The Daily Worker Newspaper, November 15, 1924, Page 11

HOW MUCH? .- N bourgeois society everything is measured by how much it fetches. Man’s honor, woman’s virtue, genius, love, the family affections and rela- tionships, home and mother, the pa- rental blessings, the graces of child- hood, the prattlings of babyhood—all are put on the scale and valued in dollars and cents. ._Human life itself is merely a matter of “How Much?” and it is bought and sold like any other merchantable commodity, as is daily witnessed in the purchase of dare devil stunt performers in the movies, who give their lives in the end for a price. Babies are bought and sold and given away, and it is all accepted by the pillars of bourgeois society as part of the day's work. Murder is a matter of purchase and sale, and. can be made the subject of play, as seen in the Franks’ case where it was indulged in just for the thrill, and the murderers bought themselves off with the hiring of a high priced lawyer. No one is silly enough to expect they will long be confined behind prison bars. What is money for, if it isn’t to buy the boys out? All this is not to be wondered at. Capital is the booty stolen from labor; and booty is evef a pirate in action. The signers of our Declaration smug- gled in tea, liquors and slaves; and when caught bought off the courts or bulldozed them into silence. The older bourgeoisie may have been an agent of civilization, but that day has past. Now no one believes it means well for us, It has become so corrupt it is rotten—every root and branch. Bourgeois art, science, music, government, religion, journal- ism and politics all poisoned with hy- pocrisy. Let all healthful play stop and not even a hymn be sung, with- out an eye to profit.. With sensation- (Continued from Page 2. The well known menshevik party member Rostov and B. Vassiliev, mem- ber of the central committee of the party, proposed once to the rest of the prisoners to organize a _ political demonstration against the regime. The majority of the prisoners refused to participate, and the group of Georgian mensheviks replied thus: “Tf in answer to our hunger strike the Soviet government were to have an investigation and inspection made, even the ultra-anti-Soviet commission of European socialists would declare that altho the Soviet system and Soviet justice is bad, the regime in the Suzdalsk prison is satisfactory.” So the Georgian mensheviks felt they could not get away with it and therefore considered it bad tactics to protest. And who are these 1,500 prisoners? They consist of monarchists, four White Guard generals, social demo- crats, social-revolutionaries and an- archists. Such as took part in the Moscow explosion of 1919 when seven prominent Communists lost their lives and scores were seriously wounded. This explosion was organized by an- archists during Denikin’s march on Moscow. But the Second International and its adherents considers these 1,500 “he- al success follows the rapid fire clean-up. All get busy and exploit the thing to the limit, so as to make as much out of it as they can while the getting is good. This was the case with “Damaged Goods”; “Under Fire”; “Birth of a Nation”; “Light- nin’”; and will be the case with “What Price Glory?” and all other bourgeois pieces of drama, art, literature or what not. How much? is the question What will it pay? What do we get out of war? Ask Doheny, Fall, Sinclair, Daugherty, Jess Smith, Burns, et al. They are not only the exemplars of bourgeois opinion, they are the re- flectors and the manufacturers of bourgeois morality and _ esthetics. What they praise and esteem is wha‘ the whole bourgeois world must praise and esteem, be it the latest oil field boot-legging joint, Wall Street, bomb explosion fairy tale, labor injunction leg show, moving picture; or rustic melodrama. They are the public, they and their pimps, prostitutes and pan- ders of press, pulpit, stage and ro- strum. They are the ones who make the world safe for plutocracy—they and their bankers, lawyers, merchants, chiefs, etc. Where property is king, life is slave. When a bourgeois dies the question is not “What good did he do for huma- nity?” but “How much did he leave to his heirs and mistresses?” Take sport. Take baseball. If the magnates meet and decide it is more profitable for Washington to win the pennant than for New York, that is well and good. It is so ordered and nc one has a right to complain. But should the hired players try to in- terfere with the plans of their masters that is treason, fraud, bribery, and foul crime. How much? is not a ques- tion for slaves to discuss; it is only fit for the masters to bother about such important matters. The slaves ments and help passively and actively in wholesale arrests and brutalities, while their henchmen shout loudly “freedom of workers” in Soviet Rus- sia. They try to befuddle the minds of their followers so they won’t see how these Second Internationalists are aiding and abetting capitalism in its prosecution of the working class. They raise not a finger against the impris- onment of the 380,200 class war vic- tims of capitalism, but they raise a whole hand against the few counter. revolutionaries imprisoned in Soviet Russia, They do nothing to fight against the White Terror which is fast spreading over capitalist Europe, be- cause it is against their own inter- ests. Instead they vent their right- eous indignation at Soviet Russia. The Red Aid International which is a non-party organization is the only The Walden Book Shop 307 Plymouth Court (Between State and Dearborn Just South of Jackson) CHICAGO the International Learn IDO should accept what the masters dole out to them without question. They must carry the message to Garcia for a crust and a kick. Have not all the courts decided again and again that the matter of “How Much?’ is none of labor’s business? The going wage is what labor must accept, when there is a job open. If no job is to be had, there is the river, the gas jet, or the,pistol from the pawn shop by which to solve the equation. Death is the bourne for which workers should thank their masters, who have been so kind as to allow us that exit from our woes. Death without fuss is the boon we are permitted as our share of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Then we hear them grumble because they have to provide us a grave in- stead of a ditch full of lime. That is why they like war so mueh better than peace; not only do they make more money, then, but they get rid of us so much easier. War is indeed & great blessing to the rich; it inflates their pocket-books, their stomachs. and satisfies their thirst for our blood; besides it stocks up the market with war widows, who can be had for a song then. War not only makes the world safer for plutocracy, it makes it cheaper besides. Then there are the spoils! Look at how much they will take out of the workers of Ger- many, thanks to the Dawes graft! China is next! The millions of cheap laborers there are a toothsome morse! to Morgan and his pals. If only So viet Russia weren’t quite so near! How much they could swallow up at one gulp! Japan isn’t considered at all. To crush that imperialist country would be child’s play for our renow- ned pacifists, who are again building all sorts of Graft, weapons, armaments. gas bombers, and flying ships in the interests of peace and world harmony. witch 18 ngntung White Terror in Europe, It gives legal aid to the prisoners and material as- sistance to their wives and children. It grew out of a desire on the part of the workers and peasants of Soviet Russia to help the class war victims in capitalist countries. It has already Germany alone 8,448 lawsuits between now agencies in all the important countries which it controls strictly from its international office. In the By Robin E. Dunbar The most successful dips are those who throw their victims off the scent by crying, “Look out for pick- pockets!” The greatest bourgeois statesmen are those who can mobilize the largest forces for war while prating of peace. The masters ask themselves, How much can we get out of a fight? and if they decide the pro- fits justify the attempt they tell their office boys to get busy and declare war at once. The office boys get out and shriek how “we” are being attacked by “our” enemies and immediately start dropping gas bombs on non- combattants, and thus carry out or- ders. “They begin slaughter that ends only with the total exhaustion of one of the parties to the affray; rather of the workers on one side. For war as we know, is never fought by those who declare it. War is for the mas- ter by the workers. Death is the only reward of the warriors; dollars, of the masters. A dollar a day while able to fire a gun and a ditch full of lime when not is the pay of the worker; and a dollar a year AND side money with board and keep and nursing for the patriots who sit at the capitol sac- rificing themselves and their -‘mis- tresses in the service of their country, while the war lasts; that is the pay of these who declare it. How much? . . . millions . . . and then some. Ask Forbes or any oth- er of our public spirited rotarians. Comrades, the question is now which road will you follow? Will you ask at every turn. How much is there in it for my mas- ter? or How many of my own class members can I convert to my cause? How many can I turn away from sup- porting the bourgeoisie? How many can I enlist in the proletarian army with the Communists? For I know it is human life vs. profits; humanity against wealth; and I stand for humanity. ‘United States the International Work- ers’ Aid has undertaken to raise funds for this purpose. The International Workers’ Aid is conducting a campaign at present for the raising of $100,000. Send for their collection lists and literature to 19 South Lincoln St., Chicago, helped 18,000 people and conducted in Long live the Red Aid International. Long live the fighting proletariat. January 1 and April 1, 1924. It has|_ Long live the spirit of Rosa Luxem burg and Karl Liebknecht! READ THE DAILY WORKER. THE WORLD'S you taste It. Take a wine glass GREATEST TONIC for lowered vitality k our bleod tingle with joy the minute makes y lt of HPS BITTERS before meals and note the improvement of your health in a few days. Order a bottle by coupon below. x foe HY PRODUCTS CO., 31, FE or ee eas roes” and attacks the Soviet govern- Language ment for not letting them “free.” At je-page ee eee. Bony of Esperanto, etc., sent free, The Workers Ido Federation : Room 5, 805 James St., N. S. JURGH, PA. against the imprisonment of the 380,200 workers and peasants in capi- LEARN ESPERANTO The International Language "ea — Bend me in plain wrapper one (1) a pottie E Esperanto for pe greener and fivals It | arm not sa : Paving: . cw , A may return unused and will refund Esperanto and its EB ny Prof, Coline money. 25 7th St., Rockford, I, Sestak vind Wie WORKERS’ ESPERANTO ASSN., hs & 0k Town Next Sunday Night and Every Sun-