The Daily Worker Newspaper, January 3, 1925, Page 12

-o™, a ae nee or NR er ET SS ESRI A on nn on te (Continued frem page 1) to prevent the working class from uniting, Germany is shortly to go thru the reichstag elections. Black reaction is impending there. Following Ameri- ca and WEngland, the conservative groups are marching to power there too, and the social democrats must, of course, know this. What do they do, how did they build up their front? In what direction is it faced in this election campaign? Against the blacks? Nothing of the sort; they are building their entire front against the reds, against the Communist workers. They are helping the bour- geoisie to enact slavery — elections. They have thrown practically the en- tire staff of the Communist, Party in- to jail. The entire cream, the heads of the German workers, have been taken off with their aid. preparing for black reaction. Like the flunkeys that they are, they are serving the bourgeoisie the best heads of the German workers, the German Communists. These leaders of the German trade union move- ment are busy splitting the interna- tional labor movement, or to be more exact, preventing it from establish- ing unity. ™ The workers of a number of coun- tries have reformist prejudices, and do not understand our aims; we still see among them an honest class in- tuition which does not find at once the true path, but which desires to find this path. Such a situation exists in England, for instance. In Germany things are ‘quite different. There, during the last 25 years, the bour- geosie has trained, welded, bred and fostered a staff of social democrats, beginning with Noske and ending with the trade unionist Dissman, a staff of dignitaries, ready at any mo- ment to betray the working class. The German bourgeoisie has taken decades to train them, to destroy and disorganise the labor movement and serve as splitters in it. It is this group more than any other that stands in the way. There are com- rades who frequently ask how do you think will international unity of the trade union movement ever be estab- lished? Give us an answer. My an- swer is as follows: In my opinion unity will doubtlessly be established and I think that international labor unity will be established in a rela- tively short time. I think that not more than a year or two will pass. before it is actually established (ap- plause). I think, comrades, that the seventh congress of our trade unions will be held after unity will have been established (applause), in spite of all the obstacles put up by our enemies. We have patience and strong nerves (applause). We must have perseveralice, we must know, com- rades, that in fighting for the unity of the world trade union movement we are at the foreposts of the world revolution, and that everything that is perfidious and dishonest in the in- ternational labor movement, every- thing that is iniquitous and -hateful of the red flag, is grouped against us in order to prevent the unity, to break the ranks before they are thor- oly welded. Let us be frank. We have a num- ber of differences with the British trade union movement. They do not adhere to a Marxian platform, they have various prejudices, but we see there something different from the bourgeois-trained yellow social demo- cracy, and we think that the experi- ment recently carried out in Eng- land will be very useful to many and many a worker. It cannot but be useful to the British workers. What did we have in England during, the course of yéars and decades? We had there invariably two bourgeois parties taking each others’ place in the government of the country. This was a two-party system, conserva- tives and liberals. After the war the historic scene was mounted by the labor party representing a mass force, tho paying ample tribute to reform- ism, and still remaining under its charm. Now we have a three party system—conservatives, liberals and labor.” What did the experiment of the MaeDonald system lead to; Un- doubtedly, to the imminent destruc- They are} tion of liberalism. Liberalism has al- ready been grotind up between the two millstones, and will shortly be absorbed by conservatism and labor, Henceforth two big parties will fight for power; on the one side the bour- geoisie, on the other the labor re- formists; the third is only appear- ing on the horizon. It is the Commun- ist Party, which will doubtless event- ually. unite the best elements of the British labor movement. (Applause). We were told that the MacDonald experiment would lead to a soften- ing of the class struggle. The reverse was the case. It led to a sharpening of the class struggle in England. They wanted to go thru one door, but strayed into another (applause). Therein lies their misfortune. They wanted to show the world how they put an end to the class struggle, how almost painlessly the bourgeois corn can be cut, so that the bourgeoisie would not feel it. But the result was a class struggle intensified to’ an un- usual degree. Of course, a differentia- tion in the British labor movement is now inevitable and unavoidable, and MacDonald and his friends will not be able to escape this. Do they think that this show with the notorious Zinoviev letter will pass without any injury to them? (Laughter, applause). Comrades, personally we have no rea- sons to resent this incident (laugh- ter). Just the contrary, we have grounds to be well satisfied with this incident, because MacDonald and Co. gave quite an unusual advertisement to the Communist International. Many thousands of workers in Eng- land do not know the meaning of a nucleus in the army, navy or even in the factory. Our press there is weak. Now thanks to this letter, even tho it is forged, they all learned the meaning of a nucleus (laughter, applause). So that, comrades, we are not moved by any resentment against their forgery. We have be- come perfectly used to forgeries, but what a rag MacDonald has made of himself in all this affair. Wherein lay the crux of this matter? MacDonald tried to sit on both sides of the fence. He knew that thousands of workers in England were sympathiz- ing with the Soviet Union, and he therefore, conducted his election cam- paign in favor of a union with us; but then after all, he is a menshevik, and a leader of the Second Interna- tional. He knew that it is inconveni- ent to sit on one chair, and he must sit between two chairs (laughter). He therefore, decided to secure the sym- pathies also of those who were against the Soviet Union; this way it would be safer (laughter). He therefore, made use of the forged let- ter. You know what pitiful blabbing he used to justify himself.* He him- self admitted that he knew about this letter ever since October 10th. His game fell thru entirely. I heard from a number of comrades well acquaint- ed with life in England and with. MacDonald’s moods that this incident of the alleged letter cost the labor party perhaps a million votes. If we were to take this million from the conservatives and add it to the labor party, we would have a awerence of two millions, that might have decid- ed the election. That is what the typical pitiful shameful policy of MacDonald has led to, and I hope that it cannot fail to arouse the protest of the masses of British trade unionists. They could not even end this affair with a dignified front. MacDonald ap- pointed a commission. The commis- sion said that it had no time to finish. MacDonald then resigned without waiting for the commission to com- plete its work and so they all finished by stating that no one saw the ori- ginal of the letter but that they saw only a copy composed by some un- known person, One of the papers, I think it was “The Times,” was sharp witted enough to subsequently write: “It makes no difference whether the letter is a forgery or not, it is no se- cret that Zinoviev is an enemy of the British nation” (laughter). No, dear gentleman, it is we who are the gen- uine friends of the British people, of the British toilers and working class. In our opinion the enemies of the British people are Baldwin and Co. Of course, there are some among them who do not know which camp | having no freedom of press. to choose, labor or the bourgeoisie. We are deeply convinced that in the British trade unions and labor party a strong protest is developing in this connection, ¥ You know that we have proposed to the general council of the British trade unions to investigate whether this letter was written by us or not. I hope that the comrades who have come here from England have brought us some answer to this ques- tion, and will give us their opinion. They are not bound by any formali ties and they should tell the British working class how it is being doped. They must tell the truth and noth- ing but the truth. This. is a splendid lesson to the British on the essence of democracy and of the freedom of press. We are being reproved for For the “Times” and the bourgeoisie we have no freedom of press and will have none (applause). The history of this letter is a class- ic example of the alleged freedom of press in the capitalist countries. A few days before the elections, a crude forgery is let loose upon the world in order to frighten all the Henry Dubbs, the entire swamp, and persuade it to vote in favor of re- action. They do not leave time for a denial and even if they do so, they do it at the last moment, when every- thing has been prepared and the bal- lots issued. The entire press utiizes their freedom to fool the people in a most shameless manner, and later when the cabinet has peen formed and the power passes into the hands of the blackest of the black hundreds, they say after all, it is of little im- portance, perhaps it was a forged document (laughter). Is not this 2 most obvious example of how the freedom of press, the hundreds of newspapers with circulations of many millions, the printeries and every- thing else, serve the bourgeoisie? We say to the British people: “Yes, we are barbarians, we have a cruel dictatorship, you will make it~ much softer” -(applause, laughter). We wish you, from our very heart, that you exploit your bourgeoisie in such a@ way that no one would notice it, and that the bourgeoisie would think it pleasant (applause). But remem- ber the lesson received by your coun- try. Does it not show that the bour- geois must be deprived of the free- dom of press, by which it dopes the masses, dopes=the working class, dopes the toilers? And remember, this takes place in England, and not in some remote country. Is it not clear to everyone that such a free- dom of press is only a weapon ‘in the hands of the bourgeoisie against the working class? That is why this incident is of no mean significance, and I think that it will be a good lesson to the British workers. What has taken place should be useful to them. é The British labor party has already gained a million and a quarter new votes, the appetite for power among the British workers has been aroused Si xth All-Russian Trade Union Congresi and the new black hundred govern- ment will strengthen it. The day will yet come in England when a labor government will again be in. power, but it will be a different labor gov- ernnient from that we have seen now (laughter), True, it will not be a Soviet, Communist government, but only a transitional one, but it will not be a labor government that takes 6f- fices from the British king and feel glad about it, offices that we call “housekeepers’ offices,” the office of counting the shirts of the British king. Yes, the offices of manager of the king’s kitchen, MacDonald ap- pointed the prominent leaders of the British labor movement. It is time to put an end to this (applause): The British workers deserved a much better’ fate than-to cotint the kings’ underwear. ‘They deserve to have a true labor government, a true labor power, instead of an “ersatz” labor government. ter the Russian example, we do not in the least lay claims to this. Please have your English examples plause). Thus, comrades our congress is faced with the question of interna- tional labor unity in a situation that is extremely interesting and peculiar. For the last several months we have seen a practically complete change of scenery on the world arena. The pink-yellow color has been replaced by black; the class forces are reor- ganizing and most serious changes are taking place within the working class. Many of the Amsterdam lead- ers feel that they have no tomorrow, no future. The international labor movement is making its way towards unity, and we are saying to the entire world: On our side the workers of the world will meet with sincere proletarian support, with a sincere desire of the workers to join their ranks. We do, not for a moment abandon our views (no one will ask us to do that), we have celebrated the seventh anniver- sary of a truly labor instead of a roy- al revolution. We have been and are today true pupils of Lenin, members of the Communist International. We firmly adhere to our positions. The workers of the world will come to us. And remaining at our fighting ~ posts, without any diplomacy, we ex- tend a helping hand to the organized trade union movement of the world and say: “Let us unite on elementary principles, on the A. B. ©, of the struggle against the bourgeoisie that is advancing with such unheard of insolence and unanimously.” We must - unite against this threat, and we are — confident that all those..who were against us will now agree with us. Yes, without fear of being mistaken, we say: “The time will come when, in spite of everything we shall form a united international of trade unions, and the British workers will not be among the last of those who together with us will map out the course of | final emancipation and freedom for the workers of the world.” (Stormy applause.) (Continued next Sat.) THE WORKERS MONTHLY FOR JANUARY ‘\“At the ‘Red October’ Candy Fac WORKERS MONTHLY“has started the New Year right by sur- passing any of the other three num- bers, excellent though they wére. The DAILY WORKER plant deserves com- Pliments for the superior workmat- ship displayed in its typographical makeup, and the contents are inter- esting and instructive. The leading article is by Alexander Bittelman on “Lenin, Leader and Com- rade.” It is an easily read and easily understood article;’ plenty of meat and paucity of empty phraseology. “Lenin is not dead” begins Bittel- man. He then proceeds to prove that Lenin lives in the hearts of the class conscious workers of the world and that Lenin leads the world revolution today thru his teachings and the or- ganization he fashioned. Hundreds of books have been written about Lenin since his death, thousands more will be written. There is a keen analysis of the American Federation of Labor con- vention by William Z. Foster, an ar- ticle by Anna Louise Strong, entitled tory.” There is another installment | of the “History of the Russian Com- } munist Party,” by Gregory Zinoviey. | “Notes on Shop Nuclei,” by Martin ~ Abern, a joint article by William Z. Foster and William F. Dunne, on “The A. F. of L. and Trade Union Unity,” and several other articles, besides an excellent short story woven around the struggle in the coal mines. ; Fred Ellis, the noted revolutionary artist, has two good cartoons. There are amusing and effective caricatures on the bourgeoisie by Art Young and pictures of life in Soviet Russia. This number of the Workers Month- ly is the “best yet.” The article on Lenin will give Communists an appet- ite for more material on the life of the world’s greatest revolutionist and the articles by Foster and Dunne -on the trade union movement should strengthen the knowledge of the union militants and assist them in fighting the revolutionaries, The Workers Monthly sells for 25 cents a copy. Subscription price is $2.00 a year. Of course, not af- | (ap- -