The Daily Worker Newspaper, November 21, 1925, Page 9

a wast HURSDAY, the; fourth day of “Edu- cation Week,” the capitalist press, ulpit and paritcularly the public schools deluded the children and grown-ups with the capitalist slogans of industry and thrift. It was “Con- servation and Thrift Day.” This slogan contains the most sub- tle, menacing poison for the working class. As a means of mentally stupe- fying the slaves in industry in ranks with religion and patriotism. Hun- dreds of thousands of workers actu- ally believe that the solution of la- bor’s ills lies in practicing those capi- talist virtues of industry and thrift. Day after day this illusion is care- fully fostered. In the columns of newspapers, from the pulpits, on the moving picture screens, on screech- ing cards.in the street cars, on the backs of pay envelopes, in the house organs of the slave pens of industry, by every conceivable means of public- ity the workers are implored to work industriously and save a portion of their earnings each week, “for that is the road that leads to prosperity.” On every hand the sovereign work- ers in this unsurpassed democracy are regaled with the wondrous tales of industry~and frugality. After the worker has received his wages and has paid for the necessaries of life for himself and family he is told that he can save a part of his income by placing it in the bank where it can draw interest. This is called “mak- ing money work,” or “making money make money.” : ET us see how this thing works out in practice. All banks claim that their greatest desire, as benefac- tors of the American people, is to see the entire population open savings ac- counts and draw interest on their money. Of course there is no possi- bility of any such thing happening because of economic facts we shall presently set forth. But let us, for the sake of getting to the bottom of the question, assume that such a “thing.did happen. When all the work- ing class has deposited a certain amount of its earnings in savings banks, who then would produce the surplus-value with which to pay in- terest on this money? Since money itself possesses no properties that en- ables it to increase in value, and with every person in the nation depending upon income from savings, it is c]ear there would be no income for anyone. Everyone would starve to death ex- cept those who proceeded to apply their labor power to machinery and raw material in order to produce the necessaries of life. In fact a —o of savings bank depositors would the greatest calamity that could be- fall the banks for the simple reason that they never could, by any strat- egy, devise a method whereby the 110,000,000 people in this country could realize interest off savings, therefore the whole banking system would collapse. ‘ Apologists for savings banks will charge that we have reduced the thing to absurdity and that there are cer- tain benefits to be derived by the working class establishing small sav- ings accounts, We shall examine this claim in the light of economics and see where it leads us, The average worker receives the value of his la- bor-power—that is sufficient to enable him to recuperate the strength he ex- pends in production from day to day and to raise and educate offspring that will take the place of this gene- ration of wage-slaves. In order to save money the workers proceed to practice thrift. They economize on the necessities of life. The result is that those industries producing neces- sities are forced to curtail production. The decreased demand forces the cap- italist to decrease the number of his workers, These. workers eventually | flood the labor market and thru fierce competition the wages of labor sink. Thesé wages keep sinking as long as the workers keep saving. ‘Instead of raising their standard of living by practicing these capitalist virtues, the | working class lowers its standard of living, until the point is reached where they must, of necessity, practice the most rigid frugality in order to main- tain a standard of living a trifle above that of Chinese coolieg, hoi it would be a sight for the gods, to view the spectacle of labor struggling for years to raise its standard of living, only to voluntarily surrender its gain under the delusion that by saving part of its earnings it would elevate itself to the position of the capitalist class! “Work and Save” is a slogan orig- inated by the capitalist class for the purpose, of befuddling the minds of the working class. The whole propa- ganda of industry and thrift is aimed toward making more docile slaves. gation that is now in the Union of workers carry on production. Russia. been accomplished. of government in their hands, Secretary a Communist, Schulz. * * DANISH LABOR DELEGATION GREETS LENINGRAD TRADES UNION COUNCIL LENINGRAD, U. S.°S. R. (By Mail) —The Danish workers’ dele- The Danish workers’ delegation consists of six metal workers, two chemical workers, two food workers, two sailors, a printer, a municipal worker, a mail carrier, a transport worker and an unskilfed worker. The well-known Danish author, Nuigord, is accompany the delegation. The chairman of the delegation is a'séciaf déniottat; Adamson, and the MOSCOW (By Mail).—The Czecho-Slovak, Norwegian and Danish workers’ delegations and the working youth delegations from France, Belgium, Germany, Hungary and a number of other countries met in Moscow and joined the Moscow workers in the celebration of the 8th anniversary of the proletarian revolution. Conservation and. Thrift Day é When the worker understands eco- nomics, when he is able to analyze this system of wealth production, he percieves that those who do the work of the world never become wealthy, while those who do not work, but who own the machinery of production and distribution, revel in the most extravagant luxury. Those who work cannot save very much and those who save most do not work, By H. M. Wicks ard of living thru savings accounts, the working class should’ constantly strive to obtain more of the product of its labor so that living would be more tolerable. Secreta is one system of saving that will benefit the worker, but the greedy capitalist class never recom- mends this efficient kind of saving. The worker cannot save by- working, Better conditions for the working for his sole wealth is his labor-power. class cannot be obtained by following the advice of the capitalist class. In- stead of voluntarily reducing its stand- Socialist Soviet Republics recently visited Leningrad where they studied the conditions under which the While in Leningrad they visited the Trade Union Council headquarters where they exchanged greetings and discussed the manner in which the unions are functioning in Soviet The delegation was very much pleased with the reception ac- corded them by the Russian workers and expressed their desire to come into closer relations with the trade union workers of Russia. The delegation also visited the trade union museum, which is con- trolled by the Leningrad Trade Union Council, and visited the club- rooms maintained by the Russian unions where the union members gather and discuss the economic questions that are facing them. A Danish non-party worker, Skium, who is in the delegation and had visited Russia in 1919, declared, “In these six years wonders have Even the untrammeled imagination of a sympa- thizer with the Soviet Union would Have been unable to imagine the great metamorphosis which has actually taken place. hungry, exhausted, ruined Petrograd, | see a bustling town with con- tinual economic and cultural progression.” / The other members of the delegation expressed their surprise at the conditions existing in Russia and promised upon returning to their country to tell their brothers there about the astounding progress that Russia’s workers have made in the short-time that they had the reins instead of a * * If he saves intelligently he will pre- serve this sole wealth of his, instead of playing the dok and squandering it in the interest of the capitalist class, only to be thrown on the industrial scrap heap when the last bit of en- ergy in his body is distilled into profits. The worker should save his Physical energy by refusing to so ex- haust himself in one day that he cannot recuperate for the following day. Workers can save intelligently only By fighting to reduce the hours they spend in the slave pens of in- dustry, so that they may have more leisure, live longer and consefvé their vitality, physical and mental, whith they sell to the bosses. They should strive for higher wages, not to save money, but to live better and longer. Hard work only increases the prof- its of. the capitalist class and saps the energy of the working class. In- stead of being concerned over the “natural resources” which are con- trolled by the capitalist class, the working class and their children should be shielded from-the frightful devastation of child slavery. The one method for the workers most effectively to conserve its re- sources is to drive out the capitalist class as owners of industry and turn production from profit into production for use. Against the poison propa- ganda of the capitalist class we raise the slogan for the workers to rally to a labor party of their own, so that they can definitely break with the old parties of capitalism that exist to conserve the interests of the capital- ists and destroy the lives of the work- ers. With that accomplished the fitst step in the direction Of Working’ class political action among the broad masses can be realized. As Commun- ists‘ we consciously strive to lead the masses forward to the revolutionary overthrow of the capitalist govern- ment that defends and protects the despoilers of the working class and establish in its place the Soviet gov- ernment of the United States. Protest Massacres at Canton By JAMES H. DOLSEN. The Euro-American Returned Stu- dents’ Association of Kwangtung prov- ince, China, has published a pamphlet entitled “Massacre of the Chinese Peo- ple in Canton, China, by British and French Armed Men on June 23, 1925.” Much has been heard about the mass murders committed by the British, particularly in Shanghai and by the Japanese at Tsingtao. This article deals with a typical imperialist action in the leading city of southern China. Great Britain, according to the pamphlet, is faced with the contradic- tion that while her effort to control China’s finance and to subjugate her industries have been effective, the parallel attempt to dominate the coun- try politically thru subsidizing various native politicians and militarists have been failures and have resulted finally in uniting the Chinese masses solidly against foreign imperialisin in general. Dum-Dum Bullet Christianity. - Cantonese last June declared a sym- pathetic strike against the British and Japanese of that city as a result of the events in Shanghai. The demon- station took the customary form of a parade, participated in by workers, students, merchants, and military cadets. As it was proceeding along the Chinese street, which runs paral- lel to the island of Shameen, a con- cession owned by the French and British, the British marines opened a sweeping machine gun and rifle fire. There were over a hundred casualties among the Chinese. Not a foreigner was injured nor a shot fired in reply. The pamphlet contains reprints of various official correspondence with the English consul and others. Among these is a copy of resolutions un- animously passed by the American staff of the Christian College at Can- ton, stating that the procession was marching peaceably and unarmed when fired upon. Members of the staff itself as well as its student body were Aamong the injured. An official declaration by Foo Ping-Sheung, com- missioner of foreign affairs for the Canton government, to the British and French consuls, charged that the students and unarmed sections of the demonstration had been picked out for Slaughter and that the foreign soldiers: would have charged into the Chinese city, but for the presence of the cadets. That preparations had been made in advance for the slaughter is evident. On the morning of the same day the city was full of rumors that the British had predicted an attack on the foreign quarters by the Chinese. Moreover, soft-nosed or dum-dum bul- lets were used in. the 4 chi firing, contrary to all, the European warfare, , | The pamphlets . Mustrated with photographs of thundered Chinese and_yiews of the ction caused by the reckless shooting. Pay in Pre-War Marks. WASHINGTON, D. C., Nov, 20. — American creditors with pre-war claims against German firms are en- titled to payment in American dol- lars with interest accrued during the war, according to an opinion of the United States supreme court. The Walden Book Shop 307 Plymouth Court: (Between State and Dearborn Just South of Jackson) CHICAGO