The Daily Worker Newspaper, March 8, 1924, Page 9

4 By EARL R. BROWDER. R Awe MacDONALD had not even time to warm the Premier’s chair when he was put up against the question of questions for the Labor Government: For Labor or for Capital? The railroad strike, carried out by the Amalgamated Society of Locomotivemen and Firemen in spite of the desertion of the National Union of Railwaymen (headed by ~~ a Mg member); the ers’ strike, ing up all ports in Britain and He ovata the coun- try. with starvation; the promised strikes of building tradesmen, tex. tile workers, and miners—all of these put to MacDonald the same question asked by workers the world over: “Are you really a Labor Government or are you a Capitalist Government?” Capitalists. Also Want to Know. That the capitalists are wuxious to know just how far MacDonald takes his socialism seriously was shown, as was also MacDonald’s tac- tics of evasion, by an incident in the House of Commons on Feb. 26th. Sir W. Davidson asked the Prime Minister if he “could give assurance that neither he nor any members of the government were any longer in any way connected with the Socialist International.” | MacDonald replied that all members of the government had resigned from official positions in the international, and that the Labor Party affiliation “was purely voluntary and could be terminated at any time, should necessity arise.” This reply was evasion, so tar as the workers are concerned, but the capitalists understood the real an- swer behind it, which is plainly: “The international is good camou- flage to keep the workers fooled; but don’t worry, we'll smash it if it in~ terferes with government as usual.’ Strike policy of the Labor govern- ment is a similar mixture of evasion, assurances to the employers, and covert activity against strikers. Cabinet Member Calls for Scabbing. _ J. H. Thomas, Colonial Secretary in the MacDonald cabinet, is at the Marxism, Blanquism and Street Action DUARD BERNSTEIN in his fa- mous book, which is given up same time head of the National Union of Railwaymen. His organi- zation was party to resistance to the ‘wage cuts, in common with the loco- motive men and clerks, but deserted the enginemen when the wages board issued a decision in favor of the companies, The N. U. R. is an in- dustrial union and in the past has looked down_upon the Amalgamated Society as craft-conscious and con- servative. But now: the roles were reversed. The conservative engine- men struck, putting up the first na- tional wage battle since the ill-fated Black Friday of 1921, while the “progressive” N. U. R., under the leadership of Thomas, issued a mani- festo ing upon its members to stay at work as if nothing was going on. ‘Fhe manifesto said, among Sther things: ; “Some discsusion on the word blacklegging has taken place but the member of the N. U. R. who ceases work or refuses to do any job that he would have done if there had been no strike is a blackleg to the signature of his accredited represen- tatives. ...” The cabinet member, Thomas, who signed this official scab order, is the same Thomas who broke up the triple alliance of railroad workers, trans- port workers, and miners, on Black Friday; his 1921 treason inaugurated the period of decline, 1921-23, during which the British unions lost over 2,000,000-members. But his present treachery, according to present indi- cations, is only going to hasten the process of disillusionment within the Labor Party, and the formation of a left wing therein. The strike wave now on shows no signs of being checked by his action. “Labor” Government Really “Liberal Bourgeois.” The truth is becoming plain to the British workers, that the so-called Labor government is really more cau- tious and conservative than the lib- eral bourgeoisie. It is, at the same time, putting over policies that would bring a storm of protest from the For in order to win over the ma- jority of the working class it is nee- to go to the masses, to fight. British Strikes and the Labor Government workers if Lloyd-George was in charge. In colonial affairs, for ex- ample, under the direction of the same “labor leader,’ Thomas, the government issued a stern note to the revolting Hindu workers that it would not tolerate any action other than the “constitutional” means of petitions, ete, And while this threat is on its way to the 300,000,000 work. ers of India, Thomas paraded thru a big “British Empire Exposition” in London to survey “his colonies,” and boasted of the loyalty of “his sub- jects.” When the dockers’ strike began MacDonald went into the country for a week-end, instructing his secretary to issue a statement denying that he would intervene unless “called upon.” The strikers adopted a _ resolution calling upon him “to use’ at once) emergency powers to take full con- trol of all shipping and docks, and pay the increase asked for by the dockers until the employers and the union has reached a solution to the difficulty.” Certainly a modest de- mand! But MacDonald evidently did not hear the “call”; he was not yet “called upon” by the employers. The dockers, aided by the overwhelming public opinion, including sections of the capitalists but not the “Labor” government, finally won half their demands with a promise of the rest on June ist. But MacDonald and his government did nothing but issue warnings that the food supply must be insured, making his warnings equally threats against the workers and capitalists. Division in the Labor Party. All these are things not reported in the capitalist press, and are the real cause of the ferment going on within the Labor Party that promises the development of a militant left wing with mass support before long. Evidences of the many conflicting elements within the Labor Party are seen by glancing over the pages of the Daily Herald, organ of the Labor Party and Trade Union Congress. While the railroad strike was on this Danger of Blanquism. All those who were present at the | Fourth Congress still remember the essary to a criticism of Marxism tried to | for the everyday struggle, to pre-' marvelous analysis made by Trotsky show that revolutionary Marxism was not a homogeneous whole. Ac- cording to him the fundamental doc- trine of Karl Marx which should have led to evolutionist and reformist con- clusions was deformed and deviated by a strong influence of Blanquism. This criticism is unfounded. — According to the Blanquist doc- trine the Revolution should be the work of small and closed groups, but closely united and disciplined; they profit by a difficult situation in which the capitalist government finds itself, to overturn it by a daring coup and to establish a dictatorship of the revolutionary party. Marxism is revolutionary in a dif- ferent way altogether. The Revolution in itself is not a coup carried out by a small heroic group, it is the inevitable outcome of the development of capitalism, pro- voked by the action of millions of workers advancing to the assault un- der the leadership of their class or- ganizations, Marx Opposed to “Putch.” Marx was an irreconcilable enemy. of the “putch.” The fight against Bakunin within the First Interna- tional has proved it sufficiently. -The Third International has re- mained resolutely within the Marxist path in adopting at its Third Con- gress a thesis closing the door to all Blanquist deviation. This thesis specifies that to make the Revolution triumph the majority of the working class must be con’ to Commun- ist idea, ° It would be dangerous to conceive of this slogan in a mechanical way. It will be impossible to determine by the help of statistics’ whether the majority of the working class has been won over to Communism. Only in the course of the struggle is it a to e, in the final instance, the influence of the party, and the response among the masses to our slogan. ‘ But the importance of the above- mentioned thesis lies, above all, in the directions which it gives/to the Com- munist parties for their daily struggle. vent “putches” and to transform the Party more and more into a true mass party. But, even tho ¢ondemned by the Third International,:traces of Blan- ‘of the causes of the failure of the ; general strike called after the events | of Havre, and which could have been entitled: The necessity for a system- /atie and serious preparation. quism still remain»within the inter-| If the street demonstrations form national revolutionary movement. It the best weapon and the most effec. is in France, the country of Blanqui, tive means of propaganda for a revo- that these traces make themselves lutionary party, it is so much the fet most clearly. }more dangerous to use it wrongly. Street Action. | What is the effect produced by a One of the most important forms ' demonstration in the organization of of revolutionary activity is the Which Bignquist influences make street demonstration. However, the themselves felt? sense, the form and the purpo: of It is nefarious for members of the these demonstrations will vary com-| Party to form an erroneous idea of pletely according to whether they are what an action of the masses should inspired by a Sranquist or Marxist be and to contribute to the creation spirit. of ppc age and Fogel mental- For a Blanquist, the street dem- |ity; still worse for the unorgan- onstration must serve above all, to|ized masses who thus begin to. be- keep track of the fiexibleness and lieve that the Revolution can be the elasticity of the Party, to determine | Work of a secret organization out- whether the whole mechanism obeys Side of them and without their par- with sufficient promptitude the orders ticipating actively in the struggle. of a central command. | This conception increases its pas- The Blanquists prepare a demon- siveness. stration in great secrecy, so as to{ The problem of the relations exist- take the enemy always by surprise,|ing between the Party and the un- Nobody, ex the initiated, know | organized masses ig an elementary the place, the date, and the purpos¢/study for the le Comm Te ps sae tena t the righ tactic x iat ar n showing himself at the right ; Biangun ci heal'op alee tee | By. fe nacion, «pty ivaga iq) chief sho: able to le: ction, a the mass after him, and that is why |isolates itself from the ; Blanquist action always takes on the air of a conspiracy. A demonstration possesses, for Marxists, a totally djfferent char- acter, __ If, on the one hand, the Party should use it for getting its appren- vag Bad revolutionary fighting, on the ot hand, and above all, it should serve to train and educate | large unorganized masses by direct | participation in the struggle. That is why the of a dem- onstration should | systematically | and amply explained to the masses. | The masses iy sorte fee] the nec- | essity for the onstration, and | wherever the circumstances ty | the masses should be car pared by meetings, by a campaign of : tive, brilliantly written~ by THOMAS the press and by every meang at the disposal of the Party. festos of the strikers, manifestos of Thomas denouncing the strike, gov- ernment proclamations, advertise- ments from the striking unions, and advertisements of the railroad com- panies. In other words, it was non- partisan—it took the typical liberal bourgeois attitude. Meanwhile large sections of the labor movement were energetically supporting the strike, even including many minor leaders. The slogan of the Communists: “A craft union that fights is better than an industrial union that fanks,” gain- ed great popularity. Another evi. dence of the conflicting views within the Labor Party is seen in the Feb. ruary issne of the Labor Magagine, official organ of the Labor Party, which carries, along side the typical class collaboration bunk of Fabian- ism, a strong eulogy of Lenin, hail- ing him as “the greatest leader of the working class of the world.” Liberals Overreach Themselves. All of these developments were doubtless forseen by the Party leaders when they put the Labor Party into power. They pend upon the growing division = carried, indiscriminately, mani- | } i } the Labor Party to check its and put the Liberals back into power more securely than ever, with much dirty work done for them without charge. But they were too smart for their own good; they over-reach- ed themselves. Because what are actually accomplishing ts that work of disillusionment which Lenin pointed out as the prerequisite fer a revolution in England. In the words of Thalheimer, leader of the German Communist Party, writing on the sit- uation in Britain on February 1éth: “If the astute English bourgeotsie is reckoning rightly that the next political Mg te on the political chess- board witl be in its favor, it is over- looking the fact that it is inevitable disappointment of the Eng- lish workers over the policy of their liberal Labor government that will lead the English working class upon the way of proletarian revolution.” = - By J. DURET But, it can also isolate itself by a badly prepared action, In presenting this problem it ts absolutely necessary to take inte consideration the relation which ex- ists between the numerical foree of the Party and that of the unorgan- ized masses. The failure of the policy of the German Communist Party in March, 1921, ought to serve us as am ex- ample, In France, where the numerical importance of the Party is feeble, it is ridiculous to think that the masses will be set in motion on a simple order of the Party and without a big campaign of propaganda and agita- tion having sufficiently prepared the ground beforehand. Street action, carefully prepared, jin which the working class fights te attain an aim which it has learned to know and the full necessity of which it understands, binds the Party and the masses; a Blanquist or badly prepared action isolates the Party. RUBBER STAMPS AND SEALS IN ENGLISH AND IN ALL FOREIGN LANGUAGES INK, PADS, DATERS, RUBBER TYPE.Eve, 73 W. VanBurenSt. Phone Wabash 6680 we ttCAGo ‘ ——ATTENDED TO——— SAY MAC DONALD By ICONOCLAST The life-story of Britain’s first Labor Premier. Authorita- a well-known novelist and editor, a fascinating, keen analysis of character. $2.50 SELTZER 5 W. 50th St., New York