The Daily Worker Newspaper, April 19, 1927, Page 6

MASS Page Six MEXICATECHISM By V. K. Q. What is the purpose of the existence of Mexico and of its inhabitants? A. In His infinite wisdom and foresight, the Creator planned Mexico for three supreme purposes: (1) That we, Americans, might readily see our superiority and be justly proud of it. (2) That rich legitimate outlet be available for our excess capital, under the protecting shadow of the Golden Eagle. (3) That our great statesmen, at times of internal difficulties and strife, might unite all brave and patriotic Americans, rich and poor alike, in insisting upon our legitimate rights and hénor in Mexico, and thus make them forget their petty internal squabbles, * * * Q. How should a red-blooded one-hundred-per-cent American learn.the truth about Mexico? A. Since it is impossible for an average person to learn the truth by an individual investigation, and since the resourceful American corporations which have in- vested in Mexico have the permanent welfare of that country nearest their hearts the facts should be taken from newspapers and magazines subsidized by such | corporations. * * * Q. Would you advocate similar unconditional sup* port of the administration of all local affairs concern- ing your commun A. In local politics, one’s business interests, friend- ships, ¢hurch affiliations, advantages offered by this or that party, and family traditions, definitely deter- mine one’s opinion, so that a wise man may always act or vote to his own best advantage, and at the same time not incur the displeasure of the party in power. Q. Who spreads misinformation about Mexico? A. Persons and organizations commonly known as “red.” * * + Q. Against what kinds of misinformation about Mexico should one be on one’s guard? A. The Reds pretend to love the,common people of Mexico, and show that American corporations are en- slaving Mexico by virtually controlling its natural re- sources. s would make unimaginative persons believe that illiterate and degenerate half-breeds and their brigand chiefs could have a bright future like ourselves and could advance both materially and spir- itually if left alone. * * Q. What is the real purpose of this pernicious propaganda? A. The radicals are using Mexico as a tool in spreading discontent against our wonderful present-day economic system. By discrediting our beloved leaders of industry and finance, who have reached their present positions by their christian virtues, the agitators hope to become more influential with their blind followers, and to earn thus, an easy living without working. * * Q. How should the Red propaganda about Mexico be combatted? A. When a disloyal organization wilfully obstructs a profitable and successful war for national honor, and menances to deprive hundreds of thousands of honest workers of their rightful wages in the manufacture of munitions of war, all means of suppression and violence are not only permissible, but sanctioned by the spirit of our highest laws, both human and divine. * * ” Q. Do you, as an individual, pledge your uncondi- tienal support to our impending war against Mexico, and to the suppression of opposition within our own land? A. Inspired by the wonderful success of the Great European War, which has brought peace, plenty, and brotherly love to the world; obeying the sacred impulse to surrender my reason when even the richest men of the country clamor for war and are ready for supreme THE DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, TUESDAY, APRIL 19, 1927 The Story of a Retired Clothing Merchant Who Became Patriotic R. JACOB CASH, a retired cloth- ing dealer and for 12 years a city marshall, organized himself as the United States Patriotic Society in 1925. On the walls of the banquet room at the Hotel Commodore where the organization was brought into being were charts purporting to show the growth of radicalism in the’ United States. Mr, Cash dedicated his “society” chiefly to the business of fighting this radicalism by mean; of “educating workers” in the Unite: States constitution. A number of prominent democratic politicians and a well-known Jewish rabbi (Silver- man), spoke at the initial meeting. “Founder Cash”, as he was referred to, beamed upon the lawyers and business men present and assured them that he would fight radicalism | in all its forms. But most of them | refrained from joining his society. At the same time Mr. Cash dis-| tributed copies of his monthly paper, “The Patriot” (all back copies of which may be obtained from his of- fice at 299 Broadway). a ee Me: CASH is keen for keeping ali| foreign radicals out of this coun-| try and has advocated “constitution | intelligence tests” to be given all im-| migrants before they take ship for| America. In case they get in with-| out trouble Mr. Cash would make | sure they were kosher by giving them | further doses of the constitution in| their own language. He considers | the constitution a solution for all our industrial ills. When the Passaic strike broke out Cash rushed copies of the constitution and his own life story—‘What America Means To Me”—to the picket lines in the hope that the workers, on reading of Cash's success in America, hurry back to work, to propagandize the workers with the constitution apparently was of no avail, especially as they saw the Bill of Rights—the first ten amendments | to the constitution—violated every day by the local police. eling about the country distributing copies of his book among the work- ers. Bryan refused, even though Cash promised to make him a city marshall if he would work for him. Tan Ben Mr. Cash declares that his present activities for “Americanism” cost him $25,000 a year. The organiza- tion is, of course, a one man affair and simply Jacob’s hobby. In 1926 it reported 58 contributors, paying dues of from $2.00 up, Mr. Cash covers all necessary expenses, as the income from contributors is appar- ently negligible. Said Mr. Cash in December, 1926, when he was offering free speakers on Americanization®to address clubs, sacrifice; bowing my head humbly before the wisdom of our intrepid and cool-headed: statesmen and army chiefs; hoping that this war will arouse the whole of |“Patriotism Latin-America against us, and thus ultimately give us | wealth-bringing control over their great natural | sources; inspired by the lofty thought that during the war thousands of brilliant business men will become multi-millionaires; deeply satisfied with the ea ing curbing of ioose talk of irresponsible scatterbrains and their just severe discipline in military prisons; re-! greed but to promulgate the doctrine | joicing at the wonderful manly experiences of our young|of good soldiers in camps and in trenches, and at the unfold- ment of their full manhood through wounds and dis- case—as a christian and an American, I pledge my un- conditional support. So help me Coolidge and Kellogg, and a gambler’s chance, conventions and private gatherings: / is needed as much in times of peace as of war. Our coun- try is facing a crisis, gradually com- ing to a head, She needs her children to help. We must form a bulwark not only to withstand the combined | American War says, “We were under | would | The attempt} Later Mr.| Cash offered Jack Bryan, a spy for | the Botany Mills, a regular job trav-| Cash was very fond of meeting big political figures. He once went to the White House to call on President McKinley and requested an auto- graph of the president, which was given him. Later he called on Gen- eral Fitzhugh Lee, governor of Cuba. The latter gave him a note which in- formed the world as follows: “I here- by certify that Mr, Jacob Cash called at my headquarters today.” That was January 21, 1899. been ever since trying to hobnob with} the “great.” At the outbreak of the| world war he was organizing the | National Business Men’s League,| composed chiefly of petty dry goods | merchants and dealers with whom he | was associated in a business way. | * * | It may be noted that Mr, Cash, al-| though he served in the Spanish- full pack three times ready to go but we never got to the front.” (See picture of Jacob himself in military regalia on page 41 of his illustrated “What America Means To Me.” Also his picture handing Roosevelt a glass of water on page 61 of the same book.) His comica -flunkeyism is his outstanding characteristic. | One of Mr. Cash’s most telling pamphlets was entitled “Whither | America,” in which he ‘nted | (without credit to The ILY WORKER or the Internation. °ub- lishers) part of Trotsky’s “Wu:ther | England” in parallel columns with Cash’s cfade conception of Whither | America. He had swallowed most} of the fairy tales of the Lusk Re-| port on “Subversive Movements” and retails it in this pamphlet with all its mistakes. | Held for Crime Earl Jackson, 15, of Poplat Bluff, Mo., killed his step-moth-. er, Mrs, Mary Jackson, 21, with an axe “because she begged me to | do it,” according to a confession given out by the Prosecuting At- torney Byron Kearbey. The onslaught of hatred, jealousy and citizenship, honesty and harmony within our border.” PI eae | Mr. Cash is a Spanish War veteran and says he was a close friend of the late T. R. whose influence on Mayor Mitchell made Cash a city marshall. | prosecutor says Earl declared | the step-mother said she was “tired of living with his father,” The murder was committed last | October. The body has just been | | found. The boys had said his | | step-mother was in Arkansas op @ cotton-picking job., \ RED MARCH Bind up our uncouth wounds, O granite earth! With bannered marching we are buffeted Between contemptuous winds, | And catapaulting minds | Breaking upon us with shoddy of the dead, Shrilling against us for our uncommon birth. O sounding earth, be resonant for us! Their cormorant clamor and witches’ brew in vain Are flung upon us here, Our ranks are without fear, Cash has) Qur banners)catch the red of dawn again, Our shouts devour them, our march is ominous! Binc up our wounds, but never be at ease Wit : quiescent tents and panoplies, Bu imb up to the portals of the wise, Bi amber to the outposts of the skies! —MARTIN FEINSTEIN, REBELLION All day I walk the velvet lawns | And fling my papers on their stairs, And see the bored and lazy yawns, | And realize what’s mine—and theirs. The hate the worker feels when caged By bars to one unsightly place Runs thru my veins; I am enraged With all my impotent disgrace. What vistas of a magic land I glimpse thru massive, swinging doors That never will yield to my hand As long as this that is, endures. What rose and amber blend to hold An artists’s dream of summer dawn, What pearl and sapphire unfold | As aching feet’plod on and on. | Smile, masters, in your gilded bowers Shut from the hungry mass away, Steel claws are flexing in this hour Ready to rend the bars, and slay! —HENRY GEORGE WEISS. DEFRAUDED I saw him, thin and pasty white,— Thirteen or fourteen years maybe,-— One morning when it scarce was light Boarding an early car with me. A knapsack on his back there was; “Out hiking, kid?” I asked him; he Replied, “No, sir, I’m bound for work Down at the cotton factory.” He coughed; the lint of cotton clung Upon his coat; I looked away. I could not bear to see his face. “What money do you get a day?” “Two-forty, sir,—thirteen a week. The dust? it makes a feller cough, We don’t work all day Saturdays; Come twelve o’clock at noon we're off.” He said good-bye and went his way, Poor hapless lad, so gallantly, To toil the sunlit hours away Down at the cotton factory. —HENRY GEORGE WEISS. THERE IS NO PEACE There is no peace; who talks of peace In this mad hour is fool or knave. Give over; let the babbling cease! King Gold is tottering to his grave. Now is no time for sophistries; Choose whom you fight for in the fray It is not peacefully he dies: It is not peacefully we slay. —HENRY GEORGE WEISS. Literary Criticism by the Masses By Alexander Serafimovitch* RMERLY this place used to be a} stable for the horses of the grand dukes, who used to stage drinking | bouts and orgies in a swell restaurant | nearby. i Now the walls have been painted | white; white pillars support the ceil- ing; this is now one of the may clubs of the Leningrad metal workers. | I sit at the red table and look into the faces of the proletarian readers | who fill the entire hall. I am not here to read from my works, make a bow, and go off. Party functionaries, Soviet, em- ployees, trade unions officials, our economists all give an account of their activities to the masses of work- ers. Must not the artist, also, give an account to his proletarian read- ers? Why has no one mentioned it be- fore? First, because at the beginning of the revolution there was no time for it; struggle, hunger, disorder ab- I sorbed all our energies. Second, it! was necessary that not only isolated individuals, not only small sections of readers, but that broad masses of | workers should enter into relations | with literature, that the mass reader should arise. This reader now exists.. There are tens of thousands of him, He now} exercises his right, the right to de- mand an account from his function- ary in the field of art. STAND at the red table, Hundreds | of eyes are directed toward me. I) do not have to give an exposition of | the contents of my works, The com- rades of the library of the metal workers’ trade union have carried out, adroitly and successfully, a well or- ganized campaign of preparation. Whenever the workers came to the libraries of the trade union—there are thirty such libraries—to pang ba books, they were urged to r eM ‘ who was going to address them. Leaf- lets were circulated with the photo- graph of the writer, a brief biograph- ical sketch, and a short estimate of his work. The workers were asked to write their opinions of the artist in question. They also jotted down the name of their factory, their age and sex. The official organ of the trade union, “The Metal Worker” published articles on the writer and on the forthcoming literary evening. And now these hundreds vf eyes were watching me calmly and with assurance. They know who I am, what I have done, and what can be demanded of me. A worker from the Baltic Works speaks briefly on the significance of the workers’ critical evenings, A specialist on literary his- | tory, brought in for the eventng, gives, for the benefit of those who had not been reached by the prepar- atory campaign, a short sketch of my development and a characterization of my work. THEN relate how I wrote The Iron Torrent. Everything interested them, What tasks I set myself (in the form of an episode showing the relations of the peasantry to the revo- lutionary struggle—a mass which in the beginning is anarchic, disorderly, and which, through unbearable suf- fering, blood, tears, and despatr, achieves organization, which is filled with devotion to the Soviet power). They wanted to know how far my story tallies with real facts, how I gathered the material for it (by cross-examining the whether I was personally in the region | described, whether I know the popu- lation, its mode of life, the surround- ing country; whether I have correctly described the landscape. They pointed out inaccuracies and contradictions: the sailors were the revolutionary part of the old troops, they were the most determined figh- ters for the revolution. But I de- writer|scribe them as bandits. Koschukh participants) | 'T’ uBOOKS! AMERICAN HUMOR: MODEL 1927, G. 0. P. Foundations of the Republic: Speeches and Addresses, by Calvin Coolidge. Charles Scribner’s Sons, $2.50, “To my mind America has but one main problem, the character of the men and women it shall produce” (p. 75). “America recognizes no aristocracy save those who work. The badge of service is the sole requirement for admission to the ranks of our nobility” (76). “We have had our revolution and our reforms. I do not favor a corpora- tion government, a bank government, a farm government or a labor government. I am for a common-sense government by all the people according to the American policy and under the American constitution” (76). “I am thrilled “at the thought of my audience tonight, for I never address boys without thinking, among them may be a boy who will sit in this White House” (67), “It is hard to see how a great man-can be an atheist” (68). Rak hy, © “These are not only some of the fundamentals of the teachings of the Boy Scouts, they are the fundamentals of our American in- stitutions” (68). “Another activity which is being encouraged is that of gardening. It is extremely practical on the one hand, and lends itself to the artistic on the other” (8). “It is omly by surrendering a certain amount of our liberty, only by taking on new duties and assuming new ohjigations that we make that progress which we char- acterize as civilization. That is the answer to every herald of dis- content and to every preacher of destruction” (23). “I will now turn this meeting over to General Lord, the director of the bureau of the budget. He is human . . . He will tell you more in detail of the things which have been accomplished and of the work which lies before you. under the financial program” (47). *. * . “As already indicated, America is turning from the mere thought of the cultural advantage to a greater appreciation of the cultural advantage of learning” (57). “This occasion is dedicated to freedom. The people of Baltimore and of Maryland are gathered here in that spirit” (89). “The time for Americans to range themselves firmly,, squarely and uncompromisingly behind American ideals is now” (96). “We have contributed hundreds of millions of dollars to foreign chari- ties, We have given freely of our counsel to the settlement of diffi- culties in Latin-America and the adjustment of war problems in Europe” (98). “Laws and treaties may help, but peace and war are attitudes of mind” (99). “Something in all human beings makes them want to do the right thing” (103). : “The government of the U. S. is a d petuity the rights of the people, with the privileged classes” (114). “No American coming to Philadelphia on this anniversary could escape being thrilled” (115). “I have a double satisfaction in welcoming home the victorious Washington baseball team” (129). “Manager Harris, I am directed by a group of your Washington fellow citizens to present to you this loving cup” (131). “The great truth cannot be too often repeated that this nation is exactly what the people make it. Our government rests upon re- ligion” (148). “The Young Men’s Hebrew Association and the Young Women’s Hebrew Association do social and educational work of the greatest value” (170). —SENDER GARLIN. for maintaining in per- imate extinction. of” all “The Communist.” The second issue of “The Communist” is in itself the justification for the transformation in character and form involved in the change from the “Workers’ Monthly.” i! In content this issue is certainly noteworthy. Of course the leading article is devoted to a discussion of the historical role of C. E. Ruthenberg in the American revolutionary movement, by Max Bedacht, the editor and for many years his close co-worker. The recent International conferences are covered in two articles, one by Jay Lovestone on the VII Plenum of the Executive of the Communist International (“Towards Another Wave of Revolutionary Struggles”) and another by Herbert Zam on the VI Plenum of the Communist International of Youth (“Winning the Youth”). A short examination of the relations of the U. S, and Tacna Arica (“The United States and Tacna Arica,” by Ella G. Wolfe); another on the historical background of the present Nicaraguan situation (“Historical Background of the Nicaraguan Situation,” by A. G. Bosse), and a discussion of the question of rubber (“The World Struggle For Rubber,” by Leon Platt) are the contributions to the study of the problems of American imperialism in this issue, 6 * . . Unquestionably, however, the center of the April issue of “The Com- munist” is the “With Marx and Engels Section,” this time devoted to the first of a series of letters by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels on the civil war in America. These documents are prefaced by a general intro- duction by Max Bedacht (“Applied Historic Materialism”) and special in- troductory remarks by A. Landy. The documents along with the intro- ductions are certain to prove of great value to the student of historic materialism and of American history. The review of the events of the month (“Thru the Month”) concludes this issue of “The Contmunist.” Apparently unavoidable circumstances de- manded the omission of the editorials and of the reviews but we hope that this will not re-occur in the future as these two features are of con- siderable interest and importance. * In make-up and in typography this second issue is also a great im- provement upon the first, showing a certain habituation to the new form of the journal. It is becoming more and more evident that “The Communist,” the |Wants to punish the soldiers because |I was myself at the front. The enemy! YES, the workers seek in art not| Successor to the “Workers’ Monthly,” is really indispensable to the Com- |they have plundered, but his own |staff, which wears brand new clothes, |probably taken from the Georgians, jhe leaves untouched. | THERE is a deluge of questions; notes are sent up to the platform. The verbal questions are written down by the comrades in charge of the evening, and systematized. The notes are numbered and put in order so that no questions are repeated. A metal worker speaks with a deep, ringing voice that fills the room; he speaks’ calmly and with assurance. “Comrades, I am the representa- tives of a literary circle—” “What factory?” ask the comrades who organize the evening. Here, too, a note is made of all information. “Electro-power”, voices from the benches shout. “Our literary circle has appointed me to make a report on the work of the writer Serafimovitch.” “Well, we read and discussed his Tron Torrent, and found that it was well written, and that the scenes are as vivid as if he had been there him- self and had gone through the story in person. There is only one fault, and we have discussed it: on every page there is the most awful swear- ing. We already have too much of that kind of thing. Everywhere there is swearing—in the street, in the fac- tory, at home, and now in this book. too. We have enough of it; we want that this kind of thing should not happen in the book.” HE speaker stopped, In the form. er stable with thc white pillars there was a dead silence, Suddenly in the first row a worker leaped up. He wore a torn summer overcoat, though it was bitter cold outside. His hands were dirty; apparently he had just come in from his bench in the factory. “Now, comrades, that is not cor- rect.” He poured out his words with great speed. “It’s not at all correct, ry is coming straight atus. . . Just as you've got your machine gun set, | hell! the ammunition-belt gets stuck.” He knelt down as if he were about to shoot, struggled over the floor as if he were trying to pull out the, ammunition belt. “Hell! its coming |and it isn’t coming. The Whites are |mght under your nose. Then you let out a mighty oath and just as you let it out, the ammunition belt gets straight again,” He bent low, turned his head rapid- ly from side to side as if he were watching out for the enemy, closed his left eye, and “swept” his machine gun right and left, “Ta-ta-ta, there they go fly ” he said gleefully and stood upright. HE hall held its breath, began moving a little, and burst into ap- | plause, | A young boy stood up. “Comrades, what the comrade from the Electro-power factory said is not true. If the author had written swear words just so, for the mere sake of swearing, out of bravad@ it would be a different matter, There are writers whose every third word is |a swear-word, without any necessity, so that it’s disgusting to read their stuff. But in this book it is the pure truth. Take these peasants who re- treat along the sea; they swear all over the place without thinking about it; that’s their habit. The peasant must be described as he is.” “Hear! Hear!” “That's how it is!” A piece of paper is sent up: “If these peasants who suffered so much during the retreat and through blood and pain learned to organize themselves, once more should stick to their piece of land, would they remain as well organized, or would they once more hang around the samovar.” only entertainment, but also in- struction, the solution of social, econ- omic and other quetions. At the end of the« ning the work- ers gave their judgn: nt: “The writers should give us a pte- ture of how we live, work, act toward our wives and children, how we drink, what we have achieved—as wide a picture as they give of the peasantry.” N Leningrad the critical evenings are best organized, but also in Moscow, Charkov, etc. the workers put forward their demands as read- ers: * “Write intelligibly; you are not writing Russian but some kind of jargon.” “Write about workers and not al- ways about peasants.” “Your sentences are too short. One has hardly, begun to get the drift of the sentence when it is over and one hasn’t quite grasped it,” “We need thick books. If you de- scribe a'man, describe him from start to finish. We can’t get along with these thin little volumes. You have hardly started ther book, and it’s al- ready done. We prefer to read the old books.” At last there exists for the writer a wide reading public, a public of his own class, a public, without which pe, creation and life is impos- sible, * Alexander Serafimovitch, the au- thor of this article, is considered one of the most brilliant of the proletar- lan writers in Russia. He js the au- souk of a novel called The Iron Tor- Postpone Pratt Case. Illness of six year old Roberta Jane Pratt yesterday caused adjournment until Friday of the trial of her foster mother, Mrs. Everett §. Pratt in special sessions court on charges of torturing her, munist and to the advanced worker who wants really to understand the theoretical and practical problems facing the “American revolutionary move- ment at this time, —F. E. The Biography Of An Epoch. “Michael Collins and The Making Of Ireland,” by Piaras Beaslai. Harper & Brothers. $10. 2 Vol. This book is ‘partly a history of the struggle between the Irish nation- alists and the British government from 1916 until the death of Michael Collins—a strong man of the Free State government and one of the signa- tories to the treaty that created the Free State—and partly a polemic against Eamon De Valera. The author gives scant attention to the contribution made by the Irish labor movement during that struggle. General strikes and refusals to transport soldiers and munitions of war for use against the Irish people are lightly dismissed. Mr. Beaslai is a pure and simple nationalist and wastes no time on the working class. Their’s is but to toil and ask no questions. The author does not express hostility to the labor movement. He simply ignores it, tho James Connolly, commander of the Dublin revo- lutionary army, was in fact the chief strategist of the revolt and the man who was principally responsible for the decision to fight at that time, * * * , Nevertheless Beaslai has turned out the most informative work of thi: troubled period that has yet seen the light of day. The Irish rebels confronted with the task of meeting the mighty power of the British empire with a handful of men, Yet they baffled this murderous machine for six years and forced the proud rulers of Britain ‘to compromise, y * * * é The hero of the story, Michael Collins, was an amazingly ingenuous and courageous leader of a guerilla army. Even making all ‘es for exaggeration due to hero-worship on the part of his biographer re ig no doubt but Collins was a born leader of men and a straightforward person, who was convinced..that a compromise with Britain was the only course left to the rebels when he signed his name to the treaty under threat of a renewal of the murderous orgy of destruction conducted by the Black and Tans under the direction of Lloyd, George. Eamon de Valera, who is now among us, is revealed as a quibble and reactionary who refused to join the Irish Republican Brotherhood, a secret organization, after the Easter week rising, because the catholic church condemned secret organizations. . « * If you can afford ten berries and wish to know something of the struggle waged by a small devoted band of workers and peasants against a trained army of 60,000 mercenaries you could put your money to Worse use than by purchasing those two volumes, always keeping a salt shaker handy when Mr. Beaslai devotes himself to the pleasant task of doing justice to his political opponents. : —T. J. O'FLAHERTY.