The Daily Worker Newspaper, March 9, 1927, Page 6

away en Page Six Ruthenberg’s Influence to| Be Felt As the Workers Wage “The Final Conflict” | | Ry J. LOUIS ENGDAHL. | zovernment has been in existence st year was its sesqui-centennial | its faithful ad- | ily those who benefit most from it, try | ish that this government is not only | of the phrase, “the best government on | earth,” that is drilled into the minds of the tens of millions‘ of growing children thruout the nation’s whole | public school system, That this governmental tyranny superseded a pre- | vious class rule is lost sight of. The possibility of this government disappearing in turn is ridiculed as some-| thing impossible. Those who advocate a change are treated as enemies of the state, arrested, imprisoned, placed on trial, condemned, Yet being placed on trial has afforded many a Com- munist an opportunity to analyze the capitalist state, | point out why it must crumble and disappear,.and pic- ture the kind of socigl order—Communism—that must succeed upon the downfall of capitalism. Thus Communists on trial reverse the indictment, and in the courts of the capitalist state itself, place capital- ism on trial instead, showing that the inexorable devel- opment of events spells its doom, with no judge, jury or prosecutor needed to present’ the evidence, listen to the testimony or return the verdict. The verdict is written and needs only time for its fulfillment. * eye. It was thus that C, E. Ruthenberg, whose name is earved highest on the list of the revolutionaries against capitalism, placed the profit social system on trial on four different occasions, in his trials in Ohio, New York and Michigan, and also as a witness for Communism at the trial of Comrade William Z, Foster, at St, Joseph, Michigan, under an indictment also growing out of the Bridgeman, Mich., raid on the Communist Party Con- vention. . “Change” is a word of terror to defenders of things as they are. The development of new ideas, a new social system is incomprehensible. It is undesirable. In the words of Theodore Roosevelt, denouncing the leaders cf the Western Federation of Miners on trial at Boise, Idaho, those urging a change become “unde- sirable citizens.” Yet Ruthenberg patiently tried to explain the change to his prosecutors. At New York, for instance, the question was hurled | at him by his prosecutor, “As I understand your pro- gram and manifesto, you state that there is a transition period between what you call the present capitalistic state and the proletarian state, is that right?” be t is not right,” replied Ruthenberg. t question, “There is no transition period the capitalistic state and .the Communist between state?” And again the answer, “Certainly not. The transi- tion is between capitalism and Communism; between the systems; not between the organization of es.” * * * on continued: ent state here a capitalistic state? A. that? A. That is my view. it is-desirable to change the present capi- 2 into a socialistic state? A. A prole- tarian s, that is my view. “Q.. Pri ian. Between the time of changing from the present capitalistic government to the social- ist government there is a transition period? A. Cer- tainly not. There is no period between the time of changing, one succeeds the other. “Q. Immediately?” The prosecutor didn’t get his answer. Here the court stepped in and the discussion continued as follows: “Q. Is there a transition period from capitalism into socialism? A. The transition period from capitalism | into Communism the following: When the proletar- ian state i ned it cannot at once establish Com- munism. n from capitalist production to Communist pr ion may extend over the period of a decade, ion, over 25 years, perhaps. I am} unable id no one else is able to say. The} transiti the period in which the proletarian | state tr eans of production from the capi- talist c ety as a whole, and until the time when Communism is established in full” . . .. | * * * | “Q. How is the change made from the existing state | to the proletarian? How does it propose that the change should be made from the existing state to the| proletarian state? A, My view of that is the follow- | ing. “Q. I am not particularly asking your own view. I| am asking you how it is expressed in this Manifesto (the Manifesto of the Left Wing of the Socialist Party that resulted in the indictment). | “A. My view is the general Communist view, which | I can only state in my own words, that capitalist pro- duction in its development brings about its own decay, its own decline, its own breakdown; that capitalist pro-| duction inevitably thru its own conditions of existence | produces such a situation as the world war; that a world war, an imperialist war, brings about the break- down of capitalist production, “I believe that the workers will capture the power of the state in the following, process: That in the! development of the capitalist system, its own contra- | dictions bring about a situation in which the machinery of production of capitalism breaks down. “Por instance, one of those contradictions is the fact that, under the capitalist system, a surplus of commodi- ties is produced which cannot be consumed in thé home market. This surplus usually takes the fornt of machine products, products of iron and steel. This forces the capitalists of every capitalist country to seek sources ey can dispose of these products then went on to cite specific instances | n8 of the breakdown of capitalism, con- | t in this process there may come a point he capitalist government is no longer able nd in such a crisis, in self-defense, because of the nec ty of carrying on production, the working class will establish its workers’ councils, which becomes the government and function as the government in order that production may be established,on a new Lasis, cavried on for the benefit*of the people.” But the defenders of capitalism blindly proclaim, “It ean never bi while Communists point to every hour’s development varying sections of the globe, as proof of the Ruthenberg understand w organize the wo | fe was speat in teaching workers to ‘the change” will take place and to "s in order to take advantage of the first crisis that will make that change possible. Thus, in spirit, Ruthenberg will be present in “The Final Conflict.” THE FIGHTING De Hal Photos of fighting in the city of Chinandega, 60 miles northwest of the, The lower picture is of a squad of the armies of Diaz, Wall Street representative who is being maintained in the office of | 8Peak out. capital of Nicaragua. president of the- republic by United destroyed by aeroplane bombs. Most THE DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 9, 1927 IN NICARAGUA States marines. Above is a building of Diaz’ aviators are American army or naval officers who entered his army. “Broadcasting the By ALEX JACKINSON ‘HE failing house of Socialism an- nounced the other day plans to raise $250,000 to establish a radio broadcasting station to be known as WDEBS in memory of Eugene Debs. | How this sum is to be gotten was not stated; neither was word forth- coming as to whether they will ap- peal to the workers for the money or get it fron? the liberal bourgeoi-| sie. It will probably be the latter. | Once ‘a movement fails, as miserably as has socialism in the cJass strug- gle, it will have a hard time separ- ating the workers from their money. Socialism is obviously bankrupt in America. It has failed, was already in the hands of a receivership (the LaFollette surrender) and will soon be buried under the debris of its} own treacherous, class collaboration | policy. | The station, once erected, will be operated in the “interest of all pro- gressive movements and ideas,” and in the aid of all struggles for social justice, in the tolerant and broad- minded spirit of Gene Debs. Thi statement was issued by the Nation- }al Committee of the S. P. A further announcement by Morris Hillquit and | Norman Thomas reads, in part: “No| Socialist $. 0. §.” lily white .progressive the socialists | picture him. Is Sigman’s legal ad-| | viser trying to apologize for Debs’| Cal in recent days. revolutionary past by ‘coating his memory with a veneer of “progres- sive” white wash. Is that what Debs rotted in prison for? Even in his declining years Debs would have! finds himseif far out of his depth in handling the diffi- | vebelled against the dirty tacticsem-| cult problems with which American imperialism ‘con- | ployed by socialist “labor leaders”) fronts him. As a result we witness a well-orggnized in the expulsion of Communists. in the needle trades.” And yet they speak of “social justice.” Tt won’t help them any. The S. P. may raise the money. Their “New Leader” may continue to hobble along. The Rand School may. still keps its doors open. They can even build a dozen radio stations, but fun- damentally the party is hollow. It is like a homeless old man being kept alive by donations. They have one cry, Debs! Debs! and carry it around like a church sexton holding a dona- tion plate. They exploited the namé of Debs for a memorial meeting, and now it is being used for a broadcast- ing station. Well it won’t fool any- body; the workers know which side of the fence the socialists are hiding behind. In ‘these days of rapidly moving events, of growing imperialism, and better or fitter monument to the likewise, awakening of the masses, | memory of Eugene V. Debs could be | the struggle for emancipation will poeta ty | soon come to a head. It is then that | others of their ilk who are on the That a broadcasting station,| brosdcasting the revolutionary prin-| ciples Debs lived and died for, would | be a fitting tribute to America’s pio-| neer revolutionist, there is no doubt. | The radio could be utilized as an im-| portant means of propaganda, but in| the hands of the socialists it will be| of no: benefit to the working class. | It can’t be. What can such avowe reactionaries as Abraham Cahan, | Charney Vladeck, Sidney Hillman, | Victor Berger, Joseph Baskin and| board broadcast in the name of | Debs? Will it be Sigman’s speech- es? The Forward’s editorials? So-| cialist attacks upon the left wing? | Or will they officially announce that they traded militant resistance for class collaboration, surrender and A. F, of L. leadership? Hillquit speaks of “progressive movements” and tries to link Debs’ name with it, as tho Debs was the | The Adult and the Young Worker By M. HARRISON, MONG some adult workers we can find the attitude that the conditions of the young workers are not of great importance to the adults. Whether the young workers are organized, or not, is considered of no great moment, This is a wrong attitude and must be corrected. What is the economic position of the proletarian youth? As a result of the simplification of industry and the introduction of labor saving ma- chinery the youth has more and more begun to take the place of, and eliminate the skilled adult workers. Some years ago the capitalists could very easily get cheap labor from the influx of workers from foreign coun- tries. Today, with the new immigra- tion laws, this eannot be done, and the bosses therefore have to depend upon the young workers to be the greatest source of cheap labor. The young workers are a section of the working class. They are one of the most exploited sections of the working class, receiving less wages and working longer hours than the) adults, They are unorganized and | tionary test. | disappear as the remains of the socialist party will give up to the capitalist class. They always take the road of sur- render in a crisis, It is the path they must take, for no other road is as soft as the one of surrender, Here is what Debs said about de- serters: ... “these are trying days for us all, testing those who are up- holding the banner of the working class in the greatest struggle the world has ever known against the exploiters of the world; a time in which the weak, the cowardly, will falter, and fail, and desert. They lack the fibre to endure the revolu- They fall away. They if they had never been...” This applies to the socialist. party. Workers should s.udy those lines of Debs and see for themselves why the socialist party’s idea of building a broadcasting station remains noth- ing else but the socialists, broadeast- ing their political impotence. (at mentee vepcdmmamer |mon with the adults, fight shoulder to shoulder. In all the struggles of the young workers, the Young Workers’ League can always be found in the fore- |front. The Young Workers’ League, jfinding the youth unorganized, | raised the slogan of the “Unionization of the Youth.” It is the Young Work- ers’ League which carried on contin- uous and systematic factory activity in order to better the conditions of the young workers in their respec- tive. shops. It is also the Young Workers’ | League which points out the dangers |of the imperialistic policies of the | U.S. It educates the workers to the dangers of the new world wars. The youth of America is becoming more and more militarized. The numbers of young men in the Citizens’ Train- ing Camps and Reserve Officers’ Training Corps is growing larger and larger, drilling and disciplining the youth into docile cannon fodder, to be used in the next war, in which the adult will also suffer. It is to the benefit of the adult workers to help organize the young workers, to build a strong youth movement, to |. NICARAGUA AND CHINA | By WILLIAM PICKENS. | HE materialism of a government controlled by} money, and the moral poverty of the American | people, were never better exposed than in our recent |relations to the little country called Nicaragua; there |is alinost no protest from the American people, even | tho their government has stepped into the quarrel) | among citizens of a weaker country and is deciding the matter, like any big bully, in favor of the party that \it wants to win,—and this party is confessedly and professedly the non-progressive, non-liberal party of | Nicaragua. By this action young Americans are to be impressed that anything is all right if only one is able to “get away with it,”—-and yet we pretend to marvel at the growth of domestic crime,—burglary, highway robbery, and the plundering of public treasuries by those elected or appointed to guard them. The great government itself is’ setting the example as the chief criminal when it considers only expediency and its own advantage in dealing with a weaker nation. What dif- | ference between such an act by a nation and the act of la well-armed burglar who holds up and robs and bullies | another inhabitant? Another thing: it weakens the moral position of a government to be itself guilty of a thing like that. For example, America has to play hush-mouth on the doings of England in China because America is doing just as |bad a deed in Central America. Britain has to keep | quiet on Nicaragua and America must keep quiet on Shanghai. Two thieves loaded with loot cannot yell for | the police, one against the other, How we have fallen from the high ideals of Paine, of Lafayette and Lincoln, Even under Roosevelt, altho llynching was going on merrily in the south, we did} conduct ourselves internationally in a way to reserve the right to protest against the massacre of Jews in Russia and of Armenians in Turkey. But now it seems that this unfortunate accident of a Coolidge administra- tion is about to-rob us of our last moral birthright. And there are both American and British people who do not agree to this bullying either in Latin America They ought to have the courage to | or in the Orient. THE POLITICAL ARENA ee | By BERT MILLER. i Bes dominating forces in the Republican Party are making progress in their effort to can Calvin Cool- | idge. This is the conclusion to be drawn from recent | political events and from the illuminating article which |has just appeared in the New York Times. Things have not prospered politically for Cautious He has made himself non persona | | grata with the powerful financial interests controlling the Republican party. They have decided that his use- | fulness is at an end. Representing the decadent manu- \faeturing and industrial interests of New Engiand, he | and very definite effort within the Republican Party to discredit Coolidge and cast him into the political scrap heap, * eas, wee Instances of the presdent’s incompetence are not lacking and furthermore they have been thrust -promi- nently into the limelight by his antagonists. His bungling methods in handling the recent negotiations with Mexico and Nicaragua have not only heiped to expose American imperialism in all its ruthlessness and hypocrisy before the eyes of the world, but their crudeness has in addition put American diplomacy in| a most ridiculous light. Opposition ta the cruiser) building program, brought down upon Coolidge the ire of the powerful Big Navy men in Congress, while the collapse of the proposed disarmament conference in- jured his prestige still further. The dominant capitalist groups in ‘this country see big problems ahead. The much vaunted prosperity is not as secure as the workers have been led to believe. Big iabor struggles are looming on the horizon. The possibilities of new imperialist war ventures grows daily more certain, Such important problems require a firmer hand at the wheel. Coolidge cannot fill the bill. Small wonder then that we behold the astonishing spectacle of Butler politely showing Coolidge the door as far as the next presidential nomination is concerned. This open repudiation of Coolidge by Nicholas Murray Butler, one of thé leading men in the Republican Party, must be considered as a most significant event. *-_* * With this background in view Mr. Speers’ article | takes on the utmost importance. For instance, he | claims that “When President Coolidge put his signature on the! veto message of the McNary-Haugen Farm Re- lief Bill he touched off as heavily charged a current of political electricity as has been let loose in national politics for years. It has already welded about the positive and negative poles of support and opposition | the two major economic groups whose political power counts for most in the United States—the manufacturing and the farming interests.” His article attempts to show that “The fifteen states |whose representatives in congress supported the McNary-Haugen bill . . . .will send no less than 392 delegates to the national convention and will control 175 presidential electors ....a 83 per cent balance of power.” And he declares that “The 392 delegates from the above 15 states, plus 150 delegates from Southern and border states favorable to the McNary- Haugen bill, make 542 delegates lacking only about 13 to make the 555 necessary to a choice. The 13 or more likely may be forthcoming from California, Colorado, Idaho, Utah, Michigan, Wyoming, Mississippi, Georgia —whose members voted 45 to 16 on the bill.” Mr, Speers mentions the possibility of either Lowden or Dawes as the most formidable opposition to Cool- idge. We are of the opinion that Dawes is by all odds the stronger. Dawes has managed to win for himself the reputation of being with the farmers through his support of the McNary-Haugen bill. His support of the Branch Banking Bill gives him the support of banking interests. The fact that Dawes is himself a banker and that his name is associated with the notori. ous Dawes Plan, is an additional guarantee of from this source. Dawes seeks to play the role of the strong man in American politics, the American Musso- ini. The recent senatorial filibuster will strengthen bis hand in this respect in so far'as it has . the clumsiness of parliamentary procedure in congress. t *_* © ‘ Meanwhile it would be well to consider for a moment the significance of those developments as far as labor is concerned. The rising tide of discontent among the Western farmers has frequently aroused talk of a pos- sible third party. However, if Dawes becomes a candi- date representing a bloc of the banking and the farm- ing interests, then the possibility of the development of a third party becomes slim, for the third, party movements of the last few years have depended to a large extent upon the support of the western farmers. The development of a third party would make it ex- tremely ‘icult to bring about a strong labor party movement. However, the nomination of a black reac- tionary like avd ad whose labor record is so indefens- ible, would make the possibilities of a labor party movement much more likely. Such'a movement would undoubtedly rally the support of the poor farmers, The | therefore are taken advantage of by | build a powerful youth working class! workers and farmers would do well to watch with the the bosses, It is the young workers, who, finding their interests in com- |organization, to reeruit for the Young Workers’ League, 4 attention the acts of the political drama as it FOOTNOTES By EvGENE Lyons Frederick Moore, the new Times correspondent in Shanghai, enjoys his job. He was sent over apparently because he’s hard-boiled. He thinks that nothing of any importance has happened in China since the Boxer days. A few thousand Americans, he says\ in his dispatches, could lick the whole damned Chinese nation. He’s on pins and needles for the fun to begin, but in the meantime must content himself with smaller thrills: The beheading of militant workers, for instance, Others might shudder at the brutality of Great Britain's friends in suppressing strikes, but ‘not Mr. Moore, He just revels in the sight. Here is how he talks of it: “The Chinese generals around Shanghai suppress the Nationalist agitators by head-chopping. Picturesque headsmen with long, broad- bladed, highly polished, keen-edged choppers, slung by colored sashes upon the back, accompany every Chinese army, and frequently visitors to an adjoining Chinese city can behold human heads exposed in fish-net bags on posts at prominent corners. Chinese crowds are accustomed to the sight and conduct their small trades nearby little digconcerted. .. . As perhaps a hundred heads have been displayed in Shanghai in the past month the disciples of Michael Borodin are not evident about the city.” Isn’t that lovely? There’s nothing like a dash of sadism to make reporter's service with the marines thoroughly enjoyable. TO THE NEWS INTRODUCING THE PERFECT REPORTER— Our customers have already thet Lester the lunatic, his long-distance sweetie, Myrtle, and Alkali Al. And now we want them to step right up and shake hands with another , member of our growing’ and happy little family—Jake, the Demon Reporter. There isn’t another like him anywhere. He's absolutely the perfect reporter. He's been through the mill, knows everything that Willie Hearst and Munsey and the tabloids could show him. Starting life. as a humble garbage collector, Jake quickly discovered that he had a nose for scandal. But he decided not to begin his real life’s work until he had schooled himself in the fundamentals of journalism. First he gave himself several years of intensive training as a second-story man. He became expert in climbing througltwvindows, house-break- ing, rifling the mails, cracking safes, and other routine duties of his chosen calling. Then he joined the Burns agency and got the knack of gumshoeing, manufacturing evidence, fixing the cops, co-respondence, etc. Thus equipped he entered the newspaper field. For some time he was the star man on a Hearst sheet, and thence was promoted to a red-hot tabloid. There he might have remained to this day, but fortu- nately for this column Jake carried a dark secret in his breast (as he’ would put it if he were telling the story). For many years he hid it from. the world in general and his editors in particular. But one day, having remained accidentally sober, he gave himself away. A SHOCKED TABLOID OFFICE LEARNED THAT JAKE COULD WRITE ENGLISH! That was the end. Not all his prowess as a reporter could save him. He was fired, to his own loss and to our gain. - : Now Jake is the only person we know who gets a kick out of life twenty-four hours a day. Your life and mine are made-up of dull work and petty worries, with yawning spaces of nothing-at-all in between. But Jake’s minutes pop and splutter like firecrackers—murders, mysteries, confessions, plots, kidnappings, exposes, crimes and excitements explode one after another. There's always a new one before the last is cold. Life, to him, is just one lengthening scandal in crimson and purple. Humanity, to him, is just a collection of dope fiends, white slavers, blackmailers, confidence men, adulterers, counterfeiters, pimps, sirens and ordinary thieves, with a scattering of broken-hearted mothers for background. He smells seandals amidst the most respectable perfumes. He detects mystery in every line on the police blotter. Send him out to talk to anyone anywhere, and he will discover dirt and tragedy, broken hearts and broken heads. And, what is most to his credit, Jake never flinches in the line of duty. He tells all and more, no matter whom it hurts. .His first duty is to his public and reputations be damned. Mothers might weep to have the names of their erring daughters kept out of the paper. But they can’t swerve Jake. He will not allow sentiment to interfere with his job, which is to ‘present the world as he sees it through a double-lensed magnifying imagination, We have already assigned him to do several interviews. Watch for them! We know in advance that he will find that his subjects, however respectable they may seem on the sur- face, have a secret past—and maybe a pluperfect. RECIPE FOR SUCCESS.—The following simple formula appears under the title “The Ideals of Kiwanis” and is written by O. Samuel Cummings. All you have to do is apply it—practice in cross-puzzles may help you un- derstand it—and success is yours: 5 “Kiwanis ideals are the product bf the collective idealism of those busy, practical men who are Kiwanians. Kiwanis ideals are an ex- pregsion of the inner hopes, ambitions and Wesires of average business men. These hidden, unexpressed but fundamental reactions of the human soul are the very fabric of life itself. They are the product of the moral and spiritual evolution of mankind. Those reactions are the hidden signs of that struggle in which every man engages, seeking to apply his philosophy of life to his duties and privileges as a member of society.” In the Name of Modesty—For ostentatious well-advertised modesty, ' Otto H. Kahn takes the cake. He has Klieg eyes from avoiding the lime- ght. For instance preparing to sail to Europe he was careful to keep his name off the passenger list. ee secret—but not He. favored the public with a statement JUST BEFORE lodesty, but not at the expense of publicity. More- over he was thoughtful enough to inform the reporters that he will look for new artistic talents abroad. This, of course, is to make sure that he will not be bothered by ambitious artists or Insistent reporters upon his arrival in Europe. Overheard in the Goody Shop: ta hare eee T need so many — Let's see. Three pairs chiffon stockings, 7.50. A pair of pumps, 12.00. Six dollars for the week’s expenses. Seven dollars for father... . Oh my god, that’s more than my 25.00 already. Guess I won't give my father anything this week. I’m sorry I started. — Sorry you started counting? : i . * * * J — I tell ya, Sarah, if I was a feller I wouldn't have nothin’ to do with, her if she was the last girl in the woild. , Arr Arr. CONVERSATION IN THE NOT-80-DUMBW. . Awnlte tcake, Mew. Kiots, cals terete tra. i rs. & For yhy? Wotcha doing f urnitching the for Enster and it's sotcha troub wf sd Be gly wie me. it fi Dank 1es tapestry ported. NOT DILT GRoss.