The Daily Worker Newspaper, November 3, 1924, Page 6

stiaiaaaciall 4 Page Six "HE DAILY WORKER. Published by the DAILY WORKER PUBLISHING CO. 1118 W. Washington Blvd., Chicago, Ill. (Phone; Monroe 4712) SUBSCRIPTION RATES By mail: $3.50....6 months $2.00....8 months By mail (in Chicago only): $4.50....6 months $2.50....3 months $6.00 per year $8.00 per year Aadress all mail and make out checks to THE DAILY WORKER 1113 W. Washington Bivd. J. LOUIS ENGDAHL { WILLIAM F, DUNNE MORITZ J. LOEB... Chicago, Illinois are .... Editors jusiness Manager Entered as second-class mail Sept. 21, 1928, at the Post- Office at Chicago, Ill., under the act of March 3, 1879. 200 A Labor Victory in Spite of MacDonald In spite of MacDonald’s treachery and oppor- tunism, in spite of the weak-kneed and cowardly policies of the late “labor” government, British labor scored an important victory in the parlia- mentary elections. Out of a total of about 20 mil- lion votes cast, the labor party candidates re- ceived 5,536,000, that is, a gain of one million yotes. Large sections of the working masses of Britain have thereby shown clearly and unmis- takably, that they do not trust the parties of cap- ital, and that they want a government of their own. British labor has been badly deceived- and mis- treated by its own official leaders and worst of all by its late “labor” government. The attacks of Baldwin and Lloyd George against MacDonald’s government were certainly not dictated by love for the working masses, nevertheless the charge of these gentlemen remains true that MacDonald’s government was in no way better for the workers than a government of conservatives or liberals, and no.amount of apology and explanation will change the fact that MacDonald’s Yovernment was noth- ing more than a servile tool in the hands of British imperialism. MacDonald came into office by grace of the liber- als and conservatives. Balwin and Lloyd George both agreed to permit the labor party to form a government. Why? Because at the beginning of this, year, when MacDonald assumed “power,” British imperialism was on the verge of a serious breakdown. It was confronted with mass unem- ployment at home, troubles of great magnitude in its colonies, critical relations bordering on war with France and with a state of general insecurity all around. British capitalism in the beginning of this year was in a very bad way. The liberals and conservatives, the parties of British capitalism, could no longer rule successfully. This alone explains the “astounding” fact why sritish capital acquiesced in labor becoming the covernment of Britain. Baldwin and Lloyd George knew quite well the stuff that MacDonald and his friends were made of. They knew just as well as we did that in time of crisis, of mass dissatisfaction and restlessness, the interests of British imperialism might be more secure in the hands of MacDonald than Baldwin, Curzon, Churchill or Asquith. MacDonald and his crew of opportunists and so- cial imperialists were permitted to become the government of England in order to keep the masses in check and to save capitalism from destruction. MacDonald and | pted the job and Advertising rates on application on to the best fulfilled their mi of their abilities. And now, hav tabilized somewhat the rule of British capital abroad and to a lesser degree at home, MacDonald’s government may go. British imperialism no longer needs, for the present at least, the “labor” services of MacDonald’s govern- ment. Now British capital, big industrial and financial capital, is itself assuming leadership. This is the meaning and significance of the conservative vic- tory in the recent elections. Heavy, monopolized industry and big finance capital which are repre- sented by the conservatives have succeeded in win- ning the support of the independent businessmen and petty bourgeoisie. These laiter groups have formerly followed the lead of the liberals, but the bankruptey of liberalism has been apparent for a long time and now the middle classes are definitely breaking up. The wealthier sections are going to the conservatives while the poorer sections are moving towards the labor party. The present standing of the parties is: Conser- vatives 403, labor 150, liberals 36, others 11. This gives the conservatives a majority of above 200 seats over all other parties in the new parliament which undoubtedly secures their partiamentary power for some time to come. However, their total yote of 7,624,000 is only two million more than the vote cast for the labor party, which is of immense significance for the future development of the Class struggle in Britain. British labor must now learn its lessons. Brit- ish labor is on the right track as long as it con- tinnes (which it does) to hold fast to the idea of independent political action. The working class must have its own party and its own government. But the lesson yet to be learned by the British workers is that not every labor party is a party serving the interests of labor and that not every labor government is a government of the working class. The truth of this latter contention can be best seen from the doings of the MacDonald govern- ment. For a party to be a real working class party it must believe inthe class struggle against capital- ism and in the substitution of capitalist rule by the rule of the workers, that is, the proletarian dictatorship. For a labor government to be a real working class government it must immediately, upon coming into office actually assume power. It must disarm the capitalists and arm the work- ing class. It must seize control of the basic in- dustries. And, above all, it must begin building up direct organs of proletarian mass struggle which alone can give power to a labor government in of- fice. MacDonald’s government is defeated, but not the British working class. It is continually moving ahead, learning its lesson and strengthening its power. The future belongs to British labor if it follows the path: From MacDonaldism to class struggle, to the social revolution and thence to @ real labor govern- ment. LaF ollette and Chaos This year’s presidential election campaign has been characterized by an abnormal flow of loose talk. The explanation of this high tide of political buncombe is to be found in the rise of an additional employing class party fighting for the boss’ vic- tory in the campaign. We have in mind the extra noise made in the past few months by the LaFol- lette drummers. There has been invented the slogan of “Coolidge or Chaos.” Insofar as the working and farming masses of this country are concerned, Coolidge has proved a most deadly efficient vehicle for bring- ing them chaos. The biggest employers are fully aware of this situation. What is chaos to the work- ers means swollen profits and fabulous dividends to the exploiters. Hence the fear on the part of our leading bankers about.the chaos that a Cool- idge defeat might bring—to their bank accounts. The LaFollette champions have picked up this reactionary slogan. They have made every effort to reassure the-financiers and manufacturers that the Wisconsin senator will not be the harbinger of chaos if placed in the White House. We have in mind the defense made by Mr. Victor Berger in the Milwaukee Leader of November 1, in which he said: “Far from being revolutionary, LaFollette is the man who stands between capitalism and chaos.” Here we have it. The employers are told by the pinkest LaFollette defender that the over estimated progressive senator is no danger to them. We recall the days when Mr. Berger did not ob- ject to being called a socialist. We even recall the days when Mr. Berger made a pretense at fighting LaFollette in Wisconsin. At any rate, it has al- ways been an axiom among those calling them- selves socialists that for the working class capital- ism and chaos are synonymous. If ever this was true, it is infinitely truer today. Mr. Berger knows this. When Mr. Berger tells the workers and the bosses whose votes he is seeking for LaFollette that his candidate stands as the sole barrier to chaos, he is simply telling the exploiters that La- Follette is the most effective agent to perpetuate capitalism and save it from being overwhelmd by the waves of revolution. Stone Goes to Court The self-styled liberal and widely reputed*law- loving Attorney General Stone will soon enter the courts in a suit which promises to develop into an event of major political significance. Mr. Stone proposes to test the legality of the newspaper pub- lication of the income tax lists. There has been much speculation as to the rea- sons animating the Mellon bureau of internal reve- nue in its publication of the income tax lists on| the eve of a national election. Some have declared that our secretary of the treasury wanted to shed tight on the obvious fact that the democratic party is as much tied up with the biggest business in-| terests as the Coolidge coterie is. Others have de- clared that the plan was aimed to strike particu- larly at Mr. Davis, who is a heavy income tax payer himself. Still others contend that this was one instance where Mr. Mellon did not use his bil- lionaire brains. When the leading metropolitan papers and the big dailies thruout the country made public some of the names of the biggest income tax payers there was a fierce howl in the alleys of finance and in- dustry. Now Mr. Stone proposes to séttle the argument and to have the courts declare that. it was illegal for the newspapers to print these lists. The case involves one of the fundamental practices of the United States government and the role of the press in American political life. It is clear that Mr. Stone and the banking and manufacturing in- terests which he is defending never conceived that the provision to make the lists publie meant any- thing more than to bury the records in some unread and unreadable government publication. Their concept of the public was limited to the highly priced few, the hired experts of the huge financial corporations. Mr. Stone would have the law apply only to those who are in the pay of the class he serves. We have little doubt that the courts will define the publie in this instance as the small group of investigators engaged in preparing the official truth for the ruling class. We have still less doubt about the likelihood of congress repealing even this limited income tax publicity law. The signi- ficeant point at this moment is the fact that Mr. Stone shows himself in his true role. Mr. Stone, as we pointed out some time ago, believes that the law as it is today is sufficient and adequate for maintaining the rule of the bosses. He is an ar- dent defender of capitalism by the legal methods chosen by the capitalists. Let our liberals rejoice. James A. Patten gives $1,500,000 worth of land to the Chicago Community Trust. Thete ‘is enough working class blood congealed in that gift to ir- rigate a small desert. Wealthy robbers can afford to be charitable. READ THE DAILY WORKER By TOM BELL. “The conquering of the trade unions for Communism was and remains the main slogan of the Profintern,” declar- ed Lozovsky at the recent congress of the R. I. L. U. This emphatic state- ment was an effective answer to the, tendency which had shown itself on the part of various groups in the vari- ous countries to abandon the existing unions for dual (‘more perfect”) un- ions. “Until the Communists win over the unions in America dominated by Gompers there will be no mass party in that country,” declared Comrade Bill Dunne, in a speech at the con- gress of the Comintern on the Ameri- can situation. This constitutes an ef- fective answer to those who imagine that there is some magic short cut to the establishment of a Communist mass party in this country. The above statements are worth pondering over by every Communist who is sincerely bent on winning the masses for the revolutionary struggle for the overthrow of capitalism in America. “On principle” no one in our party would dare openly to dis- agree with the viewpoint.of the Com- intern and Profintern on the trade union question. But between “prin- ciple” and practice there is too often @ great gap. It is much more com- fortable to “agree on principle” than it is to beard Gompers’ labor lieuten- ants in their dens. There is too much laxity and indifference on the part of Communists to the work in the trade unions, This can, of course, be explained. Three factors face us at the present time: 1. The political isolation of our party owing to the adhesion of the la- bor bureaucracy and especially the rank and file to the LaFollette presi- dential campaign. 2. The labor bu- reaucracy now recognizes that the T. U. E. L. is not a sporadic movement organized for the purpose of putting some rival labor fakers into office, but that it aims at the reorganization of the entire labor union movement on the basis of adherance to revolu- tionary principles. Therefore, the bu- reaucracy is now fighting us tooth and nail. 3. Many comrades“are some- what disappointed at the slowness of our work in the trade union move- ment. They look back at the first year of our work in the trade unions and remember the sweep of sentiment against the wornout policies of Gom- pers and the endorsment of our poli- cles by thousands of local unions, hundreds of central labor bodies, more than a dozen state federations, five or six international unions, and compare that record with the defeats and mere partial victories of the past eighteen, LaFollette arfd the Unions. The organized workers of this coun- try are so backward that they actually believe that LaFollette represents their interests and that if he is elect- ed he will be “their” president. Be- cause we oppose this middle class lib- eral hack of the independent indus- trial and banking interests the work- ers think that. we are opposing prog- ress, and are insisting upon the form- ation of an independent labor party only out of “red” maliciousness. They look upon our nomination of Commun- ist candidates as. merely 2 move on our part to get our men elected at the expense of the “legitimate” labor movement, We know that the LaFollette-Wheel- er movement is simply an attempt on the part of middle elass professional politicians to crawl into office by util- izing the cleavage which exists in the ranks of the capitalist class, and the discontent among the workers and small farmers. But the workers look upon LaFollette as their candidate who will serve their interests if he is elected. The triumph of .LaFollette. among the rank and file of. the organized workers is an indication of the weak- ness of the Communist infivence among them. It is quite apparent that the bureaucracy is not entirely with LaFollette. The support of the A. F. of L. council was only thrown to him by the vote of Gompers. Lewis of the miners has @ position on the republican committee. Duffy and Hutchenson of the carpenters are op- posed to LaFolletts, while Berry of the pressmen’s union is stumping for Davis. Only the bureaucracies of, the railroad men, the machinists, and the clothing workers haye come out open- ly for him. All over the country there has been all kinds of stunts pulled off by the local lal fakers. Some support the dem , some the re- publicans, some LaFoliette — all de- pending as to how it suits their pock- ets. But the rank’ and file of the or- ganized workers are for LaFoliette with the exception of minority sec- tions of the cl workers, food workers and coal Therefore, beside having to fight for our general trade program as expressed by the T, U. B. L., we have the added burden of fighting the back- ward political prejudices of the or- ganized workers, Workers who were willing some time ago to support us on the basis of our fight for amalgama- tion, against the reactionaries who sold them out, and for the labor party, are today indifferent or hostile to us because they think thy have now discovered an way to better their conditions than we offer—by vot- ing for LaFollette, The first year of the work of the T. U. BE. L. was marked by many vic- tories. The “Chicago” resolution on amalgamation swept thru the locals in hed country and Canada, The: amalgamation endorsement of thousands of railroad workers’ locals. Fourteen state fed- erations of labor endorsed the “Chi cago” resolution. Six international ux- ions endorsed {t also, file of the organized workers were for our trade union program. The Fakers Rally. But the last eighteen months have shown a different aspect to our de- velopment, An industrial “boom” came, and formed a basis upon which the labor fakers rallied their forces and fought us. For some time the bu- reaucracy was of the opinion that our movement was of the usual character of a revolt of the “outs” against the “ins"—and they did not worry much as they had always been able to buy up the leaders of such revolts in the past. The present machines of the labor fakers contain many who gained position thru staging such fake “pro- gressive” movements. But soon they recognized that this was no mere movement of rival fak- ers. We went to the masses and stir red them up. We insisted upon awak- ening the organized workers to the necessity of them taking over control of their unions and throwing out the labor fakers. And the slaughter of fakers that took place in the Mainten- ence of Way Men’s Union at the con- vention in 1922 when 19 out of 22 bur- eaucrats were fired (in spite of the fact that Flozdal, who was elected president, was merely a fake progres- sive) woke the bureaucracy up. to.a realization of the awful fate that awaited them if this movement made any more headway among the rank and file. First of all the bureaucrats put their own camp in order. Those who had been flirting with the Communists were told to line up with Gompers or get out. Fitzpatrick and Knockles are a fine example of this. Then the drive against us began. The railroad shopmen’s strike, and the miners’ strike of 1922 forced the fakers to smash us because these strikes were throwing the workers towards” us. Pressure was brought to bear on all dissident central labor bodies such as Seattle. The propaganda was inten- sified. And the yellow socialists in some of the needle trades unions showed Gompers how to deal with'the Communists by expelling and slugging the leaders of the left wing move- ment in those unions. Atgthe last A. F.,of L. convention Gompers showed that he had started a fight to a finish by expelling Bill Dunne from the con- vention, even tho Dunne was all alone. These things have had a certain ef- fect on many of our party. members and adherents. Our political isolation, the bitter and often murderous .op- The rank and | ass Party Monday, November 3, 1 i] terment of the workers’ position be-| defense of the interests of the ] cause of the “boom” and the whip- ping into line of those who were only flirting with the left movement, and the desertion of many “fair weather” radicals who when defeated for office left us—all these things have made our work more difficult in the trade unions. Communist Opposition in Unions But in spite of the reverses that we have suffered in the past months we have at last established ourselves as a definite factor in the trade union movement. In all of the battles that have been waged against the reaction- ary bureaucracies the Communists have been the leaders. We have added to the trade union movement of this continent a factor that was lacking in the past and which ac- counts for the backwardness of the movement as a whole: A definite Communist movement inside the trade unions for the purpose of win- ning the organized workers for revo- lutionary struggle against capitalism. In the struggle against the Lewis machine at Indianapolis last January it was our party that led the opposi- tion fight, And despite the fact that Lewis forced his policy thru the bitter struggle against him ‘effectually stopped him from carrying out his threat to expell every progressive miner from the union ag he intended doing prior to the convention, The same thing applies to the other un- fons, the clothing workers, machin- ists and carpenters. At the carpen- ters’ convention Hutchenson, the re- actionary president, denounced the Communists and “Fosterism” in a long speech in spite of the fact that he was not opposed by a definitély organized Communist opposition at the convention. The struggle today in the trade un- ions is between the left wing led by Communists and the labor bureau- crats, the hangers-on of the bosses. We have established ourselves as the only force able to fight against the reactionary and treacherous labor leaders who have handed over the trade unions to the bosses to be used as instruments of oppression of the workers in their struggle for better conditions, But the unions while they are under the dominance of Gompers and his gang are a barrier on our way to a Communist mass party. The organ- ized workers are an immense reser- voir upon which we must draw. These workers have displayed suffici- ent class consciousness to join labor unions. They have been thru strikes which have shown them the govern- position of the labor fakers, the bet-|ment forces lined up against them in Mark Hanna Was Right By JOSEPH M. COLDWELL. OME twenty odd years ago, Mark Hanna, who was then a power in the republican party, made a state- ment that the time was coming in this country when the political’ bat- tles of the future Would be fought afong the lines of capital vs, labor. “When that time comes,” he said, “the bulwarks of capitalism will be the bourbons of the south and the Roman Catholic church of the north.” Mark Hanna was a far-seeing man. He could see into the future better than many of us who called ourselves socialists. We could not imagine how those two opposing elements of so- ciety would evér have anything in common. But today, with the south organized into the Ku Klux Klan and the north with a strongly organized Roman Catholic church, we find both of them fighting together on one is{ sue.’ And that issue is one that the working class is vitally interested in. It is an issue that organized labor of this country has fought for four years. Campaigns have been fougnt and men have been elected to office on that issue. Public sentiment had been created in favor of that issue. Staté laws had been passed as a result of that awakened public sentiment and finally a national law was passed and labor thought that a victory had been won, but the supreme court of the United States declared that law un- constitutional. The law I refer to is the Child Labor Law. ’ North and South Combine, The labor movement of this coun- try, aided by many liberal minded persons, mustered up strength enough in congress, to have an amendment to the constitution passed prohibiting the employment of children under 18 years of age in the industries of this country. This amendment to the‘con- stitution must be passed by two-thirds of the states before it becomes a part of the United States constitution. One of the first states to reject this pro- posed amendment was the Ku Klux Klan dominated state of Georgia. This was to be expected. Under the constitution of the. state of Massachusetts all such matters are refered to the voters, for their accept- ance or rejection, and. the result of the vote is a.mandate which the state legislature must obey. In accord- ance with the state law the question of this proposed amendment to the national constitution will be on the ballot at the coming election. Everything seemed to favor the ac- ceptance of this proposed amendment by the voters. The democratic party at its state convention at Worcester, in September had a plank in its plat- form advocating the adoption of the amendment. date for governor, James F. Curley, was outspoken in favor of it, State labor organizations had urged its adoption by its members. As far as Massachusetts was concerned every- thing seemed to be favorable and it was only a question of the majority it would receive. Then a bombshell was thrown, not by a “red” or by a “bolshevik,” but by the Rev. Cardinal O'Donnell of the Roman Catholic church. ‘In a, circu- lar letter over his signature, distri- buted to every parish priest under his charge, the cardinal recommends to every pastor to bring before his par- ishioners “the danger hidden’ in the Proposed amendment,” and to impress upon their congregations the necessity of voting against it. Issue Child Labor, The power of the cardinal may be judged by the act of Mr. Curley, the candidate of the democratic party for governor. Mr. Curley at once renounc- ed his approval of. the amendment, notwithstanding his former state- ments and notwithstanding the plank in the platform of the democratic par- ty. So we now have the Ku Klux Klan of Georgia, in the south, and the Roman Catholic church of Massa- chusetts, of the north, working to- gether on the same issue against la- bor. Both are opposed to a national child labor law. Both are in favor of letting each state deal with this question as it pleases. Both are work- ing together in the interests of the employers of child labor and both are hollering about the sanctity of the home, the flag and the constitution. Mark Hanna was right when he said that the bulwarks of capitalism were thé bourbons ,of the south and the Roman Catholic church of the north, Politicians Will Put It Over, Under the present laws thirteen states can prevent the adoption of any changes, in the constitution. the sooner those thirteen states have eseannonne NAMES ssrsssccsresssssnseedien Chicago Party and League Members! ’ Poll Watchers Needed for Election Day. RTY and League members are asked to help the Party on election day, Nov. 4, by acting as poll watchers. This is to ensure an accurate count of all votes cast for the Workers (Communist) It is easy to be released from work on election day. Thi about 300 watchers. Are you ready to help? If you ari send it In to the Local Office, 166 W. Washington St, Room 303, 1 will be a poll watcher on November 4th, talists. They are approavhable wi Communist propaganda, but we ty get into the unions in order to reach | them. It is impossible to imagine. -the working class of America fighting’ the capitalists seriously in its present un- organized condition. The vast num- bers who have never been organized in the unions must be organized, and again we face the fact that. while Gompers and his gang holds sway they will block every step towards really organizing them. And it must be apparent to all that it is hopeless to attempt to organize the unorganized with the present craft from of organ- ization. The labor unions can only be reorganized by the Communists werk- ing inside them for the purpose of gaining the adherence of the mass ef the organized workers. The organized workers constitute a weapon which if under Communist leadership will clear the way for the organization of the unorganized, and will enable the workers of this coun- try to fight the capitalists for better living conditions, Persistent work in the trade unions is the most fertile fleld for Communist activity. Win Organized Workers for Com- munism Therefore we must increase our trade union work, instead of being lax in it. Therefore we must tighten our organization for this work instead of giving away to despair and peta- lence and loosening the bonds which alone enable us to work efficiently. The rapidly increasing unemploy- ment, the growth of the open shop drives, (in the printing industry for instance the open shop has gained rapidly in the past year or so; open shop newspapers have increased from a few to over four hundred at the present time) all of these things afd us in our work of winning the or- ganized workers for the fight against the bureaucracy, the reorganization of the trade unions, the organization of the unorganized and the Commun ist Party, as the leader in the strug- gle for the destruction of capitaliom. The road to a mass party of Com- munism on this continent lies before us and we can only traveletoward s goal when we have based our party on shop neuclei, when we seriously build shop committees in each shop and factory embracing every worker for the purpose of fighting against the bosses, and when our party members are not Only members of trade Q but also members of definite trade union fractions. In this way alone'we ae conquer the masses for Commun- been placed in opposition to the child labor amendment the better the capi- talists will be pleased, and then the Politicians of the othér states can, and probably will, vote in favor of it; when it has already been killed: The attitude of the cardinal is not surprising. He is on to his*Job. It is the mission of established religi all the world over, to protest azaiail any changes in the existing order of things, when the proposed change would interfere with the interests of the ruling class. And it matters not what that form of religion is, whether {t is Protestant or Catholic, Jewish: or Mohammedan. Agnostics and so-call- ed “free thinkers” will also be found on the side of the ruling classes in all questions where the laboring class are striving to better their conditions. There is only one clear line of demark- ation and that isthe class line, Your religious preference or your racial ori gin should have no place in your mind: when you take part in political or eco- nomic issues. We. must take our stand squarely with our class, the working class, or with our enemies, the capitalist class. Must Free World of Capitalists, Let the cardinals, the bishops, the rabbis and the ministers attend to their work of saving souls, our work is to save the bodies of the workers, Their ideals are spiritual, so they say, alright let them stick to their ideals and keep their hands out of our af- fairs that are materialistic. AM we. are looking for is a world freed from capitalists. That is our ideal, that is what we are working for. So for the child labor amendment where- ever you have the opportunity, it is only one of the many things we wai ‘}and which we will not get until w have Communism. Vote for Fi and Gitlow and all the candidated of So |the Workers Party on the ballot and you’ will be voting for Communtem, | below ai }