The Daily Worker Newspaper, May 10, 1924, Page 8

KAR COMRADE FOSTER: You [) have asked me to state my po- sition regarding the policies of the Trade Union Educational League, and I am very glad to have an opportunity to do so, because I am convinced that the tactics followed by the left wing of the American la- bor movement during the next few years will have an important effect on the future of the class struggle in the United States. ; \ * * * OUR article in the November Lib- erator, entitled “The A, F. of L. Convention”; your article in the Jan- uary Labor Herald, called “An Open Letter to John Fitzpatrick,” and your “Industrial Report” to the Workers Party convention all are based on ‘cer- tain assumptions, which I would sum- marize as follows: 1. That the decision of the Portland convention to expel Dunne, and the refusal of the convention to indorse a labor party and to indorse Russian recognition. represented the sentiment of the labor autocracy and not the sentiment of the rank and file; 2. That the rank and file would have acted differently had they had an op- portunity to register their opinions on these issues; 3. That there is a revolutionary fer- ment among the masses of American workers, * * * N the basis of these assumptions, how would you explain certain outstanding events in the American labor movement during the past few years? Such events as: 1. The presence of Tom Mooney in jail after it has been demonstrated and asserted by representatives of the Federal Government that he was con- victed on faked testimony, and after the repeated protests of the more pro- gressive“groups in the American la- bor movement? 2. The presence of Sacco and Van- zetti in a Massachusetts jail under cir- cumstances almost as disgraceful to American labor as those surrounding Mooney’s continued imprisonment? 3. The indictment, prosecution and conviction of members of the Work- ers Party in ‘western Pennsylvania; of members of the I. W. W. in Cali- fornia; of members of the U. M. W. of A. in West Virginia; Of the Michigan Communists? The latest reports show 114 political prisoners in -state pris- ons, “serving sentences solely for the expression of opinion or for member- ship in radical organizations.” 4. The discrediting of Alex Howat in the national convention of the United Mine Workers; the overwhelming de- feat of the T. U. E. L. policies in the conventions at Scranton and at Deca- tur, after the questions had been threshed out in the local unions? 5. The ease with which the Press- men’s Union, the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union and other organizations have been able te throw out the left wing elements without any considerable protests trom the membership at large? 6. The very heavy losses ™ the membership of such unions as the machinists, in which there had been no considerable internal friction? 7. The apathy and indifference with which the rank and file of American workers have regarded the “open shop” drive; their eagerness to be 100 per centers along with Judge Gary and John Rockefeller, and their un- willingness to make a stand against the exploitation and imperialism in which the American rulers are so deeply involved? * * * HILE I do not for a moment pre- tend that I know the answers to all of these questions, I should like to present an explanation which I think fits many of them. My assumptions concerning the present situation in the United States are quite different from yours. Let me begin my answer to these questions by stating the sit- uation in the United States as I see it. 1. There is no parallel anywhere in modern labor history to the present situation in the United States, be- cause in no other country (with the possible exception of Germany dur- ing the war) was a large and impor- tant labor movement so completely HE article on this page, containing a criticism of the policy’ and tactics of the Workers’ (Communist) Party of America, made by Scott Nearing in a letter to William Z. Foster, is published so that party members and others knowledge of the viewpoint of the tendency: in the revolutionary movement of America represented N the next issue of the magazine will be published the reply to Scott Nearing by William Z. Foster in which the arguments of Nearing are refuted and the official position of the party on the questions raised by Nearing set forth in detail.—Editor. jjaken into camp by the_opposition as tthe American labor movement has teen taken into camp by the cham- Ters of commerce. a. This has been done, first of all, by getting hold of the labor lead- érs—giving them: tips on the stock market; offering them gov- ernment jobs; “getting together” with them in various community activities; giving them important posts inside the political organ- izations of the two old parties, b. It has been done,.in the second place, by lining up the rank and file throughout the most com- plete system of propaganda, lies, diversions, amusements, excite- ments and thrills that the world has ever produced. The whole machinery of education is in the hands of the business interests and they do not hesitate to use the newspaper or the movie to put their interpretation on events, to suppress information or to deliberately misrepresent the facts. Take Russia as an in- stance; or take the I. W. W. They have been shamelessly and deliberately lied about until the rank and file of the American workers and farmers have come to believe what they are told. ec. It is for this reason that the rank and file of the A. F. of L. would have supported their rep- resentatives in the Portland con- vention. In fact, I am of the opinion that if there were any way to measure the situation ex- actly, Gompers would be found on the left, and not on the right of the A. F. L. rank and file. I am well aware that this is not the accepted opinion of the leit, but I am basing the judgment on a very considerable contact with members of the organiza- tion, interested may have a complete by the writer of the letter. d. If I.am at all correet in this as- sumption, it will go far toward explaining the, apparent apathy in.the American labor movement * —it is not apathy at all,. but tac- it consent. most American. workers have gone to the public school; that they read the papers and maga- zines published almost exclusive- ly by big business interests; that they quite generally belong to the churches, and that they at- most universally vote the old party tickets, (In the last presi- dential election 96 percent of the total vote was cast for Harding and Cox, and 0 percent for Debs and Christianson), e. According to this interpretation, not only the officials of the unions, but also the rank and file are committed to the pres- ent economic order. They be- lieve in it, and in any crisis they will support it. 2. OES this mean that there is no revolutionary sentiment n “the United States? Not at all. It does mean, however, that it is not ypically American. The native born American who believes in fundamen- tal change is the exception and not the rule. a. American opinion is still fodué: ed on the life of the village and on the farm. Even those who have moved into the cities have hopes that some day they will be able to own a little place in the country and retire to it. b. The migratory workers have pretty well given up the idea, and they constitute the largest single revolutionary nucleus in the United States today. Unfortu- nately, however, the very nature of their work makes it trebly difficult to organize them, and Remember that} 3. Scott Nearing on Party | Policy the I. W. W. probably does not represent more than two or three percent of the total number of migratory workers. The average skilled craftsman still looks forward to home own- ship under the present system. He even believes that if he does not succeed in getting out of the ranks of labor, his son may, so he sends him off to college, and trains his daughter to teach school. The revolutionary sentiment in the United States is strong among certain foreign-born work- ers—particularly among those of Slavic origin, who have. been most emotionally aroused. by events in’ Russia. The new im- migration laws will be so adjust- ed, however, that the supply of these North Europeans will be heavily cut down, and those that are admitted will be watched with hawk-like care. Revolutionary sentiment is strong in .certain districts, such as Butte, Seattle, and in parts of New York and Chicago. In most of these cases, however, the strength is in the foreign-born districts, and the sons and daughters of such foreign-born revolutionists usually become ul- tra-respectable American patri- ots. Revolutionary sentiment is strong in certain needle trades, railroads, machinists and miners’ locals. Again, however, it cen- ters in the Slavic and other for- eign-born elements. I am assuming, as you see, that there is no considerable revolu- tionary sentiment among the masses of American born work- ers and farmers. I realize that they are discontented, but they assume that “times will pick up” under the present system. There are, of course, many exceptions— readers and thinkers who have kept up with the world and who have not been fooled by the prop- aganda. But they are relative- ly few. In my judgment, what- ever revolutionary sentiment there is in the country today can- not be described as in any sense “American mass-sentiment.” - * * ‘HOSE of us who believe that there must be radical the 40,000 members reported by|changes in the economic and social “THE FLIVVER HAS SAVED THIS COUNTRY REAL TROUBLE.” President Vauclair of the Baldwin Locomotive Works. The Daily Worker April 21, 1924 By ERNEST BRADY The humble harmiess little Ford, The poor man’s willing hoss Is now a social favorite For the service it gives the boss. When a worker takes the country air O’er many a road and river, He’s safe and sane as he can be » Within his jolly flivver. ~ Altho he drives with noise and crash In a way to cause comment, e His trusty Ford portects him From the sparks of discontent. At summer picnics prone, he lies. His belly filled with grub, The bosses watchdog by his side Shepherding Henry Dubb. Altho his little engine Will play him many pranks, His bumpers they will shield him From Communstic cranks. When on the trail he stops to eat And give his car a drink, He stops for air, he stops for gas, ~ But never stops to think. The boss he hopes with fervour That’s not to be despised That soon the proletariat Will all be flivverized. 'Tho Revolution stalks the earth And rebels agitate, The worker in his flivver is the bulwark of the State, But when the worker wisdom gets ~ And seizes all machines, 'Tween you and me, his choice will be Not Fords, but limousines. life of the United States therefore find ourselves in a position where the rad- ical sentiment must be created. Hence our task involves first, education and second, organization, third activity. I believe the farmers of the United States are as much in need of econom- ic education as were the workers and farmers of Russia when Lenin began his work with them around 1885. ‘HIS line of argument, as you: see, places us in quite opposite camps when it comes to the tactics that should be pursued. Let us suppose, first of all, that you are right in. your assumptions. In that case: 1. The sentiment is here. All that is needed is an organization that will take possession of it. The line of pro- cedure is not from education, thru or- ganization to action; but from organ- zation, direct to action. 2. This organization can be spread very rapidly; can be mobilized quiék- y: and can strike, almost immediate- y, for specific results. 3. The American revolutionary movement should therefore extend its front with the idea of gaining imme- diate and practical successes, among which might be named the splitting of the old parties at the coming election (say. by the nomination of LaFol- lette); the winning of the labor move- ment to a revolutionary program; and the establishment of a very large and effective political organization repre- workers, you proceeded with the ppened? You answer (“Labor steel fight. This was a tremendous disaster; not only because it wrecked (Continued on Page 5.) \ senting both the farmers and the | 4. It was on that assumption that — tion of the 1919 Steel Strike. at ,” Jan, 1924, Pg. 6) “We lost the big