The Daily Worker Newspaper, June 16, 1926, Page 6

Page Six “+... < THE DATER “WORKER. (s.... . rhe THE DAILY WORKER The Confused Mr. Calverton | Published by the DAILY WORKER PUBLISHING CO. 1113 W. Washington Blvd,, Chicago, Ill. SUBSCRIPTION RATES By mail (in Chicago only): By mall (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 Phone Monroe 4712 Address all mail and make out checks to THE DAILY WORKER, 1113 W. Washington Bivd., Chicago, I!linols J. LOUIS ENGDAHL ) WILLIAM F, DUNNE (”" MORITZ J. LOEB. Entered as second-class mail September 21, 1923, at the post-office at Chi- cago, Ill, under the act of March 3, 1879. Editors ..Business Manager Advertising rates on application, eS 200 Britain’s Deep Crisis By WILLIAM F, DUNNE, .F. CALVERTON, editor of the | Modern Quarterly, reviewing Sa-| poss’ “Left Wing Unionism” in the| ture. May-July issue of that publication,| Calverton predicts @ change in a commits an error for which there is | Policy which has never existed except little excuse on the part of a super-in- | {2 his own mind. He thinks the Work- tellectual who views the class strug-|rs Party is “inflexibly opposed” to gle from the undisturbed quietness of | What he calls “dual unionism” where- the class room. }as what the Workers Party actually The error is an error of fact and is| {8 opposed to is anything which di- one of those mistakes which occur so | Vides and weakens, the working class. frequently in the writings of the intel- ie! it-develops, for instance, that the ligentsia who are trying to make a |‘eXtile workers can ‘be organized out- | Side of the American Federation of | Labor and that such an independent junion can function'lA’ well as the | Amalgamated Clothfhg’ Workers, the of dual unions in many Industries In itself is a salient reason why a change In the attitude of the Work- ers Party may occur in the near fu- case against the Communists, |ALVERTON says: The Socialist Labor Party of j today, with its firm’ faith in dual Dispatches from Great Britain speak of the belief in official circles that if the financial aid from the Russian unions to the strik- ing mfners can be stopped the strike can be broken. This does not speak very well for the labor movements in other countries and certainly it is in contradiction to the stereotyped anti- Soviet propaganda of the capitalist press which pictures the Russian workers as miserably underpaid and underfed. Yet they have enough money, it seems, to have made the biggest strike donation in the history of the world labor movement. But the support given by the Russian trade unionists is not the real reason for the drive against Russia by the British government The truth of the matter is that. the coal strike is breaking the back lad! to auch abAl" Unlonisin® | 1¢Bp- of British capitalism. The export of coal has fallen from 2,000,000 | proaches the whole question from the | tons in April to 263,000 tons in May. | Exports of other goods have fallen off by $30,000,000 and imports | which the whole aeoh rea e the Com- | The British government therefore needs some issue which may |Party, in determining its program in serve to obscure the facts of the collapse and direct attention to other tne various sections of the labor quarters. It must appear as the defender of British civilization and movement, never asks: it is trying to do so. | “Is this union a dual union?” But the stubborn truth will not down. British capitalist gov-| Sa cae hae a neem ernment has produced a crisis which it can alleviate only by reducing | tne ,workers in this industry best, is the wages of miners to the starvation level and forcing them to work |this the union which can attain the on those terms, by in turn proceeding in the same fashion against fe en eee the workers dur- the rest of the working class, and by recapturing markets now firmly Te the MAR Gu GadHae Cae: he Reece held by the rivals of British capitalism. | in the affirmative, the Workers Party Stripped of all the false issues, such as “Soviet gold,” etc., the | will support such a union whether it miners’ strike is one of the manifestations of the bankruptcy of be inside or outside the American British capitalism, a part of the process by which Great Britain is | Federation of Labor. BMP * IALVERTON continues: — forced to play second fiddle to the more virile American cap iC ‘Ab Shik pirgect iri; for: toate) she F ‘ | despite the present stand of the The British coal miners are bearing now the brunt of a strug-| Workers Party, Saposs cites several gle which burst upon the world with dramatic suddenness thru the| factors that more than likely “may general strike and which again will» involve inevitably the whole; '¢ad Communists to support inde- British working class. | pendent unions.” The great number Seldom in all the struggles of labor has a single group of work- | ers been called upon to shoulder the responsibility which rests now | upon the miners and their leaders. | To fail to give the maximum support tothe miners means to| strengthen British capitalism and to aid it ‘in its attempt to crush | the British labor movement. unionism as the only solution, is as absurd as the Workers Party when it declares itself INFLEXIBLY OP- POSED to dual unionism. The emphasis is ours. “Dual unionism” in America means side of the American Federation of Labor, or the tendency to build unions outside of that body in competition with its affiliated organizations, | HE Workers Party is not now and By EARL R. BROWDER. ARTICLE ONE A HE working class of Great Britain a. pe os The Furriers’ Union Sets an Example | 115 spending the threeday Whitsun : a ¢ . , | holidays in absorbing the lessons of The Furriers’ Union has given an answer to the question which | tne collapse of the great general confronts every union at the end of a strike, i//e., what to do with the strike, and working out plans for sup strikebreakers. | Port of the coal miners, whose con- The Furriers’ Union says “Fire them first, turn them over to the | eae ea teitaaeer acti peed union for discipline, and then we will-:consider each case on its| some days the workers were simply merits.” | stunned by the betrayal of the Trade The union is strong enough to enforce this demand and a special | Union General Council; now they are committee of the union has been set up to deal with the matter. pane Spies Haas peel Loney The Furriers’ Union has set an example for the whole trade union | Larry to ae fi anetion being movement in this respect. To leave the strikebreakers in the shops {shot at them. without punishment for their treason to their class is to give the| The date set for the meeting of bosses a nucleus for anti-union organization and discourage the men | ‘he executives of all affiliated unions, « |which the general council fixed at and women who go hungry and are clubbed and arrested while on the | the seit oy paisa will find great picket line. |changes in the British labor move- It should be a cardinal rule of every union that no strike settle-| ment. .The general strike, miserable ment which does not include the discharge of strikebreakers be made |S Was its leadership, has opened a Py s + .,| new chapter of revolutionary develop- except when the union has had to accept a defeat on its major) Premendgus cokes “seek ae | ment. demands. |leased within the working class, One of the most shameful acts of the right wing leadership of the | !ong pent up by the traditional British British trade unions after the general strike was to sign an agree- ee br des rie which ¥ : * will only be registered in the course ment which acknowledged the right of the bosses to continue the St thtase deveitpmedh butianielcal: employment of strikebreakers and which allowed, because of this, . ze ready puts an entirely different face the members of the union to be blacklisted. on the world situation. How the Strike Began, HE general strike came as a sur- prise to everyone, most of all to those who called it and were sup posed to lead it, the Trade Union Gen- Gary as a Pacifist : Now that it has become the vogue for statesmen, war munitions the so-called independent unions out: | Workers Party can Support tha move without having to ¢ifatige the dotting of an I or the crossing of a T in its program, ves R. CALVERTON and the group of which he appears to be the spirit- ual head, have, from time to time, ac- cused. the Communists of disregard for facts, unrealism, undue reverence for phrases, etc, It is plain from the review from which we quote that Calverton him- self is victimized by such phrases as “dual unionism” (considering unions only in their relation to the A. F. of L.) and that in addition such an ob- viously accessible fact as the position of the Workers Party on this question has never attracted his attention. “The scientific spirit,” that self-ad- mitted atribute of the detached intel- lectual which urges him ever onward in the hunt for the Holy Grail of pure truth, seems to be laid aside when- ever the Calverton cult gets within what it believes is striking distance of the Commpnists. Is American labor going to stand by with the British tory. government while the mineowners give the British never has been “inflexibly oppos-| miners a good licking jor will it give the financial aid to..keep them from being starved into submission? If the | standpoint of Marxian dialectics on | British miners are eaten back to work at lower standards it will be a defeat for labor the world over. Today over a million British miners with their women and children are facing starvation in the front line of labor's struggle against a grasping owner class. One meal a:day is their ration. It is a recurrence of the 1921 struggle, which the miners logt after 13 weeks of magnificent solidarity. Black Friday, April 15, 1921, saw the miners deserted for the first time by the railroaders and dockers of the Triple Alliance. Left to fight alone, they were forced on June 28 to accept drastic wage reductions. Red Friday, July 31 1925, saw British trade union leaders apparently redgem themselves whet their threat of a general strike stopped a new joint offensive of mine owners and government ‘against min- ers’ wages. a Events proved, however, that the capitalists were only sparring for time to smash the solid front of labor. But British labor leade! All over the country similar demon- srations were occurringyland messages poured into the executives, demanding solidarity with the miners. The Trade Union Gaueral Council was overwhelmed by the sweep of sentiment, coming up fr the rank and file. A motion calling for a gen- eral strike to begin Monday night was put; the general council which op- posed it and did not believe in it, was silent because it. had no program; and the motion was care by a vote of 3,650,000 against 49,000, NTO the hands of thé general coun- cil was placed the carrying out of the strike, the only definite instruc- tion given being, of motion by Bevin, “that in the eyent of trade union agreements being placed in jeopardy, it be definitely agreed that there will be no general resumption of work until those agreements are fully recognized.” Herbert Smith, president of the miners, declared: “We are not going to have peace at any price. We have a clear understanding with the general council that altho we are handing this matter over to them, we must function with them from time to time. Any negotiation must be joint negotiation, and any advice from either side must be considered jointly.”, oe N Sunday, May 2, negotiations were reopened with the government. J. H. Thomas, arch-reactionary leader of the N. U. R. (Nagional Union of Railwaymen), had taken-charge of the negotiations for theegeneral counéil, AMERICAN EABOR MUST AID THE STRIKING BRITISH COAL MINERS junwilling tolecapital away. The Struggle in Great: Britain manufacturers, heads of armament trusts and imperialist war mmongers generally to conceal their preparations for future world slaughters of the workers under the slogans of pacifism it is not surprising to hear a belated echo of the boresome Coolidge utter- ances from Elbert H. Gary, head of the steel trust. At a luncheon in honor of the German industrialist, Dr. Paul Reusch, Gary advocated an international association of steel pro- ducers as “a step in the direction of abolishing war.” In his ‘speech the American apostle of the scab shop in industry unintentionally let the cat out of the bag regarding the last war. Relating the fact that he met Dr. Paul Reusch in Brussels in i911, Gary said that at that time he believed if the steel producers would stand together they could prevent war and added that he still believes it. Here is a plain repudiation of the twaddle of Mr. Gary during the war to the effect that the conflict was over opposing principles of “Kaiserism” and democracy and au ‘indirect confes- sion that steel had something to do with it. His expressed desire for an international steel trust is in- tended to include only continental European producers who can be while the left wing members seemed to be paralyzed. He,guickly justified the deep distrust ofgthe miners, by turning the powers of the general council to forcing th ers to accept a reduction in maa part was described later by A.J. Cook, secre- tary of the miners, the following words: “I have had experience of being bullied in colliery offices; 1 had ex- perience in 1920 and'1921 in meeting various prime ministers, but never have we been bullied by the employ- ers or the government to the extent that we were bulliéd by certain trade union leaders to accept a re- duction in wages.” “” “The government knew that, and the coal owners knew it. One man on the other side said to me: ‘The T. U. C. will help us,’ and the prime minister on more than one occasion publicly thanked the T, -U. C.” (Speech at Rhondda Valley, South Wales, May 28.) NA eestnie tte by Thomas and the right wing, the general council was determined to surrender the miners’ cause, Cook and Smith, with the unanimous support of the miners, eral Council, Everyone knew that on April 30, when the coal agreement expired, something must happen: The government, knowing. the weakness of the Trade Union leaders, and un- derestimating the pressure of the rank and file, thought it would com- pletely isolate the miners and force their surrender. The Trade Union leaders believed that the government would give them an opportunity to surrender gracefully. ‘Thus, almost without realizing it, the Trade Union General Council |found itself leading a revolutionary | general strike to which it was opposed and in which it had no faith whatever, Its later shameful collapse was pre- determined already in the first days of the strike, ° N Friday, April 30, the king signed a proclamation, under the “emer- |gency powers act,” which placed the This grotto has been erected at Mundelein, Ill, for the Eucharistie Congre It ie an exact copy of the famous shrine in France. Tecognize the class struggle, even when forced upon them, failed to pre- pare, ‘They were beguiled up to the last minute with the idea that another | threat would turn the trick, that the capitalist government would not fight. Then May 1 1926 the miners were locked out, On May 8 the Trades Union Congress council had an enthu- siastic general strike on its hands. The. government called it civil war, threatening severe, measures likely to provoke reprisals, perhaps revolution. The council, with no definite plan, was more afraid to advance than turn back. The general strike was called off un- conditionally on the flimsy promise that Herbert Samuel, former chairman of the coal commission, would try to persuade the government to accept certain compromise terms. The gov- ernment had no such intention. It submitted terms which the miners could not accept. The owners said they would handle the industry with- out government interference. Premier Baldwin, taking orders from the bitter anti-labor members of his cabinet, stepped aside. ‘4 John Goldmark (right) as he arrived by airplane in Moscow to begin his trip by rall across the Soviet Union, “He is trying. to beat the world’s record for circling the globe. He is now enroute across the steppes. She Never Gave Birth to a Child in the Coal Mines of India A sub a day will help to drive words of Brailsford (who is far from “saved” the general council “from it- being a Communist), the government self, by locking the doors against it and breaking off all negotiations.” For the moment Thomas had been balked in his treachery by his own masters. The government had decided that it must taste blood first before accepting the surrender of Thomas & Co. It is | publicly declared by Geo, Lansbury | that this decision was taken before | the incident of the Daily Mail, which | was seized upon as the excuse for breaking negotiations. T Lae spirit of the British workers | when the printers of the Daily = was a splendid demonstration of | refused to allow that paper to go to press unless an offensive and provo- catory manifesto therein was first removed. It was, in the words of T. A. Jackson, editor of the Workers Weekly, “a good, honest, straight- forward, truly British smack in the mouth—a blow on the lying lips that have done more to inflame class hatred and to incite the class con- tempt of the British workers than any single thing these last ten years.” An unofficial act of a small body of workers, it fired not only the rage of the government and employers, but also it set off a perfect explosion of working class enthusiasm. The war was on. Deeply unfortunate for the workers, however, was the fact that their forces were still directed by a general staff which did not want to win, which was looking for nothing but a chance to surrender as quickly as possible, (To be continued.) Naidu is now in London being.praised as the most beautiful Princess in India. Many other hundreds of thousands of indian women would be quit beautiful—if they were given the same pampered attention that Naidu has received, and if they did not have to stay in the coal mines— days togeth even bearing children below ground. used in the imperialist struggle against Britai , and the pacifist’ country under martial law. The 0. M. disguise in which the question is approached is much too thin to|s, (Organization for Maintenance of conceal the preparations for the next titanic conflict of nations that | Supplies), a semi-official fascist strike- is being prepared by the imperialists while the statesmen of the |>reaking organization, was called into hy s sha : fr » futility to th int ey the a ¢ | the service of the government. Mili- various countries pass from one futility to the next in the series of |.... men were appointed “commission. international conferences that are being held thruout the world, | ers” of the different districts of the with each conference exposing the irreconcilable contradictions that |country. Troops began to moye to the most radical working class centers, A million miners quit their work, On Saturday, May 1., the conference of all trade union executives met at Memorial Hall. Outside the streets & World court senators voted for “peace.’’...They can-now enlocicucabbnid the nny Mee me, all the peace of private life, away fromthe turmoil of legislative |yions into manifestations of support combat, jfor the miners, full of a fighting spirity can only end.in war. Only international working class action against the capitalist brigands will end war. MOO 1 IES ABEL) ARENA HKLM Ee cE rm stood firm, That Thomas was ready to repeat the “Black Friday” of 1921 is admitted by H. N. Brailsford, leader of the I. L. P., whdf’says: “My own impression,/from wl I heard that evening, was that angther rupture and another ‘Blaék Friday’ were im- minent.” bepes It was the government which changed the course of events. In the The Philadelphia-Camden bridge, which wilt be formally opened on July 4, will be the iargest suspension. bridge in the world, i: “ » ft : ' % te yey