The Daily Worker Newspaper, August 26, 1925, Page 4

ath | ie ~ SAY GERMAN oe GEORGIAN MENSHEVIKS CONCEDE REVOLT AGAINST SOVIET ERROR, WORKERS IN RUSSIA MOSCOW, August 7—(By Mail.) —The German delegation ‘as arrived in Tiflis, where, after the warmest greeting, it split itself Into groups and visited factories, shops, railway workshops, prisons, welfare institutions and the German colony. The dele- gation then visited the chairman of the People’s Council of Com- missars, Eliava, who informed the members of the delegation in detail of conditions at present and in the past. The leader of the delegation, Beck, declared to Bliaya: ‘‘We have been convinced that the capitalist press spreads lies about Georgia. The German colonists have declared to us that they stand on the sidé of he soviet power and that the mengheviki did not defend the interests of the German colonists and did RUSSIA T (Continued from Y esterday’s Daily Worker) SYNOPSIS.—The official report of the British trade union delegation to Soviet Russia described the workings of foreign trade, transportation, industry, finance and agriculture in the Soviét Union. The trade union leaders concluded that foreign trade is increasing, and that. in agriculture and industry the level of production is being raised. The finances have been Placed on a sound basis, the report showed. Harm is being done to Eng- land by the absence of full diplomatic relations, the union leaders stated. Schools and universities, and literature, music and opera and the theatre were then discussed. Art collections, censorship, newspapers, wall news- Papers, and freedom of the press were explained, with the conclusion that “the results of education are astounding.” The report then took up hospitals, welfare work, sanitation, birth control, abortion, cleanliness and housing, rent regulations, family life, and prisons. “The Soviet government is achieving most remarkable results in respect to public health, housing, and the prison system,” says the report. Regarding the trade unions and labor conditions, the report states, “The Delegation were much impressed by the position and activities of Trade bs “pied under the Soviet system.” Under its new constitution, the Centrosoyouz is to be an organizing and representative center for the whole of the con- sumers’ co-operatives of the U. S. S. R., and a trading center and commission agent for the distribution and sale of the most important staples of internal and foreign trade. The share cap- ital is to be made up as follows: District co-operative unions subscribe for.Centrosoyouz shares 10 kopecks per member; local co-operatives with a membership above 5,000 subscribe to the Centrosoyouz directly 20 kopecks per member; and if there are no district consumers’ societies the subscription is to be 50 ko- pecks per member. It is proposed to raise the price of a share to five rouples in 1924. The Centrosoyouz has begun to liqui- date its industrial enterprises so as to concentrate on its dis- tributive and trading business. For the present the Centrosoyouz will maintain its indus- trial activities in flour mills, oil refineries, starch and molasses, confectionery and candy, low-grade tobacco, leather, footwear, and soap. Altogether it will operate 14 factories and mills, of which eleven are its own and three have been rented. The year- ly production of these enterprises is worth about 31 million roubles, and they employ about 37,000 persons. Selskosoyouz (agricultural prospered. By the beginning of 1924 Selskosoyouz included over 22,000 agricultural co-operative societies, with a voluntary membership of at least one and a half million peasant house- holds. By May 1st the number of societies had grown by 14 per cent., and the number of households increased to over two million. The foreign trading of Centrosoyouz is of considerable im- portance, being 60 per cent. more in 1924 than in 1923. It was through it that agricultural machinery to the value of one mil- lion roubles has been purchased in America and is now arriving at Odessa, Novorosseisk, Vladivostock, and Murmansk, also 411 grain-cleaning machines of a value of $75,000 purchased in Austria. Projects of great importance to British manufactures are dependent on the political situation. Co-operative Trading Co-operative enterprises are 6 per cent. of the total enter- prises of the country, and the charactor of their work and their place in the business life of the country is'seen in the following analysis of their turnovers and the taxation’ they pay:— CO-OPERATIVE TURNOVER (RETAIL) AND TAXATION Amount. Percent of total Amount. Per cent of Million roubles trade turnover Million roubles total taxation (a) Trading . « 207.0 10.8 1.871.2 94 (b) Industrial. - 29.8 51 318.8 48 (c) Other. ..... 50.1 as 414.8 on 286.9 9.5 2.605.8 ve] But there has been during 1924 a considerable increase, for which general statistics are hard to get. Thus the co-operative percentage of the total retail turnover in Moscow late last year had risen from one-tenth to nearly one-third... We also find that the total turnover increased in 1923-24 from 168.7 to 286.9 million roubles and the members of societies from 21,104 to $2,508, while the total trade increased from 434 million roubles in 1923 to 1,100 million roubles in 1924, Co-operatives and Private Enterprise In the chapters on Industry and Commerce are figures giv- ing the proportion of State, co-operative, and private trading. This shows that the part played by the co-operatives is regu- larly and rapidly growing at the expense of private traders. For example, in cotton goods their percentage has grown from += per cent. to 56 per cent., that of private trade declining from 44 per cent. to 14 per cent. But it is to be observed that whereas private trade transactions are mostly in cash those of the co- operatives are on credit up to two months. As much as 50-60 per cent. of their purchases from the Textile Syndicate and 80- 90 per cent. of those from the Leather Syndicate were on credit. ‘This gives the co-operatives a great advantage in competition, but has got some of the local societies into difficulties, from which they are being slowly extricated, and in which they have ‘required large support. The proportion of credit is being re- duced, but the co-operatives are much hampered by want of capital and credit. Whether Co-operation will succeed in crushing private en- rprise depends on the progress it can make in giving buyers hat they want, when and where they want it, and in the way ey want it. In this Co-operation in Russia has as much to arn as elsewhere, as will,be seen from a, co! ison of the ciency of the State, co-operative, and-privat ‘trader in the Salty aranpee romans trersdiliceerr eoeyetneste toni nearer eNO MANA nothing to lighten their situa- tion.” Menshevik! Realize Mistake. Hereupon a diseussion took place between the’members of the German delegation and a group of one-time mensheviks. The social democratic member of the delegation Meile de- clared: “We want to learn the truth. The German press says that the Soviet power has physically destroyed the mensheviki in Georgia; that the con- ditions in the Soviet prisons is fright- ful and that the prisoners are horribly tortured, Today we visited the pris- ons, spoke with the prisoners and convinced ourselves of the contrary. All political prisoners are well fed, and ‘housed in clean and light rooms which cannot be called cells. In Ger- many no such prisons exist. “We spoke with members of the commissions representing all groups equally and suggested the sending in of a request for an amnesty. The leaders of the Georgian insurrection THE: DANI are guilty and deserve our condemn. ation. The Soviet power alone is a power of the workers and peasants.’’ “Dzamanaschvili declared in the name of the ex-mensheyiks there that the policy of the @ensheviks had been incorrect, After the insurrection, 90 per cent of the’ ’menshevik leaders adopted the Soviet platform. The Sov- jet power alone can; bring about the reconstruction of, Géorgia. Will Send Delegation Abroad. “The railwayman Dimitraschvilli de- clared: ‘We mensheviks did not un- derstand the significance of the Octo- ber revolution, we fought against the Soviet power and organized the in- surrection. We have recognized our fatal mistake and we will send a dele- gation abroad in order to inform the emigrants and the mensheviki of the real situation and°to convince them of the hopelessness’ of the struggle against the Soviet) power.’” In the evening “a ‘tremendous mass demonstration tobk place- in which the German delegatfon took part. “A demonstration with‘éuch enthusiasm Y WORKER, : 7 eeeeeaenmatacsianliinns DAILY WORKER WHEATLEY ADVOGATES A CORPS OF 10,000,000 FOR WORKERS’ DEFENSE LONDON, England, Aug. 24.—The call ‘issued by John Wheatley, min- ister of health in the former Ram- say MacDonald government, for the enrollment of 10,000,000 workers as a “workers’ defense corps,” ready to fight against attacks on the work- ers’ standard of living, is attracting attention. The former minister proposes the formation of a defense corps ‘‘to maintain industrial peace” and calis for men “who are prepared to suf- fer rather than see Great Britain made a land of coolies, gation Beck. “Those who continue to 100 Drowned in India. LONDON, Ang. 24—One hundred persons were drowned when a ferry- boat capsized during a storm which broke suddenly over the Meghna river in India, according to a dispatch from Calcutta today. The Meghna river is one of the im- portant navigable streams of India and empties into the Gay of Bengal near the mouth of the Ganges. Escaped Convict Caught. PORTLAND, Ore., Aug. 24.—Tom Murray leader of the three fugitive convicts from the Oregon prist who killed two guards in a sensational break, was captured early yesterday in-a room at the Savoy hotel, Centra- lia, Wash. “Pennsy” Train in Ditch. URBANA, Ohio, Aug. 24,—Five pas- sengers sustained minor injuries when four Pullman cars and a day coach of westbound passenger train They Pourtesy of the International Pub- lishers Co. co-operation) has similarly’ vious chapter (wages, paragraph 1) on Industry. But great answered us: ‘With the insurrection cannot be ‘arrangéd’""declared the so- we committed a political crime. We cial democratic mentiber of the dele- KK nn No. 109 on the Pennsylvania railroad, went into the ditch near Saint Paris; near here, early yesterday. * lie about Georgia should get their heads punched!” ee THE OFFICIAL REPORT OF THE BRITISH TRADE | ra be Sane efforts are being made and there are signs of pgactical progress. The co-operatives’ share of the sale of Stite manufacture was 30 per cent. in 1924 as against 15 per cent. 923. Private business still undersells the co-operatives occ: lly, but, on the whole, cannot do so. In staples like bread the co-operative price is on an average one-fifth to one-quarter lower; in sugar, meal, kerosene, meat, one-sixth lower. The difference between wholesale and retail prices, which in some co-operatives was as thuch as 40.5 per cent., is down to an average of 30-35 per cent. Co-operatives in the Soviet Society In the revolutionary trinity of Soviets, Trade Unions, and Co-operatives the latter have always been the last to get a move on in any new phase, just as they are in some respects the part of the Soviet system that will probably go furthest. They are at present an indispensable link between the to and country producer, and between the producer and the consumer; that is in both cases between those regions where State Socialism is strong and those where it is still weak. But! this is not the final role of the co-operatives. They are expected in time to provide a general organization and representation of the con- sumer that will correspond to and combine with the representa- tive organization of the producer in the Trade.Unions and of the citizen in the Soviets. The State structure,that in the first chapter was described as a pyramid with internal, crogs-ties will then be strengthened by a tripod skeleton of srepresentation from’ the bottom to the top corresponding to thethree main in- terests in each individual. He is already répresented well enough through the Soviets in his political intevésts—that is as soon-as the monopoly of the Communist Partyis modified. He is ‘well on the way to being represented in his ‘bécupational in- terests through a unified Trade Union orgar . There is finally a beginning of such a unified representation of him as a consumer through the Co-operatives. Though’ as the above shows it is as yet only a beginning. F tus But if progress continues on the present lines at the present pace we may live to see a threefold democracy develop in Rus- sia, and new forms of democratic representation.that will give a driving force and a direction to campaigns fer constitutional reform in Parliamentary democracies. T Final Conclusion to General and Labor Reports ters—all of which has been obtained by mselves from ‘S6lirces and through channels that convince them as to its gen- eral accuracy—the Delegation has come to the following con- clusions: That the U. S.S. R. isa strong and st#ble State: That its Government is based firstly on a system of State Socialism that has the active support of a large majority of the workers and the acceptance of an equally large majority of the peasants and, secondly, on a federal structure that gives very full cultural and very fair political toleration: That the machinery of gov- ernment though fundamentally different from that of other States seems to work well, and that the government it gives is not only in every way better than anything that Russia has ever yet had, but that it has done and is doing work in which other older State systems have failed and are still failing: That these good results have reconciled all but a very small minority to renouncing rights of opposition that are essential to political liberty elsewhere. And that this causes no resistance partly be- cause these rights have been replaced by others of greater value under the Soviet system, and partly because recent move- ments have been steadily towards their restoration: And finally that the whole constitutes a new departure ofsthe greatest in- terest that is well worth foreign study and a new development that may be greatly benefited by foreign assistance. Herbert Smith. Ben Tillett. . John Turner, \( John Bromley. Albert Purcell'(Chairman). Fred Bramley (Secretary). Harold Grenfelyy A. R. McDoneft. George Young. PART II In view of the information contained in fpinsetves chap- Special Institutions and Industries Delegates with particular qualifications to report on cer- tain classes of industry were asked to draw up special reports on those undertakings visited. In view, however, of the limited space available, and in| Order to avoid repetition, only a repre- sentative selection of these reports have been incorporated in this section. I Visit to Leningrad Trade Union Center The Delegation visited the Palace of Labor, the headquar- ters of the Leningrad Trade Union’ Movement, and inspected various departments of this central organization. The building is well appointed and in every way an elaborate example of Russian architecture and decoration, inside ahd out. It was formerly used as a resident college for the children of the Rus- sian aristocracy, and passed into the hands of the Trade Un- ion orgi 8 during the Revolution. It is one of the prin- cipal buildings*on a boulevard, formerly known as the Guards’ Boulevard, now renamed the {Trade Union Boulevard. . UNION DELEGATION TO SOVIET RUSSIA Copyright in the United States by the International Publishers Co, All Rights Reserved. Copyright by the Trades Union Congress General Council in Great Britain. ——L During our visit information was given us regarding indus- trial and economic conditions of Leningrad, and@we subsequent- ly obtained many statistical statements dealing with this infor- mation. It was stated during our visit that there were 15,000 unemployed in Leningrad, many of thei very highly qualified workers, but mainly industrial. The population was stated to be approximately 1,500,000. The President of the Leningrad Trade Union Council stated that the rate of growth of the pop- lation, which fell during the Revolution, is this year six times greater than before the war. We then went through a special department—the economic section—in which we were shown an elaborate exhibition of diagrams dealing with productive organization, the numbers of workers employed in various industries, and the necessity for increasing the rate of output. We were very much interested also in an exhibition of food diets, set out on plates ready for table service, indicating the quantity and quality of food sup- plied to the workers after the Revolution as compared with the standard obtaining under the old system. We went afterwards ona visit to the burial place of the martyrs of the Revolution, ‘and in addition to the graves of several well-known revolutionaries. We were informed that 400 victims of the Revolution were buried within the walls on this memorial ground, erected in the center of what was at one time the parade ground of the Tsar’s Guard. The stories relat- ed to us regarding executions, assassinations and the bloodshed associated with the revolutionary struggles of the workers against the Tsars were both thrilling and depressing. After visiting the burial): ground we walked on through the Winter Palace, the home of the Tsars, and after passing through the gorgeously ‘ftirnished rooms, containing valuable works of art, we were escorted to the great. reception hall, which is now used as an, exhibition of Soviet flags, statues of revolutionary leaders, and: documents associated with the Rev- olution which led to the destruction of the old regime. We also went down into an extensive basement to view a great collec- tion of revolutionary relics’: This collection represented many years of revolutionary service, not merely on the ‘part of the workers but on the part of politicians, statesmen, military gen- erals, admirals of the navy, members of the aristocracy, and other prominent and well-known individuals associated with many years’ revolutionary effort in Russia. We were. shown a model of the prison cells formerly used for revolutionary pris- oners ,the chains which were used to bind them to prison walls, and the instruments of torture used to beat the rebels of pre- revolutionary days into a state of submission. From this exhibition we stepped into the square facing the BOOSTERS TAKE HUDSON TRIP Thobe“Aiding Paper Get Free Tickets NEW YORK, Aug. 24.—New York is arranging an excursion to historic Stony Point on the Hudson for the DAILY WORKER Builders’ Reunion on Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 7th, on an entirely original and unique plan. A first class boat, the Miramar, has been chartered, which will make the 36-mile trip in about three and a half hours. There will be music and danc- ing and entertainment galore. There will be bathing, hiking thru the forest and an old-fashioned family picnic din- ner. And there will be no effort to make money from those that go, and no tickets will be sold. Tickets Are Free, Tickets for the entire trip will be given free of charge to all those that perform a certain minimum service for the DAILY WORKER in any one of various lines. Every one that brings in six dollars’ worth of subscriptions for the DAILY WORKER, the Work- ers Monthly, the Young Worker or the Young Comrade will receive a ticket without cost. For every three dollars collected as contribution for the DAILY WORKER Midsummer Sustaining Fund a ticket will also be given. Those who serve the DAILY WORKER as news stand collectors, those who do their duty as branch DAILY WORKER agents, as well as those that help a certain mini- mum with the work in the DAILY WORKER New York office, will also receive tickets. In this way there will be selected from the entire New York membership those that are the most active sup- porters of the party’s official organ. At the reunion at Stony Point these will be formally organized into the New York DAILY WORKER Builders’ Club, and steps will be taken to result in the establishment of the English daily: in New York at the earliest prac- ticable moment. Dally Worker Builders. The following have already qualified for membership in the DAILY WORK- ER Builders’ Club, and will receive tickets free of charge for the DAILY WORKER excursion to Stony Point on the Hudson on Labor Day, Sept. 7th: English Downtown Branch—Philip Beral, Martin Katz, Joseph Nestor, M. S. Schneider, iVctor Soos, Helen Zai- kowski. English West Side Branch—Bessie Braden, Fred Cammer, Harry Castes, Ben, Davidson, Samuel Halpern, Fred Macy. English Yorkville Branch—Max Ha- gen. English Harlem Branch—A. Choro- ver, Julius Godkind, H. F. Mins, J. Mm, Ginsburg. . English No. 1 Bronx Branch- Cooper, Arved Osol, M. Pasternak, 8S. A. Pollack, F. Surtshin, A. Riemer, English Lower Bronx Branch—J, Grimer, Morris Horwitz, Anna Podal- sky, Louis Steinberg. English Williamsburg—Abe Furman, Joseph Lapides. English Brownsville—Max Mariash, Frank Miller, C. Nemeroff. Winter Palace, in which the slaughter of Bloody Sunday took place. = U Visit to the Leningrad Hospital Members of the Delegation visited this hospital, formerly built for the medical service of the population of Leningrad, now controlled by the Soviet Medical Service. The hospital is one of the largest in Russia, containing 1,800 beds, 1,300 of which were occupied at the time of our visit. The crowded state of the hospital was explained to us as being due to other hospitals, too poor to be maintained, being closed and the patients housed in the larger hospital. This hospital is exceptionally well- equipped, is supplied with its own electric power station, lighting and cooking of all kinds being done by electricity. We saw, in full working order, oil-fed boilers, 17 supplied by the famous British firm of Babcock, Wilson, and Company, of London and Glasgow, and supplied during the years 1912-13. We also saw electric motors supplied from Sweden, ice-making machines, and other machinery installed during 1924. In going through the elaborate kitchens. attached to this hospital we noticed that all the food was cooked by electricity, hot-water was heated by electricity, potatoes peeled, bread cooked, meat minced, and nearly all the food prepared and cooked, including the elaborately constructed bakery, by electric power. Electric kneading machines were also provided, and a special tank was kept supplied well stocked with live fish, so that no danger should exist of the patients being injured by consuming fish not as fresh as is necessary for invalids. i All kinds of treatment for special diseases is provided for in this hospital and every effort is made to ensure rigid cleanliness in every department. The equipment and organization of the laundry, again stocked with all kinds of machinery worked by electric power, was a very fine example of hospital organization in Russia. The baths provided for the patients, the attendants, medical staff, and nurses were also up-to-date and very satisfac- tory. We were taken through the operating rooms by one of the best known surgeons in Russia, a member of the Royal Col- lege of Surgeons, and a man intensely interested in the organi- zation of the hospital and the adequate scientific treatment of the patients. The operating rooms, the dispensary, and the pro- visions that were made to deal with all kinds of diseases were most elaborate. We were taken into one room colored and draped in black intended-to assist the operators in clearness of vision when dealing with special cases of operation. The dress- ing rooms and operating rooms were also well appointed, and we left this hospital convinced that whatever medical science and organization could accomplished for the hospital service of Leningrad was still maintained to the maximum bysthe Soviet and medical authorities of the city. HOMES 44 r (To be continued in next issue.) \ English Coney Island—Bessie New- man. German Night Workers, Yorkville— Mathias Holzbauer. Hungarian Yorkville—Geza Szepesi. Hungarian Bronx No. 45—J. Gaal. Italian West Side—A. Mellina. Jewish No, 1 Downtown—Abraham Koosis, Sam Siegal. Jewish No. 1 Brenx Branch—Rachel Holtman, Leon Litvin. Jewish No. 2 Branch—A. Gusakoff. Jewish Williamsburg—M. Gordon, Beatrice Vogel. Jewish Coney Island—Joe Crane. Lettish Branch—Peter Karklin, Scandinavian South Brooklyn—C. O Peterson. = Y. W. L. No. 4—Harry Fo. Y. W. L. No, 5—Fay Croll, Alexan- der Lifshitz, Sophia Schneider, Milton Weich. Y. W. L. No. 22—Nathan Leibowits. Shop Nucleus No. 11—Stephen Poy- dasheff. Shop Nucleus No. 13—Michael Zie- bel. Miscellaneous—Harry Leff; M. La- rie. Y. W. L. No. 1—Lydia Bass. Y. W. L. No. 2—Lillian Michaels, In addition to the above over three hundred have already applied, or have performed part of the required service to place themselves on the eligible Nst for the DAILY WORKER Builders’ Club. If any one who has qualified is not included in this list, the fact should be communicated immediately to L. E. Katterfeld, 108 East 14th St. Do not wait until the last minute, as only the 400 whom the boat accommo- dates will be taken on the excursion, j Death Total Reach e PROVIDENCE, R. 1, Aug. 28— With action to bring about the arrest of at least one person in connection with the steamship Mackinac disaster expected to be taken by federal au- ‘thorities soon, the death toll today stood at 46, 4 Aviator Reaches Cebu, P. |, ROME, Aug. 23—Signor Depinedo, the Italian aviator, who is flying Rome to Tokio via Austri 7 today that he had reached 3 after a stormy flight frm Zamboanga, \ i ] . vt ~evnAeaeae ea ee ~~ e@od a a “eoreer