The Daily Worker Newspaper, September 26, 1925, Page 12

| | By J. LOUIS ENGDHAL. i neg week has seen the passing of the first International Press Day, Sept, 21, held at the suggestion and under the guidance of the Commun- ist Internationad. Nothing could more clearly differ- entiate the Communist press from the capitalist, the social-democratic and the so-called “trade union” press, than the alms and the ambitions of this Press Day. » * . Bolshevizing Our Press. HIS day was set aside as an ef- fort in the struggle to Bolshevize our. press; to sharpen it to become a more effective weapon in the class war. This meant the clarifying of its working class character; bringing it into closer and still more intimate touch with the workers at their plac- es of toil. Special and most import- ant stress was therefore, laid upon contributions direct from worker cor- respondents, not merely as a feature of this special issue, but ag an im- ~pertant daily aid in the editorial work of.our Communist newspaper. The Communist dally, more and more, seeks to imbibe itself ever deeper in the daily life of the work- ers, in order to be the better able to fight labor’s battles. On the other hand, however, we find not only the capitalist press clos- ed and in opposition to the workers, but the same holds true for the social- democratic, or “socialist,” as well as the “trade union” press, in a varying but equal degree. : es ¢ @ The “Friends of Labor.” OT that the capitalist newspaper denies that it is a friend of labor. It hypocritically insists, that it is his best friend, advising the workers on all occasions to desist from class ac- tion for their own benefit. The strike, however, 'ways reveals this capital- ist press in its true light, in a way. that the workers can understand, But all workers are not affected by strikes ‘orSimilar’elass <onflicts, nor are any workers on strike all the time. So the anti-working class character of the bosses’ press, that reveals itself during these conflicts, is often too quickly dimmed for the worker not yet class conscious. Only the best informed workers can quickly detect in every article, news and editorial, the poisonous propaganda of these enemy publications. The workers in general have not yet learned that the praise of these kept harlots of capi- talism, that is being go fulsomely poured forth these days upon the heads of conservative labor officials, and in support of labor’s every reac- tionary act, is the best testimony of treason to labor and loyalty to labor’s enemies. Yet increasing numbers of workers must grow to realize this. Some sections of the “Brass Check” press have carried on deliberate and well-planned campaigns to debauch the workers; to win them away from the building of their own class press. This has been especially true of the Hearst string of dailies and of the so-called Scripps-McRae newspapers, that boasted of their “labor editors,” and of their “trade union columns.” But these efforts were mainly to win the favor of the trade union official- dom as a means of betraying the workers. The McNamara case, the newspaper strike in Chicago in 1912, and the more recent strike on the Seattle, Wash. Post - Intelligencer, have joined in effectively putting the antilabor stamp on William Randolph Hearst, while the Scripps sheets have been only a little less fortunate in hiding their allegiance to those who fatten off the workers. . ss = ITY workers and farmers have also had their bitter experiences with the so-called trade union dailies, chief among which were the Seattle Union Record and the Minnesota Daily Star. Those -in control of the financing of these publications put out the “Wel- come” mat for the city and land work- ers as long as they showed a willing- ness to invest their meager earnings in much lauded stock. The pretense of a fight for the interests of the workers and farmers was kept up as Jong as it did not conflict with the desires of the management, which Samper ane ete et Sf deieenia.atillllieatinantatieaemenacnaiitiedee ae |Our First Communist Press Day employed every possible capitalist trick to make of these dailies profit- able business enterprises. The in- evitable result was the enslavement of these dailies to big advertisers with the ultimate and complete be- trayal of its labor support. The fate of the Seattle Union Record and the Minnesota Star should show labor the way of all so-called “trade union” dailies, *. * @ T took the “socialist” daily press a little longer to travel the same road. The “socialist” New York Call, for instance, expired under a dose of “popularization” administered to it by New York trade union officials, with the liberal aid of their treasuries, af- ter it had surrendered all pretense to any “socialist” character. The Mil- waukee Leader, the “socialist” daily edited by Victor Berger, lives today at the whim of the big department store advertisers of the Wisconsin metropo- lis, to at least one of whom, Gimbel Brothers, Berger openly apologized for having criticised it during the war days. Berger’s Milwaukee Leader may now be said to be completely sub- merged in the morass of capitalist journalism in the state of Wisconsin, beyond the confines of which it has ceased to have any influence. * ’ * R= one of the most revealing facts about these dailies, that have car- ried the labor label, is that they take no interest in the great struggles of the workers, outside of the casual news interest, abetted by the custom- ary capitalist news service report that they receive. They have no policy to- ward the important anthracite coal strike; no definite stand to be taken on the important conventions of the railroad workers. being held at Kan- sas City, Mo., and at Detroit, Mich., except to echo the reactionary pro- grams of the official conservative re- gimes, politically as well as indus- trially. : On every field of battle, whether in strikes or on the convention floor, it is.our ,Comm organ, the, DAILY wo at eves voiegrte the de-4 mands of the militant rank and file, struggling to make progress against this combined host of enemies. Even the Communist press ia not impervious to these diseases that be- set and destroy the “socialist” and trade union press. It is only thru the most thoro Bolshevization that the Communist press, especially the for- eign-language Communist press that is inherited from’ the “socialist” par ty, can fight off and rid itself of FR dangerous tendencies. One of the tragic examples of this failure to sub- mit itself to a thoro Bolshevization is the case of the New York Volkszei- tung, that was the voice of the Ger- man workers in the “socialist” party before 1919, but was since then and until recently recognized as our Ger- man Communist daily in the United States. <« K ede Volkszeitung never made a serious attempt to throw off the numerous social-democratic diseases that beset it. As a result its strug- gle for the workers was poisoned to the point of ineffectiveness, It might be well to cite a: concrete example. The Volkszeitung publish- es columns of advertisements of small businessmen. But even these small businessmen come in conflict with their workers, altho some of them are looked upon as “good fel- lows,” and others have been members of the “socialist” party of long stand- ing, even back in the old country. Since some of them have done well, they have contributed financially to the Volkszeitung, as a memorial no doubt, to their own past, but now dead revolutionary activities. But even such “good” bosses die, and the present editorship of the Volkszeitung, that calls itself Communist, must needs pay them tribute, referring to one especially who, “in spite of his sym- pathy for the cause of the worker, Was not spared his struggles with the workers.” It was this very boss, a sausage manufacturer, who nearly de- stroyed Butchers’ Union No. 174, in Raneed City, but the Volkszeitung . is, pay him tribute, because he had shown himself a “good fel- low” with his plunder, *¢e¢ a tendeney finds its expression in many ways, but usually in a hopeless attitude toward everything that the workers attempt. The Volkszeitung showed it again in its editorial attitude toward the present heroic struggles of the Chin- ese. It belittled the efforts of the Chinese ag merely a nationalist at- tempt that could not succeed. The nationalist revolution was rejected as no good, while it was pointed out that the time had not yet arrived for the Communist revolution. What alterna- tive then, but continued and complete submission? This is merely a thin- ly veiled effort to keep up a pro-Bol- shevik front thru philosophizing about labor's problems, instead of actually entering into the struggles of the workers. **¢ It is the same disease that breaks" into full repulsiveness when an edi- tor, of one of our foreign-language publications, for instance, declares that it is not important to publish the material sent to him by the na- tional organization of our Workers (Communist) Party, that it is more important to give space to the “news” notes of some semi-working class fra- ternal organization with which it hap- pens to be in close touch. Merely an- other effort to dodge the open fight for the workers led by our party, that depends upon our press as its most effective weapon. p * * #@ . Sept. 21, 1925, was set aside as a day for the Bolshevization of our Communist press. But the effort put forth on that day must be renewed every day thruout the year. This is being done in editorial rooms of the DAILY WORKER, where the voice of the working class, sounding thru our worker correspondents, grows ever clearer and louder. For- ward to a year of effective Bolsheviz- ation that will build stronger our Com- niunist preg > ¢ oS RT The Loni Party and the October Revolution By N. KRUPSKAYA. Seven years ago, at the height of the imperialist war, the October Revo- lution—the greatest of all revolu- tions—shook the world. . Who made this revolution? Lenin Party alone? Certainly not; the masses—the workers and peasants—made it to gether with the party. War, with its devastations and op- pression, had made life intolerable te the workers and peasants and to. the soldiers who were drawn from these sections of the population. They could not stana it any longer. To suppress the rising the govern- ment deceived the people: the sol- diers, workers and peasants were told that they were fighting for the defense of their country, and thaf for such a cause one must be ready to lay down one’s life. Lenin Party Echoed Workers’ Needs. The Lenin Party opened the eyes of the masses; it told them the truth and nothing but the truth; it explained to them the causes of the war and showed them how capitalists and land- owners are profiting by wars and are using them for the enslavement of the masses. And in spite of all the efforts of the capitalists, landowners and their lack- eys to besmirch the Bolsheviks, to make the masses believe that Lenin was a German spy, the workers and peasants realized fhat Lenin and the Lenin Party spoke the truth. The Lenin Party issued the slogans: “Down with the predatory war,” “The land to the working population,” “All power to the Soviets.” ‘ These slogans touched the heart of every worker and peasant, for they echoed their most intimate thoughts and desires. They saw that the Lenin Party was standing up for their interests, and the more their eyes were opened, the The more they began to believe in Lenin and his party. Comrades, said the Lenin Party to the workers, you cannot win unless you have the support of the peasantry and unless you make yourselves worthy of the confidence of the latter, Side by side with the peasants, you are bound to win. Comrades, said the Lenin Party to the peasants, the workers will help you to obiain peace and land and to shake off the yoke of the landowners and rural authorities. Follow it. And the workers and peasants joined forces; together they had suf- fered from the oppression of landown- ers and capitalists and the rule of the nobility—and together they rose. The Lenin Party did its utmost to help them to their victory, and the peasant and proletarian masses were victorious. In October they took power into their own hands, and immediately the decree concerning land and peace was Promulgated. : Fought Devastation. ; And after October the Lenin Party continued to defend the interests of workers and peasants. Those were difficult times. The Brest-Litovsk Peace was made under very hard con- ditions, but it reseued the country from war. Capitalists and landown- ers offered a fierce resistance to the Soviet power, the power of the work- ers and peasants. Foreign powers helped the former in every possible way. They wanted to help the Rus- sian bourgeoisie to suppress the work- rs and peasants who had rebelled, but they were unable to do so. The worst enemy with whom it was most difficult to fight was—ruin and devastation. The country had to make great efforts and bring many sacrifices in its struggle against this ruin and devastation. But the Lenin Party did everything it possibly could to help the Soviets to overcome this ruin and devastation, and one can see already that they are in their death throes. When Lenin was taken ill, the doc- tors forbade him to work, to read papers and to meet comrades. This was very irksome to Vladimir Ilyitch. And he frequently said: “Can they prevent me from thinking?” And he thought night and day trying to find ways and means to bring the working and peasant classes nearer to com- plete victory, to help them to over- come all difficultiés and to make their lives bright and free from the fear what the next day might bring. Lenin’s Last Articles. When he was already bedridden, and his right side was paralyzed, but was still master of his speech, he dic- tated to a stenographer his last arti- cles. In these articles he urged his party to continue to work in closer union between the working and peas- . ant classes to improve our apparatus and to work continually among‘ the masses in order to help workers and peasants to organize their life, to be- come more conscious and cultured, to understand better their common inter- ests and to adopt gradually newer and better collective forms of ‘Work—o- operation. : Lenin’s injunction to his party was to continue to develop the October work, and the Lenin Party means to fulfill this injunction, ~ Locate Arctic Explorers WASHINGTON, Sept. 25.—After 48 — hours of worry because no communi- cation could be established with the Bowdoin, carrying Commander Donala “MaeMillan, the Arctic explorer, the airplane carrier Peary re-established communication today, according to ad- vices to the national geographic so- ciety. 2 The Peary is now near Battle Har- bor, Labrador, and the Bowdin is lying in a cove off Greenland waiting for the equinoctial gales to subside be- fore trying to sail across Davis Straits to Labrador, 8 i YS ee -