The Daily Worker Newspaper, April 5, 1924, Page 11

Youth Views By HARRY GANNES IS COMMUNIST THEORY IMPORTANT? OME of the- younger comrades think Communist theory unim- portant. Lately the idea has grown up that a knowledge of tactics and current events is enough. This is a aad mistake. Trotzky has said we shall conquec shru our knowledge of Communist theory. Theory is our guide to cor- rect action. On what is our theory based? First, on the works of Marx; Engels and the host of other proletarian writers who have understood and ac- cepted the materialist conception of history, the class struggle, and the Marxian theory of surplus value; secondly, on the experience of the working class struggles and the re- cent development vf capitalism, mainly as pointed out by Lénin in his works. Importance of Study, The past five years have been re- plete with rapid revolutionary de- velopments, The youth sf today have been maturing in an age of strife and struggle with but little time for reflection and less for study. Especially is this true of those in the revolutionary workers movement. The result is that many entircly over- look the need for detailed study of Marx, Engels and Lenin, Karl Radek had amply pointed out the weaknesses of the European revo- lutionary youth in the matter of solid theoretical education. Most of the organized youth, he pointed out, were brought up at. a time when Europe was in the throes of a bitter world war, followed by repeated revolutions and continuing economic and politi- cal crises. The great theoreticians of the so- cial-democrat and the present Com- munist parties were developed dur- -.ing the so-called periods of peaceful development of capitalism, as for ex- ample, Lenin, Zetkin, Luxembourg, Trotzky, Bucharin, Thalheimer, for The Adventure pf Johnny Smart Or A Lad in the Russian Revolution Johnny Smart was a carpenter’s apprentice. He was a husky young boy, with a sharp prominent nose, and lively blue eyes. He had the reputation of being the greatest mischief maker of all the boys in the factory. Today Johnny was excited. It seemed as if the fear which hovered over the city, this foreboding of something evil and inevitable, had crept into Johnny's blood, Since early morning, streams of people were leaving the city; an unexpected advane of White Guards had forced the Reds to abandon the city. Long trains of wagons, piled up high with furniture, boxes of all sorts, with food and ammunition, passed continuously thru _ the streets. Anxious drivers, their faces covered with sweat, kept avhipping thé horses to a faster pace. Here and there could be seen a Red Guard hurrying on some duty. Wounded were already being carried inte the city; the sick and crippled }. dragged themselves painfully after the departing wagons. The street was a confused medley of rattling wheels and groaning wounded, Here and there a driver lost his head and began eursing his horse and his- ear- riage and pitilessly beat his poor animal, Volunteers For Secret Work. Johnny had wanted to leave the city together with the other work- ers of the factory, but their leaders had ordered him to remain. “Hey, where are you going, you young scamp? Don’t you think we've got enough: without being bothered with you. You don’t have the Communists; Bernstein and Kaut-|to be scared of the Whites. They sky, for the socialist traitors, The life of every one of the lead- ers of the Communist International is the life of an avid student of Marxian theory and the development of capitalism, economicaly and poli- tically. The danger in these times of action is for the youth to oyer- look such study.- Participation Not Sufficient, Tt is true that the mass of worke«1s, young and old, will learn thru active participation in the class struggle; but we cannot forget the. fact that the backbone and brains of the Rus- — Communist Party is still the old Bolsheviks whose theoretical eduea- tion at no time was neglected even during periods of intensive action. A Cominuni8t party and a Young Communist League Without a com- plete leadership versed in the theories of Marxism and Leninism is worse than a ship without a rudder; for the driving foree of our enemies, the capitalists is more deadly than the rigors of the sea and of the wind. For information the rome Workers League of Amer- ica, Y. W. L. 1009 N. State St., Chicago, Ill. ON JUNE 17 IN THE TWIN CITIES. It is then and there the Farmer- Labor movement of the United States will mobilize its forces for a political struggle against Teapot Dome Capi- — Boost the convention of June t won't hurt you. So you remain here. af " Johnny saw that neither tears nor prayers would help. So he ran- to the headquarters of the Young Communist League, le was a member of one of the Communist Children’s Groups. But there also they were too busy to be able to p him. The committee was standing in the cor- ner, discussing exci end in low voices. Three young men were pil- ing all the documents on the table, and burning them as fast as they could in the glowing stove. “We can’t trust the tobacco girls for our secret service work yet,” Gregory was saying, Johnny picked up his ears, Secret service work! He had already heard a great deal about it. It means something terrible and mysterious; one dared not sleep at home, and the White Guards burned the houses and hung the workers. His older brother was caught in this work, and was now lying in | prison—maybe they would let him try, his hand at it, “Comrades, can’t I do something, too ” Gregory looked at the little figure before him. “What, then,” he asked. “Can’t I do secret work?” The Whites Attack Village. The young people burst into laughter, “You! , You're much too young. Why, you’re still at your mother’s pts IE SPE, darllen sl ee TR Ee strings.” ee Warns «sss WIGGLY’s TRICKS Johnny felt hurt. He turned his back upon them sadly, and and sat down on the window sui, pressea his face i the pane and fell into suffering silence. In the street, the tumult had somewhat decreased; the crowd had grown less dense. There were fewer wagons. From the station little groups of Red (inards kept coming all the time, and a mounted officer would now and then rush down the street, with sparks flying from his horse’s hoofs. Beyond the city, the Reds and Whites were fighting. He could dis- tinctly hear the guns and the loud thunder of the cannon. Now the cars passed by, followed by a few soldiers, Suddenly, the first shell exploded in the street. The troops ouickened their pace. Then a secend shot. Now, the commands could be heard quite clearly. From many windows faces peeped in the direction from which they expected the Whites to be coming. On the outskirts of the ~ a bright flame sprang up suddenly, “A shell must have hit its goal,” thought Johnny, and he directed iis entire attention to the dre. After the Hand Grenades. All the papers have been burned, and now the committee was prepar- ing to leave the room, but Gregory stopped suddenly. He seemed to have remembered something. “Boys! The hand grenades! We’ve forgotten to remove the as grenades.” “Which hand grenades?” “Those which were in Frederick’s house.” “Well, it’s too late now,” Mark said despondently. “Prederick has: left the city; and we can’t take the chance of going to his house. Every one knows that he was a Communist and we would surely be recognized. The capitalist soldiers are already searching the streets for our com- rades.” What could they do? ‘The hand grenades had to be gotten at any price. “Comrades, let me go. I am small and no one will think of stopping me. ~And I will brivig you the hand grenades.” Gregory and Mark looked at little Johnny. “Well, all right. They are in Kronstad Street. The number, 27, first floor, to the right, under the bed. Yoa bring them here.” (To Be Continued Monday) Proletarian Song. I’m a worker—and you’re a worker— Wo have our life—'tis without de- light, For ev’ry day the old world about us Seems nothing but changing black and white. : And thru the monotony of our day We’ve work and worry—no moro have we. The _weeks come on and are gone away, We sell. ‘for something but naught we see, The years go by, and youth goes too, We have suffered want and have naught to show. I’m a worker and you’re a worker— We are building the Future, ’tis all we know. Translated from the German of Julius Zerfass by Henry Roenne. = Ho! My lads—For a Sailor’s Reviewing “The Sailor's Union of the Pacific,” by Paul S. Taylor, Ph. D. Ronald Presg Co, N. .¥., lubbers, a sailor is a strange being. If we are romantic, the sailor becomes the embodiment of the spirit of adventure, romance and freedom. ‘There is about him the tang of exotic lands, the fulfill- ment of many unfulfilled desires. If, however, we be prosaic, then the sailor is a drunken, good-for-noth- ing creature often sven hanging around wharves or lounging in dark hallways with some girl he has been fortunate enough t» pick up. Strange, isn’t it, how our concep- tions of certain legitimate occupa- tions have developed? Seamanship is an occupation steeped in tradition, and seamen have for years been the sufferers of great economic and social oppres- sion by virtue of that tradition. Dr Taylor has presented to us in an exceedingly readable form a “dra matic account of the rise of Ameri- can seamen to freedom and eclf re- spect.” It is the story of a trade union in what would seem to be a distinetly unorganized industry, and the fight for a code cf laws that would guarantee to the sailor, who for years has been bonded to his ves- sel in the name of ship discipline, the minimum of economic freedom— guaranteed to every worker—the right to leave his job. “At best the old-time sailor’s lot was a hard one. Sleeping and eat- ing! in a little black, ill-ventilated, poorly lighted, unfurnished _ hole ealled a forecastle, with a hard board bunk and a bit of straw or a cheap mattress, if he provided ft himself, he lived a life of great physical discomfort.” Vhis sort of physical life at sea coupled with an unsavory life ashore at the mercy cf “crimps” and seavenger boarding houses, and ending in being shang- haied back to the vesscls—to start the vicious circle all over again— has been only one phase vf the life of the sailor. The lak of economic freedom, the lack of protective leg- islation for the hazards of the in- dustry, and the social stigma at- tached to the job—were all forces which finally made for organization on the part of the seamen of the Pacific Coast, The recitation of the repeated at- tempts to organize, the destruction of these organizations by ship own- ers, crimps and even other unions in the course of jurisdictional dis- putes, reveal the natural process out of which trade consciousness de- velops. The Sailor’s Union of the Pacific came into being, however, and gan its fight for the seamen of the Coast. The culmination of the struggle for legal rights came only in March, 1915, with the passage of the Sea- men’s Act, which abolishes arrest and imprisonment as a penalty for desertion, created provisions for de- cent living conditions on the boat, and provided for some definite safety measures.—T, W. "JOIN THE JUNIOR SECTION For Information 1009 N. State St., Rm. 214 Chicago, Ill. KICK ’EM OUT! That’s what you should do to the servants of the bankers and oil magnates in President’s Cal’s cabinet. Show them the way out. A LAUGH FOR THE CHILDREN