The Daily Worker Newspaper, July 5, 1924, Page 11

ie (Continued from page 1.) efforts of the socialist ministers, to pay taxes for militarism. We will sup- port, develop, and strengthen the mili- tary works, observe the strictest dis- cipline in the bourgeois army, ac- customing the workers to the thought it is their duty to support the im- perialist government. And then, at the very moment when the bour- geosie, which takes the question seriously, decides to put the army, created with the help of the socialist : ministers and reformist trade unions, into action, oh then, at that moment, we shall call upon the workers to make a general strike! This policy is ‘calculated for cattle who are led to slaughter. : But if, in your opinion, the general strike to prevent war is impossible, we hear the argument of a cunning and sly Amsterdamer, then what re- mains? Then~the working class is armless against militarism! Our reply to this is: the working class is not armless against militarism, but it is you, from Amsterdam, who exercise every effort to disarm it. Why not start with little things? Before calling a strike in munition works, especially a general strike, refuse military credits to the bour- geoisie, with the aid of which it sup- ports munition works, and if the par- liamentary socialist parties refuse to submit to such a decision, then it is the duty of the trade unions to boy- cott every party which directly or in- - directly supports the military budget in, the bourgeois government. But this would signify breaking the re- formists, with the compromisers, that is, breaking with themselves! The question is indeed beyond solution! One cannot support the bourgeois government, day in, day out, sanction its budget, in“the name of the prole- tariat, permit it to gain strength and exercise its muscles exhausted by the last war, and at,the same time add, that just as soon as the government will attempt to bring these muscles into action, we shall start an upris- a position is indeed’ monstrous! But does the voting against the budget in itself decide the question? In order to preserve the power of the bourgeoisie, parliament always, guar- antees a majority for the ruling class, This means that it would have its military budget approved even if the representatives of the working class vote against it. Military danger can- not be abolished in this manner, This is an indisputable fact. By means of parliamentary opposition alone the danger of war cannot be- avoided. However, it is quite evident; that those workers’ organizations which have not the courage even for parli- amentary opposition are absolutely good for nothing. Voting against military (and in gen- eral, capitalist) budgets, has signi- ficance inasmuch as the trade unions and the parties unite the workers for the irreconcilable fight against the domination of the bourgeoisie, not only in the event of war, but in peace, that is, during the systematic prepar- ation for war. It is true, indeed, that the bourgeoisie, for some time yet, will have its own budget and its own militarism. But the trade unionists must say that only sworn enemies of the working class will vote for these budgets. In these budgets is rooted not only slavery of today, but also to- morrow’s war. Whoever from the so- called “labor” representatives votes for the budget, is a traitor, and should not be permitted to approach workers’ organizations within gunshot. The creation of such a political at- mosphere among the toiling masses is the creation of the first, most elemental promise for the struggle against military danger. However, one should not stop here. One must build a fighting organiza- tion of the working class. In order that a strike in the munition works be made possible, it is necessary, first, that the working masses in their factories, the majority at least should be permeated with hatred against the rule of the bourgeoisie, and second, that they should have a ing. The knavish stupidity of suchstrongly welded nucleus, able at tle INDUSTRIAL CHILD LABOR IN U. S. (Continued from page 6.) out shakers, the chute, or other ma- chinery.” (Child Labor and the Wel- fare in an Anthracite Coal Mining Dis- trict, U. S. Children’s Bureau Publica- tion 106, 1922, page 16.) Conditions of life in this mining dis- trict, as well as in others, are those of a frontier town. The population of 25,000 people is crowded into half a square mile between hills. Nearly every foot of land is covered with houses. There are mines underneath the t {and where the coal had been taken out the workings were not al- ways filled in to support the surface. As a result, one house after another is giving way as the land caves in. The population then crowds still more closely together. The sewers, and the water supply are in a very damaging condition. All this obvi- ously is not good for children, Out of every thousand babies born in_ this town, 187 were dying in their first year. The death rates from bron- chitis and diphtheria and croup were three or four times as high as in the United States registration area as a whole. The scarlet fever was 12 times as high. Children in Other Industries. In ‘various other industries child laborers work under similar condi- tions: In the cotton mills of the south thousands of children under 16 years of age are-working nine and ten hours a day. Fatigue and atmospheric con- ditions in cotton mills are productive ot various diseases, particularly tuber- culosis. In southern mills, it was found that boys of 15 and over had a death rate twice as high as that for non-operatives; and for girls of the same age period—the rate was even higher. Children are also employed in the various steel and metal industries. Thus, in Michigan, minors are em- ployed extensively in automobile and metal industries. They work from 48 to 54 hours a week, performing all kinds of factory work. Accidents during working hours are very common. In 1918, there were 1,905 industrial accidents in Michigan factories. Many of the accidents re- sulted in deaths, dismemberment, or incapacity for work lasting from 15 days to one year. Conclusion. This»in. general, describes condi- tions of industrial child laborers. The children, under the system of wage slavery, have been and still are regarded as commodities, as mere in- struments for the accumulation of riches. Children must develop physically, and to do so they must play; children must develop mentally, and to do so they must be sent to school; children must develop morally, and to do so they must be kept within the guarded precincts of the home. But, as things stand today, the chil- dren of the producers are forced to work, This means that their physical development is checkéd. It means, in other words, arrested growth, stunted stature, anemia, thin, emaciated limbs, sunken cheeks and hollow eyes. It also means diseases of all kinds—of the lungs, of the joints and of the spine. Premature toil also means—arrested mentality. At , it means not only a stopping short, but a development in the wrong direction. The moral effects of premature toil are of the same sort: loosening of family ties, roving the streets, famil- iarity with vice, a startling independ- ence before the moral nature is fit to maintain independence, a process of selection so trying that in many cases it leads those subjected to it—to ruin, In brief, under the capitalist system of produetion,, the children of the wage-earners are denied health, edu- cation, vocational fitness, and a fair start in life. The Next War and the Amsterdam International decisive moment, to lead the mass. Even under such conditions we can- not promise that we can bring about a strike on the eve of the war, At that moment a strike (that is, a revo- lution) is less likely to be possible. In reality, either the revolution, with a general strike as one of its phases, will develop from the class struggle and will thus make war im- possible, or a new war will sharpen the class struggle and result in a gen- eral strike and revolution. In this question, no serious revolutionist can take formal obligations upon himself. Quite another thing for a_ political charlatan. He can juggle with the general strike, uprising, general boy- cott, and war, like a clown with his tin plates. As if to expose its naked reformist nature to the very end, the Amster- dam Congress decided to set the 21st of September as a “day of protest against the war.” Woe to militarism! But, pray, the reader will say, the working class already has a day of protest against militarism—the Ist of May. But the trouble is that the ist of May falls on a Sunday only once in seven years! So that in order to “protest” on the ist of May against war, one must strike, enter into con- flict with the bourgeoisie. This is the reason why Amsterdam tranferred its protest to the third Sunday in September. This formidable protest will take such a form that no one will even notice it. One must add that the Congress committed the central or- ganizations of- the separate countries to transfer the protest to the 28th of July, the-day on which Jaures was assassinated. By a happy foresight of the cal- ender, this day falls this year also on a Sunday. Next year on the anni- versary of the death of Jaures, it will not be necessary. to protest, but there will remain the third Sunday in September! Sunday will always re- main Sunday! The final denial of the 1st of May as a holiday is the only new word of the Amsterdamers in their struggle against the dangers of war. The following dre the general con- clusions from the “anti-militarist” de- cisions of the congress of the Am- with greater effort, more persistently, more systematically than ever before, to make it clear to the working masses that the Amsterdamers trai- torously betray them in the most fundamental acute question of war. The prescriptions of the Amsterdam Congress are but a political narcotic in the service of capitalistic militar- ism. It is in the position of the Am- sterdamers that the main danger of war is rooted. To destroy this posi- tion, to deprive it of the confidence of the masses, is to disarm the bour- geoisie and arm the proletariat. This is the last task that we must fulfill. Our Language Problem (Continued from page 3) ganization which, strong on account of the harmony and co-operation be- ween the Esperantists and Idists, will be able to abolish the prejudice that still oppose official introduction of the international language. This prepara- tory propaganda is indispensable, and it can be done without it ‘being neces- sary for the adherents to already now repeunce the use of either one of the two languages. “To atl comrades and organizations that have expressed their explicit de- sire to propagate the international language in accordance with the de- cisens of the Study Commission we recommend to base the propaganda upon the study and teaching of IDO, which must be regarded as scienti- fically superior, more easily perfect- ible, even its defects, and which con- sequently has the greatest chances of being finally adopted officially. “This recommendation expresses the opinion of all members of the com- mission except one, who weuld have obstained from any recommendation. { Hans Itschner, Sec’y of the Commission.” Ido has also been recognized or rec- ommended by many other organiza- tions, for instance, The Red Sport In- ternational, The International Work- ers Aid, The Communist Children’s Groups, Paris, The Peoples Commis- sariat for Education of Seviet Rus- sia, and the Peoples Commissariat for Education of the Soviet Republic sterdam International: It is necessary | Abkhazia. THE VIEWS OF OUR READERS ON LIFE, LABOR, INDUSTRY, POLITICS Fight Ku Klux Klan. To the DAILY WORKER:—Permit me as a ceaseless boosicr for our DAILY WORKER to register some old and some near-old stuff. The K(rooks), K(owards), K(rim- inals): Let us keep up our effective sledge-hammering at the Krook Klans until they crack and disappear .... Thotful people knew it when this mob of patriotically downish chumps first burst out into indiscriminate violence, that our Christian (!) gov- ernment had deliberately raised and organized this American equivalent of the infamous Black Hundreds of Czarist Russia; only ours are organ- ized on an immense scale. The diabolical purpose activating our official —Plug-Uglidom at Wash- ington was to sic ‘em on and slaughter the helpless underlying rank-and-file who might dare to try and exercise their constitutional rights. And if any local government for some reason or other dared to show up the fiendish atrocities of this doubly invisible government, as at- tempted . by Governor Parker of Louisiana, why, our Department from Justice would actually dare send down an army of publicly paid armed thugs to intimidate and prevent the people’s governments from giving them their due protection. Gullible rank-and-file! But the catching at this K. K. K. straw on the part of the drowning parasites is a fiendish desperate ex- pedient. So the parasite, always in a hopeless minority, must feel their back to the wall, hence their last-ditch try for the last time to befuddle the masses, and make them fight among themselves, tho they are natural co- haven't as yet touched the bottom of the valley of suffering. They will set foot on the upgrade only after, but not until, they have actually touched the bottom of the valley of suffering. -In the editorial entitled, “Under the Fascisti Thumb,” the DAILY WORK- ER, May 9, surprise is expressed that certain members of the foreign peace delegates including Mme. Rosika Schwimmer, should have been refused permission to call on Mrs. Coolidge at the White House, The real offend- ing black sheep of that group was, I believe, Mme. Schwimmer. The others who were likewise refused audience were victimized just in order to afford camouflage to hide the purpose behind that refusal. Wasn’t she the same Rosika Schwimmer of the Ford Peace ship fame whom the flivver king con- veniently denounced after the fiacso in order to qualifiy.for a ride on the anti-Semitic band wagon for immense personal profit? Having this back- ground in mind, and a political deal up Coolidge’s sleeve, would you think that “Cautious Cal” would permit a person taboo to Ford to darken the threshhold of the White House while Cal was busy in the act of slipping to Henry the people’s great Muscle . Shoal? Not Cal. Fraternally, B. Dana. What Are They? HONOLULU, T. H., July 4,—PFili- pino workers and other Filipino resi- dents of Hawati are wondering how attorney general Matthewman “gets that way” when he says that they have no right to vote, because they are neither “citizens or aliens.” If the Filipinos have served in the United States Army, they can vote, operators. Evidently the fool victims] says the big business attorney.