The Daily Worker Newspaper, January 10, 1926, Page 2

The DAILY WORKER As An Instrument of Our Party By WILLIAM F. DUNNE. HE Communist daily press has two main functions, each inseparable from the other. It gives the party a common con- ception of the party tasks, mobilizes it for the party campaigns and ex- plains and directs the party’s activi- ties. It is likewise, an organ of mass agitation, rallying the workers for strugele, imbuing them with class linking up their immediate ggles with the main line of march against capitalism and the capitalist state for the dictatorship of the work- ing class, If our press fails to carry out either of these two tasks the execution of the remaining one becomes impos- sible. HE overthrow of the capitalists, the victory of the working class, without the action of decisive sec- tions of the masses or without a Com- munist Party which has fought its of the working class, is unthinkable. Without a daily press which is at the same time a mass organ and a correct expression of Communist theory and actice, a Leninist jour- nal, the p stifles and the strug gles of the workers, sabotaged by the labor agents of imperialism, become mere opportunistic adventures bring- ing demoralization and hopelessness finally resulting in a fascist ideology which gives the ruling class a long breathing spell. The foregoing, correct in general for every capitalist country, is true for the United States in particular. Here is found a labor movement with a bureaucracy more firmly entrenched than in any other country, the most powerful capitalist press and an aux- jliary system of pseudo-educational and publicity agencies without an equal when it comes to systematic and effective poisoning of the work- ing class, a ruling class which com- pines a high rate of exploitation with the most insidious schemes for under- mining the morale of the workers and a working class which is itself saturat- ed with the official religion of the United States—Americanism—doped with a mixture of middle class smug- ness and remnants of frontier ide- ology dating back to the pioneer per- jod when the west was being won— for the railroads, electric light and power and mining trusts. HE frontier has gone, the masses have lost what they fondly believ- ed was their heritage, the proletarian- ization of the masses progresses by leaps and bounds, the farmers are be- coming either wage-earners or ten- ants, but the efficient propagandists of Americanism are able still to keep the eyes of the masses turned towards the dear, dead past with its traditions of independence and boundless oppor tunity. The task of the Communist press is to turn the thoughts of the work- ers and exploited farmers to the pres- ent—and the future. To do this the Communist press must speak to hundreds where it speaks now to one. The Leninist strengthening of the Communist press is not a mechanical process, It is impossible to immure our editors and writers in cloistered security and solitude there to ab- sorb, as a sponge absorbs water, the theoretical knowledge which prevents deviations from the straight line of the Communist International. Neces- sary as this knowledge is, it is a mis- conception of the teachings of Lenin, hammered home amid ‘the clamor of a thousand struggles, to believe that theory can be separated from practice. UR press, like our party, will be- come a mass Communist press only by catching and correcting the mistakes it makes while fighting and maneuvering in the everyday struggles of the American masses. But it will never make mistakes, or if it does it will be unconscious of them and con- tinue them, if It does not appear on the battle line of the American class struggle expressing as best it can the needs of the workers as a class, HUNGARIAN SECTION OF THE WORKERS PARTY GREETS DAILY WORKER The second anniversary of our central organ, The DAILY WORK- ER, must be a great inspiration for the class conscious workers of this country, On this second anniver- sary all the comrades, all the class conscious workers of English, Hun- garian, R » Finnish and all other languages, who have been giv- Ing so much energy and sacrifice for the foundation and building up of their mightiest weapon in’ the class struggle, their DAILY WORK- ER, must not only review the achievements accomplished, but must pledge themselves to work even with greater enthusiasm, with greater energy and sacrifice for strengthening and sharpening their mighty weapon—until we reach that anniversary, which will be celebrat- ed under the proletarian Soviet rule In this country. Forward to the Soviet Anniversary of The DAILY WORKER, With Communist greetings, Hungarian Bureau, Workers Party of America, D. HAJUAL, Secretary. Our press is far from being what a Bolshevik press should be, The same is true of our party but— Especially in the United States is it true that without a mass press a mass party is impossible, The time is here when our party must turn its eyes away from internal party struggles and even the memory of them except as they can be used to correct past errors, and throw itself into the task of making The DAILY WORKER a mass organ. Our daily English lan- guage press, by those responsible for it adopting and carrying out a policy that will ensure to it the loyalty of the party itself, and by the party mem- bership cultivating the deepest loyalty to its press, can enter into, wage and interpret the struggle of the Amer- ican workers without fear or pessim- ism, ND why is this so? Because in all the length and breadth of America, with its magni- ficent centralized and standardized in- dustry, its unsurpassed transportation and communication systems, its in- exhaustible natural resources which by the systematized robbery of the tolling millions are turned ‘into Himalayas of wealth bearing ever more intolerable upon American work- or and colonial slave alike, only The DAILY WORKER, speaking to them n the language of the country, rep- resents the class interests of the WORKER a mass paper. And this task is peculiarly enough more the task of the membership than of the leading committees of the party. The leading committees may and do lay down the policy for our official or- gan, they correct certain errors and may even remove editors guilty of errors. UT the supply of editors is limited and as a group they cannot be expected to rise much above the gen- eral political evel of the whole party. Editors alone cannot make a mass Communist paper even in the tech- nical sense because a mass Commun- ist paper is not only one which is READ by the workers but which is WRITTEN by them as well, The correct Communist policy and tactics, worker correspondents, min- ute attention to the needs and strug- gles of the workers, loyalty of the membership to the party press ex- pressed in writing for and distribution of it, its appearance on every picket line, in every union where a struggle against the bureaucrats is being waged, in the shops and factories car- rying accurate descriptions of work- ing conditions, the reason for them and a plan of action to correct them, the exposure of spies and spy systems, | the connection of the government, municipal, county, state and national, | with the robbery and suppression of American masses. Some day there will be more papers performing the same task, but they, too, will be Com- munist papers, This knowledge alone, it seems to me, should be enough to inspire every Communist with the will to do his share towards .making The DAILY the working class—the combination of these policies and methods will make of The DAILY WORKER a mass organ fulfilling its role as “the collective organizer of the party and the masses”—will make of it a keen- edged weapon of the working class and a real instrument of our party. WORKER on its campaign, decrying Realize Importance. “DAILY WORKER, “Greetings; “The American Negro Labor Con- gress is adopting this method of ac- knowledging the value and importance of your present campaign in the Union Stock Yards for better pay and better working conditions for the workers there. “While, what you are doing is for the benefit of the working class in general (as it should be), we of the American Negro Labor Congress know that it is at this time of special bene- fit and help to the Negro workers em- ployed im the meat packing industry. It is a fact, widely known and well understood, that the Negro workers, of all the workers who are under the iron heel of oppression in the meat packing industry as the most op- pressed. Packers Stir Prejudices. “We are alive to the tact that there is a deliberate and persistent attempt on the part of the packers to drive a wedge between colored and white em- pleyes that there might always re- main a means at hand to keep these two groups of workers antagonized, Pledge Co-operation. “Knowing the importance of the stock yards as an industrial and em- ploying center we consider your pres- ent campaign to be of major import- ance toward the shaping bf a definite work among the workers themselves for organization that will be per- manent in its nature and activity. Wishing you all the success in the world, we stand ready as a workers’ organization to co-operate with you in any manner possible. “Yours for the cause of labor, “The American Negro Labor Con- gress, “3456 S. Indiana Ave, Room No, 7. “Signed: Lovett Fort-Whiteman, National Organizer.” American Legion in Michigan Upset Over Welfare Fund Graft DETROIT—(FP)—Serious disclo- sures of graft in the use of the quarter-million-dollar welfare fund of the Michigan department of the Am- erican legion are being made, A report made to the state legisla- ture under pressure shows that since 1921 a total of $133,944.97 was spent on salaries, $43,374.53 on traveling ex- penses and only $8,851.78 on financial aid to needy ex-service men and their dependents. This report relates to a special fund turned over to the legion by the state. This fund was left vir- tually at the disposal of one man, Mark T. McKee, directing head of the welfare department, who hired whom he pleased at whatever figure he pleased, Wayne county politicians, in- cluding a Detroit councilman, are shown to have been beneficiaries. Until now few outside Legion ad- ministrative circles, were aware of the huge payments that have been made to the legion at the direction of the legislature. Including the special fund, the total exceeds $1,000,000, AMERICAN NEGRO LABOR CONGRESS GREETS DAILY WORKER PACKING HOUSE (DRIVE; PLEDGES FULL CO-OPERATION The DAILY WORKER campaign in the interests of better working con- ditions in the “yards” is meeting with hearty approval on all sides. American Negro Labor Congress, organized by the progressive and forward- looking Negro workers of America, sent the following greeting to The DAILY The the attempt of the packing house in- terests to drive a wedge between the Negro and white workers in the “yards” and to pit one against the other: + INDIANA MINE BARONS BRING IN GUNMEN TO BREAK UNION CAMPAIGN (Special to The Dally Worker) EVANSVILLE, Ind., Jan. 8—De- spite the effectiveness with which an army of more than 1,200 union miners has waged’ a crusade in Southern Indiana coal’ fields for several days to bring non-union miners into the union fold, opera- tions were to be resumed this morn- ing in non-union mines in Warrick and Gibson counties. Reports are that gunmen and professional strike- breakers are being imported to at- tacks the mass picketing of the union miners. N.Y, BAZAAR OF ILD. WILL BE MONSTER AFFAIR Many Local Unions to Participate NEW YORK CITY, Jan. 8—From all indications, the annual interna- tional bazaar of the International La- bor Defense, which will be held February 10-13 inclusive, at Central Opera House, 67th street and 3rd avenue, will be the most interesting affair in labor circles of New York. The first conference of the bazaar committee which met last Sunday was a very successful one. Many delegates from unions, Workmen’s Circle branch- es, and other workers’ organizations were present, A motion introduced by a delegate from Fancy Leather Goods : Makers’ Union, that every delegate present should take up with his organization the matter of having a booth at the bazaar, was unanimously accepted. The following have secured booths already: Shoe ‘Workers’ Protective Union, In- ternational Ladies’ Garment Workers Local 9, Furriers’ Union, militant milli- ners, Fancy Leather Goods Workers, International Labor Defense, branch- es 9, 4, 3, and 2, The next conference will be held Sunday, Jan, 10, 1926, at 11 a, m., at 108 E. 14th street. How about your organization? Have you secured a booth? For information, call Stuyve- sant 8752, or write to International Labor Defense, 799 Broadway, Room 422, Collaboration Used in Coal Advertising CLEVELAND —- (FP) oa Operators have agreed with union miners to int- tiate an advertising campaign urging] Make Ohioans to use Ohio coal, THE DAII NO PROGRAM OF WORK PROPOSED BY CANDIDATES I. W. W. Election on Referendum The following statement was Is- sued yesterday by the Red Interna- tional Affiliation Committee, con- cerning the referendum elections now going on in the |, W. W. me The referendum ballots now in the field issued by the Industrial Workers of the World concern both the meas- ures passed by the 17th general con- vention and the nominees for general secretary-treasurer. The Red International Affiliation Committee urges that,all members of the I, W. W. cast their votes upon the questions at igsue, despite the fact that the organization provides no sys- tematic and open discussion of them when they coe pefore Nie member- ship. The insignificant percentage of members who vote compared to those who don’t indicates that the claim to rank and file controlyof the organiza tion is seriously “shqrt of the truth. Real discussion and free discussion would bring the anembership to par- ticipation. o Three Candidates—-No Program, There are three cafdidates for. gen- eral secretary-treasul Neither of them has given out Any program for organization administration, tho many vital questions confront the I. W. W. With an autocracy not excelled in any A, F. of L. organization, the delegate from the small industrial unions did not introduce the resolution passed by the small I, U. conference making it compulsory for candidates to submit a program, This arbitrary ignoring of the members who elected him was done by an anarchist, who prefers the Ber- lin International to the Red Interna- tional of Labor Unions—which he op- poses, strangely, because of “dictator- ship.” -. But while there may be no rule com- pelling candidates to submit a pro- gram, the R. 1. A. C. invites the can- didates, in view of the large and grow- ing sentiment for it, to voluntarily state their attitude toward organiza- tion problems and their proposals for work, Which One Has a Plan? Which one of them has made a study of the possibilities for perman- ent organization of agricultural work- ers as provided in the last convention of the A. W. L. U, No. 110, but appar- ently forgotten since then? Which one of the four candidates knows the possibilities of djng up the M. T. W. No, ‘610 by & ful and thoro organization of ship committees? Let these fellow workers show the mem- bership they are not completely blank, let them reveal their ideas, so the members are not zzled by being asked to choose bétween four un- known quantities. F The R. I. A. C. Calls attention to its practical program and asks why its suggestions for- building the or- ganization should net be adopted. The convention proposals are simp- ler than last year, and many are worth consideration ‘and are above the petty constitutional tinkering which afflicted the last referendum. Vote Against Recruiting Union. The proposals concerning the aboli- tion of the small industrial unions and the establishment of the General Re- cruiting Union have been dealt with in The DAILY WORKER during the convention period. If the I. W. W. is opposed to political parties, it should not issue one a charter under the name of a “general recruiting union.” The R. I. A. C., not being opposed on principle to a political party of work- ers, in fact favoring such a party, op- poses the “general recruiting union” because, while it pretends to be a union, it is a political party, without a program, and it tends to dissolve the industrial unions into itself. There- fore members shoyld vote against it on questions 1 and;3. Question 2, lengthening the possible term of office is a good change and should be voted for, The same on Question 6, allowing for the sliding scale of dues and initiations, The as- sessments proposed in question 9, should be supported, but the member- ship should demand results in organ- izing the unorganized, which is the biggest problem of'all unions, includ- ing the LW. Ww. * Red Interniitional 7 Affiliation Committee. $150,000,000 MERGER OF “INDEPENDENT” OIL COMPANIES, BANK PLAN NEW YORK, Jan, 8—A new $150, 000,000 merger of six of the leading “independent” olf companies oper- ating in the mid-continent field is being mapped out by powerful finan- cial interests here, according to re- Ports in Wall Street, Negotiations have reached the point where the completion of the project may be announced within a day or two, Blair and company is expected to head the banking syndicate under which the financing of the consol- idation will take place, The consol- idation will be one of the largest and most powerful “independent” oll combinations in recent years, your salogan—“A aud every week!” Wheeler’s Fake Attack on the Detective Agencies Exposes His Real Stand By J. LOUIS ENGDAHL. ‘'ODAY, Senator Burton K. Wheeler, of Montana, has another bill slumbering in the Congressional Record de- manding an investigation of private) detective agencies, Wheeler put a similar bill to sleep in the archives of congress at its last session. If he permitted it to slumber before, as he did, in the midst of the LaFollette wave, it cannot be expected that he will do anything to awaken this issue now. This is another example how parliamentarism in the United States operates. It is possible to get bills “friendly to labor” introduced in the house and senate. That is the method of the old party politicians to establish their “friend- ship” for the workers. But securing a fight for even the simplest demand of the workers, embodied in such a “friend- ly" bill, is quite another matter. ° ° e e It may be taken for granted that Wheeler will not fight for the bill he has now introduced for the second time. This in spite of the fact that the workers of his own state, espe- cially in the copper mines, have, had their organizations dis- rupted time and time again by these same private detective agencies. The Pinkerton Agency made an infamous name for itself as a lackey of the great western mine barons in warring upon the workers. The Burns Agency endeared it- self to the American capitalist class, and its head, William J. Burns, secured a high place in the government at Washing- ton, as the result of his attacks.and frame-ups against mili- tant labor. . . e ° Here is surely an opportunity, therefore, to turn the limelight of publicity on this festering sore of the capitalist system. But it would mean breaking with powerful employ- ing interests. Wheeler has shown himself, especially in recent times, to be closer to the enemies of labor, than he ever claimed he was to the workers and farmers of his own state, whose struggle for independent political action he betrayed and then bitterly fought. * e e e The private detective agencies are part of the carefully created police system thru which the employers hope to keep the workers in submission. To attack this police sys- tem is to touch the employing class upon one of its tenderest — Yet that is all the more reason the attack should be made. It is not to be expected that an exposure of these rep- tile organizations will effectively cripple capitalism's police system. Not even if these detective agencies were completely outlawed. The police power of the capitalist state itself al- ways stands menacingly in reserve. But the fight against these agencies helps reveal to the workers the real class nature of the bosses’ dictatorship that they must war against and abolish. : ; . ° e e It is proce here where Wheeler fails. Wheeler is a devout believer in the capitalist social order. He would not injure it. He does not believe that there are classes—a boss class and a working class. He is willing to exploit the dis- content of the workers and farmers to win a place for him- self in the capitalist congress. But immediately the work- ers and farmers begin demanding a class fight, as they are doing in Montana thru the building of their farmer-labor par- ty, then he turns against these same workers and farmers and makes war on them. Wheeler may prove a good stalking horse for the Green regime in the American Federation of Labor, to show that “friendly” labor measures do get into congress; that labor has “friends” in the et ag ic yg parties. But Montana labor, in the cities and on th€ land, is exposing the fraudulent nature of such a “friendship.” Labor over the rest of the nation will gradually come to the same conclusion. Wheel- er’s fake attempt to expose the private detective agencies ¥ prove a boomerang, returning as a real exposure of him- self, ALWAYS AT WORK Some CommunisT— AQTATORS THAT THY CANT PUT IN JAIL. | na Ray a POLISH WORKERS WELCOME DAILY WORKER EXPOSE ‘Trybuna Robotnicza’ to Aid in Campaign In the meet packing houses of the nation, wherever we may go, we will find great ma of Polish workera working long hours for small pay pro- ducing meatand its by-products. These Polish workers most of whom are not able to speak English to any great extent are made the victims of the most intensive exploitation. The work they perform is hard and heavy. They must stand in slime and muddy water day in day out. They are the ones who are com- pelled to do the unpleasant work in the yards along with the Negro workers. The Negro and Polish workers are the worst treated in the yards. The DAILY WORKER which is at present carrying on a-campaign in the stock- yards of the nation exposing the vile conditions and the exploitation of the workers in this industry received a letter of congratulation and greeting from Trybuna ‘Robotnicza, the organ of the Polish bureau of the Workers (Communist) Party. Send Stories to “Daily.” In its greeting Trybuna Robotnicza points out that the bosses fear an expose of the conditions and that they call upon all Polish workers in the yards to send in stories to The DAILY WORKER and Trybuna Robotnicza: “DAILY WORKER, A “1113 W. Washington Blvd, “Chicago. “Dear Comrades, é “Your campaign in the stockyards is only one of many good things that The DAILY WORKER has done for the workers. It is a Communist duty to expose conditions under which workers live and work. And this ex- pose has done much good, It is very important because it is the workers themselves who write of the condi- tions. With the mass distribution of The DAILY WORKER in front of the slaughter-houses your message is reaching the packing-house workers. “The bosses fear an expose of the conditions in the plant. One of the workers in one of the Chicago pack- ing-houses in a story to our paper, Trybuna Robotnicza, and after this story was published and a number of copies were distributed by him he was fired. “There are many Polish workers in the stockyards, who are exploited by the bosses along with the other work- ers, Many of them are under the in- fluence of the Polish reactionaries, who preach to them and tell them they should have nothing in common with the other workers. These Polish workers will now see that the other workers in the yards are their true friends. Not a single Polish paper is writing about conditions in the yards—but this is being done by a Communist daily, To Aid DAILY WORKER. “In the next issue of Trybuna Robot- nicza there will be a number of stories on the conditions existing in the yards and we are joinin your cam- paign and will help you reach the Polish workers. “We appeal to the Polish workers to help The DAILY WORKER in its cam- paign and write in their stories about their conditions. “Hail to The DAILY WORKER, champion of the workers’ cause, “Your in the struggle, “Trybuna Robotnicza, “Organ of the Polish bureau of the Workers (Communist) Party, “B, K. Gebert, secretary.” COOLIDGE JUDGE IN SCANDAL THAT MAY STUN NATION Serious Charges in Sen- ate Kept Secret WASHINGTON, Jan, 8, — Senator Charles S, Deneen, of Mlinois, has been named on a subcommittee ap- pointed by the senate judiciary com- mittee today to hear chrages filed by citizens of Memphis, Tenn., attacking the reappointment ‘of Harry B, An- derson as federal judge of the west- ern district of Tennessee, Other members of the sub-commit-, tee ure Senators Means, republican, of Colorado, and Walsh, democrat, of Montana, Commenting on the charges, which are surrounded by secrecy, one of the members of the sub-committee said: “I cannot discuss the charges, But they are very seriou: Spanish Peasants in Clash with Rivera’s Civil Police Guards HENDAYE, France, Jan. 8— Two civil guards and thri easants have been killed and forty-two peasants arrested as the result of riots in the village of Caudette, ete province, a By th sic received ere,