The Daily Worker Newspaper, May 3, 1927, Page 6

-_~ Page Six THE DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, TUESDAY, MAY 3, 1927 Professional Patriots and Labor Leaders By ROBERT DUNN. ARTICLE II. Ralph Easley shares that peculiar} }form of nearsightedness which has been growing lately among the big Trade Unions Are Weak Because of Workers Who jRemain on the Outside | {us that Judge Gary of the U. S. Steel Corporation has also been “one of the Federation’s financial angels.” this, as well as from Easley’s close relations with the Welfare Depart- ment of the U. S. Steel Corporation, army and navy enthusiasts and the ites Fi By J. LOUIS ENGDAHL major generals at large, as well as|'* ought to be clear to organized labor \ : | among certain civilian busybod: why Mr. Easley was so zealous in mca cet | | spying and lying on the well-known | He suffers from willful failure to! T SEA, Aboard the United States Liner, President | giscriminate Roosevelt, Tuesday, April 12 (By Mail from Cher- bourgy France).—My cabin steward shakes his head a like to him and they all 80k as red the mention of trade unionism aboard ship. It is im-| as Moscow—not only the out-and-out possible to get the men together, he says. When they |bolsheviks but the socialists (“pinks”), dovorganize “somebody always gets something out of it,” | anare’ (philosophical and other meaning that favored places are reserved for the few, | wise), Fabians, church peace societies, while the many continue to suffer the same as ever. This | liberals, pacifists, mild pfogressives, was his viewpoint. | advocates of child labor amendments, youth movements, “plumb planners, spin economists and church people who leak prepared the report on the © Steel | Strike of 1919 for the Commission of Inquiry of the Interchurch World | Movement. Mr. Easley lost a great supporter in the late August Belmont who was a | Pederation pillar for many years and the man who testified before the Committee on Industrial Relations Po be sure, the conditions might be better, he ad-|open forumites, farm relief propo-| that the “majority of the companies mits. The food is good, but the quarters are so cramped | nents, municipal ownership defenders, | he represented opposed the right to that the men are compelled to stand up while eating. | cooperationists, British Labor Party | Organize, and maintained labor spy Thes sleeping quarters are also crowded. |members, peace councils of women, | 8ystems.’ He cited conditions on the run to Jamaica, and other | fellowships of reconciliation, confer- | Although the Federation secures islands of the West Indies, on which the stewards, who|ences to reduce armaments, non-| the bulk of its support frém the type also act as waiters, used the dining room as their eat- | partisan leagues, non-resistants, wo-| of » substantial contributors above ing‘place also, when the passengers were thru with|men’s trade union leagues, cl jian| mentioned, Mr. Easley has been their meals. endeavor societies that discu the | known upon occasions to pass the hat * “ | ethics of capitalism, economics pro-| among the modest $100 class. One This steward little realized that he was confessing | fessors who have read Karl Marx—|such appeal which appeared during to the weakness of all labor organizations, which is not | all are the same lot of “Reds” in the} Easley’s attack on old-age pension found so much in those who join the union, as in those | eyes of Easley. | legislation started out quite frankly: who do not join for some reason or other. It is the lack| And as for the Quakers, Mr, Easley “Dear Mr. .. ¥ ofdesire for organization among some of the workers | just can’t control himself. “If I had If convenient, will you please between organi: persons and principles. They a * * * From | in an industry, totalling into the mass, that makes effective organization impossible. ‘Thus Arthur E. Suffern in his book, “The Coal Min- ers’ Struggle For Industrial Status,” is only partially correct, which is sometimes the same as being entirely wrong, when he gives as the first difficulty in making and enforcing the agreements of the Joint Conference of miners, and mine owners, the failure to include enough miners and operators in the agreement to make it effective. . Suffern could more correctly have said that the first difficulty was the failure of the miners to realize the strength that comes to them thru acting as a unit, thru presenting a united front to the mine owners. With the’ mine workers well organized, the mine owners will quickly get together to protect their own property in- terésts. As long as the workers remain unorganized, the owners have little need of organization, altho the development of capitalism gradually concentrates owner- | ship in fewer and fewer hands, which. is one form of | the organization of the power of the exploiters, which goes on thruout industty even where workers have little or no organization, as in the steel, automobile and other highly monopolized industries. * * * If the coal miners of the nation were today thoroly organized under the banners of the United Mine Work- ers’ of America, the mine owners would be eager to| meet with their representatives in joint conference. The capitalist government at Washington would also take a keen interest in the situation, instead of adopting the iaissez faire attitude that it assumes towards this and other industrial struggles. The burden of improving their conditions, therefore, is upon the miners them- selves. Experience has always shown this to be true. The Joint Conference has functioned well, and agree- ments thru it have been reached, when the Miners’ Union has been strong. It has failed to function when the Miners’ Union is in a weak condition, as at the present time, a condition growing out of the disinte- gration policies pursued by the administration of Presi- dent John L. Lewis. The mine owners are quick to take advantage of this weakness. . * * * Thus the Northern Illinois mine owners, who attended the joint conference of 1887, complained of the severe competition from Central and Southern Illinois and de- manded the enforcement of the wage scale in those dis- tricts. Théy demanded this of the Miners’ Union. As a result the scale agreed to was made a conditional one. The miners were to receive an advance of five eents per ton from May 1, 1887, to Novy. 1. 1887, and fivexcents more from Nov. 1, 1887, to May 1, 1888, on condition that the miners were able to enforce the scale jn the non-union districts. The Interstate Board of Con- i ion and Arbitration was delegated to decide whether é scale was being enforced. Failure to enforce the le would relieve the mine owners who had signed the agreement from their obligation to pay the scale. | * * * } The same tine of reasoning is being used today to | explain the breaking of the Jacksonville agreement of 4, that expired on the last day of March, with no new i nt to take its place. » William A. McGarry writes in the Magazine of Wall Street that “the perfect illustration” of this shifting Struggle is to be found in the present situation. Giving a ‘ords to the philosophy of this organ of finance capital, Garry says that the present situation is “based on the victory won by the miners in 1922 and clinched for three years in the 1924 agreement of the union operators inthe central competitive field (Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Western Pennsylvania) to pay $7.50.a day as a biise rate.” McGarry then goes on to say that, “John L. Lewis, président of the United Mine Worlfers, was hailed by his admirers as one of the greatest union leaders for | thig achievement. At the time it was made the union | mines controlled somewhere between 65 and 80 per cent of the total bituminous tonnage, and with that balance of power it appears to be a simple matter to drive the | open shops into line and unionize the entire industry.” * * * The capitalist view of what happened is outlined by Wail Street’s spokesman as follows: “Less than 30 days after the agreement was made, however, the union operators began to discover that | of Economics at Tulane University of my way, I’d run every damn Quaker out of the country.” It is apparent from the gentlemen’s ravings that he would heartily like to run every soul out of this Republic who happens not to equal him in his prodigious intoler- ence for ideas. This noisy, foolish, | | Self-acclaimed red-sniffer would like | |nothing better than to see all the} {persons who favor minimum wage | | legislation and old age pensions put| |into another Buford and deported to| outer darkness—or to Soviet Russia. Labor’s Slant On Easley. } What the rank and file of the Uni- ted Mine Workers of America think {of Mr. Easley as a “conciliator” of |labor and capital is reflected in the |following quotation from. their con- | stitution: “Mine managers, top foremen, operators’ commissioners, persons engaged in the sale of intoxicating liquors and members of the Civie Federations shall not be eligible to membership.” And the attitude of another A. F. jof L., international union may be | gathered from the resolution adopted under left wing pressure at the con- |vention of the International Ladies | Garment Workers of America at their | | Philadelphia convention in 1925: | “WHEREAS, the National Civic | Federation is an organization tend- | ing to perpetuate the slavery of the working class and its spirit is therefore contrary to that of our International Union and of all pro- gressive labor unions, and “WHEREAS, some of the worst enemies of. labor in the United States are members of said Nation- al Civic Federation and have great influence in its deliberation, and “WHEREAS, we consider it in- consistent for labor men to belong to said organization and to give thereby prestige to our enemies, be it therefore “RESOLVED, that we instruct our delegates to all future annual conventions of the American Fed- eration of Labor to introduce and vote’ for a resolution that all offi- cers of the American Federation of Labor who are at present connec- ted with the National Civie Federa- tion should severe all affiliations with that Body.” These instructions were of course not carried out. Jmagine Mr. Sigman introducing such a resolution! The machinists and other unions have taken similar action and for- bidden their officers to have any- thing to do with the business, fascisti, and open shop elements represented by the Civic Federation. Why they do this is evident from Easley’s record, as well as from what even the | most conservative economists say} about him in their works. Dr, Clarence E. Bonnett, Professor | Louisiana, in his book on “Employers Associations in the United States,” writes: “The Federation has always had emong its members a large num- ber of the leading financiers of the world-—there can hardly be a ques- tion that any other employers’ association in the country is so in- timately connected with ‘Wall Street.’ ”* No wonder intelligent labor unions | instruct their officials to stay clear} of contamination from this federa-| they could not sell their coal at the prices necessitated | tion, by the higher wages. Then began the most rapid and/| colossal shift of an industry in the history of the world. | ‘The unions mines closed and the non-union fields opened, ‘ore long coal was being turned out of the non- anion fields than could possibly be accounted for by the known and tabulated number of non-union miners. The | ynion men, in other words, finding no work at $7.50 | jj. in their own fields, followed the doctrine of economic necessity and moved over to the open shop mines at $5 yer day or whatever they could get. “Still later the now familiar controversy between “mia and the union operators over breach of contract developed. It was charged and admitted that mine own- @r4 who had signed the contract were working their fines at less than the contract wage rate, altho this eortract had not been abrogated by the United Mine Workers. But this discussion soon became academic tor the simple reason that the open shop mines were producing the bulk of the coal, “The wage victory, therefore, (the Jacksonville agree- ment, 1924). . .paid little or nothing to the miners. As a matter of fact it represented a direct loss of terri- Financial Backers, | As for Mr. Easley’s supporters, one | |needs but to glance over the list of | | the “capital” and “public” members of jhis N. C, F. committees. As Will) Irwin hag pointed out the roll reads | a Directory of Directors of large | corporations, most of them, inci-| dentally, openly anti-labor in their | policies, Consider, for example, such names as Nicholas F. Brady, T. Cole- man DuPont, Elon H, Hooker, Ogden L. Mills, John Hayns Hammond—all of them executives in corporations that have waged smashing campaigns against’ organized labor with the use of spies, armed guards, state police, thugs and strikebreakers. Mr. Easley also numbers among his heaviest con- tributors Mr. Finley J. Shepherd and his wife, the former Helen Gould, as \. Everett Macy of the Central Union tory and prestige. The numier of workers employed in (Continued on fourth colymn) i 4 ‘ ‘ SPN aaDRNEE ANTE cts Trust Co, One man on the executive committee of the Federation informs send check to our welfare Depart- ment for $100 to help in the cam- paign we are waging against non- contributory old-age state pen- sions,” But this is an exceptional appeal. Most of the support comes from the large propertied interests chiefly in New York City, and no public ac- counting of receipts or disbursements jis made to the National Information Bureau or to any other social agency. (To be Continued.) SACCO AND VANZETTI WILL BE DEAD BY THEN Spring is up! I caught her quiver In the ripples Of the river, Saw her rustling Garments pass In the glint of Green on grass. Branches, as she Swept along, Bursting into Bud and song. Spring — then Summer Comes again, Sacco and Vanzetti Will be dead by then. Comrade wife, The day draws near, Bridged by pain, By hope, by fear, Life dividing Death asunder, Linking, in the Age old wonder, Growth with going, Heaven with earth, As we bring Our babe to birth. Birth — ourselves Reborn again. Saceo and Vanzetti Will be dead by then. In the song Of the machine A prophetic Note has been, Crying conflict, Crying conquest. From the eastward Rolling west, Climax of the World unrest, Triumph of the World’s oppressed. Dawn — the day Unfolds again. Saceo and Vanzetti Will be dead by then, They, who loved A mother’s croon, | April merging Into June, They who strained Their eyes to see But a glimpse Of victory, For their comrades, For their class, —Live not tilll It comes to pass. Won the fight— For other men. Saceo and Vanzetti Will be dead by then. —J. 8. WALLACE, Vose Will Illustrate Calverton’s Series on Négro Life, Struggles A series of articles on “The New Negro,” by V. F. Calverton, illus- trated by Vose, one of our popular cartoonists, will appear soon in The DAILY WORKER. These ar- ticles will deal with various phases of the life and struggles of the American Negro masses and are intended to stimulate interest in this important problem of the American labor and revolutionary movement. for them! "AMERICAN WORKER IS ENTHUSIASTIC IN _ HIS PRAISE OF THE SOVIET UNION The following is a letter received from an American worker who is at present living in Soviet Russia. We print it in full. To The DAILY WORKER:-—I came over as a repre- sentative of the American Committee for Relief of Rus- sian Children, Paxton Hibben’s organization, to estab- lish connections between the AmCom and the Children’s Committee of the Btsik. I’ve talked with Lunacharsky, Kameneva and Lebedeva, and with members of the Children’s Com, or DetKom. Lunacharsky and all the others think now that workshops for the girls and boys !old enough to work are the chief need in Russia and a vast amount of work is being done to collect funds and establish shops. The price of liquor has been raised to secure more money for homeless children, special postage stamps have been issued for this, too, there are lotteries by which they hope to get half a million dollars and Lunacharsky, Semashkov and others are giving the money they receive for writings, to the fund. Lunacharsky is going to France and Austria to raise money, I suppose by lectures chiefly. Children Want Tools. ° I’m out in Pushkin Children’s City, about 12 miles from Moscow. There are about 1,500 children, but tools for only 150 to work with. Money is terribly needed for the homeless as the campaign at present is to get 125,000 homeless children into some kind of place where they may be cared for, These*are half of 250,000 home- less in Russia. It is a néW life. The government is working like mad to establish industry on a firmer basis and_is doing -wonders, on limited, resources. The vast majority of the people want the Soviet government. Indeed very few don’t and these latter have no chance on earth to change it. Russians are naturally social and collective and co- operatives of every kind are running all businesses, except, of course, the large industries, which the gov- ernment manages. It is impossible to compete with the government in these industries, but there are some private businesses, which are allowed to make only a certain profit, as the government taxes them more if they find them getting too much profit. Co-operatives are the rule and there are posters and ads all over urging everyone to join. This helps the government and the people as products are sold cheaper, which is what everyone wahts, and what the government is | working for. It is actually a government of the workers. Co-op members secure food cheaper in their own res- taurants and food stores and in whatever line a co-op is started its members get goods at lower prices than other customers. Unions men, ‘of course, have many privileges, as to rents, railroad ‘and carfares, theatres, etc., as for ‘instance, now, when there is a shértage of butter, which they apd the co-op members can have but others cannot buy. Workers’ Government Safe. It is a hard, struggle getting the great industries ahead, and providing food, clothing and shelter and work for everyone. But Soviet Russia is safe now. It will be next to impossible to overthrow it. The Red Army is so strong and with a morale higher probably than any army ever had, that people now smile at in- tervention or any word of change. The Red Army men are well clothed, fed and quar- tered and help everywhere, while studying daily to fit themselves for still more skilled work. They are quiet fellows, seldom go about more than two together, often one with a girl, are~strong and healthy and there is no doubt they are already a much more cultuted set of men than in any army in the world. Ammunition, uns and airplanes are increasing, “but with the present moralé and culture of the men, you can understand what they are just now, ‘when you think of what’they did on 14 fronts, often bare-footed, often without guns and often enough without much food. Soviet Russia is safe. It_is really the GREAT BEGINNING OF THE END OF CAPITALISM. Moscow is like N. Y., in crowds hustling, but to what different ends! There is activity everywhere, but it is all to establish a government, industry, social and cul- tural life for ALL the people. Food is cheap. You can get a good dinner of two dishes, soup and meat—many different kinds, for 20 and 25. cents and a meal of three dishes for 30 to 40 cents. Food is plain but good and vegetables are usually very good. Borscht here is entirely different from what we get in N. Y. It is very much better. The Russian dark brown bread is supplied free and one may eat all one wants. In Leningrad restaurants they have huge plates of bread, 50 and 60 pieces on each table. Books Much In Demand. All buildings have been made livable, but a lot of repairing is needed as nothing was done for six or eight years after 1914. All government offices and business places are wellheated. There is electricity all over Moscow, and powéthouses, as you know, are being contructed fast in all parts of Russia so that every village may have electric light. Very many villages have it already. Because of the great desire to let in electricity everywhere, especially in ,the villages far THE NECESSITY OF SYSTEMATIC BOOK REVIEWING. 1. A good bibliography’in the press has three fundamental tasks: firstly, teaching party members to read, secondly, polemical advocacy of the policy of the party and Leninism for the outside world, thirdly, com- plete and prompt information of the party on the ideologies existing in the various classes and parties. Therefore, it is not only a fundamental condition for any kind of propaganda, but over and above this an important auxiliary means in the matter of determining the course of the policy of the party. 2. Up till now, bibliography in any newspaper or periodical of the Communist Parties has not attained this end. The main defects are: (a) Lack of regularity in publication, (b) casual selection of discussion litera- ture, (c) erroneous selection and inadequate guidance of reviewers, (d) erroneous character and non-Marxist method of the reviews themselves, from railroad communication, there is not very good power everywhere, yet a vast amount of reading is going on. There are as many bookstores in Moscow and Leningrad as gasoline supply stations in N. Y. People seem to be in them buying nearly all the time. It is mostly for Communist literature, with every phase of culture, industry, politics and life, The Meyerhold Theatre has the best dramatic talent and the most developed forn®of dramatic art and litera- ture. The Theatre of the Revolution is going’ ahead but its casts are not yet up to the standards of the Meyerhold house, but it is going ahead fairly fast and is always crowded. Plays are revolutionary here al- | ways and mostly so in the other playhouses. There are many Japanese and Chinese students, girls and young fellows here and they go to the plays a lot, even when there are no plots, scenes or characters of their coun- tries in the plays. They are zealous students, and are multiplying in numbers, ‘ T. F. Meade. Pushkino, Moscow Gubernia, U. S. S. R. eee | (Continued from first column) the mines of Illinois fell off 12,000 between 1923 and 1926; and in the other strongholds of the union the losses were: Ohio, 16,000; Indiana, 18,000, and Penn- sylvania 38,000, When it is noted that many operators in these states who had signed the agreement were run- ning non-union, it will be evident that the actual loss of jobs to the unions has been much greater than these figures indicate.” * * * * In other words, the mine owners, operating union mines, certainly made no move to force the non-union mine owners into line for the Jacksonville agreement, as Suffern infers in his book might be done. Instead the more powerful of these union mine owners took advantage of the failure of the Lewis administration in the union to organize the non-union fields, invested their capital in scab mines and closed down the union mines until the union miners were starved into accepting a cut on the Jacksonville scale. These are the direct and tragic results of the failure to organize the unorgan- ized, a situation that must be remedied immediately thru rallying the rank and file of the miners’ union for militant struggle not only against the mine owners but against the Lewis administration and its policies. 8. REGULARITY is the fundamental condition for the creation of good bibliography. It should appear regularly on definite days (for instance Sunday) and should be given a definite’ place in the newspaper. It should ALWAYS keep to a certain number of spheres (social democratic, trade union, fascist, syndicalist, etc., literature, colonial policy, militarism, Soviet Union, ete. Especially party periodicals of the CPSU and social democratic and trade union ‘periodicals should be continually followed and studied. 4, SYSTEM in the selection of books which are to be discussed is an- other fundamental condition. Good bibliography should be up-to-date, namely, on the one hand it should deal promptly with important new publi- cations, and on the other hand, it should indicate and criticize very fully literature (also older literature), in connection with important events and incidents. It should, as far as this is possible discuss the various books in connection with SIMILAR PUBLICATIONS appertaining to the same sphere. Entire literary or ideological tendencies, should be singled out and analysed. 5. THE SELECTION OF REVIEWERS is a third fundamental con- ‘ dition for good bibliography in the party press. Criticism of books should not be entrusted to comrades not in touch with the practical work of the party, for the mere reason that they are “experts,” but above all to com- rades who are active party workers, for they are the people to know what can be useful or not to the party in the book in question. Nor should one entrust the work to comrades who discuss books in a mechanical manner. Here it should be pointed out that by asking comrades to review a book one frequently helps them to come out of a state of torpor to do ideological work, 6. Regular GUIDANCE of REVIEWERS by the editor can be brought about_by discussions by regular correspondence, criticism and instruction (publication of hints “what should a good. review be like” as a supplement to the discussion number, also a letter giving the main viewpoints). Nor should one be afraid to return reviews and criticisms several times for fur- ther elaboration. Such regular collaboration could be successfully developed by the introduction of lump sum fees. It is essential that the Agitprop departments should exercise regular control over the reviewing of books, 7. THE CHARACTER OF THE REVIEWS AND CRITICISMS THEMSELVES is of course the main point for every good bibliography. A review should NOT be: (a) A mere enumeration of chapters and incidents. (b) An academic discussion between “experts.” (c) A mere opportunity for the reviewer to show his importance by “running down” the book. (d) An opportunity to air his views on other matters. Good criticism must always bear in mind the three tasks of a biblio- graphy in the party press; information, polemics, instruction how to read, Therefore, it must be written from the standpoint of the party and with -the responsibility which this implies, It must indicate in what way the book reviewed can be useful for party work, it must give useful quotations. Above all it must be as brief and concrete as possible. 4 8. WHAT SHOULD BE THE CONTENTS OF A GOOD REVIEW. (a) A survey of the state of affairs and literature in the respective sphere, (b) Statement of the contents and of the main ideas of the book in question. (c) Criticism and polemics. (d) The book’s usefulness for the party. (e) Who should read the book. , . (£) What book can be considered as a supplement, an argument against or a substitute. 9. MARXISM-LENINISM is the viewpoint from which a review must be written. erefore, it is essential: Firstly, to define in every criticism or review the basic standpoint of Marx and Engels (if possible by carefully selected quotations), secondly, to apply the method of historical materialism in the discussion itself, It is not enough to criticize the theoretical errors of the respective ideology—this ideology itself must be explained on the basis of the material facts of the class struggle. “ Justice In Fiction. “Yerney’s Justice,” by Ivan Cankar, Vanguard Press, New York. 60° cents. q { This short novel is dedicated to the thesis that justice is a damned elusive bird, and that the h: of a wage slave will have one hell of a | time grasping it. This is hardly a startling revelation to a-class-conscious worker. It is rather stale news. But it should be a valuable text-book for the deluded worker who still imagines that the holy spirit of god will eventually animate the chaste and austere bosoms of Rockefeller, Morgan, Gary, Mellon, and the rest of the “public spirited” gentlemen of finance, This novel should give further proof to the fairly intelligent worker that justice is largely defined by capitalists, and that the state, consciously, or unconsciously, as it now exists, and as long as capitalism dominates pro- ‘duction, must favor the exploiting class. And when once a worker realizes the true status of the state, much may be expected of him, ‘ Most novels, poems, and articles are written above the heads of the workers, who, under the present predatory mode of production, have had little time for leisure. Cankar’s novel is an exception. It is written in a style devoid of absurd heroics, And yet it feelingly, and in a manner that hardly denotes “propaganda,” asks that the worker receive the full fruits of his toil. And what contemporary novelist, unless it be Upton Sinclair, is ¢° honest? JOSEPH KALAR. A GOOD THING OUT OF NAZARETH, The Essentials of Marx.—With an introduction and notes by Algenon Vanguard Press. 50 cents, ' At some remote time in his career, before his duties were reducéd to the nobly representative one of giving to inquirers and innovators the of. ficial glassy eye, Mr. Algernon Lee must have been a student—a laudably assidious if not a very penetrating one—of Karl Marx. * * * The residue of his studies has enabled hith to compile for the V; Press a useful Marx volumn, containing the Cothmmuntet Manifesto eee tt pela pancetta, foal peat cones treatises, three well-chosen passages ustrative of the Marxian outlook u hi hensive introduction, ee ny compre Lee, ( dee, BOM 3 This is not a very inclusive book of essentials, but. quintessence of a man who was himself the quintessence renders extracting a well-nigh impossible task, There paaioty in the Marxian writings: Whoever cuts, ne. a good deal of the of an epoch, which is no superfluous is cutting not flesh but * * On the whole, Lee has done as well by his tions of ayailable "space, as can be or, Mi author, consideri my Rane ‘ sidering limita. ~HADIL