The Daily Worker Newspaper, April 14, 1924, Page 6

te = Oe tnine Page Six THE DAILY WORKER. Published by the DAILY WORKER FUBLISHING CO., 1118 W. Washington Blvd., Chicago, Ill, (Phone: Monroe 4712) SUBSCRIPTION RATES By mail: $3.50....6 months By mail (in Chicago only): $4.50....6 months $2.50....3 months $6.00 per year $8.00 per year Address all mail and make out checks to THE DAILY WORKER 1113 W. Washington Bivd. Chicago, Illinois J. LOUIS ENGDAHL ) WILLIAM F. DUNNE)" MORITZ J. LOEB... .. Editors Business Manager Entered as second-class mail Sept. 21, 1923 at the Post- Office at Chicago, Ill, under the act of March 3, 1879. <P 290 Advertising rates on application. ——————————— ll ——————————————— Coolidge and Unemployment The textile workers of Lawrence, Massachu- setts, have just made an appeal to President Coolidge for help in their present plight. So in- tense has been the suffering of these workers that the municipality has been compelled to adver- tise a loan of $120,000 with which to finance the construction of public works on which jobless tex- tile workers might be employed. We realize that the textile workers are up against it. We also realize that the signs indi- cating a similar fate befalling the workers of many other big industries are multiplying. We are especially aware of the fact that unless the workingmen of all industries soon take mat- ters into their own hands to prevent acute suf- fering, a heavy wave of unemployment -will overwhelm them sooner than many expect. Thus we are compelled to warn Frank H. Hor- ton, secretary: of the Finishers’ and Dyers’ Union that his: letter to President Coolidge demanding ”a proper and rigid investigation of the textile industry” to enlighten the country about the “inhumane methods that are now being instituted in the mills” is doomed to failure. This unemployment appeal of the working- men will fall on deaf ears. Coolidge is the spokesman of the big Boston cotton and wool interests in whose behalf the Fordney-McCum- ber Tariff act was put over to net-these capi- talists a bonus. running into hundreds of mil- lions of dollars annually. Coolidge is the stal- wart champion of the reactionary interests that are now fighting tooth and nail even the most half-hearted attempts to inform the people $2.00....3 months THE DAILY WORKER. Hugo Stinnes Hugo Stinnes, the mastadon of German capi- talist industry, and one of the giants of inter- national finance and manufacturing has passed away. The writing of obituaries and eulogies we will leave to the kept press of the employing class. His death is the loss of the exploiting class of the world. The exalted editors of this ruling class are financially duty-bound to spill gallons of ink in showering praises and blessing on their dead class heroes. To the working class of the world the death of Stinnes at this time is especially significant. It brings into sharp focus the present status of the class conflict in Germany. The death of this German industrial overlord dramatically summarizes at a stroke, as it were, for the workers of the world, history and lessons of the bitter struggles for power waged by the working class of Germany. This history and these lessons are of inestimable significance to the international proletariat. The rise of Stinnes, the inveterate foe of the 8-hour day, the rise of an industrial and finan- cial.octopus—whose tentacles gripped the very vitals of what was once Germany was made possible only by the establishment of the undis- puted rule of the German capitalist class, In about the conditions prevailing in American in- dustry and government subject to the paralyz- ing grip of the capitalist class. Investigation and enlightenment are the bane ~—-~~of Coolidge and his black tribe of financial and industrial pirates. Even when he was governor, Coolidge did not find it necessary to make the slightest pretense of helping the textile workers in their heroic struggle against the ruthless 9; pression of the textile barons. te bbe Now that his whole political fate depends ‘0 the good will and purse strings of these and other big capitalist interests, Coolidge will sure- ly give the workers a cold shoulder. With the workers, the rule that. “god helps those who help themselves” is especially true. Gompers’ New Ally Bertrand Russell, lecturing in New York re- cently, said that “while this country may even- tually have a Labor administration as a result of such an industrial revolution as England has ‘undergone in the past, it would not be for thirty years.” We have noticed that these liberal intellect- uals from other lands are very careful:not to ‘give aid and comfort to the radical forces in a country from which they receive large lecture fees but never hesitate to. bulwark the status quo policy of the reactionaries. Bertrand Russell is one of the pet aversions of Samuel Gompers but on the labor party ques- tion in America the English intellectual and taborite lines up with the reactionary trade union official. This tendency to support the upholders of capitalism in other nations is characteristic of the liberal intellectual who at heart is a rabid nationalist despite pacifist aberrations that are shown from time to time. The international character of the class struggle means nothing to them because they do not even acknowledge the class struggle. Bertrand Russell for in- stance, has just written a series of articles to ‘prove that the believers in the class struggle hamper progress and that real international co- operation is promoted by business men. In spite of his production of this kind of in- tellectual tripe Bertrand Russell is hailed as a messiah by certain sections of the lower middle- class such as the leaders of the Independent Labor Party of England whose idea of service to the workers is having something done for but not by the working class. Thirty years to establish a labor party in the United States! Even Communists would be tolerated and perhaps encouraged by the capitalists and Sam- uel Gompers if they were willing to wait thirty years for a labor party to say nothing of the dictatorship of the workers and farmers. the establishment of this iron dictatorship of the exploiters over the oppressed German work- ers and poor farmers was made possible only by the black betrayal of the proletarian masses by the German Social-Democratic Party. There is a certain sense of historical justice and ruth- lessness in the passing. away of the symbol of capitalist supremacy in Germany at a time when the German workers are about to be mortgaged to the international capitalist plun-, derers under the leadership of American finan- ciers. The death of Stinnes comes at a moment when the party, that has enabled him to build his. towering edifice as a monument to the almost unlimited power of exploitation in the hands of his class, is on the threshold of death as a decisive political factor in the storms of class war that are now brewing in Germany. Stinnes has gone. But Stinneism is still in the saddle in Germany. The workers and poor farmers of, the world should on this vecasion take account of the why and wherefore of the rise of this monster in Germany at a time when the working class was ready and able to win complete political power. The passing away of Stinnes as a symbol of German monopolist capitalist supremacy indelibly. impresses upon the working masses of all countries the all- important truth that in the decisive struggle between the working class and the capitalist class there are but two roads open to the pro- letarian masses: capitalist dictatorship with its unbearable working conditions and’ intolerably low wages, or the proletarian dictatorship thru the establishmment of a Soviet Republic of workers and farmers whose aim it is to reor- ganize industry for the benefit of those who work and not in the interest of a small call of exploiters. Economic Basis of TiipletGaltin The process by which an empire is weakened thru its colonies becoming economically inde- pendent and thereby loosing the ties which bind them to the central government, is well illustrated by the case of Canada. Before the war Canada was almost wholly dependent upon Great Britain for capital used in exploiting her natural resources, A recent survey shows that the amount of British capital invested in Canada totals $1,890,000,000. Only $50,000,000 of this amount has been invested since 1914 showing that since the outbreak of the World War Canada has been receiving her capital requirements from other sources. Canada has built an industry independent of the capitalists of the home land and the same process has been going on since 1914 in other British colonies. They are now able to supply i Big French Communist Party held its Third Congress in Lyon from January 20 to the 24th, and there some very important questiong were discussed dealing with the fu- ture development of the French revolutionary movement. For the previous’ few months the entire party press had beer opened for discussions, criticisms and sugges- tion by the rank and me. The let- ters published in the “Humanite” showed what great interest was manifested in the debates. Many ideas were’ advancea’ to make the French party a real Communist Party of the masses. Enormous progress has been re- corded. by the French party. The expulsion of the centrists headed by Frossard, Meric, and Paul Louis was balanced by the admission of such real revolutionists as Pierre Mon- atte, the well known former syndi- calist leader, by Henri Barbusse, secretary of the “International An- ciens | Combattants,’ by Andre Marty, the leader of the Black Sea revolt, by Lucien Midol and many others. They brought gwith them revolutionary syndicalists and revo- lutionary ex-soldiers and_ sailors —and the party that for more than two years had been engaged in in- their home markets and in addition produce a surplus for which markets must be found abroad. Instead of shipping their raw mate! to England and receiving manufactured com- modities in return they compete in the world markets with the finished commmodities of the mother land. Economic independence is the foundation of political independence, and this accounts for the centrifugal tendency now apparent in the British Empire. , No amount of Empire propaganda can pre- vent this disintegration of British colonial imperialism, now that it has no strong economic basis. ‘ One hundred leading citizens of Washington Courthouse, Ohio, the home town of the now extremely ex-Attorney-General Harry M. Daugherty, assembled the other day and gave him a vote of confidence, Visitors to Washing- ton Courthouse will have only themselves to blame if, after this warning, they do not leave all valuables at home. we We Communists have other things besides our modesty to commend us but we are a little awed at the statement of John M. Work in the last issue of the Socialist World that he and his type will “furnish the spirit and most of the brains for the American Labor Party” that they hope will be organized at Cleveland. , Senator Wheeler, indicted by a Montana grand jury for connection with an, oil company since his election, can make the plea of the girl who turned up with an illegitimate child, that “it is only, a little one.” - ane 6 é ternal struggles turned its attention ranks in the struggle for the prole- and energy towards organizing its tarian interests. The Occupation of thé Ruhr. The French section of the Com- munist International was given the task of propagating open revolt among the soldiers on the Ruhr. Due to the post-war position of France as a victorious nation, and to its great economic development, she became the most imperialistic country of Europe, the hope and the refuge of all counter-revolutionists She was able to mobilize, 700,000 men and send them into the Ruhr. Our answer to this was the interna- tional conference at Essen and the Monday, April . 1924 with the C. G. T. U. and the ‘“Asso- ciation Republicaine Anciens Com- battants” thruout France, protesting against the invasion of the Ruhr and the arrest of our comrades. The pressure exerted by the French pro- letariat compelled the government to release these proletarian fighters, thus gaining the first victory of the year for the working class. : Great credit. is due the French party for the organization of the Frankfort conference und while this conference was going on Comrades Hoellein and Peri were arrested for certain speeches in the House of the Syndicates. Again the French prole- tariat, led Ly the Communist Party, compelled the bourgeois state to free our comrades. Revolutionary Political Action. In its electoral campaigns the French section of, the Comintern never forgot its Communist mission. On all occasions the Party used the electoral tribune for propaganda purposes, and used workers who were class war prisoners as candi- dates for political otnee, such as: Marty, Badina, Midal, etc. These campaigns were truly carried on on the basis of the class struggle. All the campaigns undertaken were successful from every point of view, especially in gaining the sym- pathies of the organized masses and bringing new elements into the party. Meetings were held for the defense cf Matu and Nicolau, for Saeco and Vanzetti, and all class policy was utilized in campaigns in defense of the revolutionary out- breaks in Germany and in protest against the outrages cf fascism. Thus the. watchwords of the Comin- tern were brought vividly before the great masses of the French prole- tariat. The Syndicalist Movement. By actively showing the workers in the syndicates tne connection be- tween the struggles on the economic war prisoners. The United Front and political fields our comrades succeeded in clearing away the old organization of hugs mars meetings all over France and even in the Ruhr district. As a result of this Com- munist activity there were instituted arrests of the best elements in the Communist Party and the “Confed- eration Generale du Travail Uni- taire.” The old charge of plotting against the security of the state was the reason given. Our party was not discouraged by these arrests and in pursuance with the United Front policy, it organ- ized mass meetings in collaboration syndicalist ideas. By drawing ex- amples from their daily struggles they showed the syndicalists the in- herent bonds betwein the police, army, navy, and all the other appa- rata of the bourgeois state with the Comite des Forges, the bosses, financiers and other exploiters. Our comrades were successful. in winning over to our side the great majority of the Confederation Generale du Travail Unitaire, which is a most important victory considering the wrong interpretations of the role of A Year’s Work of the French Communist Party - the syndicates prevailing them for the past 25 years. Our comrades in the Confederation Generale du Travail Unitaire are the vanguard of the communist-syndi- calist forces that are forced to fight. at every step the disrupters, the an- archo-syndicalist faction, which al- tho a minority tries to cause a lot of mischief. They nave succeeded in retaining the affiliation of the Con- federation Generale du Travail Uni- taire to the R. T. U. I. in spite of the tremendous efforts and the cam- paign Of calumnies iniviated by the agents of ‘the so-called Syndicalist International, In the minds of the great. masses our comrades are the only ones who thru their nuclei in the syndicalist movement are work- ing with all energy towards bring- ing about unity between the Confed- eration General du Travail and the Confederation Generale du_ ‘fravail Unitaire, »thus restoring “to the French proletariat its old’ fighting strength. The Soldiers’ Organizations, Thru the efforts of our nuclei in the Association Republicaine An- ciens Combattants, of which Com- rade Henri Barbusse is president, they have been able to develop this body into a real fighting organiza- tion of ex-soldiers. At every gall of the Communist Party for a Unit- ed Front this organization was al- ways ready, thus -bringing the ex- soldiers to the defense of the revo- lutionary movement. On armistice day the Association Republicaine Anciens Combattants organized a parade headed by Comrade Vaillant Couturier, which marched thru the main boulevards of Paris and left the bourgeoisie in consternation. The police were sent to stop this demonstration, but found that they had to deal this time with deter- mined ex-soldiers ready to fight for their rights. Thus the working class learned that it could parade in spite of the police, The Sports Organizations. The French ‘Communist Party re- alizing the importance cf sports as a means of developing the youth physically and realizing the danger of leaving the working class youth at the mercy of professional bour- geois sport organizations, decided to instill into workers’ sports organi- zations the ideology of the revolu- tionary proletariat. After several months. work in thé Federation Sportive du Travail onr comrades succeeded in getting this working class organization to affiliate itself with the Red Sports Jnternational. among By M. MASS Today this organization publishes a bi-monthly paper called the “Work- ers’ Sports” and instead of losing its members as before, is gaining new members and soon hopes to become one of the greatest sports organiza- tions of France. The French Communist Party can do these things because it has its members wherever workers congre- gate, All workers’ organizations, such as the co-operatives, the loca- taires, etc., were penetrated and our comrades are the live forces in these bodies. They can be differen- tiated from the others by their enthusiasm and their devotion to the cause of the workers. In order to conduct all this work the Party de- veloped a great press, which day by day is gaining the support of the majority of the workers. The Communist Press. The party press is centralized about its main organ, the “Human- ite,” which is read by 200,000 work- ers daily. In addition to the many organs of the Federations in the provinces, which themselves have many dailies and weeklies, the party publishes: “L’Ouvriere,” an organ for propa- ganda among women; “Ia Viox Pay- sanne,” organ of propaganda among the agriculture workers; “Bulletin Communiste,” the famous theoreti- cal weekly edited py Comrade Boris Souvarin; “The Volktribune” of Metz is a German daily, and “The Hu- manite” in German is another daily published in Strassburg. Another “Humanite” is priated in Italian every week, and in the Polish lan- guage there is n weekly. “Le Trayailleur Polonais.” “The Work- ers’ Sports,” published by the Fed- eration Sportive du Travail, and the “Vanguard” the organ of the Com- munist youth make up the ilst of the more important papers. Besides the party press we have great influence over the “Clarte” thru its editor, Comrade Henri Barbusse. This is the outstanding organ of the Communist intellee- tuals. With this press in hand and the efforts put forth by our comrades in the various organizations: the French party can look towards’ the future with confidence. Last year they have demolished a great deal of influence exerted in former times by the social-demo- eracy and by the galutary decisions of the Lyon Congress the Party will forge the tools necessary ifor the destruction of the bourgeois state and the ‘conquest of power. Censorship, Sense and the Labor Movies . . Every week fifty million Americans pour into 15,000 regular motion pic- ture theaters to be stuffed with more subtly effective propaganda than is administered by all the newspapers, li- braries and pulpits put together. In addition 22,000 churches, halls, school- rooms and other public places are equipped to help along the job. The movies are today an indispensable part of the machinery of “Big Busi- ness”—with their $200,000,000 annual expenditure, they employ 300,000 peo- ple in producing, annually, 700 fea- tures, 1,500 short subjects and 500 adaptations of imported films. Day by day thé film producer talks to the largest audience ever assem- bled, and always with the same pre- cise perfection—unhurried and unhin- dered—except by the Censor. It is the Censor’s business to keep from the people that whigh is not “good for them.” The full import of his concern becomes clear wien, upon examination, practically every regula- is calculated to preserve one of the four chief ideological props of the cap- italist system: Law, religion, patriot- ism and morality. . All censorship is. basically political, it is designed to serve those whose economic interests would be hurt by a change from the existing social or- der. The film is used daily to defend the “Hayes,” but the slightest effort lead the cause of the “Have Nots” must run the gamut of the Censor. This politico-economic _ basis is strikingly shown in the Maryland reg- ulation against “inflammatory scen‘ and titles calculated to stirup * * * antagonistic relations between capital and labor.” ‘In Pennsylvania a picture of W. Z, Foster was ordered eliminat- ed “because he had shown himself a bad actor in the steel strike,” and it was allowed to remain only upon ap- peal. The same sort of regulations prevail in Poland, which forbids “films tending to promote emigration agita- tion.” In Australia no pictures can be shown which would be “detrimental to the British Empire (or its allies) in a social, political or national sense.” Here also is forbidden films showing “excessive shooting or indiscriminate fighting as distinct from war films,” but the British go one better by even prohibiting pictures of “realistic hor- hors of war.” ; Law and Order, — The censors everywhere are extreme- ly solicitous of respect for “law and order.” The police must not be criti- cized. Maryland, Londoh and other boards forbid pictures of the “third degree”—the cops can do no wrong. Ontario forbids “any picture which shows successful » of law.” Maryland forbids “doubtful characters exalted to heroes.” Italy forbids films. which “lessen the name and fame of public institutions and authorities, or of officers and agents of the law.” Patriotiom. " “All scenes injurious to Canadian or any other race pride or patriotism, or eataagein n+ to loyalty to the King,” are forbidden in Ontario. The army and navy are props of the existing order beyond the pale of movie criticism. The State of Ohio forbids: “Scenes which ridicule or deprecate public officials, officers of the law, the U. S. army or navy or other governmental authority, or which tend to weaken the autliority of the law.” If a movie scenario were based upon the Teapét Dome testi- mony it would be “eliminated” by ev- ery censor board in the country. Religion. * Charley Chaplin’s masterpiece, “The Pilgrim,” was held up in Pennsylvania because the comedian wore the garb of a minister as a means of escaping from jail. “Priests, ministers, rabbis or the recognized leaders of any re ligious sect” are taken under the wing of this board, and by practically every other. igs Morality. On the field of morality we find the Censor revelling in all his glory. “Sex shall be prohibited,” decrees the master of films in Montreal. “Un- der no circumstances is a woman to sell her virtue,” says Australia. Just like that. Neither death nor divorce shall loosen the legal double knot for legiti- matizing property descent in Montreal if the Censor can help it. One of his prize regulations reads: “Fostering or showing of, divorce as means of dis- solving marriage bonds must not be allowed in this province, nor any sui- cide.” The nude is forbidden everywhere, sometimes pictures of statues wel- comed in any public park result in banning a film. The morals of the movie actors are protected by the pro- hibitions not only of the nude, but “moreover the suggestion—usually by means of subtitles, that nudity is be- ing portrayed before other characters in the film.” Even a Censor admits that clothes |’ alone do not create modesty, but his regulations only add to the confusion. Maryland objects to “the improper ex- hibition of feminine underwear”; Mon- treal is death on girls in one-piece bathing suits. Morality is not confined to matters sexual. Property acquisition is as much a question of capitalist morality as property succession,» or even more so. Ohio forbids all scenes which “teach false ethics,” and specifically those “productions that teach fatal- ism, or the futility of individual re- sistance to adversity.” Pennsylvania forbids “themes or incidents * * * which are designed to inflame the mind to improper adventures, or to establish false standards of conduct.” ‘Who determines the standards, mor- als, or whatever yardstick is to be ap- ‘plied? Why, the politically appointed Censor, of course. Censorship boards are an inducement rather than a cure for moron. movies, The Legal Basis of Censorship. there is not even a theoretical ‘demo- cratic” basis for “freedom of the films,” as in the case of press and speech. Legally the movies are in the same position of these other media of expression at the time of the Inquisi- tion. The regulation of motion pic- tures is solely a matter of “police power” (City of Ames vs. Gerbracht, 189 N. W. 72a)—and this is a term sufficiently elastic to cover a multi- tude of sins. © On this basis the nincompoop mayor of Springfield, Mass., was able to bar a labor film highly praised by the Na- tional Board of Review and passed by all censhorship boards. Offered a pre- view before a jury of his own selection he refused. Offered a chance to judge the film personally, he again refused, saying that he would not permit it if shown the film tens times over with- out being able to detect any objection. Even so reactionary a sheet as the Springfield “Republican” was ‘moved to protest, ‘Truth is no defense, nor is the fact that the book, painting or sculpture upon which a picture is based can be procured in any public library, park or art gallery. Ontario puts it: “Each question of costume or taste must be considered on the basis-of morals”— and the censors’ morals at that. Law Not Same for All. These regulations, despite all hypo- critical pretense, are intended for no other purpose than to keep the movies from being adequately used for labor purposes. Regulations have never pre- vented hundreds of films from show- ing labor organizers as murderous, grafting brutes, while their capitalist opponents embodied all the virtues. The law against interstate shipment of prize fight films, passed to cut down Negro self-respect that might ensue from the sight of one of their race winning the highest pugilistic honors By WILLIAM F. KRUSE in the world, never prevented the President and many of his cabinet from attending illegal showings of such film, or, as charged, profiting from such illegal showings. Nor did the regulations against in- citing to race.hatred ever successfully prevent the showing of the most vil- lainous race poison ever screened, “The Birth of a Nation.” Neither did it stop “The Eternal City,” ostensibly based on Hal Caine’s novel, but actu- ally only a vehicle for rotten Fascist, anti-labor propaganda, These regulations are swung with full force against labor pictures. © In one state thirty-two “cuts” were de- manded, in another state an FSR Mo- tion picture was completely banned as “harmful propaganda.” Im still an- other four reels out of six were coh- demned. The very name of the organ- ization under whose auspices the pic- ture was run was sought to be sup- pressed in one case. The fear of such censorship is un- doubtedly partly responsible for the weak-kneed tone of the “labor” films made prior to the entrance of the Friends of Soviet Rusia into this field. One “labor” film actually claimed as its basis Woodrow Wilson’s “New Freedom.” ; Certain liberal elements are waging an intense battle against movie cen- sorship on the plea that its very ex- istence gives the lie to American dem- ocratic pretensions. We can well af- ford to support them in this fight— where they fail it helps show up the” naked class character of our state, where they succeed it opens the gates wider for more effective pro-working class use of the film. By means of the movies hundreds of thousands of American workers have learned the ‘truth about Soviet Russia, and more hundreds of thousands will do so thru the new films that are being made, Labor : Conventions--1 924 2 July 21-26, Atlanta, Ga., International “roe na Chicago roa nan a Brothechood | ot Feuwity, ire : August il Turonto, ul ‘Canada, *s International Unien. ini August 16.38, Les Lanta vt —. Printing Presamen and Assistants’ 1-14, Ye rcuvers, I, Sarators Springs, N.Y. Mm’ |