The Daily Worker Newspaper, March 19, 1924, Page 10

ALVIN COOLIDGE, © president of the United States by virtue of a broken strike and by the grace of fate which benevolently removed a little obstacle between Coolidge and the presidency, declared the other day that the confidence of the American people in their govern- ment is too well established to be seriously shaken by Teapot Dome and similar political earthquakes. “Sacred Principles of Democracy.” ‘Our institutions, silent Cal and his accomplices say, are built upon the sacred principle of democracy. Some persons within that democracy may be bad. But “democracy” itself is irreproachable. And when Jumbo, the G. Q. P. elephant, together with Longear, the democratic jackass, fall into an oil pool with a great plunge the splash-soaked all the hu- man element in “democracy”; but it did not reach the lofty height upon which thrones the pure goddess itself. ' That is the theory of democracy. But what has been its practice? Corruption has been the legitimate child of the union of democracy and capitalism. Corruption in the inter- est of one capitalist group against the other; corruption in the interest of ohne man; corruption in the inter- est of the whole capitalist class against the mass of the electorate; corruption high up; petty corrup- tion. And if some one with a repu- tation of honesty was ever caught corrupted with a comparatively small sum the only thing the public ever questioned was whether “hon- est” so-and-so was for sale at such a low figure. Honesty, at best, in- dicated a higher price, which the in- terests were not willing to pay as long as they could get what they wanted at a lower figure. . The “Forty Thieves.” The “forty thieves” on the board “black horse brigade” in the assem- bly in Albany, or Collins P. Hunt- ington, “convincing” congressmen in Washington, were outstanding mani- festations of that corruption. But this form of corruption was a vul- gar one. The “goddess of democ- racy” knew. darn well that it coula not forever, uphold her reputation of virgin purity before the eyes of the people in the face of the birth of one child after the other, begotten in the secret wedlock between her and capitalism. So vulgar forms of corruption were, finally, but, to a degree even effectually, replaced by more subtle and refined methods This change was affected not so much by conscious and purposeful effort, but it was a result of the perfection. of capitalist. machinery itself, ; In the vulgar period politics was a business by itself. The politician sold his ware, and as much of it as Wag desired, to those who paid. And capitalists or — capitalist . groups bought of the ware of the politician as much as was required by the im- mediate plans. The “people” by their votes would install the politi- cian in business, and the latter would charge his customers. what the traffic would bear. But in the age of concentration of capitalism politics has become part of the busi- ness of the capitalist groups or cor- porations. Oil, steel, coal, hanking or railroading does no longer buy its legislatdrs, it makes them. That is concentration. That is effi- ciency. . Oil On Top. In the light of this development the surprising thing about the Tea- pot Dome scandal] is not that it re- veals the domination of oil in na- tional polities. What surprises is that oil, in this case reverted to the crude and vulgar methoa of Black of aldermen in New York, the'satchels filled with bribe money, or Trotzky’s Letter to Russian Communist Party Central Note.—Today the DAILY WORK- ER begins publication of a It is clea~, that this kind of view letter |is inspired by a thoroly bureau- writen by Leon Trotsky, Minister of | cratic mistrust of the Party. The War in the Soviet government andj|new policy proclaimed by the reso- member of the Central Executive {lution of the Central, denotes pre- Committee of the Russian Commun-| cisely, that the center of gravity, ist Party. Our readers will see| which during the old policy from reading the article on what aj erroneously inclined towards the ap-: had been flimsy structure the capitalist press|paratus, is mow, during the new liars hang a revolt in the Commun. | policy, to be inclined towards the: ist ranks. We will publish Trotsky’s| activity, the eritical initiative and letter in three installments. Next|the self-government of the Party,’ nt will eome speeches by Stalin, Rykov| the organized vanguard of the pro-|turn within the Party. and other leaders of the Russianj|letariat. The new policy does not. revolution. Members of the Work-/{ all mean that the apparatus of the ers Party in particular snould read Party is instructed carefully. Trotsky | create or to establish the regime of this debate very to decree, to wrote to the enlarged session of the} democracy within a certain term. Central Committee of the Russian| Nay, this regime can be created by Communist Party as follows: *- ¢ + & TROTSKY’S LETTER. Moscow, December 8, 1923. EAR COMRADES! the Party itself. The task is briefly the following: The Party must sub- ordinate to itself its own apparatus, without ceasing even for a moment, to be a centralized organization. Stomees een snneaasarnc its nee Teapot Dome and Democracy - state. a dairy farm filled with cows. This side eg the whole scandal, therefore, is not the most interesting one. As a rule “democracy” does not indulge in its illicit pleasures in that crude and antiquated form. She has <ac- quired some sort of virtuosity in posing as a chaste nun reveling in voluptuous orgies in a more-refined and “respectable” form. And it is that form of corruption which must and: will finally discredit democracy in the eyes of the masses, all self- assuring assertions of silent Cal and his accomplices notwithstanding. It is that form which proves corrup- tion not merely to be an undesirable possibility under democracy but an integral and inseparable part of it, Influential and all powerful com- mitteemen on the capitalist parties represent oil, steel or banking. Their candidates’ for public office, from president of the United States to town coustable, are christened in oil, steel or banking. The best the “people” can do is to select between oil, steel or banking. After the election the people will be “done” by oil, steel or banking. Before elee- tion the candidate represented oil, steel or banking as counsel in court. After election he will represent oil, steel or banking ag a legiSlater or judge; and after'an eventual appoint- ment to a cabinet post he represents oil or steel or» banking in the na- tional government as a minister of Should he fall in his career over an irresistible offer of the vul- gar variety of bribe and should be be caught at it then he will be prosecutéd by some attorney efneral or special -prosecutor who happens to represent oil, steel or banking at this particular time as some sort of public prosecutor. Oil, steel or bank- ing makes the president. And if oil, steel or banking is caught at a steal, the president made by oil, steel or banking causes and supervises edly hostile to Communism. At the same time, within, the Party, the critical attitude towards the me, chanical methods adopted for thé solution of questions, has increased. The perception, or at least the sen- timent, that the Party bureaucrat- ism threatens to lead the Party inte an impasse, become almost gen- eral, The resofution on the new pol- icy ig the first,efficial and extremely important form;of expression of this It will be carried out to the extent to which the Party, i. e., its four hundred thousand members, will be ready and able to do, : Our Rights. In a number of articles, it is ob- stinately sought to prove, that the fundamental means for reviving the Party, consists in raising the cul- tural level of its rank and file, whereupon the rest, i. e., the work- I had firmly hoped that I should} Twe Phases of Party Structure. | ers’ democracy, would grow of it- be able to take part in the discus-} Jp recent discussion and articles| self. It cannot be denied that we it was pointed out very frequently | ™must raise the intellectual and cul- sion on the inner situation and the new tasks of the Party, if not to- day, at least tomorrow. But my that the “pure,” the “entire,” the iliness occurred, this time, at a most| “ideal” democracy ia unattainable inconvenient moment and it has!and that for us democracy in gen- proved to be of a than the i longer duration eral is not an end in itself, This had at first an-|cannot be in any way disputed. But ticipated. I am, therefore, compell-|with the same right and with as ed to express my views by the|Mmuch reason one can say, present letter. . The resolution of the Political Bu- reau on the question of the Party structure is of exceptional signifi- cance, It shows that the Party arrived at an important turning point in his historical development. Such turning points, as has been pointed out quite justly in many meetings, require prudence; but in addition to prudence, firmness and resoluteness are also required. A waiting attitude, an irresolution at) such a juncture, would be the worst form of imprudence. ( Over-Estimate Role of Apparatus. Some comrades of a evnservative|ship which are diam y disposition who show themselves in-| posed to the spirit of the revolu- that pure or absolute centralism is unattainable and incompatible with the character of a mass party, and the centralism as well as the party apparatus are has|i2 ne way ends in_ themselves. Democracy and Centralism facea of the Party structure. The task is te equilibrate them in a proper manner, i. e., in that manner which best corresponds with the sit- uation. In the past period, this equilibrium did not exist, The center are two of gravity had been erroneously in-| ty4 clined towards the apparatus. The initiative of the Party had been re- duced to a minimum. This involved methods and habits in the leader- op- clined to over-estimate tne role of| tionary Party of the proletariat. the appara mate the initiative of the Pa tus and to under-esti-| The excessive centralization of the »| apparatus, at the expense of the in- criticize the resolution of the Pofiti-/itiative of the Party, has created eal Bureau. According to their|within the Party statements, the Communist Central | insufficiency. takes upon itself obligations which|it has extraordinary carried out, the resolu-| morbid form, right up to the for- tion would only create illusions and cannot be negative results. the feeling of its On the extreme wings assumed an mation of illegal the laaberily of clown pments under elements undoubt- tural level of the Party with a view +to the tasks which are confronting it; but precisely for this reason, this purely pedagogical method is insuffi- cient and, consequently, false; and if we insist upon it, we cannot but provoke an aggravation of the crisis. The Party cannot otherwise raise its level as a Party than by completely carrying out its funda- mental tasks by means of the col- lective leadership of the working class—and with the initiative of all Party members—and of the - prole- tarian state. We must deal with this question not with a pedagogic, but with a political method. The application of Party democracy must not be rendered ent y and to remain in it, has become @ member, it is by this fact alone that he takes an active part in the entire Party work. It is precisely by killing initiative islsres third iiviiheitecte By MAX BEDACHT the prosecution of oil, steel or bank- ing by counsel who, in turn, is alse directly or indirectly connected with oil, steel or banking. The house of democracy that Jack built. Jack is always capitalism, sometimes steep- in oil, sometimes clad in steel, and sometimes animated by bank capital, Daugherty—The Adjective. That is democracy. Here we have Harry M. Daugh- erty. His name will, in time, become a commonly used adjective in the English language denoting a com- bination of corruptness, lying and vileness. For the time being he is Attorney General of the United States, the highest officer of law in the country. He is accused of cor- ruption. And his answer is Don’t dare to touch me or I will reveal all the corruption I know of in the other departments of the government. That is democracy. The department of government, instructed to detect and prosecute crime in the name of the people, fer- rets out corruption in government not to prosecute the criminals, but to buy. with its silence immunity for its own crimes, Yes, that is democracy. And if Teapot Dome and the like scandals would not kill the confidence of the masses in democracy then the cause of the masses would be hopeless. But it is not hopetess. Teapot Dome tears from the “Goddess of democracy” the veil of sacredness with which public confidence has clothed her. It reveals her in her ugly nakedness as a dictatorship of capitalism, for capitalism, and by capitalism, Teapot Dome a2lso sup- -plies the frame of corruption for ‘Goddess, that picture of the “ ” Dis- gust will replace respect and confi- dence. And Silent Cal will prove as unreliable as a prophet as he has proven reliable as a strike-breaker. comrades, the worst condequences of the bureaucratism of the appara- tus will be its influence on the ideo- logical-political formation of the young generation of the Party. It is precisely owing to this circum- stance that the youth—the surest barometer of the Party—reacts against the Party bureaucratism in the most encrgetic manner. Old Guard. It would be a mistake, however, to believe’ that the excess of me- chanical solutions of Party ques- tions should remain without influ- ence on the old generation which embodies the political experience and the revolutionary traditions of the Party. Nay, the danger is also vety great in this sphere. It is not necessary to speak of the immense J continual mutual influence of the 4 ea. and the older generation within the frame of Party democracy, that the old guard car be maintained as a revolutionary factor. Otherwise, the the old ones would be easily be- (To Be Continued Thursday) OUT WITH DAUGHERTY! Saint Patrick’s day was celebrated in Britain as well as in the United States. Ramsay MacDonald pro- posed a toast to Irish Free State. Field Marshall French, the Shek of Ypres, superintended the ‘ g Zag