The Daily Worker Newspaper, March 7, 1925, Page 11

® OU haven't seen Main Street, nor “America, if you haven't seen Marshalltown, the metropolis of Marshall County, Iowa. They say that not so many years ago Main Street (beg pardon—Mar- shalltown) had its own unique brand -of hospitality for itinerant workmen, more commonly known as_ hoboes. When one of these. unfortunates strayed in the direction of Marshall- town and knocked at the door of one of her proud citizens, he was cordially greeted with a ticket reading “good for one meal” and directed to the marshal. If the “hoe boy's” hunger exceeded his pride, he presented his ticket to the law, who provided the meal and a two hours’ job as well, usually in the nature of garbage. re- moving, weed-cutting, or some equally Pleasant task. ‘ y : T is not recorded» whether this hos- pitality became too expensive or to what extent it drove away Mar- shalltown’s labor. supply, but the citi- zens ‘of this “community: no longer /keep meal'tickets"by the:door, Per- haps thé: reputation -of 7:‘‘Marshal’s | Town”: became ‘so ‘widespread that the unshaved hobo no longer came around -for a hand-out, Be that as it may, the Communists have become the recipients of a dif- ferent brand of Main Street “hospital- ity,” and in that connection hangs a tale, of how Communism came to be a subject of debate among the union. ized employes of Babbit, and how the entire time of a Central Labor meet- ing was taken up discussing the dan- gers of discussing Communism. T is a “far cry” (anda long railroad haul) from New York to Marshall- town. In New York the high officials of the trade unions decry against the “menace of Communism” while the rank and file, fully 15,000 strong, fight their way into Madison Square Gar- den to express their solidarity witb Lenin and to hear . the “convicted Red” C. E. Ruthenberg. In Nev York the rank and file are stirring from their apathy and in ever larger numbers embracing the ideas of Com. munism, at least to the extent of sym- pathy; while the high officials carry out- expulsions and campaigns of slan- der against the militants. UT things haven’t progressed so rapidly in Main Street. The rank and file of Marshalltown labor still read. their weekly “labor paper” and digest its contents with the same faith as they do their gospel. So when the Workers Party organizers, J.-E. Snyder and David Coutts, ar. ranged a meeting to be held at the Labor Temple under the auspices of the Workers (Communist) Party, they reckoned without the contents of the little local labor paper. ‘This consisted of the usual “International Labor News Service” (synonym for bunk in _ 29 slettbrs): telling’ about the alleged efforts of ‘the Communists, working under orders of Moscow, .to destroy the American Federation of Labor, and of the action taken by the Chi- cago Federation of Labor in refusing to aid in the defense of C. E. Ruthen- berg. NOUGH for Main Street! The union men of Marshalltown will have no discussion of Communism in their Labor Temple (so they said) yet they proceeded to their Central Labor Union meeting and discussed it themselves, without any assistance from the naughty Reds. Watch this! The Communists were defended in this debate by the presi- dent and the secretary of the Cen. tral Labor Union. The delegates on the floor, with one or two exceptions expressed their fear of Communist ideas—the fear which Main Street has of everything it knows nothing ' about. ! ——— HE bureaucracy of the American Federation of Labor does not ex- ercise the direct power and. control out. in Main Stret which it enjoyes in New York. The officers of the Mar- shalltown Central Labor Union are from the rank and file. They are the militants of the unions in their local- ity, and it is for precisely that rea- son that they hold office in the labor movement. What the rank and file of Main Street recognize unconscious- ly, despite their fear of new ideas, they must sooner or later come to recognize consciously and accept— THE LEADERSHIP OF THE MILI TANTS. HEN Marshalltown unionists de-' bate Communism, they are recognizing Communism as an issue. One discussion leads to another. New vistas of progress are opened before them as the old barriers of supersti- tion and prejudice melt away. When thesé American unionists themselves participate in\ya discussion of Communist principles, they are stripping the brand of “foreign impor- tation” from the Workers Party, de- GOMPERS (A class conscious member of the A. F. of L. renders tribute to his fallen chief—fallen long ago) ~ Not recreant was he, The record shows A pliant anxious servant Of the rule of gold. Each bitter struggle... Days of endless dread. .. .. Workers, producing.all. ;,. In want of bread... Were stepping stones By which he mounted high His lips curled with a sneer Mouthing a lie. Mocking the workers’ hopes, their lives, their dreams Cringing towards those who own the. means Of circumstance, of pomp and gaudy show Scorning the burden bearers, bended low. Labor lieutenant of the powers that be Urging the slaves at home to bend the knee The boundaries of the empire were to him The farthest reach of Morgan’s lust- When dollars wandered forth to alien shore He heard the eagle scream For lie to cover up the fraud In this he edged the bible out And lying priests _ Such Rian his talent. When Moscow echoed Lenin’s rebel cry Flaunted the crimson banner.to the sky Trampled the hosts of tyranny to the ‘dust Then was in senile Samuel roused the lust To maim, to kill, to crucify, or hang Each doughty warrior of the rebel band With lies of ancient time And some more recent With spew of his foul brain And some more decent Vv With help of Wilson, mp and other blackguards e With half-consent of D s, and other laggards He plumbed the depths of calumny and libel Concocted lies enough for Wells’ new bible To no avail His lies die with him. While from her fong night Awakened Russia marches Triumphant toward the light. Vv Our southern brothers Bound to Morgan’s wheel Hotly resentful | Toward the Iron Heel That robs in Freedom's name : rous touch phrase - Were last to feel his | Mouthing a sounding To mask his master’s voice He bid them calm and prudent be on while the robber bands Such was the brotherhood Of “Brother” Gompers Toward weaker peoples Such too his services To oily Christians Who did great honor To him—a Jew. - Then sound the dirge oiled their nation of its wealth vi Let hollow cant of greatness fill the land Let prostitutes of pen their pages fill — The Communist Debate in Main St. Let sour-faced chief of state (a flunky too) ill empty palaver upon his bier e workers mourn him not We know the price of praise from those on high We see the stain of Judas silver on his palm The smirk of service on his face, To save his fame 'mid decent men This day has come not soon enough By forty years. . i BUD REYNOLDS. nner By TOM MATTHEWS. spite all the efforts of the capitalist class and their henchmen to keep such a brand upon our movement. Their discussion of Communism means the recognition of our move- ment as American, as one. born from the needs of the working class in this country. Instinctively, the rank and file look to the Communists for leadership, In- stinctively, the great masses of the workers in this country look to us to show them the best means of strug- gle against the capitalist class and their henchmen. NE year after the death of Lenin 15,000 workers in New. York . meet to honor his work. One year after the death of Lenin, the trade unionists. of. Marshalitown gather in their Central Labor Union meeting to debate the ideas for which Lenin lived. ; From, Madison Square to Marshall- town--from.the international metrop- olis to the heart of Main Street— Communism is the issue. As Marx would say: A spectre is haunting American cap- italism—the specter of Communism. And that specter is embodied in a living, organized force—the Workers (Communist) Party of America. New York Soloist’s First Performance. Here Wins’ Favor’ By ALFRED V. FRANKENSTEIN. Mr. Stock’s twentieth regular pro- gram, given at Orchestra Hall last Friday and Saturday, brot us two solo- ists, both of them. well known and well liked in New York, but who had their first Chicago hearings on this oc- casion. The one was the conductor, Hermann Hans Wetzler and the other was the pianist, Alexander Brailovski. Wetzler directed the first Chicago performance of an orchestra suite of his in five movements calles “Vis- ions.”, Carrying out the ideas of Richard Strauss’ and Alyexander® Ourk7t abine, Wetzler attempts’ in“ this suite to express philosophic and mystical ideas in tone. But he has more sin- cerity than Strauss, if not all of his brains, and he is more on the earth than the Russian super-mystic. “Vis- ions” opens with an introduction in which is set forth a “Theme of the Struggling Spirit.” This leads into a slow movement intended to express the idea of prayer in the form of a sonnet written by no less a man than Michel Angelo. The third movement is a “Scherzo Demonaico” describing Sharon, the boatman of the Styx. This is follow. ed by & most ‘curious “Tntérmiezzo Tronico,” in which life is distorted and caricatured. ‘Wetzler tries to bur- lesque the modernists and fails’ for” the simple reason that those whom he attempts to burlesque are them- selves writing with a laugh in’ the sleeve. But for the moment Wetzler is Honagger, writing music descrip- tive of locomotives that turn_out to be nothing but toys of tin and paint, for the moment he is Poulenc and young Georges Auric playing with the baby rattles of jazz, for the nounce he is Irving Berlin. But the whole winds up with a “Fugato Risoluto” and a “Risonanza Estrema,” a great pain laden slow motion section im which the “Theme of the Struggling Spirit” attains heroic size. Alexander Brailowski came and Played. and conquered. He is a key- board genius of limitless power. His interpretations are not the ordinary ones, but he never goes to the ex- tremity of distortion to which some. pianists are driven in an effort to find original readings, He played thé Saint-Saens fourth concerto and got out of it one of the biggest ovations any soloist has got this season, and every handclap of it was deserved. Get a sub for the DAILY WORKER from your shopmate and you will make another mem- ber for your branch.