The Daily Worker Newspaper, September 24, 1927, Page 8

Recognize the Workers’ Republic HERE are many reasons why the demand should grow in the United States for the recognition of the Union of Soviet Republics. Among these are: (1) The growing recession in industry creating an increasing army of unemployed; (2) The growing trade war necessitating the hunt for new markets; (3) The large amount of capital available for export; (4) The continuing agricultural crisis; (5) The fav- orable report of the American trade unioti delegation that has been visiting the Soviet Union; (6) The favorable reports made by a multitude of trade union delegations visiting the Soviet Union from other countries; (7) The continuous stream of favorable reports concerning conditions in the Soviet Union made by returning business men, politicians, college professors and members of student delegations; (8) The indisputable development of Soviet industry and agriculture, resulting in the gradual lifting of the standard of living of Russian workers and peas- ants. There are others. Those presented do not appear in the crder of their importance. That order is dictated by the viewpoint of the individual consider- ing this question. r: is important to discuss this question of “The Recognition of the Soviet Union” on the eve of the annual convention of the American Federation of Labor, since some workers may be misled by the attitude on this question of the delegates now gather- ing in Los Angeles, California. It may be stated now that few, if any, delegates to the A. F. of L. convention will raise their voices in favor of recognition. If a recognition resolution comes before the convention, it is certain that it will be fought bitterly, with the arguments coined by Samuel Gompers during the declining’ years of his presidency, and now adopted by the regime of Pres- ident William Green and Vice President Matthew Woll. * * * Even in 1921 and 1922, when workers’ crganiza- tions with a membership of over 2,000,000 endorsed the program of the Committee for the Recognition of Soviet Russia, when Senator William E. Borah, head of the foreign relations committee of the United States senate, and William H. Johnston, presi- dent of the International Association of Machinists, supported this committee and spoke from its plat- form, it will be remembered that Samuel Gompers was the spearhead of the American capitalist gov- ernment’s attack against the Workers’ Republic. When Senator Borah provided for a hearing before his senate committee on the question of Soviet Rec- ognition, it was Samuel Gompers and his lackeys, like William English Walling, Chester Wright, John Spargo and other renegade socialists who came into the committee burdened down with documents to show why the government of the employers in this country should not give recognition to the govern- ment of the workers and peasants in Russia, * * e YRESIDENT GREEN, at the Detroit convention of the A. F. of L. last year stated the case for the American labor reaction and for American capital- ism as follows: “At the moment there stands an impregnable barrier between the working people of the govern- ment of that country (the Soviet Union) and the American Federation of Labor. . There must come a psychological change, a change in the viewpoint of those who embrace the philosophy followed by the peoples of that great country (the Soviet Union) before we can even think of establishing co-opera- tive relations between them and the American Fed- eration of Labor. .When they (the workers of the Soviet Union) embrace a philosophy that is so antagonistic to the philosophy embraced and followed by the American Federation of Labor, then it would be a waste of time and effort to attempt to reconcile our conditions.” : * * * In support of its position the A, F. of L. official- dom adopts as its own every falsehood spread by the Coolidge-Kellogg department of state at Wash- ington, thus giving added testimony that it is a sharp claw of the American imperialist bird of prey. t is well to remember, however, that the A. F. of L. reaction is not the American working class. lt is not even the American Federation of Labor. * * * Returning idleness in industry, now as in 1921- 22, will cause American workers te think more upon the problem of keeping the wheels of industry turn- ing in this country. The Soviet Union and the Chinese Republic today offer the greatest markets for the goods produced in capitalist countries. Recognition of the Soviet Union means the open- ing of trade relations with the Soviet Union. It means that the Russian market can consume large quantities of goods produced in this country, keep- ing American workshops going and American labor busy. Under these conditions the workers in their local unions are not expected to give much heed to the wild attacks once more directed against the Soviet Union by the leading delegates in the con- vention of the A. F, of L. By J. LOUIS ENGDAHL Instead the role of the labor bureaucracy, as the agent of the imperialists, becomes ever clearer to an increasing number of workers. The Bolshevik Revolution in Russia thus teaches to American workers the lessons to be learned in the American class struggle. The growing trade war, between the United States and the great capitalist powers of Western Europe, also favors the position of the Soviet Union. Immediately after the war the capitalist countries of Western Europe, industries disorganized by the war, consumed large quantities of American prod- ucts. With the revival of European industry, this market is increasingly shut off, making it impos- sible to ignore any longer the one-sixth of the land surface of the globe contained within the Soviet Union as a market for its products. Deprived of other markets, as in France, the American exploiters must turn elsewhere or see the dust and cobwebs gather in their mills and factories. It is logical that they should turn to the Soviet Union. This is seen actually at work in the case of the Standard Oil Company of New York purchasing Russian dil in order to improve its position in the competitive struggle with the English-controlled Royal Dutch Shell. “But,” says the capitalist newspaper editorial writer, “we can trade with the Soviet Union, but we are not compelled to recognize the Soviet gov- ernment, Evidently that is what the British tory government believed when it ordered the raids on the Soviet Trade Delegation in London, and later broke off diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union. The Soviet government has a monopoly of Russian trade, foreign as well as domestic, and it can do business with whom it pleases. The British profiteers have learned this. Their government has lost them much business. If and when the Soviet government decides that recognition goes with trade, insofar as the United States is concerned, then the United States government will be compelled to recognize the Soviet government or go without the trade. * * * The Soviet Union stands in need of credits in capitalist countries. The American money lords have much capital to export. Here is another basis for relations between the two countries, once the Wall Street bankers and their office boys in Wash- ington get over the dream that the Soviet govern- ment may some day pay the czarist debts. Henri Deterding, the head of the Royal Dutch Shell, still mourns the fact that the Soviet govern- ment took over oil fields to which he claims he is entitled. Therefore, he will have nothing to do with Soviet Rule. The Standard Oil Company of New York, in its hant for profits, has no such scruples. American financiers may profit by the wisdom of “Socony.” * * * The continuing agricultural crisis in this country draws a sympathetic view from the American farmer toward the Soviet Union. Idleness in industry in the cities means a diminished home market for the Amer- ican farmer. The Soviet Union has also been a good purchaser in the United States, especially of cotton and live stock, even of grains, and this is not lost on the farmers, troubled by big crops but low prices. * * * There are other arguments for recognition, that are disheartening for the capitalist, an inspiration for the workers. In the Tenth Year of Soviet Rule, an American trade union delegation finally makes its way across the Soviet border to study the achievements of the Workers’ Republic. It has taken a long time, years after similar delegations have visited the Sovict Union from other countries. The American delegza tion, headed by James H. Maurer, president of the Pennsylvania Federation of Labor, has already is sued numerous favorable interviews on the co: tions it has found among the workers in Moszov, in the Donetz Basin, of coal and steel, and cther sections of the Soviet Union. The-repert that v be made should provide the basis for a re (Continued -on page 7)