The Daily Worker Newspaper, February 21, 1925, Page 12

A Communist Defense - S a member of the trade union movement I know that its most sacred principle is the inalienable rights of its members to defend them- selves when on trial, and in conform- ity with the constitution of the A. F. of L. I have right to demand it, and you if sincere, should net deny me that privilege. Since my defense will be based upon my own judgment, up- on conditions as I see and understand them, and because you intend to con- vict me, according. to your own judg: ment, feeling, passion, or prejudices, you cannot be ensistent when you deny me the sam? privileges, that you ask for, and exercise yourself. When you deny me this right, you yourself should be placed on trial for having violated the constitution and princi- ples you pretend to uphold. ‘O me this trial is not a joke, it is a serious matter. Charged with fighting against the interest of my class, concerns me more, than any other charge, no matter how grave. Permit me to say this is the first time, during my eighteen years of humble: activity in the labor move- ment, yes, I say the revolutionary la- | bersmovement, in several countries. that--such charges have ever been placed against me. But I am not con- cerned about myself as an individual, but only concerned about the interest of the working class, about the inter- est of the organization of which I am a member. I am proud of being a member of the Workers (Communist) Party. HE members of this organization are fighting every day courage- ously, both in and outside of the trade union movement, in the interest of the workers. An organization which is oc- cupying the front line trenches, and are the vanguards and working class shock troops, in the bitter class strug- gle between the workers and _ their qnemien, the. capitalist class and their hired thugs, gunmen, and stool pig- eons. OW many times have I listened to fakers tells us, that there is nothing in it for us, in our struggle for the workers, but poverty and persecu- tion. Yes, brothers, the workers’ struggle is our struggle, and it is a hard road to travel, a stony one, full of persecution, hardships, imprison- ment, firing squads and torture. It is a road full of the bones of the victims of several epochs of slavery, and struggle, the bones of heroes of work- ing class revolutionary struggle. They traveled it in Russia, they pass- ed after unbelievable misery, the ‘milestone -of tottering czarism’ and WO articles, “A Communist’s Defense” and “Slander, Slug- gers, Sleuths—S. P.-ism Up-to-Date,” in today’s magazine sec- tion, deal with the class struggle in cities as far apart as Phila- delphia and Minneapolis. One is the speech of a comrade un- seated by the labor fakers in Minneapolis because he was a Com- munist. The other is a description of the Abramovich meeting in Philadelphia. Bot are working class history in the sense that they occur as part of the international struggle against world capital- ism in all its phases. There is a direct connection between Abramovich of the traitorous Second International and his war on Soviet Russia and the bureaucrats of the American labor movement and their war on Soviet Russia and the Communists. capitalism, and reached the first mile- stone on the road of working class emancipation, the Soviet Government of Russia. It is not us, as individuals, that our enemies hate, it is our program. OW, brothers, what is it in our program that has caused this brain-storm among our labor iakers? First, we. advocated a united fron‘ campaign against child labor. You say, 80 do we. Yes, we admit you are for the child labor amendment. But, brothers, did it ever strike you, that it is meaningless without government maintenace of the children of th ploited workers and poor farmers? Is it not due to the starvation wages paid those workers and farmers, tha‘ forces them to drive their children into the mills, mines, and fields, in or- der to raise the family wage to a level, where they can supply themselves with the most meager existence of life? The workers cannot afford to keep their children in school up to the age of eighteen, they have not got the price. We say, it is the duty of the working class to force our govern- ment to levy taxation upon profits and high incomes, to’ raise the funds necessary for government mainten ance of the workers’ and poor farm- ers’ children while in school. \W" advocate work or wages for the unemployed. Why are the work- ers frequently thrown into the streets by the millions, why are they depriv- ed of their right to earn their daily bread, in this land of the “free”? Be- cause when the paragites who own the means and tools of production and dis- tribution, cannot find a market for the wealth that the workers produce, and when there is no immediate prospect for another imperialist blood-bath to drown a few million unemployed wage slaves in, they close the industry. They are not concerned about our wel- fare, or the’ welfare of our children. Slander, Siu By LENA ROSENBERG. OU come over to the theater where the meeting is to be held and if you were not already searched by special plain clothes men one block away from the theater you notice about 25 policemen in the entire block where the theater is. Then if you are lucky enough to reach the lobby of the Arch Street you come over to the door your ticket. Then about 15 eS they wouldn't let me in, I was thrown out on the sidewalk and arrested. NOTHER comrade who is well known to the sluggers for her activity during strikes was told that she can’t come in and was also told by the policemen, “You know me, and I know you better, leave before I get i ing the chairman and assuring the au- dience that all precautions are being taken against any disturbance. Viadeck took the chair and express- ed himself as one of those socialists who don’t always worry about social- ism, we only think of socialism when we have a holiday, all other times we are too busy, busy with our business and other daily problems. After his “wonderful” address he introduced a number of people who greetea Abram- ovich. ALLY about ten o’clock Abramo- vich was introduced and the au- dience was ordered to stand up but only some of the audience stood up and they felt very uncomfortable be- cause it is not pleasant to stand for somebody when you notice most of the people remain in their seats and they immediately sat down again. | They They are only concerned about safe- guarding their profits. APITALIST production, is the cause of unemployment, it taker away from the workers the right to work. Therefore, we advocate unior wages for the unemployed, to be paid by the owners of industry. That is not charity. We-should not ask for charity. We should fight for our right to live, for the right to work, and the right to enjoy the fruits of our labor. Next to our program is amalgama- tion of our out-of-date craft unions into industrial unions, This campaign that we are waging in the trade union movement for more modern, more mil- itant and progressive forms of organ- ization and methods in our everyday struggle for shorier hours, better wages, and working conditions, is an exigency, that has ben forced upon us by the rapid changes that have, and are, constantly taking. place in our mode of production and distribu- tion, rendering our forms of organiza- tion obsolete. HETHER you want to or not, you cannot stop the forces of evolu- tion. You are pushed toward new forms-of organization or else you have to go backwards, you cannot stay still, stagnation means degeneration and death, To expect the working elass to be victorious in their fights for better working conditions, better wages, shorter hours, etc., against those pow- erful capitalist industrial organiza- tions with their present out-of-date craft unions, it is too silly to even seriously consider. The capitalists know this, that is why they fight the Workers (Communist) Party and its program savagely, for fear that the workers may learn our program and organize revolutionary industrial un- ions. ? OU know that you have lost hun- dreds of strikes because of your ally arrested a number of them and Abramovich went on and was go- ng to say something about Lenin when the entire audience started ap- plauding Lenin’s name, altho the po!- ice tried to stop the applause by hit- ting some people over therr hands: the applause was kept up until they were forced to play the Marsellaise to quiet the crowd. E then made another attempt and there-was disturbance from all over the hall, cries of “counter-revo lutionist,” “liar,” and many other such pleasant remarks, Then Abramovich started to yell: “Committee, I can’t speak,” and the committee, who consisted of thugs ana police, got on the job again and club- bed everybody within reach. Those that put up any resistance were thrown into the patrol wagons that were in readiness and taken to the pol- ice station where they were registered and put into a cell, It took about 260 policemen to do the job which lasted till about eleven o’clock ana yet when Abramovich attempted to speak the disturbance started all over again and he was not heard, The workers of Philadelphia refused to hear his les. per Socialist 8 for the prison, a remarkable spirit prevailed. Comrades were By Walter Frank bankrupt craft union policy, because of your failure to organize industrial- ly.- You must organize industrially if you are to preserve the labor move- ment. When you begin to amalga- mate your craft unions into industria! unions, based upon the revolutionary class struggle, you will begin to travel the road to victory, to rea) power. It is true that such amalgamation would cause many of our labor fakers to lose their fat ten thousand dollar @ year jobs, and that, they resent, They would rather keep their ten thousand dollar jobs, and let the la- bor movement go to hell, than to give up those jobs and help the workers in improving their forms of organization. That.is why they are fighting us, and in that fight, the capitalist class sup- ports them, That is why they want to expel us, and let me tell you, brothers, that this expulsion of the most active members in the trade un- ion movement is the united front .pol- icy with the enemies of the workers. E are not only concerned © with the immediate everday ques- tions only, but we also know that the workers will never solve their prob- lems permanently until they have de- stroyed the cause of their misery. Just as true as it is that you cannot cure yourself of any sickness, until you have discovered and removed the cause of that sickness, just as true is it that you will not be able to escape new imperialist blood-baths, new per- iods of starvation, and unemployment, until you have destroyed its economic cause, namely, our: present system of society that boasts of its christian principle, of its civilization, culture and capitalist democracy, but is in re- ality based upon profit; and murder. EMEMBER, that the deliveration of America from British imperial- ism was not done by the ballot-box which is an illusion fostered to safe guard the political state’ of ‘capitalist dictatorship, but was accomplished by a revolution. How about the chattel slavery question? Was that settled by legislation, by the ballot-box? No, it was settled by civil war. The entire human history is in evidence, that no ruling class ever gave up its usurped power, its privileges, its parasitical existence without a struggle to the bitter end. The climax of the prole- tarian class struggle is the social revolution, the instrument that de- stroys a system, that fails to satisfy the needs of the people. Our slogan, as Communists, is “Forward to.z united front campaign of all working (Continued on page 7.) goers, Sleuths—S. P.-ism Up-to-Date singing revolutionary sohgs and every- body happy even tho they were locked up, The comrades who were not arrest- ed were on the job getting comrades out as soon as possible and when we were sentenced to either ten days or $12.50 or five days or $7.50, the com- rades who were waiting outside be- cause they were not permitted to stay in emptied their pockets and within an hour or so all those who were ar- rested at the socialist meeting were released including some non-Workers Party members who were also ar- rested, OSE who were non-party mem- bers were very appreciative when they noticed that altho they were not party members they were taken out by Communists and also pointed out that now they see the difference be- tween the Communists and socialists. I am sure that many of those mili- tant workers who stayed out from the Workers .Party will now see the necessity of joining the Workers Party in order to carry on the strug- gle not only against the capitalists, but also against the betrayers who belong to the socialist party and who are now known as betrayers of the working class all over the world.