The Daily Worker Newspaper, April 22, 1924, Page 6

caste THE DAILY WORKER Tuesday, April 22, 192) THE DAILY WORKER. Published by the DAILY WORKER PUBLISHING CO., 1113 W. Washington Blvd., Chicago, Ill. (Phone: Monroe 4712) Soviet Russia and British Bankers We remarked the other day a change in the tone of the British capitalist press when commenting on the Anglo-Russian negotiations and expressed the opinion that the fact that Soviet representa- tives had shown no disposition to discuss any trade matters until all political questions had been settled, was largely responsible for the change in front. The London Daily Herald furnishes an addi- By TOM MATTHEWS, | 5 1 Reiss RRR ETA ° which had sunk a knife into his pro-|rick the presidency of the Chicago gram, Why? 7 Federation ‘of Labor is the “be all William H. Johnson succeeded in| and ‘the end all here.” William H. getting together an organization rep-| Johnson regards the presidency of resentative of over a million organ-|the International Association of Ma- ized workers for “progressive politi-|chinists no less highly. cal action” and was himself elected (The same may prove true in the chairman of that organization, yet we| case of La/Follette. He is not over- see that organization refusing to|jy anxious to give up the committee ated, we shall consider it our duty to go. ahetd without you. If you be; tray the cause, we will only feel that we must strive all the harder for its success. Sd far as we are concern- ed, the only limit to your- leadership is your own ability, but we shall not hesitate to take over the leadership of the movement if you should try to N the woefully reactionary Ameri- can labor movement a leader need not stand far in advance of his fel- lows to gain a reputation for progres- siveness. In fact, to differ from the trade union bureaucracy on even one fundamental issue stamps a trade un- SUBSCRIPTION RATES By mail: $3.50....6 months $2.00....3 months y mall Chicago only): $4.50....6 months $6.00 per year [a $8.00 per year 3 Months 2.51 Address all mail and make out checks to THE DAILY WORKER 1113 W. Washington Bivd. Chicago, Illinois IR: AED DA RS he SR ASS RTS NERA, Sl ES J. LOUIS ENGDAHL ) Rai WILLIAM F, DUNNE ) sarcataen MORITZ J. LOBB...... .Business Manager Entered as second-class mail Sept. 21, 1923 at the Post- Office at Chicago, Ill, under the act of March 3, 1879. af 290 Advertising rates on application. ——————————————— * . : Jingoism In Excelsis It must be a painful thing to be a 100 per cent American and live in constant fear of blood dilu- tion thru mixtyre with some other nationality. That the life of the 100 per center is a nightmare of this sort is indicated by the wild alarums now sounded by some of the tribe following the passage of this sort is indicated by the wild alarums now Japanese exclusion act. A number of the small-caliber statesmen who in- fest the capitol are proposing now that a soldier be stationed every hundred yards along the Canadian and Mexican borders to keep out any aliens who might be tempted to slip in and the proposal has the enthusiastic support of all the militarists who are quick to seize every opportunity that can“be used as an excuse to increase the rank and file of the army and thereby the official caste. As for the native sons of California who stirred up the Japanese-mess they are still standing pat but fate seems to be against them. In addition to the boycott on California products sponsored by the I. W. W. in retaliation for the persecution of their members, California stock has developed hoof and mouth disease and the neighboring common- wealths have thrown a sanitary cordon around the Golden State just as the tourist season is about to begin; the Japanese have also instituted a boy- eott and, altho the Californian capitalists may deny it, it is going to hurt the California god —business—very severely. Manuel Quezon, head of the Phillipine indepen- denée mission, has also denounced the action of -ongress and the senate in totally excluding Japanese and -he appears to voice the general sentiment of the masses thruout the Orient. American imperialism may feel strong enough © antagonize the whole world, to shut its doors o the populations it is exploiting by means of auge loans to foreign capitalists and governments gut from the Communist point of view American imperialism has, by its catering to the prejudices of the Nordies whose heads are supposed to denote imusual ability to rule, begun to solidify against it not only Europe but Asia as well. When the masses of the American workers and ‘armers are called upon to fight the masses of sastern and western nations for the conquest of the world by American finance capital they may aot look so lightly upon the hysterical outbreaks of jingoism that mark the present premier posi- tion of the United States as the financial overlord of capitalist civilization. Aiding the Garment Strikers. The striking garment workers will appreciate the financial support promised them by the last meeting of the Chicago Federation of Labor speak- ing in the name of organized labor in this city but they would appreciate more and organized labor as a whole would be benefited more by a display of economic power. The task of getting unions in other industries to strike in sympathy with the garment workers is t little too big in the present stage of the develop- nent that the American labor movement but a wholesale violation of the injunction against picketing by officials and members of the local abor organizations would, we believe, be the next rest thing. The DAILY WORKER has urged the ase of this tactic from the first day the injunction was issued but altho the American Federation of Labor is on record for violation of injunctions, President Gompers came to Chicago, stopped at the Morrison hotel and left again without utter- ing a single word against the injunction now in torce. The tentative plans for a parade of labor organizations thru the loop district in a demon- stration against the injunction have also been iropped ; all that is left of the plan is the proposal to seat striking garment workers on a float and solicit onlookers for strike donations. _The suggestion of Sam Gordon, sentenced to 30 jays in jail by Sullivan for injunction violation, that a float be run denouncing injunctions and in- lunetion judges, received applause in the federa- tion meeting but not approval altho it came the nearest to being anything savoring of a militant ature. The garment workers will probably win their trike with financial assistance byt nothing will vave- been settled. The injunction will stand to ve used again whenever a strike impends. Nothing is ever settled until it is settled right ind injunctions will continué to hamper labor un- il labor unites against them as the bosses do for hem and shows the employers and their kept courts that they will not be bound by legal red ape in their fight against exploitation, geal. entitled “Russia’s Counter-Claims” forth with great wealth of detail the facts upon which Soviet Russia’s damage case against the ter-claims presented by Soviet Russia for injury to property and loss of life during the invasions and counter revolutions engineered and financed by the British government and British capitalists exceed by millions of pounds the British claims arising out of the expropriation of British prop- erty owners by the Soviet government. Speaking of the data contained in the Coates pamphlet, the Daily Herald says: That Russia has, in international law, a perfectly good case, can scarcely be ques- tioned. No state of war existed between the Soviet Republic and the British Empire. The action of our Government in sending muni- tions and men to the aid of the various “White” generals was a complete violation of its international duty. At the worst it was murder and piracy. At the best it was the giving of armed assistance to one of the par- ties in a civil war. The case of the Alabama is conclusive. We then admitted liability to pay damage for mere negligence in allowing a British-built ship to be used for the destruction of Federal commerce. In the Russian case the British government, not by negligence but by overt acts, was directly responsible for far greater damage done by British ships, munitions and men. That fact has got to be honestly faced. For any attempt to evade it could only result in the destruction of the country’s moral credit. We have ourselves been instrumental in fram- ing the international law on the question. We must accept the law even when it tells against ourselves. Mr. Coates’ pamphlet—with a preface by the chairman of the Trades Union Congress— does face the facts. And it deserves careful reading, not only by everyone who wants to undergtand the forthcoming negotiations, but by ejairyone who wants to realize what vile workbeas done in the name of this country by the Ps who were so recently its rulers and who aspire to rule it again. Just before the negotiations began the Mac- Donald government was presented with a memo- randum signed by London’s leading bankers urging it to make no concessions to the Soviet representatives and the British capitalist press applauded loudly. The statement in the Daily Herald is evidently a warning to the financial fraternity that in the matter of dealing on a basis of equality with Soviet Russia and the recognition of the justice of the Russian claims for the mur- der, ravage and rapine perpetrated by agents of British capitalism, the labor wing of the Labor party is going to stand for no nonsense. Art and The Boss Class Five hundred workers are on strike in Pullman and the police prevent the showing of Karl Capek’s “Robots” in that industrial suburb. It is taxing our credulity a little too much to believe that the policemen themselves had Siscovered that tional reason. W. P. Coates has issued a pamphlet which sets government of Great Britain is based. The coun- ionist as being progressive. John Fitzpatrick became an out- standing progressive thru his stand for independent political action and his implied support of industrial un- ionism, John Brophy became a “pro- gressive” by supporting nationaliza- tion of the coal mines. William H. Johnson is regarded as a progressive even today because of his support in the past for industrial unionism thru amalgamation, independent political action, and recognition of Soviet Rus- sia. Judging by the records of such pro- gressives as these, we may safely say that the progressive gains his repu- tation by taking a stand more or less in advance of the crowd on certain vital questions affecting the welfare of the labor movement, (We see this to be true equally on the political field, where La Follette wins renown thru taking a position far in advance of the Republican party, while even Hiram Johnson lays some claim to progressiveness by differing with the Republican. machine to some slight degree.) Words Versus Deeds. Wherein does the progressive trade unionist differ from the Communist trade unionist? John Fitzpatrick became one of the foremost exponents of the idea of independent political action in the American trade union movement. He went even so far as co-operate with the Communists in the calling of a great national convention for the pur- pose of forming a mass Farmer-Labor Party. Yet when the convention con- vened with 700 delegates and the for- mation of such a party became an immediate possibility, Fitzpatrick “backslid” and in so doing he “slid” so far as even to denounce the very Communists with whom he had co- operated in calling the convention. Why? John Brophy collaborated in a pro- gram for the nationalization of the coal mines for the consideration of the Miners’ Union. Yet when the time came for Brophy to put up a fight he deserted the ship and de- move forward to ingependent politi- cal actién, while its leaders indorse the diseredited McAdoo for the presi- dency of the United States. Why? Liberal Nonsense. Certain liberals claim that such conditions are purely the results of “Communist interference.” “If the Communists would keep their hands off and not try to force the movement ahead too fast,” these liberals say, “such denouncements would not occur.” To liberals who stand off afar and study surface eruptions thru field glasses, such reasoning may seem logical, but to those who actually participate in the broad labor move- ment, it is nothing more than sheer nonsense. As a matter of fact, these liberals themselves play a more important role in connection with the treason of the progressives, when such oc- curs, than we Communists may wish to admit. It would seem strange in- deed, if a progressive, about to em- bark upon some great national un- dertaking in co-operation with the Communists, should not be affected by the continual warnings and insinua- tions, whispered and open, of the li- berals: “Look out for these Communists. They will try to lead the movement too far ahead.” “Be careful or those Communists will capture the movement away from you.” “Those Communists take all their orders from Moscow. Those Russians don’t understand the problems you are facing. They will lead you into a blind alley if you don’t watch out, ete., etc.” Rare indeed, is the progressive who is so well ballasted as to pay no at- tention to such uncernanded propa. ganda as is continually being carried on by these liberals. Fear of the Reaction. While this poisonous propaganda of the liberals has a telling effecty on the progressives, it is not always the principal cause of traitorous actions. Every leader derives a certain plea- sure and personal satisfaction from fended the Lewis administration, as a Republican learer.) To these gentlemen their positions are something tangible, something which they possess here and now. As one so-called liberal has unwittingly expressed it, they fear having to give up these positions to enter ‘the des- ert, full of wild tribes, with whom responsible trade unionists cannot possibly co-operate.” “Responsible trade unionists” can- not co-operate with the Communists, according to this liberal, for they might lose their positions of responsi- bility and be “kicked out of the Amer- ican Federation of Labor,” With the proper interpretation plac- ed upon his high-sounding words, this liberal is eminently correct. The “practical progressive~ prefers his po- sition of responsibility in the old Movement to the position of leader- ship in 1he new, for the former means @ regular salary as song as he “be- haves’, while the latter may call for that Sacrifce which always falls to the lot of the pioneer. It does not matter that he may be “responsible” to the Gompers’ bureaucracy rather than to the rank and file. Communists Willing to Co-operate. Treason and betrayal are to be ex- pected of the progressives, yet the Communists will cooperate with them in spite of that possibility. Even tho @ progressive be right on only one issue, the Communists will co-operate with him on that issue and go down the line for it. Whether it be for amalgamation of the trade unions, recognition of Soviet Russia, protec- tion of the foreign-born workers, or- ganization of the unorganized, or for any other issue vital to the labor movement the ..Communists will be found willing at all times to co-op- erate to the limit of their ability and patience. But to all such progressives we Communists say: “We are only too glad to co-operate with you in any undertaking for the good of the broad labor movement, and so long as you Stay true to the cause our assistance can be taken for granted. When, his “leadership.” To John Fitzpat- MUSIC. An Arabian Night's Fantasy By ALFRED V. FRANKENSTEIN. Rimsky-Korsakoff’s “Scheherezade,” a work in four movements descrip- tive of the Arabian Nights was played on the twenty-seventh regular prog- ram of the Chicago Symphony or- chestra at Orchestra Hall on April 18 and 19. Few composers have written more brilliant Oriental -work of the Russian composer. Thruout all the movements, binding them together, is a theme in a sole violin, represent- ative of the Sultana Scheherezade telling her marvelous stories. The first movement describes the sea, and the ship of Sinbad. Undulating rhythms of water play back and the Capek play contains a revolutionary message and it follows therefore that the censorship was exercised at the behest of the industrial magnates of that community. We hear a good deal about the impartiality of art—especially when artists for one reason oF ai other see fit to glorify some phase of the existing system; “Rossum’s Universal Robots” is art but it is not impartial; it strikes a great blow at the automatonizing process to which the workers are subjected by modern industrial capitalism and no worker can see the play without having at least a spark of hope arouse in his breast. It was probably a wise thing that the Pullman rulers did, viewing the incident from their stand- point, but we want to take this opportunity to point out to our artistic friends who balk some- times at the eminently practical character of the Communist movement that the emancipation of the artists of the pen, brush and chisel can be ac- complished only by alliance with the working class. The artists are no more free under capi- talism than are the wage-earners, as the Pullman incident shows. A policemen, taking his orders from the master of thousands of wave-slaves, makes no distinction between a great work of art like Capek’s play and the utterances of a soap-boxer if his bosses dis- cover that art too can endanger the grip of the capitalists on the minds of the masses. The production of Capek’s “Robots” was stopped in Pullman Sunday but the process of robotising the workers there is carried on at full speed. Perhaps “Hell and Maria” Dawes is favored as running-mate for Coolidge because they need some- one who can talk language the cabinet can under- ate? forth across the orchestra, with a heavy, stormy figure breaking in at times. The second movement is a magical one, containing the mystery and sor- cery of many of the tales of Schehe- rezade. It brings up visions of ge- By OSKAR Literature -- Music -- Drama nii conjured out of jars, and of the vast monsters of Arabian legend. The last section tells of a festival at Bagdad, in light, sensuous dance rhythms, and then suddenly switches to a big, culminating climax, telling how Sinbad’s ship is wrecked at the foot of a mountain. Rimsky-Korsakoff was a master of brilliant orchestration, and his mas- tery was exercised to the fullest in the composftion of this suite. But at the same time the music he created is terrifically difficult to play. A Victory Ball. Following’ this was one of the few important musical works directly in- spired by the recent war, “A Victory Ball,” by Ernest Schelling, the Ame- rican pianist. Schelling’s composi- tion is intended to illustrate a poem by Alfred Noyes. It might not be amiss to quote a stanza or two from Noyes. “The wee crash and the dancers with Ton ; silk stockings and arms of Buttertiy, skirts, and white breasts bare, id shadows of dead men watching ‘em there. | LOOK, WHAT A MAN. KANEHL. In the court between hired-barracks. Crammed with warlike slaves. It bristles with arms. Bloodthirstiness is screaming stone-walls high. They bring a man in work-frock, With kicks and butt-end-blows, At the wall. The voice of a boy commands. Crying pell-mell. however, you should choose to betray the movement we have jointly initi- “ ‘Pish,’ said a statesman standing near, chairmanships which fall to his lot betray it or lead it back into the Swamps of reaction.” Communists Carry On. When John Fitzpatrick deserted the cause of independent political action, the Communists stepped into the breach he left open and made pos- sible the formation of the Federated Farmer-Labor Party. ‘When John Brophy betrayed the is- sue of Nationalization of the coal mines, the Communists carried on the fight and made nationalization a liv- ing issue thruout the Mine Work- ers’ Union. When William H. Johnson’s “Con- ference for Progressive Political Ac- the time-worn policy of “rewarding friends and punishing enemies,” the Communists carried on the struggle for the workers and farmers’ party within and without the C. P. P) A. Future Treason Expected. We can expect some of the progres- sives in the future to return to the camp of Reaction, just as they hay done in the past, ; That does not necessarily mean, however, that the progressives ara hopelessly lost to the movement when they stray away. If the lost progressive is sincere in his inten- tions—if he has the welfare of the broad labor movement at heart—it is entirely possible that sooner or later he may realize the enormity of his mistake and again take the lead. In fact, we have the right to ex- pect (if our movement has the sound foundation we believe it to have), that some golden day there will ap pear a number of progressives whe will kick over the traces and ani nounce openly and without reserva: tion his conversion to Communism, When that happens an entirely dif. ferent complexion will be placed o1 the American labor. 3 The Communist work for the ad- vancement of the broad labor move- ment must go on, with or without the progressives. We prefer to have them go along with us, and we will sake of their co-operation, but under no circumstances will we follow them on any trail which leads away from the American labor movement. MENTIONING THE MOVIES ~ By PROJECTOR. “UNDER THE RED ROBE”—NO RE+ VOLT FILM. t ‘Tm glad they can busy their thoughts elsewhere! We mustn’t reproach ‘em. They're sins EBT. “Victory! Victory! On with the dance, Back at jungle the new beasts Watching the fun of the Victory Ball!” Ernest Schelling’s musical version of this text takes the form of a sort of jazz polonaise, suddenly interrupt- ed by bugle calls and a muffled drum. Follows a weird and ghostly march, with the insistent sounding of three snare drums. This dies away, and the dance is resumed. ‘so were wet “Parsifal” Three excerpts from Wagner's “Parsifal” followed. “Parsifal” was the last completed work of Richard Wagner, a music drama of religious symbolism. It is interesting to see the change in the German composer’s genius as he became successful and honored. As a young man he was a close personal friend and disciple of Michel Bakunin, and author of the fiery pamphlet “Art and Revolu- tion,” on account of which he was banished from Germany. It was at this time that he wrote the Niblung cycle, big, vital music, but essential- ly human, into which Bernard Shaw reads an elaborate political allegory. But the successful Wagner, at the end of his life, is not concerned with men. His genius for musical crea- tion had no way changed, but his subject deals with Christ, and the mystic and exalted phase of the Christ myth. As a memorial to Charles Villiers Stanford of London, who died three weeks ago, the concert opened with his first Irish rhapsody. It is tune- ful music, but rather drawn out and tiresome, “He has turned off the people. The instigator.” Steel-helmets swarm around him. Threatening. “He is a robber. A Communist. Their leader.” “Are you that?"”—"Yes, | am.” A hired-slave spits amidst his face. The horde squalls. “The Spartacist-chieftain, slay him.” And they beat him. That his P He doesn’t defend himself. He isn't angry. He is alone. Between beasts. Look, what a man, At the wall. Hands up. “Their chieftain!” “We will divide his clothes.” Shots are cracking in the noise. He, at the wall falls ahead on the pavement. And lies dead, Rankly of achievements the, murderer-pack is raving over him away. In the feats story on the window wives are weeping. Maria, his mother, And Magda ale head of a saint is blood-overrunning. (Transl. Paul Acel.) by @ baseball while he | The concert of next week will be the last of the season. It will open with the Beethoven third “Leonore” overture, followed by the Brahms fourth symphony, Debussy’s Spanish suite, the “Ride of the Valkyries” from Wagner's “Die Walkuere”, and the same composer's overture to “Tannhaeuser”, _ Claim They Have Her, NEW YORK, April 21.—Celia Coon- ey, for whom a nation-wide search has been under way as New York's bobbed hair bandit, has been captur- ed at Jacksonville, Fla., according to advices to the police here. She was captured with her husband, Edward Cooney, it was said. Mo., April 21.— William Pennington, 12, died today from injuries received when struck playing. a ry t This is Hearst's latest venture in the field of “heroic” film. The prin< cipal character is a down-at-the-heels nobleman who saves his own neck by turning stool pigeon against the reb- els who were plotting against King and Cardinal. He tackles the job in approved style, by getting into the confidence of the conspirators thru an inn brawl brought wn by indiscreet public avowal of their cause. He then vamps the sister of the rebel leader, learns from het the hiding place of her brother, and proceeds to arrest him on the Cardinal's warrant. When he gets to the very aztes of Paris, however, his love for the girl whose confidence he betra, ed; impels him to another double-cross and he goes back to take his punishmenty The Cardinal's sudden fall from grace, has stripped him of the power to carry out his sentence, so instead the “hero” is rewarded for his “fidelity” to the Cardinal during the dark day, In the end, the King himself engi. neers the clinch. Robert Mantell invests Richelfeu with a dignity seldom seen on the screen. Most of the other actors look very uncomfortable in their costumes —or is it perhaps their role? Alma Rubens, playing the conspirator’s sis: ter, is strikingly beautiful, but Mary MacLaren, from whom one might ex- pect much in the role, is a very much ill-at-ease Anne of Austria. The only set-off against the glorification of the Cardinal and his stool-pigeon is the contemptuous role or royalty in gen- eral thru the picture. Unfaithful, cow- ardly, indecisive, useless appendages, the Kings and Dukew and their reti- nue fuss and fume while the Cardinal in building up his governmental ma- chine, employs every art ‘and wile dear to the ways of the political facy tion builder. ‘ The picture is said to have cost 4 million and a half. The front page space and service of high priced car- toonists, special writers, and other hangers-on of the Hearst machine, must cost as much more, “Heroism't of this kind generally comes high, Bought and paid for. F see A theatre in Philadelphia recently used a couple of bales of German marks on which to imprint its throw- aways for the picture “Why Wor- ry?”, The fellow who is compelled to worry is the German worker, paid in this depreciated junk, and saddl with its weight by Hell an’ Dawes. H hop-mates read THE DAILY WORKER. Get one at them to subscribe today. per 5 pus even make minor concessions for the , tion” declared for the continuation of y