The Daily Worker Newspaper, October 24, 1925, Page 12

How the French Proletariat Is Meeting the “Next War” (Continued from page 2.) national, and their message of solid- arity was received with the greatest enthusiasm, “We are with you,” they said, “The soldiers and sailors are suf- fering and dying. .. They are being crushed by repression. . . The sailors of the Courbet and of the Paris are paying dearly for their demand for better conditions... Whatever the cost, the sailors and soldiers will go on with the struggle against the war and against capitalism.” France al- ready has her soviets of workers, sol- diers and peasants in embryo. At the Marseilles congress dele- gates from the revolutionary sailors of the Mediterranean fleet, who mu- tinied in July of this year against the rotten conditions on shipboard, and against participation in the Riffian war, also participated.~ Despite the fact that of-the 1,200 delegates several hundred were non-party, and about a hundred socialist, the congress organ- ized a demonstration to be held before the Polish embassy in protest against the execution of our comrades in Pol- and. The police who had forbidden the demonstration met the procession with drawn swords and revolvers, and a number of the demonstrators and of the crowds of Marseilles workers who had joined the procession as it- went along were beaten and wounded. The fact that the Marseilles municipal council which is socialist offered no opposition to this attack, made a deep and hostile impression on the delegates, Workers’ Commission of Enquiry at Front Last month the central council of action, insisting upon the right of the workers to know the full truth in re- gard to the treatment of their com- rades at the front, the details of the bombing expeditions against defense- less Riffian villages, and, in general, to get.a faithful picture of French im- perialism in action, sent a commission of enquiry.-direct to the theater of war in Morocco. The government, naturally made every effort to prevent the commission from leaving France, and is now’putting all manner of ob- stacles in its path to stop it from per- forming its mission. On the other hand, the government has not only done everything in its power to facili- tate the work of the deputation com- posed of bourgeois parliamentary de- puties and journalists which is now in Morocco, and which it knows can be depended upon to see and to write only what ought to be seen and writ- ten, but has paid the expenses of the members, and placed both the civil and military authorities at their dis- posal, When the commission of enquiry left Paris, the Paris Soir came out with the announcement “that the ad- ministrative authorities of Morocco have taken all measures to prevent the debarkation of these undesir- ables.” At Bordeaux the steamship company, which had been tipped off by the police, refused to sell them tickets— “all the tickets were taken for the next two months.” Then at Marseilles the police attempted to get hold of Doriot, perhaps the most hated and feared of the Communist depu- ties by the gentlemen whose game he has been showing up, and prevent him from proceeding with the commission, but he managed to evade them and the delegation embarked for Oran in Algeria. As soon as the identity of the members of the commission was recognized on shipboard, a wireless was sent to Oran, where the author- ities hastily recruited a number of loafers and stoolpigeons and organ- ized a “spontaneous” hostile demon- stration which was duly broadcasted by the French bourgeois press. All the -capitalist newspapers in France are carrying savage attacks on the commission of enquiry, some, the Libert® and France Militaire for in- stance, openly appealing to violence in order to put a stop to its further activities. According to latest ac- counts however, our comrades are proceeding with their project, and the central and local committees of act- ions are calling for the workers and peasants to agitate for the widest support of the delegation in the shops and factories and villages. The government, is of course, not depending on repressive measures alone— in order to fight the anti-war feeling among the masses. It is re- sorting to all sorts of counter-propa- ganda, that the Riffs are being finan- ced by German gold, ete etc.—and, with the. aid of the socialist chiefs is seeking by every means to discredit the Communist Party and destroy its steadily growing influence. Despite its efforts, however, and despite the an- . cient habit of patriotism whose last traces among the masses cannot be wiped out in a day, the answer which the French proletariat is giving to the all-important question “What will the workers do in the next war?” is one thing that may well give us courage and hope for the future. More than a first step has been taken toward “turning the imperialist wars of na- tions into the civil war of classes.” Tendencies of the Italian Opposition By EDMONDO PELUSO (Rome) HE disintegration of the opposition parties takes its course and is be coming more and more accelerated, and at the same time the fascist re- gime is strengthening and consolidat- ing itself. The monarchy has now quite gone over to the side of fascism and has taken with it the general staff of the regular army and the high officials, and finally the var- Aous social strata of the bourgeoisie. Sowhevacifated a Tittle dfter the mur- der of Matteotti, have at last recogn ized that at the present moment fascism alone can protect and defend their interests. The anti-fascist movement has thus. under the lead of the “democracy” been completely defeated. The bloc} compounded of very heterogeneous elv ments, which the opposition formed against Mussolini’s regime, continues to crumble away gradually. The con stitutionalists who paid homage to th. king on the occasion of his jubilee in spite of the fact that he had left them in the lurch, called forth loud protests) from the non-constitutional parties (republicans, social-democrats and Maximalists.) In order to satisfy the «:masses who followed in their train, “these parties had to give expression to threats of separation. But these threats remained nothing but threat= and at the last meeting of the Aver tine bloc, they showed, by unanimous- ly passing the resolution not to return to parliament, that their fate is linked for ever with that of the bourgedis “democracy.” It is, as a matter of fact, obvious _ Mat these three parties, who call ‘themselves anti-constitutional, have completely lost their independenco and that they only continue to exist as a fraction of the “democratic con- atitutional” bloc whose discipline and instructions they accept. ar. this however is true of the repub- lican, sucial-democratic and max- imalist leaders, it does not apply to ' the masses who follow them. Many «proletarian elements of these parties come to us, take part in the formation of workers’ and peasants’ committees, and make ‘proposals for common ac- tion, emphasizing that they agree with our slogans. One of the reasons for the pro. posal made by the Communists to these anti-constitutional parties, in which they belong, want to act, and see that the Communists alone can now take the lead in the fight against fascism and carry it thru to a success ful issue. E proposal for alliance which the Communists have made to the re committee of action of Sardinia (au- tonomists) is the continuation of the strategic line which the party has pursued, since the events of last year endangered the existence of the fa- scist regime. When we remember that the Communists Party of Italy at that time proposed to the opposition par- ties to constitute themselves as an opposition parliament, which would have been the first step towards an open fight against the usurping and oppressive regime, but that the Aven- tine rejected ‘it, is it not evident that this represents the ‘last resérve of the bourgeosie against proletarian revolu- tion? In view of this refusal, the Communist Party of Italy proposed to the so-called proletarian parties, 1 general strike, which was also re- _ NEAR THE END OF HIS ROPE jected. Today the development of eyents makes it possible to take up again the line sketched at that time, in or- der once more to set in motion the masses which are prevented from ac- tion by the parties to which they are attached. Since the tactics of the past year have made our party the third factor in the political life of Italy, this proposal of an alliance, will doubtless serve to gather the active masses who are eager to defeat fas- eism, round the Communist Party of Italy. HE open letter of the Communist Party to the republicans and so- cialists invites them to a meeting in By ALEX REID. (Secretary of the Progressive Miners’ Committee.) é iageee writer of this. article stood in Springfield one evening some time ago and witnessed a demonstration against Frank Farrington, the head of the Illinois mine workers’ organization. It was a very significant occur- rence, considering what is going on in the miners’ union. A large collection of miners. were proceeding towards the district office of the union with a grim look of determination on their faces. Miners could be seen in front of. the building, on zach side of it, and in front of it, while many were seen to go up into he building, to the headquarters of ‘he chief faker, Farrington. I looked long the block and noticed three po- licemen there, and realized the im- portance of their presence at that par- ticular place at that particular time. RDINARILY, you cannot see any policemen around there, as the corner is not very busy, and their presence at this time showed that they were prepared for something special. Not knowing what the de- monstration was about, I asked a miner if a meeting of unusual im- portance was taking place at the dis- trict. office, and he informed me as follows: “Brother, there is surely a meet- ing at this office this evening; we are going to finish our fight in this sub- district one way or another right now. We are tired of this treason and we are not going to stand for it any more. Farrington has to undo some of his dirty work or he has to get out of the union.” I watched the crowd about an hour, and they finaliy left the building and returned to the miners’ local build- ing, as I afterward learned. FTER their meeting I found out that Farrington’s tool, “Joker” Young, had been to their meeting attempt- ing to explain away his treachery to the miners in that particular local, | paring petitions for this and justify his treason to Joe Loda, | vention a deposed check weighman, whom jall of the Young had betrayed. The meeting of Farrington: the miners had resulted in determin- ation to have the facts thrashed out, and as Farrington’s tool, the drunken board member Young, had been un- able to justify his position, the min- ers had taken up the question with Farrington. I am informed that the miners were state of to f order to discuss the general situation of the country and to decide on a line of action for the fight against fascism It laid down the following funda- mental conditions: 1,_ The control of the workers over industry as the only means of fight- ing against the plutocracy which finances fascism. 2. The land to the peasants, 3. A fight for the formation of a republican conference which should be formed on the basis of the work- ers’ and peasants’ committees and should organize all the anti-fascist forces of the people. HIS proposal greatly embarassed the parties to whom it was made. At first they ‘tried to suppress it and then hardly mentioned it. The govr- ernment on its part immediately un- derstood the significance of our stra- tegy and immediately had all our newspapers confiscated, among them the daily paper which had published the news, and had the arrests and per- secutions of the Communists increas- ed. It is obvious that the political situation in’ Italy will be entirely changed if, as we believe, the opposi- tion of the Aventine is replaced by the pressure of the proletarian oppo- sition. Having been prevented from openly propagating our proposal, we printed it secretly and distributed t& among the masses. The answer of the Italian social- democrats who, at their last congress, made fundamental declarations which are not anti-monarchistic, was a firm and categorical refueal. The commit- tee of action of Sardinia declares it- self ready to accept the proposals and to stand up for them against the oppo- sition parties. The republicans havo not yet answered, but the party in the most embarassing situation is that of the maximalists who do not know what to answer: while the lead- erg will, in no way, work hand in hand with the Communists, the masses who aro their followers, hold the opposite } point of view, There can be no doubt that this uew tactical line will serve to strong- new tactical line will serve to strength- en the prestige of the Communist the course of developmént in Maly.