The Daily Worker Newspaper, February 19, 1927, Page 5

Tue New MaGaAZzINE Section of THE DAILY WORKER Second Section: This Magazine Section Appears Every Saturday in The DAILY WORKER, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 1927 EDITOR’S NOTES b feet was it that made the Soviet Union the most trusted and influential country among the Chinese masses? Was it only clever diplomacy or a new, revolutionary principle? Capitalists and supporters of capitalism prefer to explain Soviet influence in China by effective diplomacy alone which is being variously qualified as clever, vicious, false, ulterior, etc., but—and on this all agree—which in the end had proved very effective in winning the active sympathy of mil- lions of Chinese to the Soviet Union. Says Dr. Clarence H. Robertson, Purdue Uni- versity educational missionary to China for the last -25 years: 4 “Russia has outgeneralled the other western na- tions in its diplomacy in China.” Well, it did. Results prove it. But how? One must remember that it was Soviet Russia and not Czarist Russia that did the outgeneralling. The Czar could not do it. The Russian capitalists could not do it, either. The ones who did it were the toiling masses of Russia led by the working class through its Communist Party. And why? Because in their relations to China and to all op- pressed nations they had applied a new principle to which they are giving active and unqualified support by deeds. It is the principle of revolu- tionary struggle against imperialist oppression. It is the Communist principle of complete inde- pendence for all oppressed nations guaranteed by a firm alliance between the workers and farmers struggling for the abolition of all forms of op- pression and the establishment of workers’ and farmers’ governments. Herein lies the secret of Soviet Russia’s influence in China. ‘OU want to get the meaning of Coolidge’s latest manoeuvre for so-called further limitation of naval armaments. ; First, it is hypocritical. Coolidge knew when he made a recent offer that most of the European imperialist powers will reject it. And so it hap- pened. - Now Wall street, through Coolidge, is “free” to push ahead with all its might the pro- gram of more naval armaments for the United States blaming for it France and Italy. Second, the United States is in a better ‘position to stand “limitation” at least in the matter of submarines than the other capitalist powers, as is seen from the following table. Submarines already built: United States ....... MOST AEE Ee Great Britain: is..c< os ces cccecee 6 FO0EN wise iewéss wat nee tbares om Pravice: 0.544600 A A OF 45 TAU careece cas ss Mwes¥dcecvicebe 42 ‘ : Drawing by William Siegel “Pll Say He Cat’'t See” * ‘ N his new book on American Communism, James Oneal comments with satisfaction on the fact that the Communist movement in the United States has declined in membership from 35,000 in 1919 to 7,000 in 1927. We suspect that this expression of satisfaction is not wholly genuine. While it is true that the membership of the Workers (Communist) Party is considerably small- ey than was the combined membership of the two Communist parties in 1919, the party as such, i. e., as the fighting and leading organ of the most ad- vanced section of the American working class is today much more effective and influential than eight years ago. It is more truly working class and proletarian in its composition. It is more deeply rooted in the shops and factories and in working class organiza- tions generally. Its prestige as a workers’ political party and the only genuine champion of the class interests of the workers is incomparably higher today than it was in 1919, and is steadily growing. It is a better Bolshevik party, meaning by this that it has a clearer conception of its purposes and tactics, better organization and a firmer grasp of its role in the labor movement. In a word, the organized Communists of America, notwithstanding the smaller membership in the party, are today in a position to render greater positive service to the American working class and to exert better and more effective leadership in workers’ struggles than was the case in 1919. Which, after all, is the important thing. Numbers too are important, of course. And no- body realizes that better than the Communist. Hence, the chief aim of the Workers (Communist) Party is to come still closer to the masses, enter their struggles against the capitalists to render as- sistance and leadership. The relevant question to us is this: Is the party progressing or not in the realization of this chief aim? To this question there ¢an be only one answer; the party is con- tinually and steadily extending its influence among the masses and winning recognition from them. This James Oneal knows as well as we do. Would Oneal care to analyze from the same angle his own, the socialist party? HE representatives of the United Mine Work- ers’ Union are at present negotiating with the coal operators a new wage scale agreement for the bituminous industry. ‘These may prove to be his- toric negotiations which will play a decisive part REITERATION By Jim Waters Dawn— And the steel-voiced trumpets of industry Stab the sleeping workers to consciousness. Breakfast— Gulpings of indigestible foods and liquids In the stolid atmosphere of hasty words. Factories— i Gates, and the ting, ting, ting, of time-clocks Interspersed with sharp contentions of time- keepers. Work— The avaricious jaws of machinery, growling, cursing; Masticating raw materials, souls, flesh, With the avidity of starved monsters. Dusk— Trumpets, and the sudden realization of iden- 3 ty The weary drag of heavy muscles homeward. Night— : | The frugal meal, the monotony of responsi- _ bilities, The unread newspaper, the heavy sleep of : death. Dawn— ALEX BITTELMAN, Editor By ALEX BITTELMAN Chamberlain, angel of peace, winner of the Nobel prize, bringing “gifts” to China. in the immediate future of the miners and their union. Lewis and his henchmen have thus far done all in their power to disarm the miners and weaken their resistance to the encroachments of the coal operators. Lewis’s game is quite simple. What- ever motions he may choose to go through, Nis policy spells betrayal and disaster. The hope of the miners’ and their union lies in the progressive and left wing elements. The more consciousness these elements will possess, the bet- ter organization they will perfect and the more de- termination they can demonstrate, the fewer the chances. for the success of the ruinous policies of Lewis and his reactionary machine. TH respect to the Soviet Union the capitalist world is animated by two impulses. These are the desire for trade and the fear of revolution. On this matter the capitalists are, so to speak, pos- sessed by two souls toth struggling within cne breast. “Trade interests and the fear of revolu- tion have always opposed one another in the capi- talist. estimate of the Soviet Union,” this is the way Comrade Bucharin puts it. We were moved to these reflections by a news item in the press that exports from the United States to the Soviet Union during the first quar- ter of the current operating year amounted to the sum of $17,000,000. This places the United States in the first rank among exporters to the Soviet Union, with Germany as a close second, England third, and Poland fourth. : In the present period of desperate struggles for markets among the capitalists of various countries, the markets of the Soviet Union are becoming ever more tempting and alluring. On the other hand, the powerful swing upward of the Chinese revolu- tion, which is shaking the very foundations of world capitalism, together with the growing strength and consolidation of the socialist economy of the Soviet Union, which revolutionizes the minds of millions of workers throughout the world, is making the capitalists ever more fearful of the Soviet Union and all it stands for. With the result that the struggle within the capitalist breast between the soul longing for markets and trade and the soul shrinking from the ghost of revolution is becoming more violent every day. The question is which of the two impulses will eventually gain the upper hand, or will capitalism continue to be térn by the two contradictory im- pulses until capitalism finally bursts to pieces and , & new world comes into existence?