The Daily Worker Newspaper, January 31, 1925, Page 14

| The I. W. W.’s Highest Official--Pro Tem! By HARRISON GEORGE T is said, and it is probably true, that “It takes all kinds of people to make a world.” But tnat appears to be no good reason for the 16th general convention of the I. W. W. having picked out a poor fish to be the general secretary&reasurer pro tempore of the organization. Unless, of course (and I have some suspicion that ‘tis true), the fellow workers who placed him in the seats of the mighty, expected that said poor flish would, in his anxiety to make the most of his little “brief authority,” swell up with a desire to hear himseif talk as the REAL THING IN WISE GUYS, and, naturally, while talking, expose to all the world that he has too little sense to advise the workers to come in out of the rain, and a con- fused idea of utopian dogmas which he grandiosely imagines-is a revolu- tionary theory. Expectation Realized If the fellow workers expected this, they were not mistaken, nor disap- pointed. The poor fish has not ceased to be a poor fish because he became a big fish, and in a lecture upon the sub- ject of “Dictatorship or Liberation” recently reviewed in the DAILY WORKER, completely expose his the- oretical nakedness, This horrible example of anarcho- syndicalism is probably -wholiy un aware that he made a fool of himself and doubtlessly thinks that his eva- sion of logical points, his distortion of both the facts and the theories of the Russian revolution, and his pompous fulminations agains “politicians,” served well enough as a substitute of sense, proletarian truth and a desire to clarify and inform. But there were | many good wobblies in the audience who were not so sure of that, in fact | some say sO. 3 For the benefit of those who could not attend the painful affair, and as a faithful characterization of what an- archo-syndicalist ideas are, whoever speaks them and whenever or where- |+*: “Surely! Do you doubt it? “By no means. But, what would this revolution consist of? “The suppression of the wage sys- tem, of the bosses and of the state. “Very goou. And who will suppress all that? i “We, the workers, the unions. “Perfectly. And while all that is going on, the bourgeoisie will, doubt- less, be reading the “Arabian Nights?” “They will exist, naturally. But we are not crippies, and they will have somebody to deal with them. ... “Very good. And who will direct the action against them? ““The unions, that is clear. “Perfectly. That is to say that the unions will then exercise the power? “Just as I said before—‘All power to the unions,’ .Don’t you hear me, then, when I speak? “I hear all Iam able. And from as much as I hear, it appears to me that I heard you say that you were against all power... ‘That’s, a tough head you have, I am against all po-tit-i-cal power, be- cause I am against all politics, against the tricky politicians. But the power of the unions meang e-co- no-mic power. Do you begin to un- derstand? “All that you tell me I understand! -. And what would you do with the bourgeoisie, who will murder your fellow workers and try to hang you all? “What a question! We will have them forget the taste of bread. “And what do you call that? Is that not politics? “It is revolution! “There is nothing better than to first understand the meaning of words, And while you will be beating ithe dirt out of the bourgeoisie, will not your position be—pardon my gall —a dictatorship? “Nothing of the kind. That will be direct action! “Fine! After all we are... almost agreed. But I am one who yet ever they are spoken, I have trans- | 40e8 not dominate the vocabulary and lated from the official organ of Lo- |! 40 not know the value of words . cal No. 1, of the Carpenters’ and Hel- | “By no means do we agree, because pers’ Union of the Railway Workers’ | You went a dictatorship of a minority Confederation of Mexico, the follow- ing dialogue between a syndicalist and a sensible worker. The Muddie-Head International Some will cavil, I presume, that a “foreign” argument should be brought in to explain the lecture at the I. W. W. forum in Chicago on “Dictatorship or Liberation,” but anarcho-syndical- ist theory is the same the world over and foolishness is foolishness regard- less of geography. ‘There is, it will be seen, an internationalism even among muddic-heads. And as this lit- tle dialogue illuminates so precisely the foolish arguments of the lecture against dictatorslip, which took no ac. count of what class may hold the dic. tatorship, I give it to the reader with the explanation that opens with the sensible worker asking the syndical- is the following question: “Se, then, you are a syndicalist, and a libertarian? “Exactly. “Both at once or successively? “Both at once. “And how is that possible? “Simply. That explains itself: I am & syndicalist because all power must go to the unions; I am a libertarian because I am against all power. It is very clear. “Do yon think so? I, on the con- trary, have to confess that I have un- derstood nothing. “Because you lack intelligence. Ah, if you were only capable of under- standing individualized unionism! . “Really, that is too much for my poor intelligence. Rnt let us return to libertarian syndicalism, that, now. ig very hard... “No, it is very simple. I am against dictatorship, it matters not of what party. I think that syndicalism or unionism is enough of itself. “Let us... Let us see... Each time I comprehend less. “How so? Are you a dumbbell? “Perhaps ... We are just going to see ... Meanwhile, answer me this question: Are you with the revolu- tion? ‘ ‘over a majority. While we want the | contrary. “We are going to see about that shortly. “It is seen already. “One moment. How many are there} of you syndicalists? “Somewhere around 30,000. When we get all the other orgabized work- ers to leave their unions and come to us, We would have three or four mil- | lion. But, naturally, when the prole- tariat understands better, we will be more numerous. There are twenty millions of wage workers in this coun- try. A day will come whea these workers understand their rights bet- ter, and that day... “Meanwhile, you will not expect that all the workers will be organized in unions in order to make the revo- lution? “Of course not. With a good active minority... “You admit, then, that for a long time yet, the unions will embrace but @ minority of the workers? “There arg 80 Many ignorant, ego- istic, servile and cowardly work- ae “Agreed. But, now you are advocat- ing a dictatorship of a minority of organized workers over a majority of unorganized, and over all the unor- ganizable: smail farmers, petty bour- geoisie... “It isn’t possible to work any other way! Whose fault is it if...7? “Certainly. But you are an adyo- cate of the dictatorship of a minority. However, you were saying just the opposite a minute ago. “At least that minority is formed of a majority of class conscious pro- ducers... “One minute... Suppose you take a union of one hundred members which has to make an important de- cision. General assembly. In the voting, there are fifty votes in favor, forty-nine opposed and one absten- sion, Which opinion has the force of law? “The one of the fifty, naturally. “and why will those fifty impose their will’ on the forty-nine? “Well... because ...there has to be a majority that decides. How would you want it... “I want nothing. I am only proving that you are an advocate, not only of the dictatorship of a minority, but al- so of a fraction of that minority. “But is there any other way Ont “And that consequently you arrive in some cases to delivering dictator- ship to only one man, whose vote may swing the balance to one side or an- other, according... “But, what do you propose, then? “I propose nothing. I am asking questions. And I am not finished with that, yet." Suppose that among the hundred organized workers, the result of the vote might be as fol- lows: forty in favor, thirty-nine op- posed, and twenty-one abstensions. Which makes the effective decision? “Naturally, the forty. “That is to say, the minority of the minority. You are, then, an advocate of the dictatorship of the minority of the minority! “The twenty-one have no right to abstain. What kind of poor dubbs are those who abstain in the present moment, that is, the moment of de- cisions! ... “I don't deny that. But listen to twe words more. Suppose the hundred might all be decided, resolved. Only We must admit that many times there are not only two opinions present. There may be, and let us suppose there are, three, Then'the vote gives some result like: thirty-five in favor of one proposal, thirty-three in favor of another, and thirty-two in favor of a third. Which opinion prevails? “That of the thirty-five, evidéntly. “However, those who oppose that opinion number sixty-five... And you impose upon them the will of the other thirty-five... “They’ can do nothing else but agree! Well, it needs somebody to decide! “All right. But—pardon my gall— I note that you are for a dictatorship of a minority. “Well, what of it? “You have poor reason to say— ‘Well, what of it?’—because a little while ago yon were condemning the dictatorship of a party, of a minority, even of a majority, And now!... “You make me tired! “How so? . How so? “And I’m going to bust your nose! “Go easy, go easy, friend... Don’t forget that you are a libertarian! ... What’s Your Hurry? LENIN. By Freda Eliman, Age 12, This is to every readér, About our dead beloved leader, ! who for all the workers fought Oh! beloved one you have not died for naught. Lenin! your duty you have done; Some day our victory shall be won Let us get our enemies even with e@ rope The world victory is our best hope. A dear and brave leader was he, This every Junior worker can see, Your name in the workers’ history sbali run And our victory some day will be won. From a Fellow Worker. My dear Comrades: I am not a subscriber of the DAILY WORK- ER, but I read it every day. As soon as spring comes, I am going from house to house and get customers for the DAILY WORKER, and I hope all the other young comrades and Juniors will do the same thing. I am only ten years old, and I hope you com- rades will find a little space for these few words in the DAILY WORKER. On January 19 | read the Communist Children’s Column about Johnny and Billie. Hurrah for you, Johuny! You did good work on capitalist Billie! My father received some kind of a membérship card from the DAILY WORKER. My father is a member of the I. W. W., too. On November 4 my father was put in jail. I will never forget the time when they came into the house after him and handcuffed him and with the handcuffs on his arms lead him thru the streets. Yours fraternally, Rudolph Bronesky, Chicago, 11. I forget something. My father is out of jail now. The Industrial Fellow Workers got him out. R. B. 5-Day Week Not Yet. CLEVELAND.—Altho plasterers and lathers voted in favor of the fire day week, a majority of the unions in the Cleveland Building Trades Council wil' maintain the 44-hour week for another year,