The Daily Worker Newspaper, April 15, 1924, Page 6

Page Six THE DAILY WORKER Tuesday, April 15, 1924 ‘THE DAILY WORKER. Published by the DAILY WORKER PUBLISHING CO., 11138 W. Washington Blvd., Chicago, Ill. (Phone: Monroe 4712) SUBSCRIPTION RATES By mail: $3.50....6 months $2,00....3 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, IIlinois J. LOUIS ENGDAHL ) WILLIAM F. DUNNE) “ MORITZ J. LOEB... «Editors usiness Manager Entered as second-class mail Sept. 21, 1923 at the Post- Office at Chicago, Ill, under the act of March 3, 1879. Advertising rates on application. ——————————————— The Significance of Slemp Tf men are known by the company they keep the fondness of Coolidge for ©. Bascom Slemp is any- thing but complimentary to the president. The best-informed Washington observers are agreed that Slemp, now secretary to the president, will be his campaign manager. He has, according to Washington dispatches, “proved himself ex- tremely useful to the president and has impressed Mr. Coolidge by his manner of handling people and dealing with the problems of his office.” It is not only the president that has been im- pressed with the qualifications and attributes of Mr, Slemp. There are several millions of people who are wondering why, in the face of the dis- aster that overtuok the Harding cabinet, due partly to the incorporation in it of doubtful char- acters like Daugherty, President Coolidge con- tinues to rely on Slemp, a composite of all the vices and none of the few virtues of the capitalist camp-followers who, after the great triumph of democracy in 1920,.. proceeded to convert the White House and the capitol in something closely resembling the combined gambling house, brothel and bar-room known as a “honk-a-tonk” that flour- ished in the West up to a few years ago. The close affinity between the puritanical spokesman of capitalism like Coolidge and under- world types like Slemp for purposes of political chicanery is, we believe, a purely American phenomenon. It is often cited by spread-eagle orators as evidence of the thoroly democratic na- ture of American society but it is in fact evidence of degeneracy—both of institutions and of, indi- viduals. We have mentioned before, the wholesale debauchery of the masses by an arrogant and blatant and enormously wealthy ruling class. We believe that the mere toleration of a Slemp—an admitted dealer in political offices, a buyer and seller of political favors, a dispenser of largesse furnished by the capitalist political machine to the hangers-on as the confidant of a president of the United States, the brazen flaunting of this cheap mountebank in the faces of bankrupt farm- ers, child slaves and low-paid workers is sufficient proof that American capitalism—and its Coolidges esis brutally callous, unbelievably corrupt, con- sciously cruel and ruthless. Those who expect from such rulers tame ac- quiescence with the will of the American masses as expressed thru the ballot are either ignorant of history or blind to its lessons. AHero Quits Second Lieutenant Osborne Wood, son of Mili- tary Governor General Leonard Wood, of the Philippine Islands, has quit. President Coolidge has accepted his resignation. As matters stand now the young hero will be spared the inconyen- ience of having his record in the Islands examined by a Senatorial Committee. Osborne Wood has confessed to having cleaned up $800,000 in speculative deals in a few months. This aroused the suspicion of many observers. Coupled with the policy pursued by his father, the Military Governor General, the affair begged. in- vestigation. There are many who are convinced that young Osborne was merely a receiver for his father in reaping the rewards and payments for allowing a horde of American prospectors and concessionaires to infest the Philippines. The swiftness with which "Osborne Wood quit the United States Army and ‘the readiness with which Coolidge accepted his resignation make one yery suspicious. Why the hurry? Do Wood and Coolidge fear that Congress may get around to the Ladd and Frear resolutions demanding an invyes- Industrial Unionism and War The American labor movement has expressed itself officially more than once in opposition to conscription of labor in time of war but the prepa- rations to militarize the industries goes on mer- rilly just the same. A recent bulletin of the Eighth Army Corps Area shows that the transportation industry: is in ‘process of preparation for what is euphemisti- cally called a “national emergency” and that the superintendents and other classes of lackeys will function in war-time just as they do in peace— as the drivers and herdsmen for the capitalists and their government. The bulletin, issued from Fort Sam Houston, Texas, is as following: “The Reserve Railway Battalions recently author- ized by the War Department have met with very hearty approval and co-operation on the part of the railroads. In the Eighth Corps Area nearly all the officers personnel has been obtained for the three Battalions allocated to that territory, but there are still some vacancies in the various non-commis- sioned officer grades which are to be filled by quali- fied men. The following gives the necessary quali- fications for the respective grades: Assistant Chief Dispatcher, Round House Foreman Foreman are eligible for grade of M Assistant Yardmaster, Bridge Foreman, Car Re; Foreman, Track Foreman, Chief Clerks and As ant Chief Clerks for Technical’ Sergeants; Chief Clerk and Assistant Chief Clerks for ist Sergeants; Road Foreman, Yardmaeter, Master Carpenters, Dispatghers, Master Blacksmiths, In- spectors, Locomotive Engineers, Station Agents, and Traveling Foreman for Staff Sergeants; Car- penters, Conductors, Crane Operators, Firemen, Station Agents, Line For in, Telegraphers, Me- chanics, Masons, Structural fronworkers, Alrbrake Experts, Blacksmiths, Boil akers, Electricians, Machinists, and Clerks for Sergeante; Conductors, Crew Dispatchers, Station Agents, Airbrake men, Blacksmiths, Boiler-makers, Machinists, Car Ingpec- tors, Carpenters, Crew Dispatchers, Painters, Wreck- ers, Tower men, Line men and Clerks for Corporals. Remembering That We Are Communists Deed development of the working class movement is a zigzag course. It is not merely a fight of the workers against the capitalists and the capitalist government. The lineup is not a cléar one—here workers, there capitalists. During the course of the struggle, we have workers aligned against workers. Political movements also determine that, based on their ecunomic inter- ests, capitalists line up against capi- taliats. In Germany, there is the party of the. landowners, one of the in- dustrialists. and one of finance capi- tal. In France, industmal capital fights against finance capital; in Englang, finance capital and land- owners against industrial capital. In the United States, finance capital fights ayuinst industrial capital, altho the interlocking of directorates in banking institutions and indus- trial enterprises makes the cleavage less clear. Analysis of Various Lands. The labor movement is even more confused. In Germany, the various labor federations adhere to different parties. In tke big German Feder- ation of Labor, the Comnunists ani Social Democrats are fighting not only for control of the unions, but for their political orientation. The agricultural workers follow the lca4 of three parties, the Communist, Social Democratic and Catholic Party. Then there is the big stratum of the middle class, espe- cially the lower middle class. These elements, according to their imme- diate econgmic situation, vacillate between the Communists, Social Democrats and some liberal party. This is typical of the petty bour- geosie, whose interests and, conse- Any patriotic railway employes who are inter- ested and desire to become affiliated with these or- ganizations are requested to communicate. with the Officer in Charge of Organized Reserves, Eighth Corps Area, Fort Sam Houston, Texas. There are no obligations exacted from members of these organizations, except in case of a National Emergency. Attendance at Summer Training Camps is optional. Aside from the interesting information that the railroad companies have given ‘this scheme of the militarists “very hearty approval and co-opera- tion” there is that important faet which the list discloses in naming the quality of the personnel required, i. e., that modern warfare is largely a mechanical process and cannot be fought with- out the aid of-large masses of. workers, skilled and unskilled, behind the lines. In a great industrial nation like America it is in the power of the workers to prevent war; were the workers organized in industrial unions it would be still easier but even with their craft unions as they now exist organized labor can, if it is so minded, wreck all war plans of American imperialism. The last adventure in behalf.of the House of Morgan was successful only because the official- dom of the organized labor movement went over neck and crop to the program of mass murder launched under the guise of making the world safe for democracy by; even under. their. personal direction in close alliance with the department of justice and the army intelligence -service— which many a labor leader joined to spy upon his own membership—there was considerable. but rather muffled protest from ‘the masses. The railway unions alone, if determined and well-led, could stop or at least seriously cripple any war engineered by the ruling class. It is probably for this reason that a special effort is being made to make their memberships part of the capitalist war-machine. : * Peace societies and detailed descriptions of the horrors of war circulated by kind-hearted persons are all very well, but the murder of the masses to extend the empires of their rulers’ will cease only when the labor organizations refuse first to wage war and then, when confronted with the bloodthirsty special suppressive agencies of capi- talist government, use their organized might to} quently, their psychology change with the political wind. In the United States, history will not be different; the development is tardier owing to the economic de- velopment of the country, and the composition of the political parties will somewhat differ from that of the European political parties. The big capitalist parties, up to a short time ago, had the support of the capitalists, petty bourgeoisie, farm- erg and workers, Democratic illu- sions are powerful in America, owing to the cast that starting life “on a shoe-string” was possible here. But ag these possibilities have disappeared, owing to the concen- tration of capital, and existences are being more definitely srutified. The workers passed thru a_ levelling process during the war; many small tradesmen have been prroletarizer; farmers have been proletarized, as witness the increase in farm ten- ancy and the flight of millions of farmers from the land; capital has been concentrated, Farmers Becoming Class Conscious. The proletarization of the farm- ers and of a section of the petty bourgeoisie—professionals, }eachers! and .small tradesmen—is one of the most remarkable phenomena in American history. The workers, on the other hand, in part, despite be- comin; real proletarians. and no longer belonging to the “aristoc- racy” of labor, retain their old psy- chology. it is not astonishing, therefore, that the main movement for a realignment of political forces in the United States emanates from the farmers. Crushed by finance capital, robbed by the railroads, ele- vators and speculators; forced to sell at siaryation prices and to buy industrial products at highly in- flated prices; they are rebelling and their rebellion is taking on a po- litical aspect. The farmers are, as yet, politi- eally conscious only in part. Among many of them, it is merely a repe- tition of the People’s Party move- ment—aganist the Jand-sharks, banks and railroads. The class- zonscious farmer part knows clearly what it wants and has learned from the history of the past movements, and particularly of the Nonpartisan League, that it can only get what it wants from a class party. They have also learned that a farmer movement alone will result in fail- ure—it will be crushed as the Non- partisan League was crushed. The history of Bulgaria demonstrates the same facts in Europe. Hence these farmers have united with revolutionary and radical workers in the formation of the Federated Farmer-Labor Party and the many State farmer-labor pzrties, The other section of the farmers, less class-conscious, but demanding that a change in political affairs be brought about, still believes in “good,” honest” leaders. When such leaders appear, who have no intention of adhering to a class party, as La Follette, Shipstead and Johnson, these farmers follow in their trail, in the futile belief that these St. Georges wiil be, able to’ kill the dragons of the old hig capi- talist parties. Their immediate eco- nomic interests may not be so close- ly bound up with those of the work- ers—or when they actually are, they still cherish the belief that all Americans ste “free citizens” and are alike at the polls; and especially that the American electors control the government. The workers are held back by many influences. Suffering from the same illusions as the farmers and petty bourgeoisie, they are im- prisoned by ieaders whe, because of associations, lean in two directions, Gompers, as a member of the Na- tional Civic Federation, is merely an appendage cf the capitalist class and is trying again to chain the workers to the wheels of the capital- ist political chariot. Johnson, Keat- ing, Fitzpatrick, et al., whose at- tachments are not so strong—altho once they were exponents of a sep- arate farmer-labor party—are ready to barter. Today they have strong leanings to the “good” candidates of a big capitalist party. But the revolutionary and progressive work- ers, who have seen thru the sham of the game and have learned at least. part of the lessons that were pounded into their heads in the past few years, but especially since 1922, demand the formation cf a class party,. together with the working farmers, Dangers of Third Party Movement. The question before us in this ar- ticle isnot whether the result of the conflict cf interest at the St Paul convention will be a class farmer-labor party or a third party. The problem is: What is to be our attitude toward either one of these parties? What is to be our action as Communists? Our action must always be Com- munist action. We must never for- get that we belong to a Communist Party, with « Communist program. Not alone are we bound by the disci- pline of a Communist Party, but we have to propound the yrinciples of a Communist Party. How then shall we be able to stand for both the Workers Party and the National Farmer-Labor Party or a_ third party program ¢ Two dangers confront us: In the propaganda in the shops and union |\gra' meetings, at public meetings and on the street corners, we may either en- tirely forget the fact that we are Cosimunists and promote the pro- gram and platform of the reform party alone; or we may remember we arc Communists so strongly that we bitterly attack the reform party platform. Both methods are wrong—altho there is far greater danger that we shall forget our own definite aims— the aims of the Workers Party—and identify ourselves compictely with the reformistic policy. In our zeal to secure the co-operation of pro- gressive trade union leaders, in the needle trades and elsewhere, there was danger at one time of our iden- | tifying ourselves completely with their plans and not disclosing the fact that we are Communists. In aur great, wholesome desire to build up a great class farmer-labor party, we muy easily put our soul into the: movement, make its pro- gram our own and gradually swing over to reformism. This is not likely to be true of the Workers Party, which is made up of healthy proletarian elements—but it is’ true of single members and of ‘large numbers ef them.’ Owing to the dif- ficulty of defending a new party against the big capitalfst parties end of presenting our criticism of its aims and methods; and in view of our wish to demonstrate to the workers and farmers that we are earnestly endeavoring to build up the new party, some members may very easily steer into reformist channels and actually get lost to the Communist movement. Concrete Examples of Degeneration. This is not only theoretically pos- sible but lias actually taken place in two drastic instances in recent his- tory. The Communist Party of Germany sent three of the best members of its Central Executive Committee into the Socialist-Com- munist government of Saxony. It seemed as if this government might be the starting“ point of the Prole- tarian Revolution jn Germany. But these three right Wing Communists completely demoralized the Com- munist forces of Germany. Whether the German workers were ready to fight or not, the spectacle of these three Communists carrying on propaganda and acting in such fashion that they were not to be differentiated from the left social- democrats confused the revolution- ary masses, who were waiting for action. ‘These’ supposedly _ tried Communists were really corrupted by contact with the reformists and forgot their Communist program and aims, In Great Britain, again dumng the recent elections, several Com- munist candidates on thes Labor Party ticket even refused to state that they were Communists. Their election addresses played up all the reformistie ‘illusions that still fill the minds of the working masses. Imbued with the false idea that it is their prime duty to build up the Labor Party against the capitalist parties, and not that they must de- fend it and still mercilessly criticize it for the weaknesses of its program and the falsity of its methods, they adulterated the.Communist propa- ganda. Thereby they made the whole Commtnist Party responsible for propaganda and ‘acts that.a Com- munist Party must repudiate if it does not wish to be completely discredited. Our Duty. Let no one think that the task is simple: To defend a party and criti- cize it! It is extremely difficult for membership that is not trained in “such maneuvering. | Left. The struggle throws us_ into this action and the membership must be prepared for it. If the members do not retain their physiognomy, if the Workers Party does not retain’ its identity, both-in propaganda and ac- tion as a Communist Party, it will be lost in the struggle and disinte- ite, There is the other danger that the party may forget its duty to defend and build up the new party as the only means whereby the masses of workers and working farmers will be separated from the big capitalist parties. it is an illu- sion to hope that the masses of the workers and working farmers will, at the present stage of the struggle in the United States, turn to the Workers Party as their political leader. But to stand aside from the struggle and from participation in the party, even a third party— under certain given conditions— means to isolate ourselve® to be totally discredited as leaders of the revolutionary working class. It By ISRAEL AMTER means to howl into the desert with our propaganda and to find no heed- ing ears. Unexperienced comrades, how- ever, may easily turn to the other pole and attack the veformist party so vehemently, that our sincerity in supporting it may easily be ques- tioned. We must not repeat the errors of vwo and three years ago, when we were inexperienced in trade union work and struck out equally hard with both fists at all trade union leaders, regardless of the fact of whether they were will- ing to co-operate with us or were our qutsvoken enemzes. Our enmity went” so far that comrades were ‘ready even to attack a Communist who had been elected a trade union official, simply because’ he had :be- come an Official. These were power- ful remnants of left Communism from which the American Commun- ists were suffering very seriously, Danger of Left-Communist Action. There is the further danger that Communists who recognize the proletarian struggle will not be fought out in the United States con- gress but by entirely different methods, may not earnestly enter the election fight with proper en- thusiasm. Even as Communists we must utilize even the United States congress to carry on cur. battle, A Liebknecht, a Cachin—the Com- munists in the German, Bulgarian and Italian parliaments—have been able to rally big hosts of workers and. peasants to the banner of the Communist Party. They have util- ized parliament as the platform te tell—not so much the capitaliste— but the workers and peasants the truth of the economic and politidal situation. It is the foremost tri- bunal that the bourgeoisie furnishes us—for the revolution. Hence we we must uproot this residue of Left Communism—remembering that we are Communists, Furthermore, the workers and farmers of the United States still believe that the United States con- gress will be able to help them. They must have their own party, They must elect their own men. They must themselves experience the fact that the capitalists of America will slam the doors of con- gress in their faces and institute , a fascist dictatorship hefore they will hand over any, power to the workers and farmers. The workers of New York and Chio should have learned this lesson in part; but they still. believe that “democracy” exists in the United States and that these two instances are faux pas. We must fight along with them, all the time pointing out the futility of this method of struggle, and by word and act showing them the right way. This is remembering that we are Communists. Remember! We Are Communists. There iz, nowever, less danger of our being too Left than of being. too Right., Having come out of the sickness, practice shows that parties swing over to the Right, ow- ing to their lack of experience in real Communist tactics, The Central Executive Committee and the membership must beware of these dangers, Should the deadline be crossed, enormous damage can be done. The Workers Party can be demoralized, the revolutionary work- ers. who are now turning to us will be disgusted; the Communists, who are acting as the real ferment within the whole labor and farmer movement, will have ost thelr stamina and the whole movement will be set back years. Despite these dangers, the Work- ers Party must enter the struggle and prove its mettle. To stand still is to forget our task. To act merely as a propaganda organiza- tion ig to betray the workers and farmers who want action, This ¢ondemn us to complete isolation— while the movcment will stumble on. Hence into the ‘ight, all the time remembering that we are Com- munists! From Wiper fo Swiper In Twenty Short Years thereabouts he walloped a young up-saved his money. He was loyal to start who had the temerity to thumb|Johan’s interests. To him Johan was his nose at a passing gentleman—a|always right. He fought for him with GOOD man who had been dispensing | his FISTS on more than one occasion, CHARITY to the poor. One thing|He was soon PROMOTED. Harry had been taught well. “Now,| He became office boy. He cleaned Harry,” his mother would say, as she| windows, likewise cuspidors. He wiped the suds from her eyes, “al-}made himself USEFUL. Gray-haired ways respect yer betters, muh son,|men, with gold-headed canes, passing and yuh are shure to git ahead.” him in the waiting room, were often The thumbed GENTLEMAN was /|heard to remark sagely: “That young surprised to find such GALLANTRY|man has a BRILLIANT future before among the hovels of the POOR. Hejhim.” And he was ALERT. He got went to the Sinwell shack and looked |to know the men who called there— then he was PATRIOTIC, another necessary and useful VIRTUE. When our correspondent asked him if he sympathi#éd with our country in its ‘sublime effort to save the world for DEMOCRACY, he replied nobly: “It has my sympathy.” In leaving this GREAT man’s office: our correspondent could not help no- ticing a framed verse on the wail which Mr, Sinwell smilingly said was his life MOTTO: “The heights by great men reached and kept tigation of the administration of General Wood in the Philippines? On the face of it this appears to be the only explanation for the precipitate flight of this member of Wood’s military kitchen cal inet oppressing the Filipinos. But we venture to say that there is an addi- tional, immediate, reason for the hurried depart- ure of this military man who never saw fire or smelled smoke on the battlefields. It is being openly charged in Philippines that Lieutenant Osborne Wood has &eaned up his fortune in in- siduously aiding and abetting the smuggling of Chinese coolies into the Islands for employment strip the exploiters of all economic and political power. ‘ Pn RY, oe It can be said here that the opposition in indus- trial unionism by all agencies of the employers and finance-capitalists springs not alone from their fear that higher wages, shorter hours, im- proved conditions, would cut down their profits; the more intelligent section of the capitalist class realizes that the immensely augmented knowledge of their power that this form of organization gives the workers would tend to increase the Remarkable Story of Harry F.~Sin- well’s Rise From Obscurity to Wealth and Power. By R. R. H. ; payee a without permission from Ameficana Magazine of Feb. 30, 1918.) This is a faithful record of SUC- CESS against overwhelming odds; of a typical American tenement urchin, born of a drunkard father and a washerwoman, and reared amid BIG men. Sometimes he overheard by American business interests. Nor has the widely circulated accusation that young Wood has made a lot of money in closing his eyes to the gambling institutions flourishing under his fath- - er’s regime been cleared up by the War Depart- ment. Young Wood has quit in order to aveid facing e fire of a searching investigation. Our Puri- ic President has covered up his retreat in order to hide the corruption and graft of the imperialist rule of General Wood. The names of all informers in criminal proceed- ings in Kentucky must now be made public in ‘conformity with a recent ruling of the federal court of that state. _ From what we know of the turbulent population of that state we are of the opinion that one of two things will happen; there will be either a sudden decrease in the number of informations sworn out or a startling increase in the number of deaths by lead poisoning. danger of a challenge to capitalist industry and government al! along the line to extent of making a successful majo: war impossible. War is as necessary to capitalism in its present imperialistic stage as profits and there is conse- quently a direct connection between the huge foreign loans of the finance-capitalists, their kind words for the supporters of craft unionism and their unrelenting war fare on all working class groups who preach and organize for industrial unionism. 4 The bulletin of the Bighth Area Army Corps is an unanswerable argument for industrial un- ionism as a political weapon. With the revelations made by the DAILY squalor and adversity. It is one of the glorious “simple annals of the poor,” a veracious tale of a LIFE which might well be emulated by any ambitious young American, What tho the skies were gloomy on your natal day? What tho vice and ig- norance surrounded your youth? We cannot all be president, but mayhap we can all be captains of industry if we but exercise the quality of stick- ‘The Americana is a magazine of in- spiration for the COMMON PEOPLE. We cater to the MASSES. No eu- phemistic furbelows to our language —no attempt to influence public opin- ion. We are here to preach content- ment and optimism—to show that hu- man failures deserve to fail and that WORKER relative to the use of relief funds by|those at the top reached there by Hoover for financing a murderous war on the workers’ and peasants’ government of Russia we have the explanation of the attacks made by. him on the Friends of Soviet Russia. : sheer GRIT and ATION. And so to our story. | was well known on the Bowery. He had never attended school, He was a FIGHTER. One day back in 1898 or long and earnestly at the family pho- tographs. He seemed especially, im- pressed with Harry's yellow CURLS, as a baby. He then volunteered help the brave boy. That was just the beginning. For be it known—that gentleman was the illustrious John D, Oilyfeller! Thus the humble Harry became. acquainted with ROYALTY, as it were, Harry went to work in an oil field. His first job was to keep the ma- chinery CLEAN. Johan D. knew what he was about. He wanted to teach Harry to be CLEAN about EVERYTHING, and Harry's subse- quent career proves the wisdom of his sponsor. Harry became known as the OFFICIAL WIPER, a modest be- ginning it is true—but wait. Harry wiped well. Not only that, He did MORE than he was paid for, He held Johan's horses at the door. If Mrs, O. called, he held her baby. He was always OBLIGING. He worked OVERTIME from choice, He illuminating the door. conversations, thru The men inside talked about SENATORS and retaining fee: and such like, It is thought that Harry PROFITED all thru life from the things he OBSERVED at the office. * EN . *. * J And so, from the foregoing narra- tive you will understand how Harry eventually MARRIED Johan's daugh- ter, the same girl he had formerly held on his knee to OBLIGE Mrs. 0. And it will be clear, from our de-|. tailed account, how Harry became WEALTHY. He saved his money. From a mere he became a SWIPER. Who can say he did not deserve such promotion? Nay, EARN it? He worked hard, as we have seen, Above all, he was loyal to his em- ployer’s TS. Were not attained by sudden flight, But they, while their companions slept, Were looting oil wells in the night.” The Poor Fish says he is against Perhaps that is why he was chosen | child labor but that if the man position when the WAR started. And for such @ distinguished dollar-a-year|ers have to hire adults lots of things would cost more,