The Daily Worker Newspaper, June 15, 1926, Page 6

Page Six THE DAILY WORKER Published by the DAILY WORKER PUBLISHING CO. | 1113 W. Washington Blvd., Chicago, Ill. Phone Monroe 4712 | | By R. PALME DUTT, SUBSCRIPTION RATES | ; By mai (in Chicago only): By mail (outside of Chicago): : : $8.00 per year $4.50 six months $6.00 per voar $3.50 six months LONDON, May 12, 1926. (By Mail.) ~The general strike has been called 50 three months $2.00 three months |off; but nothing has been settled. This capitulation represents a be- |trayal which eclipses Black Friday, and the effects of which, in England, |internationally, and within the work- Address all mail and make out checks to THE DAILY WORKER, 1113 W. Washington Blvd., Chicago, IIlInole ~ J, LOUIS WILLIAM MORITZ J. stleeg tee te Editors . DUNNE { } LOEB. fipicred as second-class mail September 21, 1923, at the post-office at Chi- ing class movement are incalculable. cago, IL, under the act of March 3, 1879, There was no justification, either in ‘Advertising rates on application, | the situation of the struggle or in the Business Manager mept thruout the country, for this ca- pitulation. The working class move- “Nonpartisanism”—An Aid to Injunctions ment thruout the country was soli Seventy members of the International Ladies’ Garment .Work-|.),, strikers’ ranks were daily increas. ers’ Union, all but two of them women, are serving sentences‘in the jing; the engineering, shipbuilding and |electrical workers had just been county jail, ranging from ten to seventy days. lcalled out (under.mass pressure’ the The judge who sentenced them, Dennis E. Sullivan, ‘was elected | Clyde engineering workers had come sas : : e ‘hie. * : »p |out unofficially a day in advance in with the help of the labor unions of Chicago ete under the iniuence \ ord tenstinee ibe onde Gh the Gate of the “nonpartisan” policy-—‘“rewarding friends and punishing | eral Assembly), adding half a million to the strikers. tion came as a staggering blow to the movement. 4 enemies” by supporting candidates of the capitalist parties. The workers who must serve their sentences in the filthy Cook | county jail are class war prisoners. The judge who sentenced them | is the same judge who issued the injunction they were convicted of paddle Gees uve aity catch a me violating by continuing to picket scab shops. Judge Sullivan has | eclbred. the dilegatity, Brine puieeal found it possible, by reason of the injunction process,. to legislate, | strike, thus making every trade union prosecute and punish. |official personally responsible to be He is carrying out the job he was elected for—aiding the bosses | prosecuted. The government has is- whose agent he is. |sued regulations placing an embargo ‘ ae : :;. {on funds frem abroad. There were He is doing his job much better than are the labor union officials \threats of confiscating trade union who supported him, because Sullivan remains true to his class while | funds and introducing new trade union they have made it possible for him to deal out heavy jail penalties | legisiation. The armed eo bn to members of the labor movement. |soyernment ‘was. provocatively dis- . a . . | played in the London streets. The re- The members of the I. L. G. W. U. are prisoners of American cap-|formist trade union leaders lost all italism, but they are also prisoners of a labor officialdom which made | nerve, and were ready to go thru any a united front with the enemies of the labor fhovement in the elec-|humiliation rather than face the un- tion | known possibilities of a. continuation THE DAILY WORKER = The Callin =e == | readiness of the working class move- | The sudden capitula- | It was a collapse at the center, un- | jof the state. The struggle can only be { “Following the admiralty decision. \carried forward as the direct political |revolutionary struggle with the’ state. i THE NEW SITUATION IN BRITAIN, | LONDON, May 15, — (By Mail) — |The bourgeoisie has followed up | their advantage from the capitulation !of the General Council by immediately |delivering the heaviest attack on the {whole position of the working class jand working class organization in Brit- jain. The General Council by its capitula- |tion left the working class movement lleaderless. The miners were desert- jed; the unions instructed to make | what terms they could separately; the jlocal strike committees. were left with- out direction. In their Baste to save | themselves personally f further re- | sponsibility, the Genera! Council did |not even attempt to, o anize a retreat of the working class. On the workers, |thus‘eft fighting in the dark, the gov- | ernment and employérs® fastened to |deliver the heaviest attatk. Government Provocation. This attack was direétly led by the government. The govérnment em- ployed hypocritical phases of “recon- ciliation” and appeals ‘to the employ- ers to exercise moderation. But the policy of the government..was shown by its actions. On the,very evening of the settlement the government is- sued thruough the country an official statement thru the “British Gazette” under the heading “No )Qbligations,” which was a direct incitement to the employers to let loose the attack. This direct provocation of the gov- ernment to the employers was not needed. With an immediate unanim- ity, which showed both preparation and organization, the employers began the campaign, presented new demands to the unions, called for new agree- ments, refused to take men back save | | as regards men on strike, established men are not to be allowed to enter, but are to be suspended until further notice.” f The following war office order was issued: “Notice to employes at war office de- partment establishments. Men who have remained at work, and men who have returned to work by Wednesday, May 12, will be given preference in employment irrespective of their for- mer length of service. “All awards under the superannua- tion acts are subject to the condition that discharge at a person’s own de- sire or due.to his own default forfeits all previous service.” Raid Communists. The Home Society issued a warning that all strike pickets employing any kind of intimidation or molestation were illegal, and criminal prosecution would follow any attempts. Repres- sion was even more intense after the “settlement” than before; and in par- ticular wHolesale raids were made on Communist Party premises thruout the country, and arrests in batches car- ried out. The government knew that, after the capitulation of the leaders, the resistance of the working class had still to be smashed, and that this was the most intense phase of the struggle. Plot to Outlaw Strike. The principal objectives of the new campaign were: 1, To prevent a recurrence of the general strike. The chief weapon to achieve this is the government’s legal weapon. It is probable that new trade union legislation will be intro- duced. In any case the ground as re- gards the general strike is covered by the high court decision of Justice Ast- bury that a general strike is “illegal” and “no trade dispute does or can ex- ) candidacy could possibly be done. If there is any desire on the part of leading officials of the Chi- cago trade union movement to undo the harm they have done, now that seventy of the most militant trade unionists in the city are jailed, they can demand the immediate release of these victims of capitalist justice and organize mass protests which will make the democrat and republican officials of Cook county, the rottenest lot of crooks, grafters and criminals that have ever held office in a country notorious for such things, understand that organized Jabor means what it says when it states that it will fight injunctions. The attention of the executive council of the American Federa-| tion of Labor must be called to these cases in the most emphatic | manner and the trade union movement aroused to protest and} action. It is commonplace to say that on the success of the fight against injunctions rests the fate of the labor movement, but the mas ng of these Chicago workers shows that the statement. is more than mere rhetoric. i The clear proof of the danger to the labor movement coritained in the continuation of the policy of supporting capitalist politicians should give a powerful impetus to the organization of a labor party in this state. It should at least produce a united labor ticket for the next election campaign. Foreign Coal and Foreign Money in Great Britain The British government is doing all it can to stimulate the im- portation of coal from other countries. At the same time, as in the case of the money sent by Russian unions, it raises a hue and cry against the miners’ union for accept- ing money from other countries. It is now considering proceeding against the miners’ union un- der the emergency pow financial help from any source outside of Great Britain reaching the miners. Coal from other countries to aid the mine owners to break the strike is covered with the Union Jack and becomes an emblem of devotion to king and country. $ Money from workers in other countries to feed the striking miners and their families becomes a badge of treason. Can anything show clearer the class nature of the British capital- ist government and its determination to starve the men, and the wives and the children of the men, who do the most dangerous and arduous work in the British Isles, and drive them back to the coal pits for a wage that will give the coal owners greater profits? The proper answer to this inhuman scheme of, the British gov- ernment should be a constant stream of money into England. for the miners and in the event the British government attempts to. carry out its threat to stop all donations, the international labor move- | ment shoulddeclare and enforce a boycott on British trade which would eithef force the British government to retreat or eause such an - internal erisis that the British labor movement as a whole can rally its forces back of the miners once more. Coolidge Not Easily Convinced News dispatches from Washington state that President: Coolidge remains calm oyer the Brookhart victory in Iowa against, Cummins and that he does not believe the verdict of the republicans of that / state can be interpreted as a repudiation of the policies’ Of his ad- ministration. Coolidge seems very hard to convince of facts apparent to every- one else, Even Wadsworth of New York, a stalwart in the Mellon- Coolidge camp, is striving to prevent the president endorsing his as he considers it too much of a handicap. This is the reverse of the attitude of other senators who sought open approval , of the administration before so many states had registered disap- proval of its policies. About the only way left to convince Coolidge of their disap- proval is for the voters of that party to kick in the door of the White House and throw its oceupant and his belongings into the street. Such action might indicate even to that Down East Yankee ‘some slight degree of antipathy toward his regime, Since republicans do not utilize such emphatic tactics the only alternative is for them to postpone for two years their more con- vineing assaults and take action at the national ey om that will assemble to choose another presidential candidate, then the president might have some misgivings, in which case.nothing further ‘4 act with the object of preventing any | \of the strugge. | This collapse is the last\stage of the old economic class struggle, as it has |been fought in England and has | reached its culmination in tMis general |strike. With this general strike the |trade union tradition of struggle has | reached its extreme point and can-go no further. The workers are now face |to face with the legal and armed force | briskly and burning embers carried |the fire at Ewing Field. A REVIEW BY H. M. WICKS. | Social Forces in American History, by A. M. Simons. International Pub- lishers, New York, Price, $1.60. 1 ti is quite appropriate that when the patriots of the nation are celebrat- ng the 150th anniversary of the sign- ng of the Declaration of Indepen- dence, there should be published a aew edition of what is thus far, in spite of its shortcomings, the best attempt of an American writer to ex- plain American history upon the bas- is of the class struggle. Simons’ “Social Forces in American History,” has been out of print for some years and many. of those who have become revolutionists within the last decade are not familiar with its contents, altho it had considerable vogue a few years back among those who are today the older revolution- ists in America, Far Surpasses. Oneal. ‘RITTEN by a former. prominent member of the socialist party, who was at best but a very poor social democrat, there are many de- fects in the book that heralded the fate of Simons as a renegade social: ist and jingo supporter of the war. His frequent relapses into hero wor: ship display a lack of Marxian com- prehension, but in this respect he is not half so bad as James Oneal, whose wretchedly compiled book, “The Workers in American History,” 1s good for nothing’ except to reveal the mental bankruptcy of that Bolshevik baiting satellite.of Morris Hillquit and Abe Cahan, ist between the Trade Union Council and the government.” Want Shackled Unions, 2. To break the power of the trade unions in all key positions. It is here that new trade union legislation will probably endeavor to -diminish the strike rights of the unions. The em- -|ployers in the new agreements have endeavored to secure exemption from individually and with discrimination, demanded shackling agreements against similar strikes in future, in many cases demanded reductions in wages. ah Assails State Employes. In all this the government took the lead in regard to workers employ. The following ; der was issued: ai strike participation or even from junion membership of employees in key positions or “position of trust” e. g. railway supervisory grades, print- ing foremen etc, Some employers (particularly in Scotland) have en- deavored . completely’ to break the unions and establish a non-union basis; but this has been discouraged by the government and the majority of the bourgeoisie (as the Federation of British Industries) who know too well the police value to themselves of duly. legal.and shackled trade unions. The government hopes to break the power of the trade unions, and then to maintain them with the assistance of the Thomases. ete; whose only maintenance of their: positions now depends on direct government protec- tion and assistance to chain the work- ers. 3.. To break the-nerve of working class resistance by victimizing all mil- itant workers, and driving them from the factories, The Traitors Agreement. The railway agreement, signed on May 14 by the three railway Trade Unions and the railway companies, is the clearest demonstration of the new (1) Reinstatement, “as work can be-found.”, (2) Admission by the unions that the strike was “a .wrongful act” and admission of the companies’ “legal right to claim damages from strikers and others responsible.” (3) “The unions undertake (a) not again to “instruct their members to. strike without previous negotiation with the companies; (b) to give no support of any kind to their members who take any un- authorized action; (c) not to encourage supervisory employees in the special class to take part in any strike.” (4) Transfers of reinstated strik- ers may take place, though without reduction of wages. (5) “The settlement shall not ex- tend to persons guilty of violence or intimidation.” ~ Thomas & Co. Sign. i This humiliating slavery agreement, completing the betrayal and abandon- soon as g Off of the British General Strike the employers, the desertion of the militant workers who had fought for the strike, and the surrender of all rights of a working class fight, was signed by Thomas, Cramp, Bromley and Walkden. Thomas declared it an “eminently satisfactory” agreement. Certainly it would be a “satisfactory” agreement from his point of view: since it would save him from the trouble of further questions of a gen- eral strike or rank and file demands for action, which could in future be referred, first, to the companies to deal with, and second, to the police, Workers Resist. But the spirit of resistance in the working class was intense. Al} over the country the workers rose against the general council's betrayal and.to meet the new attack, The intensity of the struggle is shown by the fact that on May 13 Thomas had to admit in the house of commons that there were 100,000 more ‘workers out on the day after the “settlement” than there had been before. The “settlement” had indeed settled nothing. Strikers mass meetings at Man- chester, Liverpool, Glasgow, Edin- policy. The agreement lays down. |e burgh, Doncaster, Sheffield, Cardiff, Portsmouth, Southampton -etc. declared for the continuation of the strike and resistance to,the new at- tack. Mass Demonstrations. Demonstrations took place all over the country against the betrayal. At Maiichester the demonstration num- bered 30,000, In Glasgow processions went thru the streets with posters, “Down with Thomas”, At Poplar in East Nondon hostile crowds gathered outside the trade union officers. Mount ed and foot police charged them with batons, and there were forty injured. At Hatfield, near Doncaster, hostile demonstrations were broken up by the lice, and eighty arrested. The general council's abdication has left the workers without central lead- ership. The Communist Party has issued a call for a national conference of local strike committees. The urgent necessity is to rally the working class forces, and establish a new central leadership to carry on the struggle. The issue of this will be determined ment of the workers to the mercy of Jin the next few days, | The greatest fire in San Francisco since the historic disaster of 1906, was the Pwing field fire which threat- }ened to destroy a good part of San Francisco. The wooden stands and bleachers at Ewing Field burned very by high winds caused many fires. This photograph shows but a part of The Sesqui Centennial Edition of Simons’ “Social Forces in American History” t The contrast between, the work of, “committees of correspondence” as Simons and Oneal 1s glearly shown |the general staff of the American rev- in their analysis of the forces that] olution, and indulges in stupid twad- organized the American, revolution|dle to the effect that the revolution against England, cpa “was started and maintained thru Oneal tries to belittlethe admirable | methods ef mob violence and terror- revolutionary “committees of corre-| ism, such as civilized war hardly tol- spondence” set up by Sum Adams of |@Tates teday,” (this was written be- Massachusetts, Thomaé\ Jefferson of| fore Wilson’s war to make the world Virginia, and other revolitionists, and|S@fe for democracy, which Simons he sneeringly refers €6°them as “ad-|SUPported), there are ‘parts that dis- venturers, politicians ‘i poor farm-|tinguish him from the ordinary his- ers.” qe torians and that make his book the Gnsal bensaunlek Shit at ‘the''un: only one of its kind thus far publish- gentlemanly conduct of these revolu- Oe Ane SOUND tionists who were so derate ot} For instance, on Page 75, we find the tories as to throw nes at them|* Very commendable explanation of and occasionally e dignified |*4e consciousness and determination gentJemen on fence ri 1d who boy- |°f the revolutionists: cotted as public en merchants| “When the statement is made that who opposed them.”He flevotes a halt |only a minority of the population were page to the trials and tribulations of | "evolutionists, the question naturally @ certain’ lieutenant governor of Mass-|4rises as to how this minority was achusetts who “became disgusted|@ble to win out. The answer is found with these rioters” (his name for rev: in the fact that the revolutionists were olutionists). It seems the eminent much more active, efficient, cohesive, statesman, like O: |, Was a profound|&"d belligerent, more conscious of historian and “the rioters” gutted the|their aims and more determined in house and “destroyed nearly every.|*helr pursuit than any other portion of thing of value, inclading some records Yom Bras is an tavariable charac- ic of a rising social class, pepstebretbinci | epee Vale: to capitalist class was then the coming : class, It was the class to whom=the se Welle the bash eee wee future belonged. ft was the olass 8 only seurr! epithets for Sam/whose vi th Adams, he sheds crocodile tears tor | gress,” eee ne rompeta 8 PER the Heutenant governonand says: “He| Certainly here is historical justifica- was a pathetic figure when he on-|tion for any mothods that might have tered court next day tears in his|been omployed, in spite of sentimental. eyes and clothed in ite, part of/yearnings for more “civilized? meth- which he was to borrow.” |ods of fighting. * L ‘While Simons, like ‘could not big best part of Simons’ book, and properly appreciate {fe role of the ‘the part which tn “more, te ‘ 4 i |nus Johnson, What Is the Farmer-Labor Movement? By WILLIAM F. DUNNE. . } Third Article. ies struggle-which takes place i the farmer-labor clubs and in thi trade unions supporting the party in Minnesota shows clearly the clarify- ing process which is going on in the ranks of the party. On the major issue around which these struggles arise—carrying out the decision of*the convention in favor ot Magnus Johnson as the party can- didate—a sharp division takes place. Workers and farmers are for Mag- middle- Professional - politicians, |class elements, reactionary labor of- | ficials, support Davis—the lawyer. HE farmer-labor clubs, especially, have become battlegrounds on which the fight for organizational loy- alty and discipline is waged. A good gauge of the progress that the party is flaking in consciousness of the fact that it must become a class instrument is in the attitude towards the Communist members of the clubs, In this connection it should be re- membered that a most unprincipled and well-organized campaign against the Communist Party has been car- ried on in Minnesota for the last two years. The campaign resulted in the expulsion of a number of Communists trom central bodies and labor unions and their isolation from the farmer- labor movement, 3 HE mass of farmers and workers wete frightened by the campaign, altho they took no part in it. But in the farmer-labor clubs and the local unions they now find Com- munists supporting Johnson, while the same elements which were the loudest in their denunciation of the Commu- nists are either supporting the repub- lean, Leach, or,sdisobeying the con- vention decision and supporting Davis. What is the result? / Let us take a concrete case. N one of the Minneapolis farmer- labor clubs where the Davis forces aré quite strong, a recent meeting was spent in vilifying, misrepresenting and demanding the expulsion of the Com- munist members. Those who took part in the attack were all supporters of Davis—ex-Davis’ agents, perennial candidates for office, etc. The rank and file members present were thoroly disgusted with the Davis- ites and the state secretary of the farmer-labor association, himself a farmer, who was present, stated after the meeting that action would have to be taken to put a stop to such dis- graceful proceedings. This is what is meant by my state- ment that clarification is taking place not so much by theoretical discussion as by the tants of the struggle. IHE foes ‘of the Communists, who are also foes of a genuine farmer- , labor party, cannot make their case before the rank and file. They try to raise the smoke écreen of the “red menace,” but some farmer or worker always penetrates it with the question: “Why do you denounce the Commu- nists, who obey. the convention de- cision. when you are working against the convention’s candidate” The question is unanswerable, F the elements opposed to Johngon as the candidate of the party could have secured a farmer or worker for their standard-bearer their case would have been stronger. But they chose a wealthy fawyer and Johnson, whatever his other faults may he, is a farmer, Lawyers are not popular in Minne- sota among the farmers or with the workers. The possibility of their hav- ing secret cofinections with the rail- roads, steel trust, elevator and flour milling interests is too well known. (To be continued.) careful investigation on his. part, is that dealing with the temporary decline of the planters of: the South, before the tremendous impetus given cotton raising after the invention and use of the cotton gin. That part alone just- ifles the new edition..of the book, making it available to younger work- ers who are unfamiliar with it. It is also valuable because it is a phase of American history that has been much neglected ‘by all historians. There is also much valuable ma- terial gleaned from other historians, especially in that part of the work ing with the Jacksonian period, tho Simons again revealed his lack of Marxlan training by his inability to perceive the first political alignments based. upon the dim class lines of Jackson's time, The International Publishers de- serve credit for their »new edition if for no other reason than to give work- ors something in the way of American Matory that is an {improvement over appalling drivel of Oneal. | *1 46,000 bail each, Siguranza Chief is Law in Roumania BUCHAREST, Roumania, June 13. All participating in the workers’ and peasants’ bloc conference at Turn-Sevarin were arrested and kept one day in jail by the police, When several, that had been seized, protest- ed against the illegal arrest by the police, the chief of the Siguranza de- clared cynically, “I am the law! I interpret it as I like.” U. S, Agents Made “Promises.” NEW YORK, June 9.—Two internal revenue agents are under arrest today charged with promising Clifford W. Smith, Rockland, Me., millionaire, to reduce his excess income taxes $100,- 000 and with accepting a bribe of $17,500. * The men, Victor H. Bergholz and Joseph M. Sattler, were arraigned be- fore Commissioner Cotter and held in