The Daily Worker Newspaper, August 30, 1924, Page 7

“The idea becomes | power when it pene- | trates the masses.” —Karl Marx. SPECIAL MAGAZINE SUPPLEMENT AUGUST THE DAILY WORKER. 30, 1924. SECOND SECTION This magazine supple- ment will appear every Saturday in The Daily Worker. THE ROAD TO FREEDOM By c. E. RUTHENBERG The platform on which the Workers Party asks support of its candidates, outlines the one road the workers must travel in order to secure a high- er standard of life for themselves. The platform does not represent a plan conceived by some individual or group of individuals as a means of securing relief from the existing evils of the capitalist system. The program offered by the Workers Party is a Communist program rooted in the economic development of the capital- ist system and ‘pointing’to the new social order indicated by the develop- ment of that system itself. The cen- tral point about the development of the capitalist system is the develop- ment of large scale production which brings thousands of workers together in industry and makes of production a collective work rather than individ- ual work. So long as our system of production consisted of individuals working alone or some employer working with a half-dozen employes in a small shop, a Communist system of production was impossible. But capitalism itself creates the basis for. the new social order. Cap- italism, during the last half century particularly, has been developing greater and greater organizations for production of wealth. In place of a few workmen in small shops produc- ing shoes, we have great shoe fac- tories employing thousands of men who collectively produce shoes. In place of a tailor working alone pro- ducing garments, we have great gar- ment factories employing thousands of workers who create clothing. Sharpens Class Conflict This development of the capitalist system has created an industrial ma- chine consisting, on one side, of tens of thousands of workers engaged in a particular industry, who work for wages, and on the other side, the re- latively few capitalists who own the industries and take the profits from them but who usually have no part in the work of production. They own stocks and bonds which give them a mortgage on the life and work’ of those who produce wealth in in- dustry, but themsejves contribute no- thing to the work of production. Given such an industrial system, there can be no other outcome than the continuous conflict between the workers employed in industry and the owners of industry. The bringing together of a thousand workers in one industrial establishment creates the condition for use of the workers’ power against the capitalist owner. The very fact that these workers are forced into close relationship thru the collective processes of producing wealth teaches them to unite in the struggle against their exploiters. Ten thousand workers scattered over a city or several cities in small shops employing five or ten workers, would find it very dificult indeed to unite for collective action against their exploiters, but bringing these workers together in one great indus- trial establishment, we have the con- ditions which will naturally develop solidarity and action as a group against their exploiters, In other words, the capitalist sys- tem creates first the conditions for collective production in industry and at the same time creates the organ- ization for struggle against private ownership of this collective system of production by bringing together masses of workers in industry. Collective Production and Distribution the United States, and surely no one who considers the facts of American industry will dare challenge the state- ment that this situation does exist, the natural question which follows is, thru what program of action can the workers win the struggle against their exploiters? We have today private ownership of industry which so far as produc-' tion is concerned is becoming more and more a collective pragess of pro-| duction. This great industrial ma- chine exploits the workers and when! they rebel against exploitation brings in the governmental power to main- tain their exploitation and adds op- pression to exploitation. What is the workers’ solution? Can} they say with LaFollette, let us de-| stroy this organization, let us break the trusts and go back to small busi- ness? No one but a fool would make such a proposal. The great industrial organizations of our time are the result of industrial evolution. It is a logical development of production from individual small ---_eeeeeeee FOR THE CLASS-STRUGGLE AND AGAINST REFORMIST ILLUSIONS By WILLIAM N the present election campaign the Workers Party has a great re- sponsibility as well as a splendid opportunity. to stand uncompromisingly, in this period of general | its revolutionary program and to sweep aside the cloud of reformistic | poison now befogging the minds of the bewildered workers. The signi- it by a system-of Communist collect- ive-ownership of industry. This is the platform upon which the Workers Party asks the support of the work- ers in the present election campaign. The Role of the Government. The role of the government in the capitalist system of societye has al- ready been indicated. Thru the con- trol of political power and use’ of that power against the group which is struggling to emancipate itself from the exploitation of the capitalist sys- tem, the capitalists maintain the sys- tem which gives them great wealth. The change in ownership of indus- try and the workers’ control of in- dustry can only be achieved if the workers first take over the govern- mental power. The first great struggle to achieve the Communist society is the struggle for control of the gov-| ernmental power. Once this power is in the hands of the exploited class, it has the weapon thru which it can transform the existing social system. The Work- ers Party therefore calls upon the} workers to join in the struggle to es- Z. FOSTER. Its responsibility is confusion, for jover the mouth of the bottle, ficance of Gompers and Debs joining with LaFollette in a united front, is that the organized masses of trade unionists are tending to break away from the leadership politically of big capital and to accept that of little capital. The task of the Workers Party is to expose the fal- laties of the liberal democratic LaFollette movement, with its blatant sophistries and meaningless platitudes about re-establishing the “rule of the people” and giving a “square deal” to everyone. Party has the imperative duty to sound a clear proletarian revolution- ary note and to demonstrate that the LaFollette movement holds no hope for working class betterment, petuation of capitalism in its worst phases. 4 With this duty comes a splendid opportunity for the Workers Now the workers are thinking over their grievances and the way to correct them. They are highly receptive to revolutionary edu- cation preperly to intrench itself in the minds of the masses and to bring large numbers of militant workers into its ranks. ent campaign every effort must be put forth to enlighten the workers and to develop a big vote for the Communist candidates. Party. forts must not end there. extend our press. Above party papers. fulfill our revolutionary duty of educating the masses and building the Workers Party. scale production to the great mass productive industries of our time. A LaFollette administration, even tho it made a thousand laws, could not stop this development. The question the workers face is, then what program can they follow in order to solve the problem of the exploitation and oppression of the workers under this system? The an- swer to that quéstion is indicated in the industrial and economic situation itself. We cannot destroy the great industrial organizations and thus end their power. We should not desire to destroy them even if we could, be- cause they represent a higher level of industrial development. We already have collective production thru thou- sands of workers cooperating in large industries. All this points to the only possible solution of the problem; that is, that we take the industries out of the hands of their private owners and make the ownership collective as well as the work of production. This is the central point of the program of the Workers Party. This is the aim and goal of the Commun- ist movement. All its efforts and energies are directed toward abolish- If we acknowledge that these are|ing the system of private ownership _ the conditions which exist today in'of the great industries and replacing 9 AA aie Ne ap I ab gS aan nh a tn Wa a ae chores mmmmmmneet ieee "gallina Our election campaign will be a failure if it is not everywhere accompanied by a militant drive to secure new members for the party and new readers for the DAILY WORKER and our other In this historical situation, let us, therefore, militantly The Workers but must lead directly to the per- In the pres- But our ef- we must build our party and tablish a Workers and Farmers Gov- ernment which will express the rule of the exploited groups against the rule of the capitalist class. From all the above will be seen that the platform on which the Workers Party is asking the support of the workers this year deals with the fun- damental problems of capitalist socie- ty. That in place of being a utopian scheme, as is so often charged by the opponents of Communism, all the facts of the existing system point to the Communist program as offering the solution to the problem of capital- ist society. While the forces of economic evolu- tion thus are on the side of the work- ers, they will not win their victory by a fatalistic awaiting of the coming of the new social order thru the de- velopment of the capitalist system it- self, ; No privileged class in human so- ciety has ever given up its privileged position without using all the weapons at its command to maintain its spe- cial position. This will be true of the capitalist class as it has been true of other economic groups in the past. The workers can only expect to win the struggle against capitalism if they organize their power and carry on a militant fight to wrest the governmen- tal power out of the hands of the cap- italist class, thus establishing their Proletariat. To lead the workers ifthe struggle, to direct the struggle along the right road—this is the purpose of the Work- ers Communist Party. Its platform in this election campaign is the platform of this revolutionary struggle against capitalism. White Mule By KARL REEVE Five miners squat in the grass, their burning cigarettes making reflecting jsparks on the two-quart bottle filled with colorless liquid which passes from hand to hand. Tony spits union made _ tobacco juice, wipes the stray spray from his furious mustache, passes his hand and drinks. Charlie pauses from bellowing his favorite wobbly song, and drinks. Va- lie and Joe drink in their turn. Every- one in the circle drinks long drafts except Louis. Louis has tried to his sorrow to mix copious quantities of home brew and white mule and is now sleeping it off, his head half buried in the long dry, dew-less grass. These men have not worked for seven months. Louis is glad to sleep. He has had bad luck since the war. Returning from the war of Wilsonian Democracy with one eye gone, deaf in one ear and his right cheek hone twisted up directly under his fore- head, Louis is not a pretty sight. Al- tho he was cited for bravery, and was awarded three wound stripes, Louis was heard to complain by the Old Ben coal mine boss and has been put on the invisible black-list. As the “moon” takes effect, the lusty talk of the miners drifts out over the hedge of long grass in whose shadows they recline and is wafted over the coal-dust road. They squat close to earth, hoping for a little re- lief from the heat of the pitiless sun— their only heritage these days from the monotonous inactivity of the day. Charlie’s voice sounds cheerfully hardy as he howls, to a tune never heard before, and never to be re- peated, the rebel version of, “They’re Wild Over Me.” But his mind is at the far edge of town, in spite of his smile. Even the white mule cannot erase from his mind his black- haired, heavy wife whom he does not love very much, and his three child- ren who have not had much to eat that day. His conscience pricks him about remaining away from his wife so late into the night. Like a dull un- ceasing pain the words, “What can I do? There is nothing to do,” “The kids have got to eat” weigh down his mind. Louis groans in his sleep, oppressed by the heat-and by dreams of the battle fields of France. Tony is the biggest of the husky men. He has the kindly Slav face which is lent dis- tinction bY the long brown mustache. Tony’s dirty overalls cannot hide his superior poise. He is the one who always, at the end of the party, quiet- ly goes in and cooks the bacon and eggs and the strong black coffee which is the farewell grace. Tony has worked under ground for many: years. He has a wife in Po- land. Twice he has sent her money to come over to him, but each time she has betrayed him. He has heard recently that his wife has two more gContinued on page 9)