The Daily Worker Newspaper, November 18, 1924, Page 6

Page Six THE DAILY WORKER. ———— Published by the DAILY WORKER PUBLISHING COQ 1113 W. Washington Blvd., Chicago, IL (Phone: Monroe 4712) SUBSCRIPTION RATES By mail: $3.50....6 months $2.00....8 months By mail (in Chicago only): Y $4.50....6 months $2.50....3 month $6.00 per year 63.00 per year Address all mail and make out checks to THE DAILY WORKER 113 W. Washington Bivd. Chicago, HlInole J, LOUIS ENGDAHL Editors WILLIAM F. DUNNE (etrrrrernernnn MORITZ J. LOEB. eve Business Manager —— fntered as second«lass mail Sept. 21, 1923, at the Post Office at Chicago, IIL, under the act of March 3, 1879, <> 290 This—Or Face Annihilation It is typical that one of the most important parts of the American Federation of Labor, the Building Trades department, is torn with dissension over jurisdictional disputes. The 350,000 carpenters and joiners, quarreling with the sheet metal work- ers, withdrew from the department some time ago in order to continue the job war against the sheet metal workers. The Stone Cutters’ Union accuses the Granite Cutters’ Union of cutting artificial stone which is “not hard enough” to use granite cutter’s tools upon, and therefore belongs, by grace of the “juris- dietional board of awards,” to thé stone cutters’ jurisdiction. The scrap over this made such bad blood that 32 granite cutters were compelled by their union president to scab on a job at New Haven, struck by the stone cutters. In California the open shop drive against the building trades threatens to wreck them all, but the head of the Bricklayers’ Union questions the wisdom of sending money to help the building trades of California for fear “of furnishing am- munition to fight” the national department. These are merely mild and typical examples of the disorganization persisted in by the labor bureaucracy rather than give way to the increasing need and the growing demand for amalgamation of the craft unions into industrial unions. In every strike the glaring impossibility of victory by the scattered segments of labor, which battle huge corporations alone while other crafts calmly not only do their own work, but the struck work of the craft on strike, becomes more evident. Against such a demoralized condition the Trade Union Educational League has raised the banner of militant struggle by its campaign for amalgama- tion. “One union for each industry,” has been its ery. Great blocks of organized labor have rallied to the call for amalgamation. Only the bureaucracy stands obdurate. It would mean the loss of many tat jobs for officials. Therefore, even tho it is a matter of life and death to the rank and file, the officials will not move. The employers are preparing a new open shop drive, new wage cuts and a general offensive. Conditions cannot improve, they cannot even be maintained! They are sure to become worse if the {4th convention does not register the will of the A. F. of L. membership and call upon the various international unions to meet in special conference to arrange for the amalgamation of the conflicting and discordant crafts into harmonious and co- ordinated industrial unions which can deal with corporate wealth in an effective manner. Do this, a face annihilation. Advertising rates on application . . Timely Liars The convention of the American Federation of Labor is opening at El Paso and it is foretold that a group of delegates who are not any more reac- tionary than Coolidge and Senator Borah, are planning to fight for a resolution favoring the recognition of Soviet Russia. At the same time the political circles of Wash- ington are flabbergasted by Borah, the new chair. man of the senste foreign relations committee, openly advocating the recognition of Russia. The division within the ranks of the bourgeoisie over this question is becoming more and more acute as the commercial interests of England and France are breaking away from the old blockade agree- ment and are competing for Russian trade. The “bitter enders” among the bourgeoisie are launch- ing a campaign against any recognition, hoping to influence both the labor convention and the eap- italist government. The MeCormick Harvester company, which is the twin brother to the Chicago Tribune, lost its :veat factories.and warehouses and port properties in Russia by the Bolshevik revolution. The Trib- ioe is very vocal just now opposing recognition >! inventing fairy tales of all sorts against the ty t republic of workers and peasants. In Sunday's issue, the Constantinople — cor- + vondent of the world’s greatest liar is authority the ridiculous statement that there are 4,000,- { memployed in Russia at present. The dispatch ; ©: on to add the more ridiculous statement that » “anit of clothes costs $100, shoes $20,” and so on. ‘pon the basis of this last yarn, a long list of >a. nary figures are given showing how the wages i, Soviet Russia are, according to this telepathic correspondent, “lower than in any other country tn Europe.” Very interesting, if true. But what ve the facts? ssian workers were badly enough off before the war, and no Communist has ever contended that they are dwelling in a fairy land where chocolate biscuits drop from heaven, The wreckage of war and civil war, of blockade and famine and pestilence made the first effect of the workers’ revolutionary seizure of power a lowering of ieee caren standards and a pitiable state of want. teeweanonemient THE DAILY WORKER Pits are er ESLER CGA eee Ai aici Tuesday, November 18, 1924 Te See Latvia yeti «erm pve «tet REDOt to A, F. of L. Model of Evasion much hindrance from the Chicago Tribunes of all the world—the Russian workers, with no aid at all from capitalist sources, have been rebuilding the national economy with amazing speed and im- proving their standards of living with every step. In Moscow the workers of all classes earn on an average of 93 per cent of pre-war rates, and in Leningrad they earn 83 per cent. These are figures of early spring 1924. There has been swift and un- interrupted progress since then. At that time the wages for all classes of workers thruout Russia were 65 per cent of pre-war wages. Moreover, it must remembered that the ruble is at par. The “deluded” Russians have a govern- ment that has recovered from unexampled infla- tion because it could write off debts without fac- ing opposition from the creditor class, No other country on earth can do that. The Soviet Republic is the first nation in Europe: to go back on a gold basis, and to reckon wages from what wages buy. The fact then that Russian workers are getting wages that' amount to 65 per cent of pre-war wages, shows that they are in about the same comparative circumstances as the American work- ers whose wages in dollars that are worth only 66.3 per cent of pre-war dollars, have not con- vinced them that their Russian brothers are al- together mistaken in making a revolution. Getting Their Pound of Flesh The Mexican government has decided to shoot two peasants its court found guilty of participating in the incident resulting in the death of Mrs. Evans. This case bears all the earmarks of diplomatic murder. These peasants would never have been found guilty if there were a Mexican government strong enough to disregard the British imperialist government whose subject Mrs. Evans was. The two peasants would never have been sentenced to face a firing squad if there had been a Mexican government courageous enough to tell the British and American imperialists to keep their hands off. But such anti-imperialist steps cannot and will not be taken by so weak a government as the Obregon-Calles administration which is ever ready to bow before the capitalist imperialist plunderers of the United States and other powers. The diplomatic corps in Mexico City is especially hopeful that the sentence will stand and that the Mexicans will be shot down. They are sure that the meting out of such a punishment will help all wealthy hacienda owners and the foreign exploiters in general. In fact two British representatives are being charged with tampering with witnesses against the defense. Other irregularities are also evident in the trial. The hand of the American and British governments is behind the scenes in ani effort to enact judicial murder, legalized murder. We know that Mrs. Evans took her life in her own hands when she insisted on denying the Mexican peons the right to the most elementary needs of life. This is precisely what all the cap- italist exploiters are doing in Mexico and in the other economically under developed countries. It is these capitalist marauders who are really guilty of murder. Mark Hanna, 1924 The appointment of Wm. Morgan Butler as the successor of Henry Cabot Lodge in the United States senate, is of far more than passing sig- nificance. Butler will be to Coolidge what Mark Hanna was to McKinley. The ‘multi-millionaire textile magnate will be the captain and director of politics in Washington. This is the performed twenty years ago for the imperialist lackey McKinley. It will be recalled that when the republican national committee. This is the position Butler occupies now. Of course Butler will be the liaison officer be- tween the senate and the White House. It is fitting that he should be. The labor-hating Butler per- sonifies vety adequately the type of administration with which the country will be saddled for four years. The tariff lobbyist Butler is a symbol of the price, the huge expense, paid by the reaction in selling Coolidge and Dawes to the country. The days of Mark Hanna are with us again in American polities. Fundamentally there has been no interruption in the Mark Hanna. polities for the last two decades. But now and then our strike- breaking governmental agents would tend to cloak themselves in the raiments of purity and dem- oeratic virtues. Mark Hanna was the type of goy- ernment representative who did not have recourse to hypocritical cant. He was the type of political policeman who swung his club without blushing. Butler is a prototype of Mark Hanna. It is perhaps not a strange coincidence that on the very day on which the senior Butler was ap- pointed United States senator, the junior Butler, his son, was chosen president of the National As- sociation of Cotton Manufacturers. This is an employers’ association of the vilest hue. It consists of the greediest textile barons in the country. With Butler at its head and Butler in the senate, the textile interests will not go hungry in Washing: ton for the next few years—unless the working class decides otherwise, The Washington, a United States warship that cost $16,000,000 to bring within 79 per cent of completion, is slated for destruction in accordance with the terms of the four-power naval pact. It is a pacifie gesture that does not mean anything. \ly, centering around task that Mark Hanna | Hanna was appointed senator he was cliairman of | (Continued from Page 1.) an interview Jast week concerning convention issues he said: “Our con- vention is a free and open forum where nothing ean be concealed and where every delegate has a full and free opportunity to speak his mind. This is the freest forum in the world, and it is so known.” Gompers “Doth protest too much.” The same may be said of the rosy prophesies he-and the other labor fakers make as to the future. With the Dawes plan being celebrated in every bankers’ and commercial jour- nal tn the country as the means whereby, in competition with German labor, American labor will be thrown into unemployment enough to create a labor reserve sufficient to force down the wage standard of American workers and lengthen their hours— Frank Morrison, secretary of the A. F. of L,, announces in pure disregard of facts, that “The trend of the times is upward for wages, and that trend will continue,” Rosy Dreams—Black Facts This even stands in contradiction to the bourgeois economist Roger Babson, who says that wages will go lower and remain lower for the next ten or fifteen years. In fact, of course there is nothing inevitable about it either way. It depends altogether upon the strength of the labor unions. This being the case, the unions must look to building up their own powers and-not depend upon the problematical weakness of the capitalists. However, Gompers declares that everything is going to be glorious in the future because “The new con- gress is not likely to pass any meas- ure greatly detrimental to the inter- ests of the workers.” Such depen- dence upon the kindness of the cap- italists to avoid injury is an aban- 'HE second class of the series of seven given by James P. Cannon, Educational Director of the Workers Party, upon “The History of the Am- erican Communist Movement,” will be held at 1902 W. Division street, to- night at 8 p. m., The subject of the lectures and the method of handling its varied phases is making this class | one of the most popular as it is one of the most necessary of the party’s educational activities. The first class dealt in considerable detail with the roots of the Commun- ist movement in the old socialist party, the I. W. W. and other working class organizations. An Interesting Approach. The method of approaching this vital subject is excellent in that one retains from the lessons the sense of continuity of the revolutionary move: ment thru its changes and variations The labor movement is cursed by thc prevalence of undigested experiences isolated in the minds of individuals from the experience of the wholes class. The method of teaching used by Com- rade Cannon brings all the separate incidents of the revolutionary move- ment into the picture and makes each understood as a part of the struggle as a whole. The history of organizations and | movements is taken up chronological | conventions | controversies splits and factional | which have stirred the revolutionary | |movement of the United States in the | last five years, What the Russian Revolution Did. The lecture tonight will deal. with the reaction of the American move jment to the Russian revolution and the formation of the Communist Inter. | national. sion of all the big questions of polic; which have occupied the movement tion of the revolutionary movement to the trade unions. In addition are the equally important questions of mass action, the fight between parlia mentarians and anti-parliamentarians The significance to the American movement of the federations of lang- uage groups, the structure of the party old and new, legal and illegal work, the matter of auxiliary organizations and the vital question of the united front. The Course of Development. Those who missed the first class should by no means miss the other classes. The class which meets to- night will be followed one week trom tonight by the third class which will take up the development of the feft wing in the soolaliae party prior to the split. The fourth clean will deal with the split in 1919, the formation of the Communist Party and the Communist Labor Party, their differences and the issue of unity between them. The fifth class will deal with the raids and persecution of the young Communist movement, the period of its underground existence, the under- The ship will be used as a target for aerial bombs, shells and depth charges, Simply preparing for war, and that costs money. ; In each of these elasses the chrono: | logical account is woyen into a discus | such as the great problem of the rela | donment of the class struggle and an admission of inability to fight the enemy omthe industrial field. Amalgamation or Annihilation In the report of the executive coun- cil, there is no recommendation at all of the only measure which would make the scattered forces of the craft unions able to fight the employers and depend upon the problematical dustrial unions, One can only draw the conclusion from reading the report, that the ex- ecutive council of the A. F. of L. does not want to fight the employers. That facts which show an increasing misery of and danger to the workers, are disregarded and covered over with rosy pictures, is not merely ac- eidental or conventional cheer-up stuff, but a preparation for ceasing struggle against employers and going over into collaboration with them, ig shown by the space devoted in the report to class collaboration, labor banks and labor insurance. No Program of Struggle The first part. of the report that claims that “reactionary and bourbon employers are in a most unfavorable position,” is not only a falsehood, but a falsehood upon which is erected the conclusion that all that labor needs to do is to establish “labor” banks and “labor” insurance companies. There is ‘no hint of vigorous programs of struggle, no campaign proposed for organizing the unorganized, nor for making the organized workers able to strike with success by amalgama- tion of their unions and making com- mon cause with the unemployed mil- lions through unemployment councils, Such ridiculous measures as the “full utilization of playground ad- vantages” are advocated as essential to workers “who have small oppor- tunity to use other than a few muse- les.” While no one doubts that re- ground convention and the convictions by the capitalist courts of Gitlow, Lar- kin, Ruthenberg and Ferguson. From a Sect to a Mass Party. The sixth class will take up the un- derground party from 1920 to 1922, the issues mentioned above and their cum- \ulative effect on the life of the party The seventh class will conclude the series with an account of the fight for creation is imperative for sedentary workers, a program which shuns struggle for shortening their hours and merely declares some exercise is healthful is nothing short of betrayal of the duty of union leadership. If workers would use their heads as well as a “few muscles” such leadership would soon be discharged. This is merely an illustration of the petty and futile items of ‘the program sug- gested by bankrupt leadership. Proud of Class Collaboration The twenty-three “labor” banks are “pointed: to with pride” and an insurance scheme is recommended by a special committee’s report contained within the report of the council. This committee is composed.of Matthew Woll and G. W. Perkins, and “urges a capital stock company to operate on the legal reserve system and on the participating. plan only—to write both ordinary and industrial forms of polic- ies—to be owned by the A, F. of L. and its constituent elements and their members, and directed by the heads of these organizations.” Thus it is seen that the A. F. of L. is giving up the function of a labor union for its leaders to become officials of an in- surance corporation. The matter of child labor is dealt with superficially, complete depen- dence being placed upon a legislative program and nothing at all is pro- posed for to organize the millions of young workers into the A. F. of L. to remedy the condition of their use against adult labor by capital in re- ducing wages, etc. Sam Protects Capitalist: Courts The menace of the injunction and the usurpation of power by the jud- iciary is a real threat to labor unions. Yet there is not a mention of the use of mass violation to break injunctions. Even the militant phrases once used by Gompers are missing. All that is legality from October, 1921 to March, 1923. The question which shook the movement over legal or illegal work, the problem of sectarianism versus a mass party, the “geese” and the “liquidators,” the birth of the Workers Party, the split, the “United Toilers,” and the decisions upon all these issues by the Communist International. Every worker whether a party mem- said of the basis of the complaint is that the “misuse” of the injunctior threatens: to “undermine public c fidence in the judiciary.” The A. F. of L. would, that is, defend the cap italist courts against the indiscretions of the capitalist courts, Bootlegger Draws Gompers’ Tears The instance given to illustrate the usurpation of power by the judiciary is an illustration, as well, of the sniv elling character of the executive coun: cil of the A. F. of L. “With thousands of members thrown into jail for viola- tion of injunctions, with strikes broken right and left by order of the capitalist courts, the chief point made to show that courts are usurping power is the recital of the judicial over riding of President Coolidge’s pardon granted to Phil Grossman, a ward-heeler-bootlegger of Chicago, Grossman, pardon by Coolidge thru political pull, was by court order, re arrested and confined in jail for a time. This is the best example of judicial usurpation Gompers could select! Left Wing Only Hope. “Labor has no complaint to make against the 68th congress,” the report states. Gompers, privately goes fur- ther and brazenly contends that “Labor fared almost phenomenally well in the elections.” And he adds, “The new congress is not likely to pase any measure greatly detrimental to the interests of the workers.” Such are the falsehoods upon which the leadership of the American Feéd- eration of Labor is leading the organ- ized workers of America into a morass of disorganization and des. pair. Only the growth and unifica- tion of a left wing can defeat the traitors and class collaborationists. That left wing can, moreover, do this, only by the closest harmony with the Trade Union Hducational League. History of the American Communist Movement ber or not, should take this opportu- nity of learning the consideration of the revolutionary movement as a uni- fied development. But particularly the members of the Workers Party should apply themselves to the study of the American Communist move- ment by attending Comrade Cannon's class every Tuesday evening at 1902 West Division street. SELF-CRITICISM AND FRANKNESS Editor’s Note.—Every day until publication has been completed, the DAILY WORKER will publish a new chapter from the book, “Len- in: The Great Strategist of the Class War,” by A. Losovsky, secre- tary of the Red International of Labor Unions. The fifth chapter is entitled “Self-Criticism and Frank- nes.” «ee Ls knew exactly the strong and weak sides of the labor move- ment, ‘And for this reason he re- acted so exceptionally critically to every theory built upon the back- wardness and weaknesses of the work- ing class. He possessed a sixth sense, the sense of anti-reformism. Ho smelled reformism from a distance. It was very difficult in 1903 to have determined on the basis of differences of opinion regarding the first para- graph of the party constitution, who were the proletarian Girondists and who were the Jacobins. Neverthcless, The Morning of a Busy Gentleman Mr. Hughes learns about ‘ty France. of the. | | : J Lengel Soviet Government * Deni, in Moscow Tavestia, Lenin determined this very definitely after the Second Congress of the Rus- sian social-democratic party. Thru the formulation of the famous para- graph one, he came to the creation of the Girondist wing of the party. Since then he continuously criticized the right wing of the Russian social- democratic party whose reformism be- came bg cans to everyone only in 1905. Thruout the first revolution, in the period preceding the late war, and particularly after the war, this anti- reformist sense of Lenin manifesis itself in all his activities. He was de- ceived neither by revolutionary phrases nor by well-sounding resolu- tions. He exposed to the daylight the reformist. theoreticians and men of action, despite ajl their attempts to conceal their real hature. He was pri- marily a man of experience and prac- tical deeds, and it was in this sphere of life that he caused the defeat .of the strategians of reformism. More than one-half of his writings were de- voted to the demoralizing activities of reformism, especially to the Russian Mensheviks. Just as an archeologist determines the species of a pre-his- toric animal by the examination of a single bone, so Lenin was able to de termine the reformist nature of his opponents by a single phrase in one or another of their articles. oe @ Tomorrow—"The Enemy of Re- “formism.” n Party Activities Of Local Chicago Wednesday, Nov. 19. A ft Central Coinmittee, 722 Blue Ave., All delegates must. attend. Visitors, Invited. Cicero Italian, Cireolo Glovanile” Hall, on ee hg hood Sist and 60th Ct. 2475 Clybourn Terra Cotta, atid od Hingltsh, 414 8. Halsted lewoor C2, Hegel No. 3, ay Ave na cay? Women's Nong 4 Loom! Doug! sles Park Jewl a bee Houser 3420 W. Roose oe ne i ay ‘Shirdeay fe a _dtembershin meeting, Worl 5 cy 0. Review of aiantion fa and cca of shop nu psa a 2409 N. Halsted all branches ‘are off, Friday, Nov. 21, Pca North Side, 1902 W. Diviaida pet chuanien No, 5, 3142 8. Greek Branch, 722 Blue Island alsted Bt, peal ihe Pace at YOUNG toeat ene, LEAGUE, — CHICAGO, Earl mivaguie Pe Chane iy" % Bley Beonomics, 2618 Hirsch Bl ‘Junior Bpeakers' Glass, dint "ae! ig Salle St, Room 37. ut ov, 4 Party » bership eating i Hull, Boe al Halsted St. Revtow a