The Daily Worker Newspaper, October 7, 1926, Page 6

= + Page Six * THE DAILY WORKER Pitas AMLY VYORKER THE Published by the DAILY WORK 1113 W. Washington Blvd., Chic Tl. PUBLISHING CO. Phone Monroe 4712 £0, "SUBSCRIPTION RATES By mail (in Chicago only): | __ By mail (outside of Chicago): $8.00 per r $4.50 six months | $6.00 per year $3.50 six months ee months $2.00 three months Address all mail and make out checks to THE DAILY WORKER, 1113 W. Washington Blvd., Chicago, Il. Re sone Editors some Business Manager at the post-office at Chi- 1879. ptember 21, 1 r the act of arch cago, Ill, und ep 290 ~ Advertising rates on application. —_— = — = — = Amsterdam to Enter the A. F. of L. The American Federation of Labor leadership is preparing to take over the International Federation of Trade Unions (Amster- dam) just as Wall Street has taken over European industry and finance. So much is indicated by the agreement of the metal trades depart- ment of the A. F. of L. to affiliate with Amsterdam and the recent affiliations to their respective international federations of the Car- penters, Miners and Machinists. . In addition there is the conference called by the Mexican Con- federation of Labor at which the question of affiliation is to be dis- cussed with representatives of the A. F. of L. and Amsterdam. Perhaps before this conference takes place there will be a public announce We ent by the A. F. of L. officials of their intentions. y that the Federation “is preparing to take over” Amster- than “joining” Amsterdam because this is what is hap- The A. F. of L. will, with certain limitations, make its own iation. s the labor agents of American imperialism dam rathe pening. of L. leadership follows the flag. Look at the invasion of western, central and eastern Europe by the American metal trust, represented by the ‘Anaconda Copper Mining company—a Statidard Oil subsidiary—which has entered into the Gieschke combination producing metals and chemicals in Germany and Poland. Then there is the new electrical trust, with the Amefican General Electric the leading group, of which the Allge- meine Elektrische Gesellschaft is part. The role played by the United Siates Stecl corporation in the new Franco-German-Belgian- Luxembor on and steel trust is not yet clear, but the recent com- placent statement of Elbert H. Gary leaves little doubt that it has encouraged this grouping. German industrial and official trade union delegations are here studying American efficiency methods and hardly an issue of the metropolitan press appears without an advertisement of some’ new industrial loan for European capitalists. With such huge interests in Europe the pacification of European labor becomes paramount for American capitalism and what bettet | agency is there for this than the A. F. of L. leadership with its worker-employer theory which news dispatches state is being adopted by various European labor movements, German in partic: ular, and to which the Amsterdam leadership will subscribe ‘will- ingly if, as they will undoubtedly, the A. F. of L. leaders insist on recognition of this as a principle and as one of their conditions for moral and financial support’ of the I. F. T. U. which, like its cap- italist friends, needs money very badly. Following the El Paso convention where a delegation from’ the German trade unions was welcomed warmly, we predicied the rap- prochement between Amsterdam and the A. F. of L. We said: like- wise that the A. F. of L. leadership would lean more to the social patriot labor leadership of Germany than to the British trade union leadership which, following also the lead of-its imperialist masters, would show more hostility to American domination. This still remains the truth and while the leftward pressure of the British masses will bring words of sympathy for the “safe | and sane” official Trades Union Congress leadership it will not”be welcomed as warmly to the bosom of American labor officialdom as. will the German social-democrats. j The development of the process by which American labor oft: | cialdom carves for itself a similar niche in the labor movement of | Kurope as is occupied in industry and finance by the American im-) perialists has been slower than we expected, and is not yet com- pleted, but after all two years is not a long time for the official foreign policy of the American trade union movement to change from one of isolation to that of dominant participation in line with that of Americdn imperialism, Had the world court, met with less opposition in America it is probable that the policy would have changed more rapidly.» The left wing in the American labor movement will make a grave mistake if it regards this as a progressive step on the part of labor officialdom. Potentially, it is true, it will tend to give the American trade union movement a broader international outlook and familiarize it with the struggles of the European workers, but from the official standpoint it is nothing more or less than a strength. ening of the bloc against the trade unions of the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics and a guarantee that the A, F. of L. leadership will have a powerful voice on all vital questions such as world trade union unity. Its influence will be used also to tone down the rising antagonism toward American capitalism among the European masses. Already the affiliation of the Carpenters, Miners and Machin- ists to the Amsterdam federations puts the question of world trade union unity and the recognition of Soviet Union as issues of primary importance on the order of business of the left wing in Mimerica. With the end of isolation of the A..F. of L. which is indicated by recent developments, these questions assume the same importance for American labor, particularly in view of the new era of competi- tion in the world markets which is opening with the formation of European trusts, as they do for the European labor movements. y SUBSCRIBE TO THE DATLY WORKER! SPECIAL FORD NUMBER TOMORROW Henry Ford's sensational announcement of the introduction of the * five-day week into all his plants caused a stir in the country, The DAILY WORKER, however, has reason to believe that Ford Is giving away absolutely nothing. The slaves in his plant by his own admis- sion are required to do as much work in 5 days as they formerly did in five and a half. Wherefore there is nothing remarkable in their get- ting five and a half days’ pay. In the Thursday DAILY WORKER a list of working-class writers ‘will tell the truth about Ford and his in- dustry. The DAILY WORKER thinks the Fi myth should be ex- ploded. Get this number aniaet enlonened one of America’s foremost slave drivers, — FROM PORTLAND TO DETROIT ARTICLE SEVEN. By WILLIAM F, DUNNE. COMPILATION of all the stupid- ities and fallacies which the trade union leadership of the United States has promulgated in the labor press for the last three years, or even for the last three months, would take up several issues of this paper. We have neither time or space for such an exhaustive effort. Nor is it necessary for the work in hand, Typical utterances ,of responsible leaders are enough. We have seen the viewpoint» of the leadership of a powerful unfon unaffiliated with the A. F, of L.—the Railroad Trainmen— and that of the leadership of the most progressive A. F. ofl. railway union —the Machinists: We will take now a leading editorial from a ‘typical “employes’ journ’l”—the “Hawthorne Microphone,” published by the West- ern Electric Company for distribution to the factory personnel of its Haw- thorne plant in Chicago, which em- ploys 40,000 workers when operating to capacity, and compare it with the statements of the head of the Amer- ican Federation .of Labor, President William Green, writing. in the “Forum” magazine for September on “Lessons from the British Strike.” POLOGY must be made for the length of these extracts but lengthy quotgtion is necessary to; develop fully ‘the striking similarity in these statements by a company union organ and the head of the American trade union movement. Be- sides we do not want either the West- | ern Electric or Pr¢sident Green to be able to say that they haye been quoted unfairly by my having ‘jerked sen- tences entirely from the general con- text, Here is the patriotic pabulum pur- veyed to the underpaid Western Elec- tric workers (mostly boys and girls.) It is entitled: “The Golden Rule for Prosperity Proves to Be Merely the Golden Rule.” One of the main questions puzzling thoughtful Europeans today is why the United States enjoys such amazing Prosperity. Some of it they attribute to our na- tural wealth, but that, they realize, is only a partial explanation and a very unsatisfactory one, since it does not account for the fact that our industries are able to outproduce those of all other nations, even when using thi Same kind and amount of machinery, the same number of men. and, in gen- eral, the same factory methods, These points of similarity leave only one advantage. in our favor, superior personne!—perhaps ‘the most important factor of all, That statement, However, stillxdoes not solve anything. it involves a further question that really, contains the es- sence of the whole’ discus Why does our cbuntry alone possess work- ers of this superior type? THE ANSWER IS(AS OLD AS THE GOLDEN RULE. iT IS SIMPLY, FAIR DISTRIBUTION QF PROFITS AND EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY. The American worker ambitious because he knows that ambition can get him something besides dissatis- fied longings. He, too, rise from mill-laborer to head of .a great steel corporation, All he needs is ability and industry. The opportunity is there. The American worker is well edu- cated because our sthools are for the benefit of all the péople. Even the Person forced by home circumstaaces ti earn a Iviing at an éarly age need no’ forego an education. Numerous fine evening sckools’and the correspondence courses of ‘the country’s best universi- ties are open to him. -Anyone can secure as much education as his brain- Power and his will-power permit him to assimilate. Finally the Ameri¢an worker is in- telligent because his’ social and finan- cial position allow him to develop that breadth of interest which leads to breadth of view. He is a_ straight thinker. \ WHERE SOME OF THE WORKERS OF OTHER LANDS HAVE FOLLOWED ‘SELF-STYLED MES- SIAHS TOWARD A MIRAGE PAR- ADISE HE HAS KEPT IN SANE TOUCH WITH ECONOMIC PRIN- CIPLES AND ACHIEVED A PROS. PERITY THAT IS TODAY A WORLD MARVEL. — # With an industrial supremacy based merely on supefior natural wealth, we should have 4ause for misgivings of the future with its inevitable competi- tion of newly developed resources else. where, BUT AS LONG AS OUR PROS. PERITY DEPENDS UPON THE CHARACTER OF OUR PEOPLE AND The complete betrayal by the right Wing leadership of the Bournemouth British Trade Union Congress of the interests of the striking miners, and :the united front of the former center group, represented by Purcell, Hicks, Swales. and the yacillating Cook, with the right wing, led by J. H. Thomas, J.C. Clynes and Co., confronts the British working class with the neces- sity of selecting a leadership that will fight the employers and the employ- ers’ government, a leadership that will help lead them to victory and not to the shambles of defeat. The Workers’ Weekly, official or- Ban of the British Communist Party | sets forth point by point the lessons of the Bournemouth conference and the conclusions to be drawn from them. As the present situation in Britain is not only a historic drama, which gives a picture of a mighty power slipping into the abyss, but is also an object lesson for the. workers of all lands who may be faced any day with problems as’serions as those that confront the British working- class today, The DAILY WORKER re- prints the following statement from the Workers’ Weekly for information! of the American workers. | | se 6 What are the lessons of last week’s Congress at Bournemouth?’ First: That the old leadership represents a united front of treachery to the work- ers. On every important question there was no division in their ranks. THey prevented discussion. of the general strike, nominally because it would ‘British Tr ade Union Leaders Must Be Replaced, S hurt the miners, but really to conceal the fact that they had been trying to hurt the miners ever since May #1. They prevented any practical step to help the miners, such as a fight against the 8-hours. act, the levy on wages, or the embargo, being dis- cussed, instead ‘oducing an empty resolution which an insult to the miners’ intelligence, ..and appointing John Bromley to move it in order to emphasize their hatred. of the miners. They attacked the Russian trade un- ionists and virtually smashed the An- glo-Russian committee, after a year’s sabotage of any steps to unity. They allowed insulting suggestions with ref- erence to Canton to go by in their re- port, at a time when .British imperial- ism is threatening to. crush the vic- torious People’s Republic. From Pugh downwards, they openly - preached “new methods” of co-operating with the bosses instead of fighting them. Second: That the former “Lefts” on the General Council have complet- ed their abject and Shameful surren- der to the right. On not a single issue, amongst those mentioned al did they fight their colleagues, ep ot solidarity witli their colleagues higher than. loy- alty to the workers, Altho the right wing leaders inter- vened effectively on several important resolutions—the. one demanding great- er power to the general council, the one favoring protection instead of trade union unity as a means of fight- ing sweated labor, the one committing British labor ‘to support the tragic farce known as the«International .La- bor Office—the “former “left” wing kept silent. When the Communists and minority delegates exposed the our institutions "We NEED NEVER FEAR FOR ITS CONTINU. ANCE. (Emphasis mine.) HE above example of company union propaganda begins with the “one big happy family” motif and ends on the high note of “our insti- tutions.” y “Fair distribution’ of profits and equality of opportunity” are thrown in for good measure. They are the shibboleths of all good 100 per cent Americans who go to a red, white and blue heaven when they die. Let us turn now to the pronounce- ment of President Green: The tradition that the interests of management conflict» with the interests of employes HAS BEEN THE CAUSE OF MUCH WASTE IN }NDUSTRY, IF MANAGEMENT WILL ONLY CON. SIDER THEIR LOSSES FROM FIGHT- ING THEIR EMPLOYES AND SPEND EQUAL THOUGHT AND. ENERGY enables the work group to undertake real oco-opera’ equal footing with’ the management. HE. BONA FIDE UNION IS_ES- SENTIAL TO EFFECTIVE CO-OPER- ATION. It alone has vitality and gen- uineness nec: ary to engender the confidence begets, co-operation. Compan: sare a medium for facilitating the acceptance of the or- ders of the management.. They may Present an appearance of co-operation, BUT THEY LACK THE AGGRES- SIVENESS AND VITALITY NECES- SARY FOR INDEPENDENT THINK: ING WHICH IS THE ‘ESSENCE OF CO-OPERATION . - The general strike is quite at ince with the princi and practices of the Ameri- can trade union movement. It is es- sential to remember that our labor movement is a product of American conditions and is developed in an‘en- vironment in which democratic ideals prevail. THERE ARE NO “CLASSES,” but individuals may move from one group to another as opportunity and ability make possible. There are trade Groups and industrial groups WITH COMMON INTERESTS AND COMMON PROBLEMS. These groups CUT HORIZONTALLY ACROSS THE POP. RLATION and organization covering le groups is in response to COMMON NEEDS AND POSSIBILITIES, a be there any essential difference between the statement of Green and that of the company union propagan- dist of the Western Electric, treacherous part played by the gener- al council against the Russian* work- ers, it was Purcell who got up to de fend the general council, Third: That A. J. Cook has the second step towards a united front with the general council~a step: on the road which leads to di serting the workers. The first step was after the gen- eral strike, when he agreed that the conference of executives to discuss the general council's leadership should not be held, “in order not to prejudice the miners.” He gained nothing for the miners thereby, because John Bromley published the council’s report jattacking the miners, But he lost the chance of exposing the council’s treachery to ‘the work- ers, and thereby allowed them to go is betraying the miners with impun- ity. ‘ At Bournemouth, Cook did worse. When the mass of the delegates were supporting the Minority Moventent’s call for a discussion, Cook—for the sake of an empty resolution calling for financial aid—threw his weight on the side of the General Council, and helped them to stifle a discussion, Cook showed that he not only is losing faith in the workers; but is allying himself with their enemies. Fourth: That even this Congress, composed as it was more than half of officials, showed the steady move to the left of the workers, In spite of Pugh’s open appeals to abandon the strike weapon and re- sort to class collaboration, the Con- gress failed to respond in the slightest to the American delegate’s statement that the aims of the trade unionism were merely “to better the condition The: Situation in the Communist Party of the Statement by the Central Committ of the Workers (Communist) Party. HE Central Committee of the Workers (Communist) Party is in receipt of the following cablegrams in regard to the action of the opposi- tion in the Communist Party of the Soviet Ufion in defying the authority of the Central Conimittee of the party: Moscow, October 4, Trotsky, Zinoviev, Radek, Piats- kov, Smilga and <Saprohoy went to the Moscow works “Aviopribor” and made an attempt) to begin discus- sion and speak against the adopted party) decisions. Notwithstanding Presence and activity in proceed- ings of all the leaders of the opposi- tion, the latter were completely de- feated by the worker members of the Communist Party, who discover- ed the factional actions of the op- position and adopted resolutions condemning the proceedings and leaders. The Moscpw committee of the Communist Party proposed to the Central Committee that it take measures against the members of the Central Committee who violated the party decisions. Meetings of numerous nuclei of the Moscow par- ty organizations have adopted reso- lutions unanimously condemning the proceedings ot oe opposition, a Chief of the rote | Dept. of the A SECOND cablegram reads: }cOw, October 4, Mass meetings of mill workers of Moscow and Leningrad provinces have adopted strong resolutions pro- testing against factional activities of the opposition: headed by Zino- viev and Ti ~All the resolu- tlons propose the Central Com- Ittee and whole» party drastically resist factional les of the op- position, kt ER, Chief of the rop Dept. of the Comut _ Internationa! Mite Central Committee of the Work- ers (Communist) Party, after the plenum of the Ce Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, at which the factional activi- tles of the opposition were considered and disciplinary measures ‘taken against those who had violated party discipline, soereeet ‘its solidarity with and wholehearted support of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, and con- demned activities of the opposition in violation pf the discipline of the party, The proletarian revolution in the Soviet Union, altho it has successtul- ly overcome the attacks of capital imperialism du it nipe years ments In creat- ¢ system for ers and peas- on the fleld of battle, surrounded by enemies eager and anxious to destroy it. The Communist Party of the Soviet Union is the proletarian ad- vance guard which is fighting not only for the proletarian revolution in the Soviet Union, but its extension to the rest of the world still! ruled by the capitalists. The maintenance ‘of iron discipline, the ‘unquestioning carry- ing out of the decisions of the majori- ty of the party a8 expressed by the Central Committee, are requisites for final victory and the: duty of every party, _ ° member. of the N° member of ‘the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, no matter how prominent in"its Teadership or how great his past services to the Proletarian revolution, can follow the course pursued by the opposition with- out endangering the great achieve- ments of the workers and peasants of the Soviet Union and their leader, the Communist Party, and hindering the development of world proletarian revo- lution, Factional violation of party discipline, such as is established in the above cablegrams, gives ald and comfort to every capitalist enemy of the proletarian revolution, : HB Central Committee of the Work- ers (Communist) Party hails with Joy the repudiation of, the opposition and their factional ities by the membership of the With them it } tivities There is none. Hverything. in the company union editorial is in Green's statements—identity of: interest, on- portunity, no classes, common needs, in @ word “the Golden Rule" and the “one big happy family” motif. But President Green's statements go farther even than those of the company union editorlal FOR HE ARGUES FOR “BONA FIDE UN- IONS” SOLELY ON THE GROUND THAT THEY ARE “ESSENTIAL TO EFFECTIVE CO-OPERATION,” which is Green’s way of saying that they can and will produce more pro- fits for the capitalists than company unions can, 'N order to be fair to President Green, and to still any doubts which may arise as the reshIt of the cate- gorical statement I have just made I quote in full the next to the last | Paragraph from the “Forum” article: Scattered thruout our industry we find developments that hold within them the possibilities of this full development, (Worker-Employ-. er Co-cperation.—W. F. D. A few of these developments ‘are: the » Production engineers: of the print- ing pressmen who help the workers TO RAISE - STANDARDS OF WORKMANSHIP; THE TECH. NICAL . EDUCATION SERVICE DEVELOPED BY THE INTERNA- TIONAL TYPOGRAPHICAL UN- ION; the co-operative dairy “of the milk drivers of Minnesota; DE- VELOPMENT .OF PRODUCTION STANDARDS. OF WOMEN’S GAR- MENT. WORKERS of Cleveland; THE. INSISTENCE OF THE PHO- TO-ENGRAVERS UPON RE- SEARCH IN THE INDUSTRY AND THE TECHNICAL EQUIPMENT OF ITS MEMBERSHIP; RAILWAY SHOPMEN’S DEVELOPMENTS IN CO-OPERATION ON THE BALTI MORE & OHIO, the Chicago & Northwestern and the Canadian Na- tlonal Railways. of the Workers,” and that “capitalists are necessary.” In ‘spite of the opposition’ of the right “wihg leaders, and the pas- taken jsivity of thé former “left” leaders, the Congress defeated the reaction- ary “One Big Union” proposal, and went on ‘record for industrial union- ism, giving definite instructions to the General Council, © Congress listened with ap- proval to every “militant lead’ put up by the small Communist “Minority group or by individual left wingers approval which only union discip- lime and the block vote succeeded temporarily in suppressing.” Fifth! That there Is no hope for a new leadership in the trade union ie est ready and willing to fight the bosses, outside the ranks of the Communist Party and ‘the Minority Movement. : 3 A few individuals made a left wing stand and there, notably Hall; worth and Ellén Wilkinson. But their efforts were isolated, and therefore made no mark. All the other former “lefts” were bankrupt. ar The only group which on every issue put up a consistent, systematic fight for the workers and ‘against the treachery of the General Counicl, and which therefore justified its claim to the future leadership of the move- ment, was the group of Communists and other supporters of the Minority Movement, On the question of responsibility for the general strike, of the powers of the General Council, of Russia, they forced a definite parting of the ways between the reactionary right and “left” leader$, on one side, and the workers on the other, Their fight as Soviet Union mittee of the’ Communist Party of the Soviet Union ‘in: its struggle to com- Del the opposition to discontinue their factional activities and return to their duty as members of the party. It calls upon every member of the Workers (Communist) Party to take his stand with the units of the Communist Par- ty of the Soviet. Union, which are repudiating and - condemning Com- rades Trotsky, Zinoviey and thé other leaders of the o) ition, for their at- tack upon the un’ ity of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Central Committee, . Workers (Communist) Party of America, C. E, Ruthenberg, General Secretary, WASHINGTON, Oct. 5. ¢~ Garrard Winston, undersecretary of the treas- ury and chief lientenant to Andrew Mellon, is considering retirement from public life and resumption of his iaw practice in, Chileago, “His par China, where he was one of the Amer- hr eri teireans Silas. Strawn, is now returning from | r= a) THINK I have not overstated the case against President Green. When he’ wants to measure the achieyements of American workers he does not mention the militant struggle of fhe Fur Workers for the forty-hour week, the courageous attempt of the Interborough Rapid Transit switch- men and motormen to break from the company union, the long, stern struggle of the 16,000 Passaic textile workers of the heroic battles of his own union and the unorganized min- ers of West Virginia. . O, President Green, speaking in the name of the American trade union movement cites as instances of progress (with the single possible ex- ception of the milk drivers) ONLY \those instances where the union mem- bership has been coerced and cajoled into adopting a non-strike policy, ‘in nowise different in this respect from the’ company unions, and has organ- ized to work harder for the capital- ists, The surrender is complete. There is no real quarrel between the American industrial lords and the American trade union leaders as to principles. There is a difference of opinion, however, as to whether the scheme of things. OST of the big capitalists do not think so. The trade union of- ficialdom try to convince them that they are by promising, by pleading in fact, to be allowed to use their prestige to make moje efficient slaves of the American masses. This attitude of-the trade union leadership cotpled with the “welfare” schemes puts the following question sharply .to. every intelligent worker: “What is the future of the American trade union movement in the present period and what are the tasks of the Jeft wing?” if (To be continued.) That Failed In Test ays Communist Organ & small minority at the T. USC. re- vealed as great a cleavage between workers and leaders as the proceed- ings of the Minority Conference did, compared with those of the T. U. ©. The only way for honest left wingers in the trade union movement to help the workers in practice is ‘to join the Minority Movement, to work in its organization, and under its direc- tion. The only way to ensure a con- sistent militant leadership for the trade unions, which will lead the workers to the overthrow of capital~ ism instead of towards collaboration with it, is to build a powerful Com- munist Party. Finally: The leaders who sur- rendered to.the capitalist government on May 12 talked a good deal at the T.-U. C. about its refusal to apply the 48-hour week, Its adoption of the eight hours’ act, its action against the miners, etc, but avoided any sug- gestion of how it is to be shifted. This the Minority Conference at- tempted to do, in its call to the work. ers to force the labor M. P.’s to re- fuse further participation in the forged parliament, and to concentrate on the embargo campaign until a new general election. The T. U. 'C. failed to give any alternative lead, or even to issue an appeal to the, workers.) That duty now fallseon the national! left wing conference at Poplar this week-end, ag the mobilization of all the revolutionary opposition within the labor party. Whatever éan be done to put before the lal party con- ference a clear challenging lead on how..to oyerthrow the gbvernment must be done by the left wing con- ference, if it is to win the leadership of the workers in the labor party, Three-Cornered Race for U.S. Senate Takes @ * in Idaho Progressive WASHINGTON, Oct. 5,—Informa- tion reaching labor circles in the cap- ital is that the senatorial race in Idaho between Gooding, incumbent regular republican; Nugent, democrat. and former senator, and H. F. Sam- uels, progressive, have taken a new turn, “s Hundreds of progressive democrats are said to have written to Nugent urging him to withdraw in favor of Samuels, ‘The latter has the backing of most of the labor movement and the old non-partisan league farmer element. — Illinois Floods -Threaten Hundreds; | | U.S. Aid Is Asked Flooding of the Illinois and Missi sippi rivers drove from their homes inthe Ilinojg river valley Saturday, Levees were reported near the ‘Nearly 25 families were forced to seek safety points in Liverpool, chautm qua, and East Liverpool, - The southern quarters of Naples was flooded and South Beardstown way vacated. Train service at Naples way interrupted as the river rose fifteen for aid have boon sent to icone phe trade union leader is necessary in this dreds of families ,, :