The Daily Worker Newspaper, June 13, 1924, Page 6

Published by the DAILY WORKER PUBLISHING CO., 41113 W. Washington Blvd., Chicago, Ill. (Phone; Monroe 4712) SUBSCRIPTION RATES By mall: $3.50....6 months $2.00...3 months By mail (In Chicago only): $4.50....6 months $2.50....8 montas $6.00 per year $8.00 per year Address all mail and make out checks to THE DAILY WORKER 1113 W. Washington’ Bivd. Chicago, Ilinole J, LOUIS ENGDAHL ) WILLIAM F, DUNNE) MORITZ J. LOEB. wy ditors .Business Manager Entered as second-class mail Sept. 21, 1923 at the Post- Office at Chicago,Ill., under the act of March 3, 1879. > The Bankruptcy of LaFollette LaFollette’s idea of “purging” the Republican party has demonstrated its complete bankruptcy. With the almost unanimous casting aside of the LaFollette program by the Republican convention, the Wisconsin senator has come another step nearer his disappearance as a political force in the country. The Wisconsin senator insisted upon maintain- ing.his regularity. \Timidly he refused to connect himself with any fighting forces outside the Re- publican organization. He had no program that reached beyond the old party machinery. When the Wisconsin platform was drowned out at the Cleveland sessions by a tidal wave of nayes, even the ghost of LaFollette was banished from the Republican councils. As a guiding force in the circles of the party rulers Mr. LaFollette was long ago thru, despite all the groundless illusions, he might have entertained to the contrary. The decisive: rebuke accorded his principles by the hand-picked delegates, the refusal even to graft some of the Wisconsin progressivism on the party platform is the most convincing evidence of the bankruptcy.of the LaFollette tactics and maneu- vers placing hope in the’reactionary G. O. P. It has been the essence of the LaFollette plan to avoid action against the-old capitalist parties, to delay, if ever, breaking with them and to con- tinue within the fold of the Falls, Daughertys, Coolidges and Lodges. This convention’s treat- ment of the Wisconsin delegation should serve to convince whatever small following that LaFollette might still have had amongst the industrial work- ers and exploited farmers that there is neither fight nor hope left in “Fighting Bob.” When LaFollette’s program was thrown out of the window in the Republican convention, the last nail was driven into the coffin bearing the Wis- consin senator’s right and pretense to pose as a Advertising rates on application. 5 Ruane of the workirg and farming masses. aig i 3 -fusistence ef béwollette to keep one foot in the reactionary capitalist Teapot party and an- other in the ranks of the great mass of discontented has only served to sabotage and interfere with the movement towards an open, sharp break by. the exploited classes with the political organiza- }with the supplies needed by the rest of the world. tions of the bosses. Anyone guilty of misleading the workers and poor farmers, anyone responsible for holding up the organization of a separate and distinct. party of the city workers and the dispos- sessed rural classes is unworthy of the slightest confidence of the masses and ought to be com- pletely discarded. Now that events have established the utter failure of LaFollette at the Republican convention, an empty ‘gesture may be made by the same politi- cal.innocents at the Democratic convention. This puppet show in New York, within a stroll’s dis- tance from Wall Street, will be as hopelessly capi- talist as the Cleveland farce was. With LaFol- letieism so completely in discard all workingmen and poor farmers should ,cast aside all illusions which will organize the party of the industrial workers and poor farmers. and ‘line up solidly for the St. Paul convention Send In that Subscription Today! THE DAILY WORKER; The Elephant’s Platform One hundred per cent of capitalism; against the workers and farmers; this sums up the Republi- can party platform adopted in Cleveland. The capitalist class of the United States-is-to be made rulers of the world. To this end, taxa- tion is to be reduced on big’ business and shifted more and more to the broad. masses, Foreign debts are.to be liquidated according to the prece- dent established with Great Britain, thus con- solidating the financial hegemony of Wall Street over the capitalist world. The consolidation of the railroads in private hands is to be facilitated. Big business is to be controlled only insofar as‘it is necessary to keep order between rival capitalist groups, so that they shall not cut one another’s throats. “Selective immigration,” which means finger-printing and passport regulations’ for the foreign-born, is to be established. The Philippines are not to be given independence. Imperialist aggression in South America is tacitly approved, with the understanding that it is to continue un- abated. A large army and navy.’ These are a few points in the program of American’ imperialism and world conquest, as laid down by the G. O. P. With this necessarily, goes the subjugation of the working class, and its more intense exploita- tion. The G. O. P. platform stresses the necessity te increase production and decrease “costs.” The employing class is told to go so far as it likes in the “open shop,” wage-reducing, union-smashing campaign, with the only reservation that the gov- ernment must be able to step in to keep a solid line-up of the master class as .a-whole. . The strike- breaking record of the government, under both Republican and Democratic parties, is endorsed. The farmers are told to work harder and have faith in the G. O. P. Those who still have anything to mortgage will be given the chance to borrow some more money, so that they, too, may be in the bankruptcy courts in the néxt crisis. All demands for actual relief of the agricultural crisis are re- jected as “unsound” in the system of capitalist exploitation. The elephant’s platform is one hundred per cent for Wall Street, but it has the merit of being so frankly reactionary that it will fool very few. The donkey’s platform will have more camouflage, but will"mean the same thing. The workers and farm- ers are left to organize themselves at St. Paul. The Peace of Europe The negotiations now going on between ‘the representatives of the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics and the British government will, more than any othér event now on the horizon of inter- national affairs, determine the: developments of Europe for some time to come. In those conferences between the spokesmen of the first Workers and Farmers’ Republic on’ one side, and the British Labor government. and big bankers on the other side, lies the hope for the peace of Europe for the next decade. Soviet Rus- sia is anxious to be at peace with the world. Soviet Russia abounds in natural resources’ and teems But the Soviet Republic inherited a. broken-down industrial organization which at its best was ineffi: cient and under-developed for meeting the needs of the vast country and the great Russian popula- tion. The various counter-revolutions financed by the foreign capitalist groups after the masses turned their backs on the imperialist war have only served to aggravate the ills of economic back- wardness. Today the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics is anxious to rebuild the country and to organize an efficient system of industry and exchange that will serve the proletarian and rural masses. To- wards this end much capital is needed. At this date, with the capitalist class supreme in eyery country of the world except Soviet Russia, this capital must be secured from the capitalists who still control the means of production and exchange in the other countries. Hence, Soviet Russia is willing to make concessions to these fo: capi- talists and to permit them to operate ‘in its|* THE DAILY WORKER (Hditor’s . Note:. The DAILY WORKER has received for publica- tion the documents on the re-orient- ation of the German Communist Party just before the elections, at its Frankfort Conference, and the judgment of the Chairman of the ;Communist International, Gregory Zinoviev, on the significance of the elections. Beginning today, these documents will be run serially, for the benefit of our readers, most of whom have been awaiting just this detailed information with great eagerness. In addition to clarifying the German situation for American readers, they contain material of great value for our own movement.) ne @ ELECTORAL VICTORIES OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF GER- MANY AND THE FUTURE TASKS OF THE PARTY. By GREGORY ZINOVIEV. 'HE outstanding feature of the par- liamentary elections which have undoubtedly the victory of the Com- munists. However, much our oppon- ents may strive to conceal this, the fact remains a fact. When the Ger- man Social-Democratic Party in its most flourishing period, led by Aug- ust Bebel, received 3,000,000 votes (during the elections 1903, 1907, 1911), it was regarded as a world historical event. With mueh greater right can we claim that the fact that the Ger- man Communist Party has received nearly 4,000,000 votes is an event of world historical importance. A Party of Revolution. The German Communist Party en- tered the battle with banners flying, as the party of Proletarian Revolu- tion. For eighteen months already the German Communist Party had openly declared that it will arm the workers and was preparing for the armed revolt against the capitalist system. It openly declared a war to the “death against the present sys- tem and flung its challenge in the face of the bourgeoisie. During the election campaign the German Communist Party told the workers with frank brutality (and it acted quite rightly in doing so) that the regime of bourgeois parliament- arism has become completely bank- rupt and that the Communists wil! enter the so-called parliament not for the purpose of conducting practical “organic” work but for the purpose of revolutionary agitation and for the mobilization of the masses. It told them that the real questions confront- ing Germany could be solved not by the ballot box, but by.armed fighting and that everyone who voted for the Commupists was voting for the Soviet system in Germany. This resolute but most appropriate presentation of the question, undoubtedly. repelled all the irresolute sections of the working class away from the Communist Par- ty. But this did not matter. The More weight does this give to the al- most 4,000,000 votes that were cast for the German Communists. Within the last few months the Ger- man Communist Party has been wholly absorbed in solving the intern- al problems of the Party which had become acute as a consequence of the retreat in October, 1923. A re- estimation of values and a regrouping of forces took place and an intensive and acute internal struggle was car- ried on. There is no doubt that the election campaign suffered as a con- sequence of this. Furthermore, the Party has only just emerged from un- derground. Hundreds and thousands of the best Party worxers are still in prison. The ablest leaders are being Persecuted and are obliged to act il- legally. Half the newspapers of the party were suppressed. Yet another circumstance must be borne in mind. The votes cast for the boundaries provided they adhere to the labor laws . . . Nominating Coolidge Of,all dreary reading the worst is speeches no- minating capitalistic candidates for the presidency. The past. lite: . atrocities, but probably never a worse one allowed to over-run and pilla, of the land. ; The workers and peasants’ Soviet republic has gone a long way toward giving up many, immediate interests in order to secure the peace of Europe. _has produced terrible specimens of such;For instance, the Roumanian brigands hdve been the rich Russian than ‘that of M. L. Burton, in nominating Coolidge|land of Besserabia and the Polish hangmen have at Cleyeland yesterday. Stupid, inane, and point-|been given more rest than they deserve, simply be- less—the speech symbolized the candidate it was|cause Soviet Russia is anxious.to be at peace with intended to exalt, his party, and the capitalist|its neighbors. A conflagration on the Danube or system of society for which all stand. a war on the Polish frontier can prove only the It might.be urged. that we should pardon the|signal for a new world slaughter. In view of these learned Dr. Burton for his inability to say any-|considerations it is now the turn of the Mac- thing interesting about so dull and gray a figure} Donald government to foree the Lombard Street as the puppet Coolidge. It was an impossible|bankers to make some concessions. to the Soviet tusk to set, even for a genius of oratory, which the|republics and to grant them the loan they need Doctor ig not. “leaders of a great nation,” in the solemn hour of, choosing leadership, cough up and present to| pressure on the bankers for But what. shall we think when the|for reconstruction. If the MacDonald group will exercise as much is peace loan as they the world such a brilliant apothegm as this, sup-|brought to bear on the Ei sh working masses posed to characterize Cal Coolidge: “He may be] for war loans in the past, then the peace of Europe an example, but he would never set one.” Altho Coolidge, the human being, may be as completely devoid of meaning as that phrase, yet will be assured for a long time to come. More Italian troops have landed on the island Coo! the candidate is not so blank. Behind|of Rhodes. Turkey is mobilizing ps. Coup the senseless nothings of the speeches, the forced|d’etat threatens in Rovwmania. M ia is on eC] , and reactionary resolutions of the Cleve-|the rampage. . Rebellion in Albania took ‘the form convention lie the sinister forces of American|of armed uprisings. Diplomats hyrry to and fro, nitqlism, knowing exactly what they want and|conferences hastily summoned as hastily disperse. how to get it. The public display of idiocy in the} Ministries fall, rise, and fall again Germapy and . nominating speech is merely a part of the effort,| France. Strikes of millions cowie in Great more clumsy than usual, to keep the eyes of the| Britain and on the continent. It'looks like the workers away from the great realities behind the|international pot is boiling dangerously near the convention—J. P. Morgan and his check book. Send in that Subseription Today. top again, ' Subscribe for the DAILY WORKER! ne German Communists were votes cast for the Party and not for individual persons. There are almost no great “names” in the German Communist Party. @ party ticket was headed by the Hamburg workman, Comrade Thalman, who is only just beginning to acquire wide political fame thruout Germany. The more remarkable there- fore, is the brilliant victory of our party...» Communism Acquires Reality. The bourgeois and Social-Democrat- ¢ press is full of election “sensations.” Hundreds of newspaper columns are filled with the petty ‘squabbles be- tween the various bourgeois factions. All sorts of conjectures are made,con- cerning various inter-party combina- tions which spring up and wither be- fore they have time to bloom and all the time they refuse to see the most ee that the irreconcilable party of proletarian revolution is over- coming all obstacles and is advancing ever forward; that the spectre of “Communism” is assuming real ma- terial form, is acquiring flesh and blood, that militant Communism has opened the for itself towards mil- Mons, of workers, that 4,000,000 Com- munist votes have been cast against all bourgeois parties and against So- cial Democracy and this is an event of world histori 108, & memento mori for the European id ‘did not defeat you in October, 923, but our victory is not far dis- it. This is what the 4,000,000 work- ers have said to Messrs, the Bour- |geoisie and the Social-Democrats, Communism in Germa been just concluded in Germany, is’ over 4,000,000 votes, This does not imply the final collapse of German So- clal Democracy, but it is a blow from which it will never recover. For Ger- man‘ Social-Democracy, parliamentary success and failures are everything, for parliament is its natural element which determines its ‘activity, Ger- man Social-Democracy will now be compelled to take a right turn: it will tend still more to rely on the non-labor and petty-bourgeois ele- ments; it will become more dependent on the bourgeois parties.’ The mil- lions af workers who voted: for the German Social-Democracy from this time now onward will be nothing else but recruits for the Communist Party. Either today or tomorrow ‘they will gradually join the ranks of the Com- munists, German Social-Democracy is a de- clining power, German Communism Is a mighty rising power. The star of German Communism: will soon shine with unexampled brilliance; the de- cisive battle is approaching. - AS WE » By J. T. William Gibbs ‘McAdoo. will. not make the mistake his father-in-law made in 1916 when he failed to com- pensate his Ohio supporters’ for the assistance rendered in putting his candidacy oyer the top. In a letter issued from’the Columbus headquar- ters of McAdoo,’ prospective support- ers ate informed that all those’ who lend money or influence to the Mc- Adoo’ campaign will--be remembered when the time comes to reward the faithful. In the-event of McAdoo go- Ing over the tape on the first Tuesday in November, his machinists will start a new. “Ohio gang” in place of that capitalist once led by’ the notorious Daugherty. ‘This :will inspire other political scavengers to get: busy clean- ing out the new. gang. 9, O54 This is the way. capitalist politics are played. There, is no ideal to jtriye for . but» the, personal interest yf the particular. politicians who are selected. to serve the capitalist class in the legislatures, national, state or municipal. ;From, the White , House down, to the lowly, ward, this. cor- rupt machinery that: darters princi- ples for cash, flourishes. . * * There, must be something to a man who inspires, a poet. to verse. There must be something unusual about a man:who inspires two, poets, and there must be: something, extraordinary about: a man who inspires a political party to sing about him. But. per- haps, the poetry is.even-more un- usual. It usually is., The Republican Party. is singing, to, keep’ up its cour- age, while it sends: its. Jeader,. Cool- idge,. forward to face the paper, bul- lets in November. This is-the refrain of the campaign song “So keep cool and keep Coolidge is the slogan, of today, ‘ ; .Keep cool and keep. Coolidge, for Russia and Germany. x During the elections to the Constitu- ent Assembly which took place aftet the conquest of power. by the Soviets in November, 1917, we. Bolsheviks ob tained 9,000,000 votes (in 54 constitu. encies) out of 36,250,000 votes, The German Communists in this election, May, 1924, obtained 4,000,000 votes out of 23,000,000 million. If we take merely the numerical relation, the German Communist Party already is not far removed from the position the Rus- sian Bolsheviks were in 1917. Against their 4,000,000 votes, the German Com- munists have the 6,000,000 cast for the Social-Democrats, but ‘the, Bolshe- viks in November, 1917, had 21,000,000 votes of the SRs and a little oyer half a-million votes of the Mensheviks against their 9,000,000 votes. The fact is, however, that compara- tive figures at elections completely fail to settle the question. The Rus- sian Bolsheviks in October and. No- vember, 1917, had the majority in the decisive place and at the decisive mo- ment (the proletariat and garrisons in both capitals, the important armies the good old U. S.A. \A lot of politicians cannot do a thing but knock, But. Calvin Coolidge is a man of action and not talk. So just keep cool and keep Cool- which had not yet been demobilized, and the most important peasant dis- tricts). Comrade Lenin explained this cir- cumstance to the international prole- tariat with classical clearness in his idge famous article “The Elections to the} In the White House four years Constituent Assembly and the Dic- more, tatorship of the Proletariat.” The Ger- man Communists, unlike the Russian Bolsheviks, cannot in May, 1924, lead the German proletariat immediately to the final battle. But after the Oc- tober (1923) set-back of the German Communist Party and after all its partial defeats, the elections in May, 1924, undoubtedly show that the time is near when the German Communists will have the decisive place at the proper moment. Then the wavering will not be repeated and the German Communist Party will carry out its great historic mission. The Controversies in the C. P..G. The results of the election throw some light’on the controversy within the German Communist Party which roused such concentrated attention among all the sections of the Comin- tern. The first conclusion that one natur- ally draws is that the recently con- cluded period of work of the German Communist Party was not wholly bad. In the application of the tactics of the united front in Germany, great oppor- tunist errors were committed, but the tactics in themselves were correct. The German Communist Party broke thru to the masses. It became a pow- erful mass proletarian party in spite of all misfortunes and the opportunist mistakes of its leaders. This would have been impossible if the tactics of the united front had been wrong in principle. The second outstanding fact .is the comparatively great success of the So- cial-Democrats in Saxony and Thur- ingia and the small successes of the Communists in those places. This is.a new and important confirmation of the fact that the “Saxon policy” of Com- rade Brandlers’ group was opportun- We have a chance,to do it.in this year of twenty-four. Kp He’s been tried, he’s never want- ing; he is giving of his best; Keep cool and keep Coolidge, is our country’s mighty. test.” A well-wisher of the DAILY WORK- ER challenged us to improve on the above, so we sought an idle rhymster and finding‘him, offer the following for the consideration of our readers: The Burglar’s Refrain. Keep cool and keep Coolidge is what the grafters say; Keep cool and keep Coolidge till we rob the U. S.A. ‘We already got the Teapot Dome— Cal never opened his block, When he gets back to Washington, we'll put Uncle Sam in hock. So just keep cool and K€ep Cool- idge, future of the German Communist Par- ty owing to the acute controversy go- ing on in its ranks at that time. The conference of the German Communist Party which took place recently ille- gally in Frankfort, showed that the state of affairs in the party was better than we had expected. The Party Tasks. The important task mow confronting the new Central’ Commzitee is to re- move the trac fractionism, and not merely in words but in deed, to at- tract the best all the former fac- tions to the work, in order finally and completely to restore the line and to render harmless the “ultra-left” tend- encies, which the Central Committee rightly describes as. tendencies to- wards passivity and in order to put an end to the internal conflict and to take up broad political work. , ‘There are many reasons for believ- (Tak 98 on BRC RPE AE AI i. At on i AAO RII TR AO A a ES 0 = Ti ECON NE A EERE RA CS ea at eB TA ct DAR ed ME ERATE rd SEES istic and wrong and that the left ma- jority of the German Communist Party with the Comintern, were. absolutely right when they condemned and repu- diated this policy. In Saxony and Thur- ingia, where the Communists ‘directed their aim towards an agreement with the Social-Democracy, the masses of the workers saw the Social-Democrats in their “left” robes. This, as it were, placed a halo around the head of So- cial-Democracy. By its vague’ tactics tending towards opportunism, the Brandler group failed to win over the Soclal-Democratic workers and to a| Wl! considerable extent lost its influence among the revolutionary sections of the proletariat é yoda The third fact that the elections have emphasized is the tremendous growth of Communist influence in| such important centers as Berlin and Hamburg. This too emphasizes the collossal error of the Brandler group. which, during the course of oye years, in which they were at the helm r i: ot the party, failed to link up closely’| Hon. This is what the elections have with Berlin and Hamburg organiza. |” . : tions, the most important organiza- tions in the party, and failed to un- derstand that the fate of the revolu- tion would be determined by thede two centers. : °y gs German Party Has Recovered. . In our article, “The State of Affairs of the German Communist Party,” written in March pressed some fi ing that the Central Committee of the party will manage to fulfill its task. To take up broad political work— Rue Ee arlieyal tae ee Bae ie @] govern heel of the right), it is clear that none will be stable. The mistake made by those who said that Fascism had been victorious in Germany, is now German pee O'FLAHERTY. | wilt ny and the Recent Elections SEE IT While we steal he'll simply snore; He'll do for us again boys, what he did for Fall before. He's: been tried, and he was silent when the. burglars did their best, Keep coolsand keep Coolidge and wewill keep. the rest. eee i There is more truth than poetry in that verse, tho we confess there is a little of both. Coolidge’s coolness is contagious. The workers are not so cool when they remember the injune- tions secured by his party against them, and the dirt farmers find their celluloid collars trickling down their backs as they look on their vanishing wealth. But. the producers are in- clined to be equally cool to the Dem ocratic party. They have not forgot- ten the famous war for democracy and the Palmer ‘red raids and injune- tions. Both parties are tools of Wall Street. ‘Whichever party wins, ‘the workers lose and Wall Street wins. The organization of a class Farmer: Labor party at St. Paul on June 17 is what the'class conscious workers and exploited farmers are pinning their hopes on. The capitalist press is indulging in much nonsense about the dictatorship of the workers in Russia, It is there. ‘We do not deny it. We defend it. It means the rule of the majority over the minority, or what the average | American would consider democracy. The Russian workers are’taking pre- cautions that will prevent the ene mies of the workers who still infest Russia from'undoing the work of the revolution. They have taken the guns from the robber class and placed them in the hands of what was for- merly: the ruled class, but is today the ruling class: When all vestiges of the capitalism system are abolished <p and communism is established, auto» - matically eliminating class goverm ment, there will be no further need for a dictatorship, and having out lived its function it will vanish, There is nothing criminal about such a necessary form of government, In) the United States, where we have cap- italist democracy, the workers are ale lowed freedom to starve, but very lite tle else. The capitalists own. the meatis of wealth production. They~ own the jobs that the workers must have in order to get the wherewithal to buy food, clothing and shelter, Sometimes the workers do not get enough to buy the necessities of life with the money they receive in wages from the employer, and they ‘strike. If they lose the fight, they are pelled to again beg the boss for th old jobs, and if he is not in a gracious mood he lets them seek a job else- where. Sometimes workers’ starve under these conditions. Is that dicta- torship, or is it not? Which dictator+ ship would you have—as you have to choose between two dictatorships— the dictatorship of the workers or that of the masters? Would you not prefer to own your own job than have to beg for it? FT Deeper Into the Masses. Meanwhile—déeper among the mass- es. Increase the work of the Com- munists in the tradé unions tenfold. Set up, not on paper but actually, an extensive system of Communist frac- tions in the trade unions. Capture the factory councils in fact. Reorgan- ize the party on the basis of factory council nuclei. Only if the party does all this, will it really commence a new chapter in its history. Only if it does this, shall we really commence to carry out the policy of unity from below, in place of the method of negotiating for the unit- ed front mainly with the leaders as has been practiced hitherto. é It is necessary that the party really conduct its work on new lines. It is necessary that the change of course shall not be limited merely to the pub- lication of more radical articles in the newspapers. It is necessary to plunge’ right into life. It is necessary to te come the focus of the economic and political struggle. : The German Communist party iting on the most important. ion of the world revolution. ‘This | is the enormous interest. ong by the workers and Commu of all countries in all that is tak- ing place within the German Commi evi-}ist party. The German Comm party is at heart, so sound that no mis- takes committed by the leaders, no in ternal crisis can destroy it, but. errors nevertheless, may cause the party considerable damage. }, ' Our desire is that the German com- rades quickly remove the traces of t already. too-long-drawn-out , | controversy. The difficulties are gre: but great also is the'spirit of the Ger man proletariat. The attention of whole of the Communist International is concentrated on the work of its Ger- man‘detachment. In spite of today's brilliant election victory (and | becauge of it), the German bow in alliance with the German: revolutionary Social-Democrats, strive tomorrow again to dri .|German Communist . party ground. But no matter mies of the German p: do they will only further tarian revolution, ‘ And the German Communist be at its post. ‘ ~