The Daily Worker Newspaper, April 24, 1924, Page 6

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 $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 | 1118 W. Washington Bivd. Chicago, Illinois 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. <i 290 Advertising rates on application. ————————————— Communist Clarity—Capitalist Confusion. Two entirely different groups, linked together in the “National Republican,” official organ of the republican party’s national committee, will re- y THE DAILY WORKER builders, 50,000 textile workers, and 50,000 work- ers in miscellaneous trades. Industrial unrest in England is today more intense and widespread than at any time since 1921. MacDonald is worried. In an interview with the New York World correspondent the labor premier declared: “Some recent develop- ments and methods, however, seem in practice and result to be those of mischievous Communist syn- dicalism. . . . All my life I have been opposed to the sympathetic strike. It has no practical value; it is simply beating the air.” MacDonald has good reason tobe worried. He knows that the working masses of England will not accept this hackneyed, unfounded explanation of the present temper and mood of the labor or- ganizations. MacDonald likewise knows that if he is to utilize his present cabinet position frank- ly and fearlessly in behalf of the working class, he will incur. the bitter hostility and organized opposition of the reactionary capitalists. The waging of such a contest logically and inevitably leads to decisive struggle. It is precisely such fights which the MacDonald socialists and labor leaders the world over seek to avoid at any price. Hence the blaming of the Communists by Mac- Donald for conditions naturally arising from. the pudiate the statement that they are working for the same end. First, and voicing protest most vehemently, will be the group of progressives, so-called, headed by LaFollette and including Wheeler, Brookhart and others who have incurred the displeasure of the standpatters. “Labor,” the official organ of the Conference for Progressive Political Action, will be especially emphatic in denying the accusation and attempting to outdo the “National Republi- can” in a vituperative attack upon the reds. The Communists will be just as emphatic but more good-humored in denying their affiliation with the organizations and individuals whose am- bition is the impossible one of restoring Jeffer- sonian democracy as a guiding principle for gov ernment in this imperialistic era. America has its die-hards as well as Great Bri- tain. The financial interests for whom the “Na- tion Republican” speaks are uncompromising and arrogant in their endeavors to make of the work- ing class of America a race of industrial helots. 3 The LaFollettes, Brookharts and Wheelers, mid- dle class: business and professional men, express the resentment of that class against the domina- tion of the big industrialists and financiers, against the minor role the middle class is forced to play in formulating domestic and foreign poli- cies. They do not understand that with the de- velopment of American capitalism the middle class has lost its economic foundation, the strangling of small competitive manufacturers has forced them to become the servants of the great monopo- lies—financial and industrial—well-paid servants but still servants. The Communists understand the processes at work and they know the futility of the changes proposed by the middle class mal-contents— changes not only futile but for the most part im- possible of accomplishment. : The Communists are committed to the policy of organizing and educating the workers and farmers of America for war on capitalism; they understand that a return to the competitive capi- talism of early American history is a dream and even if possible would be undesirable. Commun- ists are not against monopoly and specialized pro- duction as such; they are against an industrial system that is operated solely for the benefit of a few and they are also against the political system that bulwarks it. They can view with a pleasure commensurate with the results achieved the attacks of the middle class upon the more powerful section of the capi- talist class but they have no intention of, in fact they assiduously work to prevent, the middle class reformers consolidating their leadership of the masses of workers and farmers. The confusion of thought that exists in America is demonstrated by the fact that the “National Re- publican” attempts to put lavender and pink prog- ressives in the same camp with the crimson Com- munists while the officialdom of the reformist movement attacks the Communists for working for the establishment of a class party of workers and farmers. In the welter of confused thinking. that the in- stability of American capitalism is causing, the Communists alone are steering a clear course. The Workers (Communist) Party of America, in its program, states its position clearly and the events of each succeeding day justify the objectives and tactics there set forth. It is a Communist and therefor a working class program and a care- ful reading of it is the best cure for the confusion that now prevails in working class circles. The Jeffersonian democrats will expose their anti-working class character by the manner in which they will, under pressure from the big capi- talists, attack the Communists and endeavor to be still more patriotic than the organs of imperialism. MacDonald’s Troubles ‘Unlike many of their leaders, now government officials, the great mass of British workers, con- sciously and otherwise, is determined to utilize some of the political advantages the present par- - liamentary situation affords for the enhancement of their working and living conditions. ‘This attitude of the working class is reflected in the fact that 2,200,000 workingmen are seeking wage increases. The total includes 800,000 miners, 720,000 builders, 500,000 engineers, 100,000 ship- piles > a pr lcci a i present economic and political conditions in England. Yes. MacDonald is face io face with a difficult task. Today, at the helm of the government, he cannot so easily hide his role in the class conflict. The very facts of life, the very realities of the class struggle are driving MacDonald and his like ever more into the open—on the side of the working class or on the side of the employing class. Two Conspiracies States Attorney Crowe and Judges Foell and Sullivan have been very active in endeavoring to uncover evidence of conspiracy on the part of the garment strikers to violate the anti-picketing in- junction. If they are really interested in criminal con- apiracies we herewith furnish them evidence of a far-reaching, well-financed and powerful con- spiracy to deprive workingmen and women of their liberty, to destroy labor organizations and use the courts for the afore-mentioned purposes. The fol- lowing letter speaks for itself; it is on the letter- head of Gerhardt F. Meyne, building—contract- ing—remodeling : March 24, 1924. Dear Sir: We are addressing you for the purpose of bring- ing to your attention the Chicago Crime Commission, its general activ and activities for the building industry in particular. The opposite side of this sheet gives a more detailed account. Won’t you read it? Destruction of property, assaults upon workmen and other criminal activities were promptly checked, principally thru the activities of this well organized, competent, independent body of red-blooded, two- fisted business men. Many of Chicago’s leading citizens consider the Commission a business necessity, have supported it for the past five years, and are charging their con- tributions to expense for protection. No officer or member receives a cent of compensation. Every penny contributed goes directly into the work. Because this was done during a period in which the building industries did practically nothing for the Commission, | am confident that you will con- sider the facts set forth, and cheerfully and gener- ously do your share toward its financial support at this time in common with all of the other trades, industries and professions in Chicago. Checks should be made payable to the Chicago Crime Commission, 21 North LaSalle Street. The letter is signed by Gerhardt F. Meyne for the following committee: J. W. Alder, President American Sand & Gravel Company; Sewell L. Avery, President United States Gypsum Company; Avery Brundage, General Con- tractor; Frederick Bulley, General Contractor, Presi dent Associated Builders of Chicago; Adelbert E. Coleman, Manufacturerer Ornam Iron and Bronze, President Building Construction Employers Association; Thomas E. Donnelley, Chairman Citi- zens Committee to Enforce ¢. Landis Award; Edward Haupt, President Strobel Construction Com- pany, Former President Building Construction Em- ployers Association; Gerhardt F. Meyne, Builder, Member of Chicago Crime Commission; Thomas C. Moulding, President Thomas Moulding Brick Com- pany; Edwin W. Sims, Former United States Dis- trict Attorney, Former President Chicago Crime Commission of the firm Sims, Welch, Godman & Stransky. On the reverse side of the letter is the boast that the conspirators have during the year 1923 se- cured 49 convictions in labor cases, 24 of the de- fendants having been railroaded to the peniten- tiary. We call the attention of the constitud authori- ties to this matter but we realize that there is nothing really illegal in this sort of conspiracy or in using the United States mails to secure money for a criminal purpose. The bosses who have their names signed to the document above are engaged in protecting property and for that reason are quite within the bonds of capitalist legality. Conspiracies recognized as criminal and sub- versive by capitalist courts are the agreements of workers to stick together in a fight for increased wages, better working conditions or to attempt to secure control of the machinery of government and industry. Contrasted with the persecution of the garment strikers for their activities in upholding their standard of living and the right to organize, the immunity accorded the above organization of capi- talists in their conspiracy against workers is an illuminating and living example of the functions of courts, judges and other agencies of law enforce- ment under capitalism. It is the uncompromising class party against the compromising mixture of uncertain elements that still have longings for the old capitalist parties, Our party is now in the mits of the greatest campajgn since the time it was organized, and yet most of the membership are not yet conscious of the importance of the work the party is doing. This is a dangerous situation. Our whole Party strength must be mobi- lized and every ounce of Party energy must be brought into action if we are to succeed in the work, which we have under way. What is the situation? In the United States, the industrial worker and farmer have been the least class conscious of the workers anywhere in the world.In this coun- try the illusion of bourgeoisie democ- racy was and is strongest, The work- ers and farmers have been taught to believe and have believed that the government is a government “of the people, for the people, and by the people”. They have been taught to believe that the two old parties rep- resent not the class interest of spe- cial economic groups, but the inter- ests of the people as a whole. As a consequence we have had and still have the great mass of workers and farmers voting in support of parties which represent the class interests of those who exploit them and rob them. As a consequence of this situation, class action and class consciousness on the part of industrial workers and farmers have been limited to a small minority which called itself Socialist, Communist or by the name of some similar group. Those class conscious workers in the United States who belonged to these small groups have despaired of the masses of workers and farmers ever becoming class conscious. It has seemed an impossible task to break the working masses away from their support of the old polttical parties and the capitalist system’ which they supported. Since the end of the war, however, new conditions have arisen. The eco- nomic struggle between classes in the United States has been greatly inten- sified. There is a dawning conscious- ness on the part of many thousands of workers and farmers that the gov- Ne ernment as it now exists is an instru- ment of the exploiters. As a conse- quence, there has appeared the grow- ing movement for independent politi- cal action by the industrial workers and the exploited farmers. In the United States, the year of the presidential election is » year of keen political interests. Greater num- bers of workers and farmers are drawn into the political life of the country in the year of the presiden- tial election more than at any other time. It is in a presidential year that there exists the possibility of crystallizing the movement for a Far- mer-Labor Party on a national scale, What This Year Offers. The situation which exists in the United States today is that there is the possibility of uniting at least a million organized industrial workers and farmers in a class Farmer-Labor Party, which will enter the politica’, arena to fight against the two old cap¢ italist parties. Such ‘a development would be the most striking movement towards class consciousness in the entire his- tory of the American Labor Mové- ment. The crystallization of a mass party of a million workers fighting against the capitalist parties would be almost a revolutionary change int the political life of the United States, Short of the period of the proletar- ian revolution itself, there could not be a greater opportunity than this for a Communist Party, It is our work, our task, to draw the masses of workers and exploited farmers into the political struggle as a class to fight a class battle against their exploiters. By acting as the leading, driving, organizing, foree in the movement for the crystallization of the class Farmer-Labor Party our party has an unparalleled opportunity to extend its influence and establish its permanent leadership in tnis move- ment. Such an opportunity as now exists in the United States should inspire every member in our Party to his greatest effort. It should arouse an enthusiasm that should double and treble the activities of our whole party organization. Think of it! The United States no longer, the backward, lagging | ) f A CALL TO ACTION! ment but a country in which a real mass movement of workers and far- mers is fighting the capitalist enemy: Could we ask for a greater stride for- ward on the party of the working class movement of this country? Must Mobolize Our Strength. The realization of this new situa- tion is within our grasp. If we can mobolize the strength of our Party} yet opened its eyes to the work and | organization, if we can pull every member we have. into the struggle there cam be crystallized at the June 17th convention, and in-the campaign |should be a comparatively easy task + to follow, a mass-class, Farmer-Labor Party of a million organized indus- trial workers and farmers. Our Party must awaken to this o; portunity at once. Every Party uu should take up the question of aidiz in this campaign. Every Party men» ber should look about him for oppor- tunities to support this struggle. The work of securing delegates to the June 17th convention is under way. Each Party member who is a member of another workers’ organiza- tion should see to it that the question is raised in his organization and a delegate sent to the convention. The work of organizing local and state Farmer-Labor parties thruout the United States is being initiated by the left wing of the Jabor movement with our support and co-operation. Each such movement, whether it be local or on a state scale, must have the full support of our Party. Farmer-Labor Party Campaign Fund. The Farmer-Labor Party Campaign Fund asked for by our Party is part of this campaign. The Central Executive Committee of the party asks the Party member- ship to raise $15,000 in order that our part of the work of crystallizing the mass, class Farmer-Labor Party might be financed. Leaflets are be- ing printed. Speakers must be sent out. Organizers must be set to work both on local and state scales to as+ sist in the creation of local and state organizations of the Farmer-Labor Party. The sending out of invitations to the June 17th convention and getting this convention before the millions of industrial workers and farmers in it- self is a big task and must have finan- cial support. Our Party must assist and contribute to all this work. country in the revolutionary move- OUR BOOK REVIEW SECTION . SOUTHERN NEGRO STUDIED. By MARY WHITE OVINGTON. “Darker Ph: of the South” By Frank Tannenbaum. Published by G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 2 W. 45th Street, New York City. Price $2.00, Postage 10c extra. I expected to be disappointed in this book because it was heralded as un- emotional, scientific, and I remember- ed the youth, Frank Tannenbaum, leading the unemployed in pre-war days into the rich churches of New York and demanding that the ex- ponents of Christianity feed them and clothe-them. There wags plenty of emotion in that act; but I admit, the book finished, that this restrained judicious student has made a strong case. He has shown and interpreted a picture that has in it much that is new, and all that is unforgetable. The book has five chapters, the two that seemed to me freshest in concep- tion, those on the factory workers, entitled “The South Buries Its Anglo- Saxons,” and the study of tenancy, aa Single Crop.” In telling of the tory we do not hear of child labor or long hours but we get to the root of the system, the control of the worker thru the company’s owner- ship of his home... . The chapter on “The Single Crop” shows the dangerous growth of ten- ancy, and stresses the most important fact that the tenant is a migrant. “It is estimated that three hundred thous- and farm tenants move every year in the United States. In some instances the tenant moves every 6 months.”... “In the last fifty years while the white farmer has been retrograding to tenancy the Negro has, in large num- bers, become a land owner. There ‘@ more white than Negro tenants, in eleven Southern states.” There is a chapter on the Ku Klux, and one on Southern prisons that is too terrible to be believable. Mr. Tan- nenbaum ends by saying of the Negro problem in the South that it has no solution. He advises us to give up thinking that it can be and do the first possible wise thing at hand. His own suggestions are, the organiz- ing of the mill-hands in unions and the continual migration of the Negro to the North, ee (Editor’s note: Tannenbaum must realize tnat migration merely trans- fers the problem and that after all, the Negro question is only part of the war of workers and capitalism.) How many of shop-mates read THE DAILY WORKER, Get one of them to subscribe today, _ ie Literature - - Music -- Drama Stomachs Forcing Phila. Orchestra Artists To Strike (By The Federated Press) PHILADELPHIA, April 23.—Phila- delphia’s upper class who purchase the self-satisfaction of being “cul- tured” by helping support the Phila- delphia Symphony Orchestra, say they will not permit an increase in the musicans’ inadequate wage. The players, who are workers first and artists second, insist that they will strike unless the weekly minimum is raised from $60 to $75. “Our season is only 30 weeks,” one of the violin- ists explained to the Feedrated Press. “We cannot live on the present $1,800 a year.” Extra work is not available in Philadelphia. All of the 110 men are in the musi- cians’ union, affiliated with the American Federation of Musicians. Six weeks of negotiations have brought no results. Altho compro- mises have been suggested by the management, union officals have pre- sented no terms to the rank and file. The contract expires April 29. Leopold Stokowski, the director, has taken a neutral position in the dispute. “He can.afford to be neu- tral—he’s suposed to get $40,000 a year,” said a player. Colored Baritone Begins Season NEW YORK, April 23.—Julius Bledsoe, # colored baritone, gave his first recital in New York in Aeolian Hall on the night of Haster Sunday. Mr. Bledsoe’s program included songs in four languages and among the songs sung in English are Negro spi- rituals. He is being managed by the Con- cert Bureau which has on its list the famous Russian singer Feodor Chala- pin, the operatic star Madame Schu- mann-Heink, and the dancer, Pavlo- wa. He is planning a continental tour, Saving Tuberculor Children WARDEN, Mass., April 23,—That large numbers of subnormal children may be restored by sunshine, fresh air, proper food, and quiet hours of sleep in the open has been demon- strated in a summer camp maintain- ed for the prevention of tuberculosis during the last four years. There is a movement}on foot to have the school made a State in- stitution. Cal For R Coolidge, it was learned, was in favor of the registration and “farm serft” clauses of the bill from the be- ginning. His only doubts were re- garding the Japanese exclusion act which threatened, thru the bigotry of Congress to plunge the nation into in- ternational difficulties for which Wall ‘Street was not yet quite ready, MENTIONING THE MOVIES By PROJECTOR. Are Films Bad For Children? An extensive study conducted by Dr. David Lund, head of the Swedish Prison Board, convinces this peerless authority on morality and conduct that the movies are very bad for young children. Why? Because, “they cannot distinguish fact from fancy and are likely to mistake false- hood for truth.” Truly, the learned doctor expects from babies what adults cannot give. He should realize that under capital- ism the function of the movie as of the press, is precisely the stuffing of fancy and falsehood into the minds of working class children, grown and small. The answer is that pro-capitalist films are “bad” for working class children and working class organiza- tions, and that they must be com- batted energetically with labor's own moving pictures. The importance of the motion pic- ture as a propaganda weapon is woe- fully under-estimated even by our most far-sighted labor leaders. In a little city of Central Illinois a survey among 850 school children showed that 180 of them attended movies from two to four times a week, while at least 300 of them reported periodi- cal attendance. All the books and newspapers in the community cannot compete with the movie as a means of moulding the “young idea,” nor the old. Help These Men “In Hére For You” On Their Birthdays MILWAUKEE, April 23,—Birth- days in May of political prisoners confined in state penitentiaries are announced by the Workers’ Na- tional Prison Comfort Club, 2923 Chestnut street, Milwauk: is fol- lows: At North Side Station, Pitts- burgh, Pa. Box A-12662: May 18, Israel Blankenstein. At Wayne State Farm, Hunts- ville, Tex., Route 1, Box 1: May 15, Abral Cisneros. At San Quentin Prison, San Quentin, Cal.; May 1, J. J. John- son, No. 38118; May 4, Walter Kohrs, 38120; May 16, A. E. An- May 25, William jeff, 37649. ora” Meyer, national secretary, invites frends and sympathizers to send birthday cards and letters to these political prisoners. ey is advisable for gifts. Books and publications must be sent directly from the publishers, Thursday, April 24, 1924 BY C. E. RUTHENBERG Executive Secretary Workers Party of America. It was to meet these expenditures to make it possible for the Party to mobilize all of its strength in the cam- paign that the $15,000 was asked for by the Central Executive Committee of the Party. The responses -received from our Party organizations thus far lead to the conclusion that the Party has not the opportunity which exists for us today. If the Party would fully real- ize and mobilize in this campaign, it for the 25,000 Party members to raise $15,000.. Despite the fact’ that the campaign has been under way for more than a month, only about $3,000 has been raised thus far. Comrades of the Workers Party! We must not miss this opportunity to advance the revolutionary move: ment in this country. We must take advantage to the fullest extent ofithe favorable situation which we have be- fore us. Our Party must fulfill every, phase of its duty in this situation. The work which is under way, cans not go on unless those branches and Party members which have not as: sisted in financing the campaign come to the aid of the Party at once. Dur- ing the next three or four weeks we must raise the remainder of the $15, 000 fund. It is the duty of every Party branch, of every Party mem- ber, to bring this question up and to devis@ ways and means of supporting this campaign. We have created a DAILY WORK: ER. We created it thru the sacrifices and devotion of members ‘of our Party. M The DAILY WORKER, however, is merely an instrument for us in the work of creating a mass revolution- ary movement in this country. The first great step towards that~goal is the mass class Farmer-Labor Party. The same enthusiasm, the same devo- tion, the same willingness to make sacrifices are necessary in this task. Let us go to work, Comrades. Let us create the $15,000 Farmer-Labor Campaign Fund. Let us put our whole organized strength into the scale to create the mass, class Farm- er-Labor Party in the United States, the first great step in the progress of the revolutionary movement in this country. Spring In The Tron Foundry By CHARLES OLAF OLSEN. Thru the windows of the shop The sunbeams pour, And black shadows make Patterns on the floor; Broad ribbons of light Slant thru the gloom Gleaming and bright In the smoke-shot room, Leaning to the wall Splotched with grime, Calling, calling, vd “Here’s springtime!” On the bare ground Lie heaps of brown All around, everywhe Sooty men tramp, Shovel and tamp In the dust-dense air, As if their happin And their lives hung on One casting more or less And how soon it was done— And on no such thing As playing in the sun. And | guess that’s true! For, stand still Wondering what to do, Looking away To where the sun is singing Of the bright spring day, The foreman calls, “sit, We're waiting on you— If you want to hold your job, s Get a move on, too.” Sl But there is the sun Playing on the floor, And there are the windows Where the sunbeams pour Ribbons of light, Slanting to the wall; And oh, how they call, call, “Come on, man, come! Leave your grime, What do you care, Don’t you see it’s here? It’s springtime * (By The Federated Press) ; PORT HURON, Mich., April 23— “The Johnson immigration bill bears out the theories of the Ku Klux Klan, The exclusion provisions are based not on racial unfitness but on reli- gious discriminations,” Rabbi Leo M. Franklin, Temple Beth Bl, Detroit, said in an address here, “The real reason for the attempt to exclude the Lage c 4 religious matter, a hatred ews and the Catholics, largely make up that portion ne th old world.” He was referring to’ southern and south eastern on He, attacked also the theory of Ne dic superiority, which holds superior races come from 4 csamancttcteroarmcoencoosi ak sesbna