The Daily Worker Newspaper, May 17, 1924, Page 10

|Pacifism In The Universities By ELSA BLOCK, SENSATION is sweeping the land —or sweeping the newspaper presses. Bolshevism is entering the schools! The Star-spangled Banner is being dragged in the mud of sys- tematic slackerism! Pacifism is eat- ing at the heart of the nation. S° Says the press of America. HE phenomenon of pacifism is, in fact, to be found in the American universities. It is not what the news- papers say it is. It is not Bolshevism --God save the mark! But it is a seri- ous phenomenon, and whatever weak and watery futility there may be in the pacifism theory, the phenomenon of a wide-spread pacifist movement, as a revolt against the great military caste system which is now the dream of the American imperialist, cannot escape the serious consideration of American Communists. ACIFISM, im all of its pitiful fu- tility and at the same time in all its significance as a social phenome non of the time and place, is well shown in the findings of the student conference of Northwestern univer- sity, held on February 5 and 6. The report of the findings of the confer- ence is worth publishing as a whole: HE Northwestern Student Confer- ence was composed of 147 repre- sentative students of the University. The findings were voted on at the last meeting of the conference, WAR. CONSENSUS OF OPINION: We should abolish in ourselves the atti- tudes that make for war; such as -hat- red, fear, suspicion, race prejudice and rivalry. Propositions voted on: 1. We believe that the United States should join the League of Na- tions. Passed by 80 votes. 2. We believe that the United States should enter the World Court. Passed by 96 votes. 3. We believe education which will develop international thinking should be encouraged. Passed unanimously. 4. A. That a policy of preparedness should be supported. Voted down by 94. B. That we as individuals, refuse to participate in another war. Voted down by 58. 38 students in favor. THE ECONOMIC ORDER. CONCENSUS OF OPINION: The standard by which the social order is to be judged is whether or not it pro- vides a means for every man to be reasonably happy in his work. The present order does not provide hap- piness or even the barest necessities for many. The evils of such a system would perhaps, be remedied by an ad- justment to include these sugges- tions: 1. Production and natural resources for use and not for profit. 2. Workers should do work attrac- tive to them; an additional remuner- ation should be given for those tasks that are unattractive. 3. Human values should_be recog- nized above efficiency in production. 4. Every able-bodied worker should be employed. 5. There should be a fair division of profits and an equality of opportunity. Propositions voted on: 1. The student should realize his social obligation to all his fellowmen who have made possible his educa- tion. Adopted by a unanimous vote. a. This realization should be evi- denced in application to his work at school. b. It should also be evidenced in preparation to help those who by their labor for wages, have made possible profit enough for other men ‘to endow a University. 2. The student should make an ef- fort to get information that will en- able him to appreciate his social re- sponsibility. Adopted by a unani- mous vote. a. By insisting in the class-room on a fair presentation of both sides of controversial questions; such as History, Econémics, and Social ’ Sciences. b, By making an attempt to get all the information available on both sides of such question. 3. Some students believe that their inability to get both sides of a con- troversial question is due to three things, and that they therefore have a responsibility to protest against those things, which are: a. (Protest against) Trustee con- trol that says what a student may and may not study. Adopted by a vote of 82. b. (Protest against) Endowment by great accumulations of capital when such accumulatrons result from exploitation of the workers. Adopted by a vote of 56. c. (Protest against) Control which prevents a faculty member from expressing his own opinions. Adopted unanimously. RACE RELATIONS CONCENSUS OF QUESTION: All races should have equality of oppor- tunity. At present ,equatity of op- portunity does not exist as is evidenc- ed in some cases by : a. Unequal per capita public ex- penditure of education. b. ‘Unequal representation in stu- dent affairs. c. Discrimination against certain races in athletic oportunity. The situa- tion should be changed to allow all races equality of opportunity. Proposition voted on: What does equality of opportunity mean? 1. There should be parallel develop- ment of the races, each race keeping to itself, yet each assisting the other in its development. Voted down by 70. 2. There should be complete inter- mingling of the races, including social intermingling. Adopted by 72 votes. 3. There. should be intermingling in @ casual and limited way, but not complete intermingling (no social in- termingling). Voted down by 63. If the position taken by these “pac- ifist” students could be regarded as reflecting a static condition, the Amer- can Teapot Dome oligarchy need not be worried. For the students, with all their emotionalism, have here given a one hundred per cent endorsement of the greatest and most ambitious scheme that the two-fisted militarists have ever tried—the League of Na- tions. Their rebellion against such evils as unemployment ana racial In- equalities is as helpless and uncon- structive as it is obviously sincere. HE publicity given this comic- opera bolshevism is a perfect ex- ample of how the telescope of modern journalism change details into stu- pendous events. By means of forced draft news stories and strained edito- rials, careless remarks have been turned into utterances pregnant with impending catastrophe to the respect- able proprietor class of the world. Ir- ritated youngsters have become the generals of a world revolution. NTIL policy dictated a need for news of this kind, the phenom- enon of pacifism went unnoticed. Then, by a process of artificial infla- tion, if was made to assume an impor- tance and a character entirely differ- ent from its real significance. ACIFIST feeling among the stu- dents of our middle-western uni- versities is not a sudden growth. Had the American newspapers been gen- uinely interested in the state of public opinion, they would have found in the student activities of the past year am- ple excuse for a display of patriotic indignation. But such matter as the attendance of members of the Young Workers League at the student con- ference at Waukegan last June, or the forcible injection of pacifist discussion into the program of the student con- ference at Indianapolis during Christ- mas week or the bitter attdcks of Sherwood Eddy, before a body of students, on the Ku Klux Klan, the American Legion, and militarism—all these events the metropolitan press passed over without comment, or else dismissed with a brief summary. And yet these matters were certainly as “treasonable” as those which later provoked such heaftéd discussion. came the conference of February 5 and 6, out of which the “pacifist-bolshevik revolution” has 6 been made with printer’s ink. The event received little attention from the press. The declaration of thirty- eight of the students that they would “refuse to participate in another war” was treated, it is true, with indigna- tion, but it was the amused indigna- tion that is usually felt for a cause conceded to be hopeless. O it happened that when the meet- ing occurred which first aroused alarm—the meeting at which John R. Fletcher, conscientious objector and political prisoner of three different countries—was to address the Liberal League of Northwestern, not a single reporter from the big metropolitan newspapers was present. The news- papers simply did not have their eyes on the situation. The meeting receiv- ed notice only accidentally, thru the interest of a student reporter of the militarist camp. The story was given the Chicago Herald-Examiner in gar- bled form, and from then on no paci- fist uterance was too innocuous to receive first place in the news. 'HE reason for this sudden reversal of news values is not far to seek. The pacifist demonstration added just that touch of dramatic relief so badly needed by the newspapers in the. middle of February. The investigation into the Teapot Dome scandal was be- coming a matter of concern to polit- ical leaders. It was assuming the as- pect of something more serious than a public melodrama, graphic enough to supply niaterial for clever cartoons and vivid enough to command a strain- ed attention. People were begirning to grasp the tremendous implications of the thing. Radical newspapers were making capital of it. And elec- tion time was drawing near. HILE pacifism was making a dramatic entrance, the Senate in- vestigations were being stealthily bundled out of the back door. The newspapers have gradually relegated them from the right to the left-hand columns, from the first to the inside pages. At this rate, it is probable that within a few weeks we shall begin to wonder mildly what became of the whole affair. « ND would it be rash to suggest that another, and a more insidious motive actuated the press? Mexican politics has of late been turning rapid somersaults. Subsidized revolutions and counter-revolutions, tending to weaken the Mexican government to an extent that would “justify” the “in- tervention” of the United States; the establishment of claims in Mexico by capitalists whose business methods have received too much: unsavory notice to need description; the nuii- ficatien of Mexican laws fmimical to American interests—these and other factors point to Mexico as the next victim of American imperialism. N such a crisis, a favorable state of public opinion is a factor of no mean importance. Once the newspa- pers had attracted the proper atten- tion to the pacifist movement, they took care to bracket it with other activities against which they wished to arouse popular indignation. Paci- fists became the “tools of the Third International,” entrusted with the dis- armirs of capitalist nations so that the Soviet government of Russia might be in a position to help the proletariat take over state power unhampered! ECAUSE pacifism is not a definite economic remedy for the evils of capitalism, but simply a primitive re- action to an immediate phase of capi- talist life, the union of pacifism and communism is a marriage of incom- patibles. The action of these students shows, certainly, a groping in the direction of re- vott which, however blind, is still encouraging. But pacifist activity, no matter how sincere, is hardly revolu- tionary. It. is really an exasperated rebellion against an obvious evil—a perfect example of emotionalism un- troubled by intelligent analysis. What pacifists seem alone to have grasped is the single fact that economic rival- ry is the cause of war. In such a cause they refuse to fight. Of what will come after disarmament—of this théy know nothing. Question them as to present methods and ultimate results, and you will find an utter lack of comprehension. These students have been sacrificing themselves to uphold, not a definite economic policy, but the right to a state of normal indig- nation. EYOND a state of precarious peace, the pacifist hope for noth- ing. The mere cessation of war is to him the final goal. To the Communist, the destruction of the means whereby capitalism exists is merely a method with a further end in view. Commun- ism is more than a negation of capi- talism. It is a definite economic plan proposing a definite economic sys- tem to be adopted in place of the pres- ent one. ARRIED to its logical conclusion, pacifism means a policy of non- resistance in the class struggle as well as in international wars. The Com- munists, so bitter an opponent of wars in which the proletariat of one nation fights the proletariat of another nation so that their masters may obtain more power, is an equally militant partisan in a war that transcends national boundries. It is all very well for the pacifist to argue that social and eco- nomic equality should be attained by peaceful means. The fact remains that social and economic equality cannot be so attained. Where pacifism would hold water in a sieve by attempting the cure of economic ills with senti- ment, the Communist realizes that the only cure for economic ills is militant economic. ...« MAC’S BOOK STORE 27 JOHN R STREET DETROIT Full line of Sociological and Labor Literature. Periodicals and Newspapers SESSA SST TETAS BATTS TTS ATT AT AT UHTT TTT ASTANA EACH $2.00 a Year SOVIET RUSSIA PICTORIAL, 19 South Lincoln Street, An invaluable record of Labor's progress in Soviet Russia and the world over. 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