The Daily Worker Newspaper, May 27, 1925, Page 6

rage six —— —— -—__ — THE DAILY WORKER Published by the DAILY WORKER PUBLISHING CO, 1118 W. Washington Blvd., Chicago, Ill, Phone Monroe 4712 SUBSCRIPTION RATES By mail (in Chicago only): By mail (outside of Chicago): $8.00 per year $4.50 six months | $6.00 per year $3.50 six months $2.50 three months $2.00 three months es Address all mail and make out checks to THE DAILY WORKER, 1113 W. Washington Blivd., Chicago, Illinois J. LOUIS ENGDAHL WILLIAM F. DUNNE { MORITZ J. LOEB. Entered as second-class mail September 21, 1923, at the post-office at Chi- cago, Ill, under the act of March 3, 1879. ..Editors ..Business Managér <p 290 Advertising rates on application. Organization Work in Detroit The news stories of the organization campaign now being con- ducted in the auto factories of Detroit by the local labor movement give the lie to the pessimistic attitude of the officialdom of the inter- national unions affiliated to the American Federation of Labor. In response of the workers to the remarks of the speakers out- side the factory gates, the readiness with which the workers rallied to the defense of the speakers against the company gunmen and the police, all indicate that they are willing to organize and fight— providing the labor movement adopts the right tactics. We do not want. to be understood as saying that the present organization campaign in Deetroit will be a huge success. Far from it. The automobile industry is organized on a national scale and only a national campaign can bring its workers into the unions. But the interest displayed by the workers in the Briggs plant is undoubtedly a sign of discontent with existing conditions which, if given ant op- portunity for expression on a national scale, with the whole labor movement solidly behind an organization drive, would result in thousands of these workers swelling the ranks of the labor movement. The work that is being done in Detroit is of the pioneer kind accompanied with all the hardships that pioneers usually suffer. But it is just such work as this that lays the basis for real organiza- tion and it is demonstrating to thousands of workers that it is not necessary or advisable to continue to act as individuals in the daily struggle against the bosses. This agitational work should go hand in hand with the setting up of shop committees as the basis of future campaigns and with the whole struggle of the left wing to arouse the fighting spirit of the labor movement so that sooner or later the hesitancy and cowardice of officialdom can be overcome. , “Labor” Bankers That was a fine flock of vultures gathered in New York City to celebrate the second anniversary of the banking enterprise launched by the officialdom of the New York labor movement. It proved to the hilt our ‘contention that “labor banking” is nothing more or less’than one of the methods by which the super- profits of imperialism are shared with its agents in the labor unions. Nothing was missing from the list of attractions with which the rul- ing class shows its complete domination of the labor bureaucracy. There was a letter from Coolidge, read as drooling lips of labor fakers murmered approval of the pladitudes contained therein, there was a galaxy of labor-hating multi-millionaires on the job to see that their proteges kept to the line of capitalism, there were rep- resentatives of the strikebreaking legionaires and the clergy. The meeting was an orgy of class collaboration, open and shame- less. Labor leaders consorted with the worst class enemies of the workers. The miners and the textile workers are fighting with their backs to the wall while the high-salaried officials ignore their struggles and uphold the hands of the capitalists who fight them. It is going to take some time for the working class to under- stand the sinister meaning of such gatherings, but that understand- ings will come. When it does, the defeat suffered by that arch- apostle of class collaboration, William Johnston, will be repeated right down the line. : Backward the American working class may be, but it is already showing impatience with businessmen masquerading as labor officials. Boston Follows Gary Five thousand laborers in Boston have voted to strike for a wage increase. Painters in Boston have been on strike for some time. The trade magazines report huge building contracts showing an average increase of 25 per cent in construction for that city and the building trades unions have had to bring but little pressure to bear on the bosses to get wage increases and the fact that the strike method must now be used shows that wages and construction in the industry have reached the peak and that the bosses, believing that the demand for labor will soon slacken, are going to fight further advances. The lockout in Gary, affecting 3,000 building tradesmen, coupled with the Boston dispute, shows which way the wind is blowing. We have pointed out many times that the building trades union officials have not taken advantage of the busy conditions in the industry to conduct active organizing campaigns and that from the national standpoint the building trades unions have simply drifted with the tide. In many cities the dissensions that have resulted in dual build- ing trades councils have not been overcome and the employers have profited from the division. In addition to bringing the whole building trades section of the labor movement into action in support of the Boston building la- borers’ the unions should begin to close up their ranks in preparation for the attack for which the preliminary arrangements on the part of the bosses can already be seen. The eviction of 500 miners and their families by the West Vir- ginia-Pittsburgh Coal company marks an offensive in a new direction by the coal capitalists, Unable to break the resistance of.the miners themselves the coal operators are now making war on women and children. In the face of such acts as this we say again that there is no place in the Jabor movement for tactics based on the belief that a sense of pity or justice exists in the ranks of the capitalist class when a question of their profits or power over the workers are concerned, The striking textile workers in Shanghai have answered the attack upon them by the gunmen of the capitalists by the extension of the strike to four more mills involving 7,000 additional workers. Such resistance shatters all the ready-made conceptions of the Chinese workers as docile’ slaves which foreign capital can rob with impunity. This is an exhibition of solidarity of the highest order and one which American textile workers could follow with great benefit to themselves. Lvery day get a “sub” for the DAILY WORKER and a member for the Workers Party. s THE DAILY WORKER a sano ease aero The Soviet Power and Private Capital in Russia By LEO (moscow) SHORT time ago there was held in Moscow an extremely interest- ing meeting. One of the biggest halls in Moscow was almost entirely filled with so-called Nep people, as the new bourgeoisie in Russia are called, who have ventured to make their appear- ance after the introduction of the new economic policy, ér “Nep.” A dis- cussion took place as to the role of private capital in Russia and the ways and means in order to attract it to commerce. The chairmanship of this meeting was in the hands of repres- entatives of economic institutions of the Soviet government. For Moscow, the capital of the country of the proletarian dictator- ship, such a meeting, consisting for the greater part of representatives of private capital, is quite a unique phe- nomenon. The subject of the meeting, the role which private capital has to play under the present conditions in Russia, where, on the one hand, the central and most important positions of economy are in the hands of the proletarian state and, on the other hand, the forms of money and goods economy are still retained, touches Ps one of the most interesting questions regarding the economic construction and economic future of Russia. This is all the more so as the bourgeois press abroad and its social democratic allies are deliberately spreading all kinds of stories regarding the role of private capital and of the new bour- geoisie in Russia., A favorite method of their is to represent things as if Communism and the commencement of a socialist organization of economy are nothing more than a mere screen behind which the economic life is rapidly developing in private capital- ist forms and in the interests of priv- ate capital. HE outward appearance of the meeting, where one saw more Labor Party Organiz ESPONDING slowly to the pres- sure of events and the spirit of our age, a labor party has been launched in India and formally an- nounced during the session recently concluded of the All-India Trade Union Congress. Its sponsors are Messrs. Lajpat Rai, Sir Sankaran Nair, Chaman Lal. D. P. Sinha. M. N. Joshi and other well-known leaders of OG {private capitalists than one ever sees in Moscow at one Gathering, gave a quite different impression, The new bourgeoisie have a quite different ap- pearance from that Whilch one usually associates with the’ordinary type of bourgeoisie. P Some prominent representatives of the economic institutions of the Soviet power delivered spéethes, in which they sketched the problem which is implied when one speaks of the role of private capital in Russia. Comrades Smilga, the vice chairman of the state commission for planned econ- omy, Scheinmann, the people’s com- missar for home trade, Kaganovitch, the vice chairman of the All-Russian exchange congress, ‘ehleiter, deputy people’s commissar for finance, and Syromolotov, deputy. ‘people's commis- sar for home trade drew attention to the following facts, The development of Russian indus- try is proceeding at a@ pace which, compared with the pre-war develop- ment, can be described as rapid. In the pre-war period an annual increase of production by 3 to. 6 per cent was regarded as very considerable, whilst the increase of industrial production in the past economic year already amounted to over 3 ner cent, and in the past half of tHenew economic year 25 per cent, and im various bran- ches of industry even-to 40 to 50 per cent, At the same ‘time we observe, in consequence of the'development of peasant agriculture, an increased pur- chasing power and an’ increased de- mand for goods in the villages. It is evident that these two factors render necessary an extension of trade, and in particular an increase of the com- mercial apparatus and of the capital invested in trade. The apparatus of the state and co-operative trade, in spite of the considerable progress they have already made in recent times, does not suffice for this rapid of workers must come into being sooner or later. , ; The divagations. of Indian national- ism have so far hindered rather than helped the growth of-labor concep- tions and labor ideals, for the masses have obediently followed those self- appointed leaders. who have been drawn invariably from the educated middle class, and who are linked closely in sympathy and interest with the Indian labor world. Reference has| the Indian bourgeoisie. been made to the nature of the dec- larations made by these leaders in the preliminary conferences which led to the formation of the labor party. The prevailing spirit was that of op- portunistic nationalism seeking anew instruthent to further its own pur- poses, rather than the creation of a truly working class party which would reflect the genuine interests and as- pirations of the Indian proletariat. Moderatism and excessive caution marked the speeches of these pio- neers Of an Indian labor party. The sentiment was expressed by one of them that “an Indian capitalist was preferable to a British one,” and it was further declared by another that the newly-formed party should not over-emphasize the labor point of view! It is considered undesirable by these new-found champions of the Indian working class to introduce into India the doctrine of the class struggle, or to create such a party which) will in any way jeopardize the interests and ambitions of Indian cap- italism. N such hands, the new labor party will not go very far. The birth of a political organization of the Indian workers is a still-birth, and no amount of theoretical schemes on paper will succeed in breathing the breath of life into this defunct embryo. Yet the growth Of an Indian labor party is a historical necessity, already long, overdue. The position of India as the seventh on the list of indus- trialized countries of the world, and her aggregate total of 20,000,000 pro- letarian workers prove that some or- ganization to express the economic and political needs of this vast mass Ibsen’s Attack on Conventions Still Goes Strong. PPORTUNITY to appreciate the sturdy pioneer qualities of Ibsen's attack upon conventions of his time, the end of the 19th century, is again given New York in current production of The Wild Duck and of Rosmers- holm, The Actors’ Theaters presenta- tion of The Wild Duck, one of the season’s finest offerings, shows the Norsemen’s merciloss exposure of the Idealist. With his “claim of the ideal” and philosophy of sacriftee, the Ideal- ist becomes a veritable flend who wrecks where he would have built. Relling, doctor of common sense, tells the Idealist that the matter with him is “plaguy integrity-fever” and contin- ual “delirium of hero-worship.” He can't see life as it is. The doctor's solution is to cultivate the “lfe-lie” or life illusion in his patients. The play is one of the most real bits of, life ever staged and is exceptionally well done by the Actor's Theater. Rosmerholm is in strong contrast to the Wild Duck and depicts the deca- dent middle class: the struggle of pas- tor Rosmer to escape the family tra- dition of religion and war.) ‘The Stag: 4, MUSIC -:- LITERATURE -:- DRAMA It is the Indian bourgeoisie in con- flict with the inordinate monopoly of British capitalism furninshing both its ideological direction and the sinews of war in the shape of; necessary funds. It is but natural _ fore, that the program of Indian, i nalism was subordinated to the needs and inter- ests of the Indian eoisie, bajo the non-eo-operation movement succeeded in one:thing, in diffus- ing the idea of emancipation with all its manifold implications, among the masses of the Indian people. An ex- pression was provided for an unrest which had hitherto remained dormant and unself-conscious among the ignor- ant and illiterate workers and peas- ants. Strikes and hartals, adopted as the instruments of the non-co-opera- tion campaign, taught the dumb mil- lions of India their potential strength and the power that lies in co-ordi- nated action on a large scale. The national movement, m being con- ‘fined to a small sect’ of the rich and oropertied class or to the revolution- ary student groups of different prov- nces became for the first time a na- tion-wide movement of the toiling nasses, 4 It is difficult, if not impossible, to lull to sleep those forces once awak- ened to consciousness. But it is very easy to mislead those forces by false programs and tacties. Mr. Gandhi, once the undisputed leader of one of the mightiest movements known to history, abdicated ignominiously be- fore the battle-hrray of British imper- ialism and the prospects of meeting [esa with force, and now heads a small faction which"seeks to lead the Indian movement along the channels ers, Inc,, do not give such an adequate performance of the play as. is given in The Wild Duck, } drama is powerful none the Jess. Conserva- tives in Isben’s tim en the liber- al party was in the ascendency in Norway, were as ile reactionary and as prone to incite to violence as today, if Dr. Kroll, master of the school, is indication, the very home of 6 der—where one will, and one only, has prevailed,” Krolf finds the ring- leader of the school! boy's. freo-think- ing club in his own son. And he has to admit that “the worst of it is that it's all the cleverest boys in the form that have banded together in this con- spiracy against me, Only the dunces at the bottom of the class have kept out of it.” But it 1s Mortensgaré, Party of Freedom leader, who “can do whatever he wi - he never wills more than he do.” The pas- tor saps the strength of the woman who would save him™has no courage to sustain his convef#ion to the light, and finally drags HéBecca and him- “self into the mill r4Q8 where his wife had thrown her demonstrating the ineffectiveness of his kind in the movement for growth. The Soviet state, is therefore, faced with the question whether ‘it will invest the net profits which it re- ceives from industry in order to ex- tend the industrial apparatus and re- new machinery, or whether {t will in- vest it as trading capital. HE second method {is less advan- tageous for the general develop- ment of economy. The Soviet govern- ment will, therefore, to a certain ex- tent, admit private capital in trade, in order to guarantee the turn-over of the industrial products, and thereby the development of industry, and to promote the exchange between town and country and, as a result, the al- Mance between the peasants and the workers. Private capital, which is again, to a certain extent, making its appearance as a resultof the situation created by the new economic policy, prefers to indulge in all-kinds of shady, business speculations which promise a high profit, which however attempt to evade the control of the state and of the state economy and disturb and hamper the general economic con- struction of the country. It is there- fore in the interest of the Soviet state to indicate a definite field of activity for private capital, in order to have the possibility of constantly control- ling its activity. The various comrades who spoke pointed ont that if private capital would abandon its shady backstairs speculations and develop its activity in the sphere indicated by the state, there would take place a certain alter- ation in the policy of ‘the state to- wards trade-capital. The necessity of stabilizing the valuta involved an ex- tremely sharp struggle against private capital, as the latter’s speculative ten- dencies, which were specially directed towards forcing up prices, were calcu- lated to endanger the whole stabiliza- ed In India - of social reform on a program of the boycott of foreign cloth, Hindu-Mus- sulman unity, the production and use of homespun khadar, and the abolition of untouchability and the drink-evil. The sole message which he gives to the demoralized and dispirited country is that of the charka (spinning- wheel). . R. DAS, head of the Swarja fac- tion which succeeded to the'¢on- trol of the Indian National Congress at Belgaum in December of 1924, has given another slogan to the nation— that of council-entry “for the purpose of mending or ending” the present system of government. He has led his own particular faction back to the folds of safe and sane constitutional- ism, away from the stormy sea ‘of mass-action envisaged in the original program of hon-co-operation. Both he and Mr. Gandhi have repudiated all forms of direct action, including ‘civil disobedience and non-payment | of taxes, and they have automatically cut off from themselves the very back- bone of the great mass-movement that shook the country from 1919 to 1922— the Indian workers and peasants. The inevitable slump and disinte- gration of the militant nationalist movement since the abandonment of mass action in favor of the “construc- tive program” and council-entry, has become patent to all. The conse- quent policy of repression, launched upon by the Indian government, with the consent of the labor government in Britain as well as of its successor, the present tory administration, has become bolder and more far-retaching. The incipient reversion to terrorism on the part of the young revolutionar- ies, who had held themselves in check during the course of the non-co-opera- tion campaign, was anticipated by the government with unerring prescience, and measures were taken to check it before it could get under way, The employment of agents provacateurs to push the rash and inexperienced police by their vile hirelings; the publications of false documents incit- OUR MARTYRS Simeonov-Georgiev. OMRADE Simeonoy-Georgiev, a young student, has been killed in Losence by the Zankov murder bands, after the house in which he lived had been fired upon. The Young Commun- ist League and the revioutionary movement of the working class and the peasantry of Bulgaria have lost in him one of the best, most courage- ous and self-sacrificing young revolu- tionaries. Only 22 years old when he died, he had, while still a scholar, joined the Communist movement. In 1920 he en- tered the Bulgarian Young Communist League. The outbreak of the revolt in September found him in Plevna, where actively participated in the struggle. y. After the suppression of the revolt he unwaveringly continued to work in the Young Communist League. At the end of March, police agents sur- rounded the houge in which he lived along with two niembers of the Young Communist, League, In order not to [te alive into the Hands of the police he defended himself heroically up to the last. i } youth of the country to acts of ter-|’ rorism, previously unmasked to the, tion reform, which is still the most important pre-requisite for economic construction. Comrade Scheinmann stated at the same time, however, that the pre-condition for another regula- tion of the taxation of private capital ig that private capital keeps its books correctly. The pre-requisite for the discounting of private trade bills by the state bank is that these bills are genuine. Some speakers who came forward as representatives of private capital, emphasized the political loyal- ty of the private’ business people, whereupon a comrade pointed out that it was not a question of political loyalty, but mainly a question of busi- ness loyalty and the exclusion of those Jobbing and speculating methods which are mentioned in the penal code. ‘ OME other representatives of priv- ate capital attempted in speeches and questions to complain that in pro- letarian Russia they had to take sec- ond place to the workers as being “non-working elements.” It is diffi- cult for them to obtain housing acom- modation etc. This called forth a sharp reply on the part of various comrades, Comrade Scheinmanm de- clared: there can be no talk of the government concerning itself with such questions. It is known to all that the government is conducting a pro- Jetarian class policy, that it will con- tinue to do so and that it will give preference to the workers in every- thing. There can be no talk that the government is calling for private cap- ital. In the first place it does not need it. It can live without private capital, and if private capital does not agree to the proposals which are made to it, then the government will draw the necessary conclusions. Sec- ondly, it is here a question of busi- ness. Capital does not come when on: asks for it, but only when it is assured ing the country to violence, and the or. ganization of “inspired” parties of terrorism, led by government spies, are but a few of the methods em- ployed by the most unscrupulous and cunning police-system in existence. These provocative measures ~ were taken and broadcasted thruout the world in order to justify the policy of unrestricted repression launched upon since the collapse of the non-co- operation movement. ul Nase! only reply to such methods is the reorganization of the national forces along new lines, conforming to the interests and desires of the In- dian masses, But so strong is the spirit of class-interest, and so selfish the leadership of the movement, that the prospects of freedom are delib- erately jeopardized by a policy of compromise and concession. The In- dian bourgeoisie is selling the birth- right of the Indian people for a mass of pottage secured to themselves by bargaining with the imperial overlord. Both the Indian upper classes and the British rulers have combined to pre- vent and stifle the growth. of a united national movement based upon a pro- gram of social and economic libera- tion for the toiling masses, along with political freedom. The movement is divided, disintegrated and moribund, for lack of that program and those tactics which correspond to the crying needs of the overwhelming majority of the population—the abolition of landlordism, reduction of taxation, an eight-hour day and a minimum wage for labor, protective social legislation, the nationalization of public utilities and profit-sharing in large industries. Instead of rallying the nation to the cry of political independence and the establishment of a democratic fed- erated republic based upon universal suffrage Mr. Das and the Swarajists join with Mr. Gandhi and his follow- ers in repudiating national independ- ence, and accepting “home rule with- in the empire.” Meanwhile, the economic condition of the Indian working class grows steadily worse, as wages are forced down and hours of work increased to HE Peasant International (Interna- tional Peasants’ Council) has ad- dressed a letter to the International Co-operative Alliance in London, pro- posing that connections shall be es-| tablished between the Alliance and the Peasant International, which lat- ter -body is at the same time the only international union of agricultural and peasant co-operatives. It is sug- gested in the letter that there shall be a constant exchange of material as well as the setting up of connec- tions for joint trade in the agrucult- ural, peasant and workers’ co-opera- tives, while it also conjains a num- ber of practical proposals as: 1. The establishment of an Interna- tional Society for wholesale purchas- ing in which the consumers’ societies of the International Co-operative Alli- ance, as well as the agricultural un- ions of the International Peasant Council, shall participate. 2, The’ establishment of an interna: tional co-operative bank in which the co-operative unions of both interna- tional organizations shall have shares, 3. Constant . inter-communication both in the fleld of business and ideas, joint participation in international ac- Lite Aa j The Peasant International and the International Co-operative Alliance of certain advantages. And if it does not come, it is only because it believes it can gain more by shady specula- tions. c The above is a picture of a meeting of private capitalists in Moscow. And this is how the representatives of the Soviet government talk to private cap» ital. If private capital still exists to- day in Soviet Russia, and if it has certain economic functions, this is only on condition that the economic power of the proletarian state-is not touched. It is a different matter when, for example, social-democratic ministers “attract” Barmat and his capital, and when the Soviet government permits private capital under definite lMmita- tions and under a firm control, while at the same time, as was repeatedly stated at the meeting, the state and co-operative trade is given preference and support by all means. If private capital, however, indulges in shady speculations, then there exists for it the proletarian class justice and that terror of all terrors of the West Bu- ropean philistines, fhe G. P. U., or better known under the name of the Tcheka, It suffices to read the reports of the law court proceedings in the Russian papers in order to see how energetically and with what: severity the profiteers are dealt with in Russia, while at the time it must be remem-- bered that what is regarded as pro- fiteering in Russia, would in other countries receive the euphemistic title of “a good stroke of Dusiness.” In addition, and that*is the chief thing, the ruling class is and remains the working class. This is not only ex- pressed in the political life of the country, but in all the affairs of daily life, in all spheres of social policy, housing policy, educational policy etc. That is the Alpha and Omega of the entire policy in Russia. is By Evelyn Roy enable Indian capitalism to compete with its British rival. The deadly competition of Indian sweated labor with British lajor in the metropolis is becoming a real fact; wages in Great Britain are being forced down to the level of “coolie labor” in the golon- ies, before the constant threat of un- employment and “the dole.” Hence the new cry in British labor circles for the organization of Indian labor to protect itself and its British confrere from extermination between the upper and nether millstones of British and Indian capitalism. Hence the new al- ance between the British labor party and. certain leaders of Indian natton- alism who pretend to see farther than the rest. UT what is needed in India is a real party of the working class and peasantry, which will reflect the vital needs and interests of their class, ir- respective of the complex and often conflicting interests of Indian nation- alism, and of certain privileged sec- tions of the British labor bureau- cracy. Until such a party is formed, under leadership which unhestitating- ly places itself in the service of the Indian proletariat, upon a program which corresponds with their funda- mental needs and desires, no mass movement is possible in India, and without a mass movement, no success can be achieved in the realization of the demands put forward. The new labor party under its pres- ent leadership will be a pale reflection of British labor at its most reaction- ary and conservative stage, strongly adulterated by the questionable in- fluences of Indian bourgeois nation- alism. It may be the herald of the dawn; it cannot usher in the splendid day of the birth of Indian labor to its heritage of power as an organized and revolutionary factor in Indian na- tional life. What is needed is a peoples’ party, embracing the vast masses of India, led by men and wo- men with a revolutionary vision, who can bring the Indian movement for social, economic and political emanci- pation into line with the world move- ment for social revolution. tions against exploitation by private capital, for the protection of the in- terests of the workers and peasants’ ‘and their co-operative organizations, and against war and economic decay. In addition to this the International Peasants’ Council suggests its par- ticipation in the Congress of the In- ternational Co-operative Alliance which is to be held at the beginning of September in Geneva and express- es its readiness to send its represen- tatives to the Congress. " The German “Arbeitgemeinschatt,” which is a member of the I. P. C., and also the Small Holders’ and Peasants’ League of Baden have approached the 1. P. C. with the request that the lat- ter assist them thru the Soviet Co- operatives in supplying them with food for poultry, Magni? The co-operative section of the I. P. C, applied to the appropriate Soviet and economic organs in order to as- certain the conditions and possibilities for carrying out a definite order on the part of the above named organ- izations. sss This case marks the beginning of direct trade connections betweeh the organizations ufllliated to the LP. bo oe ‘