The Daily Worker Newspaper, March 7, 1925, Page 9

| REVOLUTION STIRS Japan’s Anti-Sedition Act Article 1, Anyone who initiates an organization for the purpose of disturbing the. sovereignty or who joins any ‘such organization under- standing the nature of said organ- ization, will be punished by three years or more imprisonment with hard labor or confinement. Article 2. Anyone who initiates an organization for the purpose of disturbing the social order or who joins such an organization under- standing the nature of said organ- ization, will be punished by hard la- bor, imprisonment or confinement not exceeding ten years. Article 3. Anyone who attempts to commit the crimes heretofore mentioned in articles 1 and 2 or who makes any preparation for commit- ting the crimes mentioned in arti- cles 1 and 2 will be punished by hard labor imprisonment or confine- Ment for not exceeding three Article 4. Those who assemble for the purpose of discussing means for disturbing. the sovereignty or. the social order will be punished by not exceeding seven years hard la- bor imprisonment or confinement. Article 5. Those who circulate .Propaganda or groundless rumor for the purpose of distributing the sovereignty or social-order will. be punished by not exceeding seven_ years in hard labor imprisonment or confinement. Article 6. Those who instigate the violation of law for the purpose of disturbing the sovereignty or the social order will be punished by not exceeding ten years in prison or confinement, Article 7. Those who supply money or material or make propos- als or promises to supply money or material or accept or make propos- als or promises to accept money or material in order to accomplish the crimes heretofore mentioned will be punished by not exceeding five years in hard labor imprisonment or confinement. Article 8 If anyone who having committed the crimes. heretofore mentioned presents him or herself to the authorities before the detec- tion of said crimes, his or her pun- ishment for the said crime will be mitigated or exempted. Article 9. It is strictly forbidden to publish in newspapers or any ~ other publications the grounds for the decision regarding the punish- ment of anyone who commits any of the above mentioned crimes, ex- cept that the examining judge or the court of justice may decided to. the contrary in any given case, In the case of a newspaper violating this law the editor and the pub- lisher of the said newspaper or in “the ease of any other publication violating this law the compiler (writer) -and publisher will be pun- ished by not exceeding two years in hard labor imprisonment or con- finement. Article 10. This law furthermore applies to those persons who com- mit the above mentioned crimes even outside the limits of the en- forcement of this law, The Walden Book Shop — 307 Plymouth Court (Between State and Dearborn Just South of Jackson) CHICAGO “Ido for Workers” (Textbook in “An Elementary Grammar” co |) RR AE RC y | The Workers’ Ido Federation ‘Room 5, 805 James St., N. &., PITTSBURGH, PA, HEN any government takes dras- tic measures to suppress its people it is because the ruling class sees the danger of a revolution. In czarist Russia such laws far from ac- complishing their purpose of prevent: ing the internal disturbance at which they were aimed, had the opposite.ef- fect and stimulated the class consci- ousness of the workers. The hysterical bourgeoisie of Japan are repeating the history of czarist Russia by introducing the anti-sedl- tious act which is now before the im- perial diet. The anti-seditious act will never prevent a. revolution in Japan so long as the worker refuses to consent to be a slave. HE working class in Japan still has red blood in its veins and will not stand for such oppression any more than the Russian worker would stand for the czarist regime. The stronger the government’s oppression the more active will the class con- scious worker become. The capital- ists of Japan are so terrified by the fear of a revolution that ‘in trying to pass this anti-seditious act they do not realize that they are repéating the history of eczarist Russia and at the same time digging their own graves. O worker in Japan can sponsor this: act which provides, for in- stance, that anyone who organizes or joins the Communist Party will be punished by from three to thirty years’ imprisonment. The act actual- ly says “three years or more.” By so light sounding a sentence does the ruling class hope to deceive the pub- lic into belief of their kindly toler- ance of Communists. Those who drew up the act might just as well have said “ten days or more.” Adding the “of more” to any number of days or months or years would give the judge a the privilege of sentencing the con- victed to imprisonment for any length of time up to thirty years, conviction for-more than thirty years constitut- ing a life sentence. RTICLE number 2 is obviously for the purpose of destroying all la- bor unions in Japan (the labor union in Japan is still illegal) article num. ber 3 being a preventive measure for preparation for labor organization oi any sort, and article number 4 aims directly against the strike. Article number 5 would unish those who circulate radical propaganda of any sort, and article number 6 would im- prison those who.instigate the viola- tion of law for accomplishing radical ends. T is evident from article 7 that the Japanese government actually be- lieves the rumor that Communists are being supplied with money from the Third International. In order to gather inside information from the coward who fears that his arrest is imminent the act would coax him into confession by promises of exemptions from punishment as a reward for his seeming repentance of his sin. Arti- cle 9 would keep from the Japanese public knowledge .of the trials and punishments of political prisoners, and article 10 would prevent organiza- tion outside of Japan against the im- perial government. The last article, of course interferes with the sover eign rights of other countries. ‘HE passing ofthe anti-seditious act would create terrorism in Japan, stirring people to nihilist assassi- nations. But whether or not this or any other laws are passed in Japan for the suppression of the class con- scious workers the Japanese revolu- tion cannot be killed. You may hear the revolutionary song of Japan in the factories and streets, everywhere. IN JAPAN 3yE sHIMA Japan’s Revolutionary Song eee The revolution is near! The revolu- tion is near! Arise ragged children of the slums Awake ye poor of the streets Behold those who trampled your paradise of freedom Behold those who destroyed the Open road of justice Our brothers of Russia cried; If we have no freedom we choose the grave. The luminous moon of autumn The glorious flowers of Spring Bloom only for the rich The luminous moon of autumn Shines only for the glittering man- sion and vermillion tower Our children have been murdered in imperialist wars And out old parents have starved to death And we are freezing, we are starv- ing But we stall have the power to or- ganize Arise, comrades. near for us. Arise, farmers with your plows, Arise miners with your picks Arise woodcutters with your axe Arise factory girls with bobins Ye mountains and forests, arm your- selves ' Ye stone, why do ye not fly? When we arm ourselves the flag will be stained with red And we will wave it higher and higher To cry against the oppression of the bourgeoisie The revolution is near! lution is near! The revolution is The revo- Women in the Class Struggle The Road to Freedom By RACHEL HOLTMAN T the time when the proletarian women of the world over are celebrating International Women’s Day, it is worth the time’ to stop for a while to consider what the women in the different bourgeoisie countries have achieved for the last few years in solving the so-called “women’s question.” It is worth while to know whether the great promises made to the wom- en during the great war in regard to their liberation bore fruit, whether they are taking part in public affairs, or whether they are secluded as years ago, leading the old life of drudgery and hardships. In European countries it is an out- standing fact that men are not rush- ng towards new fields of conquest and achievement for these fields are closed to them. In Germany the women took a dif- ferent stand than in other countries. They have learned much during the last few years of struggle. In Latin countries the position of women has not changed. In France and Italy pub- lic sentiment is much less in favor of the new role played by women in so- cial life, than it has been before the war. This in spite of the co-operation of the women in the war. It is very apparent how conservative the bour- geoisie world is, how little it changed the old traditional attitude of the masses towards women in general. During the war, a group of suffra- gettes in France tried to take advan- tage of the participation of the women in the war. They brought in a bill to the chamber of deputies asking for full suffrage rights. The bill was turned down. In Italy, during the war women were given prominent respon- sible positions from which they were kept away before, But when the war was over of the fascisti made it pos- made Mussolini its spokesman, the de- mand for full suffrage became a joke. The chief of the Fascisti made it pos- sible only for the women of the bour- geoisie to attain municipal suffrage. In England, the situation of the tue en is no better than in other coun- tries. The political, economic and so- cial status of women has not im- proved. The voting age for women is 30 years, while men vote at the age of 21. Women cannot sit in the up- per house of parliament. The divorce law ,in England legally sanctions a double standard of morals. In the United States there are 35 million women. There are only two women representatives in congress. Many professions and some universi- ties are closed to women. Can the bourgeoisie world solve the “woman” question? Of course not, A world that is built on conspetition will be against giving women the opportunity of displaying her abilities, It is dif- ficult for the bourgeoisie women to understand this truth. But.it is very important that the proletarian wom- en realize the importance of the fact. The proletarian women must know that there is no such thing as a sep- arate “women’s question.” They must realize that they are a part of the working class, that the cause of the working class is their cause and that is why they must align themselves very closely with the Communist parties of their respective countries. Only a Communist state of society will give the women real freedom and independence, On the eight of March, seven years ago, the women of Petrograd began the struggle for the emancipation of the working women as well as for that of the entire working class of Russia. They succeeded and today have been rewarded for their labors. They are the freest women in the world today, We must follow in.their footsteps. World Women’s Day _ By MARGARET UNDJUS INTERNATIONAL Women’s Day is ' celebrated by the workers of the world to proclaim that the struggle of the entire working class to -liberate itself from world imperialism, ts also the struggle of the women workers, both in factory and in the home. Women's Day is celebrated as an ex- pression of solidarity of women of the working class. the world over. <Oni International Women’s ‘Day; ‘theyCom-! munist Parties of all countries call upon the masses of women of the working class in the factories, in the home, the unemployed women and the mothers of children to revolt against the intolerable conditions under which they are forced to exist, ana to join in the world struggle for Communism. For it is Communism which alone stands for the economic independence of women and the right of mother- hood to be cared for during pregnan. cy. Communism will save women from exploitation and suffering, pro- vided the women actively jom m with the whole of the working class to overthrow the monster capitalism and in-its stead institute the Commun ist society thru the dictatorship of the proletariat. The general oppression of the world bourgeoisie against the work- ers of all capitalist countries is still continuing. It wrests the last bit of bread out of the workers’ mouths, in- tensifies their toil and tramples down the last few poor privileges and rights won in hard struggle. In America, the great masses of working women are still isolated from the movement of the working class. But on this, the great International holiday of the working women of the world, March 8, the Communist wom- en ask them to pause a moment at the washtub or the machine and real- ize that they are part of the great > movement of proletarian. women whose home life has been destroyed by capitalism, and who are destined to destroy capitalism in their turn. The women of all countries are our sisters. They are facing the same problems as ourselves. The wife of the unemployed man who rocks her baby by an empty fireside in Germany, the mother in England, France, Italy, Japan, ete., are under the same lash of capitalism as the sweated women workers in America. The same cap- italism is robbing all alike of the joy of life. Only Russia, where the wom- en have achieved their freedom and independence under the leadership of (Continued on page 7) se a teeneneneeNeT