The Daily Worker Newspaper, June 10, 1927, Page 6

te AIIRE SERENE PEELED 0 ERSTE poe ) Page Six THE DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, FRIDAY, J isnot ances EE: Professional Patriots | (Continued from Yesterday). Professional patriotic organizations in the United States thrive on all forms of social hys- teria. The easiest way of getting conservative leaders of financial thought to part with sub- stantial checks is to impress them with the fact that even liberals are dangerous to 100% Amer- icanism. An amusing aspect of this program is found in the fact that the American Legion, National Se- curity League and similar bodies have succeeded in getting “The Nation” and the “New Repub- lic” removed from the libraries of many local and university libraries. It speaks for itself. Here are typical samples: y In a letter to employers in a campaign “for capacity production” the American Defense Society says: “We believe that Bolshevism will vanish when every worker produces useful good his ability, and that 100 per cent Americanism in labor forces will be a result. “To this end we are offering to employers throughout the country a series of pamphlets such as those enclosed fa-this letter, for use They are intended to impress upon the worker the need of his or her coéperation with the employer in order to bring about a reduction of living costs and a season <f prosperity.” Again in one of i “What the Ameri Americanism. phlets as the ‘Lying Lure of Bolshevism.’ It has cor- responded with the mayors of cities, warning them of the plans of the I.W.V undertaking to counteract the terrible effects of organ- ized disorder by organized citizenship.” “The best tribute to the effectiveness of its activities is the con- stant, bitter fight being waged against it by radicals and subversive organizations.” For the sake of the record, it should be noted that no campaign against the Society has been carried on at any time by opposing organizations. The reference is probably to the libel suits brought against the Society’s representative, Mr. R. M. Whitney, author of the “Reds in America,” for his baseless charges against various citizens. The temper of that publication can be gather- ed from these quotations from a pamphlet bearing the same name published by the Society for more general use, “The most. colossal conspiracy against the United States in its history was unearthed at Bridgeman, Mich., August 22, 1922, when the secret convention of the Com- munist Party of America was raided by the Michigan Constabulary, aided by county and federal officials. “Their programs, which are now known, show that their plans for inciting the negroes, the farmers, the government clerks, bank clerks, workmen in industry, members of congress, to violence against the constituted authorities, have been drawn with almost uncanny ap- preciation of the psychology of each group. A “There is no limit to the activities of the Communist Party of America, to the ramifications of its influence, or to the patience with which they work out their the- eries into accomplished facts. They have not failed in a single step of their program thus far looking toward . the overthrow by violence of the government of the * * leaflets: n Defense Society is doing for %.““tnited States. “The attempt at armed insurrection may not come for five years, perhaps not for ten, but it will certainly be made in fifteen or twenty years, if the Communists are permitted to continue as they have been, with secret congpiracies and ‘open’ organizations to function at the direction of the illegal body; and when that time comes the prostration of business, the paralysis of all industry with its attendant suffering, will be a catastrophe such as this country has never known. a “One high Communist official, angered by certain ac- tion of a United States senator, threatened to ‘report him to Moscow’ unless he did as he was told. At the same time this Communist official declared that ‘some senators and a number of congressmen are working for us, in direct communication with me and with Moscow.’ “With all the facts known—the question naturally arises, Why doe the government do something about it? The an: imple; the laws of the United States protect the radical who aims at its destruction, “The writ an a st. He does not believe ean ever overthrow the government with Russia’s Red Army of a t the Communists will attempt this they are stopped now is as certain as The people of the United g the Soviet régime in Russia, te a large degree, chiefly through subscriptions to ‘drives’ for funds for famine relief to be handled by Russians. “These are not idle words. The plans and programs of the Communists contain the proofs. They are worth the study of all loyal Americans, for by suggestion 2nd innuendo they are designed to bring about the’ moral annexation of the Unitetl States to Russia and later the actual, physical subordination of this country to Moscow. “The coal and railroad strikes of 1922 were = striking example of what they do. ... Their creed is to make capital out of strikes, riots and every other form of popular unrest... . The Communists attend church meet- ings for the purpose of presenting arguments to weaken the faith of members of the church. They preach free love, the nationalization of women and children, and openly proclaim that the breaking up of home ties is an advance of civilization.” Mr. Whitney's characterizations of liberal movements for a discussion of present-day issues among college stu- dents are well revealed in his Defense Society pamphlet on the “Youth Movement in America.” Discussing the National Student Forum, a clearing-house of informa- tion which takes no position on public issues, he says: “It is the purpose of the National Student Forum, and the other organizations which it supports by its sym- pathy, to undermine and sink, or overthrow, the Govern- ment of the United States, and to set up in this country a soviet form of government, such as Russia now boasts.” Whitney then describes Upton Sinclair as “contribut- ing editor of the Liberator, Communist monthly, founder of the I. W. W, and the American Civil Liberties Union!” Commenting on the Student Forum’s account of the fair-minded presentation of both sides of public issues before the Harvard Liberal Club, Whitney says: “Mr. Sinclair says the radicals were properly balanced by a group of respectable people including Admiral Sims, Hamilton Holt, President Eliot and a nephew of Lord Bryce. “Let’s take a look at the ‘respectable’ people who bal- anced the radicals. Admiral Sims, the first ‘respectable’ mentioned by Upton Sinclair, stated September 10th that he had never spoken for the National Student Forum. “Hamilton Holt, the second ‘respectable’ on the list, is an Internationalist and a Pacifist. Considering his af- filiations, one would hardly think of Dr. Holt as doing nything to counteract radicalism. “And finally President (Emeritus) Eliot of Harvard was born in 1834. Age has privileges no one can ques- » tion, ? (To be continued) to the greatest extent of | in the pay envelopes of employes. | To that end it has published such pam- | and other radicals, and it is) { A. J. COOK, BRITISH MINERS’ LEADER ‘iicuonarate SOROS Right is A. J. Cook, fighting leader of the British Miners’ Federation, one of the few leaders of the British trade union movement, who can say that he had no part in the defeating of the workers thru the calling off of the general strike. standard of living, have already been By WILLIAM F. KRUSE. (Moscow Correspondent) HE Lenin enrollment, which fol- lowed the death of the great leader lof the world proletariat, resulted in jan influx into the Russian Party of |a vast number of workers who, while rich in revolutionary tradition and | personal experience, were neverthe- less of a low theoretical level for the membership requirements of the Bol- {shevik Party. During the first 2 jmonths 200,000 new members were | added, during 1924 the total was over 400,000. The new members consti- |tuted 40 per ‘cent of the total mem- |bership. The party which prior to October, 1917, had numbered 80,000 had now grown to a million. To di- gest this great influx many adjust- ments were necessary, and nowhere 80 necessary as in the system of in- |ner-party education. This structure are constantly discussed and criti- cised, and its forms are adapted ac- cordingly. The following is an out- line of the structure as developed | after two years of experience. Training In Party Work. Every candidate of the party must jattend a course called “Political Grammar, Grade I,” which meets once ‘a week for a term of four months, and gives the basic indispensible knowledge of party principles and ac- |tivity. The program covers five | poi 1; CPSU and the tasks of | party members. 2: The party and its leadership of the toiling masses. 3: The road of socialist construction in the U.S. S. R. 4: Bolshevism (Len- inism) .and the opposition. 5: C. P. |S. U. and the comintern. The class- room method is that of conversation | ple text pamphlets, and current ques- tions of party interest. Representa- tives of the District Agit-Prop De- | partment attend occasionally and ap- praise the work of teacher and pupils to party membership and his advance- of | ment in the ranks of the “Aktiv.” | Above this primary course all par- jty nucleus education is voluntary. |“Poiitgrammar, Grade II” is open to | graduates of Grade I and to all who | |have sufficient knowledge to keep up. |It also meets once a week, but for /8 months, and covers the following ground: 1: Soviet and bourgeois state 2: Séviet and capitalist | 8: The road of |the proletarian dictatorship. 4: The | NEP and the party during the NEP |periol. 5: CPSU ahd comintern. Parallel with each of these courses is |a system of self-education covering the same ground for those comrades | Structure. leconomie structure. | who cannot attend the regular circles. | | An extensive literature and special in- formation centers are at the disposal | of comrades working on these courses. | Outside of the big towns it is pos- sible to carry on this self-education ‘work by correspondence. \has two courses corresponding to the above for its members and candidates. These courses, in both party and league, constitute an adequate poli- nucleus scale. General Schooling Also, For party members who wish to improve their general education in ad- dition to their political knowledge there is also the “Party Night School,” meeting twice a week for an eight months’ course. The subjects of Grade I include: (1) Party History, (2) Political Economy, (3) Arithme- tic. For Grade II, which lasts nine months, the subjects include: Political Economy, Economie Geography, His- tory of the Class Struggle, Soviet and Party Constitutions, Russian lan- guage, physical geography, arithme- tie. Strictly party education on a higher stage.is furnished by the Marxist- Leninist courses (I and II), meeting once a week for 9 months’ courses, and taking up political economy, his- tory of the class struggle, Leninism and historical materialism. The method used comprises individual work under the direction of a trained class leader, In addition to these political edu- cation circles for party members and i His fears that the betrayal of the general strike by Mac- Donald, Thomas & Co. would be followed by a capitalist offensive against the A FACTORY NUCLEUS ERUCATIONAL STRUCTURE IN THE RUSSIAN PARTY was the extension of the apparatus) is in no sense rigid, its experiences | j based upon the reading of very sim-|& The standing of a candidate in the | |circle has bearing upon his admission | The YCL} tical preparation for activists on a! justified. ; candidates there are general elemen- | |tary circles for workingwomen,’ for current affairs, for anti-religious ac- |tivity, and for combatting illiteracy. Some of these are in direct connection with the local trade union committee. There is also a circle of worker cor- respondents and wall-paper collabora- |tors, and one of party agitators. In |connection with the nucleus Agitprop \there is generally a “Consultation | Point” at which questions concerning jany of these courses can be raised. Courses Confined To Industry. | | The guiding principles in this work | ‘of the lower educational units are: 1. Attendance is voluntary (except for Politgrammar I or equivalent which is compulsory for candidates), open to party members and qualified non-party members, 2. The students must be on approximately the same level of politigal development. 3. |The study circle should be made up cf workers from one enterprise, or at least from one line of industry, so that the work of the circle can be) jciosely tied up with their activity in |the factory as workers and party) members; hence it is not advisable |for several nuclei to combine their \study circles, The material must | always have direct bearing in the fac- |tory in which the circle is held, every “fact” taught must be concrete and subject to verification. The teachers |are called “propagandists” and as far as possible they are developed out of |the workers in the factory. Each jclass, headed by a qualified “propa- gandist,” also has one or more of the | best members designated as “assis- |tant propagandists.” More work is jexpected from them than from the {other students, they are called upon |to attend the seminary or collective ‘groups of propagandists where meth- |ods and experiences of various study |elasses are put under discussion, and finally, when they are sufficiently trained, they are given lower classes jof their own. One of those. “Assis- ant Propagandists” generally serves secretary of the class to help de- jvelop a sense of responsibility, and | this enrolls a number among the activists.” All the propagan- dist work in the nucleus circles is | unpaid. Next in line above the nucleus \classes are the Section Schools. These | a f two kinds: a) the school for jact: ists and b) the Rayon Soviet-Par- ity School. The first is a night school which meets twice a week for a term , of nine months, open to all active nu- cleus minor functionaries possessing | adequate political knowledge, and pre- paring them for such nucleus posi- tions as secretary, agitprop organizer, women’s organizer, anti-religious or- |ganizer, ete. The program includes general Marxist-Leninist subjects \plus practical detailed courses on spe- cial fields of organization activity; the method embraces personal study of the very adequate available printed materials with concluding conferences on each subject. The “Rayon Sov- Part-Shkol” is a full-time schéol, and trains professional revolutionaries in both theoretical subjects and practical work. The first year includes polit- ieal economy, history of the class struggle, history of the CPSU, and |Party structure. The second year car- ries the same subjects further and adds Soviet structure and_ historical materialism. During their whole course the students continue to per- form political work in factories, and during their Summer vacation they are sent to various industrial centers for “parctical work,” the first year as ordinary laborers at the bench, the second as political assistants in Party, trade union and soviet work while they carry on investigations for writ- |ten reports on their return. Above this are the Communist Uni- versities — Sverdlov, Zinoviev, ete., |Academy for Communist Education, Institute for Red Professors, colleges for vevolutionary minorities, ete, |These will be described in detail an- other time, The proper functioning of lower Party educational units is of great importance for the American Party now and, allowing for widely differing conditions, the experience of our Russian brother-Party surely con- tains many lessons of value to our Agit-Prop work. After Nanking (Continued from yesterday) We must add that this communication was writ- ten 30 hours before the Nanking bombardment, and that the editor made a short but very eloquent com- ment “A statement published on the preceding page gives the number of warships now assembled at Shanghai and clsewhere in China. We can reply to the “Times” that we have found that information, and that it has fully explained to us the Nanking tragedy. ‘ It stands to reason that the preparation of the Nanking bombardment was begun long before the Shanghai victory. When the House of Commons congratulated the government on sending troops to China, it also sanctioned the dastardly deeds the troops were to perform on the Yangtze River. On that day—that was March 16th of this year—the Labor Party also sanctioned those deeds. As “Work- ers’ Life” has correctly pointed out “the MacDonalds and the Clynes share with the Tories responsibility for the deaths of British and Chinese workers at Shanghai this week.” The Communists in Great Britain realized that a storm was coming, that “the war danger is now more serious than it has ever been before.” And the Labor Party intensified this danger by giving the hangmen of the Chinesé peo- ple a free hand. March 16th is an important historical date in the preparation of the great war against the Chinese Revolution. Undoubtedly, however, the Shanghai victory was the decisive event which provoked the Nanking bombardment. After the Shanghai victory, Baldwin, in replying to a question raised by Beckett, said that the government is maintaining contact with the Nationalist Government of China. There is no doubt that the British imperialists took fully into consideration not only the strategical, but also the social and political significance of the Shanghai victory. Prior to the Shanghai victory, not only MacDonald (who declared that Miles Lampson and O’Malley were excellent diplomats) but also the rul- ing circles of Great Britain cherished great hopes that their agents would dissolve the Kuomintang. They anticipated that the right wing of that Party would be strengthened and that @ compromise would be made between the right elements in the Kuo- mintang and the Northern militarists, who are the agents of international imperialism. The Shanghai victory dealt these hopes a severe blow. The British imperialists understand perfectly well the political significance of the victories of the national revolutionary movement. They have also understood and taken into account the fact that the Shanghai victory, which came as a result of the united action of the insurgent Shanghai pro- letariat and the approaching Canton armies, greatly changes the social and political nature of the Chi- nese revolutionary movement. All correspondents of the British press, without exception, in describ- ing the Shanghai events, emphasize the role and significance of the Shanghai victory from the point of view of the growing influence of the Commun- ists and the strengthening of the left wing in the Kuomintang. . The decisions of the Kuomintang conference, prior to the Shanghai victory, caused uneasiness in the imperialist camps. But the imperialists are practical people. They are not accustomed to be- lieve in words and resolutions. They held that if events prove favorable to their side, then Chiang Kai-shek will soon withdraw his declarations about submission to the Kuomintang and turn towards the imperialists. Shanghai strengthened those social elements which make compromise impossible and launched the Chi- nese revolutionary movement on a new path. For this reason we must now regard the destruction of Nanking not merely as a strategic move to assist the Shantung group, but also as a retaliation for the Shanghai victory. bg far we have been speaking only of Great Britain. But we do not overlook the fact that the military leadership of the Nanking bombardment was in the hands of the Americans. Anglo-American collabora- tion in the struggle against the Chinese revolution is a new factor deserving the most earnest atten- tion. Prior to the Shanghai victory the American press adopted an attitude of expectancy. Quite serious and influential papers even allowed themselves the lux- ury of describing the national revolutionary move- ment sympathetically, and from time to time they ° even censured the Northern militarists for their ter- rorist acts. The*position of the American papers was absolutely clear. American capitalism was mostly interested in the defeat of Great Brtain. It cherished the hope that as a result of the defeat of British imperialism, America would easily be able to take the place of Great Britain and penetrate China through the “Open Door” policy, which would do away with the spheres of influence that the ,var- ious states had secured before America had become a powerful imperialist state. The American position in relation to the Chinese struggle resembled very much her position in the world war prior to 1917, At the beginning of the war America stood, aside, warming herself at the fire of the world war and transforming the blood of the European workers and peasants into shin- ing gold which was systematically and gradually slipped over to America. America entered the war at the twelfth hour in order to strengthen her posi- tions and establish her world domination. American capitalism intended to adopt the same tactics in re- gard to China. It hoped that with the aid of honeyed words it would be able gradually to penetrate the economic life of China and quietly capture one posi- tion after another, as Great Britain was losing them owing to the development of the Chinese revolu- tionary movement. But Shanghai caused a serious change in tho at- titude of the ruing class of America to the Chinese Revolution. They saw in the Shanghai victory a powerful challenge, not only to British imperialism, but to imperialism in general, The Shanghai vie- tory revealed the possibility of creating a really united and free China, going its own way and not adopting the path of capitalism. The red spectre of Shanghai helped the British to win America over to their side in their struggle against the Chinese Revolution. But even now we cannot yet speak of complete unanimity among the ruling class of America in their attitude to the Nanking bombardment, and to the problems connected with the uninterrupted de- velopment of the Chinese revolutionary movement. Since the Nanking events, the American press rep- resents a multi-colored mosaic picture, although voices are being raised with greater frequency and with ever greater force against the Chinese masses in general and the Chinese revolutionaries in par- ticular. (To be continued.) Read The Daily Worker Every Day | THE JUNE “NEW MASSES.” The “NEW MASSES” for June is alive. ; The leading article “Czardom or Democracy in the Trade Unions,” by | Eugene Lyons is a clear and galloping account of the struggle in the New | York needle trades which is still on with as much intensity as ever. Lyons’ | contribution is an excellent antidote to the craftily insidious collection of | half-truths gathered together by Benjamin Stolberg for the benefit of the | Hberal readers of “The Nation.” | * The “New Masses” has developed a feature of the highest value. “The Class War Is On,” by Mary Reed is a terse, accurate and stirring report of the progress of the white terror, official and otherwise, throughout the world. * * * * * | There is an article, “Sweetness and Light,” by Scott Nearing, which summarizes neatly and conclusively the latest imperialistic adventures of | the U. S. State Department. .Under the category of “sweetness” Nearing | quotes some of thte more rollicking statements culled from the speeches of our president. Under the head of “light” are found the sober dollar signs, | listing the amount of American investments abroad. “What is imperialism? Finding a chance, outside of your own country, to exploit resources or labor, and then holding a gun while your nationalists get away with the swag. Judged on that basis, the United States is the leading empire of the world at the present moment.” * * Joseph Freeman, just back after a year in Soviet Russia, contributes some interesting sketches, “Traveling Hard” and “The Student.” “People in Russia are free with their biographies . . . “‘T’ve been in Baku only a year. When I’ve finished chemistry I’m going in for engineering. Student life. . . is not at all bad. We get free books, reduced rates for food. . . . It’s all new here. When you get into Russia proper you will see even more progress, Talk to the people in the streets here; you will see they are all in favor of the Soviet govern- ment. . . . All we need now is technique, machinery,’ ” side. See. The present issue contains a large number of good book reviews. Robert Dunn’s discussion of “Professional Patriots” which The DAILY WORKER is now printing serially is full of pep and adds some pregnant information that the authors of the book failed to spot in the course of their researchings. There is a review of W. E. Woodward’s “George Washington” by Max Eastman; Mme. Kollantai’s “Red Love” by Genevieve Taggard, and some interesting and erudite book-notes by James Fuchs. Floyd Dell’s review of “Springboard” by Robert Wolf is petty and malicious. * There are some interesting short stories, notably.“I Cannot Take A Letter,” by Eugene Levine, a German Communist who was murdered by the German fascists during the revolution of 1923. I liked Kenneth Fearing’s poem, “Afternoon of Colonel Brady.” His other contribution “Kind of Fierce and Proud,” really belongs in the “New Yorker” or “Life.” ‘. . The cartoons are as brilliant and impertinent’ as ever. The cover- cartoon particularly, by Gropper, is a knockout. It represents a U. S. marine in an especially pugnacious mood announcing: “NO YELLOW CHINESE RED CAN BULLY ME!” There are some excellent drawings by Jan Matulka, Hugo Gellert, George Grosz, the German cartoonist, William Siegel, and Otto Sogolow. * —SENDER GARLIN. ARTISTIC EXPLOITATION. NIGGER HEAVEN, by Carl Van Vechten. Alfred A. Knopf. $2.50. I wonder whether the word “artistic” does necessarily have to suggest bad logic. It certainly does in this case, and not only that it also implies poor analysis of human nature, specially Negro nature. It does not take much effort on our part to prove these points. There are quite a few cher- acteristics that Carl Van Vechten, attributes to the Negro race as Being distinctly Negro traits that are not so. * To state examples: Mr. Van Vechten puts these words into the mouth of one of the cha:- acters of the story: “Negroes never premeditate murder—they commit mur- der under a passion.” Besides the fact that it is not characteristically Negro—that most murders committed by any people are one under the stress of passion—we face the’ direct contradiction that there are many cases of premeditated murder in the south (done by Negroes). Another example: One finds that Carl Van Vechten thinks that C. P. T. (colored people’s time) is a Negro trait and is synonymous with the word “late”. Being acqyainted with many Jews, I know that they think that Jewish time is synonymous with “late.” An observer, therefore, says, “If that is true, there must be a general reason that would account for that. We see that it is not seemingly only a Negro trait but also a Jewish one. What have those two races in common?” Investigating the situation, one finds that they were both slaves, once upon a time. One knows that masters never were pleased with their slaves, that they always called the slaves lazy, told them that they were late, in- efficient, etc. One also knows that slaves never had a word of their own, that they always tried to follow their masters. Knowing that then one knows that the masters really invented such “stuff” as C. P. T. slaves followed in repeating and handing down through the generations until it formed into a saying, And we, unfortunately, take for granted that it is so. We do not investigate to see whether this is characteristic of other people and by assimilation, arrive at the correct conclusion.’ As a matter of fact, C. P. T. is more a saying than a practiced custom. We find many other instances of such defective analysis. 9 ON If one does not know where the root of the evil is, he will not how to get rid of it. And, as we saw, Mr. Van Vechten has not the root of the thing, and, as a result, has the wrong solution to abolition of race. prejudice. One of the characters of the story that if the Negro would acquire wealth, he would eventually become pendent and race prejudice would be eliminated. The fact is that the Negroes are hated yet more than the poor Negroes by the whites, We is no solution to race prejudice. Social equality is, and social only be acquired by the masses of workers, both black and white, fighting together their common enemy—apitalism. bd * * * . As far as the “artistic” part is concerned Nigger Heaven is not ao great work of art. There are but few characters that are clearly drawn. Mary, the heroine, seems to be an Egyptian mummy. The Creeper may be a caricature, but he certainly is not a living character. Byron, the hero, is, however, well drawn. So well drawn, in fact, that w ecannot only se him but meet him. I know I could hear him say, “I want to be not or a good Negro writer; I want to be as good as anyone.” The other ch: ters are so so. The cabaret scenes are worthy of mention, They are the most “artistic” descriptions in the book. —WILLIAM PICKF Gent STOLBERG AND “TEE NATION” The current issue of “The Nation” (June 15) contains som correspondence in connection with the articles on the New York nee by Benjamin Stolberg, who was described by its naive editors in t secutive issues as “one of the keenest students of the Americ. movement.” ‘ In one letter Louis Hyman, manager of the joint board of the and dressmakere’ union, gives the lie to Stolberg on several major poin. accuses him of gross inaccuracies. 4 In another letter, Robert Dunn, Paxton Hibben, H. W. L. Dana, Hei Black and Ann W. Cratan, for the Committee on Democracy in the Trade Unions, point out that Stolberg has ignored the fundamental question of summary expulsion of members for opposition sentiment. * * * There is also an asinine letter from Rev. Norman Thomas in which he congratulates Stolberg on his “fairness.” “. . . not only in the needle trades but in the labor movement at large . . . it is of the utmost importance that factional quarrels should give way to reconstruction of the movement and reassertion of its genuine ideals, . . .” * * * The International Relations section contains much illuminating data in connection with the Tory raid on Arcos, Ltd., and the Soviet Trade SOR i