The Daily Worker Newspaper, August 9, 1924, Page 10

- ity about the British bench. - Agreement, lIndia’s Revolutionary League libel case, which shows a definite Americanization of.a British legal pro- cedure, or should one say Mussoliniza- tion?—has merely aggravated what is already a ticklish situation in that great portion of the British Empire, India. The chief of the Amritsar mas- sacre, who was suing, has gained little by his victory. It has refreshed the memory of Am- ritsar in the minds of Indians—if, in- deed, the memory of that wanton mas- sacre had at all faded. It has helped to shatter what remains of their be- lief in British justice, not because of the technical verdict in the case, but because of the exoneration, gratuiti- ously pronounced by Mr. Justice Mc- Cardie, of Genéral Dwyer, who was really responsible for the horrible deed. It has always been a fair illusion, hugged fondly to the bosoms of the British liberals, that there is some peculiarly unique quality of impartial- It has been an attitude of self-righteousness; we are not as others are, they said, in warm self-congratulation, compar- ing the icy aloofness of British judges to the furious class partiality of Amer- ‘ica, and other jurists. “Impartial” Judges—Bunk! And this conception has been, in some measure, accepted by our colon- ial people. It was, perhaps, their last Justice McCardie — in which he showed an admirable and honest, even if somewhat ill-advised, class loyalty —even this last shred of confidence is gone. Well, let it be so; it is to be welcomed, as precipitating the realiza- tion, by Indians, that only their own efforts can save them. ey In India, at present, the nationalist movement is in the throes of change and disagreement. Of one thing, I think we can be certain: the star of Gandhi is at last on the wane. This leader has shown all the indecision, the fluctuation and vacillation, typi- cal of the idealistic pacifist. He has been desirous of freeing India by harking back to a period forever dead. Ghandi Failed. He gave the Indians an idylic pic- ture of India as it once was, in the days of the village craftsman, before the introduction of large-scale indus- try. He preached the way of free- dom by a_ reversion to homespun cloth, and by the use of “spirit force.” And, like most such intransigeant dreamers, when the moment for deci- sion came, he faltered and was lost. After preaching civil disobedience, he feared, when the moment came, to or- der it. He missed his opportunity; and he is finished as the supreme leader of Indian nationalism. This is not to say that he is utterly discred- ited; he still has a considerable fol- lowing. But other leaders, and other methods, have sprung up. Whereas Ghandi opposed all partici- pation in India parliamentary process- es, the present majority leaders of the Nationalist Congress, C. R. Das, Molital Nehru and others, advocated that Nationalists should stand for election to the Provincial and Nation- al Councils, but that, once elected, they should pursue a policy of ob- struction. They recognized the futility of at- tempting to use the existing political apparatus of India, for the securing of national emancipation, but they did not ignore the opportunities afforded by elections and membership of elect- ed bodies for propaganda, and for showing that these bodies could not secure the ends desired. Whether they will stay by this policy, is another question. They may succumb to the temptations that beset elected per- sons who are not controlled by the strict discipline of a highly conscious political party. we Recently, a conference took place between Das and Nehru, on the one hand, and Ghandi, on the_ other. however, on a common policy for the Home Rule movement, was impossible; and the two parties to the discussion issued separate BY A HINDU. *% tal tactical differences between the The Jingoistic summing up of Jus-|non-cooperation policy of Ghandi and tice McCardie, in the Nair-O’Dwyer|the obstructionist tactics of the statements. These showed fundamen- Swarajists led by Das and Nehru. Industrialism Grows. And, while Indian Nationalism ham- mers out the differences inevitably arising from the transitional stage thru which India itself is passing the growth of Indian machine indus- try, and of a native bourgeoisie—the Indian masses are slowly coming to a glimmering of the important role which they must play in the course of future developments. Strikes are becoming more and more frequent in India. And they are accompanied by all the features of the most violent industrial warfare. The shooting down of striking work- ers in Bombay, in the Cawnpore mills, is but part of the tragic unfolding of the history of Indian wage-slavery. And the recent industrial troubles are also proviaing us with the spectacles of the United Front between the armed forces of the foreign imperial- ist rulers—the British—and the Indian capitalists. While the Indian bourgeoisie may be eager to bring about a separation from the Empire, they are by no means anxious to see the Indian work- ing class emancipate itself from. the thrall of capitalism, British or Indian. They even oppose the most modest demands of the exploited native work- ers. They want, not India for the Indians, but India for the Indian capi- talists, bureaucrats and intellectuals. United Front With Nationalists Now. And the Indian trade union leaders are also by no means the militant leaders which the workers need. They are far more closely allied with the middle class nationalist element, than with the proletariat. Yet, in the present stage of the In- dian movement, it is the duty of all revolutionists to support. the nation- alist movement, to support the move- ment against imperialism, while, at the same time, endeavoring, by every means, to base it ever more upon the mass action of the workers and pea- sants, to link it up with their econo- mic and social demands, and to give it an increasingly leftward orienta- tion. It is for such activities, for the en- deavor to form a mass political party of ‘workers and peasants in India, that four Indian workers have re- rigorous imprisonment. And this de- spite the fact that the assessors, who in India, assist the judge in the trial, differed as to the guilt of the defend- ants. Four Communists Jailed. They were Communists, it appears, these four Indian workers; and there- fore, they must go to prison. And this, it must be remembered, took place when the central ruling body of the Empire—the British govern- ment-——-was a Labor Gopernment. Well, it was really to be expected. Only a few weeks ago, the daily press stated that officials of the India office: had just inspected some new tanks. These were tanks of an improved type, specially adapted for street fighting, and were to be sent to India. And so our brilliant Fabian “Social- ist” sits in the India office, issuing bland and empty statements of amity for the Indian people, and sending tanks over to prove to them the friend- ship of the British labor yovernment. ‘Tis a pretty picture, upon which our I. L. P. friends must needs gaza with surprise and sorrow, if, indeed, they retain any of their old ideals of freedom and internationalism. An International Language called “Our Language Problem” in Saturday’s Magazine Section. But the fifth and last section of it was bunk. Here‘is a word for word copy of an official statement by the Secretariat of Comintern, delivered in the hands of Comrade E. Lanty of Paris, refer- ring to this question: The Executive Committee of the Communist International. No. 1455. Moscow, Aug. 14, 1922. Comrade E. Lanty, delegated by the Esperantist Organization “Sennacieca Asocio Tutmonda,” with approval of the International Secretariat of the French -Communist Party, having come to Moscow for the purpose of investigating the work of “Study Com- mission for the Adoption of an Auxi- liary Language in the Communist In- ternational, it officially informed that this committee is already dissolved and that the Communist International has not made any decision concern- ing the adoption of either Esperanto or Ido. The Secretariat of The E. C. of the ©, i: Rakeshi. A similar statement has also been received from the People’? Commis- sariat for Education in the Republic of Abkhazia. + * * There are two sides to every ques- A Letter to the Editor. ternational language. And this is a very conservative estimate. Why then should we try to hinder evolution and progress by thfowing confusion into the public mind, advertising rival schemes. Those who are really interested in this question ought to read “A Short History of the International Language Movement,” by Guerard, published by Boni and Liveright, New York. He is neither Esperantist nor Idist and is therefore an impartial authority. Also “Esperanto and its Critics” by E. W. Collinson, Professor of German and Hon. Lecturer in Comparative Philo- logy, University of Liverpool, ought to be read. It can be ordered from Scand. Esperanto Inst., Rockford, IIL, for only five cents.—Karl Froding. RUSSIA’S REMARKABLE REVIVAL Just as the average capitalist news- paper persisted for years after the Bolshevist November revolution in running daily fairy tales about the “overthrowal of the soviets”—so are the same capitalist papers continuing now to speak of Russia as “in ruins” and its people “victims of starvation and chaos’ and so on. After many years only the most daring of these liars will now venture so far as th old yarns about the“‘impending over- throwal or collapse of the soviet gov- But the “ruin-famine-and- ernment.” chaos lie is still going strong. _ For this reason it is important that the labor press circulate the facts about the remarkable revival of prod- uction under the soviets and how Communist control is bringing ever better conditions for the workers Moreover, the article is authoritative, since it is written by Wm. Z. Foster who has just returned from his second visit to the Workers’ Republic under the title “Russia in 1924.” All is changed,’ says Foster, “since my Visit in 1921. The workers are stronger and healthier. To prove this it is not necessary to have recourse to statistics. It is patent to the naked eye. The average man is 20 to 30 pounds heavier than in 1921. The crowds are full of life and energy.” Another short and interesting note in the July LABOR HERALD on this subject quotes the official paper of Moscow, “Economic Life’—the author- ity heeded by capitalist and Commun- ist alike—to the effect that the En- glish pound sterling, matched against the new gold money of the soviets on while in other countries—including America—the life of the workers be- scrap of confidence in British institu-|Dear Comrade:—I hasten to congratu- tions. Now, after the harangue of Mr.|late you on ‘publishing the article tion, the theoretical and the practical. The article in Saturday’s Magazine Section entitled “Our Language Prob- lem” from the theoretical point of view, in pointing out in clear terms the need of an international langue. But when we come to the practical side, the introduction and application of such a language, then our troubles begin. For if we start talking Ido propaganda at the present time when Esperanto has travelled the greater part of the road to universal adoption, we only cause confusion, and our work and trouble will have no practical re sults. We need not be guided by the so- called “Study Commission” of the Comintern, inasmuch as the Executive Committee of the Comintern will have nothing more to do with it. It was dissolved more than two years ago, and the Comintern has as yet made no decision whatever on the adoption of any international language. And the others who are said to recommend Ido have simply been fooled to do so with the understanding that the Com- mission of the Comintern was official. Esperanto has at least ten times the number of followers that Ido has ever claimed, and it has fifty times bigger chance of being the future in- comes more miserable and hopeless every day. the Russian market, fell 23 per cent between January ist and April 5th. It will be astonishing to all our 100 per centers to learn that our (?) It is with considerable joy, Ser: fore, that we read in the LABOR HERALD for July, a thorough and graphic description of both industrial and human reconstruction after the long years of war and _ revolution. American dollar compared to this Bolshevik ruble fell 12 per cent in the same three months! The LABOR HERALD is the first publication in America, so far as_known, which has given this significant fact attention. Rondeau : By Henry George Weiss With tar and rope the Ku Klux Klan Would regulate its fellowman, And hold thru fear the colored race Oppressed and martyred in their place, Would strangle freedom with its plan. Ah! shade of Lincoln, stoop and scan This white-hood mob that seeks to fan Hate into flame, and thus disgrace With tar and rope, - Is it but six score years that span Your day from this?—Oh, tell me, ca: You look on them without a trace Of shame and ire on your face? You did not spell AMERICAN With tar and rope!