The Daily Worker Newspaper, February 12, 1926, Page 6

sti t { 5 Page Six THE DAILY WORKER Published by the DAILY WORKER PUBLISHING CO. | 1118 W. Washington Blyd., Chicago, I, Phone Monroe 4712 | SUBSCRIPTION RATES By mall (in Chicago only): By mail (outside of Chicago): $8,00 per year $4.50 six months $6.00 per year $3.60 six months $2.50 three monthe $2.00 three months Address all mail and make out checks to THE DAILY WORKER, 1118 W, Washington Bivd., Chicago, Ilinole jetted ks J. LOUIS ENGDAHL cae WILLIAM F, DUNN@ [Otto MORITZ J. LOEB.....snmmenmnnneeene Business Manager a Entered as second-class mail September 21, 1923, at the post-office at Chi- cago, Itl., under the act of March 3, 1879, age 190 Advertising rates on application. SS Blasphemy in Massachusetts Yesterday there began a trial in the district court at Brockton, Massachusetts, that re-echos the colonial dark ages. A Communist speaker and. editor, A. Bimba, is being tried for the “crime” of blasphemy. .It seems that some vindictive priest objected to the seientific statement of fact that the human race can well afford to dispense with all ideas of god. It interfered with the confidence game that he practices upon his gullible parishoners the proceeds of which enables him to live in idleness. Instead of arresting the| holy con-man, the political lackeys and the police of that benighted city arrested the man who exposed the fraud. Bimba is charged with violating a law of 1697, adopted almost a hundred years before the declaration of independence. The crea- ture responsible for the law was one Cotton Mather, an ignorant, malevolent, murderous clregyman, who served his god of vengeance by persecuting and hanging witches in Salem, Massachusetts. This monster instigated most of the withcraft persecutions, attended all the trials and danced with glee as the victims of his homicidal mania strangeld to death at the end of the hangman’s rope. An object of loathing and execration among the few intelligent people of his day his memory is now a synonym of infamy. Four years after Mather published his screeds on witchcraft entitled the “Memorable Prov- idences” and “The Wonders of the Invisible World” this law of 1697, under which Bimba is being tried today, was placed upon the statute books. Against this utterly contemptible prosecution all atheists, free- thinkers, infidels and agnostics should rally to a united front with the Communists and go into the state of Massachusetts and once and for all wipe out the residue of ignorance and fear left upon the statute books by that most sinister figure in American history, Mather. No intelligent person can believe in the existence of a god. The Mather law makes intelligence a crime and ignorance a virtue. This persecution has the utmost political significance and every advantage should be taken of it by Communists to discredit not alone religion, but also the political shysters that have the audacity to start such an action and thru discrediting them cause the workers to despise the capitalist state itself. The Fruits of Treachery * ‘Tear gas bombs, riot guns and other implements of destruction for carrying on a war of frightfulness and extermination against the miners’ union are in the hands of police and bands of mine guards in the anthracite field to be used when the operators attempt to open up the mines with scab labor. This is the fruit of the treachery of the officials of the miners’ uinon who aided these identical police, thugs and mine barons jail the Communists who were ‘urging militant action in the beginning of the strike. Every great industrial struggle proves that the first attacks of the employers are directed against the left wing. As soon as the vanguard is eliminated the drive is launched against the main body of strikers. We do not expect the labor lieutenants of the capitalist class who aided the police against the Communists to heed the lesson of the present strike, but unquestionably thousands of the rank and file will profit thereby and join the left elements who are determined to crush alike the agents of the bosses within and without the union. Had the advise of the Communists to make the strike general by ordering out the maintenance men prevailed the strike would now be a matter of history and would be recorded as a victory for the working class. It is not yet too late to bring the anthracite barons to their knees in this struggle. The maintenance men should desert the mines and thereby make it impossible for the scabs to mine coal for some months to come, even tho they are hired for that purpose. Anti-Strike Proposals «. Reports from Washington indicate that Coolidge will demand dhat this congress pass anti-strike legislation which has been gather- ing dust for the past two years. This is the reply of the administra- tion to the demand that the executive department intervene in the coal strike, » . Not much need be said on such a threat. Every union man recognizes that such legislation means the outlawing of unionism. There is but. one reply to such threats and that,is open defiance of (Continued from page 1) geoisie is becoming intensified. A serious development of the colonial national revolutionary movement di- rected against French imperialism, is present, The most, however, has been said about the stabilization of Germany, which has, howeyer, experienced an extremely sharp economic crisis and a whole series of financial troubles and where today unemployment is growing tremendously. . Germany. is experiencing a Locarno crisis and,a crisis of three parties, the social-dem- ocratic, the German nationalists and the catholic center party. All this and the utterance of Hindenburg upon} since the days of the necessity of the great coalition (a government of all parties from the German nationalists to the social- democrats) as the country would have to go thru a difficult winter, do not point to any real stabilization in Ger- many, Poland, a country that appeared stabilized, is now experiencing an- other crisis. ‘In Poland a combination of three factors is ripening: the na- tional’ movement, the peasant move- ment and the working class move- ment. ROCEEDING to the situation in the East,\the, speaker declared that the events in Morocco, India and Egypt had proceeded much more quickly in 1925 than one had ex- pected. “In India there exist much larger masses of the proletariat than in the other oriental countries, for this reason it is to be expected that the movement in India will far over- take the Chinese movement. At the present moment the center of the revolutionary movement is in China, The events in Shanghai in 1925 rep- resent the most important events in world history in that year. There was a moment when the young Communist | Party of China and the leaders of the} Shanghai trade ‘unions considered the question of intensifying the movement up to the point of armed insurrectioh. The Comintern advised against such | ideas and proposed a gradual slowing) down and carrying out of a retreat in| ime so that the movement should ain time and the proletariat be able to digest its experiences. One speaks very much about the fact that the whole world situation is determined] by the Anglo-American alliance, we must, however, not forget the fact of the contradictions which exist be- tween England and America, HE significance of the Locarno pact consists in the following: (1) Locarno is directed against the Soviet Union. (2) Locarno is an at- tempt to tame bourgeois France.| (8) Locarno is an attempt of America| to create a situation in Europe favor- able for the exportation of American capital without risk. (4) Elements exist in Locarno of a coming to- gether of the European countries fo! mutual defense against the future role of America, The most important con- Sequence of Locarno consists in the fact that the Locarno pact is directed against Soviet Russia, In this con- nection wé must harbor no illusions. The intervention against the Soviet Union suffered defeat because Ger- many took no part in it. The decis- ions of Locarno are directed towards winning Germany as a participant in a future intervention. In this con- nection, the appeal of Vandervelde in the words of Chamberlain that be- cause two. countries make friends this does not mean that they become the enemies of a third country, will pacify no one, At the present moment there is no danger that Germany might take part in an intervention, but it is our duty to take the future perspectives into consideration. The partial stabil- ization of capitalism is a fact, but parallel with this stabilization factors are accumulating which call the stab- ilization into question. Many facts point to a growth of the revolution- ary forces, Zinoviev then quoted statistics upon the numerical strength of the most important sections of the Comintern. Out of a total of ‘55 parties 25 are il- legal and five half illegal and this any government that, dares attempt such a moye. The day such a bill is, passed every worker in eyery basic industry should lay down | his tools and refuse to resume work until paralysis of industry | forces capitulation of the government. | No otliér conceivable move will so impress’ the workers with the elass character of the Wall Street government at Washington, and it would-force-the organized workers to-abandon their stupid policy of no politics and hurl them into a direct struggle against the government, thereby ‘teaching them valuable lessons in~ political mass action, which is a step on the road to revolution, Mr. Kellogg's state department has excluded from the country Countess Cathcart of London and South Africa because the lady has a reputation for seducing gentlemen of the aristocracy and be- cause she hag written “a strong psychological drama” depicting her conquests. Perhaps Kellogg fears the baneful effect upon cabinet members of such propaganda. The state of Massachusetts trying a Communist for violation of a “blne-law” against-blasphemy lends emphasis to the observation ‘that it might lave been better if instead of the pilgrims landing on Plymouth rock thé rock Nad Janded on the pilgrims. : wit ee. t rhe hoodle governor, Len Small, of Illinois, issues a statement on the*refusal of the courts to reopen his million dollar. treasury looting case solemnly assuring the people that he will “as in the it” tight for their rights. Is this a promise or a threat? makes an estimation of the exact membership difficult, 2 Ay EC UREN the situation of the individual Communist Parties, Zinoviev stressed the fact that the 6,000 to 7,000 membership of the Com- munist Party of Great Britain was no gauge of its political influence, for in England political mass parties have never existed. Despite the small membership of the English party, the significant successes of Marxism in England must be recognized, The whole development of English economy, particularly the loosening of connection between the metropolis and the colonies, which makes a con- tinued corruption of the aristocracy of labor by the English bourgeoisie more difficult, is undermining English op- portunism. The leftward tendency in the British working class movement, its close relations with the Russian trade, unions, and the necessity for the latter to concentrate itg attention up- on the British movement, proceed from this fact, The 6,000 strong Com- munist Party of GreateBritain leads over 1,000,000 ira on members organized in the migority movement, At the present moment a left wing is also develéping ia@e the labor party. Our chief base in England ral the Communist Party and this “ ¢ | its difficulties successfully. | the mistakes in the Jeadership of the| must be strengthened and extended. One must in no cin¢umstances over- estimate the stability of the present left wing in the trade unions and in the labor party, one must recognize their weak sides. I recognized the great significance of the close rela- tions with the English left for the struggle against the danger of war, against reformism, etc. ' We should, however, not leave the possibility of vascillation on its part out of consid- eration. Our fundamental basis in England is the Communist Party and the minority movement following it. We can in any case look towards the future of the English working class movement which for the first time artism is becom- ing a revolutionary mass movement, with confidence. For, the first time the Comintern has succqeiled in gaining a foothold jn England, FROCEEDING to France, Zinoviev stressed the significance of the re- cent anti-war strike,’ ‘This strike altho many mistakes were) made, proved the great political weight of the French party. It.is true, however, that hav- ing regard to the very favorable situa- tion, the financial crisis, the Morocco crisis, the pacifist spirit amongst the peasants, the increasing burden of debts and the treacherous attitude of the socialists, these successes might have been greater, the right group with Rosmer, Souvarine and Loriot at its head was a disturbing influence and played a strike breaking renegade role in the anti-war strike. In carry- ing out the tactic of:the united front, the French party is still making many mistakes, for instance by putting up the slogan of the fraternization and the calling back of the troops to the reformist leaders and non-party work- ers as a consideration for a united front. But the attitude of the right group is a thousand times more erron- FTER a most difficult crisis in the, leadership, the Communist Party of Germany is beginning to overcome The cri- ses which haye taken place in tke leadership of the Gefman Communist Party from Paul Levi to Scholem are closely connected ngtsso much with German Communist,;,Party and the Comintern, as with »the crises in the development of the, German revolu- tion. Zinoviev asked)and answered in the negative the question as to whether the executive, committee of the Communist International made a mistake in 1924 wheniit left the power of the party in the hands of Maslov and Ruth Fischer, Zinoviev pointed out that at the be- ginning of 1924 the danger of a split/ had come very close;and that at the same time new sections of workers in. Hamburg, Berlin, and the Rhur dis-| trict came forward which had no face) in the old leadership, The execeutive | committee of the Communist Interna-| tional knew the weak sides of the| Ruth —_‘ Fischer-Masloy intellectual group which possesses a few positive advantages and which was able to make great capjtal from the mistakes | of its opponents. We knew that Mas-| lov and Ruth Fischer could not be re- | garded as firm Bolsheviks, but never-| theless we agreed with the transfer- ence of power as a further leadership | of the party from the right was out of the question. ROCEEDING to the mistakes made in the trade union question, Zino- viev stressed the fact that the strug- gle against the participation in the trade unions, did not merely proceed from Maslov and Ruth Fischer, but that the slogan: “Abandon the Trade Unions!” was the result of mass sug- gestion upon the whole revolutionary working class of Germany. This spirit was not only caused by the mistakes of Maslov and Fischer but by the whole development of the German revolution and by the reac- tion following the Oetober defeat. We had to consider this spirit, If we had insisted energetically upon our de- mand, that would have made a split and the collapse ofthe German Com- munist Party, For this reason the executive committee of the Commun- ist International considered the tran- sition of power to the left to be the solution involving the least friction. Our calculation correct, for a nucleus of sound hevist elements formed itself inside the left. When the incapacity of the left leadership in face of the difficulties caused by the Dawes plan in Germany showed fitself, the executive committee of the Communist International undertook a new grouping in the leadership of the German Communist Party and helped it to take a correct Bolshevist line, The tactic of the executive committee of the Communist Internat, letter tav- ored the election suecesses of the Ger- man Communist Party and began to penetrate thru the wall separating the Communist Party and the social-demo- cratic party workerg. There are, it is true, still signs of a crisis in the Ger- |man Communist Party, an ultra-left | tendency has been left over under the leadership of Scholam who is already attempting to exo he discussion in the Russian party gress. I would not be in the | urprised if such | elements were to pt to speculate | with our differences of opinion, this is ‘unavoidable in all discussions, but ‘they will make aymistake for we re- main in complete ggreement. with the present German central committee and we are convinced that the Ger- man party will go the correct way and will overcome the remains of the ultra-left and right crises. ITH regard to the crisis in the Czecho-Slovakian party, the solu- tion of the question by the expulsion of Bubink, which was contestable, has proved itself to be correct, Bubnik as a political force no longer exists and the block of the left ahd the cen- ter has proved successful, The recov- ery of the Czecho-Slovakian party is a fact, The tendencies in the trade union questions, which are similar to those in Germany, must, however, be overcome, Zinoviev pointed further to the sanitation of the Polish party where the ultra-left Domsky tendency has been condemned by the party and where decisions have been passed for keeping peace with the Communist Party of Germany &nd the whole Com- intern, Summing up his review of the situa- tion in the parties, Zinovievy pointed out that in most of them, for instance Germany, Poland, Czecho-Slovakia, Italy and Norway, ultra-left relapses had occurred, caused by the present period of comparative ebb in our struggle. The executive committee of the Communist International hag fought these ultra-left tendencies. It was no accident that since the Second Congress the Comintern has had to struggle first against the ultra-left and then against the ultra-right. The in- ternational proletarian organization supporting itself upon a victorious pro- letarian revolution in one country and developing its work in other coun- tries, has no other possibility than to maneuver between Scyll and Chary- bdis; first.to crush a left and then a right digression and then both to- gether. One digression, as Lenin al- ways stressed, creates and nourishes its opposite. The future leaders of the Comintern must in this connection remain absolutelly upon the basis of Leninism. I am, said Zinoviev, very definitely against those who declare that at present the struggle must! be directed exclusively against the ultra- left. One must remember that in a given country. and in a given moment the ultra-left tendency can be more dangerous than the right tendeney and vice-versa. This is not centrism, but the chief way of Leninism along By JOHN A NOTICEABLE sharpening ofthe situation can now be seen in Ger many. Everything had begun to look so pleasant, so quiet, so comfortable. The capitalists had already begun to believe that their mastery was: assum ed for ever more. The social demo- crats already announced that the’ pe- riod of everlasting class peace was at hand—and all at once there ‘is again a “severe winter.” Hindenburg, the monarchist president of the Ger- man republic, used these words, when he tried, by referring to the approach of a “severe winter,” to convince the still recalcitrant portions of the Ger- man bourgeoisie of the necessity of drawing the social-democrats into the “big coalition,” which the Comintern must proceed in the present situation, Zinoviev described the characteris- tics of the present international situa- tion and pointed out that altho no immediate revolutionary situation ex- isted, nevetheless the worst period of Stagnation in the revolutionary move- ment was passed and that forward move was beginning in the European working class movement with new and specific characteristics, HE idea which still exists amongst sothe Communists that the Com- munist movement can only develop in times (of intense industrial crises, of unemployment, etc., is basically false. The Russian example * proves that altho a complex of several: factors is necessary for an immediate revolu- tionary situation; by no means the least of which is the despair of the wotking masses -in conséquence of crises and poverty, nevertheless the geheral development of the working class movement, in ‘the course of which new complicating’ factors arise, ‘which later lead to a transition from the economic into the immediately revolutionary working class move- ment, does not absolutely demand a definite financial and industrial crisis. It is just in times of prosperity when the working class feels itself strong and undertakes successful strikes whilst very often great unemployment blunts the will to struggle. The idea that the stabilization of capitalism leads unavoidably to the strengthening of reformism and that the Communist ’ parties can only strengthen and penetrate into the masses at times of revolutionary ad- vance, is incorrect. If the European Communists suffer from these ideas which exist amongst ‘the’ European workers and fail to’ recognize that it is a questioi of whether we or the re- formists shall stand at the ‘head of the present énlivenment of the ‘working class movement, if the Communist parties ‘in the present situation do not penetrate into the masses, they will fail also when it isthe question of leading a definitely revolutionary movement. The obstinate persistency of the German and Austrian social- democrats in continuing to exist is AY e. be explained thru the fact that th are better able to penetrate into the masses of the workers upon the field of the daily struggle, than the Com- Notes of an Internationalist A ‘SEVERE WINTER’ IN GERMANY PEPPER. ranks of the German national party. The right wing of this party, ‘which is backed by the big landowners and a part of the basic industrialists, was for Locarno, but the petty-bourgeois voting masses of the German national- ists, which are composed largely of the urban-petty-bourgeoid ‘masses and the exceptionally broad German strata of the intelligentsia, have forced the resignation. of the German national ministers and. have compelled the official German nationalist. member- ship to vote against the pact, ‘HAT of the social-democracy which in the last year prided it- self on its indéstructability, and boasted that it. was enlisting ever We believe that the analysis of the | PP#der masses, that it was the only, old militarist is correct.’ A “severe winter” has broken in Germany. The German __proletarfat? economic crisis grows at an appalling rate. One and a quarter million un- The question of the “big coalition,” employed, several millions working part time, thousands of bankruptcies, thousands of factories shut down, and ever stronger. force; ae is only the beginning, the credit | ‘he left wing against the official part; and production crises stride forward ieadershtp, mercilessly over the existence and life of the masses, ipeue economie crisis coincides with |t%@ SYmpathies of ever greater mas- a parallel development of concen- tration of capital unprecedented in Germany, the trusts mount heavens like sky-scrapers in America. But a whole series of political crises as well as the united, party of the The social democracy is also going thru a crisis. the question of the class collabora- tion with the bourgeoisie throws, with he opposition of * The Communist Party, thru its fight against Locarno, has drawn to itself ses. For largé~ portions of the social-democratic workers are also against Locarno. The Communists’ campaign on the question of ‘the in- demnification of royalty is becoming ever broader and has its effect not also runs partially parallel with the economic crisis and crystallized them- only ‘among the’ soctal-democratic selves to some extent as direct results of the economic crash, At present we have in Germany the Locarno crisis, the crisis over tHe indemnification of royalty, as. well as the general gov: ernmental crisis, ‘There exists no political party which is not undergoing an internal crisis, which is not menaced by the danger of a split. The sharpening of the situation becomes the cause of a rapid and deep-going differentiation within all of the important parties, Ww" see the differentiation and fac- tional struggles in the centre party, The tower of the centre, as this unchanged party has been proud: ly called for decades, is beginning to totter. The left wing, under the leadership of ex-chancellor Wirth is waging a systematically organized campaign against the right wing which is under the leadership of Fehrenbach, It. that the m: of the centre, the workers but even in the republicanly inclined petty-bourgeoisie. The recent elections show that the masses are beginning to desert- the social demo- cracy and that they are streaming to- wards the Communists, » INDENBURG is Hight,’ “severe ++ winter"has now set’ in in Ger- many. Hx-chancellor Wirth is also right when he frankly puts the pro- blem of how Germany can support its working masses during this winter. The bitterness grows, unemployed demonstrations take, place everywhere and the conference of generals of the Reichswehr answered the question put by @x-Chancellor Wirth: “We shall feed the workers this winter with blue beans, with martial law,” The democratic leader, Erkelenz, writes in the Borsen-Kurier: “It is possible that in the course of this wintery there. will prevail such hard must not be forgotten | times aa which our administration may subject to new serious dis- catholic worl petty-bour, ie | Orders, Pessimists even fear that and Deasantry, the left wing, | Shall,have to resort to shootings.” These petty-bou i$ masses are ut-| Economic _crisi government terly dissatisfie h the capitalistic| crisis, efisis Within parties, hung taxation and customs policy of the|tiote, martial law, ings of the officeial leadersiipcof the centre party, | Tifles: ~ —this is the Locarno became tho starting point | Picture of Germany in the winter of of @ sharp differentia within the munists. In the present period of stabilization the Communists must prove that their party is the correct workers party which is able to adapt its work to the daily need of the working class, to lead every struggle every defensive or offensive strike and to take up a correct attitude to all daily questions. We must make the strong sides of the social-demoe racy our own, and rejecting opportun- _ ism, defeat them with their own weapons. FURTHER charactestic of the present period is the fact that the after war process of the levelling again an aristocracy of labor is conis again a naristocracy of labor is com- mencing to develop. A still further phenomenon of the time is the strengthening petty bour- geois influence upon social-democratic party policy. The formation inside the social democracy of a_ special strata of party officials for whom each change of government means the re- ceipt of new posts and which adapts its ideology to the bourgeois state just as the Communists base theirs on the proletarian state. On the other hand the social-demo- cratic, leaders must adapt themselves ever more to the spirit of the working class in favor of the Soviet Union, in particular after the journeys of the workers delegations to Russia, In this connection the social-democratic leaders, for instance Otto Bauer, at- tempt to attain a monopoly for the defense of the Soviet Union and de- mand the dissolution of the Commun ist. parties. Zinoyiev pointed to the growing at- thority and influence of the Soviet Union as a factor inthe international working class movement. Whilst dur- ing the difficult hunger years the so- cial-democracy attempted to utilize the troubles of the Russian revolution as propaganda amongst the European working class against Bolshevism, to- day it is compelled to recognize the successes of the socialist and cultural | reconstruction- of the Soviet Union openly and to take the pro-Soviet feel- ings of the working class into consid- eration. INOVIEV outlined four fields of the present international work: 1. The creation and support of Communist Parti Step for step ac- cording to the cirefimstances; the le- gal, hajf-legal and illegal Communist parties must be consolidated. One must grasp the fact that the 7,00&_ members of the British Communist Party, the 6,000 members of the Chin- ese Communist Party and the 3,000 members of the Young Communist League of China are a great historical work. 4 (2. The Anglo-Russian trade union ~ alliance and the contradictions inside Amsterdam,, The Anglo-Russian com- mittee is a smashing proof for the fact that the united front tactic, that is the tactic of conquering the reform- ist masses in the stabilization period, in now beginning. Despite the weak- nesses of the English left movement, the significance of this alliance of the English and Russian unions, must not be underestimated. _ 3. The workers’ delegations and the work of socialist reconstruction of the Soviet Union. The deep political significance of the workers’ delega- tions to the Soviet Union consist in particular in the fact that the work- ing masses led by the reformists are beginning to understand that the dan- ger of war is unavoidable and that the real struggle against the danger of war is only possible in alliance with the Soviet Union. 4. The movement in the East. » The tremendous significance of this movement must be made ever more rr to the European working class. ie Comintern must connect these four fields of work-and must not for- get that the organization of the Com- munist parties remains our basic prin- ciple. There exist two possible dan- gers for the Comintern: One is that individual parties or even the whole International may fail to recognize | the complexity and newness of the present situation, for \instance the Anglo-Russian Alliance may overlook, may in’the tasks of organizing the Communist parties, overlook the pro- cesses developing inside the camp of the reformists. The other danger is recorded in the decisions of the Fourteenth party congfess of the Rus- sian Communist Party, namely the danger of national limitation, of fail- ure to recognize the close connection of the fate of the Soviet Union with the fate of the international proletar- jan revolution, of a lack of understand- ing o the mutual dependence of the Soviet Union and the international working class movement, - INOVIEV closed: It is not pos sible to contend that the past years were years of particularly ‘great success for the Comintern, but they were in many respects de- cisive yeats. The work of the Com: intern will be easy when the ad- vance becomes a fact, but it was difficult to work in. this new situa- tion. The Comintern is one of the greatest achievements of the inter- national working class with the as- sistance of our party and Lenin, Ig- horing all difficulties which may stand In its way, our party will re- main true to internationalism to the sand will sacrifice everything in cause of the Comintern which it can and must