The Daily Worker Newspaper, July 18, 1927, Page 4

Page Four asHE DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK MONDAY, JULY 18, 1927 THE DAILY WORKER Published by re DAILY WORKER PUBLISHING CO. Daily, Except Sunday 65 First Street, New York, N. Y. le Address: SUBSCRIPTION RATES By mail (in New York only): By mail (outside of New York):, 68.00 psr yesr $4.50 six months $6.00 per year $8.50 six months $2.50 three months $2.00 three months pes adiiress all mail and make out cnecks to THE DAILY WORKER, 83 First Street, New York, N. Y. J. LOUIS Phons, Orchard 1689 york” most are ca slogans ions for v ried on. en of the -rul- s the paid spokes s divert attention from their s l WILLIAM F, DU ie had tier ee conspitaciés too apatn plunge mint BERT MILLER ..-business Manager kind into the abyss of another world slaughter. Entered as second-class mai! at the post-office at New Yerk, N. Y., unde) No more do we hear loud howls of from thé camp of the when pacifists rise to air their views. Instead the very paci- the act of March 8, 1879. Advertising rates on applicatiorm Pa the government who were sworn to The Austrian Masses Shatter the Fiction of Capitalist “Stability.” Austria, chos by the league of nations as a laboratory in which to conduct vivisection experiments in “stabilization” upon the working class, Austria, the classic and much advertised ex: against the policies of the eminent pacifist, We | are n by the reptile pre The experience of the war and its ermath taught the ruling cla: te pias . ‘i to utilize pacifism for its ow : p success sapitalist post-war reconstruction, | he re- a8 ample of eae y = capitali pane ‘ be ue cee ena ; { is aims. mple of inept pacifism volutionary action of hundreds of thousands of workers, carried |... a by. Mx. Norman! thru in defiance of their social-democ leaders, has become a| Thomas in a recent performance be- fore a conference of the Re : ton : ant part of this program has consisted in using the * * = People’s ruction League in Washing- capitalist nm manuel of the failure of the yle pe program. buffers between the capitalist state and | {hee Mr. Thomas had a proper ap- the: millions of workers whose wages and working coaditions, preciation of the fuility of his proposals cannot be doubted after itural status, in a word, whose whole standard iarply reduced to make possible the bolstering, up of the capitalist system shattered by the world war. \ Austria, stripped of most of her territory and popula by the Versailles treaty, made dependent for foodstuffs upon neigh- boring coun S ved out of her territory in order to set up a new balance of power in Central Europe, was regarded as a nation | whose working class had been rendered impotent. whose social and of life has al of his speech to the as+ sembled pac According to Mr. homas the United States will prob- contjnue the imperialist race the world, but the “progressive: will play less than a man’s part if we do not stake our lives and energies on the effort to make Amer- é E i i N i dig ica first in service, rather than in This feeling of security on the part of capitalist statesmen | empire.” was all the greater since in Austria there was a powerful social-| Magnificently spoken! democratic party, well-organized and based on the trade unions, Service!” That's the thing, so dear to the heart of every rotarian who wants to glorify his own sordid penny grabbing. able to muster 1,500,000 votes out of a total of 3,200,000, skilled in the use of “left’’ phrases, and whose leaders not only accepted the necessity of “stabilization” but actually Became the most effi- cient instrument of the league of nations in inducing the masses to accept its regulations. Polling 43 per cent of the total vote cast in the last elections, the social-democrat leaders just before election day dropped their agitation for a majority vote for their candidates. The reason for | ‘ agi J tale a hoz | intends to proceed to seduce the im- this was clear. Since the possibility actually existed that their perialist masters of the United candidates might receive a majority of votes cast, and since these! States into abandoning their policy leaders had constantly stressed the possibility of capturing power | of rapacity against other peoples by electoral processes, they were confronted with the “danger” of pert ueig ts ey es aie 3 having to meet a demand by the workers that for the exercise of | joy and Feaeiee Tn Aree Dott state power in behalf of the masses. playing “less than a man’s part”, The truth is that the social-democratic leadership has been | the former socialist candidate for i ee ap A aa 3 3 | governor of the state of New York in an unofficial coalition with the capitalist parties for years. | proposes six measures that he hopes It is evident from dispatches now that they are demanding | will aid in halting American’s im- an actual coalition. Instead of extending the struggle against the Petialist designs. ” “9 ; His proposals are as follows: government of allied capital and creating a real base for a workers’ 1—Congressional investigation and peasants’ government, instead of calling for the immediate} of our relations in Latin,Amer- formation of a council of workers, soldiers and peasants and the| ica and China, and the extent of arming of the masses, the social democrat leaders are negotiating | ees and concessions ab- for entry into the capitalist government. 2—quitable international con- In other words, they are using the revolutionary action of the| trol and allocation of raw materi- masses in an attempt to legalize the coalition already in existence als. : i with the government. | Frege itis ee any a3 laws The social democratic leaders are not demanding more power 4—Progressive Tapes fer the working class but more power over the working class. t Their maneuver is designed to strengthen the Austrian gov- ernment, not to weaken it—to strengthen it against the working * Een in his presentation the em nent socialist and director of the league for industrial democracy re- peats the insipid slogans of the bourgeoisie. Mr. Thomas failed to enlighten us as to precisely how he of debts by war or intervention. 6—Cultivation of friendly rela- blow to the revolutionary movement, but it will also serve to dispel pe first demand, that for a con- the prevailing illusion that the leadership of the Austrian social-| 4 gressional investigation, has merit iff barriers, >—Refusal to collect private class. : ; tions with backward peoples for If this treacherous scheme is carried thru it will be a severe) their own good and ours. democracy is more revolutionary than that of other sections of | only inasmuch as it would shed the thé-second international. | light of publicity upon the duplicity 3 ; ‘ |of the Unit yernr Tt is already apparent that the failure of the social-democrat | ice aoe at ae dca ea leaders to prepare to utilize the tremendous indignation which the} Street investments in the Latin- acquittal of the f ts (guilty of a whole series of murders of| American countries, but as far as workers) would arouse their pacifist and apologetic attitude to=| Chine is concerned a mere congres- ward the great m uprising, have shown their true role as de- Fee epee, were AnveatieanyD : ela prising, a Sys b of relations arising out of the invest- fenders of the present order to wide sections of the Austrian| ments of Americans would prove that working class. such investments are really trivial The capitalist press correspondents are practically a unit in|¢o™Pared with Britain and Japan. ci " 4 2 Nothing would better please the im- ascribing a leading role in the struggle to the Communists—espe- cially in the factory districts. perialists than an investigation based There will be three immediate consequences-of the Austrian until her navy and bankers dominate | | through the forcible overthrow fists who opposed the last world war} and were hounded by the agents ofj today the principal] fists 100 per cent behind their “open Under | doo: V intense [lows could not possibly perccive the policy since those naive fel- fact that it is not to defend present repeating seductive pacifist slo-| investments that American imperial- ism is in Ghina, but to blast open the road for unlimited investments with the objective of driving out ery other power and securing for itself the exclusive right to exploit that vast territor Like most con- gressional investigations nothing uld possibly come of it beyond ex- posing the vicious role of the gov- ernment and that could not be used effectively upon the basis of the bal- lance of Mr. Thomas’ pacifist pro- | | s es now quoted in the most approved | System. q Ce eae | pti s ee international \ control and allocation of raw materials (the second point) presupposes a condition where there are no longer antagonisms between the great pow- where each would be content to share with the others a proper por- tion of raw materials. Obviously that implies one of two things — either a super-imperialism or the abolition of capitalism. The former is inconceivable to all, who are capable of mating the resources of the conflicting imperialist powers and their utter inability because of ir- reconcilable conflicts between them to unite upon a common program, and the latter can be achieved only of capitalism, a thing that all pacifists shrink from contemplating. Soe ‘THE third demand, which proposes international banking laws and uniform currency, is being worked out now under the pressure 0* ‘he tremendous banking power of the United States, but the debtor nations are not enthusiastic about the Wa™ | Street bankers determining the de- | tails of the currency by which their indebtedness is registered for the convenience of those identical Wall Street bankers. This very tendency is generating the fiercest resistance on the part of European nations and as long ago as the Locarno confer-! ence there ,was evidence of a strong tendency ,to create a bloc to resist the economic power of Wall Street. ie ere S to the progressive lowering of tariff barriers, which constituted the fourth demand of Mr. Thomas, those barriers will be lowered to the degree that Wall Street investors de- sire to import the products of their own foreign industries into the United States and to that degree alone. Since there is already a low- ering of the tariff on many com- modities this part of Mr. Thomas’ program is also being partially rea- lized, but with results not anticipat- ed by the pacifists. As to the point five demanding that this country refuses to collect private debts by war or intervention, does not Mr. Thomas know that the astute legal minds who devise wars always contrive to find some holy cause aside from investments as an excuse to go to war? Furthermore such wars are not caused by a desire to collect private debts, but to dominate the govern- ment and make it subservient to Wall Street or seize territory under the pretext of bringing to “backward peoples” the blessings of civiliza- tion. The sixth point is meaningless ex- cept inasmuch as it reveals the at- titude of Mr. Thomas and his fellow socialists and pacifists toward the exploited peoples of the colonial and seni-colonial countries. He refers to them as “backward” with that air of superiority characteristic of the jingo invader who considers it his destiny to save them from them- selves. ene * R. Thomas’ chief error arises from cause they could then enlist the paci- | a fundamental theoretical defect, upon actual investments today be- revolutionary struggle. (A struggle whose immediate progress it is difficult to estimate due to lack of accurate information.) First, the hollow mockery of capitalist stabilization brought into sharp relief in a country where American and British loans have been spent like water for “reconstruction,” will be made ap-| parent thruout the world. Second, the demonstration of power by the masses formerly | under the influence of the social-democratic leaders in a couniry | which Germany hopes for unity with, will have great influence in| preventing the immediate entry of Germany into the anti-Soviet | Union bloc under the leadership of Great Britain. | ' Third, the labor movement of Germany especially, and of the | whole ef Europe, will receive a new impetus toward the left as a| result of the great struggle of the Austrian working class which | prings with it the exposure before the world’s working class, the last symbol of revolutionary integrity remaining to the second | international—-the “left” leadership of the Austrian social demo-| cratic party—a leadership which today is seen by everyone to be| using its influence to blow life into the putrid corpse of Austrian | capitalism—a corpse which even the millions of allied capitalism could not revive. Furthermore, it is of the utmost significance for us that the general strike and civil war in Austria come at a time when the British ruling class has, by the aid of the reformist leaders, scored | a victory over the working class, when imperialism, in China, thru treachery of Chiang Kai-shek and the weakness of. middle class leaders, has obtained a breathing spell. | The working class of Austria, in spite of treason in their gen- eral staff, has been able to prove that world capitalism sits on a voleano whose crust is very thin and which is composed mostly of the bureaucracy of the second international. mate, f IN RUSSIA IN 1926 By Wm. Z. Foster By Scott Nearing “ s . AT SPPRECIAL PRICE? Books on Russia These three booklets at a special price are a splendid offer—each will make a most in- teresting propaganda gift to your shop- GET ALL THREE THE AGRARIAN REVOLUTION RUSSIAN WORKERS AND WORKSHOPS RUSSIA TURNS EAST Books offered in this column on hand is in limited quantities, All orders cash and filled in turn as received, q 25, 25 —.10 Social-Democratic Pacifism in the Service of Imperialism ACIFISM is slogan of all imperial the y H. M. Wicks the inability to understand the class character of the capitalist govern- ment. He still harbors the illusion that the capitalist state is something that stands apart from and above the struggle of classes and can be used against the capitalist class if only the “progresSives”, pacifi socialists and “forward-look: people” generally decide to use it !for their own purposes. However, there is a much deeper significance to this wave of pacifist | twaddle than most revolutionists pe: ceive The dirty sermonizing of the pacifists meets a response on the | part of wide sections of the working stamp out every vestige of criticism| gram, the second point of which is| class who sincerely dread the threat i ¥ former | utterly absurd, granting of course, crow Wilson,| the perpetuation of the capitalist of a new war. Their hatred against militarism finds futile expression in | pacifist indignation and fine!ly dies ; away without leading to Any strug- gle against the menace of imperialist | wars. The social function of pacifism | is precisely to. weaken the working class, the only class capable of ef- |fectively fighting the threat of new | wars, We must never forget that it was | the socialists, mouthing pacifist | Hiliquits, the Oneals and other brain- less self-appointed leaders of the | workers who became completely en- meshed in the net of bourgeois paci- fism and aided tremendously in facil- iating this country’s entrance into the world war, in spite of their feeble denunciation of it. ita Nae HE who preaches pacifism, he who declares for peace at any price and who abjures all war, he who as- | the question in whose interest mili- tary might is applied inevitably must, whether he is conscious of it or not, } support the power +” the ruling | class. ! Most menacing of all delusions of the working class is that of pacifism, becatee as long as imperialism lives, jas 1 az as there is a ruling capital- ist cles: snywhere on earth the work- ing clas» must’ recognize that it will fhave &o defend itself against the | depredation. of that class with all the | power at its command. . In our Communist anti-militarist campaigns we must always keep in mind the fact that we must teach the workers the difference between re- actionary military force that stands |in the path of history, tries to hold it back by imposing fetters upon it, |and the revolutionary military force that has as its task the shattering of the forces of the bourgeoisie and clearing the path of history so that humanity can go forward to higher stages of development. Only the proletarian revolution can finally free the world from the blight of imperialist wars. When the ruling class is finally crushed and the very ground upon which it thrives furrowed so deeply by the proletarian revolution that it can never again take root, then.and then only can we seriously speak of abol- ishing all militarism. ‘* * * ANOTHER most reprehensible so. cial-democratie deception is the pacifist twaddle about war in the ab- stract; the inclusion of all wars— even revolutionary wars—as crimes against humanity. It is a social-de- mocratic sophistry and a form of crawling before the bourgeoisie to speak today of war in the abstract. The threat of war today is not some- thing that we must face in the dis- tant future, but a reality that vitally affects the whole world right at this moment. A concrete and not an abstract problem of war faces the world to- ing ‘in is by the imperialist powers against ‘China and the Soviet Union. Although this war must be combatted with the same tactics used to stifle time not a mere repition of 1914- 1918, but a new, special kind of war, What is Mr. Thomas or his cohorts in the socialits party doing to meet this mew war against the Soviet Union and the Chinese revolution? He doesn’t even mention it in his proposals to the People’s Reconstruc- tion League, but merely repeats in the most banal manner his sterile | thstractions. | While Mr. Thomas mentions im- nerialism as a cause of wars, he does not propose a fight against the | very foundation of imperialism, the | Tovernments of the various capitalist | states, nor does he emphasize the | only effective method ever devised of fighting against imperialist wars ;once they have started.--the Leninist | method of utilizing the political and | economic crisis resulting from the war ‘to foment revolution—to turn | the imperialist war between nations i into a civil war against capitalism, But no one expects the socialist }leaders to propose revolution, their historical role is that of the last line of defense of the capitalist class, In- stead of following the Leninist Slo- gan that the first duty of a revolu- tionist is to try to bring about in an imperialist struggle the defeat of the capitalist government of his own country in order to fan the flames of revolution, aa striving to prepare the workers Yor such a struggle, Thomas and his “comrades” of the defunct S. P. leadership confine their opposition to war to devitalizing nacifiem, which is of the greatest ser- ‘ice to the war-mongers, | phrases in the United States; the} | sails all. militarism without asking} | day.; That is the predatory» war be- | any imperialist war it is at the same| | The Jewish tions, claims three state-endowed | Nor is the reason} | Jewish theatres. . | hard to find, for it stems from the | Soviet policy of National Cultural} | Autonomy. According to this doc- trine every nationality represented in Russia not only has the right to | use its own language and develop its own drama, but can also -count on |the State for active support in the | exercise of this right. As the Jews | are among the larger of minor na- tionalities in Russia, and as their ac- | tivity in the fine arts has reached its | greatest distinction in the theatre, it | is natural that the Jewish State The- |atre of White Russia, the Jewish | State Theatre of the Ukraine and the Jewish Kamerny of Moscow should all find support. It is in the theatre jthat such men ‘as Altman, Chagall, Yakulov and Rabinovitch, some of the most distinguished of the Russian ar- | tists, have worked, and it is to the | theatre that such painters as M. Falk and S. B. Ryback have recently come, Souhker Ber Ryback, widaly known for his cubist paintings, continues Louis Lozowick, in the “Theatre Arts Monthly,” has always taken a great interest in the backgrounds of his |race. He has ‘chronicled the small | town Jew, and assembled a large col- lection of Jewish folk art. At times | he has emulated in his work such phases of his racial heritage as he has found in synagogual decoration, tombstone inscription, book illustra- tion and work in metal. In his set- tings and costumes for I. L. Perez’ “On the Confessional Chain,” as pro- duced by the Jewish Theatre of | White Russia, Ryback combines a |eontrolled use of folk-lore with a | modern formalism. In his play, as in |“The Dybbuk,” a student of sacred jlore passes his days brooding over | the subtleties of the Talmud in the Synagogue. He is in love with and loved by the daughter of the richest | Jew in town, but the grasping par- lents of the girl betroth her to a | wealthier young man, reprimanding |the student for his boldness and punishing him by putting him on the | confession chain in the synagogue. The girl, broken-hearted by the turn events have taken, drowns herself. As adapted for the theatre this theme |is used to depict the struggle be- | tween the two worlds, the dying | world of the superstitious Chassidim | and capitalism, and the new world! of the poor but rising young prole. tariats. Wavering between them is | the introspective student, a sort of | Jewish Hamlet who hates the old world and yet is unable to accept the new one, and who is, therefore, | doomed to die with the old order. | Ryback’s settings summarize in their | stylization the architecture of the synagogue and the narrow walls of the ghetto streets. In-the “Purim Play,” as produced at the Jewish State Theatre of Ukraine, Ryback, with his strong in- terest i nfolk art, has had a chance | to apply this method of stylization to |his favorite material. The “Purim | Play” is a true Jewish Commedia dell’ | Arte, dating back to about the six- | teenth century. Though historically and technically related to its Italian | forerunners, it has come to haye a | folk flavor that is as explicit as the | Jewish speech itself. The perfor- mances are given annually at the festival of Purim ,;to celebrate the events set forth in “The Book of Esther.” A host of the most varied | types are assembled around Haman | the blackguard, Mordecai the emanci- | pator, and the King and Queens. As the festival is secular, and encourages jeating, drinking and merry-making, the carnival is sometimes carried to a point at which the revellers are no longer able to recognize the differ- | ence between “Cursed be Haman” and | “Blessed be Mordecai.” These per- formances have been very popular among the poorer classes. In the stock personnages of the play, the simple folk can pillory their oppressors, the cruel kings and the scheming emperors, cover the petty local officials with derision, thumb their noses at the “best society” and pokeffun at their own racial foibles. At the present time, this festival, that has laughed itself down the centuries, is even more riotous than in the past }and sparkles with sharp references to current affairs of the new Russia. Ryback, in his approach to this theme tries to retain the spontaneity of folk improvisation by using the proper- ties that are closest at hand and suc- | eeeds admirably in achieving his aim. M. Falk, who was one of the most | accomplished followers of Cezanne in | Russia, came to the theatre as a | mature artist. His activity in the theatre, however, has not been in line | with his earlier work. The change from the prneiples of Cezanne to in- dependent priciples of his own is clearly seen in his settings and cos- tumes for “A Night in the Old Mar- ket Place” at the Jewish Kamerny Theatre in Moscow. This is a mystery play by I. L. Perez, with scarcely any plot, that gives a poignant picture a decrepit world, accentuated a thou- sand-fold by the acting, the music and the scenery, until it becomes a veritable danse macabre. The old market in the centre of a small Jew- ish town is symbolic of the world it- = © OVIET RUSSIA, alone among na-| Theatre in Soviet Russia LILLIAN WALKER Heads the cast of players in the new Wm. A. Grew farce “The Mating Season,” which opens tonight at the Selwyn Theatre. | Broadway Briefs | At the Selwyn theatre tonight Wil- liam A. Grew will present his own play “The Mating Season,” with Lil- lian Walker, the moving picture star, as one of the featured players. Others in the cast are: Gladys Feldman, Ethel Martin, Kenneth Mansion, Wal- ter Paulter, Jack Coyle, Gwendolyn Pates, Edward T. Colebrook and Wil- liam A. Grew. 1 Two other openings scheduled for this evening are: “The Manhatters,” an intimate revue, at the Grove Street Theatre, and “Kiss Me” a musical at the Lyric theatre. I Little Theatre GRAND THURSDAY, 2:30 FOLLIES AND THURSDAY The LADDER All seats are reduced for the summer. Best Seats $2.20, Cort Theatre, 48 St. EB. of Bway. Matinee Wednesday. OPENS TONIGHT 'The MATING SEASON A SOPHISTICATED FARCE SELWYN (2°3t.| rats Wea. & Bae late the custos of the living and the living are putrid with the germs of decay. The last judgment is upon them, and when the dead rise, the difference between the dead and the living disappars. In his settings Falk has sought for the most solemn and awe-inspiring details that the life around him held, using the hieratic rigidity of the church and synagogue on opposite sides of his stage, and heightening the funeral atmosphere of the play by ghastly masks and costumes. This production, like all the rest of the numerous plays staged by the Jewish theatre, bears the in- delible marks of formal discipline in design. It may appear paradoxical that a theatre frankly committed to a definite social orientation should be so persistently preoccupied with an aesthetic formalism, But in its own view the two elements are in- separable. The Jewish theatre is un- pier | opposed to what is known: as an “Apit” (propaganda) play, and insists on accomplished artistry in everything it undertakes, convinced that the spirit of revolution resides in, and is served by, the manner as much as the material. Let’s Fight On! Join ‘The Workers Party! In the joss of Comrade Ruthen- berg the Workers (Communist) Par- ty has lost its foremost leader and the American working class its staunchest fighter. This loss can only be overcome by many militant work« ers joinii the Party that he built. Fill out the application below and mail j* Become a member of the Worke-s (Communist) Party and carry forward the work of Comrade Ruthenberg. I want to become a member of the Workers (Communist) Party. Name Address Occupation .,,,. Union Affiliation sees Mail this application to the Work- ers Party, 108 Fast 14th Street, New York City; or if in other city: to Workers Party, 1113 W. Washington Blv., Chicago, Il. Distribute the Ruthenberg pam- phlet, “The Workers’ cormmneesy! Party, What it Stands For and Why Workers Should Join.” This Ruthen- berg pamphlet will be the basic pam- - palet thruout the Ruthenberg Drive, self, the world of priests, rabbis, tra- ders and prostitutes, writhing in its jisst agonies-and clinging desperately to its superstitions. The dead regu- - Every Party Nucleus must collect 50 cents from every member and will receive 20 pamphlets for every mem- | ber to sell or distribute, " >