The Daily Worker Newspaper, February 14, 1925, Page 10

By JACK LECKIE. N Dee. 16 the opium conference after six weeks’ abortive discus- sion adjnoraed until Jan, 12, 1925 so as to allow the various delegates rep- resenting 37 different countries an op- portunity »wherein! to\. consult their respective governments: The disputes involves the legalizing and regulation. or, the abolition of the world’s opium trafic, The principal antagonists were America versus the British gov- ernment in India. The former stands | for the restriction, of the drug traffic to, the scientific medical needs of the | world; the latter stands for the regu .| lation.of the trade.on the basis of the : world’s : legitimate, needs. N» reality: what*stands behind the beautiful formulations of ‘these ‘in-+ | tetnational humaénitarians?’ Already at Hague in’°1912 “an international conferénce werent: icra the ‘following _ points: 2° ij 1. The , Suppression of opium smoking. > , |2 ‘The restriction of exports and ' Imports of prepared opium to opium smoking countries. 3. The adoption of measures for the suppression of the illegal culti- vation of the poppy in China. OWARDS the conclusion of the Versailles peace treaty confer- ence the articles of the Hague Opium convention (1912) was included in the covenant of the assembly of the league of nations. In subsequent conventions notably 1922, Great Brit- ain in spite of America’s protest suc- cessfully induced fhe league to inter- pret the Hague articles as meaning legitimate as opposed to scientific and medical needs. America stated that this constituted a complete p2rversion of the original intention and in 1923 requested that a world conference should be held again in 1924 at which the matter could ‘be threshed uut to a more satisfactory “conclusion. 18 regards tle wrticles*6f the Hague convention it has been found in practice that they have been outrage ously flouted by all the chief signa- tories. The prohibition against the export and import of prepared opium was simply got over by exporting and importing raw opium instead. Thru- out the far East, especially in Hong- Kong, Singapore, Saigon and Macao; British, French and Japanese inter- ests built large factories for the pre- sentation of the stuff. ‘Worse still. French and German chemical science in the discovery of morphine and heroin has been firightfully taken ad- vantage of. LSO, the coca. plant—native of South America—has been recent- ly introduced into Ceylon and else- where for the purposes of cocaine manufacture. Thus the evils of the opium traffic have been terribly aggra- vated (1) because of the concentrated intensjty and social destroying nature of these later drug inventions and (2) because they constitute a form of in- dulgence which was not prohibited under the old eastern forms of re- ligion. In the 1924 conference India, who was supported by England, France, Portugal, Switzerland, Ger- many, etc., was the chief opponent of America who was supported by China, Japan, Persia, Canada, Irish Free State, etc. S India has been internationally condemned for her opposition to America it is necessary at this junc- ture to clearly understand the extent of her responsibility. In 1919 she won a form of so-called self government which functions in two parts (1) the central government which has control over the army, navy, air forces, cen- tral pplice, salt tax, income tax, post, railroads, telegraph, etc., and “the right of control over the tultivation of the poppy, together with the manufac- ture, sale and export of opium;” and (2) the provisional government which controls education, fisheries, forestry, etc. and excise. . . By virtue of the fact that England appoints 33 ner cent of the assembly and also that the Englist appointed governor general with the assent of the king has absolute power in India it can be clearly seen that the atti- tude of India’s English delegates at the Geneva conference was in reality the attitude of Mie" British government in India. OT only is' Tagore and Ghandi op- posed to the Indian opium traffic but the swarajists also. “If Britain was sincerely anxious to remove the traflic she has the power to enact in India thé same dangerous drugs acts which protects the people of England and which have also been adopted by all the self governing colonies. § “As it is évery Oriental country sub- ject to European control—China, Siam, India, etc—has to ‘submit to stand-| | We Want Our Parents to Be Literate Kelantan, Trengennu, Perlis and rld Opium Conference Bits. cette “recreations”—officlally 80 termed In- Kedah) have a combined area of|volving state opium traffic, state gam- 22,700 square miles arid a population bling hells and government controlled of 1,203,000 of which 179,000 are Chin-|pawnproking—are undertaken as @ ese. In Trengennu (1917) the reve- nue surplus over expenditure was 114,- 145 dollarsy§ The opium revenue for the same period was 117,145 dollars, which shows that the opium revenue means whereby to attract ——ee Chinese labor. ‘HH problem in Persia is quite oth- erwise. Here Britain holds the state opium revenues among other was more than responsible for the en-/things ag security for debts totalling tire surplus. The. official blue books for 1919 state that the increase in the opium revenues from 166,000 dollars in 1914 to 762,000 dollars in 1919 re- sulted solely from: placing the traffic under government control. In Kedah the total revenue for the 5 years end- ing .1921 was 26 million dollars of which eleven. million dollars were from opium, The total expenditure in (“KRASSNY BOGATIR” WORKS.) . -This feeling of just pride ‘is noticeable in every corner and in The workers run down the hill and slip in quickly thru the lattice work gates eager to get to their club. Today we celebrate the fifth anniversary of the decree on the liqui- dation of illiteracy in Soviet Russia. Old men and old women go there to testify to the achievements of October. Who will believe that we were illiterate up to our old age, and that we can now read and write? What appeared before impossible and fantastic, has become a reality—such is the boast of the cise men and women who have overcome their illiteracy. every seat in the hall; go and see the little room, it is downstairs, next door to the orchestra. where refreshments are sold. you will see our exhibition. In this little room You will find there our wall newspaper which we have published with the help of the Young Communist League. It is called “down with illiteracy.” Just imagine, we, who were recently illiterate, have now published our own paper. Their joy is great. The satisfaction and pride of the wht men and women who. have overcome their illiteracy, call forth the feelings of animosity in those who do not want to admit that even old people can be taught. Our factory employs 3,000 workers, including 150 illiterates. To these Illiterates, the Young Pioneers ‘go” = this slogan, “We want our Parents to be, literate.” # A little girl from the ninaudpionde taxes the adults with their Ititefacy. One can hear her shrill little voice, which can be heard thruout the large hall, saying, “We, children, are only small, and can read and write, but you are grown up and you can neither read nor write. We are little and there are things which we cannot under- stand, but you, who are grown up, cannot explain these things to us.” And waving her tiny hands, she finishes her harangue by saying: “We little children ask you to begin to learn, as our Lenin told you to— do.” The speech of the little girl has come to an end. But she does not move, she wants to say something else, but her little brain refuses to connect the thoughts as quickly as she would like. And then the echo rang out in the hall. “Lenini” A cute little beggar—was the verdict of those present, and a deat, ening applause drowned the echo. And late in the evening after the dramatic performance, some were joyously and proudly discussing, and only a very few hastened to get home, as ards which on the threat of heavy pen- alties have already been excluded from the conquerors’ own territory.” (Ethics of Opium—Ellen N, LaMotte.) N India the entire cultivation of the poppy (220,991 acres in 1921-22), together with the manufacture, sale and export is a government monopoly. During the six years ending 1921 In- dia supplemented her home production of 45,802 chests (each 140 Ibs.) with an additional 41,369 chests from Mal- wa and the native states—a grand to- tal. of 4,786 tons. In 1919-20 there were 17,000 shops selling intoxicating drugs of which 6,394 were opium shops where 360-450 grains could be purchased at one time (4 grams con- stitutes a fatal dose for a person un- used to opium.) The per capita consumption witha population of 319 millions equalled 26 grains. Altho the opium revenue in 1921 only equalled 3 per cent of the total revenues of this £3,728,000 Was received direct by the central govern- ment and £10,162,000 by the provis- ional government. Of the latter sum, however, an unspecified sum was later deducted for the central pit recs ment. HE British possessions of the un- federated Malay states (Johore, if ashamed of something.—Risnik. the same period was 20 million dol- lars. In Perlis the total revenue was _|tons and .162, ih £92,000,000. It is an instructive side light on capitalist. hypocrisy to recall that at the moment Persia was sign- ing the conditions of the 1912 Hague Opium conference (which she never later ratified)—Britain was simultane. ously loaning to her money on the strength * opium revenues referred to. - “OR the, three years, bedi Persia , produced 162, tons; z 1919, | 149 - s;, and in, the same period Britain. purchased from her 133. tons, $0 tons and 121 tons Fespective. . ly (The 12 per cent, morphine content, of Persian opium is 4 per cent stron er than’ Indian.) striking commentary upon the extent” of England’s drug industries, Rus- sia’s opium imports from Persia drop- ped from 300,872 Ibs. in 1917 to 32,826 Ibs. in 1921, INCE 1843 when Britain defeated China and compelled her at th point of the bayonet to throw he doors open to the import of Indian opium thé situation—excepting the noble effort 1907-1917 has intensely become worse. Britain from Hong- Kong; Portugal from Macas; (where in 1920 the opium state rights were sold.to a private company for the an- nual sum of 3,900,000 dollars); France from Indo-China; Japan and until re- cently America also, have and still continue to profitably debauch China and her people. As a result China joins suicide with murder. The China year book (1924) estimates that China herself produces annually not less than 20 million’ Ibs. of opium. Dr, Wu ‘Lien (Pekin Times 1920) gave publicity to the still more appaling statement: That the import of morphia increased from 5'% tons in 1911 to 2214 tons in 1918. HE UNITED STATES also has a huge drug problem. The state treasury estimates there exist over one million drug addicts.’ Independ- ent authorities, however, place the figure as high as four millions. Lead- ing criminologists state that 60 per cent—100. per cent of the inmates of reformatories and some prisons are drug addicts. Of these 90 per cent are heroin ad- dicts. This drug ban be easily smug- gled. The life of a heroin addict av- erages 22 years. One dose for six successive days makes an addict; one ounce is sufficient to make 2,000-such addicts within one weék. It prac- tically destroys all moral and social responsibility and is responsible for a 443,441 dollars of this $171,584 was op-|large part of America’s anniiat ‘3: 000° ium revenue; the total expenditure was 277,993 dollars. million dollar crime and prevention’ of crimes’ costs. The United States "THE per capita’ consumption of (1910-15) consumed four times more opium in the unfederated states, based on the Chinese population, reaches the appalling figure of 17,480 grams, a fantastic result which ut- terly destroys the argument that the stuff is alone for the Chinese popula- tion. These figures not only demon- strate the swindle of government con- |™estic difficulties. drugs than the combined totals’ of Britain, France, Italy and Germany. This means for America’s high capi- }talist development a great danger. HE interest of America in the opium problem, however is not fully explained by these important do- There are two rea- trol but they also clearly show (1) that }808 for its conflict with European the natives in ,the interests of finan- ,; nations over the Far East: (1) The cial surpluses are systematically pois-|®uccessful solution of America’s drug oned and (2) that the means for a| Problem is dependent upon the suc- huge, profitable, illicit trade involving smuggling and -price extortions, etc., exists. N these unfederated states as in North Borneo; (operated by a Brit- ish chartered company), Brunci & Sarawak, (totalling 330,000 square miles with an approximate population of 900,000), the real reason for the opium traffic is strikingly identical. The natives in these areas are in many irstances physically unable to undertake the heavy, vigorous labor connected with oil-drilling, mining, rabber planting, ete. Consequently, cessful solution of the opium traffic in the Orient and (2) China Is the largest and best country wherein the United States can invest its surplus wealth and develop new markets. T is precisely at this point that English and American interests clash most. Each country represents a different level of development, each is historically compelled to em- Ploy different.methods, Britain, gene- rations ago, first penetrated the Fast in search of markets, Her wars with China were on behalf of the Indian opium trade and British shipping. Her (Continued on page 7) “This brovides x,