The Daily Worker Newspaper, November 7, 1925, Page 6

] 3t Th wie wi Is Page Six THE DAILY WORKER ———————— Published by the DAILY WORKER PUBLISHING CO. 418 W. Washington Bivd., Chicago, M1, Phone Monroe 4712) a chibi Re PART Il SUBSCRIPTION RATES | JAPAN AND THE CUSTOMS By mail (in Chicage only): {| By mail (outelde of Chicago): =| CONFERENCE $6.00 per vear $3.50 six months $2.00 three months $8.00 per year $4.50 six months $2.50 three months : HE Japanese press,’ reflecting the interests of its ruling’ class, is | agreed that the proposal to’ allow China to raise her customs duties presents a grave danger ‘to ‘their country, Japanese exports to China, they contend, are possible in large measure only because’ of the ‘nominal | Chinese tariff. Therefore if China| were to impose a high export tax, it would so increase the expense of the raw materials which Japan must im- port from that country as to make} Japanese competition in the « world| market impossible. An examination of the character of | the trade between the two countries proves this contention is well based. Japan takes a larger part of China’s exports than any other country. .On the other hand one-third of her-own| exports find their market ‘in’ Chinaa. Any general increase in Chinese cus- toms therefore will injure™her trade, | cutting both ways like a scissors. HE bulk if her exports to China consist of yarns and cotton goods of a cheap grade, which her experts admit can easily be made in the Chi- nese mills, and which in fact are to an ever greater extent being mahu- factured there.’ There {s. an increas- ingly heavy investment of Japatiese | capital in China, and a pronounced | tendency to transfer the cotton spin- | ning industry thére where raw mia-/| terial is abundant and labor still cheaper than at home. According to the Japanese press this same tend- ency exists in the matchmaking and flour industries. Silk Industry Threatened, The interconnection'of economic factors is nowhere so evident as in a situation like this. Japan’s most im- portant market, is the United States | to which she sells a third of her total | exports. Of these, raw silk makes.up 80. per ;cent. Yet an expert: for the Mitsui. company, one .of the biggest corporations in the country, after an investigation of conditions in Kwang- tung states that this single Chinese province could produce more mul- ry leaves than all Japan. (The liwormt feeds on this leaf only). If ha had- customs autonomy she ld be able to make the raising of such. trees. and .the consequent .build- ing.up of a huge industry so profitable thatthe Japanese silk industry would be, dealt a death blow. Take from Japan, .@8 one writer says, the -silk export,to the United States.and the cotton. geo0ds and yarn to China and Japan, has nothing much left. The enormous importance to Japan of.her Chinese commerce is evident from,ageonsideration of the statistics forvecent years, From-1904 to 1918 the.Japanese share of the direct trade. between ‘the two countries in- creased 714 per cent, more than four- teen times as much as England’s and ‘ Address all mail and make out checks to THE DAILY WORKER, 1113 W. Washington Bivd., Chicago, filinole —_——_. cos ab steht J, LOUIS ENGDAHL WILLIAM F, DUNNE MORITZ J. LOEB. ——————— Bntered av second-class mail September 21, i ditors Business Manager 3, at the post-office at Chi- 3, 1879, Advertising rates on application. Undisputed Party Leader The Tammany victory in New York elevates Governor Al. Smith to the position of undispnted leader in the demoeratie party in the United States. The defeat of the Hearst-Hylan petty-bourgeois com- bination and the campaign of vituperation preceding and following the primaries in September did not adversely affect. the’party in that city. The triumph of Walker, the Tammanyite, over Waterman, the republican candidate, almost equalled the last. victory of Mayor Hylan when all elements of the New York democracy were united. bomen <= 100 Capitalist editors, usually incapable of astute political analysis, ard the elections of Tuesday as of no national consequence. A : ysis reveals that it has considerable national signi- nee. The democratic party has been without ‘a recognized leader since Woodrow Wilson was stricken with his fatal illness while cam- paigning for the Morgan issue of the league of nations: ’“A > fierce internal conflict ensued when, after the 1920 national defeat the petty-bourgeois elements tried, thru the late Bryan, to ‘regain con- trol of that party. At the 1924 convention the Bryan-McAdoo forces engaged in a titanic struggle to wrest the party from the ¢lutches of the House of Morgan and bring it back into middle class hands. This effort failed and the Morgan forces won. Bryan’s death removed the most powerful of the petty-botrgeois leaders. William G. McAdoo can never hope to rival the hold that Bryan had upon the imagination of the middle class. Four powerful and corrupt political machines. now dominate the democratic party: Tammany in New York, the Frank Hague machine in Jersey City that placed its candidate in the governor’s chair, the George E. Brennan machine of Chicago and the Tom Tag- gart machine in Indiana. These sections of that party are as one behind Smith. The eastern wing of the democratic party is triumphant, but that does not mean that the national party is thereby revived. Me: Adoo will challenge Smith’s desire to head the ticket in 1928 and the Madison Square convention of last year will be repeated, with thé possible nomination of Smith as candidate for president of the United States. His candidacy will sound the death knell of the oldest political party in America, as such a defeat will demonstrate the undisputed sway of the republican party as the representative of finance-capital. By 1928 the ever accelerated pace of gigantic mergers in all in- dustries in this country will have forced the completion of the transition of the republican party from an agency of industrial cap- ital to the political expression of finance-capital. ».In spite of the absurd notions of the muddle-headed socialists that capitalism is one united reactionary mass and that.it maintains parties identical in nature, Marxians know that only in periods of rapid changes in the economic structure of.a country do we have anything approaching two parties representing idéntical class in- terests. Finance-capital will throw its support entirely to the re- publican party and the three units of the democratic party will vegetate in the mire of local politics, while its petty-bourgeois wing will for a time fitfully strive to exist and then vanish. Viewed nationally the victories of the democratic party in Tues- day’s elections, are not signs of new vitality, but only’its death rattle. t With one reactionary party dominating American polities, the} -. working class, now for the most part unconscious of the class char- acter of political struggles can more easily be rallied to the support of a working class party. i ‘ 5 ‘ rega By MANUEL GOMEZ A. & the lordly powers, of. the world ** meet each other today across the table at the Chinese customs confer- ence in Peking, there is one great 6 nation, deeply concerned in, all, the affairs: of China, that is conspicuous- ly among those: missing. That nation in Soviet Russia, now the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics. Soviet Russia was not. invited, and her request to be included was re- fused. The reason must be clear to everybody. Soviet Russia would scar- cely be of ‘help to the other great powers in such imperialist aggres- sions against the Chinese people as are being re-forged at the conference table, in the name of “guarantees” for eventual Chinese customs autonomy. If Soviet Russia were at the confer- ence she would not side with the tm- perialists, She would expose them. She would defend the interests of ex- ploited China. . Lenin calléd Russia the bridge be- tween Europe and Asia, capitalist newspapers tell us that this is the bridge between civilization and bar- barism. They do not; however, go so far as to cite in evidence the bloody assault of British “civilization” against the defenseless students of Shanghai, or the most recent éxploits of French “civilization” in wiping out whole Moroccan villages and in un- loosing upon the ‘old city of Damascus such a mad orgy of fire and destruc- tion that even the capitalist world stands aghast. Happily for the future of the world, the British and French militarists do ‘not constitute’ all of European civilization, any more than the United States government, fresh from its latest rape of Panama, con- stitutes all of American civilization. The revolutionary proletarian ele- ments of the west, the class-conscious vanguard of the oppréssed masses struggling against exploitation and imperialism—it is of these elements that the Union of Socialist Soviet Re- publics is the triumphant expression. They stretch out-the hand of alliance to all peoples fighting for national liberation, Russia is thus no longer merely the bridge between Europe and Asia, She is the bridge connect- ing the class struggle of the industrial proletariat with the liberating move- i The Persian Puzzle The new importance in world affairs of strategically located nations like Persia aside from their wealth in natural resources is brought to our attention by the attention paid by the capitalist press to the deposing of Shah Ahmed by the national assembly. Northern Persia is rich in oil. American and British oil con- cerns are waging a struggle for control of the deposits with Britain, thru the Anglo-Persian Oil company, having a little. the best of the competition at present altho American imperialism has an emis- sary in the Persian government—Dr. Arthur Millspaugh, who acts as “budget adviser.” . ; But the real importance of Persia is not in‘its deposits, but in that it lies in between Irak and Afghanistan and borders’ on the Persian Gulf opposite Arabia and is an outer bulwark for British India. Tn this sector the forces of western imperialism représénted by Great Britain conspire against the Soviet Union. Télieran;' close to} the southern point of the Caspian Sea, is the center of imperialist intrigue for to the north and west are the rich oil fields of Baku. What the overthrow of the present dynasty actually means, given legal sanction by a vote of 80 to 5 with 30 representatives absent in the national assembly, is not clear at this distance, but the trend seems to be toward a republic fashioned after the Turkish fashion. Riza Khan, a Persian cossack, is the chief personage in the new government, Whether he is a tool of British imperialism, a friend of Soviet Russia or what is more likely, a Persian nationalist, will be shown sharply when the new government makes its statement on foreign policy. t i In Turkey the establishment of republican rule was followed by the overthrow of the caliphate and an orientation away.from-Great Britain. i The attempt of Great Britain to grab the Mosul oilfields has in- ereased the antagonism and it is probable that in Persia a movement that is of a nationalist tendency will soon find itself in conflict with the British imperialists. F Some sections of the capitalist press hint that the deposing of Ahmed by the national assembly was the result of British intrigue; if so Great Britain is playing.with dangerous weapons, for these are the days when ¢clonial and semi-colonial countries are no longer con- tént to groan under. rulers picked for them by the foreign offices of the imperialist powers, Get a member for. the Workers Party and a new subscription for the DAILY WORKER. . eho THE DAILY WORKER \ Japaii’s Powerful Position in China (From Lansbury’s Weekly, London) sng powers from. long ago having taken the most drastic action to end the Shanghai, strike. Unless Japan reverses entirely her historic policy, it will be her tactics to keep. South and North China at each other's threats. . She pursused this method at the time of the 1911 revolution when she sent a mission to bargain with the Manchus for her sup- Port of the dynasty and at the same time emissaries to Canton t ofind out what the rebels would give for her aid. She adopted a like procedure | during the civil wars. To Refuse Tariff Autonomy, HERE is no doubt that most stren- uous efforts have been mdde by the usual secret diplomatic under- ground methods to reach an agree- ment between the powers for a united front against the Chinese. The Osahi, published at Osaka, Japan, in jan officially inspired article recently stated: “With reference to China's |claim for tariff autonomy, an agree- | ment ha salready been reached be- tween Japan, the United States, and | Great Britain to object to Wiscussing that question; altho they are willing to give their kind consideration to it.... Should China press the par- ticipants to give her their immediate reply, her request would be immedi- ately refused.” If the tariffe conference is to progress it must then be confined merély to the question a8 to just how | situation which has prevented the to make in her customs, how the ad- ditional income shall be portioned out, and whether ther eshall be any —|foreign control. The appointment of three times that of the United States.Jures would become a double-edged|Hioki Eki as chief of: the Japanese In 1880 Japap had but 3 per cent of China’s foreign trade. In 1899 this had increased to 11 per cent and in 1913 to 20 per cent. During the world war she made a huge gain, her proportion reaching in 1917 over one- third, 35 per cent of all China’s ex- ternal commerce. From 1899 to 1913 the tonnage of Japanese.steamers en- gaged in the Chinese trade increased by five times, and has been growing ever since, ae . ONTRIBUTING to the building up of this commerce are the thous- ands of Japanese firms ih China itself. “ere there is also the record of an snormous growth. In /1875 there ‘was one such company in Shanghai. There were 195 in 1899, Fourteen years later in 1917 this number had jumped to 1,269. Out of 42), foreign-owned banks in China 29 are Japanese. China’s Tariff. Al jomy Opposed. There. is little: t the. busi- ness interests. of hina will try. to buildup >the, mative;industry thru a protective tariff. if eustoms autonomy is secured. Very maturally they would seek to adjusi,rates in such a way as ‘to build up their export trade in coal and do away, with the huge importations fram Japan; and at the same time hinder the export of iron delegation indicates ‘that on the tariff Japan will make a last-ditch fiight: Ekt is. characterized by the Japan Weekly Chronicle 4s; with Mr. Obata, “having done more’ bullying work in respect of China than probably any other diplomatist, living or dead.” The paper intimates that-the Japanese will offer concessions in regard’ to extra-territoriality as’a ‘set-off to their stand on the custonis. Great Britain’s Attitude. 'E have ‘noted ‘that Great Britain’s |, **ostand has been frankly hostile to ‘the conference .so far, as, extra-terri- toriality.is concerned. In this her for- e department, répreSents, the die- rds-of her Hongkong and Shanghai séttlements who insist on a “strong” policy, which means one of using mili- jtary force’ to’ suppress all ppposition | to, exploitation. | As regards the tariff, she will fight bitterly to retain her right of naming the head of-its administrative staff. The proposal to raise the Chinese cus- toms to 12% per cent on condition struggle for control of China the feel-|the “likin” is abolished, has already ings of the Chinese people themselyes been approved by gland. Even must be taken into account, particy-| complete tariff autonomy, aside from larly because the Soviet Union will|the control of its. administration, fully exploit any attitude hostile toj would not meet the same opposition the workers and peasants of China. from England which it will from sword at Japan’s throat. “ TAPAN’S economic life,” as a cor- respondent states in the Trans- Pacific recently, “depends on the free and regular exchange of commodities with China.” The Mitsui expert whom we have previously quoted be- lieves the prospects facing Japan are so threatening that “Japan must de- velop into a highly technicalized in- dustrial nation to maintain itself.” Under such circumstances as these what can Japan’s policy be towards the Chinese conference? It has al- ready been pointed out that from the standpoint of her commercial inter- ests any increase in the Chinese tariff would work to her disadvantage and absolute autonomy would be disaas- troug. On the other hand, the large outstanding loans owed to Japan can- not be paid unless China has an. in- creased government revenue andthe customs seem the only method of realizing such additional income. An other complication comes from, fact that in the fierce internati: ores and encourage the growth of steel] It is this latter and comparatively new) Japan, despite the agreement above manufacturing. Each of these meas- ments of the oppréssed@ of all coun- tries, Bare T was only natural when the Amer- ican soldiers, Pgul. Crouch - and Walter Trumbull, béc sickened of their role of ardians of Wall Street’s interests Hawaii and de- termined to help the Hawaiian people throw off the yoke of American im- perialism, that they turned their eyes toward Soviet Russia. And converse- ly; it was to be expected that when the Soviet steamship “Vorovsky” touched at Latin-American ports a month ‘ago, the Communist nucleus aboard would send a message of fra- ternal greeting to the oppressed peo- ples of Latin-America, At the time of the November revo- lution in 1917 the Russian government had special priviliges-in China, as well as the “right” of extra-territor- jality and all the<other “rights” en= joyed by the great=tapitalist powers today. These pri and “rights” were voluntarily dered by. the Soviet regime. Rusila, which under the czar, had be yremost among the imperialist ssors of China, became her friend and ally. In every instance where the diplomatic repre- sentatives of the capitalist powers in Peking took a stand prejudicial to the interests of the nt people, not- ably during the eiatenal outrages of this year, the be hy pea care stood out singled d in opposition. It is no secret that anly fear of Soviet I ers from open war against China following the Shanghai affair. (2 4 GINNING in $99 and 1920, close ties were es' ed with the Kuomintang party <arid the Canton government headed by the heroic Dr; Sun Yat-sen, who is loved and honor ed by all friends of Chinese freedom. How much Dr, Sun valued the ‘asso- ciation is seen in. his thessage to the central exeeutive committee of the Soviet Union, The’ is well Known but it is of%such aouinceics that I give it here dn fails.” Dear comrades: ; Here on my death bed my thoughts turn to you, as*well as to the future destiny of my party and- of my country, Ba sn e! You are the e 0 Free Republic the immortal Leni yb Russia prevented? the pow to sit in at a Chinese customs confer- ence which all sia no less a friend than the Chinese, It was Soviet Russia~ who, following the massacre of Hindus by the British soldiery at Amritsar—a lesson in “civilization” comparable only to the French fury at Damascus—launched the protest that went around the Russians workers f with funds.. So great and so apparent ation that Great Britain. has repeated- ly insisted as a first condition before opening negotiations with the U. S, 8. R, that it refrain from anti-imper- Jalist propaganda in India, But not all the pledges in the world can des- troy Soviet Russia's elemental sym- factor in the tangled Far Basctern|referred to. This is because the cot- Suppressed peoples of the world. By means of this heritage the victims of imperialism will inevitably win their emancipation from that social order which has always been. based upon slavery, war and injustice. I leave behind me a party which, as | always hoped, will be allied with you in its historical task of liberating China and ‘other suppres- sed peoples from the yoke of im- perialism. My charge to the Kuomintang party before all is that it shall con- tinue to promote the cause of the national revolutionary movement for the emancipation of China, which has been degraded by imper- ialism into a semi-colonial country. . 1 therefore charge my party to maintain permanent contact with you, _V cherish the firm belief that your support of my country will remain unaltered. In taking my last leave of you, dear comrades, | express the hope that the day is approaching when the Soviet Union will greet in a free and strong China its friend and lly, and that the two states will Proceed hand in hand as allies in the great fight for the emancipation of the oppressed of the whole world, With brotherly greetings, _ SUN YAT-SEN, it any wonder that the. imperialist robbers do not want Soviet Russia | pathy for the cause of Hindu libera- tion. consummated by the goxernment of revdlutionary Russia was With Must- afa ‘Kemal Pasha and his Turkish Mberation movement; this alliance was maintained thruout the course of Kemal's struggle: to free Turkey from ‘imperialist rule and was an important factor in his success. In Egypt, Russia's sytifpathies have been outspokenly with the nationalist move- ment headed by Zaglil Pasha—even when Zaglul himself threatened ‘to desert it. ‘ British * “civilization” has just seized control again in Persia, by means of a particularly venal coup d'etat, but a wholesome regpect for the red army of Soviet Russia has been, and remains, the constant friend of Persian independence. , ' Soon perhaps the forces opposing the British-inspired coup in Persia will be denounced in the press of Eu- rope and America as “Communists and Bolshéviki,”_ Those are familiar epithets in the mouths of imperialists, and no doubt seem fearsome enough to them—but they have no terrors for the revolu- tionary nationali of the colonies and semi-colonies, who have learned to know imperialism 4s death-dealing oppression and. Communism as the ally of national liberation, VEN the revolt of the- Riff tribes- men under Abd-el-Krim has been attributed to bolshevist propaganda. This is of course untrue, for it is the brutal imperialism of France and Spain that drove the Riff natives: to war for freedom, . Nevertheless, no one doubts where the Soviet govern- ment’s sympathies are*in the strug- gle. The Communist Party of France rendered direct,aid to Abd-el-Krim at the very time when French imperial- ism was attacking him, and the C. P. of France together with the other Communist parties are the~ paladins of Soviet Russia in western Europe. National questions are now assum- ing special significance’ and acutes ness, not only in Asia, Africa and Latin-America, but even in Hurope. The eruption of Greeks and Bulgars which we are reading so much about, hina is denouncing? The people of India, struggling for freedom from the crushing rule of imperialist Britain, find in Soviet Rus- world. In the great Bombay strike, helped liberally is the Soviet support of Hindu liber- struggle over Macedonia, which much of a raise China will be allowed | relaxation in the present measure of} ‘Almost’ the ‘first ‘foreign alliance } LA REIS . i The Chinese Customs Conference By James H. Dolsen ton, goods, a principal article of Chi. nese import from England, are of. " finer grades which the Chinese, mills, are not adapted for making, On the other hand China will need to, ,¢om- tinue for some time to import machin, ery from England so the British need have no fear of prohibitive duties on, this growing branch of their exports. England Losing Out. oe During the world war Great Britain suffered severe losses in her Oriental , trade, Prior to 1913 the British con- trolled over half of China’s entire for- eign commerce. In 1917) Bngland’s. proportion had dropped to about 40, per cent. Between 1904 and 1918 her direct trade with China had increased but 49 per cent.’ The tonnage of Bri: ish steamers in the Chinese, trade creased from 60 per cent of the total in 1880 to 40 per cent in 1918, tho the actual tonnage ‘itself increased, from 15,874,352 tons to 93,334,830. tons, in- dicating the enormous shipping whieh England controlled. i aponte Of the commercial firms in’ 1864 in Shanghai 75 per cent were British and of the foreign banking houses at that time all but one were British. "In /1917 out of the 7,055 commercial houses but’ 590 were English. There were twice as many Japanese and twice as many Russian, Out of 42 foreign-owned banks but four were ‘British-owned. These figures show that Great Britain s losing her position of primacy in he affairs of China, — “id Britain Versus the Soviet Union. REAT BRITAIN’S tactics will Be to jisolate the Soviet' Union, just as before the world war it was her policy to isolate czarist Russia. Of corse, the reasons for this maneuver are al- together different tho many of the same considerations, suriously enuf, apply. There is the same struggle in the buffer states as there.was in the old days. But, today it is Great Brit- ain, representative of world capital- ism, confronting the Soviet Union; representative of the new working class society. 4 The British ruling class knows that the success of the workers and peas- ants of. Russia sends thru all the op- jpressed masses of the Far East and India, who themselves are similar in social. composition, a great wave of hope and a growing consciousness of their common interests in fighting im- perialism, personified particularly in the English rule. Despite the clashing interests of Britain.and America the English do not forget that it’ is a $300,000,000 ‘standing credit made by the Federal Reserve Bank of the United States to the Bank of Eng- Jand which preserves Great Britain on a gold basis, and they believe that the Amierican’ bankers will allow nothing to ‘happen which might over- night plunge the world into financial chaos. They count on the unyielding Bpposition of the great American ternational banking interests to” Soviet Union despite the general de- sire of ler business men to engage in trade relations, and therefore count on at least a minimum amount of co-op- eration in Far Eastern diplomacy. Soviet Russia, Friend of the Oppressed. Peoples in no way settled by. the great war. The imperialist powers support the claims, now of Bulgaria, now Greece, now. of Yugo-Slavia — as their interests may dictate. Soviet Russia echoes the slogan of Theodore Alexandrov: Independence for Mace- donia! Similarly, the Soviet Union endorses the aspirations for Croatian autonomy as originally defended by the republican Croatian party, when its leader, Raditch, was still loyal-to the interests of his peasant followers. aac} peoples eyerywhere are able to have confidence in the attitude of the U. S. S. R. toward them because it is not seeking ' super- profits. It has no imperialist aims, for the simple reason that it has ‘no imperialistic economic ‘base; and no dominant capitalist class, It’ is not even a national state in’ the older sense, but a union of auténoméus so- cialist Soviet republics, welded toget- her under a constitution “which leaves each one free to’ leave the union at will, It cannot nature, acknowledge the” of any chosen people, of race. It knows phrases “white supremacy” are fictions white robbery . . . on im which must be destroyed {f° ism is to live. Nl AG One-of the great accompltghm of the pane revolution, as | we world imperialism. puts it, was to aid in con’ few ‘words to ‘those a" Marx | éreated the historic slogan; Wi ‘Into citadels for the ove colonies and semi-colonies dels of capitalist pisos st alis' of the world and oppregsed unite! But it is after all, slogan. Soviet Russia givi and demonstrates by i with the subject peoples of all. e unity of the prole and na tional liberation Pech ya sd Russia has established the Arst ing proletarian dictatorship, She h also made the first breach in the r of capitalist imperialist states, is the unmistakable sign, to the. ples of the colonies and col .of how the advancing mar industrial proletariat in all. hee these days is but incident in the}. cat that y/ 4 J e \ 4 ' i \ ‘