
ism that it stands for.
Commissars Ruin NMU
With Phoney Tactics
Houston, Texas, Oct. 9 — For
years the militant seamen in the
Gulf have fought to better wages
and conditions. The wohhlies
struck the ships in '34, and suc
ceeded in raising Avages and kill
ing Lykes Bros., hiackhaii sys
tem. The ISU reorganized and
gained job control and then went
phoney AAith a bang! A phoney
agreement, signed by Grange &
Co., in 1936 resulted in the 1936
37 strike. '
AntiCoiumie.s Ousted
.^During the strike, and for sev
eral months after, the comrats
preached, "Stay within the ISU
at any cost," even though they
herded finks all during the strike,'
AVhen the commissars found out,
that there Avas no pie in the ISU
for them, they founded the NMLL
The majority of the militants
joined, and, for awhile, really
Avent to tOAvn gaining better con
ditions. Anticommy officials
Avere elected ail over the Gulf,
who fought for conditions until
Curran & Co., expelled them, and
appointed his own stooges, who
are UOAV in office.
Since the commies have con
trolled the policy of the Gulf;
there have been no beefs settled
in favor of the seamen. Curran's
stooges made a deal Avith Lykes
Bro.s, to get passes for the com
mie olficiais. As a result of this
deal, the watertenders were
taken off the I^ykes ships. .
Finds SIU Militant
When this happened, I made up
my mind to inve.stigate the
claims of tlie Seafarers' and find
out if they Avere really fighting
to improve condition.s. When I
was satisfied that they are advo
cating direct action, and hacked
up all creAv demands, I made ap
plication for an SIU book. All
the sea;men Avho knoAv me, can
take my Avord that the Seafarers'
are noAv gaining better conditions
than the NMU have. The boys
Avho are skeptical of this claim
should come around to the Hall,
and investigate.
Fraternally,
R. Blackie Vaughan
SUP Takes Action
late date, wdiy i.s lie squaAvkiiig about any crooked election?
HOAV in Hell did those characters ever"manage to get in
office in the first place?
NMU OPEN SHOP AGREEMENTS
It is hardly necessary to state that lie number four is
Joe's statement that: "The next great attack is going to he
an attempt by the operators and the SIU to spread Company
Union wherever they may be able." What irony, for the
likes of Curran to deliberately insinuate that the SIU is in
the same category as a Company Union! Do the SIU agree
ments look like those a.company union Avould sign? Does the
SIU have any openshop agreements? The answer to both
of those questions. i.s an emphatic NO! On the other hand,
take a look at your NMU agreements, Avith their open shop
and preferential clauses, and with their no overtime on coast
wise ships!
COMMISSARS FEAR SIU
Finally, the great (?) wouldhe deliverer of the seamen
comes out ivith this: "I think that tve should agree that there
is no room on this Coast or on any other Coast in the United
States for such an organization as the SIU!" This statement
AvaSj of course, greeted by loud applause from .the assembled
commies and their stooges. IT IS NO SECRET THAT THE
COMMISSARS FEAR THE SIU,—AND WE PREDICT
THAT IT WILL BE ON THIS COAST AND OTHER
COASTS WHEN THE COMRATS ARE A LONG TIME
GONE!
Tactics of NMU
The foiioAving Resolution AA'RS
passed at the regular business,
meeting of the NeAV York Branch
of the Sailors' Union of the Pa,
cific, on October 9th:
"WHEREA.S: The commissar
leadership of the NMU, through
the medium of its official press,,
has seen fit to declare open war .
tare on the SUPSIU setup, and
"WHEREAS; This same leader
ship are dispatching 'organizers'
to the West Const in ^ desperate
effort to destroy the Unity and
morale of the SUP, and
"WHEREAS: This moA'e comes
at a time when oiir organization
is engaged in a vital struggle for
suitable contracts Avith the ship
OAvners, therefore,
"BE IT RESOLVED; That we,
the membership of the New York
Branch of the SUP do hereby go
on record condemning this split
ting tactic, and call on our oflfl
cia'ls to resist this move with all
available resources,"
(Signed) J. Delaney, No. 1838;
M. Weisberger, No. 2609; M. J,
Smith, No. 5260; M. Wurzweileri
No. 2483; L. Beckma?, No. 4094;
R. Witter, No. 2689; J. Maxwell^
No. 4847.
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THE S E A F A R E RS * LOG
' •
Friday, Oct. 20, 1939
ACADIA BEEF
(Continued from Page J)
the International Seamen's Union.
The International Seamen's Union
mentioned is undoubtedly the in
dependent outfit headed by the
phoney scabherder, Reynolds.
The papers designated it as an
AFL affiliate, but they were in
error on this score. Apparently,
the NMU commissars, in their
desperate efforts to please the
shipowners and the Maritime
Commission, rounded up all sorts
of finks to sail the ships for the
lousy twentyfive percent bonus
offered by the shipowners.
Now, after all their trouble to
please the Maritime Commission,
they are to be subjected to an in
vestigation by this selfsame gov
• ernment agency because of the
complaints of inefficient, service,
insolence, and conditions amount
ing almost to mutiny.
Trouble Predicted
When this ship sailed for Eu
rope on September 23, it was pre
dicted that there would be trou
ble aboard her, and it is doubtless
also true that the shipowners also
anticipated no little difficulty.
However, apparently NMU offi
cials, the U.S. Lines and the
Maritime Commission were not
sufficiently interested in the mat
ter to make d complete investi
gation of it BEFORE the vessel
ever sailed, thus avoiding all this
unnecessary trouble.
Worst Coiniilaiiif
The worst complaint registered,
to our way of thinking, was that
of William E. Tanning of Lenox,
Mass., who said: "The service was
simply terrible. Mothers with
small babies had the greatest dif
ficulty getting the proper food.
Some of them finally had to go to
the galley themselves to prepare
the babies' food. At first the
stewards tried to keep them out
of the galley, but they finally got
in."
This latest scandal is an out
standing example of the lack of
discipline in the NMU, and would
never have happened if the vessel
had been manned by members of
the Seafarers* International Un
There are never any com
DUSHANE REPORTS
(Continued from Page ])
the things promised aren't Imme
diately forthcoming, put up a
healthy squawk!
Reverse Decision
The meeting went on record to
rescind their previous action of
September ISth, when they re
fused to allow the crew of the
Arrow to transfer to the Meteor.
Immediately following this ac
tion, a motion was introduced,
and carried unanimously to allow
the crew of the Arrow to trans
fer to the Meteor temporarily.
This reversal of decision was
made because of the fact that
the longshoremen in Providence
were losing considerable work,
due to a lot of the excess freight
being hauled by truck.
Gunnison Reports
Brother Johnny Gunnison, ex
agent of the port of Miami, wa.s
present at the meeting, and was
asked to take the floor and give
an account of the recent P & O
strike. He explained to the mem
membership that the strike had
been deliberately sabotaged by
the NMU officials, through their
actions in supplying finks to the
.struck ships, and that the SIU
membership had called the strike
off themselves in an effort to
save some of the jobs. Ho stated
that although, on the surface, the
strike is lost, that it can_ still be
won, and suggested tllat the
members who can do so go down
to Florida and hang around on
the beach .and try^to ship on
these ships, and break up the
phoney independent union.
Qualifications Coinmitteo
COMRATS
(Continued from Page 1)
We hung the finkbook around
the seamens' necks on this coast,
and by working with the Govern
ment, we had John Seaman just
where we wanted him; but that
damn SUP stood pat, and fought
this issue to a standstill. The
outcome of this was that we had
to turn our pretty books in for a
Certificate! Next, we backed thb
Maritime Commission and the
Training Ship program, but due
to the SUP, we failed to get them
established on the West Coast,
and if we don't watch out now,
the SIU will do away with them
on this Coast, and the first thing
• we know, they will have hiring
out of the Union Halls, on this
Coast, for the Maritime Commis
sion ships!
"Comrats, if this comes to
pass, we will have to go back to
our buttonhole making and pants
pressing, and what is Stalin, that
Nazi man, going to think when he
finds out that we couldn't keep
the poor, dumb seamen fighting
among themselves?"
R. A. Reddle, SUP 2023
CONSTITUTION ADOPTED BY
LARGE MAJORITY VOTE
I ^
Vote Also Favors Organizational
And Strike Assessment
HOSPITAL ASSESSMENT ALSO
INCLUDED IN CONSTITUTION
New York, Oct. 17—Announcement of the results of the
voting on the proposed Constitution of the Seafarers' Inter
national Union was made at Headquarters meeting of Octo
ber 9th. The complete results of the four ballot referendum
were as follows:
ion.
plaints of this sort while the Aca
dia is employed in her usual run.
AGREEMENT
(Continued from Page J)
fled to sit around on their fannies
and allow the shipowners plenty
of stalling time, SlU officials are
busily engaged in successfully
negotiating bona fide closed .shop
agreements. As a matter of fact
the boys around Twentythird
Street are offering better than
even money that the commisssars
will lose out on the hiring hall
issue in the American Merchant
Marine Institute. They label it
"Just another sellout."
Let Tiiem Equal It!
But for the lack of space, we
would print the Cuba Distilling
Co. agreement in its entirety; but
we'll let it speak for itself. Fur
to even equal this new agreement,
thermore, we defy the commissars
—let alone surpass it! In their
greed, avidity. eagerness to
enact the will of Moscow, they
have apparently conveniently for
gotten the reason for the rank
and file secession from the old
ISU. Such actions will eventually
lead to theirown complete undo
ing.
Curran's Hopes Blasted
And,—by the way,—we don't
like to gloat, but we note with a
certain degree of satisfaction that
"PourBitJoe's" aspirations to be
a CIO vicepresident received a
rude setback at the recent con
vention in San Francisco. Appar
ently his name'had a bit too
n\jUcYi of a reddish tinge for John
L; Lewis. Now we hear that Cur
r^h has asked to be allowed to ap
pear before the Dies Committee,
ffind that permission has been
Nomination.s were opened for
members of a committee to in
vestigate the qualifications of
members accepting nomination
for ofllce, and brothers Roscoe
McCarthy, Klippberg, Alexander,
Duroba and Mason were elected
to serve. Lopez and Dixon were
elected As alternates.
Before the Oath of Obligation
was administered, it was an
nounced that, as the new Consti
tution has been officially adopted,
only those who have been mem
bers of the Union for a period of
at least six months can be obli
gated. As a consequence, only
about a half dozen took the Oath
—proving that the great majority
have already been obligated.
S.S. Delplata
Montevideo, Peru, Sept. 17 —
SS Delplata arrived here today
from Santos. At Santos we dis
tributed "West Coast Sailors"
and "Seafarers' Logs" all over
town. Also visited tlje SS Del
mar, gave literature to crew, and
gave them news about New Or
leans, including P & O strike, and
Isthmian. They also gave "Red"
and Finn credit for activity.
Crew of SS Delplata.
NOTJCE
All men on ships calling
at Texas City or Galveston
are advised that when re
placements are needed, the
Houston Hall must he con
tacted. The phone number
is Woodcrest 60245. Jerry
Petro is the Agent in
charge, and Blackie Vau
ghan is the Patrolman.
Your cooperation is re
quested in this matter, in
order that all confusion
may be successfully
avoided.
granted. We hope that the Com
mittee doesn't ask Joe too many
embarassing questions!
We'd like to say again that we
defy the NMU commissars to ne
gotiate an agreement on a par
with the Cuba Distilling Co. con
tract. Ten will get you twenty
that they can't do it!
Copies of the new agreement
are now ready, and will be placed
aboard the ships as soon as pos
sible.
Notice:
Ships' Delegates: Demand
that all replacements produce
a properly filled cut assign
mentcard from the Dispatcher
at the Union hall.
Improvements On
Range Line Ships
Houston, Texas,
Oct. 9, 1939.
Editor, Seafarers' Log:
The brothers aboard the Amer
ican Range Line ship Marsodak
are making great strides towards
the betterment of the members
working and living coiidiUons
aboard this ship. We have a very
capable ship's delegate, who has
the wholehearted support of the
entire crew, with all departments
backing him 100 percent in his
efforts to discliarge his duties as
delegate.
We have secured many benefits
in the last few months: new
linen, iceboxes, electric fans,
forecastle repainted, new lockers,
more milk, more and better
green vegetables and fruit, new
chlnaware, and the conditions
are 100 percent improved in the
last three months.
The steward aboard has given
hia "wholehearted cooperation in
all efforts to obtain all items on
demand, all overtime is paid
promptly, and no trouble, as past
member of this crew "for over
three months, 1 can vouch for
the present improvement in con
ditions.
It is a pleasure to sail with
your fellow members who try
and strive to better their condi
tions, and take a stand where
there is no backing down until
the gain is made in full. {Jnited
wo .stand, divided we fall, so let's
all stand together and pull, and
back our officials for all we are
worth, and make the Seafarers'
International Union the only real
HE MAN'S UNION!
J. M. Mason, Gulf No. 287
.......1,225
.....' 180
876
305
Four Watches?
Philadelphia, Oct. 14 — Appar
ently there is nothing being said
or done in regards to cutting the
hours of seamen. 'J'his month, all
shore industries will be cut to 42
hours a week; but the politicians,
and even our own membership,
seem to pass up this most impor
tant issue.
The shipowners are building
newer and faster ships. The ca
pascity for cargo in these ships
is by far much greater than the
average ship now sailing. Inci
dentally, these ships carry about
the same crew as the slower and
smaller ships. What are we do
ing about this threat to our ex
istence? It is high time that we
start the ball rolling in this di
rection; for, not only does it
threaten to displace lots of us off
the job, but It is a direct threat
to the existence of our Union.
In my opinion — rather than
wages being the major demand
at the present time — the ques
tion of four watches, and more
men on the jobs should be our
aim in the near future.
Fraternally yours for progress
with the SIU and SUP,
J. Flanagan, SIU No. 542
Constitution Ballot:
Yes
No
Constitutional Amendment:
Citizen
Eligible
Shipping Rules:
Yes 1,214
No 187
Assessment:
Yes ....1,036
No .. 355
^ As can be seen from the fore
going figures, acceptance of the
Constitution was carried by a
margin of practically seven to
one, as were also the shipping
rules. The question of a candi
date for office having to be a citi
zen, or be eligible for citlzensiiip,
was much closer, with the final
count in favor of full citizenship
being about two and onehalf to
one. The $5.00 strike and organ
izational fund assessment went
over to the tune of three to one,
Not "Streamlined"
The Constitution, as adopted,
is not at all of the "streamlined"
variety as advocated by the top
flight commissars of the NMU,
but rather, is a bona fide work
ing stiff's Constitution drawn'up
by seamen, and for the seamen.
It provides for a maximum of
democratic expression, and, of
course, follows closely along the
lines of the SUP Constitution,
and a better pattern could not
have been chosen.
Hospital Piiiid
Provided for also in the Con
.stitution Is an annual assessmen
of $2.00, for a hospital, burial anc^
shipwreck fund. Under the prof
visions of this, no member wb^f
has not ,gald his assessment will
be paid benefits while in the hos
pital. However, this assessment
will sot have to be paid immedi
ately, as it will be for the year
1940, but anyone who wishes to
pay it may do so, and it will be
credited to their account.
The $5.00 strike and organiza
tional assessment is collectible
immediately, as it is not on an
annual basis. Receipt books for
both of these assessments are at
present being printed, and the
Patrolmen will soon be carrying
them with them.
Fair Indication
The vote castwas not as large
as' was anticipated, but 4t was
still an exceedingly fair indica
tion of the wishes of the mem
bership at large. Many men on
ships could have voted did not
dp so, as they failed to take ad
vantage of the fact that they
could vote at the Halls any day
during the week if the crew off
a ship voted In a body. This ar
rangement proved satisfactory tq
the crews of several ships calling
at New \York, and quite a fev|
ballots wdre cast in this manner.
The Balloting Committee, com
posed of C. R. West, Wm. Ham
ilton, W. L. Mason, Chas. Doobin,
James Flynn and Wm. Hazlett
functioned very smoothly and
efficiently, and are deserving
credit for the workmanlike jo)|''
thety pei'formed.
NOTICE
Membership books for the
following men are being held
at New York Headquarters:
Milton Welner, A No. 4rDeck
M. BianchI, A No. 2319—Deck
Frank E, Harvie, A No. 2671—
Deck
Charles W. Johnson, A No.
3163—Deck
E. Rivera, A No. 2735—Eng.
L. Culafato, A No. 2401—Stwd.
Burgess W. Davis, A. No. 3356
—Stwd.
Erasmo C. Vega, A No. 4034—
Stwd.
C. F. Stouch,(»,A No. 4642
Stwd.
If the foregoing members
will write to Headquarters'
stating what Branch they wish
their book sent to, It will he
forwarded to the Agent of that
particular Branch. MeriTbers
wishing their hooks to he sent
to a pri'v'ate address 'will be
requested to give a description
of themselves.
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IN
UNITY
7he Seafarers' Log
Seafarers' International Union of North America
OfficialOrgan oftheAtlantk:,Gulf and Great Lakes Seamen
BROTHERHOOD
OF THE
SEA
VOL. I NEW YORK, N. Y„ FRIDAY, OCT. 20, 1939 446 NO. 20
NiMU RAISES HELL ON SS ACADIA
Matthew '' Duke'' Dushane, SIU Atlantic Dist. Chairman,
and Joseph P. Ryan, ILA President, at AFL
Convention in Cincinnati.
DUSHANE REPORTS PROGRESS
AT A. F. OF L. CONVENTION
Further Cooperation Pledged By
Ryan ̂ |nd Bradley of ILA
WINGATE RUNS AFOUL OF LAW
RACKETEERS MUST BE
ELIMINATED FROM
SEAMENS' UNIONS
SS Seatraia
N'ew Oiieans,
Havana, Cuba.
Oct. 19, 1939.
Editor, the "LOG";
All indications are that we
have the NMU on the defensive
which, logically enough, precede.s
defeat. Any organization must ei
ther go up or down—ahead or
astern—in ships' language. We
are going ahead, with the moral
justification that we are right,
and that we are going to estab
lish on a nationwide scale that
type, of maritime union which he
longs to the seamen who com
pose it, and reacts only to the
will of the members who alone
are the governing body.
We are on the aggressive be
cause we have no treachery, no
act, and no affiliations to defend.
The Seafarers' International Un
ion must continue to be formed
of progressive members of the
.'American Federation of Labor,
revolting bona fide seamen of the
degenerate National Maritime
Union, and the proven seamen
of the Pacific Coast, from which
elements the SIU was organized.
Eliminate Itacketeeis
There is only one program for
the SIU to fulfill, and that is the
complete elimination of every la
(Coittinncd on Page 2)
New Ycrk, Oct. 18—Last Monday night's Atlantic Dis
trict Hcadciuarters meeting got under way at 7:00 o'clotik
sharp with a large ;ind enthusiastic group of members in
attendance.
Emergency Board Dhairman "Duke"' Dushane. just re
turned from the AFL Convention in Cincinnati, reported on
what had taken place theie, and stated that the Convention
had gone on record to support the Seafarer.s' in every Avay
possible. He reported that President Harry Lundeborg had
been unable to atlend because of a little trouble on the West
Coast, but that he had submitted^
a written report of the progress
of the SIU to the AFL Executive
Council. "Duke" represented both
the Atlantic and Gulf Districts
for the SIU, and stated that the
organization had come in for
plenty of favorable c.oiiuueill. He
further reported that a spirit of
closer cooperation between the
SIU, the ILA, and the ILA Mar
ine Division was pi'omised by
ILA President Joe Ryan and Cap
tain Bill Bradioy of the Marine
Division. In the past year the
ILA has been of considerable as
sistance to the SIU, and it is
hoped that, with their complete
support, more ships will be or
ganized into the Seafarers'.
Wingate Caught
"Duke" stated that he had
stopped in at Baltimore on his
return from the Convention to
sign an ailldavit regarding the
check upon which Wingate, ex
Baltimore Dispatcher, had forged
his endorsement, and that the
money would be repaid to the
Union by the hank as soon as
the insurance company OK's pay
ment. It is reported that Win
gate. alias Mingate, is somewhere
in Kansas in the toils of the law,
having run afoul of them when
he attempted to sell a stolen car
he had taken with him when he
left Baltimore.
The Quarterly Finance Commit
tee reported to the meeting that
they had found the books in per
fect order, and announced a gain
of 5i2 members over the previ
ous quarter. The Committee was
composed of L. P. Lewis, M.
Whitehurst, Frank Deyo, Wm.
Hamilton and Roscoe McCarthy.
Howard Beiui, of the Investi
gating Committee, elected at the
previous meeting, reported that
all of the beefs on the SS Cor
ni.sh had been straightened out,
but cautioned the members as
follows; "He seemed very sin
cere about it all, but don't take
any stock in what he says until
you see the results with your
own eyes." In other words, if
(Continued on Page 4) ,
Comrats in A Dither
OverSIUSUPConihlnt
Philadelphia, Oct. 14—Looks as
if the progressive action of the
SIU is too militant for the com
mies in the NMU. In other words,
it is too much on the order of the
SUP, so the CommyI0 said to
the Nazi0, "Look here, comrats,
this will never do, we have used
every trick in our bag for the
past five years, trying to rule or
ruin the SUP. Now we have an
SUP, in our own backyard, by the
name of the SIU; so rally round,
you Unionwrecking comrats, and
let's split this combine before we
lose our pie. How in the Hell
can we sell out for phoney agree
ments and two bit war bonus
with a militant union in the
field? Why, at the rate this SIU
is going, it won't be I^g before
the few duespaying members
that we have left gets wise—and
then where the Hell will we be?
Why, it might get so bad that
our misguided mpmbers will be
come enlightened and walk off
the Fink training ships, and re
fuse to ship out of the Fink Com
mi,''sion halls! If that comes to
pass, where the Hell are we go
ing to get our finks from to fink
on our rank and file when they
go on strike? So fellow comrats,
the SIU and the SUP combine
must be split up if we are going
to keep a split in Labor, and if
we can't keep a split in Labor,
goodbye commienazi.
"Let's take a look at the past;
(Continued on Page 4)
PASSENGERS CGMPLAIN OF
INSOLENCE OF NMU CREW
Commissars in Their Anxiety to Fink
Ship Many NonSeamen
OFFICERS THREATENED
New York, Oct. 20—The Eastern Steamship liner Acadia,
under charter to the U.S. Lines, arrived in New York last
night after what passengers described as an exceedingly hec-
tic trip across the Atlantic. Not only was the weather bad,
but also the crew, particularly the members of the steward's
department.
The Acadia carried 520 refugees from Europe, 482 of
whom were American citizens fleeting from the dangers of
war. The ship was caught in the same storm that battered
the SS President Harding, but the passengers didn't complain
about the storm, and were volu^
hie in their protests against the i ,i decent war bonus, and war risk
service, and insolence of the
crew.
One passenger stated; "Some
times when the head stewards
would issue orders to stewards,
union delegates would tell the
stewards they didn't have to exe
cute the orders." Another com
plained that "The service was
desperate. Th6 stewards refused i
to clean up and were very inso
lent."
Ofliccrs Threatened
One officer claimed that he and
se eral other officers were threat
ened when they tried to maintain
discipline, and he added that, for
the first three days, the ship was
not even properly cleaned. An
o'ther officer said that even Capt.
Alien was addressed in abusive
language, but the Captain denied
it
It will be remembered that SIU
members refused to sail the Aca
dlsi. unless they were guaranteed
insurance, and the ships were
manned by men shipped out of
the NMU hall, making them, as
far as the SIU is concerned, finks.
XonSeainen in Crew
According to reports in the lo
cal press, the Acadia carried 136
stewards, of whom 67 were col
ored men who had never been to
sea before,—which is a clear in
dication of to what lengths the
NMU officials went to get their
membership to scab on the Sea
farers' International Union. It is
stated that a NMU delegate ad
mitted that many inexperienced
Negroes had to be hired when the
ship left New York, as they could
not. get enough of their own mem
bers to fink.
All .Sorts of Finks
The stories in the local papers
state that much of the trouble
was due to conflict of opinions be
tween members of the NMU and
(Continued on Page 4)
New Agreement Negotiated
With Cuba Distilling Co.
New Closed Shop Contract Blocks
' Commies' Plans to Take Over
4
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CLRRAN'S HOPES GET JOLT
*Ncw York, Oct, 19—Throwing the lie in the face of the
announceinent by the NMIJ top flight commissars that they
were going to take over the Cuba Distilling ships, the SIU
e'arly this tveek concluded negotiations on the terms of a new
agreement, and it is now signed, sealed and delivered.
The new contract embodies, of course, an airtight closed
shop clause, and hhing through the Ilall; Provision is also
made for paid vacatioms, and the questjefh of overtime.,is not
neglected. A raise in wages is included'in the new agreement, "
and the matter of coffeetime is well provided for.
Uoiiiniissars Foiled
So,if the commissars had any i SIU members, and are just
ideas about taking over these
ships, they may as well stow
them away in the moth balls,—
at least until September 30th,
1940 rolls around as the new
agreement does not terminate
until that date. As a matter of
fact, "FourBitJoe" and the rest
of the top fraction of the NMU
know that they have nothing to
putting up a big bluff. Perhaps, if
they weren't so busily occupied
in following out the orders and
policies of the Communist Party,
they might really accomplish
something beneficial for their
membership.
SIU Getting Results
While NMU officials seem satis
(Continued on Page 4)
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http://www.pdfcompressor.org/buy.html
Friday, Oct. 20, 1939
Published by the
Seafarers' Internatioaal Union
of North America
Affiliated with the American Federation of Labor
HARRY LUNDEBERG, Acting Presldeiit
110 Market Street, Room 402, San Francisco, Calif.
, Atlantic District
HEADQUARTERS
New York (Phone: BOwling Green 93437) 2 Stone Street
BRANCHES
Boston 333 Atlantic Avenue
Providence 465 So. Main Street
Philadelphia 5 Nortli 6th Street
Baltimore 14 North Gay Street
Norfolk 60 Commercial Place
San Juan, Puerto Rico ....8 Govadonga Street
Gulf District
' HEADQUARTERS
New Orleans ..309 Chartres Street
BRAl^GHSS
Savannah 218 East Bay Street
JacksonTllIe 13« Bay Street
Miami 809 N. E. First Avenue
Tampa 206 Franklin Street
Mobile 55 So. Conception Street
Houston 1712 75th Street
Great Lakes District
HEADQUARTERS
Detroit 1038 Third Street
AQDRESS ALL CORRESPONDENCE CONCERNING THIS
PUBLICATION TO:
"THE SEAFARERS' LOG"
P. O. Box 522, Church St. Annex, New York, N. Y.
It
ilk
EDITORIAL
AVith the election of officers just around the corner,—
starting on November 1st, to be exact,—it behooves all of tis
to really awaken to the fact that the election is something
of utmost importance to tlie entire'membership, and is not
to be taken too lightly. AVitii thi.s thouglit in mind, let's all
take a careful look at the list of candidates for office, and
pick out the men we believe are best fitted to represent us
during the coming year.
Above and beyond the qualifieations of having three
year's discharges, and of being a citizen of the U.S., we must
also look for other e.xtreimdy necessary attributes in the men
for whom we inteiid to vote. They mu.st be capable,—both
mentally and physically; they must be fearless, militant,
Iionest, atid not afraid of plenty of hard Avork!
AViien picking the candidate for Avhom you ijitend to cast
your vote, ask yourself these questions: Is he sufficiently in
telligent?—Is he hone.st?:—Is he a hard worker?—Can he
take it, as Avell as hand it out ?—Does he fully understand
the needs of .seamen?—Is he ready and willing to go to bat
for us?—Is fie a Communist?—And, last but not least;—What
is Ills past record ;
' HONESTY MANDATORY
Race, color, qr creed .should not be any bar against any
nomijiee,, and neither .should age, nor the lack of it! Just
because a man is young, it does not necessarily follow that he
is not Avise in the ways of Union adtiiinislralion; and, cou
A'crsely, neither does it hold true if he is AA^ell along in years.
Neither youth nor age necessarily precludes the fact that a
man may be ca])able, and well qualified. The chief qualifica
tion is'HONESTY! If you don't elect honest officers, you
are sticking your chin right out, and inviting the old ISU,
with its Gus Brown, Dave Grange, et all Nor do we want
it to become controlled by Communists, as is the NMU! Let's
keep it as it is,—an honest, progressive seamen's Union, run
by seamen, for seamen I
Some time hgo Ave Avrote an editorial in whicli we stated
that this election is not to be regarded as a popularity con
' tAst, and AA'C wish to reiterate that it mu.st NOT be alloAved
to turn into anything of the sort. Voting for any man just
because he happens to be a personal friend of yours is nof
, going to help you personally. However, if we were all to
fivtU take the attitude that *ve Avere looking out for our personal m
w
m
m/
welfare, the organization would soon fall apart,
nu
Our ulti
xai* LVi/lftlirirbe the most good for the greatest number.
OUARm AGAINST COMMIES
That the Red inenace in the seamen's labor moA'ement is
not a mere figment of the imagination, Ave Avell knoAV from
the situation which at present obtains in the NMU. Conse
quently, Ave mu.st bh completely on our guard to see that the
Conimy.s.ate not given uny opportunity to gain control of
H^^he SIU. We do not have any personal feelings regarding
the political beliefs of the Communists, except that AVC do
^I'lknow that they are not intere.sted in the seamen as seamen,
ratheri S a ineans. to an end. The Commys regard the
^fejseameu iuei'clyais tools with which to further their own nefa
RACKETEERS
{Continued from Page 1)
bor racketeer, and such treach
erous organizations as the Com
munist pollllcal machine, from
the Held of maritime labor—lock,
stock and barrel. ThUs unham
pered and unhandicapped, we
shall be able to concentrate our
entire energies to the task of in
suring for MEN, ON THE SHIPS
AT SEA, that worldfamous
American Standard t>f Living,; a
life worth living, and the tradi
tional home for seamen and their
dependents Avhlch have never
been realized beyond the dream
stage. Not until this has been ac
complished, entirely and unre
servedly, can there be peace and
contentment in maritimo labor,
or a stable marine transport in
dustry. There Avill be no end.'of
pieseiit chaotic conditions of
shipping until this has been re
alized.
NMU MhSsed Opportunity
The socalled National Marl
time Union deliberately failed to
take advantage of the golden op
portunity during the first year of
its existence, and at strategic
times since, to establish, those
conditions seamen want, and are
determined to haA'c. The NMU
neglected to secure any agree
ment whatever until progressive
seamen realized the futility of
securing any action by the Na
tional Maritime Union, and or
ganized to form the Seafarers'
International Union. Then, and
only then did the National Mari
time Union, dominated by Gom
niiinlst ofHclals, hasten to ohlain
an agreement AT ANY PRICE,
from the shipowners for the pur
pose of retaining control of as
many ships as possible, and re
sulting dues and assessments.
The National Maritime Union
agreement, then signed, was de
cidedely inferior to the condi
tions which the rank and file
themselves had established on
the ships. WHY? The Communist
Party, dominating the National
Maritime Union, has consistent
ly misled the membership,
spreading false hopes which have
never gone beyond the paper
stage. They have agitated for
conditions which they never in
tended to gain, but have offered
excuse after excuse, and passed
the buck time and again. WHY ?
Coiniiiy's Program
To get to the bottom of the
subject, the Comnmiii.st political
machine, for the benefit of top
ranking officialis Avho compose
the socalled top fraction, and
not for the benefit of the blind,
fanatic, gullible, and therefore,
rubberstamp yesuieu, who form
the rank and file of the parly,
and certainly not for the benefit
of seamen Avho go to sea for a
life occupation, t h f i v e s and
grows on false promises, pover
ty, misery and confusion of sea
men and Labor in general. The
more discontent and misery, the
better the outliook for the Party.
Therefore, it must be understood
that the Communist Party lead
ership, for the preservation of its
particular racket, must do all in
its power to prevent any sub
stantial improvement in the con
ditions Of seamen or other labor,
for the vei^ reason that once the
worker secured satisfactory con
ditions and a contented life, he
BALTIMORE BRANCH GETS
STRANGE CALL FOR MEN
Members Warned Against Commies
Sneaking Into Organization
NEW SHIPS UNDER WAY
Baltimore, Md., October 13, 1939—Everything pretty
much as usual down here with the exception that we are
getting calls from some very strange places these days. One
of the calls was from Mooremac who very graciously an
nounced that they we.nted to ship some of our men on their
ships. Of course they had an agreement Avith NMU, etc., etc.,
etc.; but that would be all right as our men could clear
themseh'^es thrbugh the NMU Hall for the jobs. Naturally
enough this touching generosity caused our dispatcher to
burst into tears, but after controlling himself long enough to
elect a special Aveeplng commit.^ ^
tee for the purpose of soliciting
enough handkerchiefs so that the
entire SIU membership
have a good cry over the sad
plight of the Mooremac Line; he
went back to the phone and told
the Company official that the men
Avere so broken up over the sad,
sad story they weie unable to
ship and therefore he recommend
ed tluit they get in touch Avlth
Hoffman's Island where the NMU
trains the "Fink ' Reserves" and
maybe he could get enough pants
pressers from there to sail the
ship.
llt'a.scm for Shortage
Going a little deeper into the
matter, we find that due to ship
ping finks on their oAvn struch
shipSi and those of the SIU when
they demanded adequate Avar
bonuses; the r*JMU is short of
men and unable to make replace
ments. The NMU have many
reasons and alibis for not having
men, but the real reason is, of
course, thatduring the last six
would not be interested in false
revolutionary ways out, calculat
ed to eventually make him a
slave of a dictatorship. The PaMy
would promptly lose its support
on the basis of its theories, and
consequently, its source of easy
money and graft Avhith its offici
als now enjoy.
The Communist Party prefers
to disguise the truth of its ac
tions, and its real purpose, from
all except the top fraction, by
means of skillful propaganda.
Phoney Organizers
We, therefore, come to the fi
nal conclusion that we must
build and maintain 'our Union as
an organization which is com
posed of seamen alone, for the
benefit of men actively employed
on ships, and not flybynight or
ganizers who know nqthing of
the praeUcal problems of sea
men. but who are educated in
foreign isms and highpressure
salesmanship, for the purpose of
injecting themselves into the La
bor movement to establish a
source of easy money, and a life
of leisure for a group of bureau
cratic parasites, at the expense
of the men who work for a liv
ing.
F'raternally yours,
Waldo Gripe, No. 112,
Deck Delegate,
SS Seatrain
NCAV Orleans.
months they .have lost more than
tAvothirds of their membership
could and are due to lose the feY' they
have left before the end of thft
year. We hear rumors of another
NMU assessment coming up
shortly, and understand this lat
est grab is to be called a "Going
Away" assessment. Looks like
they've found a good name for an
assessment at last. As to Ayho is
"Going Away" we'll have to take
John L. Lewis' Avord that the
Commienazls are going away
from the CIO and going away
fast.
Warning to Menil)ers
As a word of warning to all
members, remember that on or
ders from Moscow the Party Line
in the U.S. is now "Get back into
the A. F. of L." In line with that
you'll note the various peace ges
tures that have been tendered
the A. F. of L. organizations.late
ly. The membership of our sis
ter organization, the CTU radio
men, are being bombarded Avith
peace letters, and "let's get to
gether" epistles from the Comie
nazi controlled ACA, and just, the
other day all waterfront organ
izations in this port, except the
SIU and the CTU, received an in
vitation to join a nonpartisan
marine council. It'.s the same old
stunt that was back of the now
defunct West Coast "Federation,"
Get everybody together because
they are easier handled that way,
then the Party leaders jump for
control. The fact that neither
McKay of the SIU, or McDonald
of the CTU, got a bid to repre
sent their organizations at the
socalled nonpartisan council,
brands the move as Commienazi
inspired, since the ability of
these, gentlemen to smell a Cont
mienazi a mile away, even if he
Avas drenched in South Broadway
foofoo at a dollar an ounce, is
well knoAvn, and they'd be sura
to throw the Avell known monkey
wrench into the AVCII known ma
chinery.
rious plan to cqntrpl transportation in the United States. Be
fore you vote for any man running for office, fie sure—afiove
all things—that he is not a Communist!
NOW:—THDfK CAREFULLY—LOOK BEFORE YOU
LEAP—VOTE FOR THE RIGHT MEN! DON'T BE
FOOLED NOR MISLED BY ANY ELECTIONEERING
PROPAGANDA! DON'TJORGET THAT WE CAN NOT
AFFORD TO MAKE A BACKWARD STEP—WE MUST
GO FORWARD—EVER PROGRESSING! DON'T ALLOW
ANY PHONIES OR PIE CARDS TO RULE THE RES
TINIES OF THE S E A P A R E R S ' INTERNATIONAL
UNION!
VOTE CAREFULLYAND RIGHT!
ft. ©Ill
S? LAW "
New Ships
Workon the three ships being
built at the Sparrows Point yards
of the Bethlehem Steel Company
for the Seas Shipping Company
Avas begun recently. The neAV
ships are of 15,200 tons displace
ment, 485 foot over all and have
a speed of fifteen and a hall
knots. The building of these
ships is in line with the Mari
time Commission's rehabilitation
program, which calls for the
building of 137 ships at a cost of
$350,'000,000. The Commission Is
well ahead of its original pro
grain of fifty ships a year fo4 ten
years. So far, twentytwo vessels
have been launched and it is ex
pected that fifteen to twenty
more will be smacked on the'
snoot with a bottle of Shipown
er's champagne (hicarbonateot
soda) before the end of the year.
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l^y. Oct. ̂ ,1939 THE SEAFARERS' LOG 3
CURRAN ATTEMPTS TO SMEAR
SiU WITH PHONEY LIES!
Commissars Unwanted by SIU, and
Gulf NMU Members Disgusted
SIU FEARED BY COMMISSARS
The higlily publicized closing remarks of Joe Curran, at
the recent NMU convention in New Orleans, are, as usual,
just another, and smellier rehash of the old well known hooey,
—to say nothing of a pack of damned lies!
Curran piously declares that the SIU Charter Avas granted
to Harry Lundeberg only on the condition that "within one
year's time he would deliver all the members of the NMU
back into the American Federation of That's lie
number one, and we defy "NoCoffeeTime" to prove it.
In the first place, the SIU does not want ALL the members
of the NMU,—nor does the AFL. There are certain elements
within the NMU who have no business whatsoever in the
seamen^ labor movement, nor in any other labor movement,
—and we most certainly do NOT want them within the ranks
of the SIU. We refer, of course, to the strong CP faction
which completely dominates the policy of the NMU. Not that
we have any political axes to grind, but we just can't see
'that the Stalinists are of any particular value to the Labor
movement, as we arc only too Avell acquainted Avith their aims.
NMU MEN SAILED TANKERS
Lie number tAvo: Spouts the Great (?) Joe: "The only
fiones they (SIU) have been able to organize so far . . ̂ are
|the three and four time losers, the men who make a practice
|of waiting for a strike "to occu^ so that they can carry on
itheir profession of scabbing on the rank and file. ..." Un
less Ave are A'cry sadly mistaken, and Ave're certain that we
iren't, the NMU is overloaded Avith AvhitcAvashed finks Avho
pailed the ships during the '36'37 strike, and Avcre taken into
the NMU after being assessed heavy fines. As for the gen
pral membership of the SIU being finks,—^we also defy Cur
j, who was never a union man until the comrats built him
ap, to prove that statement.' 'Ten Avili get you fifty that he
can't do it ! Furthermore, countle.ss NMU members sailed
fthe tankers during that recent socalled strike, and Ave have
'yet to hear of the commissars expelling one single member
|:for haA'ing done so I
GULP NMU DISGUSTED
Speaking further of the SIU, Curran says: "Of course
I there are some in there Avho are not scabs. There are some
1 who have been intimidated. There are others Avho have been
confused. And there are still some AVIIO have been driven
into the SIU by tactics that Avere applied here in the Gulf.'
That is lie number three! No member of tiie SIU has ever
[been forced into it against his oAvn Avill, nor have any been
[confused. But when Joe declares that some were driven into
l^the SIU on account of the tactics in the Gulf,—^he is abso^
[lutely right! The "rule or ruin" policy applied by the com
ssars in the Gulf District disgusted many rank and filers
thoroughly that they left the NMU, and joined a Union
which they knew that they would be assured of complete
iemocracy:—the SIU!
Joe then goes to great lengths to name tAventyfive or so
Irdent rank and filers who refused to go along with the
jhoney comic program in the Gulf District, many of Avhom
I'cre among those Avho were leaders in the rank and file move
lent Avhen it started in 1936. He calls these men "killers",
'Aveedheads';, and "dopefiends." It so happens that we
enow quite a fcAV of these men personally, and Ave knoAv that
|hey are not as he Avould like .to paint them.
MANDELL AN OPPORTUNIST _
Curran's praise of the NMU attorneys. Standard and
[andell ,also gives us a big laugh. There is no need, at this
[inie, to go into Standard's record, but regarding Mandell,
i^e'd like to say that he has ever been an opportunist. Be
fore the ISU firsf came into poAver i'l the Gulf, Mandell
flayed ball Avith whatever labor organization Avas in poAver.
rhen, Avhcn the ISU came along, he managed to move in as
le attorney for that outfit. When he foresaAV that the ISU
|as going to fold, he took steps to protect himself, and
ligned himself Avith the CIO Refinery Workers' Union. At
le start of the '36'37 strike, the real rank and filers Avanted
|thing to do with Mandell, and did, in fact, openly refer to
as being "phoney". However, he nevertheless managed
Imuscle in. It is doubt'ess thatthere are better, and abler
lorneys than Mandell in tlie Gulf, but as far as the com
psars are concerned he is tops. 'Nuf sed! Oh Avell,—praise
such as Curran is^to be very lightly .regarded, as it is
Ictically tantamount to condemnation in the eyes of others!
^Curran states that Jack "Rasputin" LftAvrenson, Moc:
me and otl^rs were "practically driAren out of the leader
Bp of the organization through crooked election." At this
SHIPPING REP8RTE0
FAIR IN mum.
Keen Interest Shown
In Nominations
NO PHONEY BEEFS
Baltimorei Md,. Oct. 3 Ship
ping continues to maintain a
.steady average out of thi.s port,
with the return of the Buil Line's
Eiizafieth, Heien, and Marjory to
service heiping out considerabiy.
The SUP also participated in the
pickup Avith the a.ssigulng of a
fuii crew to the Honoiuiuan,
However, an air of uncertainty
on the part of tiie shipowners Is
noticeable these days, particular
ly in the Intercoastal and Off
shore Lines, with the former still
wary as to the situation on the
Coast, and the latter getting grey
hairs over the pro.spect of the
new "Cash and. Carry" neutrality
Bill which provides that all car
goes to belligerents must be car
ried in foreign flag ships. The
shipowners are making a strong
protest to Washington, pointing
out that if the new neutrality
law is adopted as it now stands,
tAvothii'ds of American shipping
will be taken frorh the seas, with
an estimated loss, to the business
of 250 million dollars. Ordinarily,
such a bill would have no hope
of getting anyAVhoi'e, but with
pui)iic opinion so aroused ovei
the entire neutrality question,
anything is likely to happen.
.Sliips Chartered
A "bareboat" charter of the
sixteen ships comprising the
fleets of the Oriole, American
Hampton Roads, and American
France Lines has been aAvarded
to the United States Lines by
Maritime Commission, and it has
been announced that the ships
Avill base out of this port. The
fleet consists of the: Capiilo, Sa
tartia, Schodack, Coilamer, Arti
gas, Capuiiii, Cold Harbor, City
of Flint, Independence Hail, Le
high, Liberty, McKeesport,. Qua
ker City, Sarcoxle, Pipestone
County, and Vincent.
Keen Interest Sliown
Nominations for officers, which
began a couple of meetings ago,
were concluded here Monday
night, with a goodly list of can
didates running for the variou,s
offices. The number of members
nominated, and the keen interest
shown by the average member in
this important matter is a good
sign, and indicates that the demo
cratic setup of the SIU is Aveil
founded and eliminates the possi
bility of any hophead with Ciji'
ransky ambitions ever being able
to take over. When you find an
NOTICE
ROA' DUGAN (A.B.), for
merly employed on the SS Ro
bin Goodfeliow, kindly com
municate with Frederick R.
Graves, 44 Whitehall Street,
New York City, regarding an
accident to OTTO WAN'NE
(A.B.) on or about Dec. 1,
1938 in the port of IVfomhasa,
East Africa.
organization free from the petty
larceny cliques so prevalent in
some of the labor organizations
of today, you've found an organ
ization that is on its way to the
top.
Organizing Progresses
The business of getting our
men on dualunion and company
union ships is going ahead at a
good pace down here, and with
in a couple of months we hope
to have slipped enougii men
aboard one Line to take it over
completely. The men wangled in
on these jobs are not "key" men
hut are shipped in strict accord
ance Avlth the shipping rules
through the Hall, and it says a
lot for the membership that
every man shipped is proving
himself a Avorker for the SIU,
and producing good results in the
way of getting other members
aboard. There's more than one
way of killing a cat, and if
thumping your fist on the big
shot's de.sk or calling a strike
doesn't get you anywhere;, then,
what the hell; try something
else. It's results that count in
this man's world. When you run
into a Lough bird, be tough right
back at him, but if he's using the
old oil. steal his thunder and be
slicker.^nd oilier than he is. It's
the only way you can win. The
nut who doesn't know how to
fight except with a club In his
hand never gels anywhere ex
cept, perhaps, the cemetery.
No More Plioney Beef.s
Beefs, like Tennyson's brook,
go on forevei", but there are beefs
and there are beefs, and we note
that nine out of every ten that
comes up these days are of the
legitimate type and not the pho
ney, personal grudge type that
plagued the organization during
its first year, and gave everyone
concerned a lot of trouble. It's
a good sign showing that the old
timers who took it on the chin
during the years Aviieii there was
nothing on this coast to choose
from, but the dictatorial N'MU,
and still phonier Indepenilents
and nthcr successors to the ISU,
are getting their morale hack
and Avith good leadership are
ready to go to town for the SIU
and the spirit of American Union
ism that it stands for.
Commissars Ruin NMU
With Phoney Tactics
Houston, Texas, Oct. 9 — For
years the militant seamen in the
Gulf have fought to better wages
and conditions. The wohhlies
struck the ships in '34, and suc
ceeded in raising Avages and kill
ing Lykes Bros., hiackhaii sys
tem. The ISU reorganized and
gained job control and then went
phoney AAith a bang! A phoney
agreement, signed by Grange &
Co., in 1936 resulted in the 1936
37 strike. '
AntiCoiumie.s Ousted
.^During the strike, and for sev
eral months after, the comrats
preached, "Stay within the ISU
at any cost," even though they
herded finks all during the strike,'
AVhen the commissars found out,
that there Avas no pie in the ISU
for them, they founded the NMLL
The majority of the militants
joined, and, for awhile, really
Avent to tOAvn gaining better con
ditions. Anticommy officials
Avere elected ail over the Gulf,
who fought for conditions until
Curran & Co., expelled them, and
appointed his own stooges, who
are UOAV in office.
Since the commies have con
trolled the policy of the Gulf;
there have been no beefs settled
in favor of the seamen. Curran's
stooges made a deal Avith Lykes
Bro.s, to get passes for the com
mie olficiais. As a result of this
deal, the watertenders were
taken off the I^ykes ships. .
Finds SIU Militant
When this happened, I made up
my mind to inve.stigate the
claims of tlie Seafarers' and find
out if they Avere really fighting
to improve condition.s. When I
was satisfied that they are advo
cating direct action, and hacked
up all creAv demands, I made ap
plication for an SIU book. All
the sea;men Avho knoAv me, can
take my Avord that the Seafarers'
are noAv gaining better conditions
than the NMU have. The boys
Avho are skeptical of this claim
should come around to the Hall,
and investigate.
Fraternally,
R. Blackie Vaughan
SUP Takes Action
late date, wdiy i.s lie squaAvkiiig about any crooked election?
HOAV in Hell did those characters ever"manage to get in
office in the first place?
NMU OPEN SHOP AGREEMENTS
It is hardly necessary to state that lie number four is
Joe's statement that: "The next great attack is going to he
an attempt by the operators and the SIU to spread Company
Union wherever they may be able." What irony, for the
likes of Curran to deliberately insinuate that the SIU is in
the same category as a Company Union! Do the SIU agree
ments look like those a.company union Avould sign? Does the
SIU have any openshop agreements? The answer to both
of those questions. i.s an emphatic NO! On the other hand,
take a look at your NMU agreements, Avith their open shop
and preferential clauses, and with their no overtime on coast
wise ships!
COMMISSARS FEAR SIU
Finally, the great (?) wouldhe deliverer of the seamen
comes out ivith this: "I think that tve should agree that there
is no room on this Coast or on any other Coast in the United
States for such an organization as the SIU!" This statement
AvaSj of course, greeted by loud applause from .the assembled
commies and their stooges. IT IS NO SECRET THAT THE
COMMISSARS FEAR THE SIU,—AND WE PREDICT
THAT IT WILL BE ON THIS COAST AND OTHER
COASTS WHEN THE COMRATS ARE A LONG TIME
GONE!
Tactics of NMU
The foiioAving Resolution AA'RS
passed at the regular business,
meeting of the NeAV York Branch
of the Sailors' Union of the Pa,
cific, on October 9th:
"WHEREA.S: The commissar
leadership of the NMU, through
the medium of its official press,,
has seen fit to declare open war .
tare on the SUPSIU setup, and
"WHEREAS; This same leader
ship are dispatching 'organizers'
to the West Const in ^ desperate
effort to destroy the Unity and
morale of the SUP, and
"WHEREAS: This moA'e comes
at a time when oiir organization
is engaged in a vital struggle for
suitable contracts Avith the ship
OAvners, therefore,
"BE IT RESOLVED; That we,
the membership of the New York
Branch of the SUP do hereby go
on record condemning this split
ting tactic, and call on our oflfl
cia'ls to resist this move with all
available resources,"
(Signed) J. Delaney, No. 1838;
M. Weisberger, No. 2609; M. J,
Smith, No. 5260; M. Wurzweileri
No. 2483; L. Beckma?, No. 4094;
R. Witter, No. 2689; J. Maxwell^
No. 4847.
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THE S E A F A R E RS * LOG
' •
Friday, Oct. 20, 1939
ACADIA BEEF
(Continued from Page J)
the International Seamen's Union.
The International Seamen's Union
mentioned is undoubtedly the in
dependent outfit headed by the
phoney scabherder, Reynolds.
The papers designated it as an
AFL affiliate, but they were in
error on this score. Apparently,
the NMU commissars, in their
desperate efforts to please the
shipowners and the Maritime
Commission, rounded up all sorts
of finks to sail the ships for the
lousy twentyfive percent bonus
offered by the shipowners.
Now, after all their trouble to
please the Maritime Commission,
they are to be subjected to an in
vestigation by this selfsame gov
• ernment agency because of the
complaints of inefficient, service,
insolence, and conditions amount
ing almost to mutiny.
Trouble Predicted
When this ship sailed for Eu
rope on September 23, it was pre
dicted that there would be trou
ble aboard her, and it is doubtless
also true that the shipowners also
anticipated no little difficulty.
However, apparently NMU offi
cials, the U.S. Lines and the
Maritime Commission were not
sufficiently interested in the mat
ter to make d complete investi
gation of it BEFORE the vessel
ever sailed, thus avoiding all this
unnecessary trouble.
Worst Coiniilaiiif
The worst complaint registered,
to our way of thinking, was that
of William E. Tanning of Lenox,
Mass., who said: "The service was
simply terrible. Mothers with
small babies had the greatest dif
ficulty getting the proper food.
Some of them finally had to go to
the galley themselves to prepare
the babies' food. At first the
stewards tried to keep them out
of the galley, but they finally got
in."
This latest scandal is an out
standing example of the lack of
discipline in the NMU, and would
never have happened if the vessel
had been manned by members of
the Seafarers* International Un
There are never any com
DUSHANE REPORTS
(Continued from Page ])
the things promised aren't Imme
diately forthcoming, put up a
healthy squawk!
Reverse Decision
The meeting went on record to
rescind their previous action of
September ISth, when they re
fused to allow the crew of the
Arrow to transfer to the Meteor.
Immediately following this ac
tion, a motion was introduced,
and carried unanimously to allow
the crew of the Arrow to trans
fer to the Meteor temporarily.
This reversal of decision was
made because of the fact that
the longshoremen in Providence
were losing considerable work,
due to a lot of the excess freight
being hauled by truck.
Gunnison Reports
Brother Johnny Gunnison, ex
agent of the port of Miami, wa.s
present at the meeting, and was
asked to take the floor and give
an account of the recent P & O
strike. He explained to the mem
membership that the strike had
been deliberately sabotaged by
the NMU officials, through their
actions in supplying finks to the
.struck ships, and that the SIU
membership had called the strike
off themselves in an effort to
save some of the jobs. Ho stated
that although, on the surface, the
strike is lost, that it can_ still be
won, and suggested tllat the
members who can do so go down
to Florida and hang around on
the beach .and try^to ship on
these ships, and break up the
phoney independent union.
Qualifications Coinmitteo
COMRATS
(Continued from Page 1)
We hung the finkbook around
the seamens' necks on this coast,
and by working with the Govern
ment, we had John Seaman just
where we wanted him; but that
damn SUP stood pat, and fought
this issue to a standstill. The
outcome of this was that we had
to turn our pretty books in for a
Certificate! Next, we backed thb
Maritime Commission and the
Training Ship program, but due
to the SUP, we failed to get them
established on the West Coast,
and if we don't watch out now,
the SIU will do away with them
on this Coast, and the first thing
• we know, they will have hiring
out of the Union Halls, on this
Coast, for the Maritime Commis
sion ships!
"Comrats, if this comes to
pass, we will have to go back to
our buttonhole making and pants
pressing, and what is Stalin, that
Nazi man, going to think when he
finds out that we couldn't keep
the poor, dumb seamen fighting
among themselves?"
R. A. Reddle, SUP 2023
CONSTITUTION ADOPTED BY
LARGE MAJORITY VOTE
I ^
Vote Also Favors Organizational
And Strike Assessment
HOSPITAL ASSESSMENT ALSO
INCLUDED IN CONSTITUTION
New York, Oct. 17—Announcement of the results of the
voting on the proposed Constitution of the Seafarers' Inter
national Union was made at Headquarters meeting of Octo
ber 9th. The complete results of the four ballot referendum
were as follows:
ion.
plaints of this sort while the Aca
dia is employed in her usual run.
AGREEMENT
(Continued from Page J)
fled to sit around on their fannies
and allow the shipowners plenty
of stalling time, SlU officials are
busily engaged in successfully
negotiating bona fide closed .shop
agreements. As a matter of fact
the boys around Twentythird
Street are offering better than
even money that the commisssars
will lose out on the hiring hall
issue in the American Merchant
Marine Institute. They label it
"Just another sellout."
Let Tiiem Equal It!
But for the lack of space, we
would print the Cuba Distilling
Co. agreement in its entirety; but
we'll let it speak for itself. Fur
to even equal this new agreement,
thermore, we defy the commissars
—let alone surpass it! In their
greed, avidity. eagerness to
enact the will of Moscow, they
have apparently conveniently for
gotten the reason for the rank
and file secession from the old
ISU. Such actions will eventually
lead to theirown complete undo
ing.
Curran's Hopes Blasted
And,—by the way,—we don't
like to gloat, but we note with a
certain degree of satisfaction that
"PourBitJoe's" aspirations to be
a CIO vicepresident received a
rude setback at the recent con
vention in San Francisco. Appar
ently his name'had a bit too
n\jUcYi of a reddish tinge for John
L; Lewis. Now we hear that Cur
r^h has asked to be allowed to ap
pear before the Dies Committee,
ffind that permission has been
Nomination.s were opened for
members of a committee to in
vestigate the qualifications of
members accepting nomination
for ofllce, and brothers Roscoe
McCarthy, Klippberg, Alexander,
Duroba and Mason were elected
to serve. Lopez and Dixon were
elected As alternates.
Before the Oath of Obligation
was administered, it was an
nounced that, as the new Consti
tution has been officially adopted,
only those who have been mem
bers of the Union for a period of
at least six months can be obli
gated. As a consequence, only
about a half dozen took the Oath
—proving that the great majority
have already been obligated.
S.S. Delplata
Montevideo, Peru, Sept. 17 —
SS Delplata arrived here today
from Santos. At Santos we dis
tributed "West Coast Sailors"
and "Seafarers' Logs" all over
town. Also visited tlje SS Del
mar, gave literature to crew, and
gave them news about New Or
leans, including P & O strike, and
Isthmian. They also gave "Red"
and Finn credit for activity.
Crew of SS Delplata.
NOTJCE
All men on ships calling
at Texas City or Galveston
are advised that when re
placements are needed, the
Houston Hall must he con
tacted. The phone number
is Woodcrest 60245. Jerry
Petro is the Agent in
charge, and Blackie Vau
ghan is the Patrolman.
Your cooperation is re
quested in this matter, in
order that all confusion
may be successfully
avoided.
granted. We hope that the Com
mittee doesn't ask Joe too many
embarassing questions!
We'd like to say again that we
defy the NMU commissars to ne
gotiate an agreement on a par
with the Cuba Distilling Co. con
tract. Ten will get you twenty
that they can't do it!
Copies of the new agreement
are now ready, and will be placed
aboard the ships as soon as pos
sible.
Notice:
Ships' Delegates: Demand
that all replacements produce
a properly filled cut assign
mentcard from the Dispatcher
at the Union hall.
Improvements On
Range Line Ships
Houston, Texas,
Oct. 9, 1939.
Editor, Seafarers' Log:
The brothers aboard the Amer
ican Range Line ship Marsodak
are making great strides towards
the betterment of the members
working and living coiidiUons
aboard this ship. We have a very
capable ship's delegate, who has
the wholehearted support of the
entire crew, with all departments
backing him 100 percent in his
efforts to discliarge his duties as
delegate.
We have secured many benefits
in the last few months: new
linen, iceboxes, electric fans,
forecastle repainted, new lockers,
more milk, more and better
green vegetables and fruit, new
chlnaware, and the conditions
are 100 percent improved in the
last three months.
The steward aboard has given
hia "wholehearted cooperation in
all efforts to obtain all items on
demand, all overtime is paid
promptly, and no trouble, as past
member of this crew "for over
three months, 1 can vouch for
the present improvement in con
ditions.
It is a pleasure to sail with
your fellow members who try
and strive to better their condi
tions, and take a stand where
there is no backing down until
the gain is made in full. {Jnited
wo .stand, divided we fall, so let's
all stand together and pull, and
back our officials for all we are
worth, and make the Seafarers'
International Union the only real
HE MAN'S UNION!
J. M. Mason, Gulf No. 287
.......1,225
.....' 180
876
305
Four Watches?
Philadelphia, Oct. 14 — Appar
ently there is nothing being said
or done in regards to cutting the
hours of seamen. 'J'his month, all
shore industries will be cut to 42
hours a week; but the politicians,
and even our own membership,
seem to pass up this most impor
tant issue.
The shipowners are building
newer and faster ships. The ca
pascity for cargo in these ships
is by far much greater than the
average ship now sailing. Inci
dentally, these ships carry about
the same crew as the slower and
smaller ships. What are we do
ing about this threat to our ex
istence? It is high time that we
start the ball rolling in this di
rection; for, not only does it
threaten to displace lots of us off
the job, but It is a direct threat
to the existence of our Union.
In my opinion — rather than
wages being the major demand
at the present time — the ques
tion of four watches, and more
men on the jobs should be our
aim in the near future.
Fraternally yours for progress
with the SIU and SUP,
J. Flanagan, SIU No. 542
Constitution Ballot:
Yes
No
Constitutional Amendment:
Citizen
Eligible
Shipping Rules:
Yes 1,214
No 187
Assessment:
Yes ....1,036
No .. 355
^ As can be seen from the fore
going figures, acceptance of the
Constitution was carried by a
margin of practically seven to
one, as were also the shipping
rules. The question of a candi
date for office having to be a citi
zen, or be eligible for citlzensiiip,
was much closer, with the final
count in favor of full citizenship
being about two and onehalf to
one. The $5.00 strike and organ
izational fund assessment went
over to the tune of three to one,
Not "Streamlined"
The Constitution, as adopted,
is not at all of the "streamlined"
variety as advocated by the top
flight commissars of the NMU,
but rather, is a bona fide work
ing stiff's Constitution drawn'up
by seamen, and for the seamen.
It provides for a maximum of
democratic expression, and, of
course, follows closely along the
lines of the SUP Constitution,
and a better pattern could not
have been chosen.
Hospital Piiiid
Provided for also in the Con
.stitution Is an annual assessmen
of $2.00, for a hospital, burial anc^
shipwreck fund. Under the prof
visions of this, no member wb^f
has not ,gald his assessment will
be paid benefits while in the hos
pital. However, this assessment
will sot have to be paid immedi
ately, as it will be for the year
1940, but anyone who wishes to
pay it may do so, and it will be
credited to their account.
The $5.00 strike and organiza
tional assessment is collectible
immediately, as it is not on an
annual basis. Receipt books for
both of these assessments are at
present being printed, and the
Patrolmen will soon be carrying
them with them.
Fair Indication
The vote castwas not as large
as' was anticipated, but 4t was
still an exceedingly fair indica
tion of the wishes of the mem
bership at large. Many men on
ships could have voted did not
dp so, as they failed to take ad
vantage of the fact that they
could vote at the Halls any day
during the week if the crew off
a ship voted In a body. This ar
rangement proved satisfactory tq
the crews of several ships calling
at New \York, and quite a fev|
ballots wdre cast in this manner.
The Balloting Committee, com
posed of C. R. West, Wm. Ham
ilton, W. L. Mason, Chas. Doobin,
James Flynn and Wm. Hazlett
functioned very smoothly and
efficiently, and are deserving
credit for the workmanlike jo)|''
thety pei'formed.
NOTICE
Membership books for the
following men are being held
at New York Headquarters:
Milton Welner, A No. 4rDeck
M. BianchI, A No. 2319—Deck
Frank E, Harvie, A No. 2671—
Deck
Charles W. Johnson, A No.
3163—Deck
E. Rivera, A No. 2735—Eng.
L. Culafato, A No. 2401—Stwd.
Burgess W. Davis, A. No. 3356
—Stwd.
Erasmo C. Vega, A No. 4034—
Stwd.
C. F. Stouch,(»,A No. 4642
Stwd.
If the foregoing members
will write to Headquarters'
stating what Branch they wish
their book sent to, It will he
forwarded to the Agent of that
particular Branch. MeriTbers
wishing their hooks to he sent
to a pri'v'ate address 'will be
requested to give a description
of themselves.
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