The Daily Worker Newspaper, December 26, 1925, Page 6

Page Six ~~~ are THE DAILY WORKER Published ‘by the DAILY WORKER PUBLISHING CO. 1113 W. Washington Blvd., Chicago, I, Phone Monroe 4712 SUBSCRIPTION RATES By mali (In Chicago only): By mail (outelde of Chicago): $8.00 per year $4.50 six months | $6.00 per year $8.50 six months $2.50 three months $2.00 three months Address all mail and make out checks to THE DAILY WORKER, 1118 W. Washington Bivd., Chicago, lilinole i ee ——s J, LOUIS ENGDAHL WILLIAM F. DUNNE MORITZ J. LOEB... Business Manager —— Entered as second-class matl September 21, 1923, at the post-office at Chi- cago, Il, under the act of March 3, 1879, Advertising rates on application. <= 190 The-Chicago Inquisition From all reports available there is raging in Chicago a full- fledged inquisition being conducted by the police department. Scarce- ly a day passes without some accusation of police brutality appearing in the press. Capitalist newspapers justify this sort of thing by pleading that something must be done to arrest the crime wave that arises every winter. But a slight acquaintance with the science of criminology is sufficient to explode the fallacy that torture methods are efficacious in detecting crime. Most of the metropolitan police bureaus of the United States are not particularly concerned about the solution of criminal acts. They hold their jobs by grace of standing in with some political machine. In order that the administration of a city may go before the voters for re-election it is essential that the police force establish a record of crime convictions. The same holds true of prosecuting attorneys, so the two “arms” of the law work hand in hand. The police exert all their energy toward fastening the crime upon some hapless crea- ture they happen to get in their clutches. Deliberately ignoring any circumstances that may tend to prove the innocence of the accused they go out of their way to weave a net of circumstantial evidence that will enmesh him. The frame-up is supplemented by third- degree methods in order to obtain a forced confession. With con- fessions thus obtained the prosecutors go into court and thru cor- rupted and intimidated juries secure convictions, even tho they may know the defendant to be innocent. ; A recent parole of a man convicted of murder is creating a furore among the professional exterminators of crime, particularly that self-appointed body of megalomanics, the Chicago crime com- mission. It seems the parole board, in releasing a prisoner, took into consideration the charge that a confession was extorted by police terrorism. The head of the Chicago force indignantly denied that such practices exist. Then came a staggering charge from Judge C. H. Jenkins, state director of public welfare, who replied to Chief of Police Collins: “All | have to say to Chief of Police: Collins is to state that prisoners from Chicago, when they arrive at a state prison, can al- ways be spotted by their battered heads.” It has long been notorious that police terrorism is the regular procedure in Chicago. Practices of the holy Roman inquisition are in yogue to force confessions from innocent people. The only excep- tion to the inquisition is the fact that in' theory confessions obtained thru frightfulness are not recognized in court. But of late this is overcome by the whole reptile press coming to the aid of police ter- ror by accusing the prisoners of bruising themselves and raising the ery of terrorism when they are in a tight place. Such extortion of “confessions has ‘nothing in common with scientific procedure. As long ago as''the* close of the eighteenth century the classic school of criminology‘ arose to combat torture of suspected persons. That school has’ been superseded by the posi- tivists and the so-called economists.’ A “hundred and fifty years’ scientific advancement separates the:science of criminology from police and legal practice today. Protesting against the bestiality of such methods will not avail. The only way to overcome such a condition is for the workers to reach such a stage of political understanding that city, state and national governments will be administered by a class party of labor, where crime is approached, in an intelligent manner. In the first place, most of the crimes committed are*crimes against property and poverty is the one and only cause. Remove poverty thru assuring every worker an opportunity to earn a living and periodic “out- breaks” of crime will vanish. Meauwhile we, as Communists, expose the system of police | inquisition as having its roots deep in the slime of the capitalist political system. The capitalist newspapers support such terror be- cause they know such metliods, once in vogue, are effective means of fighting working class movements. abies saa Political hcg. for Traitors to Labor The association of railway executives in session in Chicago has gone on record in favor of legislation abolishing the railroad labor board and advocating as a substitute the governmental establishment of boards of conciliation and adjustment. The railroad labor board is bad enough, It should be abolished. But here is something worse. Since the shopmen’s strike of 1922, the railroad directors have been preparing to do away with it and create machinery for com- pulsory arbitration in the interest of the inalienable right of the strikebreakers and scab herders. This proposal of the railway executives supports the expressed desires of the strikebreaker president of the United States and menaces organized labor on the railroads. It must be supported with determination by the rank and file of labor. The proposed ‘boards are to be regional, with offices in Various parts of the country, and they are to be composed Of representatives of the government, the railroads and the workers. Even. tho the representatives of the workers are trustworthy they would be out- voted by the agents of the capitalist government and the railroad representatives. But, like the railroad labor board, these regional committees will simply furnish soft berths for traitors. to labor. Grable, of the Maintenance of Waymen’s Union, was rewarded for his betrayal of labor in 1922 by receiving an appointment as a “labor member” of the railway labor board and the committees now pro- posed to deal with grievances between the workers and the manage- ment will furnish opportunities for granting political rewards to other corrupt officials of labor who sell out labor, Better late than never. The American Federation of Labor has Right and By WILLIAM F, DUNNE. ARTICLE Ill. Difficulties Provoke Deviations. IHE objective the left-wing strove to reach in the convention was the firm consolidation of the left wing forces on the basis of the left wing program, For this purpose not only was a thoro exposure of the re- formist and reactionary character of the Sigman machine necessary—the negative purpose to be accomplished —but it was also necessary that the full program of the left wing be put forward in a militant and convincing manner in order to show to the mem- bership the true method by which unity against the bosses could be achieved—by the adoption of a fight- ing program including the minimum requirements of the reorganization of the union on the shop delegate sys- tem, a struggle for the amalgamation of all the needle trades unions, abol- ition of all discrimination against and persecution for political opinions, am- nesty for all members punished by the bureaucracy during the internal dissension, proportional representa- tion to conventions and joint boards and the abandonment of all class col- laboration policies and the welding of the union into a fighting instrument for the workers, THE position of the left wing was that the Sigman machine had shown its lack of will and ability to carry out any section of this pro- gram and that its defeat in the con- vention was necessary for the wel- fare of the union. If, as a result of the struggle against the union-wreck: ing Sigmanites, a center group should develop which was prepared to adopt the five minimum demands of the left wing and join it in the elimination of the Sigman machine from all stra- tegic positions, the left was ready to make certain organizational conces- THE DATEY WORKER e a Left Wings in the I. ions to such a group. alliance would not have obtained a The composition of the convention,| majority in the convention for the however, made the, development of} left bloc. There could have been no such a group impossible. The Sig-| possible justification for such an al- man machine was quite ready to] liance because it would have been a dress up a portion of its henchmen in| united front from above in its crud- progressive garments and, thus disguised, enter into organizational negotiations with the left wing. Some attempts were even made in this direction but they met with little en- couragement and the Sigman. ma- chine itself had to continue its hypo- critical unity gestures, i Hats composition of the convention, by which the machine was able to set up a paper majority, consisted of the solid left wing delegation from the big New York Léeals Nos. 2,9 and 22—with a strong f6Mewing of small- er locals frofh New*¥ork and centers like Boston, Chicago, “etc., represent- ing a decisive majdrity of the mem- bership. 4 The machine delégations consisted of that of Local 10 of New York, the solid delegations ffomtLocals 48 and 89 controlled by Ninfo and Antonini, together with delegations from small locals in outlying towhs ‘having a neg- ligible total of membership. In addi- tion there were twelve district coun- cil and joint board alelegates hand- picked by the Sigman administration and the three general officers, U Mata machine majority in the con- vention averaged 50 votes and a careful check of the membership it represents places it at between 1,200 and 1,400. In otner Words the 50 votes of the machine jority gave them more than four ti the votes. in the convention for 1,200’'members than were. allowed to a left wing local such as No. 2 with 12,000 members. The only group that could be termed cent- rist by stretching the meaning of the term to the linrit, was the Antonini delegation, but even such a dangerous { The militancy of the young work- ing class of Indonesia in the face of Persecution by the Dutch colonial government, the police and even a sort of Javanese fascisti, is told in the following interesting article, the fourth and last of a series by Com- rade Semaoen of Java on the Indo- nesian labor movement. These arti- cles aré furnished The DAILY WORKER by the Trade Union Edu- cational League. The article yes- terday told of the many strikes di- rected and led by the Red Trade Unions of, Indonesia and-the Com- munists, Today’s article shows how the Dutch colonial governmént tries to suppress the Communists with terror. : e236 By SEMAOEN. ARTICLE IV HE events enumerated in my last article clearly show that the Indo- nesian working class is again in the mood for taking up the offensive. It is clear that in connection with the Chinese events, which infects all\Asia, |causing big sympathy demonstrations of workers and peasants in many places, the dispersal of meetings on the Chinese situation, the arrest of Communist speakers, etc., and in con- nection with the discovery of intens- jive propaganda work among the sol- diers and the police (many soldiers jhave now been discharged) and also in connection with the revolutioniza- tion of the intellectuals by the Jav- anese students in Holland, the reac- | Communists (Continued from page 1) into being the same state again, Rak- osi fearlessly answered: ““No, we want to establish some- thing better. We were very discon- tented with those hundred and thirty days. The social democrats were at that time the representatives of the suppressed bourgeoisie in our Soviet dictatorship. If we consider today the various socialist governments, we see that the class conscious workers are oppressed everywhere and then finally the power is returned to the bourgeoisie. This can be seen most’ clearly in Austria and Germany. I wish to point only to Noske. The dic- tatorship of the proletariat is a stage of the development which cannot be avoided by any capitalist state. There are no exceptions in this respect, cer- tainly not in Hungary. Hard Labor Makes Rebels, Later in the trial, when Zoltan Weinberger was in the stand, the chairman asked Weinberger why he had become a Communist and a revo- lutionist, Weinberger replied: “When L was a college boy, 17 years of age, T was not only driven from sehool) for revo- lutionary propaganda, put also sen- tenced to 15 years’ hard labor, It is impossible not to fight by all means a social orderewhich dares to do such a thing!” finally issued an appeal for relief for the striking anthracite coal miners in Pennslvania. Workéte ‘correspondence phe only thru the co-operation of the worker Orrespondents. Let us co-operate, - Ever, van help in the agitation diive mong the workers in the meat packing industry, if only to passouts@-few copies of The DAILY WORKUR. It starts Monday, JatideoGet ready! Chairman: “Why have, you worked illegally?” Weinberger:’ (pointing to the two Horthy-soldiers with drawn bayonets at his side): “As this example shows, i have had my good reasons not to appeal™before the bourgeois public.” Chairman; “You were sentenced to 15 years ahd exchanged to Moscow. Did you fot fear to return here where deathawaits you?” est form as it was evident that in Local 89 the left wing had no mass following, only the nucleus of such a group showing itself in one vote for the left out of a delegation of nine from this union. 1 ilies in the convention would have been merely a formal unity with the left wing sharing control of the union with the Sigmanites and consequently taking responsibility for the enforcement of policies in opposi- tion to which the left wing had devel- oped. In this situation it was incum- bent upon the left to use the conven- tion to dramatize the whole struggle of the membership for a fighting un- ion, use it as'both a forum and a bat- tleground, The left considered it necessary to make its first fight on the report of the credentials committee which had recommended the unseating of a num- ber of left wing delegates on flimsy charges. This was done and altho the machine was defeated in the debate this fight was prolonged until it be- gan to overshadow more important i8- sues. A short, sharp fight in which the political differences between the right and left were clearly set forth leaving the ground clear for the next struggle would have been better as it would have removed all danger of the left being charged with obstruction- ism for its own sake. T this period in the convention the left wing was still too much ob- sessed with the idea of securing or- ganizational concessions and _ its struggle tended too much towards a mere exercise of pressure on the ma- chine for this purpose. ON NENA TNA RRS AAO I 25 8885 L; G. "°W: Convention The left wing also. was. still ¢on- fused to some extent on the question of the loyalty of the. Sigman machine to the union. There was evidence that at least some of the left wing leaders were affected by the unity maneuvers of the Sigmanites and par- ticularly was this in evidence after the speech of President Green of the A, F. of L. had contained no direct attack on either the left or the Com- munists but had emphasized the need for unity. It seems that,even the bit- ter struggle in New York and the mass expulsions of the most active elements from-the union had not yet convinced all the left wingers that, like all the trade union bureaucracies in the period of imperialism, the pres- ervation and strengthening of the union is only secondary in the minds of the Sigmanites to the crushing of the left wing and. the defeat of its class struggle program. 94 UT the constant insulting provoca- cation of the left wing delegates and of the gallery consisting of hun- dreds of rank and file members of the union who attended the convention daily, served to, counteract the unity maneuvers of the Sigmanites. The hatred and distrust with which the machine regarded the membership was shown clearly by its resentment at having its actions watched and its utterances heard by hundreds of members who were obviously ‘hearty supporters of the left wing and: its program, Had the Sigmanites’ been able to restrain their animosity better their unity maneuvers might have been more successful but they were handicapped by the necessity. of pro- voking a split if their fake ‘unity failed to confuse and compromise the left. As the handpicked character of the Sigman delegations became more ap- parent it must be confessed that the line of action of the left wing began to show tendencies to ‘waver. The impossibility of securing control of the convention,, the false character of the Sigmanite unity becoming clearer, and the provocation increas- ing to the point of threats of the use of police against the rank and file in the gallery, the left wing leaned more and more to a split policy. T is instructive to note that maneu- vers which led logically to a split were accompanied by the thost vehe- ment denials of any intention of se- ceding. The first manifestation ’ of this policy was seen in the sharp de- flances amounting to ultimatums from the left wing provoked by the insult- ing nature of remarks of President Sigman and his abuse of his position as chairman to place the left wing delegates at a disadvantage. These ultimatums, accompanied by suspiciously enthusiastic applause from the left delegation and the gal- lery of rank and filers, and which un- doubtedly created a split atmosphere because lacking a clear explanation of the intention of the left to stay in | the, union in spite of all provocation, were justified by the theory, in itself an évidence of -the confusion, that the machine would always yield rath- er than run the risk of a split.. That the machine did yield on a number of minor points only convinced the left that this tactic was correct. It is not contended here that the special tac- tics were wrong but only that they were carried out in such a manner as to encourage the less firm and ex» perienced elements among the left wing into considering a split as a wise and in fact inevitable outcome of the recent struggle, As the convention proceeded there were additional instances all tending to show that the left wing had given but little consideration to the objec- tive consequences of such maneuvers, (To be continued) tion is not only continuing but grow- ing and increasing, its persecutions. During the periodcfrom May till August alone, notdess than 200 com- rades were arrestedo;Many hundreds of workers have begn.dismissed on ac- count of their trad@;union ‘member- ship, or for being:zmembers of the Communist Party ;@rgthe Sarekat Ra- jat and all this had; to be gone thru after the terror of#abruary last when many comrades were killed and more than 100 wounded 3); sla reaction -isglearning now that oppression alonetés: not enuf and that other meansbare required: Its Sarekat Hidjo t ic groups paid with the money reaction, costs a great deal in expenditure. It is fur- thermore very unp@pular among cer- tain of the DuteWwerulers themselves, because the Sarekgt Hidjo has its counterpart in the illegal Red terror groups (Anty Ribwt Bund). As soon as the Sarekat Hidjo mem- bers were not paid ;they openly de- clared that they: had; been misled by government officials,and now prefer- red to be.memberg@f the Anty Ribut Bund without pa; it. Thus the re- action made a lotcof;propaganda for jterrible. the reformist leaders. For example, a;ppeudo-trade union leader like Soerjopramoto declared last August ( vide thepSoerjo-history in connection with the pawn-shop union mentioned, above) that “it is not good} for the workers to go on strike ... and} the capitalists are not so bad after all,” ete. UCH a statement is given wide pub- licity by the reaction. This makes/| Defy Horthy Weinberger: “We Communists do not know the fééling of fear.” Cannot Stra' Communism. The chairman ¢ clared to Comrade Goegoesch during’ his examination: “We in Hungary,’know already what the Communist Party means, that is why we cannot tolétate i P Comrade Goegoagch: “This world movement will net be strangled by your death ,sentegces. This develop- ment cannot. be stepped anywhere.” Chairman: “Invthe other countries the Communistsappear in the open. Why have you ganized yourself il- legally?” Ame Goegoesch: “@ive us the possibil- ity of organizing ®penly and’ I guar- antee that we wilt%proclaim our truth at all street corners!” The shocked’ @dirman interrupted quickly: “I ha¥é€ not permitted you to begin a discussfon with me!” Court Praises'@6cial Democrats. In his concluditig speech, Comrade Rakosi declared, among other things: “The economic situation of all cap- italist countries in Europe is bad, as it must be under this system. How- ever, if somebody is unemployed in England, he does giot yet die from hunger as in Hungary, where the s0- cial democratic party does not care for the workers, “Yes, it does care for Mr, Chairman is content with the work of the social democratic party. There cannot be @ more un- favorable critic for it. Bebel always said whep jis opponents prais- ed him, ‘I fear, Iphave again commit- ted a stupidity!’ ") Chairman: “IL did not intend to praise the party. gou have misunder- stood me. Besid@s, this is not the place for such adebate.” In his concluding remarks to the Labor in the Far East (Indonesia) Soerjo feel that he is a man of very great importance and leads him to fight madly against the Communists. He will have to look out for the jeal- ousy of such reformist “national” leaders as Tjokroaminoto and others. The reaction, however, appears to doubt the possible sucess of any such move because it knows that our work- ing class is able to see thru such in- trigues. The reaction is therefore drawing up a “plan” to reorganize the state f..to a “democratic system” with a so- called “extended election law” and to increase the budget for the “economic welfare of the people” during 1926. But the people will recognize the hum- bug of such a concession and it will not be so easy to hoodwink them. “(NONTINUE your terror! You will thereby render our working class prouder of its revolutionary traditions and more class,cogscious.” That is what we can say.to the reaction. It is fully within our power to make the By ROSA SPIRO. Tt was a hot July afternoon,yhen | arrived in Cama—a pictures: lit. .tle village near Moscow—as, @,repre- pany and was immediately taken ,to the village commissar. He was a young peasant. As the high tide of the November revolution came he ‘discov- ered his latent “powers and began’to help reconstruct his countty ‘broken up by war and famine, “throwing himself into the work wholeheartedly, which resulted in his be¢sitifmg the soul and life of the villagé, ®+0%». Our, conversation touched upon tractors, thé peasants, their growing faith in the Soviet government? the peasant women and their ‘énttyeinto politics. Presently he becamé’ restive and remarked that his wife. together with other peasants was | returning after a day’s work in the fieldst:« Tills the Land. trade unions, by legal or illegal meth-| «she persists in tilling the'-Jand,” ods, more progressive, since the work-| saiq he “altho she could find. ‘emgitsto ing conditions of the masses are s0| qo helping me, for I am overburdened with work. Stubbornness!;-,,A wo- The continual political terror wield-| man’s whim that’s all. Complains I ed against our trade union movement! give too much time to the commun- thruout the whole of its history is ours ity and not enuf to her and the home. sure and certain guarantee that the] She is a fine girl; but if she only real- next big mass strike will not be of aj'ized that I can’t give up my work. merely economic character, but will]! feel the burden of responsibility also be one for political demands, and] for everything that is going on in the we can rest assured that Comrade| village. There are the tractors to man- Zinoviev'’s prophesy: “Now, China,}age, the children’s garden to look later Java ..!” will be fulfilled. after, a speech to deliver explaining (The End.) the aims._of our government. Gan one keep-away? And at such time, when we are determined to raise Ruled Court everyone to a higher Jevel of cultural court Editor Weinberger said: “I was 17 years old when I was education, communal work—all for the betterment of our people’s lives. sentenced by bourgeois society to 15 years’ hard labor, This sentence by Besides did I not get my education at the expense of our government? If which I gained my majority suddenly, induced me to work also in the future it were not for it I would ‘stilh be a in the service of the proletariat. The dark ignorant peasant.” ss Bolshevik courts had sentenced the hearers of the Ludovika Akademy who He became silent; his edger eyes! were scanning the picturesque ‘group of approaching peasants with scythes and sickles in their calloug “hands. As they neared us a girl with'a light, rose in arms against the Soviet gov-| ,),. . ernment, not to deatheand prison, but rhe aco cede wajhed oho had given them criticism and educa: | ney ness intermit tion. Our comrades have ‘had the] oy as iinesiaet ten mi eer rei re Roumanian Communists defend the right of self determination of Hun-| What a Picture the Pair Made! garian Siebenburgen, when the Hun-| She was beeautiful and stately, a garian landowners of Siebenburgen| type rarely met in a village, , With cowardly submitted to the hostile rule| sickle in ‘her shand and scythe. over in order to save their property. I ex-| her left’ shoulder; coarse blouse and pect the death sentence in this hall,] short wide skirt, ¢hapely hare feet, where decision is passed over life and} ‘wo long, golden-blond braids and a death<-for even the death sentence] .obly ¢éhiseled head, she was a type will serve our purpose.” ‘eady to step into a gallery a fine Makes Joke of Court-Martial, | -eplica of a Shakespear it, Comrade Goegoesch declared: “I} He, a youth of more medium could not believe, when the prosecutor | height with powerful broad shoulders, informed me that our affair would be| frank, open face, with a heap of thick, treated before the court martial, .be-|auburn hair upon. his capacious head. cause this court only treats insurrec-|His figure was delight to the human tion and arson. I asked him whether | eve. < arson applied also to the lighting of] And in the background the quaint a cigaret.” little village inn was basking in the Chairman: “Do not make jokes|solden beams of the evening sun, A here.” picture “to be remembered—it surely was. ‘ | Be A They spoke imwolces scarcely audi- Civic Opera Announces ble to me but I could feed by the ges- Double Bill for Xmas |ticulations ot ner face that the con- versation was of an unpleasant na- On Thursday night Aldo Franch-|ture. It seemed as it she pleaded for etti's new opera “Namiko-San” will |8omething’ that he would not agree to, be given in English, Franchetti’s op-|Finally she turned)abruptly away and era, a tragedy, is short, reqtiiring only | Went into the village,..He stood still an hour and five minutes, Donizetti's |for a moment then» with drooping merry and tuneful ra, “The {shoulders and heavy gait walked up Daughter of the Regn.” will be |to me, For @ moi two he was sung with it on Chri bitter sad- double bil) ‘ “WE SHALL CONQUER!” sentative of an American tractorom-|our Soviet Union. | Nobler, Fuller Life. “Those are the troubles of many Sommunists all over the world since a new, life was being regenerated in Sometimes it. is the man who is the hindrance to the woman; sometimes the woman. is a hindrance to the man. The life we lived in the cZar's time is gone, never to return. A new life, a higher, nob- ler, a better life, is’ beginning, Hany a@ peasant now sees his wife working in village councils, libraries, children’s homes, where formerly she was down- trodden and beaten like a unloved dog. Now she is emancipating herself and leading the other forsaken village wo- men. Men are also rising ,to insti- tute a beter life;’ such is the, case with us. Nastja got to love me be- cause I was different, sober, and was willing to learn. We only married last spring after I returned from the So- viet school. She is somewhat jealous of my devotion for anything else be- sides her. At first she would not agree at all to my going into govern- ment work, but wanted me to work only on the land. Then she refused to share my government work and worked the land heself. She wanted to work a patch of land individually, however, after long persuasion, she is now working on one field with a group and they divide the crop, Tonight the village women are arranging for a U lecture. I persuaded her to- attend, but she wants me to go with her. While I would like to, I can't. You see I have a meeting tonight to set- tle about the tractors,” then-he addéd with a warm glow in his eyes: “TI shall win Nastia. She is a fine char- acter and loves me, Only she is a” little stwbborn, does not give in at once.” I shook hands with him wishing him success in his work and firmness to overcome his troubles. He smiled and said with fire in his voice: ; ci “We Shall Conquer!” “Oh, we Communists had and have yet lots of trouble, but we shall con- quer!” ey Make your every week!” HONOR ROLL OF WORKERS — - AIDING PRESS Daniel De Leon Singing Soc! ety, Chicago, Il, Max EB, Manigs, Oakland, Cal 4.00 Pullman, Ill, W, P. a. 6.50 Patrick Kearn, Buffalo, N. Y. 1.00 J, Welzenbach, Wolf Point, *, Mont. .. we | 00 Lettish Br., W. P.Cleveland, O. 6.00 Nartin Owen, Cleveland, 0... 5.00 Frank Schenik, Cleveland, 0. . 1,00 Worcester, Mass., W. P., Res- cue Party vives B78 . —_—_— ‘Total today. 142.57 Previously reported .; 31,830.25 ¥ By Total so 147282 yok Eger fii After that talk with your mate—hand him. a co DAILY WORKBR, It » help A slogan—*A. sub /, \ %: iy %