The Daily Worker Newspaper, September 19, 1925, Page 7

-o a es < f 8 ? be Pome a] “The idez becomes power when it pene- trates the masses.” ~—Karl Marx. SPECIAL MAGAZINE SUPPLEMENT SATURDAY, —_ 19, 1928 gp 290 SECOND SECTION, This magazine supple ment will appear every Saturday In The Daily Worker. British Labor Breaks With Imperialism _, By_EARL. R, BROWDER. “THE. British Trade Union Congress, , meeting at Scarborough, adopted a -tesolution pledging’ opposition to Britist imperialism and favoring the right of self-deternination for all pea- ples within the empire even to :the " point of complete separation.” . When the cables brot the above news last Saturday,” few “speople real- ized at first.glance, that this is prob- ably the. greatest political event since “the “Russian révolution, é & SBritish, impefjalism is.a-central pil- rot the aapiialigt system of the / world.’ The British labor movement has hitherto. been a Central pillar of the empire, When the MacDonald “labor gov- ernment” was in office it continued all the traditional policies of imper- ialism, threatening, jailing and kill- ing the Hindus, exploiting and humili- ating the Chinese, bombing the na- tives Gf Iraq, etc. It was so imper- idlistic that every imperialist move of the Baldwin government since then has been ‘specifically “justified” by reference to labor party precedent. And--now, almost without warning, this fundamental support of imperial- ism is withdrawn by. the Trade Union Congress, by the overwhelming vote of 3,082,000 to 79,000. A Repudiation of MacDonaldism. Tie is‘much more than ‘a repudia- Be op »of Bathsay MacDonald. mith more‘tham a rejection of J,-H. ¢ thomas ét al. It is a departure from, a distinct rupture with, MacDonaldism —the whole theory and practice of the Second International, of the “Em- pire Socialists,” of the reformists and traitors of the proletariat of all lands. Well may the bourgeois press scream in alarm, “British organized labor has surrendered to Bolshevism,” is the judgment of the most conserva- tive circles in England, according to a wireless dispatch to the yew York Times from London. The British bourgeoisie is astound: ed. It weeps Copious tears) alternat- ing -with stormy threats, ‘‘while it ‘points’out that. “the program laid down by the ‘Scarborough Trade Union Congress ‘is diametrically op- posed to the official program of the British labor party.” : “Moscow won ‘the battle of Scar- Fee ata Seer fo 1?" queries the New York Siete: 1. This is the key to the current of the next few weeks. Mac- aldism, are adopting Leninism. ' ‘The Revolutionary Forces. ; eS ee Se eee dous change? Surely not just the able propaganda of Harry Pollitt, Tom Mann, and the Minority Movement, effective as that has been. The ex- planation is that the British empire is no longer able to bribe and cor rupt the workers by giving sections of them a share in the booty. In- stead, the labor movement has wit It is. nessed constantly growing unemploy- ment and misery, wage-cuts and un- ion-smashing campaigns—all directly’) traceable to the effects -of imperial- ism, A. B. Swales, chairman of the Trade. Union Congress, expressed this in ‘pn: article written before the cdngress, in Trade Union. Unity (September iss sue). He said: “The British empire, by. its “very nature, ‘makes it possible for the.em- ployers to divide up the workers. aiid other toilers such jas the sinall peds- antry, into different camps. Hence, up till now, it has been aa easy game to the employers to use one section of the workers, particularly the de- pendencies in crown colonies, against the workers of the mother country; and vice versa, so that on the one hand it was the business of the colonial slaves to work below any possible standard, and on the other hand it was the business of the work- ers in uniform to fight all the en- slaved nations struggling for their freedom. “The main business of this confer- ence should be to put an end to this, and to bring together the workers and the oppressed against their conimon oppressors. “It is a great tragedy that the en: slaved nations which are fighting for: their freedom look upon the British, empire as a whole, and cotisider’ all of us are responsible’for their suffer-* ings. But we must ‘clear ourselves of this responsibility. | This ~eohfsren&e must declare openly and: clear the working classes of “our. counttly are in no ‘way ‘résponsible for - the crimes committed ‘by our ruling class.” The economic forces undermining the empire aré dealt with by A: A. Puréell, who isthe chairman of the International Federation of Trade Un- ions (Amsterdam). Here are a féw sentences from his article, “Against Imperialism—Trade Union Unity.” “What actually has the empire meant and what does it.mean to the workers?. What.does all the wealth of the Indies mean to the slum-dwell- ing workers of the East End? “Take Lancashire . ... For’ genera- tions the most hideous wage-slavery has existed there... Those Lan- cashire workers have ~ piled“up mil-} lions for the mill owners. What for? So that the selfsame owners can es- tablish mills in Bombay, Calcutta, and Cawnpore, in Shanghai, in Egypt, to carry on the same process of ex- ploitation with the workers in those places, denying by that very act the workers of Lancashire the means ot YOUNG “MINERS! I" (iineeytfahtk tenon ‘that’ _ RANKS AGAINST THE ANTHRA- CITE OPERATORS! YOUNG WORKERS! SUPPORT THE ANTHRACITE MINERS IN ~~ THEIR STRIKE! MANIFESTO OF THE YOUNG WORKERS LEAGUE OF AMERICA. anthracite obtaining .a livelihood. “Right well’ and truly has it been said that, the British empire is one huge slave :plantation of the British ruling class.” And fhen listen to John Bromley, M. 'P., general secretary of the Asso- ciated Society of Locomotive Engi- neers and Firemen: »“The British empire, which may by its expansion in the past have made work for the workers of this country, is now turning in on itself, feeding on its own center, by virtue of the prod- uct of sweated goods made by slave labor, underselling the products of the British worker, and throwing him into unemployment by the utilization of the very capital which he created.” ‘The Fascist Peril. ND what is the reaction of the bourgeosie to these developments? It is in the direetion of white terror and fascism. In the London Daily Herald of Sept. 2, in the column next to the announce- ment that the unemployed registered for August was 1,343,700 or an in- crease of 194,622 over a year ago, there is an exposure of a secret army order, creating a new police force to be controlled by the army. An announcement was issued the same week that the National Citizens Union is enrolling “volunteers” to “maintain national services in emerg- ency.” The functions of the newly-created war, department. constabulary are -ex- ppséa in one of itg regulations, which reads: ; “«No mémber of: the’ war depart- ment constabulary may also be or re- main a member of any trade or simi- lar union, association, or society, other than any association formed within the constabulary in accordance with rules approved by the competent authority.” Then, in addition to many organiza- tions on the lines of the Citizens’ Union and supplementary armed forces of the state, the fascist move- ment is growing at a great pace. The labor movement is slowly awakening to its menace. Thus is to be found in the Labor Weekly of Lansbury, a pronounced pacifist, the following let- ter: “Sir, As one Sn daily touch with ‘business men;’«l.am compelled to spend,..my. working hours in an at- mosphere of class hatred, and the reality of the danger of fascism is constantly being brot ‘home to me. ‘There are two mistakes which many socialists make in regard to this move- ment: that it will not have the sup- FIGHT IN FRONT ioiaels are on strike against is oon a > coal barons te force lower d working conditions upsh therh, ‘Altho profite for the coher Operators have been years, conditions greater than ever for the miners have. before during the past ten been growing continuously worse. Despite the many great struggles carried on by the United ate ie ok Already ages have erent: lagged iehing the rising cost period... living” under such cousitiotis, the men who do the work tm the anthracite t ware ‘oon on ag 2), a® OHS a and at the - ie a % -unfortunately for ‘our™ port of respectable, ldweabiding mem- bers of the commerdial. classes, and that it is aimed only at the Commun- ists, These ideas are soothing to the ‘constitutional’ socialists, but they have no foundation in reality. My business friends and acquaintances are heart and soul with the fascisti, and will support them in the most drastic and violent action against the ‘Reds.’ They will stop at nothing: no scruples of justice, humanity or fair play assail them when their class consciousness is roused. Any -treat- ment of a ‘revolutionist’ is justiti- able; he is beyond the pale./ And, “labor | '¢‘mod- erates,’ they class jas revolutjonary any genuine» leader of the working class or any genuine action in defense of that class. The tragedy is that many of these business men are lov- able and upright personalities in priv- ate life, charitable and generous, ac- cording to their lights, and soft- hearted enuf to the sufferings of the poor when a concrete individual case comes to their notice. “The plain lesson of my experiences is that we shall have to reckon with a really serious fascist movement some day—probably at the next big strike, if not before. I would there- fore plead earnestly with all who have the labor cause at heart that they pre- pare to meet this danger while they have still time. Force must be met by force. Fascism is purely and simply a military“organization, andjis not: améhable to! argum | If can only be .sticceasfully, countered by” a similar organization: on the other side, With luck, we shall have nine months to perfect our arrangements, so there is no time to be lost. The thing must be properly organized on a national basis,-and I would propose that the T. U. C. General Council take up im- mediately the creation of a labor de- fense corps, centrally controlled with local headquarters under @ach trades council. The fascist organization is a splendid example for them to fol- low as regards details. The immedi- ate objects of our defense corps would be: “(1) Maintaining order at all work- ing class public meetings: “(2) Providing a permanent body- guard for all labor leaders threatened by the attentions of the B,F.’s,. “(3) Protecting strike. pickets: from fascist violence, Re one i “I trust that other readers” will. be able to make valuable suggestions to supplement and improve this scheme.” The Big Show-Down, © what point are all these forces leading in Great Britain? Without attempting a profound an- alysis at this moment, it is possible to draw a few conclusions: 1. The British proletariat has broken foose from the moorings of “class collaboration” and nothing, not even MacDonald & Co, can re- store its former conservatism. 2. It Is definitely _ aes ‘and expressing as its own t «ut mentals of Leninism. 3. The British bourgeoisie is pre- paring for a revolutionary upheav- al and. is mobilizing armed forces to repress it, while at the same time trying to pacify the enraged work- ers. 4. The economic position of the, empire makes it almost impossible that “concessions” can be made be- fore ‘next May 1st, which will avold a decisive struggle, 5. It is quite probable that the big show-down will begin next May Day (appropriate time!) when the pres- ent agreement with the miners will _explre.