The Daily Worker Newspaper, May 30, 1925, Page 7

- — we oe SS ons ey neem TC AT RE RE tae “The idea becomes power when it pene- trates the masses.” —Kari Marx. SPECIAL MAGAZINE SUPPLEMENT MAY 30, THE DAILY WORKER. 1926. > SECOND SECTION This magazine suppie ment will appear every Saturday la The Daily Worker. Calles Fights Farmers in Mexico ®:2-tas 0. Wor | ape mate CITY.—One of the phe nomena that accompany the per sonal dictatorships disguised in demo- cratic forms so typical of many Latin- American countries, is the rapid pro- gressive disintegration of the political parties or groups to which the presi- dents of Mexico nominally belong. This disintegration was covertly fo- mented both by Calles and Obregon, as it is the only alternative to his member of the agrarian party, Luis} agrarian congress in the state of Ze Leon, eee agrarian party had come to be an inconvenience, Calles did not intend to prosecute his land program actively “for reasons of economy.” An uncomfortable left wing was develop- ing in the agrarian party which wing was preserving some contact with the Communists. And the rank and file of the peasants were far to the left wing fortifying such groups and thus hav-| of the political organization: More AT THE OLD GAME ing to share with them his power and perhaps even submit to their discip- line. e's? = € ps constitutes the immediate poli- tical cause of the disintegration of the so-called “socialist” bloc in the present chamber of deputies which manifests itself in the form of a con flict between its constituent parties, the Agrarista and the Laborista (Agrarian and Labor parties.) More- over, there are deeper-lying social causes which determine both the per sonal dictatorship and the conflict be- tween the parties in question. In Mexico, where every movement tends to take the form of a crystal- lization around a personal chieftain or caudillo with fhe consent of or in Tevolt against the “big chief” who is head of the army and president of the nation, the labor party cannot be ex- plained without great emphasis upon its own caudillo and the particular presidents that it has supported or fought, a eS ws SE ee acion Regional Obrera Mexicana on which it tries to base itself, grew up around the personality of Luis N. Morones and a little group of follow- ers (about a half dozen.) At the same time, its name, “labor” and its pre tended socialist program are explain- able as filling certain vague aspira- tions of the masses, The labor party first became a poli- tical force in the petty maquinations |. that center around the president atid the chambers while Carranza was the supreme chieftain of the nation. All of its leaders, including Morones, were then in the pay of Carranza. How- ever, he elected to aid in its disinte- gration in favor of other parties and Morones joined forces with Obregon, Calles and De la Huerta who prepared a revolt which overthrew Carranza within one month after it started. Morones then became the representa- tive of the Obregon government in the labor movement; being in the pay of Obregon as he had formerly been in that of Carranza, —— : eee political majority of the then parliament finding that Obregon and Calles .elected to reinforce’ the labor and agrarian parties as the more eas- ily controlled group, changed from support to hostility and engineered with the aid of the military and some support from English capital and Mexican landowners, the De la Huerta rebellion, The rebellion crushed, the labor and agrarian parties remained as the sole administration parties, and the forms of an election were gone thru on behalf of their candidate, Cal- les, From the moment that Calles as- sumed power, it became obvious that he was going to eliminate the agrar- jan party from the political arena. His very cabinet appointments foreshad- owed it. It had been a foregone con- clusion that the agrarian party would have the ministry of agriculture and the labor party the ministry of com- merce, industry and labor. Morones was the candidate for the latter posi- tion, Ramon P. De Negri for the for- mer. De Negri was not appointed, catecas. From then on, the friction has grown continually, until an open rupture has become inevitable. Con- ciliation commissions have been named, but the labor party remains inflexible im insisting that the Mexi- can Federation of Labor (C. R. Q M, which has the same leaders as the labor party altho the majority of its masses are without political affilla- tion) should be the only organiaztion to organize workers and peasants on over, there was a manifest tendency on the part of the peasants (support- ed in this by the Communists) to form non-political organizations of econom- ic attack and defense, {Non-political in the sense that they existed to get land, not to make deputies.) 7 * @ . agrarian party presented the additional disadvantage of organ- izing both political locals and peas- ants’ leagues, and using its control of the local agrarian committees of the government to distribute land in such a way as to strengthen its political influence, . In April, matters came to a head when Morones, in the presence of the president and no doubt with his ap and in his place was named a non-|proval, attacked the agrarian party, N its policies and its “politiclans” in an the economic field, whereas the labor and agrarian parties are to limit their activities to the parliamentary field. The negotiations continue, but the labor party continues seeking new al lies“in the agrarian field. the meanwhile, the agrarian party is disintegrating rapidly as does every organization here that has lived from the government treasury when the government withdraws ~ support. The fate of the labor party would be similar but much more rapid if Calles withdrew his support from it, for it has less masses, less social root and has done nothing for its members except distribute jobs, Hi i The left wing of the agrarian party ig disintegrating along with the rest, a few of its clements gravitating toward the Communists but the rest, strangely enough, preparing to ally themselves with the next reactionary revolt that comes along. s s & i tage dissolution of the agrarian Party, the frankly anti-land-seiz urg policy of the labor party and the HN S { Federation of Labor leaves the peas- ants with only one leader, the Com- munist Party of Mexico. This already has control of the two most powerful and best organized peasant leagues and is actively pushing its program of a national peasant economic organiza- tion not subordinated to any political party, the securing of land as its cen- tral objective. The national organiz- ing committee and the League of Vera Cruz which is its backbone are affli- ated with the Peasant International at Moscow. Its president is Uruslo Gal- van, member of the executive of the Peasant International and member of the Communist Party of Mexico, reading.