The Daily Worker Newspaper, December 12, 1925, Page 13

_and_now he A Red British Miner at Work By MICHAEL GOLD. Foreword. HEN I was in England last year, I attended a summer school con- ference lasting a week of the Plebs movement. This is the movement for real Marxian working-class education, which has fought the English brand of Brookwood—A. F. of L. “impartial” education, and which has been so militant and successful that it has _ begun to outstrip the bourgeois-labor- ist outfit in trade.union importance. In fact, it has become so powerful that the Trades Union Congress at its ses- sion a year ago, decided to recognize the movement of which the Plebs group has been the dynamic nucleus. This conference was intensely inter- esting. William Paul, W. T. Collyer, and other active Communist leaders held sessions, also J. F. and Winfred Horrabin, Mark Starr, Ellen Wilkin- son and other outstanding figures. There were warm debates, and a real “process of education in working-class realities. Fascism, imperialism, Rus- sia, economic geography, trade union unity, and proletarian art were some of the matters discussed. There was also football, cricket, hikes, and ex- cursions in the afternoons, and sing- songs every night, at which I had the pleasure of teaching the forty odd British workers there the songs of the American proletarian revolution— which, up to now, have been mostly the wobbly songs. I never enjoyed myself more social ly or intellectually, and I kept think ing what a fine idea such vacation week conferences would be for Amer ican workers. One learns at these ‘conferences, and one forms fine rank-and-file con tacts. There were agricultural work- ers, clerical workers, machinists, fur- niture workers, textile workers, and 2 group of miners—all intelligent men and women 6 a ocr grasp of the ‘bru eir eyes I got peers Ga adedtare picture of British pea Ried life than I could have gotten by personal investigation in less than a year or two, or maybe more. One of the miners was George Williams, a tall, powerful looking young chap, about 30 years old, who came from Mansfield, in Nottingham. I had many walks and conversations with him, and before the week was over, I felt as if I had-never met a finer type of worker anywhere. When I think of the English labor movement now I think of this strong young miner, with his slow north-country dialect, and his deep, steady, fearless way of tackling problems. A real rank-and-filer—a miner since childhood—he goes to work at six every morning. He has two children and wife, and has to support them on the $10 a week wage the British miners now receive—when they are lucky enough to be allowed to work. At night George’s work begins all over again. He carries a great deal of the miners’ problems for his district. He is organizing secretary for the na- tional minority movement for Not- tingham, and he serves on executive and other committees for his trade council, local labor party” branch, co- operative, labor college, and Com- munist Party branch. He has to con- duct a large correspondence by hand; tho writing doesn’t come easy to him, for he has had to fight painfully for his education. He is always active, s conducting a factory newspaper for the mine where he works, Everyone knows him in his district; the workers in his mine know they can trust”him in anything, even tho most of them are not Com- munists, as he is. What I liked best about him, too, is that he has just begun growing. Painfully, gamely, he - crowds in a lot of study and reading into his overworked life. And it is all done so sanely—so steadily—withont fireworks, phrasemongering, or ostena- tion. Nothing can stop him-~he is the proletariat, the new world growing up amid the storm and destruction of the old. Recently Comrade Williams sent me a long letter and copies of the 3 new sidiets nucleus” newspaper which his Communist group publishes, and which he edits. The letter is an inter- esting flash into British life to-day, and the newspaper seems to me a fine model for similar papers in this country, Extracts from Williams’ Letter. “Dear Mike: “Pleased to hear from you again. You ask about my election to the board of guardians. (He ran on the regular labor party ticket). I was un- successful, owing to the attitude of the ‘labor skates,’ as you call them. They gave no assistance in the cleri- eal work or outside in the ward, In- stead, they worked very quietly but surely against us. They are even holding back my campaign expenses, which the miners’ union was supposed to pay. It is a bit rough when a working-class fighter has to fight so- called labor representatives for his dues. But we will get these expenses, I am sure. “I have been nominatedly by my branch of the national minority move- ment to run for the town council at the forthcoming municipal election. Altho I was nominated as a trade un- ionist, the liberals msrde the labor party turned me down again last night. We have really some good and amusing scraps with them. They talk about us getting our orders from Moscow, but they get theirs from Ramsay Mac and Simmy Thomas and ven if we were getting orders from Moscow,’ I think Ramsay Mac is iearer to King George than is Mos- 20W. “I’m glad you enjoyed your visit to Russia. It must make a red confident »eyond words to go there. It does us zood to think about it, and to know hat the workers own and control one- sixth of this earth’s crust, which they lifted right off the imperialist’s pawn- shop counter, No more of that filthy imperialist game now—-no more pro- nises of Constantinople in exchange for workers’ frééadéih. “Bat! 'to”kEe) | Russia—to see it in operation, must inject new life into a man. “T should very much like to go out to the mining areas of Russia visit the mines, work in them for a week or two, then come back to our chaps— stump the district—and tell them what is waiting for the taking. God, what powerful propoganda it would be. I may get sent yet. Perhaps I do not know sufficient of the theory of the party to undertake such impor- tant work, however. I know theory is what I badly need to balance my practical knowledge amongst the workers in the pit here. Well I am going to get it somehow. “So you were proud of our trade union delegation when you saw them in Russia? Let me tell you, there are some very solid comrades in the left wing official movement, even tho we of the Communist Party and National Minority Movement are still unofiicial. By the gods, we are unofficial, but we are giving the lead in the politics of the country, bar us as they may. We gave the lead on unity, which resulted in the greatest manifestation of work- ing-class solidarity in British history, recently; the miners’ fight. The left wingers, associates with the Russian report, have done well on this miners’ fight, and they are continuing at. Scarborough this week, at the Trade Union Congress, Swales made a fine opening address, which gave us hope and inspiration, coming as it did from an old trade unionist. “A. J..Cook was staying with me a fortnight ago. He told me Swales was a genuine fighter and altho he could not grapple with the Dawes plan complication, was a real rebel, He also spoke highly of Herbert Smith, as having along with Swales an abundance of courage. Cook himself has done really well. He addressed four meetings here in the open air to huge crowds of workers. At three of the meetings he spoke for over two hours—at least six hours of solid talking ina day. He talks as he feels, and puts real energy into the job. But -when night came both voice and ener- gy were gone. He must take more WHITE COLLAR SLAVE’ By Willi Geissler, care of himself—he is a very valuable man to the miners of England, He is to be here again next month for lectures on working-class education and a big public meeting. There will not be a seat to be got an hour be- fore the meeting starts. “I am getting tired Mike, and will have to go to bed. ... “At this point, I return to this letter 15 days later; the first chance I have had of finishing it, “What with trades councils, labor party, trade union, cooperative, labor college, national minority secretary's work, and other work, not mentioning ordinary and special jobs for the Com- munist Party, and not at all mention- ing the seven hours every day inside a hot pit 600 yards below ground—on top of all this they have ‘lumped’ a pit paper to me, two copies of which are enclosed. I have just sent No. 3 off to the printer’s—we have grown up in two issues from a mimeograph to a regular printers’—so popular is the paper already, en Lpeac America dA met fa.have our wicked Communist Saklatvala con- taminating your pure, innocent coun- try. Aren’t you glad you're saved? “There is a possibility of further immediate trouble in the coalfield owing to the coal-owners breaking away from the conditions of the truce. “Good luck to the American fighters for the great working class movement. “Fraternally, George Williams.” The “Rufford Star.” The pit paper Williams edits is called the “Rufford Star’—after the mine where he works, It is one of the best examples of such a paper in English I have yet seen. It is simple, militant, and above all, practical. It discusses real immediate issues in a concrete way. Its language has the sap and directness of workers’ speech —no puerile attempts at rhetoric or high-falutin bombast. The workers are not confused with too much theory, and yet the national and ‘in- ternational class war is explained and driven home to the workers’ mind. | Avr RT AR RE EDUCATION By Willi Geissler. Who Is the New Red Army Commoner? (Moscow Correspondence by WILLIAM F. KRUSE.) HE body of Michael Frunze, late Commander in Chief of the Red armies, after lying in state three days and nights at the Dom Soyuz, was buried beneath the Kremlin wall on a Tuesday. Hundreds of thousands fol- lowed the body into the Red Square as a last tribute to the departed hero. Five days later the same hundreds of thousands, in the same Red Square, were acclaiming the new Commander, Comrade Voroschiloff. HO is Clemente Yefremovich Vor- oschiloff? He is a Ukrainian, born 1881 in the Ekaterinoslav province, Bachmurt district, of a peasant family. His father, landless, was a village wage worker (batrak). At the age of six the future Red Army commander started to work. He had only two years of folk school which were ended in 1895, after which, in 1896, he began his life work in the factory—and in the revolution. Investigated and ar- rested several times by the police, in 1900 he was discharged for revolu- tionary activity. From that time on- ward for seventeen years he remained under police surveillance until the re- volution. ERE are some of the high points of his record: 1904: Elected to Central Committee of Social Democratic Labor Party. 1905: Became active labor organ- izer in Lugansk, imprisoned for eight months. 1906: February: Elected to Stock- holm Congress of the Russian: Social Democratic Labor Party. 1907: July: Arrested at close of the party congress at Kiev, and in Oc- tober sentenced to three years exile in Archangel. 1907: December: Escaped and fled to Baku where he resumed work. 1912-1917: Worked in close co-opera- tion with Kalenin, arrested several times. 1917: Organized the revolt in the guard regiments, elected regimental deputy to Petrograd Soviet where he was active in Bolshevik fraction. 1918: November: Member of Ukrainian Soviet government. 1919: February: Commissar for the Interior, Ukrainian Soviet govern- ment. 1919: July: Member Ukrainian Council of Defense, and Political Bu- reau of the Ukrainian Communist iEarty. 1921: March: Elected tp the Central Committee of.the Russian Communist party, and to service on its south- eastern bureau. And from this time on, continuously on the Central Com- mittee of the R.S.F.S.R. and of the U.S. 8. R, Military Record. 1917: We find him a soldier in the guard, and by his influence able_to win the soldiers over to the side of | the revolution. 1919: May: Elected commander-in- chief of the Kharkov Military Dis- trict, and he effectively liquidated the bandit bands of the Hetman Grigoriev. A month later he was given command of the 14th Army, another month and he was in charge of the Ukrainian interior front and member of the Council of Defense. In November he was a member of the Revolutionary War Council and leader of the First Cavalry Army. 1921: Sent, with other delegates of the Tenth Party Congress, to liquidate Kronstadt ‘counter revolutionary re- volt. In May of same year he became commander in chief of North Caucusus Military ‘District, 1924: Commander of the Moscow Military District and Member of the Revolutionary War Council and of the Presidium. 1925: Commander-in-chief of the Red Army of the Union of Socialist Soviet, Republics.