The Daily Worker Newspaper, April 10, 1926, Page 14

» | - The Daily Worker Cartoonist, Maurice Becker, shows the capitalist. and one-hundred percenters “thumbs down" on ‘the, “Thumbs Down” (Re; ba a FOREIGN 6o& Ware issue of registering and finger-printing the foreignborn worker.» To keep a record of the real criminals, the workers should take the finger-print of the “thumbs down.” Russia Inside and Outside A REVIEW OF TWO PAMPHLETS By Walt Carmon. “Glimpses of the Soviet Republic,” by Scott Nearing; “Russia Turns East,” by Scott Nearing. Social Science Publishers, N. Y.; 10 cents each. _l. INSIDE, ITHIN the last year more men have gone to Russia to see for themselvés—more investigators, more delegations of workers from various countries. From Sweden, Germany, Belgium, the Women’s Trade Union delegation from England— and all have’ Spoken and written. Speeches, reports, impressions and articles— heaps of documentary proof, facts, have been stacked up to give lie to the bile and venom poured on the first workers’ government for eight years by the servile press and pulpit of this country. The classic report of the British Trade Union delegation to Soviet Rus- sia® substantiated the previous re- ports of investigators and has been in turn found even cautiously careful fm its praise by later delegations who found a new world being built for workers, and,.tho non-Communists themselves, voiced their approval most heartily. Individual and open-minded Ameri- cans have gone also, have seen and by facts have been conquered. Ray- mond Robbins, Albert Rhys Williams, Paxton Hibben and a host of others who have been there returned more or less loud in their praises and out- spoken for the recognition of Soviet Russia. To them what was happening here “for the first time in history” Deva pase ! ntotaas S)9n deserv- Scott Nearing is the latest. sympathy for the first workers’ gov- ernment has been whole-hearted from the beginning. The trip he has just concluded gave no reason for a change of mind. His impressions briefly noted in his pamphlet, “Glimpses of Soviet Russia,” is not a deep study. In 32 pages he is able to give only a few of the things seen, heard and thought in Russia during a stay of two months. “This is a brief pen-picture,” Scott Nearing tells us. “It is neither inclu- sive nor exhaustive. Perhaps it is not even typical. Like any other vis- itor in a big, complex, changing coun- try, I describe, not the Soviet Union, but only a part of what I saw there. “Here I have merely tried to picture the Soviet Union as a going concern, without indicating where it is going. I have done this deliberately, because any understanding of the situation in the soviet republic must begin with a realization that the social order .ex- isting there is just as concrete as’ the social order éxisting in Illinois. The working class is the ruling elass in the Soviet Union in the same sense that the capitalist class is the ruling class in Illinois. But in the Soviet Union, as in Illinois, there is an es- tablished functiéning social order.” (We might remark that the “social order” in Illinois is rather capitalist anarchy—an important distinction. The comparison is perhaps not the best one for Scott Nearing to make.— W. C.) “American newspapers have suc- ceeded in making many of their read- ers believe that the Soviet Union is a welter of chaos, I traveled thru the union, by day and by night, for two months, I talked with all kinds of His !people and visited many different in- stitutions. ere is a record of some of the things that I saw. My hopeis that Americans who read these pages will realize that most of the press stories about the soviet republic are, to say the least, ill-informed and in- accurate.” Briefly the author sketches a pen- picture of a giant canvass: a Russian countryside, a factory, a factory com- mittee, labor unions, labor clubs, co- operatives, schools, books, theaters, newspapers—all so hastily, he admits, that “not one of the descriptions that 1 have written here does justice to its subject, . . . In the soviet republic ] saw the beginnings of an economic and social life so new in character and so vast and varied in extent that there are no adequate words with which to picture it.” Nevertheless the: bare outline, truly omitting much (too much), will give thé: worker the latest word on the progress of the world’s one bright spot which kindles hope for the future of all of the world’s workers, It will also serve, as it is meant to be, as a guide for workers for fur- ther reading on the subject. An added list of other publications on the sub- ject is not the best that could be afforded, tho it may prove useful for more extensive reading on the subject. Il. OUTSIDE. “ID USSIA Turns East,” the other one of these two leaflets, shows Rus- sia on the outside, A worker's gov- ernment, building with a vision, also brings its vision to other peoples, and doing this, it is, as the author terms it in his sub-title, “A Triumph of Soviet Diplomacy in Asia.” To the Far Kast where civilzation was born and crum- bled and is now prey to the rapacity o: world’ imperialism, Russia brings new life and strength and gains, in turn, new allies in its struggles. Like the first booklet, this one is necessarily sketchy in its treatment. Here is the bare outline of the sub- ject, but neatly presented and tastily served to whet the appetite of the worker for further knowledge on the subject. A double page map of the eastern world is a well-chosen feature of the booklet, and here also is added another list of books recommended for further reading. Both “Glimpses of Soviet Russia” and “Russia Turns East” are simply written, easily understood, excellently suited to give to a worker the oppor- tunity to open his mind for the first time to Soviet Russia—and himself and his-problems. Both books are also the kind which, once given to the man in your shop or in your union, will make him come to you for more and make him listen to your arguments he has previously*ignored, *Russi . ish ‘Trade Union Delegation to. Soviet Russia—The Daily Worker Publishing Co. $1.25 durofiex bound, $1.75 cloth. Workers! Write for the Saturday Mag- azine Supplement of The Daily Worker. ; Write about what you see and hear in your daily work in the shop.