The Daily Worker Newspaper, February 13, 1926, Page 11

cn astRRCIMNMRRP Aaa arIR TTA eee ry George Weiss to ]- m Hello,” he said sleepily, reaching out and grfisping her bare arm. “Give’s a kiss, dearie.”’ nt | ut she flung his hand away. 1 ie | “Don’t dare touch me,” she shuddered. Don’t ; ‘you dare.” ut| “What the—’ ‘He sat up and stared at her. | She wrapped the béd-covering around her ‘Y |shouldérs, sobbiig convulsively, wildly, “What ®ltime is it?—-Where are my clothes?— Will 'S |vou go away!— What shall Ido? Oh, what i shall I do?” is} ‘Look here, Rosie. It ain’t no use acting like 1d |this, you know. What you stay for anyway if 1d |you didn’t intend to be a good sport?” ne nt! You brute! You beast!” T-| Oh, hell?’ ©! She cried feverishly: ‘I want to go home; _ |Lywant to go home.” ir moring him, he leaped from the bed and at n to don her rumpled clothes. And all the nt te she was saying over and over to herself, “What will Ido! Oh, what will I do?” id | BROWNING pressed her to drink at least a cup of coffee before starting, but she would wait for nothing. He felt a bit alarmed. “Damn those women! A man never knew how to take them. Who would think she’d cut re up like this?” 't! Unless she walked, there was no way of get- d, {ting back to town, save in his car. During the “tride she leaned back with closed eyes, think- S| ing, thinking. Oh what a fool she had been! 4 | Why had she ever gone out with Browning? “| What was she to say to Joe? She would lie >|before she’d tell the truth! Joe must never -|know—never! She would make it up to him d) with her love, consideration. She would never “| complain, scold again, about anything. How |! petty was the cause of dissatisfaction viewed in the light of what it had led her to. Her | wha body writhed with shame, disgust. | Oh, n | god! if she could only keep Joe from knowing »3|She would work her fingers to the bone for it | him if: he. wept.an 4 thoysand strikes! ~' “Joe, Joe!’*-she cried ‘mentally, chaotically, “I stayed all night at my sister’s. You must .e| believe me! You must!” d A BLOCK from her home, she left Browning ~ without a word. Breathlessly she covered the distance to her door. Here her neighbor, Mrs. Jones, met her. “Oh, Mrs. Smith,” she cried, “where have you been? Mr. Casey is wanting to see you. Oh, you poor thing! Hurry, hurry!” And she began to cry. Behind her Casey came down the steps. What was he saying? “There was an accident down at the pier night. Your husband was bossing the ng of some cargo, when the hatch-tender nderstood his signal and told the winch- man to slack away quick, and the load came down, and—” “Joe! Joe!” cried Rosie. “Was killed instantly, ma’am.” ay The Co-operative Movement in the United States The December issue of “Die Genos- . senschaft im Klassenkampf,” bulletin of the co-operative section of Comin- tern, reviews the co-operative move- ment in the northern. states of the United States. Under the title “The Co-operative League of the Northern States,”’ the review says: HE “American Co-operative League” organized in 1915 and holding its fourth congress. in New York in 1924 still includes only a small minority of the co-operatives in the United States. In 1924 it only had 837 co-operatives as members. In order to improve the possibilities for the unification of the Consumers’ Co-operatives and for their ideological influence thru the central league thruout the extended territory of the United States, there were cre- ated in the last few years a series of sub-leagues which take in a group of near-by states. At the present time there exists sub-leagues for the con- sumers’ co-operatives in the northern states, central and eastern states. The largest’ and most important of the sub-leagues is the “northern states co-operative league,” which this year made the first attempt to issue a year book (Northern States Co-operative League, Year Book, Minneapolis, 1925, 114 pages. Year Book 1925 of the Consumers’ Co-operative League of the Northern States of America.) This league has existed since 1922 and has its seat in Minneapolis, Minn. It extends to about ten membership organizations in the states of Minne- sota, Wisconsin-and Michigan, The kernel of the league appears to be the Co-operative Central Exchange, in Superior, Wis. This is a wholesale buying society, made-up of 41 primary consumers’ unions which can show a total membership of somewhat» more than 10,000 members. The great ma- jority of the membership are Finnish workers and farmers. The second largest organization of the leagué is. ti¢: Frankl ‘Diary’Co” operative, that can count 5,300 mem- bers and ‘also has a center in Minne- apolis. The Year Book contains a sur- vey of the account and of the activi- ties as well as the statistical material of the organizations affiliated to the sub-league. It also includes a number of articles dealing with matters of principle and history, about the co-op- erative movement in general and about the co-operative relations in America in particular. In reading thru this little book we cannot help get- ting the impression that after the moral and economic failures of pre- war times and of the war years, the consumers’ co-operative movement in the United States, in the northern states at least, has since 1919-1920 be- gun to beat out new paths. With great effort and energy has there been be- gun a new construction of a real con- sumers’ organization of the workers and farmers. Beginning on a snfall scale, the last five or six years has seen significant economic and cultural successés. Wherein lies the mystery of this success? Let us see how the year book ans- wers this question? of “The Secret of Success of the Co- operatives” we read on page 74: “The basis of the co-operative movement lies in the social contra- dictions of the present society. Naturally the starting point is to provide better and chéaper goods for the workers and farmers organ- ized in the co-operatives. There- fore the co-operatives must organize their business end according to most effective methods, “But, the business methods may be the best, and still the slogan for: better and cheaper goods cannot be realized to such an extent as hoped for. The co-operative very soon finds out that its ability to reduce prices, to effect any great material savings to its members, is limited, “During the last half century cap- italism has developed from small shops and private business enter- prises to enormous big industries, trusts, and even in the retail field to centralized chain stores, department stores, etc. The highly developed capitalism concentrates its power thru the big banks and thru the capitalist state. “The co-operatives which have to fight’ on the workers’ and farmers’ side very soon realize that their main enemy is not the unorganized small business, but the whole capi- talist system. The fight for better living conditions becomes a fight against the capitalist system. “A co-operative store that is run purely, as,a business venture, no matter how effective “ifs business methods are, no matter how good its customers may happen to be, will find that immediately when they get into financial difficulties their seem- ingly ‘good customer’ will desert them to look for a ‘better and cheap- er’ store. Therefore, it is necessary for the life and development of the co-operative that it uses such meth- ods which will make the customers in reality feel and know that this is their own store, a part of them- selves under all conditions, “And what are these methods which will make the co-operative to be closer to the working people? As we already pointed out, the fight for better living conditions ultimate- ly becomes a fight against the cap- italist system. Here lies the secret of the success of the co-operatives. By taking part in the workers’ and French Imperialists Carry Civilized Customs to Asia How the French Army Carries Civilization Into Syria. A picture taken from “I'Humanite,” the French Communist Party daily paper showing French soldiers playing with the severed heads which they have cut off of their victims. Under the head’ farmers’ fight against capitalism, the co-operatives connect them- selvés with the masses. Thru the partaking of their everyday strug- gles, the co-operatives in a practical way show that they are not only purely business establishments, but that they are a part of the working class movement against capitaligm. “This will give strength to the co- Operatives. The masses not only See a ‘better’ Store, but they realize thru practical experience that it is One of their own weapons with which to fight. And then the co-op- erative will not only live, but. grow in power and influence under | all conditions.” Eskel Ronn; the director of the al ready mentioned wholesals_ society, the Co-operative Central Exchange in Superior, writes another article’ for the Year Book: “Cures headaches, rheumatism, as- thma, consumption, tuberculosis, hernia, scarlet fever, mumps, piles, housemaid’s knee, and all other dis- eases known or unknown to the med- ical profession.” “This patent medicine advertise- ment always occurs to me when I hear some of our good co-operators advance the theory that co-operation is the “cure-all” that will abolish all the social diseases and ills of man- kind and lead us to that promised land, the ‘co-operative commonwealth.’ “Tt is plainly é¢vident that present society is composed of two opposing classes, namely the working class, and the capitalist class, whose interests are diametrically opposed to each other. There is no compromising be- tween them. There can be no friend- ship between them, nothing but con- stant conflict... In this class con- flict the co-operative movement is a mighty weapon in the hands of the workers. A very brief study of ‘the history of the co-operative movement will soon disclose the fact that it’s during the struggles of the workers on the industrial field that they have organized co-operative enterprises. “It is the co-operative enterprises which have been born amidst the tur- moil of laborers’ struggles that mean something in this great movement. It is they who work unceasingly for the ultimate aim of the co-operative move- ment. It is they who are not satis- fied with more paltry dividends. They are the builders of a new system of society.” A contribution of Dr, Warbasse, the president of the American Co-operat- ive League, is on the other hand, con- ceived more in the spirit of the “pat- ent medicine co-operator.” According to this, the entire distribution is and then also the entire production will gradually pass into the hands of the organized consumers and all-this thru co-operative organization, The secretary of the American Co- operative League, Mrs. Agnes War bass, devotes an article investigating the reason why the co-operative move- ment in Europe has developed better than in America. She sees the cause of this:‘in the fact already emphasized by other authors, that in America the dollar hunt masters the psychology of large sections of the working class masses. They do not think of making their relations better; they are always on the lookout to find better relations, To the natural question how to make these relations better, Mrs. Warbass gives only a very vague reply. cites as an example the success of the live young co-operative organiza- tions of the northern states. They have already told the secret of their success in other places in the Year Book. The first Year Book of the North- ern States of the Co-operative League is a wealth of evidence to us that even in the land of the dollar, the revolutionary class consciousness of the cooperative are beginning to awake, We can only congratulate the northern States Co-operative League on the issuance of this excellently pre- pared little book, She,