The Daily Worker Newspaper, November 21, 1925, Page 14

By MORRIS BACKALL. HEN I left the neighboring coun- tries to go to Soviet Russia I felt very much ambarassed. The neigh- boring countries as Latvia, Germany, Poland are full with people that esca- ped Soviet Russia. They are telling horrible stories. They saw with their own eyes how the inhabitants of So- viet Russia are afraid to talk, to cri- ticize, to express their opinions, be- cause they have a suspicion that every other person is a member of the Cheka. They picture very impressive- ly how the leaders of the Soviet Re- publics are establishing a caste and are uot of touch with the life of the population. There is a struggle going on inside of me. If there is truth to what it is said about Soviet Russia, so what happened with the ideal of Commun- ism? With the great teachings of Marx and Lenin? I had many sleepless nights because of it. But my longing to see Soviet Russia, to breathe the air where the great drama of the social revolution teok place—where a new life was created and a new hope was brought about—overpowered my fear and I left for Soviet Russia. When the train arrived at Zebezch where the line is divided between the old and the new world and I saw a little hut with red inscriptions: Long live the social - revolution—Work- ers of the world unite—and red soldiers guarding with their lives and blood the Socialist Soviet Republics, I felt relieved, and further- more, when I saw the political militia explaining to every one the laws of the Soviet Republic, and had a con- versation with the chief about the new life that springs all over the great country of Soviet Russia, I felt as tho a heavy load was taken off my heart. The train is moving on Soviet Rus- sia land. We see life in every station. People streaming all over. I walk thru the’ cars of the train and I see lying on a bench an old man in very simple clothes with a white beard and big, big, eyes: “Good evening, citizen,” I said to him. “Good evening, brother,” he replied. “Where are you going,” I asked him, and he said, “I am going to Moscow and then back to Switzer- land.” “To Switzerland,” I wonder. “What for,” I cénfronted him again. He smiled. He understood that I took The Children Fighting “Education By NAT KAPLAN. HE children of the workers in the lands of capitalist rule and imper- jalist domination are born into a world which spells hard work, under- nourishment, disease and death. In our own United States the land of plenty (for the bosses) millions of childrén go to school hungry and rag- ged. Millions more are forced at an early age to enter the factories and mills, the canneries and farms and there to labor for long hours in order that they may help to increase a little the small incomes ef the proletarian fami- lies. American capitalism is the mur- derer par excellence of the proletar- ian children of this country and of its colonial and semi-colonial posses- sions. Public Schools—Hothouses of Re- action. : The public schools are an, insepar- able part of the bourgeoisie state rule. The primary motive of the in- stitutions of so-called free education is to turn out as large a number of obedient patriotic wage slaves in the shortest possible time, at the smallest possible expense. The teaching of the three “R’s” is but part of the general patriotic, religious, pro-boss propagan- da which is dished out under the guise of education. To save expenses the local politi- cians on the school boards allow school buildings to go on for years without any repairs thus endangering the lives and health of thousands of children. Thousands of schools thru- out the country are veritable fire traps, with wooden steps, no fire es- capes and loose chairs in assembly him to be a peasant. And he said, “I am Pavel fIvanovitch Biriukov.” “Ohb-h,” I said, “the biographer of Tol- stoy,” and he answered, “Yes, Yes. The Soviet government published my books on Tolstoy, and I am going there for a visit.” I asked Pavel Ivanovich Biriukov, “is it true that the intelligentsia and scientists in Russia are prosecuted?” And he replied, “It is the greatest crime in the history of the world that the intelligentsia abroad are spread- ing lies about the attitude of Soviet Russia towards its spiritual workers.” The Soviet government, he said, is a government of the simple people—of the peasant and the worker, And em- bodies the ideal and longing of the common people, And those that are trying to hinder the work of such a new cottntry that is seeking itself its goal and its form, are really betraying the ideals of humanity. From far distant cars people came to hear the wisdom of the old man. And he told how in Moscow there is a Tolstoy Museum, how Yasnaya Poli- ana is kept up by Sasha, the daughter of Tolstoy. And there were questions asked, discussions, criticisms, bitter criticisms, in some ways, but I heard a love in everybody's heart towards Soviet Russia. I hear English spoken in one of the cars. I learn a group from Ameri- ca is going to establish a model farm in Perm with 24 tractors. It is made up of robust, tall men and women. In a few minutes we became acquainted. It is late Saturday night. In the morning we’ll reach Moscow. It was quiet all over. But in a cor- ner of the train the American group was still discussing and they sent for me. “What is it, friends,” I asked them. And they began to tell me. “You know, we are not going to Sovi- et Russia because we didn’t have any- thing to eat in America, our stomachs were full, but we were not satisfied, our lives were too dry, too empty, and then some of us went as relief work- ers in the years of famine in Soviet Russia and we heard the peasants sing and we saw a life that “brings happiness. And so we organized to help establish this happiness and this life. And now we think that if we will bring tractors and modern form of industry in agriculture to the pea- sants, we may fill their stomachs but we will take away their song. And rooms, All the greater economy plans conceivable are adopted to prevent expenditures for the building of new decent school buildings, Tin can port- able schools are set up. Platoon, Gary and other machine-like part-time sys- ‘ save’ money and to turn out wage slaves turns out tems are set up in order to like a sausage machine sausages. American Education Week for Whom? It is but appropriate that the Ameri- In Moscow---The Red International Cap ital their lives will become as dry and as empty as ours were in America.” I looked at them. I embraced them all. I was happy that they are sich big children, with such hearts and souls and that Russia will be able to make use of their sincerity and of their poetry, that America did not crush entirely out of them, Sunday morning, I heard the con- ductor shouting “Moscow!” My heart was full of impressions. I heard voic- es of people but the tune was differ- ent than of the people I met in Ber- lin, New York, Riga, and then War- saw. It is Moscow! With a differ- ent tune and color and tempo, I walk the. streets—I ‘am on’ the Tverskia, Ilienka, ‘Kuznietzki Most, Arbat. Wo- men: With ‘red shawls on their heads —mien with very simple clothing— with caps on their headg. They oc- cupy(the streets. It is their country —their city—their streets. If it hap- pens that a very rich man goes thru he hides himself, as if he would steal his way thru. And the voices are mingled with each other. They talk about the happenings of the day. They are interested in the politics of Eng- land, France, Germany and the Unit- ed States.. A lot of book shops. Thick and serious books are looking out of. the windows. And signs on the stores tell you of co-operatives, government. trust and syndicate enterprises, A very shabby establishment—maybe private, But what is that procession? Nam- arov, from beyond the Caucasus, the member of the Ispolcom, a dramatist and novelist, died. Delegations of factory workers, school children, Comsomol are attending the funeral and the procession occupies the entire heart of the city. I am near the Red Square. The Red Army does. not let anybody pass, but the delegations. “I've just arrived, would you allow me to pass,” I asked the guard. “If you will be allowed to enter a delega- tion, you may,” was the reply. And I am already in a delegation and I pass the Red Square. On Lenin’s monu- ment..J sa: nze, Zinoyiev, Kalinin, ee aed tele aaa; * Pine Red Army band played “Vi Zertvou Pali.” And all Red Soldiers took off their hats, bowed their heads and were singing together with the delegations. Sol- diers singing revolutionary songs! Those that lived in the old Russia, suffered. in the prisons of the coun- The militant_children of the workers will spread the message far and wide of the class solidarity of all the work- ers’ children in.the struggle against the bourgeoisie rule. Each group of the Young Pioneers will set up a campaign committee to guide the struggle of the children in the specific schools. Studies will be made of the conditions in the various schools and concréte demands based upon these conditions will »be formu- lated and linked up with the general can legion, the well-known band of strikebreakers, the American educa- tion association and the bureau of education should unite in the en- deavor to still further poison the minds of the workers’ children, For this purpose they have ‘set’ aside Nov. 16 to the 22nd, as a week of con- centrated propaganda to teach the workers’ child to be Joyal to “its” country and the bosses’ rule; to. be obedient, meek and superstitious; -to be thrifty; to be healthy and to con- serve the natural ss, of ne country. What cheap cynicisitr for ‘the pick pot-bellied bourgeois gentlemen of these institutions to come before the workers’ children with such words. To tell pennyless children to be thrif- ty; to tell underfed children to be healthy; to tell propertyless children of propertyless parents to be loyal to “their” country and to conserve “their” natural resources. American Education Week is not for the workers’ children. It is for ‘children of the bourgeoisie. ¢ Struggle of the Young Pioneers. The workers’ children organized in e Young Pioneers’ League are con- ducting an Anti-American Education Week campaign during this period. slogans of the. campaign. Meetings will be arranged to which will be in- vited the older brothers,: sisters. and parents of the Young Pioneers. Spe- cial efforts will be made to concen- trate on schools where there, are large numbers of Negro children to draw them into the struggle. Special efforts wil} be made by the children to. spread mass. propaganda te|thruout the schools on the issues of the campaign... The sfogans and de-| nm mands will be distributed in leaflet form, in bulletin form and chalked on the blackboards and sidewalks. of the schools. When the teachers spread the pro-boss propaganda dur- ing this week the children will ques- tion the teachers in a systematic ashion and endeavor to turn the or- dinary class room procedure into that of a discussion, : Experience in the American Com- munist children’s movement proves that the child of the worker can and does make an excellent fighter in the class struggle. The mis-educators of the American legion, the bureau of education and the American educa- tion association will be answered by the militant struggle of the workers’ children, try, can feel what I Pp at that mo- ment! Tears came to my eyes and I began to feel that Moscow is not only the capital of the Socialist Soviet Re- publics, but it is the capital of all suffering humanity, that it awakens a longing for real freedom among all peoples on the earth. Later in the evening I ring up my old comrades, ‘The-first one I saw was Comrade Michael Rachkes, What a broadness, what a depth of com- radeship was felt. ‘Why didn’t you send us a telegram?” “Why did you not let us know that you are coming, we would have met you at the sta tion?” Rachkes asked. “No,” I said, “I wanted to see for myself.” And then he said to his wife, “You know, we would change Moscow, if we would know Backall was coming, so he was afraid to let us know.” And then we all laughed. ~~ : I began to visit factories. outside they are gray buildings, as the city itself is an old Russian city. Inside people are busy working. But every workingman, like the workers of the whole factory, feel that the ma- chines which they operate, as the whole life of Soviet Russia, is theirs. The consciousness that grows all over in Soviet Russia that the present con- ditions of hardships is only tempora- ry, that thru suffering and pain they build a new life not only for them- selves but for the whole of humanity, is the international feeling, all over Moscow, in the hearts of the inhabi- tants. Moscow is an international revolu- tionary capital. The streets are filled with the children of India, China, Ja- pan, Africa and European countries. They are studying at the universities of Moscow. They are participating in congresses and conferences. There is no Ghetto in Moscow. All human beings are alike. Have the same rights, the same privileges, com- bined with the same ideals and ideas. I met students of the University of Moscow and I asked them, “What is your aim?” And they answered, “Our aim is to build.a new humanity, our services will befor allchuman he SB And I felt the? truth “of their 's statements hanging in the atmosphere of Moscow. I heard such words from the mouths ef poets in America, in Germany, but they were only long- . ings, sighs, but in the mouths of young Russia, it is a reality. It is a ” Week Working Class Parents, Line Up! The militant parents of the work- ing class must become part of this struggle. A keynote slogan of the Young Pioneers in this campaign is the enrollment of the proletarian par- ents in the struggles of the children, During this campaign the Young Pio- neérs will call conferences of the working class parents and draw. them into the campaign. These conferenc- es will serve as the basis for the set- ting up of Proletarian Parents’ Coun- © cils of the Public Schools. The par- ents must help all the actions of the Young Pioneers. They must send let- ters to the teachers, principals and officials of the board of education pro- testing against the atti-labor nation- ‘alist and religious propaganda which will be dished out wholesale during this week. ‘ The parents’ councils must fight against fire trap schools, against mal- ion: and unsanitary conditions, against greater’ economy plans and against child labor. They must fight for the demand: Free food and clothing for the children, at the ex- pense of the state and under the su- pervision of the organs of the work- ing class. As a fundamental aim the parents must fight for the control of the schools by the parents’ councils, the students’ councils and the trade unions. Working class: parents! Line up with the children of their struggle. Help to make the Young Pioneers a mass organization of the workers’ Comrade the fighting mass organ of the child laborers and the millions try. On the children. Help to make The Young of proletarian children in this coun- —>