The Daily Worker Newspaper, June 1, 1927, Page 3

By WILLIAM F. KRt (Moscow Correspondent of DAILY WORKER”) MOSCOW, May 9th, (By Mail).— The fifteenth anniversa’ founding of the Bolshevik Daily— “Pravda”-—was celebrated today at a festive meeting held in the “Hall o” the Columns” of the Dom Soyus (th “Labor Temple” of the Moscow trad unions, formerly the most exclusiy< club of the nobility). Thousands ‘of electric lights sparkled from the mor than fifty great crystal candlebra. their glitter caught up in the polishec white marble columns that give this famous hall its name. Above the stage, on whieh sat about two hun- dred of the more prominent members of the “Pravda” staff and Party or- gans, was suspended a big red and gold streamer: “Greetings to the Bolshevik Pravda!” Fifteen years ago the Bolsheviks realized that the time had definitely come when a break must be madc with the. opportunist, liquidator; Mensheviks with whom they had thus far been “united” in a single Social Democratic Labor Party. This “unity” deserves the quotation marks because never had two horses pulled 80 econtrariwise as did this team; both wings, representing widely divergent ideology and generally. advocating diametrically opposite tactics, they had maintained their own organiza- tions and press, and Party history had been a long sequence of almost twenty years of inner-Party struggle over every. vital question confronting the young Russian labor movement. Lenin Calls For Break. There had been splits before which, under the pressure of conditions, had been breached—but now that the Mensheviks proposed the Virtual liquidation of ail the revolutionary phases of soeialist activity Lenin ealled for the final break. The Bol- sheviks formed their own Party, rallied behind themselves the over- whelming mass of the Party member- ship, and began publishing, in Peters- burg, their own daily—Pravda.” From the very first the paper had The They 1 Are ® principal speaker was our old Com- Celebrating the Fifteenth Anniversary sponsible political secretary of the editorial collegium and N. I. Bucharin, Editor-in-Chief. The chairman was Uglanoy, Secretary of the Moscow Party organization. The first anc rade Gussiev, known t® a great man} \merican Communists for his service: |to the American movement. As hear of the CPSU Central Committee De vartment for the Press it was hi function to review the work done an vet to be done by the “Pravda” an the other far-flung Communist pres ‘n the Soviet Union. He began by threatening, humor wusly, to speak 15 minutes on the 1 years of “Pravda” history, one minut for each year, and then two hours o more of excursions through the realy of the Soviet literary world, Then he | oromised to do no such thing and con ‘ined himself, after a short statemer of the significance of “Pravda” to th movement, to a detailed analysis o “he tasks and trends in the present ‘av Communist press in the Sovie Tnion. The 15th anmiversary, he said marks a turning point in the history of “Pravda” and owr press generally Our task now embraces the enlighten- ment of the vast masses of workers and especially the raising of the cul tural level of the peasant people Quoting Lenin he reminded the grea‘ audience that when “Iskra” was star ted there were perhaps 40 revolution ists grouped around it in all Russia “Proletar” already had about a thou sand such, “Pravda” when launchec enjoyed the active support of tens of thousands, which have now growr into millions. The task of our press is to find suitable forms for thc mobilizing of these no longer thov- sands but millions. The mobilizing of these masses for the demands of th« hour—rationalization, economy, lower vriees—is the immediate task of our press. The Rabcor’s Job. We all realize, he continued, that the worker-correspondents are one of our most valuable and indispensible ,ties between our press and the ;masses. But this movement, which to fight desperately against police BOW includes between 250,000 and suppression. Its very title was chosen | 300,000 worker, peasant, red army first under the conditions of this! and youth correspondents is beginning fight, a dormant police permit for the| to show some signs of development ir. appearance of a paper by that name/@ direction not beneficial to its rea being utilized to make the start. Time function. There is to be observed after time the paper was confiscated,;@ tendency towards separatism, a: members of the staff and distributors; though the Worker-Correspondent imprisoned, but the paper appeared’ Movement is something exclusive and just the same under a slightly; apart from the toiling masses instead changed title and the chase went on until it was ended by the victorious proletarian revolution. Now the birthday of “Pravda” is also “Inter- national Press Day” for the Com- munist movement, a fitting tribute to the first and greatest of Bolshevik dailies. Pravda’s Services Reviewed. Great ovations greeted Comrade Ulianova, sister of Lenin, who is re- ica te cece tected doe Put Some Power In That Kick! se Don’t waste your energy in idle protest. When reaction attacks The DAILY WORKER and you want to fight— strike your blows where they will be most ef- fective. : Kick in With a Sub. Every subscription is a striking answer to the enemies of Labor—every is more strength to ie blows that are dealt every day by The DAILY WORKER. Don’t only kick. .... Kick int! SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Outside of In New York New dork Per Yr, $8.00 Oe ce ES ee bid Mo, 8. o Mo .. duu 8 Mo. The DAILY WORKER 33 First Street New York Enclosed $. mos. sub to: Street ... city « State .. (of their voice. The whole well-de veloped structure of worker corre spondent circles, conferences, organ- jiers, special press, ete. faces the | danger of institutionalism, and thi: | must be avoided. The consequencc jhas been that during the last year | their ranks have not grown at th¢ | desired tempo, there is often an in- clination to narrow the membership of worker-correspondent circles dowr | to only Party and Youth League mem- | bers, and in turn this has its reflec- tion on the one hand in a certain con- servatism and even resentment among worker correspondents towards pro- posed new forms of mass work by the press, and on the other in neglect | by the special work-correspondent press organs of the specific problems of their own field in favor of genera) polities, thus invading the field of the regular Party press. Several glaring | cases were cited: of a Leningrad worker correspondence organ al- legedly reporting on a gubernia con- ference actually devoted only a few | lines to this and the rest of the paper to China, Italian Fascism, world eco- nomies, ete. Everything except work- MOSCOW (By Mail).—The func- tions of the nucleus of the Russian Communist Party and of the trade union organization in a state-owned factory in the Soviet Union, are, of course, not the same as functions of the Communist nucleus or the trade | union organization in a factory in a capitalist country, or in a privately owned enterprise within the Soviet Union. In the state owned enterprise in the Soviet Union—and the large industries, as well as the transporta- tion are entirely in the hands of the state-—the proletarian state is the em- ployer, The, workingclass, through its or- ganizations, the Communist Party and the trade unions, has therefore, as one of its fonctions, the increasing of the production of the factory, the elimination of all points of frietion, as well as the protection of and ad- vancement of the interests of the workers. ‘ “ . * . The basie unit of the Communist Party in a Russian factory is the factory nucleus, and the highest par- | ty bedy in the factory is the general meeting of the factory nucleus. The general meeting elects the nucleus ) bureau, consisting of no more than 9 members, and 3 candidates and this bureau functions between meetings of the general party membership, The | bureau elects an Organization, an Agitprop, a Work Among Women and | other committees, which are respon- {sible to the bureau, which in turn, is responsible to the general meeting of the factory nucleus. In a later ar- ticle I will give definite details as to the organization of the party appara- us as well as of the trade union He fe oho Se he he i so se le oe oh he | srithjn o Beselan fastory. 10 te pree- THE DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 1, 1927 GUSSIEV CHIEF SPEAKER—BUKHARIN ANSWERS ZINOVIEV ATTACK Miracles of Transformation (Thé Story of the Pravda) UYAECA ,TPAHC@OPMANMR. (Hcropua_,,Tpasayy" B pucyHKax), Puc. K. EHCEEBA, This cartoon illustrates the changes in the name of Prayda, organ of the Russian Communist Party, made necessary by the constant attempts of the police to suppress it. successive pictures are: Pravda, Workers’ Pravda, Northern Pravda, Pravda of Labor, For Pravda, Prole- tarian Pravda, Path of Pravda, Worker, Laborers’ P-ayda, Pravda, Page Pravda, Workers’ Soldier, Prole- tariat, Worker, Workers’ Path, Pravda. The names on the paper in the er eorrespondents and their confer- dence grew so far beyond the more ence and problems. How to Reach the Masses. The speaker than discussed some of the new methods of developing | limited cireles of the WPC movement itself that personal letters were some- | times received from 30 per cent of | the workers engaged in a plant. campaigns, lasting from two to six weeks depending on the size of the enterprise, are very thoroughly pre- } are for the presentation of Labor Truth , and finally after the (51 issues), factory has thus discussed its ov nh (15 issues), Path of fairs in the light of the que s), Worker (later ‘aised by the press, the worker corre ne) Labor Truth | spondents and all others who can be| s as closed down moved to do so write in to the paper} on the eve World War. Then what they have gleaned of the views| came nce more under the {of the workers and also whatever id anged June 19, 1917, to |tails of fact they can cont uth on June 28. to These letters are frankly publish Soldier” which was {and sometimes regular press debates ugust 2, and followed | | | ensue. bjected to dist tioned whe workers W e result the t the close of the campaign an-|“W le on by “Proletarian,” of the Worker,” and on Nov. 8th once more suee tions of which 22 \Mf cepted at one d carried o \to ar ent of 80 cent, Asar between the ers and the tech- nigians was liquidated. | Opposition Scorned. Following Gussiev’s speech there were short add: by Comrade Ulianova and others including a fac- - tory worker who had taken pe WASHINGTON, M 3 the illegal distribution of the American capital sho the of- “Pravda.” There fers mai viev, of Abyss 1 to employ treme r n, asked for] great numbers of he devel- the floor. nted without} opment of rubber, “Pray 1-! other resoure: laborator n by tk lo so with e 2 moral explana- ence wa: was his | tions, ‘ first appearance crushing’ In the files overnment at defeat in the XV Washington is a conf al report of {CPSU and the VII E recent d: on the s of slavery utive of the Co: n Abyssinia—the o significant great interest i omission from the report on that to s He did not leave his hearers | countr: h the Commerce Depart- long in doubt. ring them that ment has just published. {in the event of ar on the Soviet Nice Life. | Union every comrade (of ald “The this anonymous | tion) would be found seals report Addis Ababa, junited Party front, he attacked the) 2+ teast, do nc | work, their con- Party policy in China and especi ception of their whole duty to their the “Pravda” which, he said, did not give sufficiently earnest attention to the war danger and did not print his owners being the ornamental funetion of running beside him on the few occasions when he rides forth upon article on, May First. By this time ?* . dissatisfaction embraced the whole 1)S mount. em it ae audience and shouts of “Enough!” | oi. F ee ee es |came from all parts of the hall. Not Fooled By Pretty Speeches, “It ms 3 to wax vitri- olic over the red customs of No sooner had he wound up his re-|an ancient African empire. The last marks than Nicolai Bukharin went to/|slave country in the world must be the tribune—where he was given 8) induced to change its s by more |tremendous ovation. He had not in-| gradual methods. A custom like this |tended to speak he said, but the un-|is not to be uprooted by stroke of pen heard of attitude of Zinovievy made} or sword.” lan immediate reply necessary. To| come before an open mass meeting in | such a critical time with an attack of Disarm } es. Having thus reported on chattel |this sort was a crime against the |Party. The charges made by Zinoviev | he refuted completely, and the pretty | phrases about “united front of the | Party” were exposed by comparison | with Zinoviev’s actions. A resolution |endorsing the policy of the Central | Committee and censuring the Opposi- | tion was then offered from the floor | and adopted with only two dissenting | votes. | As is customary in such celebra- | tions, a very fine ‘concert program followed the serious part of the | meeting. Each guest received a |souvenir anniversary packet of | “Pravda” and its other publications. This drawing taken from the 15th an- |niversary supplement of “Pravda” | illustrates the hectic experiences of the sheet with the Czarist and Keren- sky police. In its history between pared for. After thorough explana-| 1912 and 1917 it had to change its slavery to an administration which claims direct succession from the Great Emancipator, this investigator quoted at length the opinions of a foreign official who had lived long in eastern Africa, T foreigner rec- ommended that Abyssinian raiders be | deprived of arms and ammunition as a |means of stopping their slave-taking habits. “The War Minister of Abyssinia,” says this report, “never rides forth | Without at least 2,000 slaves running | behind his horse waving long wands and shouting their paens of joy in |praise of their master. A poor man may possess only one small item of human property, but that one must assuredly be ever at his side to-do |him homage. | “Nor is the lot of the slave unenvi- able. To bring a good price, or to re- tain his value, he must be well fed. He is content, on the whole, with his mass contact with the press that had, The method employed, as in the case been initiated successfully. The chief | of the paper in Tver, is to call for of these was the putting of each fac-| a public discussion of each factory as tory, separately, on public exhibition| a basis of determining which is best, through the columns of the press m|and which is carrying on the most such a way that worker correspon- | conscientious efforts to improve. The ent article I will describe the chief functions of the nucleus. The Rayon (county or section) committee of the party maintains contact with the fac- tory nucleus and with the nucleus bureau, and is the higher party unit. There are -six rayons in Moscow). ‘he functions of the rayon committee will also be described later. * * * The party nueleus is the fundamen- tal party organization and consists of at least three members (in small en- terprises). The principle tasks of the nuclei are: a) “To work among the masses, to constantly exercise the party influenee among the non-party masses of workers and peasants and explain the party slogans and deci- sions; to determine the needs and de- Opprzition in Bulgar Parliament Wins Many Seats Despite Terror SOFIA, May 31.—In spite of the existence of the governmental reign of terror, 88 Opposition can- didates were elected to the Bul- garian parliament. Since the crushing of the Radi- cal Agrarians and the assassination of the late Premier Stambouliski the election of a majority of re- actionary members to the parlia- ment has been a foregone con- clusion, Fifteen of those elected as Op- position deputies are now in exile, victims of the white terror. It is not expected that they will be recognized by the new parliament. mands of these masses, to raise their political and cultural standard, to draw the masses into the process of socialist construction, into the Soviet, co-operative, economic, and other work.” b) “The inner party work, carried out on the basis of inner party demo- eracy; to study the decisions of the party congresses and conferences, to draw the membership into active par- ticipation in the decision of all ques- tions confronting the party as a whole as well as the local party or- ganizations; to promote people to the leading party, Soviet and other posi- tions, to educate the membership in the Leninist spirit; to draw new mem- bers into the party, and improve the social composition of the organiza- tion by a thorough study and control of those admitted to the party.” ¢) “To direct the work of the non- party organizations and participate in the Soviet, economic and co-opera- tive work of the enterprise, village or institution” (extract from latest draft rules on the nuclei, which have been discussed by the Leningrad, Moscow, Nizhni-Novgorod, Tula, Ivan- ovo-Voaniesensk Vologda, Zlatoust, Tver, Vodsk and Smolensk organiza- tions, The amendements proposed by these organizations and approved by the Department of Organization and Appointments are included in the quo- tation). * * * The general membership meeting, the highest governing body of the nucleus, is called by the bureau, on its own initiative or by request of one third of the membership, Nuclei meetings are. held regularly, at least twice a month, and decisions are bind- ing {f at least half of the membership is present. A majority vote decides tion in the Party nucleus and enlist-j name sixteen times of which six| Pi Peay agents Megs pee : ing the full collaboration of the Trade} changes were after the Pirates (Percent Anes because 50.00m Union Committee, a general meeting] revolution. The sequence of the vari-| 5 sees of the workers is called at which the proposal is explained and discussed. Then enlarged “Production Confer- ences” are held in each department to ous titles and the number of issues | All for Civilization, through whieh they lived is as fol-| “To all these peoples slavery is, far lows: “Pravda” (Truth) 440 days,|from being an evil, a most desirable “Workers Truth” (17 issues), North-|and essential part of the social strue- aneeanines ture. They would even maintain, were THE FACTORY NUCLEUS IN USSR all questions. Each meeting elects a presidium of a few members, or a chairman and secretary. The general meeting indorses or amends plans of work submitted by the bureau, con- siders applications for membership or to become candidates, discusses and act on expulsions and disciplinary measures, elects delegates to party conferences occurring within the ray- on, receives reports from the Young Communist League, the party frac- tions, and individual members on their work. The general meeting dis- cusses political, economic, trade union, party and local questions. The general meeting elects the Bureau, for a six months period, con- sisting of nine members and two or Calles Boycotts U. S. A. In Retaliation Against Fleecing of Government MEXICO CITY, May 31.—-A de- cree has been signed by President Calles forbidding all Mexican gov- ernmental departments to purchase supplies of any character, either directly or indirectly, from the United States. Ambassador Shef- field and attaches of the embassy refused to comment officially on the decree. President Calles stated that the decree was issued because “The United States Government has es- tablished a systematic embargo upon all goods purchased by the various departments of the Mexi- can Government.” it put to them, that the condition of ——__ | the slave is much improved over their By KARL REEV E jaboriginal status, their status being jconsiderably elevated from that of | wild a als to the relatively high civilization into which they are pur- chased, three candidates, a large number be- jing allowed only with the consent of | | the rayon party committee. Tf the] «tt is to be anticipated, therefore, j nucleus is small, consisting of less | that the eventual eradication of slav- than seven members, a secretary is/ery from the countries of this district elected instead of a bureau. lis scarcely to be seen by any person In order to better carry on the work | living at’ present.” 1 among the non-party masses, the nuc-| These conclusions were applied leus periodically conducts open meet-! merely to Abyssinia but to Afghanis- ings and attempts to draw active non-|tan and the Hedjaz, in southwestern party workers into the political study| Arabia, to which large numbers of circles and schools, and tried to give slaves, especially children, are sold by active non-party workers respon-| Abyssinian raiders and Arab traders. the work in the factory, particularly those who are workers, farm laborers or poor peasants. Non-party workers who have the confidence of the work- ers and stand near to the party are nominated for elections in the non- party organizations, as well as party members, The best elements are drawn into the party. The nucleus )at all times attempts to draw the non-party masses into the discussion of the problems of the Soviet Union as a whole. “By overcoming the narrow craft and localist sentiments, and conducting thorough systematic educational activities and by imbuing the masses with a sense of thoir com- mon interests the nucleus secures their support for the party slogans and de- cisions.” (quoted from same as above) | The nucleus participates in all the educational and cultural work carried on within the factory, such as clubs, libraries, literature evenings, enter- tainments, question and answer eve- nings, oral and wall newspapers, ete. The nucleus does all it can to in- crease subscriptions to the press and increase the number of worker cor- respondents, and carries on educa- tional activity among the latter. sible positions in the carrying on of | Will Send Minister. In its report dated July 25, 1925, the Temporary Slavery Commission of the League of Nations says that Abyssinia is the only Christian coun- ‘try in which slavery is still legalized, | It credits Ras Tafari with taking pre- jliminary steps toward their gradual | liberation, but it offers advice to him, in a series of proposed measures for |making his purpose effective, It asks him to encourage his principal chiefs |to free their own slaves; also to reg- \ister all slaves and to declare free the jones not registered; finally to abolish | “the legal status of slavery,” but with |the reservation that “for a fixed pe- riod” such freed slaves might be.com- | pelled to continue to serve their mas- j ters. | The League Commission’s report also declares that forced labor can only become free labor, in a safe eco- | nomie condition, when small of land are made accessible to freed men, and when cash payment of ade- quate wages is assured by f companies that may develop the re- sources of the country with the labor of serfs and slaves. ; These facts were in hand when the | Washington administration decided to. ask congress to enable it to send minister to Abyssinia.