The Daily Worker Newspaper, December 27, 1924, Page 5

“The idea becomes: | (power: when it pene- trates the masses.” ~=-Karl Marx, By J. W. JOHNSTONE. APITALISM in its early stages used as its advance guard mis- sionaries. Now, in its imperialistic stage, it sends-in labor leaders. “Both serve the same purpose. The fornicr used the cloak of religion, opened and closed their meetings with prayer, and, between times, beguiled the poor heathen into accepting faith and exploitation. The latter use ‘the cloak of national patriotism, tirg- es capitalist democracy, substitutes the Communist for the devil, Com- munism for hell, and betrays the workers into the maws of imperialist- ic exploitation. The Pan-American Federation of La- bor convention held in Mexico City, Dec. 3-9, struggled for seven days, advancing the interest of American imperialism at the samie time making a-bold pretense of representing labor. No organization in the world of labor has been so frank in its support of imperialism, American imperialism as against British or European imperial- ism. ~ No convention of labor ever held in America has had brought before it such heart-rending stories of misery and sufferings of whole nations—of savage tortures by the rack, the whip- ping post; the hanging by thumbs of workers who dared to lift their voices against their “oppressors. Yet, noth- ing was done. except the usual pro- cedure. followed by every congress of this alleged labor organization—re- ferred to the executive committee for further investigation. : The delegate from Guatemala en- | tered :@ vigorous protest daring the last hours of the congress. It was in _ reality a summary of the work of the congress and a last minute cry of protest. He said, “You have referred all resolutions which show the deplor- able conditions of the Latin-American workers, who are suffering under the fron heel of American imperialism, to the executive committee for further investigation. I am sure that they will sleep soundly in the archives of this organization. Even if you could not accept the resolutions calling for the withdrawal of American troops from Latin-America, or to fight against the Platt amendment, or the other reso- lutions which call for action, surely you can go on record at least against the death penalty and the tortures of political prisoners. “We-are sufferers; we know the conditions; we present to you the facts; we ask for definite action, and you give us words—nothing but words, We cannot fight Yankee im- perialism that way.” This intrepid delegate from Guate- mala, his liberty endangered by the mere fact that he attended the con- gress, was the subject of a vicious at- tack by one of the socialist delegates from Mexico and by our own liberty- ~ loving John P. Frey, the man who tried his best to have Tom Mooney hanged. The socialist condemned the Guatemalian delegation for asking the organization to do for them what they ought but could not do for them- selves. That it was against all com- mon sense for the delegate to ask the withdrawal of troops from any country, then invite other forces to - interfere with the internal questions of Central America. — “The delegate from Guatemala,” continued this Calles socialist, “evi- dently does not know the policies and principles of this organization. This congress is not an instrument to be used against the enemy in each coun- try. We exert only a moral influence.” He admitted that capitalism was in- ternational, but that the Pan-Amert- - can federation was opposed to outside | interference. Their object was to help ne christian’ SPECIAL MAGAZINE | SUPPLEMENT the labor. movement of all countries . morally, whatever that may he, sc that they might be better able to ‘sombat the common enemy. The ac tual work, showever, had to be. don: by the affiliated national uniéns with- nthe boundaries of their own coun- tries. Frey, aftér- ‘deousing the delegates in English, which they did not under- stand and which Senator Iglegias, the official interpreter, deliberately mis- represented, that they had not appear: ed before the committee and. present- ed their case, altho invited to-do so~- later in the day this crude juggler presented a document to the conven- tion which he said had been submit- ted by the Guatemalian delegates ex- plaining in detail the terrible conditions of the working class of that country. Then he asked the ceon- vention, with hypocritical- solicitation, not to compel him to read it, or make it a part of the minutes, on the grounds that to do so would jeopar- dize the liberty of those who intro- duced it. He urged that it become a confidential informative document for the benefit of the executive commit- tee, which of course, was the action taken. Unquestionably, the document and the very presence of the delegates at the congress endangered their liberty. But the statement that there existed such a document was just as bad as if it had been read. In fact, the Guate- malian ambassador, thru the capital- ‘st press of Mexico City, denied that conditions in his country were not 2s stated by the delegates. He did not. say that-he had seen the docu- ment, but it was an official war ne tc these delegates to return to. conntry at their own we The real motive of Frey in not wanting the document read was to keep back from the delegates the unpleasant truth that it was the United Fruit Growers’ Association, and other American capi- talist groups backed by the United States government, who were the eause of all the misery suffered by these unfortunate workers. He expressed surprise that the dele- gate from Guatemala expected this organization to interfere with any government, and frankly admitted that it was not the purpose of the Pan-American Federation of Labor to try to compel any government to do anything that it did not want to do. That was for the unions in their own country to decide. The Guatemalian delegate accepted this interpretation of the principles and purposes of the Pan-American federation. Altho he stated that in- ternational capital could only be fought successfully by international labor forces, he would, however, ask that the North American delegates within their own country demand the ‘withdrawal of American troops from all Latin-American countries, that they fight for the abrogation of the Platt amendment, that they bring all their power to bear upon their govern- ment to the end that their government should not recognize any Latin-Ameri- can republic that refused to grant the workers the right to organize, the right to strike, free speech, free press, and freedom of assembly. However, his appeal, logical and powerful, had no effect upon this hand-picked con- vention. In order that the peacefulness of the next congress should not be dis- turbed in this manner, it was decid- ed that the Central American Federa- tion of Labor, a paper organization set up by Gompers, shall represent the five Central American republics. The delegate from Santo Domingo, an exiled liberal and now a prac. ticing physician in El Paso, Texas, presented numerous resolutions for é iipiagpeeeeeapleeereeabeenciioacaake beets ertlbteschinssoveechconeapedundlicagidiniomsioagicitennsaacges niece oS e DAILY WORKER. December * 27, 1924. ill of. whieh substituted were offered ‘eferring. the subject matter to. the ‘xecutive council for. further investi- gation. “They .were -written in. the strongest kind: of language, showing that: the-cofquestiof this- republic was * theinterest of ‘the sugat trust, and that. the: ‘United States, Boyernment hed ‘set up Harry H.*Lee as military Roreane fdr the purpose of stealing. the. fertile valley of , Taximero; the water power and-the general contro! of industries and commerce of the country. He pointed out that the Hughes-Pay- nedo so-called evacuation treaty, was one of annexation and future inter- vention. He showed that the last so-called popular election was con- ducted under a reign of terror. That the president elected was a tool of American imperialism elected by United States bayonets, warships, and marines. That the conditions laid down in the Hughes-Payneda treaty made legal all military acts which of course, included the land steals. Pay- nedo, supposed to represent the peo- ple in the signing of this treaty, is chief council to the Barrowhead Su- gar company with a salary of $12,000 per year. The resolution pointed out that the military oceupation of their country fiad been carried out without any de- claration of war. That since the oc- cupation, freo speech, press, the right to organize and strike, had been abolished. The delegate presenting the resolution pointed out that he had served six months in prison for say- ing that the Hughes-Payneda treaty was one of annexation, slavery, starv- ation, and death, and now he is “an exile vom his country. He protested rather meekly about the light man- ner in which the committee had treat- ed his resolution. He has yet to learn that the Pan-American Federation of Labor is part and parcel of the very forces which he is raising his voice against. The same kind of treatment was handed the Panama delegation, with a little more- special attention paid to them behind the scenes. It would have been very hard to. explain, out- side the United States, that one of the conditions laid down. by Gom- pers in the subjugation of Latin- America by American capital, is that American workers in the canal zone must have a monopoly. of the higher paid jobs, and that there must be a difference in favor of the American wage slave over that of the native of between 20 to 35 per cent in wages, and that the native must not be allow- ed to rise above the grade of laborer or messenger. These delegates made no secret of their objection to the discrimination against them in the zone and in the republic itself. They, however, have had very little experience in the labor movement. It is difficult for them to believe that men will betray them with a smile, and with such beautiful abstract phrases as liberty, freedom, democracy, brotherhood, and good will. Their representative was ap- pointed on the committee on officers’ reports, and committee on rules, This placed him under the subtle influence of the Crown Prince Matthew Woll, with the result that they did not pre- sent their case to the convention, and what they came to fight for was planted peacefully in the “further in- vestigation” committees’ burial ground. This delegation and the Guatemala delegation were the only real working class representatives in the convention. Tho Panamaians were fooled. Their disillusionment will come very quickly. Even a mild resolution presented by the A. F’ of L.'s most powerful ally, the C. R. O. M., calling upon the con- eee: The Pan- Aisericad Federation. of Labor SECOND SECTION This magazine ‘supplie- ment will appear every Saturday in The Daily Worker. oy #réss to go on record for an-exchange of anion cards’ between them and the United, States and urging that steps be taken to. bring -this: about, was sidé-tracked by the usual substitute that it be referred this time to the international unions. Everything that smacked of stepping an inch along the path of progress was squelched. While évery réactionary resolution that more firmly tied the organization to the American imperialistic machine was endorsed. The A, F. of L. delegation quite na- turally presented almost every reac- tionary resolution to the congress. Amongst them were ones urging the unions to petition their government for union representation in the Pan- American union, so that the countries in the western hemisphere could bet- ter solve their international problems. Thus officially offering labor’s services in the enforcement of the Monroe Doc- trine, and in the next world’s war in the interest of American imperialism. They also urged that organized labor . in all American republics demand rep- resentation in the Pan-American financial conference, which is one of the technical organizations for the more thoro expioitation of Latin- America, and to demand of their gov- ernmént that union representatives be attached to all consulates. This is without doubt, the most brutal and complete voluntary surrender to capi- talism ever recorded in the annals of labor history. Resolutions praising so-called !fber- al labor governments, such as Mexico, Columbia, Nicaragua, were endorsed without referring to the further. in- vestigation committee. A liberal ora labor government in the eyes of this congress is where American capital- ism has imposed its imperialistic will upon the people to the extent that a government controlied by it has been elected. A letter from Secretary of State Hughes, showing that Santa Domingo had a popular and democrat- ic government was used by Gompers to offset the facts presented by the Domican delegates. The only seem- ing purpose of this fake labor con- stress was to stifle the cries of the exploited and enslaved workers of Latin-America in the interest of Amer- ican capital. The congress itself was a tragic farce. The financial report only show- ed the United States, Mexico, and Santa Domingo affiliated. Over $29,- 000 was spent since the last con- gresS and this is the result. Three affiliations out of 22 republics. But in order to make it a little more real- istic, delegates were seated that had no more right to represent the parti- cular country they were supposed to come from than I had. As an exam- ple, two brothers Salamon and Ro- gerio de LaSelva represented Nica- ragua. Both of them are citizens of Mexice, one has a political job in the munition factory of which Mor- ones was head. The other, until late- ly, was magistrate in the city of Mexico. Both are minor leaders in the labor party of Mexico. One of them made a hurried trip to Nicara- Communist Party, Morones, Gompers’ gua at the expense of the Pan-Ameri- can Federation of Labor in order that he could at least say, if questioned, that he had just come from there. Outside of Guatemala and Panama there was no delegation that was elected by the labor movement that they were supposed to represent. The usual Communist baiting was a part of the congress’ work. This was done in order to satisfy Gompers, And because of the real opposition that Morones finds in the Mexican Mexican first lieutenant, opened and closed the congress with an anti-Com- (Continued on page 8) Pay +)