The Daily Worker Newspaper, January 7, 1927, Page 4

Page Four Workers (Communist) Party Do We Believe in Parliamentary Action? By ANTHONY BIMBA. ANY comrades will say “It foolish question. Of course do, Doesn’t the Communist Interna- tional state definitely that Commu- nists must participate in the parlia- mentary action? Do we not clearly state in the program of the Workers (Communist) Party that we must par- ticipate in the parliamentary action? More than that: Didn't we partici- pate in the presidential elections of 1924 or in the congressional elections of 1926?” All this is perfectly true. Still it is high time even at this late hour to ask ourselves the question: “Do we believe in the parliamentary action?” Words alone cannot stand for an an- swer to this question. Neither is the declaration in our program sufficient. Words and declarations alone do not mean anything when we speak about the Communist movement. Nor is our “participation” in the presiden- tial or congressional elections in the Past a proof that the above question is ridiculous. On the contrary, this “participation” proves, if it proves anything else, that we must once more take this question up very seriously or we shall make ourselves ridiculous fm the eyes of the masses with our parliamentary action, even tho our Program is quite clear on it. I want to deal here with this ques- tion very briefly from actual expe- rience and leave the question to be answered by the comrades themselves whether we really believe in the par- Mamentary action. But before you do listen to this account, understand this: I am speaking about the revo- lutionary parliamentarism, i. e., par- ticipation in election campaigns for the purpose of educating and organiz- ing masses for the struggle of the overthrow of the bourgeoisie rule, and not for the purpose of reforming it and prolonging its existence. IHE district executive committee of District No, 11 decided to have a real election campaign in New York City. The Interborough and the Cloak- makers made very favorable condi- tions for the success of the campaign. A full-paid comrade was put in as the manager of the campaign; another full-paid comrade was given the job of collecting funds for the campaign. The work was started with the collec- tion of signatures in order that the Workers (Communist) Party could appear on the official ballot when the “citizens of New York cast their votes. This the first serious test of our “belief” in the parliamentary action. Only a very few comrades partici- pated in collecting signatures and the necessary amount of signatures was secured only with the greatest exer- tion on the part of the district com- mittee, As far as the members of the party are concerned, we failed mis- erably in this first test. % UT there was still a chance of strengthening our belief in the parliamentary action for the real campaign was still at the head, still coming. Now we began to talk about the campaign—and act, of course. Our campaign manager made a list of our speakers. It happened that the crop of speakers was very good, therefore he listed not less than about 60. What a crowd! We will be able to hold tens of open air meetings —z=z=_—EEEEEEEE NOW READY! LITTLE RED LIBRARY No. 10 CONSTITUTION OF THE U.S.S.R. ’ Rights of the Trade Unions in the U.S. S. R. By V. Yarotsky. Social Insurance in the U. S. S. R. By N. Yekovsky. This little booklet is intended as a manual for American workers con- taining in the form of adopted laws all of the demands that they them- selves must fight for in the United 3 . But it also shows what can be done in the way of protection of, labor in a-country where a child labor cannot be declared unconstitu- because it interferes with pro- In Russia child labor is judged from its effects on profits but on » health of the children. Published by the Y WORKER PUBLISHING CO. 413 W. Washington Blvd., CHICAGO, ILL. A not the oeh New York, every night during the campaign Everything is set, Now let us move forward. Open air meetings —nice evenings, nature is with us. But no |speakers. Complaints come into headquarters from every part of the city thick ond fast. Instead of sixty, four or five speakers would appear. Those who do appear on the corner cannot find the comrades with the stand; they are not there, If the stand is there and the speakers are there, nobody ig around to distribute literature. Our comrades are carry- ing on the campaign at their homes; some of them in their beds. Oh! there is no sign; nobody can tell who is holding these meetings. Some may take us for the salvation army, No good. Run and call the campaign manager if the signs are ready. “Stuyvesant 8100. Is this the Work- ers Party? Yes, what do you want? We have no sign. It’s terrible. Do you have one in the office? No, the signs are not ready. Hell!” A com- rade takes a piece of paper, provided {he is lucky enough to get a clean piece on the street corner, and writes: “Workers (Communist) Party. Vote for Ben Gitlow, candidate for gov ernor of New York!” Fine! The speaker is on the platform. The crowd is gathering around the stand. “Who the hell is this?” somebody asks in the crowd a few steps away from the platform. ‘Oh, I guess it’s the salvation army; I can’t read the sign.” The crowd roars with laughter. Another evening. The same old story. From about sixty speakers only four or five showed up. Where there is a stand there are no speak- ers. Where there are speakers there is no committee with the platform. If both are there there are no com- rades to distribute literature. Again the sign is not ready. Only three or four weeks are left and the campaign will be over! E must do something. Oh, there is a bright idea! This time our campaign manager is speaking, very loudly, all can hear him, provided they listen. .. We shall have “red nights” by sections. In Bronx on Friday, in Harlem on Saturday, next Friday in Brownsville and next Saturday in Williamsburgh. This is something entirely new! No objections will do. These “red nights” must be held. On Friday no open air meetings will be held in any part ‘of'the city, except in Bronx, All the’sixty speakers will come at the section headquarters on time, without fail, please... Friday, “ped night.” We are.to have at least fifteen meetings. Poor Bronx will be swamped with red. propaganda. . . Eight o’clogk. Only one speaker show- ed up.. Let us wait, Fifteen min- utes elapsed, another speaker came. Nine o'clock... five speakers, That s all, Where are the rest? The devil know! Hell with them! Let us have he “red night.” a real one, for our- selves, Two meetings are held. That is enough, The red night is gone. . . Saturday the same thing. Next Friday and next Saturday the same old story... A complaint is made... Now the district executive committee steps in. A motion is passed that every com- rade who is able to speak must speak at least twice every week and on Saturday evening every one must take part in this campaign... no ex- cise will be. accepted. This is some- thing big! Now we shall have a real campaign... Saturday, “red night” in Williamsburgh, All comrades are notified to come to the section head- quarters to help. The section organ- What the January “Current History” Has to Say About— ELEMENTS OF POLITICAL EDU- CATION, Vol. 1, by A. Berdnikov and F. Svetlov, under the editorship of N, I. Bucharin, “The book opens with the arbitrary (7) Marxian definition of political economy as ‘that science which investigates and explains the laws of economic life of cap- italist society and its peculiarities in con- tradistinction to other societies,”, and continues, in the same vein, to discuss and define fundamental concepts of polit- ical economy, the development of cap- italism, finance capital and imperialism, the war and the fate of capitalism, jevelopment of economic forms, Com- nunist society and the transitional sys- tem, and finally the State. The method d is that of question and answer; instance: ‘What is Capital?” ‘What Wages?’ and so forth, with answers in detailed form the need for a simple, condens ccurate state- ment of the Communist interpretation of economic development is a real one for both its upholders and opponents.” Have You Purchased Your Copy? Durable binding, $1.00; cloth, $1.50, DAILY WORKER PUBLISHING CO. 1113 W. Washington Blvd. Chiéago, Ill. Attention! Daily Worker Conference DIN NER 7 P. M., Friday, January 14 YORKVILLE CASINO 212 East 86th Street Tickets One Dollar. On sale at 108 B. 14th St. izer waits, Wight o’clock, three speak- ers showed up, Five comrades from about three hundred came to assist with the stands and with the distribu- tion of literature. One meeting start- ed. Nine o'clock... three more speakers showed up. That is all. Two more meetings started, Again no signs, Again the district is called. The same. old answer: “Signs are not ready, Help yourselves.” A comrade again writes down on a piece of paper: “The Workers (Communist) Party, Vote for Gitlow.” The “red night” is over ...a failure, of course. i Mae campaign is coming to an end. It’s a joke, Can we do anything to improve it? Very little, I report to the section executive committee about the situation and make a motion that we shall arrange another “red night” in Williamsburg on Saturday before the election, Every comrade votes enthusiastically for the motion. Very good... a sub-committee of five is elected to make preparations. I went to the district and asked the campaign manager to give us a few speakers. He promised to do so. Some of the speakers I met personally and asked them to come to our “red night.” They also promised, I have fifteen speakers who told me that they will come by all means, The signs are still not ready. .. Wednesday. A meeting of the sub- committee, Only two members show- ed up. Two comrades cannot do very much, Let us wait for Saturday. .. Tonight (Wednesday) I have to speak in Brownsville, corner Pitkins and Stone Aves. I must rush there. Alright, Iam there, on the corner. No platform, I have to wait... It is al- most nine o’clock,.. not a single comrade appears, I run to the sub- section headquarters... The Inter- national Branch is having its meeting. “Don’t you know that tonight there is supposed to be an open air meeting?” I ask them. “Yes,” they explain, “Yes- terday we had a sub-section member- ship meeting and elected fifteen com- rades to take charge of the open air meetings in Brownsville.” “But where are they?” “We do not know.” Do you believe it—not a single comrade of these fifteen showed up that night either at the sub-section headquarters nor on the street corner. Well, we dispensed with the interna- tional branch meeting, took the stand and had an open air meeting, well at- tended, Now let us move again to Williams- burgh, It’s Saturday, “Red night.” We shall have at least ten good dem- onstrations, But again the same old story, Only four speakers showed up. From about 300 members of the sec- tion only platforms and distribution of liter- ‘ HE DAILY WORKER Keep Hands Off China, during the past two years. answer in the Chinese laborer. hai began to be restive, the wiser foreign business men urged }a more humane labor policy. They were ignored. Early in 1925,a strike was called in Japanese textile mills |in Shanghai. The strikers induced an English lawyer to intercede for them with the owners. Peace wag patched up, but the owners ignored its terms and discharged all workers who had | been active in the strike organization. In this contempt for their own pledges they had the silent support of the Chinese, British and other mill own- rs. e4 Court's Part Told. The Shanghai mixed ‘cdurt gave quick punishment to strikers who in- jured property of the mills, but ig- nored the killing of a striker by a mill foreman. Students who protested the court’s indifference wete jailed. Their friends who paraded in further protest were shot down injthe famous massacre of May 30, which led to strikes and anti-foreign demonstra- tions throughout the whole country. Suppression Falls. Because the strikes were based on cruel mistreatment of the Chinese workers—the kicking and beating of both adults and children at work by the foremen, being proved to be a common occurrence—all attempts by northern militarist governors to sUup- press the labor unions since the mas- @ Big Lenin Memorial Meeting Planned by Detroit Communists (Special to The Dally Worker) DETROIT, Mich., Jan, 5 Workers of Detroit will have an opportunity to attend the most interesting and the most impressive Lenin memorial meeting ever held in this city on Sun- day afternoon, Jan. 23. The Detroit Armory with a seating capacity of 3,000 has been secured for the meeting. Wm. Z. Foster, Re- becca Grecht and Walter M. Trumbull will be the speakers. he meeting will open with the unveiling of a huge portrait of Lenin by the! Young Pio- neers. First class musidal’ program s being arranged. Early reports on ticket sales indi- cate a tremendous success, The meeting will be held under the five came to help with the auspices of the Workers (Communist) Party and the Young Workers (Com- ature. Once more we ourselves have | ™unist) League. to make signs on a scrap of paper in pencil! Another failure. Another dis- Italian Branch of appointment! HAT about the members of the section executive committee who were so enthusiastically in favor of the “red night”? With the exception I. L. D. Gives Dance Here on January 8 The local Italian Branch of Inter- of the section organizer, all of them], .tiona) Labor Defense is having « were present—somewhere, but not at dance on Saturday, Jan. 8, at Mar the “red night.” Not one of them | vette Hall, 1910 W. Roosevelt Road. showed up! That is all. Do you still think that my question “do we believe in the parliamentary action” is a foolish one? Then, after the campaign was over and the votes for our party were counted, one of our leading comrades came to me and asked this question: “Don’t you think that we would have gained a hundred times more if we had expended all the money and energy on the trade union work in- stead of on the election campaign?” This completes the picture: failed because we did not work, and then this failure destroyed even the little belief that our comrades had in the revolutionary parliamentary ac- tion, There will a good evening full of merriment. The program is arranged so that it will satisfy the spirit and the enthusiasm of all those who will be there. Proceeds will go to the defense fund of the I, L. D. All the comrades and members and sympathizers of the I. L. D. are invited. Admission: Men 35 cents, free. ladies we |Gomez Will Address Negro Congress. Manuel Gomez will adéress the Ainerican Negro Labor Congress next Sunday on the subject, “The Oppres- sion of the Black Men the World I say that this is @ very serious |Over.” The meeting will be held at problem before our party, Our com- !3518 South State Street at 8 p, m. rades in their hearts do not believe in the parliamentary action, they do not understand its value for the re- volutionary propaganda and agitation. Maybe I am mistaken on this ques- tion. I wish I am, Still I cannot see any other reason for such indifference, such apathy toward our election cam- paigns on the part of our member- ship. We must remedy this situation, cr at least try to, An educational campaign must be started throughout the party on the subject of the revo- lutionary parliamentary action, Russian Literature at New York Forum Moissaye J. Olgin will lecture at the Workers’ School Forum, 108 East 14th St. New York, Sunday night, Jan, 9, at 8 p. m, on “The Living Rev- olution.” This lecture deals with the reflection of the Russian revolution in Russian literature of the revolu- tionary period and thus gives a living picture of how people felt, thought and acted during the great days when Workers’ Russia was in the making. On the following Sunday night, William W. Weinstone will speak on “Debs and Lenin,” Send us the name and address of a progressive worker to whom we can send a sample copy of The DAILY WORKBK, Former Great U. S. | Athlete, Now Mission Teacher, Tells His Friends Here; Writes of Labor’s Struggle WASHINGTON, Jan, 6.—Harry Kingman, former American university athlete and for the past six years teacher in a mission college in Tientsin, | has written a letter to American friends, interpreting the awakening of China He seeks for the reason why, after nearly a cen- | tury of exploitation by the foreign powers, the Chinese have now aroused themselves and are displaying a nationalistic fervor and an organizing capa- city that terrifies as well as astonishes the foreigner in China, He finds the Kingman says the union of seamen organized at Canton in 1921 was the first start of this labor movement. Late in 1924 the mill workers in Shang- A few of+ sacre have been futile. The labor movement has had a mushroom growth, but it has developed a spirit in China that sweeps on to greater and greater development of power by the people. Foreigners no longer sneer at the lazy and _ slow-going Chinese, They “wildly clutch at every twig and stone as they feel them- selves being rushed pellmell along by a Chinese movement. Without underestimating the darkness of the picture I believe that this is the most hopeful day that China has ever seen.” Urges U. S, Keep Out. Kingman urges that the United States and the other powers keep hands off while China’s nationalist | movement unifies the country, rids it of the militarists, and establishes the new order in which the unequal treaties and the domination of China by foreigners will be unknown. The Cantonese leader, Chiang Kai-shek, he says, favors the Christian mission- aries. Christian Chinese were among the ‘first to take up the nationalist cause. They do not absorb the inter- nationalist element in their Christi- anity, but they appreciate its teach- ing of humanity. Their revolution is made against exploitation, in which the foreign mill owner has come to be a symbol of their suffering. RAILROADS SUED FOR BIG SUM FOR EJECTING NEGRO WOMAN FROM PULLMAN (Special to The Daily Worker) NEW YORK, Jan. 5, — The Pull- man company and the Atlantic Coast Line railway have been made defendants in a suit for $100,000 following the ejection of a Negro woman from a sleeping car in Flor- ida. The railroad companies claim the ejection was made in compli- ance with the “Jim Crow” laws of Florida which deny Negroes the use of sleeping cars used by whites. Arthur Garfield Hays a:. Clarence Darrow have been retained by the National Association for the Ad- vancement of - Colored People to handle the case. The woman is. Mrs. Blanche S. Brookins of New York. She rode from New York to Florida in a Pullman car, but when the train reached Florida she was ordered out. On refusing she was ejected forcibly and arrested by Florida of- ficials. She was forced to pay a fine of $500. It is pointed out that the ejection was illegal, as Mrs, Brookins was a passenger in interstate commerce, and as such could not come under the Florida state law. Banks Try to Explain Refusal to Make Loans on Bonus Certificates WASHINGTON.—Government offi- cials and bankers are co-operating in am effort to untangle the snarl that resulted when thousands of war veterans “crashed” the banks Mon- day and Tuesday to obtain loans on their adjusted compensation certi- ficates. The banks generally declined to make the loans, except for regular customers, GET A SUB. WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT THE CHALLENGE OF YOUTH Upton Sinclair; “Interesting, . . ought to know,” Freeman Hopu best things for Secretary, 9 for Advancement of Atheism.. “The Challenge of Youth is a gem. it is full of facts young workers American Association It is one of the ropaganda that I have ever seen, I handed it to a Catholié youth and he finished it during the after- noon at work.” Another bicycle race and read it all there. took it with him to the six-day The simple style is” effective. I hope it is sold by the thousands.” John Kasper, Prize Winning Communist Literature Agent. “I want to congratulate Comrade Darcy for putting out a real pamphlet, The Challenge of Youth. It is a book that > a League member could go out and sell with pride. This book is real, the best book the League ever put out. That is the way to write efor the young worker. Keep it up.” SEND US YOUR ORDERS: Single Copy 15c, Bundles 10c YOUNG WORKER PUBLISHING CO., 1113 W. Washington Blyd,, Chicago, Ill, Enclosed please find $0 for the CHALLENGE OF YOUTH by Sam Darcy. Please NAMB .... Oi ADDRESS ..... sent it to: vehenensseneneneneeeees WITH TIE. ) ,CONDUCTED = BY TH By VAINO WIITALA. ‘AN by nature could not exist long without some kind of physical activity. The atmosphere of continu- ously confined unvarying life, would also destroy his mental powers. A general survey of man’s physical activities previous to the present era of civilization shows that he was an active creature. In the remote past, members of both the upper and lower classes of society were forced into all- around physical development; the wery type of civilization demanded an sactive life spent in widely varied ways of securing a livelihood. Chained to Machines. Today the worker's active life has disappeared. The workingman is forced into wage slavery and thereby chained to the machines of big indus- tries in which the work has become highly specialized with almost a total disregard for bodily abilities. The very devices that are termed labor- saving must be recognized at the same time as body-weakening causes. Whereas, the past conditions afforded an all-around physical exercise; this age of intense specialization has rob- bed them of this benefit. Effort of Specialized Labor, The development of piece-work in the capitalist system forces special- ized labor upon the individual who must thus work rapidly in order to |exist. For instance, a man operating a punch press shapes one particular type of metal according to one par- ticular die; and he may do this same thing thousands of times during a \single day’s work and repeat it over jand over again with endless monot- jony for months and years. Moreover, | his machinery is noisy, conversation jof any length is not tolerated, and the |result is that the man is isolated. He |becomes in effect, a machine with a single operation to perform. Monot- lony descends upon him, and with it |the relaxation offered by change and |variety of interest disappears. The |man is almost placed in the same position as the prisoner in solitary | confinement who has only thirty-six |square feet on which to walk ‘and |nothing but bare walls to consider in ‘attempting to offset the monotony. Strain enters in and the tension causes |the workingman, after a certain time, {to become nervously exhausted, with the work becoming more and more a drudgery. The consequence is—a physically wrecked, mentally unde- veloped working class. Labor Sports Is Remedy, | To counteract the effects of special- ized work of the present social order, the workers should seek wholesome recreation in labor sports, athletics and gymnastics, for play has always Sacco-Vanzetti case. HERE’S MY DOLLAR, COMRADES, to greet The DAILY WORKER on its third birthday, for which you will please enter my name on the Honor Roll in your Special Birthday Edition, Name.., AGAreBS......ss0crersererserseseseese State. .isccrcoseressasseres Birthday Issue Out Next Week! On January 13, 1927, there will be a Special Birthday Number of The DAILY WORKER in honor of our Third Birthday. The issue will be devoted to special articles, pictures, stories and a full account of the better service to which to put our Special Birthday Issue than to the cause of Sacco and Vanzetti. We can think of no better way of celebrating our birthday than by making a strong plea for their freedom. We are ask- ing that our readers place their names on the Honor Roll in this special issue to indicate their support of Sacco and Vanzetti as well as their support of the only daily paper which is waging a real fight for their freedom. Send in your dollar for your greeting NOW! Working class organizations may secure advertising space at $100 per page. Pin your dollar to the blank below and mail it to The DAILY WORKER, 1113 W. Washington Blvd., Chi- cago, Ill., before January 10, 1927. WORKERS THE NEED FOR LABOR SPORTS been essential to the human family. The object of labor sports is to place physical exercise on a scientific basis from the standpoint of health, At the present time the main agencies for promoting sports and athletics are the bourgeois athletic clubs and organizations, Their prin- cipal aim, besides creating individual “stars” has been to direct sports to- wards certain desired ends. Most often this has been ultra-patriotism, militarism, advertisement of some in- stitutions and worse yet—to detract the young workers from their class interests. Aims. The aims of the labor sports move- ment should be: To unite all work- ers’ gymnastic, sport and athletic clubs; to secure state and local legis- lation for the establishment of public playgrounds, gymnasiums, baths and fields for labor sports in the U. S. A.; by athletic activity stimulate the youth of the working class mentally and morally, also, to unite the youth and urge it to-participate in the labor unions, parties and clubs that are promoting the welfare of the workers; to support the international labor sports movement, Help us work towards the realiza- tion of these aims. Y. W. L. Section Four Gives Dance Saturday For a good time, a wonderful time, workers are urged to forget every- thing else and come to the dance of the Young Workers League Section 4, on Saturday night, 8 o’clock, Jan. 8, at 8209 W. Roosevelt Road. Everyone who is young in spirit, altho they may be 60 years old, say the .Young Workers, should attend this affair. Soviet Ban on Charleston, MOSCOW. — The Soviet supreme council for physical education has put its ban on the American fox trot, shimmy, and Charleston, as unfit for Soviet Russia’s proletarian youth. The commissioner of health, Dr. Semashko, brande these dances as “in- decent products of the fat American bourgeoisie.” GINSBERGS Vegetarian Restaurant 2324-26 Brooklyn Avenue, LOS ANGELES, CAL. We can think of no