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

THE DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, FRIDAY, JUNE 3, 1927 A COMPILATION OF LIES THAT ONEAL CALLS HISTORY. Rand Book Store. $4.50. and a servile crawling before al writing, then assuredly James I will not attempt to “American Communism,” by James Oneal. If mendacity, word juggling, sophi the bosses were qualifications for histor Oneal would be the foremost historian in the world. reply to each lie, explicit or implicit, in the abov mere enumeration of each one would necessitate writing a volume of almost equal size. Oneal, in his opening chapter, attempts to draw an analogy between the “International Brothers” of Bakunin and the Communist International} There is not the slightest resemblance between the two. Time after time, the C. I. has declared against “putsches,” and stressed the necessity of the various Communist parties first winning over the majority before pro- ceeding to the conquest of power. This is quite different from the Bakun- inist conception of using the masses as of their mad schemes of ‘resqlute coups by an insignificant minority Oneal knows this, but in his blind hate of the militant proletariat this lackey of the bourgeoisie is willing to outdo his masters in villification. Further on in the first chapter he speaks of the factional fight within the ranks of the Socialist Labor Party in 1877 between “the advocates and opponents of the theory of force.” This is lie Number 2. did not rage over the question of force at all, but between the Marxists and the anarchists, with the former fighting the generally reactionary philosophy of the latter and especially their absurd “propaganda of the deed.” Again we are convinced that Oneal knows better than he writes, but, as usual, he shows his charming orientation towards his friends and fellow saviors of capitalism—the Department of Justice boys. * * * When it comes to an account of the struggle of the 1919 left wing of the S. P. against himself and his associate lieutenants of capitalism, this creature manifests himself in all his glory. On pages 55 and 56, this fervid apostle of democracy, shamelessly tells gs the infamous methods that were used to retain the S. P. control in the hands of the petty socialist party Tammany Hall of which Oneal is a worthy representative. Let us quote the scoundrel’s own words. (The following refers to the session of the National Executive Committee of the &. P. just prior to the 1919 convention): “All important issues were decided by a strictly partisan vote of eight to two. The important actions taken were: (1) The sus- pension of seven foreign language federations and referring this action and the reasons for it to a special national convention; (2) revocation of the Michigan State charter; (8) instructing the Executive Secretary not to tabulate the vote cast in the referendum for party officials and ‘to call in all the original ballots of the federations in question, send them to the national office, and that a committee be elected to investigate the whole question of the election and report to the national convention’; (4) that a national Emergency Convention be called, to meet in Chicago on August 80; (5) that the membership be urged not to initiate any referen- dums on controversial questions, as they ‘can only be settled after consulting a mass of testimony and documentary evidence, which cannot possibly be sent to the party membership and which are essential to intelligent decisions’; (6) that members in Michigan opposed to the two objectionable actions taken in that state be organized so that they will not be deprived of representation in the national convention; (a very small minority in favor of re- ligion and opportunists who could be relied on to stand by Oneal & Co.); (7) refusing a request of the two left wing members that they be permitted to print a statement in the party’s ‘National Bulletin’ regarding their position on questions decided by the executive.” * * And yet Oneal talks of democracy. The only thing lacking in the} above procedure was to pass a resolution that henceforth only lackeys of | the bourgeoisie should be elected to the National Executive Committee of the socialist party. | * . * | In spite of all this a certain fraction of the left wing decided to) continue the attempts to capture the S. P. from within and concentrated) its efforts on electing delegates to the national convention, But, when) they came there, the Oneal-Branstetter-Stedman gang had their demo-/ eratic friends (the Chicago police) throw them out. How does the worthy socialist charlatan explain this? Very simply! | “The Chicago Police Department sends patrolmen to all large gatherings and they were present at the socialist convention. They also appeared at the other conventions. Passions were at a high pitch at the opening of the socialist convention as the left wing had announced its intention to take it in charge. Many of its delegates were meeting in conference in the same building. Left wing delegates began to appear at the entrance to the socialist hall | at the hour for calling the convention to order. A disturbance fol- lowed and the police ejected the left wing delegates.” The above is illuminating indeed, but permit us to ask a few ques- tions, Mr. Oneal. How did it happen that the police ejected only left wingers? Do left wingers possess peculiar physical characteristics by which they may be distinguished? friends as to who was and who was not to be thrown out? good lie next time, James Oneal. = Think up a * * And so we could follow this “history” for page after page, but, no doubt, the reader is already convinced that “American Communism” is the work of a petty bourgeois liar, who will descend to any depths in order to vent his spleen against the revolutionary workers. There are, however, a few more points to be touched upon. One char- acteristic of Oneal’s “work” is his frequent admiration of all “right” tendencies in the various Communist parties. For instance: “During the factional struggle (1924-25) a third faction had appeared, the leader of which was Ludwig Lore, editor of the ‘New York Volkszeitung’, a German daily. This faction became known as ‘Loreism’. It had attempted to com- bat the romanticism of the two leading factions and bring them to some knowledge of the reality of American life” (p, 219). 5 As dearly as our hero loves the right wing elements, so viciously does he vent his puny hate upon the “Worker’s Challenge,” 1922 organ of the United Toilers. And, ike Postum, “there’s a reason.” The reason being that the “Challenge” consistently exposed, with irrefutable proofs, Oneal @s a liar, a charlatan, and an objective agent provocateur. (Whether he is subjectively so, we leave to his biographers.) Also, let us recall to Mr. Oneal’s attention his cowardly silence, when the editor of the “Chal- lenge”, after exposing him to the extent of a full newspaper page, hurled at him a defy to take the negative of the proposition: “Resolved that the socialist party is not based on the principles of Marxism.” * * » Let us pass over Oneal’s pretended inability to understand the dis-| tinction between political prisoners in the U. S. A. and imprisoned mur- derers and paid socialist revolutionary and menshevik flunkeys of im-| Let us pass over his perversion of the united: perialism in Soviet Russia. front tactics of the C. I. Let us pass over his own bald account of the betrayal of the labor party movement by that aggregation of labor fakers, petty bourgeois, pie card artists, gangsters, careerists, social workers,! tabloid journalists, lawyers, doctors without patients, and preachers with-| cut pulpits known to infamy as the socialist party leaders, There still remain a few remarks to be made about this book. On the question of organization Oneal is hopelessly confused. He pokes fun at the Communist International for its centralized discipline, thereby revealing his ignorance of what every Pioneer knows, the inter- national nature of the class struggle. In his dissertation on the shop nucleus form of organization this clown displays his buffoonery in the| following sentences: “In fact one has to read with very clear attention to understand the complieated and cumbersome structure which is proposed as a substitute for the comparatively simple form of political clubs, of which all political parties have consisted—the planting of cells in shops and factories and in the streets might well serve an oppressed class in the old czarist bureaucracy, where political organization and voting were unknown—but it appears cumbersome and unworkable for political parties in the modern ‘democratic’ countries.” Aside from the weird English and the equally weird political science in the above, Oneal clearly shows that for him capitalism is an eternal system, and that the workers are to he regarded only as voting cattle who are to decide, once every two or four years, whether an out-and-out bourgeois or his 8. P. lieutenant is to repress them: This apostle of sweetness, light, and democracy also attempts an ex- cursion into the field of ethics (don’t laugh). book in which he is very critical of Wm, Z, Foster, he condemns him for the statement that, in the class struggle, the end justifies the means, | that the working class uses any effective weapon that comes to hand, regardless of its “legality” or “morality.” Aside from the theoretical as- pect, the spectacle of this associate of Sigman, this member of the 1919 (Continued on fourth column) em ACN ORNS TYR: ——e— mentioned book as the} annon fodder for the prosecution |‘ The fight | Or—did your unspeakable gang instruct their | In the one passage in the} PROFESSIONAL PATRIOTS Elbert H. Gary, T. Coleman DuPont, William K. Vanderbilt, Albert Fall (of oil fame), and jothers, are among the financial supporters of the various “patriotic” societies now functioning in the United States. The uses of these organizations as organs for | suppre ng radical and liberal opinion and trade unions are being explained in this series. * * IX. National Civic Federation. is, the most elaborately organized of the national 3, has nine departments, each devoted to study ection. A well-known journalist who studied them * ‘|has listed them with comments: Current economic and political movements. Welfare—opposing industrial welfare legislation and favoring “company” welfare. F Immigration—opposing it. | Woman’s—opposing minimum wage, etc., and radi- cal in all forms. | Workmen’s compensation, | Social insurance—against it. Study of revolutionary movements—against them. | Public health education, Industry—founded in joint honor of August Belmont and Samuel Gompers, and devoted to industrial progress |through industrial peace (and vice versa). The Woman’s Department says of its objects: “Americanism—To understand the meaning and in- |tent of this form of government and of the various radi- |cal activities tending to undermine and destroy it. To use such accurate knowledge to actively oppose. . . destructive propaganda and to aid in all afforts toward | stabilizing constitutional Americanism, | “Naturalization— ... To support legislation author- jizing the enrollment of aliens. .. . | “National Defense—To stand for a trained and }equipped Army and Navy adequate to uphold the prin- \ciples of Democracy and Liberty as expressed by this | government. To urge and to stimulate the protection ‘and preservation of chemical industries and chemical research as they affect the home, the health, the in- dustry and the defense of the country.” (The Woman’s Department distributes a pamphlet entitled “A Plea— To American Women” which is an appeal to aid in the protection of this industry.) This concern for the chemical industry may perhaps be accounted for by the fact that Mr. Elon H. Hooker, {prea of the Hooker Electro-Chemical Company (and of the American Defense Society, by the way) is jon the executive committee of the Federation. | Of the Welfare Department, headed until recently by the late Louis A. Coolidge, Treasurer and Director of the Uniged States Shoe Machinery Company, Mr. Easley says: “There is perhaps no better antidote for radical at- tacks on present institutions than intelligent genuine {and wisely directed welfare work.” | Ambitious Program. The Department on the Study of Subversive Move- ments, headed by Condé B. Pallen, one of the editors of |the Catholic Encyclopedia, offers the most pretentious | progrdm. Here it is: “a. A sub-committee on socialist doctrine and tac- tics dictated to the preparation and distribution of literature and the organization of a training school for speakers. (We have tried without success to find the training school.—Ed.) b. Sub-committees to make intensive studies of the extent to which revolutionary forces have pene- trated into labor, the church, the press, philanthropic | agencies, social agencies, foreign groups, women’s | organizations, public employees, negro groups, agri- culture, colleges, public schools, and other fields. ce. A sub-committee to study text books on history, political economy and civics used in high schools and colleges. , d. A sub-committee on Soviet propaganda in the United States. e. A bureau to evaluate federal, state and niuni- | cipal official statistics as well as socialist deduc- | tions from same. | f. A committee on the fundamentals of our Con- stitution and their application to everyday life, in- | cluding the limitations of free speech, free press and | free assembly. g. A sub-committee on a survey of industrial, political and social progress and constructive recom- mendations.” The Federation’s efforts against radicalism are by no | means confined to this department. There is a special committee on the “Limitation of Free Speech” headed by Archibald E. Stevenson, attorney fo rthe “Lusk Committee” appointed by the New York state legislature in 1919 to study radical movements. Its Industrial Department published a report headed “Free Speech a Nuisance.” The announcement of the Departmnt on Current Economic and Political Movements sent out by |Mr. Easley was a typical anti-radical blast, serving wu the same dish under another name, He promised “data for social and religious bodies” to “thwart the detailed program to capture these self-same movements, as worked out by Moscow with uncanny cleverness.” Easley A Figure. In fact, all these departments and committees are merely machinery for Mr. Easley’s use. He is the dom- inant spirit. He speaks through them all. And what- ever is uppermost in his fears becomes the Federation’s concern. The radicals have been chiefly on his mind since the war, together with those who defend free speech lost their lives were: Lieut. Dan F. Voorhees of Chi Pa { for radicals, Soviet Russia is of course Mr. Easley’s thief abomination. He ha: ely sponsored the cause the Czarists, with Mr, Boris Brasol as his chief ad- asol, one of the ds of:the old Russian viser. Black Hundred, came to the United States as a refugee |from the revolution, to enlist support for the restoration of the Czar. In the National Civic Federation Review in 1920 he advocated recognizing “the Omsk government of Ad- h miral Kolchak.” He supported the claims of the Grand Duke Cyril whom he represented in the United States, and officiated at a royalist gathering in 1924 at the Hotel Plaza attended by “the reigning Czarina, the Grand Duchess Cyril.” He was also on Mr. Ford’s pay- roll and boasted that “in one year he had written two books that would do the Jews more injury than ten pogroms.” Mr. Easley and his Federation joined with other or- ganizations as well as with Noel Sargent of the Na- tional Association of Manufacturers, in attempting to break the strike of textile workers in Passaic in ‘1926, In this connection he wrote in a letter to Mr. Ivy L. Lee (April 1, 1926) that Mussolini would “make short work” of Prof. Scott Nearing, the Rev. Harry F. Ward, C. E. Ruthenberg and “all the other Red and Pink organizers who are either conducting or aiding and abetting the lesson in Revolution at Passaic.” None of the men above mentioned have spoken in Passaic in connection with the strike, but this makes no difference to Mr. Easley. He is unhappy in the thought that we have no Mussolini in America to attend to such people. In the same letter to Mr. Lee, he charges Prof. Jerome Davis of the Yale Divinity School and President Henry N. MacCracken of Vassar College with being “Soviet defenders.” (To be continued) WOMEN AND WAR By MARGARET COWL. Twenty-five million men, women and children were sacrificed in the last World War. Emphasis was laid upon the slogan, “A War to End All Wars,” when it was addressed to women. And millions of women in the United States went into the factories, replacing their husbands, sons and brothers who were carried away to the battlefields in a “war to end all wars.” On the heels of the war, came not the golden promises made to the workers by the government. In addition to the loss of sons, brothers and husbands in the war, came sky-high rents, soaring food prices, impossible prices for clothing, slashing of wages and intense unemployment as the reward for the workers without whom this coun- try could not have been made the “richest country in the world.” (Rich for employers only.) For American working women, the after-period of the war means an average starvation wage of $14.00 per week; to the proletarian housewife the problem of keep- ing up her family during the strike and unemployment period. Humanity has not yet recovered from the destruction of the last war. Now again, the mouths of guns are smoking. “To protect American life and property,” is the present excuse for sending of warships and troops into Ching. By sending 55 warships to China, America has joined the other imperialists of England, Japan, France, Italy, etc., in an attempt to crush the workers’ revolt in China against all exploitation. The: imperialists fear that if a workers’ government will be established in China, they (the imperialists) will not be able to exploit the Chinese people for profits as they did up till now. War is not officially declared against China, but troops from the above named countries are firing their | guns upon Chinese men, women and children. This act |alone is an unofficial war against China. In the Soviet Union there is a workefs’ government. The Soviet Union is calling upon workers in other coun- tries to protest against the attempt of American, Brit- ish, Japanese, French, Italian, etc., imperialists to throttle the Chinese revolution; they call upon the work- ers to protest against a new world slaughter. The im- perialists do not like this appeal by the Soviet Union, therefore they are trying to provoke Russia into a war. All countries will ally themselves against these two great countries—the Soviet Union where a workers’ gov- ernment exists and China, where the workers are fight- ing for liberation. The working class women will again be called upon to help on the side of the imperialists. But we working women must not betray our husbands, sons and brothers. We must help to prevent our men folk from marching blindly into a fresh mass murder. We must declare to struggle against all those who try to lull the workers with the lie that there is no war in China. While these agents preach peace to us, the mouths of guns are breathing tongues of fire in China. The women must join the ranks of the fighters against war. Women must join in demanding for Hands off China! Hands off the Soviet Union! . Withdrawal by America of warships and troops from China! . Against the transport of arms and troops! Fight against instigators of War! SEND IN YOUR LETTERS The DAILY WORKER is anxious to receive letters from its readers stating their views on the issues con- fronting the labor movement. It is our hope to de- velop a “Letter Box” department that will be of wide interest to all members of The DAILY WORKER family. Send in your letter today to “The Letter Box,” The DAILY WORKER, 33 First street, New York City. U. S. ARMY KILLS ITS AIRMEN Photo shows wreckage of an United States air corps’ Martin Bomber, which crashed near the land- ing field at Augusta, Ga. It was en route from San Antonio, Tex., to Langley Field, Va. Those who icago; Sergeant James Reid of Pittsburgh; Sergeant Clifford Glenn of Akron, O.; and Corporal Melvin Andrews of Raleigh, N. Ce wing press. * * * FINANCES OF THE STRIKE, Of all the “charges” against the Joint Board officers, that of having “extravagantly wasted” the Union funds in the General Strike, has been most frequently used by the officials of the Right Wing in explanation of the expulsions. Since the public had no way of ascertaining the truth of the matter, it was easy to broadcast a general impression that money had been mishandled and possibly even embezzled, in order to obscure the real issues at stake. Even a casual examination of the facts, however, proves conclusively that the “extravagance” charge, like the “Communism” charge, is with- out basis. All of the finances of the strike were under the control of a Finance Committee, of which Abraham Baroff, Secretary-Treasurer of the Inter- national, was the Chairman, and on which every important local, includ- ing the Right Wing locals, were represented. ‘The money expended was allotted to the committees in charge of vari- ous departments of the strike. Act- ual disbursements were made by checks signed by Joseph Fish, then Secretary-Treasurer of the Joint Board and a member of the Right Wing. The total amount expended for the entire strike period of twenty-four The feft Wing in the Garment Unions By MarGaret LARKIN The financing of the great strike of 1926 has been the sub- ject of unending misrepresentation both in the capitalist and right Accusations have been hurled at the Joint Board leaders which are altogether unfounded. discusses those charges and offers complete refutation of them, Margaret Larkin today of the twenty weeks of strike amounted to nearly a million and a half dollars. Of this sum, the Right Wing Chairmen of two Committees spent $779,212; the Left Wing Chair- men of three Committees spent $393,- 091; and $251,687 was spent for gen- eral expenses which cannot be as- signed to either group, In other words, of the funds which passed directly through the hands of Committee Chairmen, the Right Wing Chairmen spent twice as much as the Left Wing Chairmen; and of the entire funds of the strike, only about one-seventh was in the hands of members of the Left Wing at all! Sigman’s Charges Flat. It is apparent that President Sig- man’s charges of “wasteful extrava- gante” in the conduct of the strike are entirely without foundation. The three Committees headed by Left Wing Chairmen carried on the important mass work of the strike, The Picket Committee, headed by Joseph Goretzky, made its principal expenditures for the “coffee and cake” committees, so called because the active workers, who picketed New York shops night and day, received only $15 a week for their meals. In the fifteenth week of the strike, this was raised to $20. These workers were not paid strike benefits. The Hall Committee, headed by Joseph Boruchowitz, kept its expendi- tures very low in comparison with ex- penditures for this Committee in other strikes. This was due to the fact that its several hundred members gave all of their time to the work of the Committee without salary, re- ceiving only $10 a week for expenses, and no strike benefit. This amount was later raised to $15. The Organization Committee, headed by Nathan Kaplan, spent nearly ninety percent of its appro- priation for payment of professional accountants who investigated the books of settled shops to see that no scab work was done. Nearly a quar- ter of this amount was recovered from employers for the work of the accountants. There were four Committees headed by Chairmen from the Right Wing. Of these, the Finance Committee and the Settlement Committee made no large disbursements. The Out-of- Town Committee, and the Law Com- mittee, that together spent nearly one-half of the strike funds, outside of strike benefit, did not need to use large masses of people, as did the Picket, Hall, and Organization Com- mittees. That the 1926 strike was: an eco- nomical one, and that those depart- ments over which the Left Wing had Outside of strike benefits, which|Control made even greater savings must be discounted since it was paid | than did the Right Wing departments, directly to the workers, the expenses |S Shown by a comparison of recent weeks probably was three and one half million dollars, with Committee appropriations proportional to the amounts spent during the twenty weeks reported upon to the General Strike Committee. The last report of strike ex- penditures made to the General Strike Committee before the expulsions took place, covered twenty weeks of strike, from July 1 until November 18, 1926. |The total amount expended during this period was $2,794,000. Modest Payments. Of this amount $1,370,000 was spent for strike benefits, which was distributed, after the eighth week of the strike, on the basis of $5.00 a week for single men and $8.00 a week for family men. These amounts were later increased to $7.00 and $10.00. It is worthy of note, in this con- nection, that none of the officers of the Left Wing of the cloakmakers ac- cepted any pay up to the nineteenth week of the strike excepting $10.00 a week for expenses. Right Wing officers, including President Sigman, received their full pay, and did not even donate 20 per cent to the strike fund, as did all workers who were sent back to work in settled shops. strikes and stoppage: Strike Stoppage Strike 1921, 8 weeks 1924, 2 weeks 1926, 20 weeks Hall Committee ......... $60,000 $43,000 $100,000* Organization Committee.. 17,000 26,000 92,000* Picket Committee .. + 43,000 100,000 200,000* Law Committee «+ 25,000 49,000 379,000 Out-of-Town Committee.. 42,000 59,000 476,000 *Committees headed by Left Wing Chairmen in 1926. (Continued from first column) N. E. C. of the S. P. prating about fairness, morality, etc., is enough to make even the yokels who support his “New Leader” laugh, and surely no lower order of intelligence is humanly conceivable. * In that little Marxian study, “Underground Radicalism,” John Pepper profoundly analyzes the S. P. According to him the S, P., having lost practically all of its real proletarian elementa is now mostly composed of workers who have become petty bourgeois led by the Tammany Hall of Oneal, Hillquit, ete. The great ambition of this gang is to emulate the German Social Democracy and become the party of the labor aristocracy. But, due to historical conditions, this is an impossibility. Therefore, the objective logic of its position forces the S. P. to become the willing tool of the labor bureaucracy. At the time it was made, I heard even some members of the Workers Party object to this analysis as too harsh. If there is any such naive ones now, let them read the chapter on the T. U. E, L. in this book and their doubts will be dispelled. Even though, in some parts of the book, Oneal seems to have a peculiar regard for Foster (esteeming him as personally all right, but regarding his ‘entrance into the W. P. as a mistake) nevertheless he takes him (Foster) and the T. U. E. L. to task for the attack on such treacherous labor fakers as Lewis of the Miners, Hutcheson of the Carpenters, and the infamous hangers-on of the Jewish yellow socialist Forward. , * ~ * ~ * Can this charlatan sink any lower? Strange as it may seem, yest Whenever one thinks the S. P., or one of its noted “practical leaders” has finally touched bottom, he finds out, that, in the interval, it has alxeady sunk to a lower depth. Even bourgeois professors, pulpit pounders, lawyers, and editors today acknowledge that Sacco and Vanzetti were fram¢d, Aye, even the ultra-reactionary Sons of the American Revolution did /not dare to give their approval to the proposed legal assassination of these two workers at their convention just held at Richmond, Va. But, listen to what. the editor of the “(New Leader”, the member of the N. E. C. of the S. P., , the theoretical light of that aggregation has to say on the subject: “The I. ie L. D. . . . has devoted much of its time to collecting funds for the purpose of obtaining legal aid for Sacco and Vanzetti, two Italians convicted of | murder in Massachusetts, and by many who have investigated the case | believed to be innocent.” (Bold face mine—T. H. S.) \ With this, intellectual nausea compels me to conclude. Only one ques- tion remains to be answered. Why was this book written just at this time? Undoubtedly as a “theoretical” supplement to the “practical” at- tack ‘of the class collaborators on the left wing in the unions. If any worker is interested in a first hand study of political depravity then this book is worth even more than $1.50 to him. If, however, he is desirous of learning something about the American Communist movement, then the book is worse than useless to him. He had bettex, purchase the tales of Baron Munchausen and read more entertaining and better con. structed lies. ~-THOMAS H. STONE. \