The Daily Worker Newspaper, March 29, 1924, Page 12

| Unemployment in the United States (Continued from Page 1) follow the direction of the following slogans: Political. Government operations of non- operating industries and shops, Inauguration of public works. Maintenance of unemployed at union rates of wages. : Nationalization of mines, rail- roads and public utilities. Abolition of child labor. Recognition of and trade relations with Soviet Russia. ? Unemployment insurante admin- istered by the workers. Grants by the government. Industrial, Industry must be responsible for maintenance of its workers. Equal. division of work among members in each industry and shop. Assessment of employed for relief of unemployed. : Establishment of control commit- tees of workers to regulate produc- tion and investigate accounts. Struggle against sabotage of employers, Unemployment insurance support- ed wholly by the employers, and administered wholly by the workers. In every action the aim shall be to accomplish the utmost of politi- cal enlightenment with the greatest possible immediate struggle. The political nature of the fight against unemployment must be developed and strengthened, without carrying the immediate struggle so far ahead of the understanding of the workers as to destroy the masg character of the movement. It shall be a major effort to actually obtain all possible immediate benefits for the unem- ployed, which must be made the basis for wider demands and more intense, struggle. The trade unions, all workers’ organizations, and the unorganized employed, must be drawn into organized participation in the unemployed demonstration and actions. The slogan of “Soli- darity of interest between the em- ployed and unemployea” must be heavily stressed at all times. The methods and instruments of action in the fight against unem- ployment will include every section of the organized labor and revolu- tionary movement. In_ all political actions of th Party the unemploy- ment issue must be brought to the fore more and more gs the industrial crisis develops. The issue of un- employment must be raised in all councils, conventions, and other gatherings of workers, by proposals of conerete actions, including joint committees of unions, ete., with the unemployed, demonstra- tions, deputations to governmental bodies with demands based upon the slogans of the struggle, and in all shops and factories by proposals for action uniting the employed with those thrown: upon the streets. The Workers Party must be made the organizational and _ ideological center for the entire movement The Party press must.develop an agitational and educational cam- paign on unemvloyment, giving an increasing amount of attention and space to it. Every Party committee must make a special study of unen.- ployment as it develops its particu- lar sphere of activity and report from time to time to the Central Executive Committee. Workers Party members must participate in a leading position in every action of the unemployed, giving it direc- tion and consciousness. As unemployment develops. upon a mass scale nationally, which 1s definitely to be expected in the not distant future, the Party must take the lead ih simulating, initiating and organizing, councils of the unem- ployed in co-operation with the unions and other workers’ organiza- tions, upon a local, state, industrial and national basis. es ¢ 6 (Note on Textile Industry.) The textile industry is like coal mining and copper, suffering from a large shift in production from one field to another. This makes the unemployment problem severely felt in many New England textile cen- ters which are operating at from 20 te 60 per cent of capacity. In the textile industry as a whole, how- ever, there is not the paralysis in- dicated by the condition in New England, because the southern mills are running at 100 per cent to 130 per cent of single shift capacity. The average for the textile industry as a while is around 94 per cent at this time, Thus the acute unemployment in Fall River, Lawrence, New Bedford, the Pawtucket Valley, etc., is large- ly caused by the shift in production and ‘not by a crisis in the textile industry as a whole. The completioa of the great textile merger of a year and a half ago, which cem tralized almost the entire industry, has made it possible for the textile trust to close down the New England mills and throw the production into the southern section without causing injury to the capitalist in- terests involved. The increased profits from the lower wages and child labor of the south go to pay interest on the idle investments in the north. : The comparison between the total employed in December, 1922, and December, 1923, does not, of course, give anything like a complete pic- ture of the employment condition in the textile industry. Employment figures month by month for the years 1921-22-23 shows the stretch between the low and high points, which are January, 1921, and March, 1923, respectively, to be a little over 62,000. - More illuminating are the yearly averages which are for the three years, 255,580; 248,361, and 278,331. The number employed for December 1928, is seen to be 24,000 or a little below the peak figure and 38,000 of 17 per cent above the low point. It is interest- ing to note, however, that there is no such tremendous fluctuations in the yearly averages. Howthe Communists Keep Power in Russia (Continued from Page 2.) ing” at the time when the rew ¢co- nomic policy was introduced, three years ago. One or two kundred thousand member's were thrown dit. Any worker or peasant, whether Communist, might bring charges against a party member, that he was acting unworthy of a Commun- ist—that he got drunk or prefiteer- ed or was rough with the workers under him. The hearings were open; if the Party considered the member a drawback, he was thrown out. Less spectacular “cleanings” go on constantly without comment, | have met Communists in the past two years in Russia who were causing chaos who were playing petiy poli- tics, who were destroying efficiency by personal grudges. I have felt utterly hoveless of the department or industry in which they worked. Then after six months or a year, I have suddenly heard that these men had been “cleaned out” of the party and transferred to jobs of unim- portance and I have known that other people than myse!f had ob- served them, and that a force was constantly acting, sometimes delay- ed and sometimes mistaken but striving for the purity of the Com- munist ranks. Only this autumn the Central Committee of the Party laid hands on certain high officials in Moscow and sent them down for temporafy jobs in the orovinceg for no other reason than that they were “living too much like bourgewis and getting out of touch with the com- mon people.” Hard Workers. Half a million men organized on such terms are scattered across Russia. North of the Arctic Circle, gouth of the Caucasus, east of the Volga, I found them in the timber industry and little provincial towns, a far-flung group sent out to be min- isters of finance in little republics, or sawmill workers laboring to in- crease production. Every large fac- tory, every notable village, has its Communist nucleus. If any factory had no Communists, some would be sent from Moscow to get jobs there. They would do the work of foremen, or machinists or carpenters or mar- agers. But they are expected to work harder than anyone else, to ay later, to be examples of loyalty and energy, to know the demands of the workers and explain to them the plans. of the government. are | to secure and hold. politi- leadership by constant ( eal om ence eae _ basic prob- d The Communist group in. every factory and village will debate it. and send delegates to a district meeting. The district meeting will discuss it again, among other ques- tions, without censorship and with concrete charges of oppression and abuse of power. The districts will then send delegates to regional con- ferences and thence to the Caucasian or Ukrainian or White Russian Party Congress; till at last the views of the entire membership meet and mingle in the great All-Russian Congress, ultimate authority on the policy of Russia’s ruling Party. When policy is once determined, whether it be a question of the management of heavy industry, or of the relation of little nationalities within the Soviet federaion—it : be- comes the duty of all party members to go home and explain to the people of Russia just why the deci- sion was reached. It is their job to justify the government tc the people, and see that the compiaints of the people reach and influence the government before the pressure becomes too great. Lonz. befcre the petty discontents of peasants or coal miners or Ukrainians or Armenians ean reach the stage of organized protest, a vast network of the Com- munist machine detects these dis- contents and appraises then. A recent series of strikes in South Russia caused much searching of heart in the Central Executive of the Party. “What is the mattcr with our Jocal Communist groups,” they asked, “that they did not dis- cover these discontents and mec» them in time.” Party Realistic, _ In its daily action the Commun- ist Party is highly realistic, While it has a definite goal for Russia’: future development, it does not at- tempt to enforce that goal at once. It caters to popular desires, trying always to mold that desire in the direction of its own aims. For in- stance, there .is a great desire among peasants for modern agricul- tural machinery; the government imports muchinery, but sells by preference thru peasants’ co-opera tives which farm their lend in com- mon, That is one typical instance of the use ef economic pressure to guide the development of Russia in the direction it wishes, They all know the fob they are on, and their part in relation to Russia and the rest of the world. The Communists in the oil. industry know the importance. of oil. in the world’s commerce; the Communists who died fighting the famine did 30 knowing that agriculture was. the basis of Russia’s reconstruction, The Communists on low wages in the schools know what depends on the education of the youth towards the goal they have set. They are not on a personal job; they are on. a state-wide job, and they know it. Even mortal disease does not release them; it merely transfers them to other work. I met a man who had been general of an army in Siberia and was now dying of tuberculosis in a little pro- vintial town, transfered to sectire a better climate, but still working on. I knew a young boy who spent four years in Hungarian prisons and has incurable heart trouble from the tortures he enduted; he is in the far north building roads where the open air life will help keep him alive a little longer. 2, Why should “anyone enter a Party which demands:,such discipline? For the fun of building on the createst undeveloped lands of the world a Workers’ Kepublic, the next great forward step in history. There are always people who would father run public aifairs than enday:? private comfort. ¢ The organization of the Russian Communist Party allows these people to choose themselves by a hard and simple test. It is a disciplined oligarchy which anyone may join if he would rather organ- ize a co-operative commonwealth than be comfortable. A Strong Challenge Young _men, energetic men, re- spond quickly to such a challenge. High Standard Articles This photo, 814x7\, FREE with each yearly subscription. $2.00aYear Tim SOVIET RUSSIA PICTORIAL 32 South Wab: A Graphic Monthly Review of Events in RUSSIA AND GERMANY Ave., Chicago, Ill. Name ee Sev esnne nen seneuberrentevesbrenvarereserversuneeesens Street No. ose seresseesserssseccercsssestcessseecssacesceneen se City. ** sere Srebnnlins ein ons bebe + ¢MOMRRe tna snes GOhr ngeineve Behind the Communist Party lies the League of Communist Youth, almost equal in numbers to the adult party, also under discipline which increases asthe years go on, pre- paring to enter into government. Behind them are the Young Pion- eers, who already have no memories antedating the Revolution. Just as a piece of statecraft, quite aside from its working. class signifi- cance, the Communist Party of Russia is a rather wonderful ma- chine. It has its methods of dectect- ing discontent before this reaches the dangerous stage. It has its methods for keeping its own ranks pure and energetic. It has its tést for selecting out the men = and women who are really more inter- ested in “politics,” that is, in man. aging public affairs, than they are in “any private recompense. ... Some day some of its methods may fail; failure is always possible to any human organization.. But the Party is making plans for develop- ing a Workers’ and Peasants’ Re- public towards a co-operative com- mnonwealth thru a long term of years, with perfect confidence that it will be able to keep power. Thera is no sign of any organization in Russia likely’ to contest its power, in even a single state or city. Join the “I want to make THE DAILY WORKER grow” club. More Interesting Photographs Picture without subscription, 25 CTS. EACH. Sepia Brown or Black. $1.00 Six Months BROWN, 6. ¢oF scx. Black. ...0000++. —— PVRS i J