The Daily Worker Newspaper, September 3, 1927, Page 8

’ HIS, as most of * writers te: us theugh it were a e velation, is the machine age. After the industrial revolution, ingenious work- ers and hard-working geniuses perfected the many machines wrought cut of crude iron by practical intellects, and better products are now produced at less cost, and with a minimum requjsite of labor. as The machine, as we know it today, is a direct and complete product of the workingclass. But in- 2d of emancipating the wage-slave, it has tight- ened his fetters. Since it/reduced the amount of la- f bor required, the laborer should benefit by greater lcisure. Instead, he finds his opportunities, to earn a living reduced in direct proportion to the redue- tion in labor made possible by the introduction of the efficient machine. Comes a reactions Machine makers become, in philosophic desire at least, machine wreckers. The master class, growing rich beyond dreams through the exploitation of the machine and its slave, is geonfronted with a problem. Who is at fault, when the creator turns upon his creation? Certainly not the capitalist, the exploiter of the machine, Mr. Gilbert Seldes attempts to prove in the outstanding organ of bourgeois pseudo-in- tellectualism, The Safarday Evening Post. Capi- talism, with its open moneybags for these who will ride on the bandwagon, has more apologies than St. Francis had fleas; yet none has ever made out such a poor case as Mr. Seldes. ? The philosophic trend of some disillusioned work- ers from machine makers to machine wreckers is sumniarized by the capitalist apologist in a series of items of news which begin by illustrating the effect of the introduction of machinery on our civilization. A wave of materialism, deplored by the dope-ped- dlers of religion, sets it. When the slave finds that he can learn te operate most machines in a few days, he utilizes this knowl- edge by changing masters at will. The capitalists, as Mr. Seldes cxultingly tells us, at first alarmed hy the labor turnover, ‘keep their employes in the factory by moving them from one automatic ma- chine which uses one group of muscles to another where new activities are called into play,” and thus try to kcep the slave in his Old set of chains. That this move is not altogether successful, is recorded with sorrow. he eminent “Satevepost” writer recounts, witheut the slightest expression of sympathy, the plight of “the craftsman in the work- shops of the Adam brothers, who created, in per- hap. unhappy working~ conditions, an endless suc- essici of sublimely beautiful table legs, (and who) could never dare to change his occupation, because he would have to undergo years cf apprenticeship in a new one.” This is a situation in which the capi- talists would like to keep the workers of the world. But, with the advent of the machine, there comes a change—not of much benefit to the worker, but a problem, at least, to the capitalist. In the words of Mr. Seldes, “it may end by making him (the worker) a slave, but he will have what no other slave has had hefore—the chance to change his master.” ; But is this so-called freedom of any value to the enslaved worker? Suppose they can change the workers will flock to those industries that enjoy the best conditions and the highest pay, then there will be more workers than jobs; with the knowledge of this condition, employers in those industries will lower the wages, since they need not fear a strike, and again the worker is caught in the midst of a deadly circle. Mr Seldes gascribes the existence of a machine- wrecking philosophy to the lack of cul.tuye that is prevalent in the countries which are the rust indus- trialized. I deny this; but granting it for the mo- ment, I ask, is it the fault of the worker? Has he ever had sufficient leisure and sufficient opportun- ity to improve his mental condition? The lack of culture I admit, for it is an indictment of the super- habbitts who control and expleit modern industry; but there are other causes, to which Mr. Seldes must have closed his eyes, or he would have at first An examiantion of the histor yof mechanics and the blame for the philosophy of. machine-wrecking. The leisure which Mr. Seldes so guilelessly be- lieves is enjoyed by the workingclass, is used by it in “a mass migration of the tin-can tourists.” Here his own sources of information give him the lie, for the Chambers of Commerce of almost all the wes- tern cities have complained of the migration of families with no means of support, who, after trav-. eling futilely to the west in search of jobs, are forcéd to throw themselves o'1 the charity of the western municipalities in the face of starvation, All of us are familiar with the Chamber of Commerce cir- culars and publicity news items, disillusioning the “tin-can tourist” of his belief that there are jobs at the end of the rainbow. a But I have quoted enough of Mr. Seldes meta- physical interpretation of social psychology. To get down to the facts of the case, we must first establish the identity of the creator of the per- fected machine, of all varieties. = An examination of the history of mechanics and invention reveals that it is to proletarian members of the workingclass, and in some cases, to the in- telligentsia of the workingclass, that we owe all credit for invintorial genius. Machines, for the The Machine Wreckers By WILL DE KALB MiShA most part, have been invented and developed “by workers who sensed their need, and whose ingen- uity, sharpened- by direct contact with the condi- tions of their industry, resulted in their creation. Then, as a small minority, we have the scientists, including Edison, Marconi, the Wrights and others, all of them members of the workingelass by birth and mast of them by experience. : More amazing, is the fact that the aristocracy, and the bourgeoisie, who from ancient times have had « monopoly on education and culture, and who have never Jacked the opportunity to maxe manifest their genius, have produced hardly a single machine —I use the adverb “hardly” cus of generosity. Yet these are the classes that have } ad the sole. oppor- tunities for such creative activity: education, leisure, capital, governmental influence through control, in- dustrial domination, ete.,. ete. Despite that, these o———_—__ ‘ tn are the classes who have profited by the creation of the efficient machine, the first, by clowning for the second, the latter, by exploitation. Tt is natural, then, for the machine-makers to transcend into machine-wreckers. They created the e, they developed it, they produced and re- produced it; and instead of being benefited by all this mental and physical activity, it tightened the bonds that kept them chained in slavery, it even eliminated some of them from their economic po- sitions as slaves, and made more precarious the means by which they eke out an existence. Consistent with the tendencies of the mob, the rmachine-makers rebel. Believing their creation, the machine, to be a Machiavellian monster, their par- ental love turns to hate; at its base they ,lay the burdens heaped on their shoulders by their ex- ploiters: and lo—they are machine-wreckers! I must not be misunderstood. I am not attempt- ing, in this thesis apologetica, to intimate that the philosophy of machine-wrecking is to be condoned. That it is as false as steicism, cr transcendentalism, er to he more modern and extreme, Christian Sci- ence, I ee to declare. Tt was, However, a natural transition for the ma- chine-makers to become machine-wreckers, having been defrauded, by trickery and foree. -of the spro- ducts of their brain and brawn. It remains now for those of their leaders, who have the correct view- pcint on their rights to the machine, to aid them to recapture their products: ; It.was unavoidable for the machine-makers to be- come, in philosophy, at least, lacking the ,oppor- tunity to hecome in reality, machine-wreckers. But these workingelass leaders who aceent as their car- dinal dogma that the worker is entitled to the full preduct of his labor, must educate his followers out of the philosophy of machine wrecking, and into the philosophy of the recapture of the machine for the benefit of society. Then will genius progress in its natural course. And society will abandon its false god, for the newer and healthier, Ancient mythology teems with tales of artists, who, having been turned against their own creations, shattered into meaningless dust their erstwhile beloved brain-children. But we have aban- doned the superstitions of the past, and possessing the mental. ability to correct the fallacies in our philosophies, we need not resort to the pseudo- philosophy of compensation. We perceive that when we are defrauded of our creations, We must not strive to wreck them, but to recapture them. Our Beet Worker By KENNET ghee oan was thinning beets. With a_short- handled hoe grasped in his right hand he hacked at the -rows, bending double and moving along with a sidewise shuffle. Toiling in the hot sun over the damp reeking earth had made the véins in his brown neck and hands protrude; swelling his hands and at times causing a little dizziness to flit thru his head. Occasionally he coughed and the effort brought dark spots, rimmed with flashes of painful light, before his eyes. How awkward it seemed with his hands swollen; he could hardly control the hand, which plucked away all but one shoot for each hill, before dizziness swept him. But he worked on. The field superintendent had been over in the morning and if they didn’t have this patch of beets thinneed out before long they wouldn’t get their pay. That is what he told Emanuel and the four other Mexfeans who worked with him. . . . Lazy greasers, he called them, afraid to do a little werk, always soldiering on the job. Did they think they had all summer to thin out those beets? The weather wouldn’t wait on a “woddam” bunch of lazy spiks, they better get a move on or there wouldn’t be any pay for them when Fall came. The men worked on; as they had worked before the -field was quite dry enough to get into, chopping out beets with the short hoes and plucking each hill to the single top; then to move on, row after row—bent double all thes day., x For two years Emanuel had been in Ohio; away from home and Maria and the three little ‘children. He had left them in their humble abode hut on.the - outskirts of Guanajuato when he came mp to. the i. <4 _ sEXPOSE He did not think that ¢oin determined man). In ways he thot or acted, he was sure ~ There was a something else, a vague elan Beyond the crass, the stupid immature Conclusions of a Marx; he swabbed my throat And coldly speaking sought to make it clear Of my intent to pay he had a doubt. « His words were little snow-flakes on the air: “IT won't be liking it if you are slow : In paying me the money that you owe.” —H. G. WEISS. — 4 _ He coughed = pe hurry—that was his li “ie * 4 r A Picture from Life. S. BARNHILL Americano’s country to find riches. Four young fellows, friends of his, had left their homes and families too. Promises that the agent male éf 500 pesos ($250) a year and a few months work had decided them. That and the advice of the priest. There’s no peonage up there, the agent said, every- one’s white and you’ve got a chance to get ahead. Why, he marvelled, it’s only warm enough a few months out of the year to work—the rest of the ,time you're like the rich Dons and Senors—-no worry, no work and lots of money. And hadn’t the agent lots of money? Dign’t he buy sticks of sugar cane for all the children? That’s riches sure enough. Besides the priest thought the plan a splendid one. The “Padre” told the young men that a wonder- ful opportunity stretched before them. five hundred pesos a year, think of that. So the priest blessed them and sent them off. Of course they ghouldn’t forget their families and if they sent. him money once in a while he’d take care of the little ones. Afraid to rest for a moment Emanuel toiled on, never rising until he finished each long row. The work came. without thot now. His’ mind dwelt on all sorts of ideas while his hands kept up a mechanical hewing and plucking. He was homesick. Accord- ing, to the agents promises he should have gone home last year with much riches but now they said he owed vast sums. When he was. in bed, that month of the first. winter, it had cost a lot of money,. doctors and all, end he hadn’t paid back that which _ was‘ advanced to ‘him then. . .Emanuel wanted to ‘go home; he ‘wanted to see Maria and the children. 1.and it made him dizzy. Kneeling ground the steadied himself fox a moment. » the bs Gol must on, the weather doesn’t wait and «the ‘beets would soon be tod fag gone for thinning. , a constant hurry- His thoughts changed. He remembered how they had left their homes, in cars used to haul cattle. At the border they had changed to red a3 cars, . e day fitted out with bunks. Many times during . he watched, from the siding, fast passenger trains fly by. Quite frequently they were backed in along- side pigs and sheep—the odors sickened him but his hopes were high then, he soon would be a rich (Continued On Page Six). 7 energies must not be diverted into false channels. | ¥