The Daily Worker Newspaper, April 24, 1926, Page 6

Page Six THE DAILY WORKER Published by the DAILY WORKER PUBLISHING CO. 1113 W. Washington Blvd., Chicago, Ill. Phone Monroe 4712 SUBSCRIPTION RATES By mail (in Chicago only)? By mail (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 mail and make out checks to THE DAILY WORKER, 1113 W. Washington Bivd,, Chicago, IIinols J, LOUIS ENGDAHL WILLIAM F, DUNNE MORITZ J. LOEB... Cr SS Entered as second-class mail September 21, 1923, at the post-office at Chi- cago, Ill., under the act of March 3, 1879. wovesscarseesesennneeess DG ItOPS ..Business Manager <i 290 <=: Advertising rates on application, ee) Victory for Striking Furriers It is indeed a notable victory that has been won by the striking furriers of New York against the intrigues ‘of the conservative leadership of labor. When Hugh Frayne, organizer for the A. F. of | L., intervened, reached an agreement with an agent of the manu- facturers which was an abandonment of the demands of the New York joint board of the Furriers’ Union and ‘tried to take the ques- tion of settlement out of the hands of the militant leadership, the strikers staged a revolt against such procedure that shook the rafters of Carnegie Hall where Frayne and the international of- ficials of the Furriers’ Union tried to jam the agreement down their throats after excluding Ben Gold and the other left wing lead- ers: The masses of striking furriers proved that they were loyal to the leadership of the joint board. This action forced the.A. F. of L. to reverse its policy and, in- stead of using its power against the demands.of. the joint board, to support these demands. This reversal of policy and the appear- ancé on Wednesday of William Green, president of the A. F. of L. hefore the mass meeting of strikers atthe Sixty-ninth Regiment armory symbolized the triumph of left wing leadership and strategy. Instead of the defeatism first suggested*by Frayne a committee composed of a representative of the A. F. of L., the president of the International Furriers’ Union and his colleagues and a committee representing the New York general strike committee will negotiate a settlement with an employers’ committee. On Wednesday President Green addressed a great mass meet- ing of the New York furriers together with the representative of the strike committee. The hearing given to him while supporting the demands of the strikers and the leadership they have chosen stands in sharp contrasts to the reception given Hugh Frayne last week, when the furriers refused to listen to Frayne while their leaders were barred from the meeting. The New York furriers.have given Presi- dent Green a lesson on solidarity in the face of the enemy. . ie Playing the Game The Mellon-Coolidge machine was kindly ‘considerate of some of the old guard who are up for re-election this year aiid permitted them to cast their vote against the shameful piece of’ grand larceny that lifted 73 per cent of the Italian debt off the shoulders of the mon- strous Mussolini gang of fascist butchers in order:that they might have this to their credit when they appeal to their: constituents to re-elect them. } Certainly no one can believe for a moment ‘that Irvine L. Len- root of Wisconsin or Frank R. Gooding of Idaho'voted against the debt cancellation because they were in disagreement with the Mellon gang. Had there been danger of defeat of the bill these republican statesmen would have voted for the administration’s proposal as they always vote, except when they are permitted to ‘register nega- tive votes for political purposes. It is also noteworthy that Peter W. Norbeck, who recently won the republican nomination for U. S. senator in South Dakota against a: Coolidge favorite, voted with the majority to increase the burden of taxation for the people of the United States.in order that Mus- solini could more easily obtain credits from.the-House of Morgan. This is indicative of the spurious nature’ of Norbeck’s pose as an insurgent. Among the democratic statesmen of the Morgan coalition a number. of them voted against the debt cancellation as a matter of political expediency in order to have a record with which to appeal to their supporters at home. Among those heroes of the world court fight, with the Morgan brand indelibly upon them, who are up for reelection are Caraway of Arkansas, George of Georgia, Overman of North Carolina, and Smith of South Carolina. These creatures, frightened by the wave of resentment that is unmistakably rising against tlie fierce drive of the Morgan coalition to clear the ground for ‘still greater investments that will further involve this country ‘in all the crises of the old world, did not dare vote on the debt can- cellation as they veted on the world court, We will probably now see the degraded spectacle of the official political shysters at the head of the American, Federation of Labor endorsing some of. these senators on their fake record, instead of effectively. serving the interests of labor by launching a move for a labor party. Imperialist Intrigue in China The latest move of the Anglo-Japanese imperialists in China is to issue, thru the mouth of their mercenary. general, Chang Tso Lin, ‘a demand for the recall of Soviet Ambassador'Karakhan. Included ‘in this demand is the usual propaganda ‘to ‘als6 ‘exclude “numerous agitators for the Moscow International.” 8 This demand, to say the least, is a bit premature. It is issued while Chang and his brigand bands are stifl contesting with the Kuominchun (national army) for the control.of Peking, the capital city, and is an effort to brand the widespread labor disturbantes among the Chinese masses as a result of the intervention of Bol- shevik agents from Russia. The presence of the Soviet ambas- sador is also resented because it symbolizes to the Chinese masses the fact that their national aspirations have the sympathy of the powerful proletarian state while all the imperialist powers are try- ing to dismember China. This is by no means the first attempt on the part of the British and Japanese invaders to crush the labor and nationalist move- ‘ment in China. It is a continuation of the policy that launched the) j. British blockade against Canton which was followed by threats against the government to force it to crush the strike of seamen and dock workers, thereby alienating working class support from the _ Canton government and making it easy prey for the military ad- venturers inthe service of foreign imperialist powers. As their earlier efforts failed in Canton, so the ‘of the imperialists will fail in Pekin. Regardless of what the mili- pe cliques May temporarily do the bond e e Russian and the Chinese.Jiberation movement will eventually .gemerate sufficient ‘power to drive out the imperialist brigands, nt intrigue | VHE recent drift of the rank and file and many of the leading elements of the socialist party toward co-opera- tion with the Workers (Communist) Party is extremely disconcerting to Mr, James Oneal, erstwhile editor of the defunct New York Call and now serving in that capacity on the weekly | publication, In spite of the lies, the demagogy, the sophistry, the contumely, used against us by such as Oneal, our tac- | tics and our insistence upon the unit- jed front of all working class elements jin order more effectively to fight for the elementary demands of the work- jing class have broken thru the bar- | riers of prejudice to the sincere ele- ments who still remain in the socialist party. The Oneals, the Cahans, the Hill- quits and others of that calibre suc- ceeded for a time in inciting the mem- bers of their party against us because we had not yet made our impress suf- ficiently strong upon the, labor move- ment, While they succeeded for a time in denying us the use of plat- forms from which to talk to the masses under their influence, we eventually achieved the confidence of many of their own members by prov- ing to them in action that we were the most determined fighters in the ranks of labor. The more intelligent leaders among the socialists recognize this trend and |no longer refrain from entering into united fronts with our party in many of the ‘movements we initiate. But |the “diehards” of the Oneal type still harp on the old string, still repeat the ancient hoaxes that even they can |no longer believe—if they ever did believe them. Then when, in addition to bringing the members and sympathizers of the socialist party closer to us, we write and publish history in the light of Marxism that is, at least to Oneal, |adding insult to injury. It is the un- pardonable sin. Especially is this so since a Communist interpretation of American history exposes by com- parison, the shallowness of Oneil’s claim to be the profound historian of the American working class. ARSHALLING all his arsenal of reviling epithets Mr. Oneal tells his readers that my articles appearing in the Workers Monthly on the demo- cratic party are purely asinine. He prefaces this scholarly observa- tion with the ludicrous declaration that the Communist movement has ex- hibited a “marked decline in the past six months, especially since its amus- ing transformation on a shop and street ‘nucleus’ basis.” This is obvious- ly intended to create the notion that we are declining in the hope that some of the remaining members of his party will be frightened away from us and is a belated echo of the dire prophecies, none of which material- ized, of the opportunist elements in our own ranks that were excluded from our party on the very threshold |of the transition from the old branch | organization, a heritage of the impo- tent socialist party, to the shop nuclei form. From the mawkish repetition of the | social-democratic sneers at the form | of organization proved by world-wide | experience to be correct for revolu- tionary practice, Oneal proceeds to his familiar buffonery and tries to discuss history. HE eminent historian is particular- ly incensed at my estimation of President Jackson as the political spokesman of the powerful slave hold- ers of the South. He properly squelches me (at least to his own sat- isfaction) for having the audacity to write American history that conflicts with his laborious efforts by indig- nantly asking? “Why did the small slave holders of the South suppért Jackson and also oppose the powerful slave hold- ers? Why did the small farmers of the new states in the West support Jackson if the latter was the tool of the great planters? Moreover, why were the great majority of the workers in the northern cities Jack- Sonians if Jackson represented these slave owners?” It is‘almost inconceivable that one who professes a modicum of Marxian understanding could’be guilty of such utter rot, but it may be found on page six, column three, in The New Leader of Saturday, Mereh 27, 1926, The answer to such questions are very simple for a Marxist. Jackson was supported by these elements, s!m- ply because, my dear Mr. Oneal, the prevailing ideas of any given epoch the id of the ruling class, That is Marx's observation, so if you have any objections to it, prove first that Marx was ,wrong. UT, my esteemed sir, I cannot re- sist the temptation to apply your own unique theory, which is on a par with your other vaporings on history, to current history, where it can be re- duced to its abSurdity, Communists have proved that the Coolidge admin- istration is an enemy of labor, the; ‘proletarian leader lackey of, Wall Street. I hope the pro- found historian will not rise and hurl | THE DAILY,WORKER epithets at me and try to prove that this is not so because millions of workers, poor farmers, small business men and professional classes voted for Coolidge in the last election. Does Mr. Oneal presume to assert that the workers ang farmers of Jack- son’s time were more,‘class conscious than are workers today? If we accept Oneal’s interpretat! mm of history we would have to consider Emil Vander- velde, the hero of the second interna- tional, a representative of the work- ers and not a flunkey of Albert, the King of the Belgians, simply because certain deceived workers stil! support him. Because Phillip Schiedemann was supported by certain German workers during the war we ought not to have branded him a kaiser social- ist but eulogized as aa gallant we follow the Oneal logic. 1% N the case of Jaékson the facts re- garding his sympathy with slavery are so well known that even Oneal is forced grudgingly to admit that Jack- son was not opposed to slavery. We will let Jackson speak for him- self on this question. Take, for in- stance, his annual message to con- gress on December 2, 1835, directed against the abolitionists of the North. It must be borne in mind that this message was delivered less than two months after William Lloyd Garrison was mobbed in the streets of Boston for daring to advocate abolition of slavery. Instead of denouncing that act Jackson gave aid and comfort to| the mob spirit by the following shame- ful observations: “1 must also invite your attention to the painful excifement produced in the South by attempts to circu- late, thru the mails, inflammatory appeals addressed to the passions of the slaves, in prints, and in vari- ous sorts of publications, calculat- ed to stimulate them to insurrection and to produce all the horrors of a SERVILE war. (Emphasis mine.) “* * * It is fortunate for the country that the good sense, the generous feeling, and the deep-root- ed attachment of the people of the non-slave holding states to the un- ion, and to their fellow citizens of ie ye cgay See¥'Tr Turws the same blood in, the South, have given so strong ape impressive a tone to the sentiments entertained against the processing of the mis- guided persons who have engaged. in these-unconstitutional and wick- ed attempts. . bees to authorize the hope that these attempts will jer be persisted in, But, if xpressions of the public will shall not be sufficient to produce 80 desirable a result, not a doubt can be entertained that the non- slave holding states, so far from countenancing the -slightest inter- ference with the constitutional rights of the South, will be prompt to exercise their authority in sup- pressing, so far as in them lies, er is calculated to produce the evil. “In leaving the care of other branches of this interesting subject to the state authorities to whom they properly belong, it is never. theless proper for congress to take such measures as will prevent the_ postoffice department, which was ned to fofter.an amicable in- ercourse and gerrespendénce bo »/ / BY H. M. WICKS tween all members of the confeder- acy, from being used as an instru- ment of an opposite character.”— (President’s Message, Dec. 2, 1835.) ACKSON concluded this vindictive and provocative message with a recommendation to congress to pass such a law “as will prohibit under severe penalties, the circulation in Southern states, thru the mails, of incendiary publications intended to in- stigate the slaves to rebellion.” This talk of a servile revolt was the most potent propaganda weapon of the powerful slave holders of that time, who even formed combinations in order to crush anyone daring to challenge their rule and who had agents roaming the country inciting mobs against anyone who dared sug- gest that slavery was infamous. It was this message of Jackson that initiated the fiercest wave of mob violence ever recorded in the history of this country. In vain the abolition- ists demanded of the president that he submit proof of any intent to in- cite a so-called servile insurrection, but all such appeals were treated with contempt and their authors hounded by Jacksonian mobs who had imbibed the malevolent spirit of their chief, The most notable result of the wholesale series of mob violence insti- gated by Jackson and‘ his henchmen was the murder at Alton, Illinois, on November 8, 1837, of Elijah P. Love- joy, a moderate religious opponent of slavery who wanted to convince the slave holders that they should re- lease their slaves as a matter of ab- stract humanism. No moderation would suffice. The slave owning oli- garchy in control of the government demanded the violent extermination of even the mildest critics of slavery. HE same absurd praise given Jack- son is applied by: Oneal ,to Van Buren, who succeeded “Old Hickory” and carried out faithfully his crusade agains& the abolitionists and for the slave holders of the South. Van Bu- ren was one of the most odious of the agents of the slave holders and was capable only of taking orders and carrying them out. His orders came exclusively from the large plantation owners. Perhaps Oneal will absurd- IT MC-‘ES! N AG ganize! Unite!” The United Farmer, which is Farmere’ Educational League, FARMERS’ INTERNATIONAL GREETS “UNITED FARMER” ON ITS PROGRAM BISMARCK, N, Db, April 22.—The United Farmers’ Educational League, which has just begun publication of a monthly paper with a policy of uniting all the existing farmers’ organizations on a common program for a fight in the farmers’ interests in alliance with the city workers, has received the congratulation of the Farmers’™international which unites millions of farm organizations all over the world, These congratulations are contained in a cablegram addressed to the United Farmer, and read as follows: “Million farmers, united in the Farmers’ International, heartily welcome appearance of the first United Farmer. Farme in one powerful union, send representatives to congress and senate in alliance with organized city industrial workers, Long live the farmers’ and workers’ bloc, Farmers and workers, or extending its influence among the exploited farmers,of the north- western states, organizing them in support of the program of the United ly reply that Van Buren, too, was sup- ported by workers and farmers, which refutes the contention that he was a slave holders’ president. The erudite schoolmaster, Mr. Oneal can find no language with which to be- rate my assertion that Henry Clay “was arrogant and imperious and not inclined to bow before so insignificant a figure as (President) Tyler.” He distort’ my statement to make it ap- pear that I attribute Tyler’s defection from the Whig party to that personal disagreement, and states that Ty- ler was far from insignificant because he came “from a blue blood family of Virginia and had consideréble influ- ence in politics.” This is equivalent to refuting the charge that Mr. Coolidge is a some- what bewildered puppet of Wall Street by pointing to his birth;-among the rocks on Vermont and the’fact that he has “considerable i:rfluence in poli- tics.” S to the quarrel betweén Clay and Tyler it is so well known ‘that Opeal’s diatribe is the first attempt I have ever witnessed to’refute it. Not content with using my articles on the democratic party as a text from. which to teach me the Oneal in- terpretation of history, he becomes positively delirious when he discusses my article on “The Lincoln Myth” that appeared in the February 12 issue of the DAILY WORKER. He is particu- larly incensed that I should dare re- fer to Lincoln as an agent of the in- dustrial capitalists of the North. He does not presume to say what class, if any, Lincoln, in his opinion, did represent. A perwsal of Oneal’s “The Workers in American History” failed to reveal his opinion on this matter.’ On page 172 we read: “Lin- coln was the noblest product of this early stage of capitalismyedne some respects he pRansem peo the epoch in which he lived.” | How erudite! How concise and yet comprehensive! Iam an-iygrate be- cause I said Lincoln was<éq-agent of the capitalists of the North, yet Oneal admits he was the prodtict of this cap- italism. Then he adds a qualification |to the effect that Lincoln transcended the epoch in which he lived. Certainly ould unite Fight exploiters, only two month His Party to Repudiate His Oneal Again Discourses on American History Diehard of the Socialist Party Who Trembles Before the Tendency of the Rank and File of - Communist Baiting Becomes Enraged at Marxist Interpretation of American History That Exposes the Shallowness of His Feeble Endeavors. he is no Marxist who accepts such an explanation. There are individuals in society who personify certain ad- vanced tendencies and to the super- ficial observer seem to see beyond their time, but, as Marxists, we know that never at any time, under any conditions has anyone transcended the epoch in which he lived. The most cursory ‘understanding of Marxism teaches us that itis utterly impossible for an idea to penetrate the mind of man-until the material conditions for such an idea are at hand. Some per- ceive the light of a new stage in so- | ciety before others, but that certainly furnishes no basis for mystical, ¥eli- gious, teleological, transcendental’ in- terpretations, Y article on Lincoln was written with the’ object of dispelling. the myth that Lincoln was the “great emancipator” depicted by the prosti- tuted historians. of capitalism, The entire article was devoted exclusively to that task, which I think I accom- plished, not by quoting the bourgeois, historians, but ‘by referring to. undis- puted documentary evidence, viz.: Lincoln's inaugural address and his’ official acts rebuking Generals Fre- mont and Hunter. ty ae If Oneal had accused me of stress- ing this side of the record of Lincoln to the exclusion of other point I might be inclined to concede error, bit in extenuation I would plead the impossi- bility of sufficiently elaborating the character of Lincoln within the con- fines of one article. Certainly Communists are the last to belittle the historical role of Lin- coln and we have time and again pointed to the fact that he was one of the outstanding figures of his time and that he playec a revolutionary role by helping to smash the slave power by force of arms, in spite of his pathetic hesitation and excessive caution in handling the question of chattel slavery. OWEVER, there is a vast differ. ence between placing Lincoln in his proper historical perspective and indulging in the tawdry sentimental- ism of an Oneal, whose writings outdo the dithyrambics of an Ida Tarbell, a John Drinkwater, an Irving Bachel- ler and others of the historico-fiction- ists. Oneal’s total inability to discuss ‘hhis- tory from a working class standpoint is further revealed in his “master- piece” called “The Workers in Ameri- can History,” where on page 117 he refers to the secret revolutionary “committees of correspondence” of the colonies as “adventurers, poll- ticians and poor farmers who were {n- duced to enlist to present the appear- ance of a fighting force against Great Britain.” Since Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson of Virginia and Samuel Adams of Massachusetts were leading figures in this secret agitation, and were not poor farmers, the plain im- plication is that they were adventur- ers and despised politicians. This sort of flippant denunciation of the revolutionary fighters of the bourgevisie at a time when that class was rising against feudalism is con- fined exclusively to the American so- cialists. In other countries the revo- lutionary traditions are emphasized, not belittled, and contrary to Oneal’s denunciation of Samuel Adams for such fiery individuals as Adams dealing with the British patriots in t! colony of Massachusetts, we find @ great deal to admire in him. ; ae Instead of weeping over the fate of, the -snivelling hypocritical lackey of the crown, Chief Justice Hutchinson of Boston (p. 116), who was driven from his house by the enraged colo- nists, Oneal would perform a much better service to the working class by explaining the true significance of such fiery individuals as Adams and the role they play in revolutionary up- heavals. How one who professes to write his- tory for American Workers can praise such creatures of the slave power as Jackson and Van Buren and denounce the “committees of correspondence” of the revolutionary period is beyond me. Though Oneal. sarcastically says “Wicks always .solemnly considers everything from the baby’s toothache to the price of potatoes, in terms of Leninism,” I must confess that his peculiar method of interpreting his- tory is somewat baffling to a Lenin- ist, Even the worst of other social- democratic and bourgeois writers do not indulge in such mental gymnasties; He is unique. The realm of pathology might be much more appropriate to deal with him. MY It is much easier to understand his fury at the appearance of a Marxist interpretation of American history, especially when it emanates from Communist sources. Our ‘tac: tics in applying the united front is rapidly driving Oneal into political bankruptcy. But he could console him- self with his. ica, achievements as an his pi: good ground for his indignation whe we cruelly deprive him even of consolation by his theory