The Daily Worker Newspaper, December 29, 1925, Page 6

4 Page Six , aS THE DAILY WORKER THE DAILY WORKER Published by the DAILY WORKER PUBLISHING CO. 1113 W, Washington Blvd., Chicago, I, Phone Monroe 4712 | SUBSCRIPTION RATES | By mail (In Chicago only): | By mall (outside of Chicago): $8.00 per year $4.50 six months $6.00 per vear $3.50 six months { $2.50 three months $2.00 three months Address all matl and make out checks to THE DAILY WORKER, 1113 W. Washington Blvd., Chicago, IlIInois ES TRS A ARDEA nS Rt EN WP A ST Sc URN TO J, LOUIS ENGDAHL t WILLIAM F, DU: § MORITZ J. LOEB. Entered as second-class mail September 21, 1923, at the post-office at Chi- cago, Ill, under the act of March 3, 1879. Advertising rates on application. ES ie 290 The Bankers’ Government Opponents of Coolidge on the world court question are at least logical in their opposition. They assail every act of the administra-| tion on foreign policy. The other day when the Italian debt settle- ment was under fire on the floor of the senate, Jim Reed of Missouri became indignant over the seventy-five per cent cancellation that lifts the burden from Mussolini’s government and places it on the Amer- iean taxpayers. The senator from Missouri thinks the Itatians falsi- fled statements regarding the ability of Italy to pay, thereby cheat- ing the government of the United States. He said: “If | were an American banker | would tell the representatives of any foreign country that came to me to borrow money that it first must deal honestly with my country before it got any money from me.” A total misconception of the role of the government pervades the mind of Reed. He fails to perceive that the government of the United States exists for the specific purpose of defending and ex- tending the power of Wall Street, Like Victor L. Berger and the yellow socialists, Reed, the democrat, confuses the people who live in the United States with the government of the country. The gov- ernment rules the citizens of the nation in the interest of the bank- ers. The Italian debt settlement ought to convince even the most staunch believer in democratic illusions that the bankers use the government to plunder the workers of this country as well as other nations. The Italian loan was: floated with money obtained from the sale of liberty bonds that draw 44% per cent interest. The govern- mentj;was supposed to act as the collector of interest and without | compensation to itself pay the money received direct to the holders of bonds in this country. But Italy could not pay the principal and interest without impoverishing its industries, thereby making in- secure the Italian investments of the House of Morgan. So the agents of Morgan in the government cancelled two-thirds of the} debt to secure the investments already made and to enable Italy to stabilize its currency and borrow more from Wall Street. | All the ramifications of this piece of financial pillaging are just coming to light. In the first place Morgan-holds most of the issue of bonds that were floated to make the Italian loan and the United States government is pledged to pay 414 per cent on those bonds. Tn order to pay that interest to. Morgan the government must collect it from the American taxpayers. So in spite of the fact that Mus- solini’s government is relieved of the debt..payment, the taxpayers of this country must pay it. The cancellation paved the way for a | me Morgan loan of $100,000,000. This loan was discounted at nine per cent, reducing the actual amount Morgan, was to.lend to Italy to $91,000,000. But then there was an old Morgan loan of $50,000,000 that was due from Italy so that old loan was deducted from the total amount, making the actual loan to Italy, $41,000,000. Without a cancellation of the debt Morgan could never have collected the $50,- 000,000. On the forty-one million actually loaned to Italy the House of Morgan collects 7 per cent interest of one hundred million. The government at Washington is the confidence man and gun- man of Wall Street. But no one expects Senator Reed and the petty bourgeois opponents of Coolidge to understand that fact, which is indespensable to an understanding of the role of the government under capitalism. Mr. Berger’s Admirer Victor L. Berger, socialist congressman from Milwaukee, has a new admirer. During the debate in congress on taxation Berger tried to induce Congressman Blanton of Texas, to yield to a question. The southern bourbon didn’t want to yield any of his time, but} when he secured an extension of time he did yield. The question By WILLIAM F, DUNNE, ARTICLE IV, Confused Militancy. HE Sigman machine carried on a splitting policy following its de feat on the report of the general exe- cutive board but while this explains it does not excuse the walk-out from the convention staged by the left wing delegation following the deliberate abrogation by the Sigmanites of the terms of the peace agreement, notably that section providing for proportion- al representation on joint boards. It is fortunate that the Sigmanites chose this particular issue on which to defy the left wing. The-fiouting of the peace agreement on this point was so obvious, the unscrupulous over- riding of the will of the majority of the membership so flagrant, that the left wing had the strongest possible case while the machine could not rally even all of its supporters for war on the left around this issue. The machine spokesmen told the left wing in so many words that ff it did not like the policy outlined it could leave. The left wing accepted the challenge and walked out of the convention. Bia split was no longer potential but an actual fact. It only needed an official declaration by the left wing leaders followed by the issuance of How Skill Is Raised in the Russian Factories NE of the biggost engineering plants in Russia is Red Putilov, formerly the Putilov plant, located in Leningrad. In the czarist times this plant was producing guns and was closely connected with the gun kings Krupp, Armstrong and Sneider Creu- | sot. Today the Red Putilov is en-} gaged chiefly “in the production of tractors. Close to 9,000 men are em- ployed by it. Back in 1919 the demand for junior engineers was met by the organization of courses for skilled adult workers. | Organize Courses, t At the beginning cf this year the production conference of this plant de- cided to organize courses for foremen and gang overseers and a_ tractor school. The teachers have been re- eruited from among the works’ engi- neers, 120 men from the bench have enrolled as students. Nearly 60 of them have already graduated from the courses and are now acting in the ca- pacity of foremen and gang masters, The production conference has not confined itself merely to the organiza- tion of courses, but has made it its object to raise the skill of the gen- eral run of the workers as well. For) this purpose the engineers and techni- cians have been engaged to deliver scientific lectures, and discussions on the various new inventions and appli-{ ances have been arranged, That is! how the workers’ skill is being raised in one of the biggest factories in So- viet Russia. Central Committee Plenary Meetings | | Plenary meetings have jof the following unions: Clerks,| woodworkers, leatherworkers, sani- tary and healthworkers, textile work- | ers, chemical workers and postal, tele- raph and telephone workers. The main item at all of these meet- ings was the question of wages. The recently separate due books to set up a dualytentions of the feft but the walkout union, The membership, following the proceedings ofthe convention closely, was ready to follow the left wing wherever it led. In speaking of the walk-out after it had occurred, a number of the left wing leaders described it as “spony taneous.” Altho the walkout prob- ably was not actually prepared in advance nothing could be more mis- leading than to describe it as spon- taneous. It was the natural and in- evitable result of a split policy fol- lowed by both the reactionaries and the left wing. All thru the conven- tion both sides objectively had been laying the ground for just such a de- velopment. It appeared as a sponta- neous display of resentment by the left wing to the left wing itself only because it did mot understand that conscious planning of a split is not at all necessary for the following of a split policy. It has been noted pre- viously that every sharp ultimatum, the non-attendance at the official ban- quet and the holding of a separate af fair, the refusal to’serve on conven- tion committees 4f4@ the resistance to even appearing ‘before them on the part of the lert Wing, had been ac- companied by heatéd denials of any intention of splitting. These denials must be accepted ‘as truthfi state- ments relative to’ the conscious in- it was announced at the session that beginning with Oct. 1 the wages of this class of workers will be raised by 12 per cent. Everybody to Get a Raise. On the whole, the central committee sessions have showed that the pres- ent task of the unions consists of pull- ing the wages up in those industries where they have lagged behind the general average and in gradually rais- ing this average. It should be remem- bered that wages in the U. S. S. R. can be systematically raised because the Soviet business enterprises are not interested in profits; for’ profit’s sake, but apply them to-nenovate the plant and equipment and improve the stand- ards of the employes. After the Grafter. Much attention has, also been given to the embezzlements which have lately become epidemic in many of the unions, The varioy sessions have unanimously agr that the embez- zlements must be ‘Aeterminedly fought the unions and by, arranging public trials of embezzlemént cases. The Textile ani etal Workers’ central committee,took up in addition the very serious question of vocational trainings, as both of these trades are beginning to experience a shortage of skilled labor. re illed Labor in The rapid increase of industry in the U. 8. §. R. has-sharply brot to the attention of the teade unions, the la- bor commissariat,and the supreme economic council ;the need for train- ing and preparing. new forces of skilled labor. Among the unemployed there are not enuf:skilled men to meet the entire demand-of the Russian in- dustries, the great majority of the un- employed being laborers. showed that as a result of an ob- jectively splitting policy an actual split occurred. TAYING in or walking out of a convention is not a principle, It is a tactic and whether right or wrong depends upon the objective condi- tions, At the risk of arousing con- siderable controversy I am going to say that in this situation it was wrong. It was wrong for a number of reas- ons: First, because it was based on a wrong theory—that the Sigman ma- chine cared enough about the welfare of the-union to yield to this kind of pressure, Second, because it was a very dan- gerous maneuver for the left wing in- asmuch as it logically led to dualism in a period when such a dual union has no hope of continued existence in the face of the united opposition of the A. F, of L, bureaucracy, the bos- ses and the government. In other words, the split maneuver was car- vied on with little if any considera- tion given to the unfavorable relation- ship of forces in the American labor movement. That the Sigmanites pro- voked the split is strong evidence as to the unwisdom of the tactic which might easily have nullified the pre- vious 19 months fight for the right of According to the statistics of the labor commissariat the Russian indus- tries will require 200,000 skilled work- Jers during the coming yedr, upward of half of them textile workers. Special difficulties will be faced in the train- ing of skilled workers for the metal and engineering industries, whose re- quirements amount to 60,000 skilled men. Of the 200,000 men half must be highly skilled while the others can be semi-skilled. To Train Unskilled Unemployed. Many of the students of the voca- tional schools and courses will be re- crulted from among the unemployed. The labor exchanges of Leningrad, Moscow, Kharkov and Rostov propose to establish psycho-technical tests for the unemployed, and special testing committees are to be established for this purpose. The question of preparing trained orkers for the textile industry is a larticularly vexing problem. The fac- | tory apprentice school will yield only both thru raising the efficiency of the | financial management and controk of | 4,000 skilled men this year. Another 4,000 or 5,000 men will be trained in- dividually and in groups, means of filling the gap created by the shortage of labor in the textile indus- try remains, therefore, quick individ- ual and collective apprenticeship, This need is the more pressing since about 75 per cent of the textile work- ers registered on the labor exchanges have already been sent to work. All this has forced the unions to give the question .of vocational training first and foremost attention, especially so in the case of the textile and metal workers’ unions> | Shop Committee Elections | “A shop committee re-election cam- paign has lately been conducted in a number of cities (Moscow, Leningrad, Baku, Ivanovo-Voznesensk, etc.) Tho th2 complete returns have not yet been received a general idea of the Right and Left Wings in the I. L. G. W. Convention The only | the left wing to exist and work in the unfon: ; Third, the maneuver was carried out in a very shortsighted manner in that the left wing did not at the same time prepare a way for retreat if ne- cessary. Instead of staging the walk- out in an organized and disciplined manner—announcing for instance that it was withdrawing to caucus on the new development, which in the situa tfon would have been just as effect ive—the left wing reacted subjective- ly and left the convention more like a mob than a trained fighting body. 'T staked everything on the possibil- ity that the Sigman machine would yield. Failing that, the left wing would have had to organize itself as a secession movement or. return, hu miliated and with its. morale badly shaken, to the convention. — The Sigman machine did yield, how ever, and I suppose that to’ this day and for a long time to come some of the left wingers will consider this thc irrefutable proof of the’ wisdom o! their walkout. é But this is not true and instead of proof of generalship, it is ‘really proo of the confusion which still character ises the left wing in the I. L. G. W. The Sigman machine, yielded, no‘ because it put the welfare of th union ahead of its own,but because with almost unbelieveable’ stupidity, course of the campaign can already be gathered. tures of the whole shop committee election campaign has been the remak- able interest shown by the working masses, Their greater participation in trade union life. The election meetings were attend- ed by 65 per cent to 70 per cent of all the workers, P* Very thoro preparations were made for the elections. The nominations were discussed beforehand in the works departments and at-the dele- gate. meetings. It is significant that in Moscow, for instance,,some 80 per cent of the candidates nominated at the delegate and department meetings were endorsed by the general meet- ings and elected to the shop commit- tees, ' : The percentage of elected Commun- lists is between 40 and 50,avsagainst 65 per cent Communist shop, committee |menibers elected last year.:.This low- |ering of the percentage of; Commun- ists is due on the one hand to; the in- creasing activity of the ;non-party workers and on the other. t@ the de- liberate drawing into the shop com- mittees of a greater number of non- party men. Se Su However practically every one of the non-party men elected to the shop committees is connected. with the party in one way or another; all of them have graduated political educa- tion schools. All of them have par- ticipated in the educational:-work of the union, Oe ges Thus both the party and unions have been enriched by a,group of ac- tive workers well prepared.for social activities. On the other.-hand, the percentage of Communists, elected to the auditing commissions.has notice- ably increased. In, Moscow, for in- stance, 24.6 per cent Of the newly elected auditing committee members are Communists; last year the Com- One of the striking fea-j cent. it had chosen to defend an indefens- ible position. It own followers, bent as they were on crushing the left at all costs, soon saw the hopelessness of its case, Even papers like the Phila delphio Ledger, a militantly class con- scious capitalist sheet, placed. the blame for the split on the Sigman ma- chine. Maneuvering to bring about a split to the right which could be heralded as a split by the left, the Sigman machine, exactly because of its hatred of the left and its desire to split the union, lost its head and made such a maneuver imposstble, HB left wing, having been assured of certain important organization- al concessions, returned to the’ con: vention, Both the right and left were sobered considerably-by the crisis but the left, so far as the immediate struggle was concerned, suffered mote than the right. The ‘will to fight was - not so apparent as before the walkout for the reason that a’split being now taboo, and a new strategy having not been worked out, the tendency was to veer to the other extreme, and suffer more or less patiently the insults of the reactionaries. ‘ This was a purely temporary reac- tion, however, but before it had run its course the left made another seri- ous error which will be dealt with in the next article. (To be continued.) Building the New Social Order in Russia munists constituted only 15.2 per Every nomination was discussed in- dividually. Voting by tickets was not practiced at all, Everywhere the ac- tivity of the outgoing shop committee was discussed and criticized in an ex- haustive and business-like manner. The recent shop committee election campaign clearly illustrated the grow- ing contact between the unions and the masses. The campaign has alsd shown that the efforts of the Russian unions to get the rank and file to act- ively engage in the union life haye been successful, : The Russian Communist Party on the Trade Unions At a full meeting of the central committee of the Russian Communist Party, Oct. 10, a: momentous resolu- fion on the work of the trade unions was adopted. The Russian trade union movement, ever since its inception, has maintain- ed close ideological contact with the Communist Party; the latter in its turn has always devoted considerable attention to the actviity of the unions, as the mass organizations of labor. The party plenary session noted tle’ ” tremendous growth and consolidation of the trade unions for the past three years but recorded at the-same time the defects of their work. The réso- lution poined out that: he Too Much Work. Se “Overloaded with various adminis- trative, political and public functions, the unions have frequently been 1 able to attend to all of their work, and! have often taken a one-sided attitude, shifting to the background their most important and principal task, the task of protecting the economic interest: of the masses organized by them, aa of making the utmost endeavors — raise their material and level.” Similar criticism of the defects:in the work of the Russian union has fre- quently marked the speches of the leaders of the Russian trade \union 1 “Lenin is Dead, But His Work Lives on” will hold Lenin memorial meetings, , ed over internal and external enemies remembering that the Russian revo-|and even over the forces of nature. ‘ution, of which Lenin was the leader, | The Russian workers are well-clothed Berger asked was: pel i not the gentleman aware that everything | reason for this, waa. the tapid Géveloy- good in any bill is socialist While denying the contention} ment of trade and industry in the U. Blanton praised Berger as “the greatest student in the house,” and |S. 8, R., which has brot greater reve- movement (Tomsky, Andrew, ete.) even before the party central commit- tee session. re By MANUEL GOMEZ. added that he had never been able to find “anything good in social- ism except my friend from Wisconsin.” Of course, blatherskite Blanton knows nothing of socialism and less of what constitutes a modern student, otherwise he would not have complimented Victor, the jingo kaiser socialist. It is noteworthy that such a palpable ignoramus and fossilized reactionary as.Blanton should praise Berger, as it reveals that this so-called representative of the working class is betraying the trust of the Wisconsin workers who elected him as their tribunal. representative of the working class in congress would incur the undying hatred of creatures of the Blanton type and would not revile the working class movement by claiming that there is even a seintilla of socialism in the Coolidge-Mellon tax}proposals. det a member for the Workers Party and a new subscription for the DAJLY WORKER. PACKING-HOUSE WORKER! HAVE YOU SENT IN YOUR STORY YET? The DAILY WORKER expose of rottsn conditions prevailing in the packing house industry in this country, which starts Monday, Jan. 4, needs the active Support and co-operation of every packing house worker. The conditions under which the workers of Omaha, South St, Paul, St. Paul, East St. Louis, St. Louis, Denver and other packing centers are . forced to work are no better than they were in the days when hundreds of investigations were in progress to “dissolve” the food trust and im- “prove” the sanitary conditions in thé “yards.” The meat trust has used every newspaper and periodical that it could bribe or buy to give its side of the story. These papers are publishing glorious accounts of thé conditions in the “yards.” wih i This propaganda can be be effectively combatted by the meat packing theu their mouthpiece—The DAILY wo! ER. Write in your > jitions in the plant you | 7 “a bundle of the A true, |nues to the factories and merchan- |dising houses. | in the U. S. S. R. the growth of in- |dustry is accompanied by a cofre- | sponding improvement in the stand- The central committee sessions, there- fore, considered the objective possi- | bilities of raising wages on the basis jof the gains made by the industries. | Thus, the Leather Workers’ central | committee agreed that it was neces- sary to raise wages in those sections of the country where they have lagged behind the national standard. . The ards of the workers and employes HE third aniversary of Lenin’s death is almost at hand. It will be observed January 21st in every country on earth, And everywhere | will be raised thg slogan: “Lenin is dead but his wi lives!” There is nothing so very remark- able about the slogan. Lots of men whose work did HOt live five minutes have been the subject of similar ones, The significant tHing is that millions ot men and wombh who constitute a revolutionary forée ‘in society take up enthusiastically, af'a wachword of the Clerical Workers’ central committee | decided that they wages of the men; employed in instftutions maintained} by the state and local authorities were | tgo low, This, central committee has | gone on record favoring active partici-) pation of the union bodies in thé fram- | ing of the local budgets, Textile Wages. Going Up. The Textile Workers’ central wee mittee decided it hecessary to put for- ward claims for wage advances next January when the existing collective agreements expire, and negotiations for new agreements are opened, The; central ccmmifttee decision ‘was taken | after it had been revealed that the) productivity of the textile workers has outstripped the rate at which wages, have advanced and that the general, condition of the textile industry justi-| fies such a raise. It was also divulged that the wages of the metal workers and printers have far overtaken those of the textile workers (by 41'per cent and 87 per cent respectively), The central committee is of the opinion that no such diversity in wages ought to be allowed, Considérable attention to the ques: tion of Wages has been devoted also |by’ the Postal, Telegraph and ‘Tele- central committee. Phone Workers’ very struggle in Which Lenin himself was engaged. U6; lives in. Lenin- ism and in the! World Communist movement. st Memorial meetings All Over World. Lenin memoriaj meeting will be eid in Europe aad in Asia,in Africa and in the Americas. The first of tue Will be uelgoa week or two be- Ae |iore the actual gnniversary day of Lenin's death, and the last will not take place until long after, In Chicago the memorial meeting has been set for January 24th, at the great Coli- yeum theater, Wherever there is a Communist Party, this party will or- ganize demonstrations to carry tor- ward the slogan that epitomizes their movement; “Lenin is dead but his work lives.” But not only Commun- ists will be present at those meetings, Many thousands of half-awakened toilers to whom the name of Lenin is only a vague symbol of hope will be drawn into the gatherings and will there receive their first clear inkling of Lenin's tea . Thus the work ot Lenin will bée’earried on, and new class-conscious P8éeFults will be deve- loped for the e¥ér-growing army that is marching forward steeled in the struggle, to the overthrow of capital- ism, Lenin is dead but his work lives! Peasants as wéll as town worker: * . i, \ + ‘ kcal this slogan and prépagate it, zealously, creed the Russian peasants from’ land- lords and “kulaks,” and understand- ing that the Soviet government, which Lenin helped to establish, is a workers’ and peasants’ government. Fight Imperialism. In the Var Hast and among the |colonial and semi-colonia]l peoples in jall parts of the globe, wide masses {of the population struggling for na- | tional liberation from imperialist rule will participate in demonstrations in memory of the great leader who pro- claimed that the revolutionary work- ing-class movement in the imperialist countries must become one with the movements of all the oppressed, Lenin’s slogan of the alliance of the revolutionary proletariat with the na- tional liberation movements of the subject peoples is finding its applica- tion on a world scale, One of the most striking instances of it was the assistance given to Abd-el-Krim and the Riffian tribesmen by the Com- munist Party of France in the very midst of the war being waged against them by French imperialism! The development of this great un- ited front on a world scale shows more clearly than words that Lenin's work is not only living but is gaining steady impgtus from the very tacts of life, On the day following Lenin’s death the Chicago Tribune published an edi- torial declaring that his greatness would be tested by the permanency of the Soviet regime in Russia, The Tribune editors, who thought of Lenin as an isolated\individual without or- ganic relation to the Russian Com- munist Party, expected the proletarian dictatorship in the Union of Socialist ates Republics to fall to pieces im- mediately. Two, yearahave and the Soviet regime Getaste tent tablished than ever, It has triamph- | and well-fed. In many industries; pro- duction has surpassed the pre-war rate, The economic basis of socialist society is being built up. The Soviet state is steadily advancing’ in all fields. . . , and it is advancing under proletarian dictatorship, ‘not towards capitalism, but towards socialism. Drive For New. Members. In the Union of . Socialist’ Soviet Republics the Lenin-mbmorial meet- ings will constitute an/event for the entire population. But ‘the: meetings will not be merely to glorify a dead hero, There as elsewhere, they will become * instruments’ for» attracting wider masses, for recruiting new Com- munists, for permeating still further sections of workers with the message of Leninism. » © ageSt The greatest-memorial to Lenin is that his work lives’and ‘finds expres- sion in the very meétings called to observe the anniversary of his death. Lee ke eee ae te og Officers Steal Funds, WASHINGTON Dec. 27-—-Disclosure in congressional debate thay the war department has asked for an appro- priation of $27,000 to make up a de falcation of an army disbursing officer “attached to an American embassy in a foreign country,” resulted in the revelation that Maj. Furman McCam- mon, former military attache in Chile, was court-martialled a*year ago on charges of nilsappropriating, funds entrusted to his care, Uneasy Are the Mighty. st. 'UIS, Mo. Deg, 27.—Numer- ous bankers, iy thiness men, Politicians and gociéty women were reported on the anxiows seat follow- ing the sodonitenlp that Unele Sam was on the trail df those Who stocked their cellars with the whiskey stolen in the “milking” of the Jack Daniel distillery here &E . a ¥ The resolution proceeds to record the undoubted achievements. of’ the unions # the promotion of industrial reconstruction, Particularly — note- worthy is that séction of the resdlu- tion whcih specifies the forms. and methods of the work of the Party” the trade unions, f See Attentive to Unions. ‘The attitude of the party organiza- tions towards’ the trade unions must be “attentive, responsive, carota a “Commanding, pétty paternalism a absolutely inadimissable.” + The party is to consolidate its influ- cuce in the trad’ unions solely “thru fractions and groups ‘of Co! st -n the unions.” ‘The resolution of the central committee of the Russian Com- munist Party again» emphasizes the necessity of developing de in the unions thtt Waving every. official elected ® by the mem! having these officials regularly report ‘o the masses, establishing mass con- trol and publicity.” 4 oT oR To Strengthen the Unions, The resolution callg upon Communists to see to it that the ,ons of the central council of the sian trade untons, as the highest lead- ing trade union body in the U, §. R., are promptly put into effect, » The central committee ofthe sian Communist Party fully. with the central council of unions which believes it nec ~wcagthen the work by promo younger men in the unions surest safeguard against the | tion of a trade union caste.” wheny Yt or recent session of the. ’ committee of the’ Russian. Co Party has provided addition | evl- dence to the effect: that Russian unions munist Party reigns