The Daily Worker Newspaper, September 27, 1927, Page 6

Page Six AMERICAN TOURISTS IN MOSCOW of Werld ral Relations in Moscow. They were officially re- ceived by t h it were accorded many vi D and court s th t eler in the ot Union do receive. In the ¢ Mme. Olga Kameneva, chairman of the § for Cultural I q ow. ‘ifth Avenue, New York, is now enga us scheduled to y will not only f the ss to Sovii r 15th, 1927. s i ing the progr in the las : i 1 participate in the ¢ on the occasion of th ersary of the Russ’ November. ing here. a group of policy on our part IF WALLS In the end a reversal of m st come. international There is good re is but the first bor against the American h icy. No doubt other da start g manifesto cted iff pol- uropean coun- nded the lowering of tar- throughout the world, in the ation of world of the coordi and the} trade relations. To this document was can manufacturers 1 have to attached the of J. P.’Morgan,| follow the dictate international thus indicatir its indorsement by! finance, in the inter of the to believe that | THE DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 1927 Llectrification of the Soviet 140 Millions For New Electric State Planning Commission ign in the budget for 19: the construction of electri 40 millions more th for t he ded to for cale q rouble putting up million fo: Toscow distr th s rovsk Building Op the putting ectrie stat y Amy w on wi and ¢ and « , operation Work has digging of h this sk v f the Dnie A Hyéro-Station The building of the most northern USSR, in the town Ukhta, Karel New Works. f th ro-Technical pleced. sure transformers. In view of increased production of the tional import any pres: more tramway cars from A New Railway. | The railway line Nizhny Novgoro S cr > re obli ployers o: industry and tradesmen. | Du | | ployed in Leningrad has decreased by of the USSR has n last year. continuation » of the Dnieprope- the construction of verican excavators wation of building ill continue with unabated | Apart from the build- | uilding operations will go on with the erectfon and equipment of | ulveady started in USSR has been notice me time among Finnish anal through the | worke The 0; xcursion are the Trade | Councils of Vyborg towns. When n the Extreme North. This station will provide light for Karelian new works being put up in Moseow by Trust has orks will for the time being produce high- works of the State Electro-Technical Trus conomy Sovict of the USSR has decided not to | \kIm. long, will be completed by October 1st. al Insurance of Apprentices. The government of the USSR has confirmed the de- y ‘ial insurance at the expense of | working for people engaged in | Decrease of Unemployment. ng the last four months the number of unem- Third Edition of Lenin’s Works. Workers’ Excursions See U.S.$.R. Electrification intends to open nine new workers’ clubs, a number of lib reading rooms, creches and new workers’ dwel ing Union. Stations, om the Tula, industrial di SR, that during the Nov. will be opened in-the Q an opthalmic , also proposed | 28, 140 million cal stations on a This sum of the 1917, celebrations working a people foundation stc elub, chools, hospitals and dental consultation | nts are to be opened in the Gubernia. | addition to all this t tr constructed by | the local Soviet will be i aber 7th. Solidarity. n To Moscow. | , 45 strong, has arrived ete; erations. up of the gigan- goes on at an ell as pneumatic | in Moscow. | In conversation with a representative of the press, the leader of the excursion, Comrade Leinonen, member | of the Administr: of the Vyborg Builders’ Union, said that a desire closer contact with the| hips will pass into worke: were registering f this excursion, they en-| deavored to make it coincide with their holiday, and} some workers even paid!for substitutes so as not to be kept out of the excursion. | Fairly close contact has already existed some time} between the Finnish w and Soviet trade unions. | For instance, the Finnish Builders’ Congress held in | May, 1927, was attended by representatives of the CC | of the USSR Builders’ Union. At this congress it was ie Le com- | proposed to form a Norwegian-Finnish-Soviet Union Committee and to admit representatives of the Builders’ Union of Soviet Russia to the International Builders’ Secretariat. Comrade Leilonen intends to utilize the stay of the Norwegian workers’ delegation in the USSR for a fur- ther practical discussion of these questions. = 4 | Norwegian Agricultural Laborers Send Greetings To the CH SURESUEY ER . Agricultural Laborers of the USSR. | The Central Board of the Agricultural Laborers’ Union in the USSR has received a letter from the chair- man of Norwegian Agricultural Laborers’ Congress held | recently in-Kongsvinger containing the following state- ment: “We have already sent you oral greetings with the delegation which on its way to the USSR passed through Kongsvinger on the day of the opening of our congress. All the members of the congress went to the railway station and asked the delegation officially to greet the hydro-station im ia, has just been tramway cars in | , the N abroad. 50,000. \ literary spokesman of Bohemia. OUR LITERARY CAVALIER APPRECIATES A PURITAN. Upton Sinclair: A Study in Social Protest, by Floyd Dell (Murray Hill Bio- Doran & Co. One wonders two things: why has there not until now been a biography of Upton Sinclair, and why did Floyd Dell write it? . It would seem that the two men had little in common, except that both, while rather successful under capitalism, are revolutionists against it. But Sinclair takes his revolt religiously, and sets out with the thundering charge and shock-effect of a troop of the Ironsides, to “bind their kings with chains and their nobles with links of iron.” Dell prefers a more adroit maneuver; in fact, he seems to have a notion that if you win the women you weaken the men; his subtle arguments have raised him to the prominence of the graphies). $2. * " : So much is this so that in the-very beginning of the book one finds that Dell’s preoccupation with sex leads him to what seems to me a decidedly false analysis of the reasons for Sinclair’s greater’ success in Europe than in America. , “One of these (psychological obstacles in the way of a general recognition of Sinclair in America) is his temperamental attitude toward life,” says Dell, on page 13; “he is recognized as being a Puritan, and Puritan- ism... is just now very unpopular among the American intelligentsia. . . .” This is probably true about the intelligentsia. But it is no reason for Sincla appretiation in Europe, and relative lack of it in America, first, because the opinions of the intelligentsia count for practically nothing with, the book-buying public, and secondly because the masses of people, that is the workers, are as free here as in Europe from judging literature on the basis of morality he equal popularity of Harold Bell Wright and the Snappy Story sort of magazines indicates this. Workers are the most broad- minded people there are; so long as you do not use police power on them they will all, outside of certain backwoods communities, allow you to pattern your life according to either St. Anthony or Don Juan, without injury to your reputation for that reason. This sex bias, in spite of the fact that Dell obviously struggles against it, runs thru and modifies his whole analysis of Sinclair. It prevents him, for instance in this case we have stlected, from observing that Sinclair’s reputation abroad is largely due to the more advanced working class con- sciousness there, which affects even strata of the middle classes and pro- fessionals, and makes them interested in such industrial topics and settings as Sinclair chooses, and sympathetic with his social attitude. While correcting for Dell’s idiosyncrasies, we have to admit that he Has. otherwise done a remarkably good job. * * * Floyd Dell is always easy to read—his style is simple and clear beyond comparison with that of his groping contemporaries. Furthermore, he goes about in workmanlike manner to sketch Sinclair’s development from half- baked youth to dime novelist, to poet, and to novelist. The first period of novel writing, which reached its pinnacle in Manassas, showed a new, a pow- erful, but not a unique figure in American letters. Manassas is not char- acteristically Sinclairian, as we understand the word from his later works. cial organization of! 130,000 people have subscibed to the third edition of | Russian workers in connection with the Tenth Anniver- this count lominant power in zenin’s Complete Works which the State Publishing De- | sary of their revolution. The Jungle was a step in the direction he was to advance. It created a the field of finance. tment is issuing, and this evenybefore the first vol- | “The members of our union have a strong desire to| terrific sensation, It was followed by a time of mal-adjusted matrimony, Medhndait-dih) after aeredhan sold in other coun ! | 2s have appeared. establish closer relations between our union and yours. of mental and physical collapse. Most of the little novels written during that i century and a half of dyed-in-the-| C2" industrial inning to| How the Workers of the USSR Are Preparing For | The convocation of a conference would be a great help| time should have been burned without publication. wool protectionisnt on the part of|* el the heavy national | the Tenth Anniversary of the October Revolution. | in this direction. We shall be delighted if you will take Then the real Sinclair began to show himself, in what Dell aptly calls American industry, the presence of | Hnance. In honor of the Tenth Anniversary of the Nov. 7, 1917, | upon yourselves the initiative for the convocation of|‘The Great Pamphlets.” The Brass Check, The Profits of Religion, The Mr. Morgan’s name to such a docu-,; ‘The question of the tariff is a con-| revolution, the Textile Workers’ Union of the USSR | such a conference. Goosestep, Mammonart—have accomplished what used to be considered a su- |erete question before the American ly certain elements in the American | labor EROV EMER: At first blush the capitalist class. Hence the outcry of/@verage worker would vO Mr. Mellon, in denunciation of this| Strict protectionist policy, and would radical departure from the \tradition-| be strongly urged toward this policy al path of: American business. Henee | by the labor bureaucracy. But such the criticism of Mr. Coolidge. The| Policy would be a superficial representatives of American industry |Short-sighted one, totally at variance made vigorous denial that the mani-| With the laws of economics. The festo had any significance as far as| Workers of America will sooner or the policy of the American govern- | later be brought to realize that the m i |tariff walls will have to crumble be- ment undoubtedly shocked very deep- 5 was conceren In this connection, one reads with} intere8t in the current number of the Literary t at “The opening bankers, who have invested” heavily in industry abroad, and who require 1 and|}- fore the assaults of the international} | | By WILLI MUNZENBERG. The ignominious collapse of the | Second International at the outbreak ef war dragged the young socialists, then but a loose organization, into the whirl of the all-prevailing chauv- inism. The International Federation cialist Youth organizations de- Socialist-Communist Youth During the War over their opponents, the sooner our opponents will be inclined for peace.” Disgraceful as are the individual instances of deterioration within the ranks of the international socialist youth movement, it is all the more gratifying to record that a definite cided upon at the Berne conference and takes place annually in Septem- ber, met with the greatest approval |amongst the revolutionary proletarian youth of the whole world. In Germany hundreds of young comrades were thrown into prison for circulating leaflets with the slogan “Long live preme test of literary worth—they have added their names as adjectives to the language: everybody knows now, whether friend or foe, what you are talking about when you speak of “the brass check press.” Then after that, the second period of novels—if that is what you want to call them. Oil, the latest and best, is neither quite a novel, nor quite a pamphlet—but it is successful, as a book, in capturing the interest of read- ers, and in carrying thru the propaganda ideas of Sinclair. * . Dell comments on Sinclair’s social theory, and the changes it has under- gone, not even overlooking his support of the Allied cause in the World War; a thing plenty of other radicals were doing at the time, and atoned for by personal suffering and a return to revolutionary criticism. Sinclair, as Dell discovers, is at the limit of his radicalism in the muckraking of capitalist society; that is, in the negative side of revolutionary philosophy. On the * * gun of a relent! and well-organ- the easy importation of products} clared after the outbreak of the war|and passionate opposition quickly the struggle against war, Long live positive side, ee me ute Beyond ae a Gane ee Py ti ized econ war of all Europe manufactured in these industrial! that during the period of the war it! arose in the hands of the youth the Youth International”. _In Italy these views (dis ae ean Ie ae ae oa i miei 1 | against the United States is seen by| Plants, in order to receive the ex-| could not function, thus faithfully| against this organized war enthusi- and in France similar events took Me ed ve i pikes . an: ee eee fe ee | several political observers in the an- pected profits on the sums invested. ing out the words of the sociallasm, preached by the party leaders. Place. In Italy the agitators of the|stinguished from the p vi The American v fore before them a: competing with the low wa: nouncement by the French govern- ment on September 9 of a new tariff schedule which raises the duties on a variety of American exports to whag) many busin’ ‘prohibitive the European workers. Neither the f| ternational is an instrument of peace g|and not an instrument of war”. hours and low working standards of} patriot Karl Kautsky: “The Labor In- Dr. Robert Dannenberg, who had been elected secretary of the Inter- In Germany, in Stuttgart, Berlin, Leipzig, Hamburg and in the towns in Thuringia and many other German localities the majority of the: youth made a decisive protest against this | youth international were sentenced by court martial to 6, 8 and 10 years imprisonment. America sentenced William Kruse, the secretary of the youth organization, to a long term of imprisonment for anti-war propa- munist.” i * We might object to the word “post-war”; Bolshevism is older than the war, but it is a true statement of Sinclair’s position." Probably his flaming crusading zeal in attacking present wrongs, his shrinking from the coarser and sterner measures against them which Communists propose, his peculiar * * \ : en o eee or policy | nati anesnts fali war-mongerin; and advocated a : baie ae ; 4 7 aang t a 2 wee ee an se poly ea AEE che CRcna oe breach Bath aan social patriotic ele- ganda. Even in neutral countries, spiritualising of the I. W. W. in “Singing Jailbirds” (which was quite dis- ae t fans ee risa: willl tenon O10: ‘eadeis nowt Auadual ments and revolutionary anti-war like Norway, Denmark, Switzerland tasteful to the militant elements of the I. W. W.) are all part of his essen- e Sod 4 mn hignohtny of saffice under the circumstances. The | reformist town councillor in Vienna, | agitation and action. ba BSieen persecutions were the tially emotional and religious nature—a man nee feels a zonanncely er Both | Mellon Morgan need of the hour is the immediate es- d the convention of an inter- The Berke. Conference. jorder of the day. The Jeaders of the | Sinclair, and is as closely involved in the industria struggle as he, must find et al. mean , tablishment of strong bonds of inter- mal conference of socialist youth} In Berne at Easter 1915, an inter- socialist youth organizations. were| strange conflicts within him, and be guilty of inconsistencies. . national solidarity with the labor movement of other countries, i der to guarantee t {world the flank atta iff walls the Cleveland I “From the point logic, this count n tar- came over our result of the v officially a tr y contemplated for a young debtor na- tion. We have continued to hope and have adapted o onomie legislation to the the we can be the|ing the boy’s death by drowning in world’s cr stili close our| Cranberry Lake near White Plains, doors to the prod debtor na-| Saturday. Cranberry Lake is a de- tions. And we have hoped that our|serted stone quarry used by boys as debtors would continue to buy our|a swimming hole. Frank was swim- surplus products, even tho high bar-} ming with several other boys when riers were imposed against their sell-' he was seized with a cramp. Old Swimming Hole Fatal. MOUNT VERNON, N, Y., Sept: 26. ads x The family of 18-year-old Frank U. Govin. of 502 South Second Ave., A Trench Comedy By HENRY GEORGE WEISS. The rain was falling and the trenches flooded, Soaked to the skin we were standing to And shiveriig wet, our teeth chattering, For the keen wind pierced us thru and thru. The heavy guns smote on the ears like thunder, Rat-tat went the machine guns in between, And the starflares flashed and tore asunder The curtain of night to light the scene, The “Marias” hit and the sandbags hurtled Beneath the impact of every shell, And moaning and sobbing, and cursing and praying The wounded were borne from that black hell. “Watchful on the outpost, there,” said the sergeant, “Tt is jes’ the night that they’d come over. Damn the mud and the rain and the stench, I’d give My very soul to be under cover!” It came—-as if in answer to his prayer-— A flash of light~the earth rose and fell With a thunderous crash and a-rush of air, And the choking dust and the sulphur smell. We looked for the sergeant when the dirt settled, But this was all of him that we found, A bit of his leg—oh his prayer was answered! Tea gest of him, being under the ground. here, were in mourning today follow- | zations, which wes suggested ing the first weeks immediately the war by the Swiss, Scandi n and Dutch youth organiza. ions The socialist youth movement already prior to the war had aban- doned its original anti-militarist because of the overwhelm- | of Bernstein’s reformism |and had become a petty bourgeois youth organization in Austria and | still more so in Germany, especially {in the famous youth committees un- {der the leadership of Fritz Ebert. | The war and the close ‘connection | with the social patriotic party insti- |tutions marked the complete deteri- joration of the German and Austrian |youth organizations and degraded |them in participating*in all the dis- graceful deeds “of the social patriotic | chauvinists. The. Austrian socialist youth organizations published regu- larly in its organ “Der jugendliche Arbeiter” a list of the members of \its organiaation who had_ received ‘imperial medals~ for bravery. In Germany the youth workers praised as an example for the proletarian youth Ludwig Frank, the social democratic member, of parliament, +who had volunteered for the war and was one of the first to fall. The an-! nual ‘report of the German youth centre, for 1915, shows that at the} order of the war office 1,995 juven- j iles had joined up, 783 had joined voluntarily. Turned Militarists. } “Jungvolk”, the youth calendar of | the central office for 1916, published | an article entitled “World War” by Heinrich Schulz, legal advisor of the central office, social democratic mem- | ber of the Reichstag and now ex-| state secretary. Jn his article it was | pointed ow | “Our demand for peace. un- | fortunately has never been heard | on the oppostte side. The regret- | able result is that force of arms | | continues to decide and that also { | German workers must for the | | present place their hopes for an | early peace only on the success | of the German army. The sooner | this succeeds in convincing Ger- | many’s opponents by securing | military successes, that it is im- possible to defeat Germany, the stronger the victories they gain national youth conference took place at the invitation of the Swiss, Stan- inavian and Dutch youth organiza- ions‘at which a large youth delega- \ tion from German towns and Italy was also present. The Berne con- ference is of decisive importance for the later development of the proleta- rian youth movement. For the first time in the history of the socialist youth international it was decided unanimously by the conference to proclaim the complete organizational! and political independence of the proletarian youth organizations. Prior to this conference in most countries youth organizations were an append- age of the social patriotic parties, so infected with chauvinism. The Berne conference decided to adopt an independent attitude to the poli- tical events in accordance with the policy it had adopted. In a unani- mous resolution the conference de- clared itself against the social patri- otie attitude of the social democratic party, decided to fight'against it and united with the international revolu- tionary groups which had been formed in various countries and in Germany under the banner of Karl Liebknecht. For the first time in the history of the proletarian youth movement’ representatives of the Bolsheviks participated in the conference and for the first time a bridge was thrown between the international proletarian youth and the Bolshevik party. Until the conference in Berne |the International Federation of Soci- alist Youth Organizations was a loose organization without any joint poli- tical programme and joint. activity. The Berne conference decided on the adoption of a united programme, to publish a joint paper “Die Jugend In- ternationalé” and to carry out joint actions. Building Anew. Whilst the Second International lay in ruins, in Zimmerwald and Kienthal the first attempts were made to create a new international. In the middle of the world war amidst the thunder of the imperialist armies which de- vastated Europe, the proletarian youth created an international or- ganization capable and ready for ac- tion, The activities organized by the youth international during the war against: war, especially the In- ternational Youth Day which was de- sent to prison, or if foreigners de- ported. But nothing could damp the enthusiasm of the youth for the newly created international organization or weaken their revolutionary “struggle against war. Temporarily the seat of| the youth international was transfer- red to Kienthal and prior to the vic- torious October revolution and the foundation of the III. International it was the centre of all real revolu- tionary and anti-war parties and proletarian organizations. Organizing Revolution. In addition to the Russian com- rades, Lenin, Trotzky, Zinoviev, Ra- dek, the Germans, Liebknecht, Clara Zetkin, Ruehle, Hoernle, the Dutch comrade Roland Holst, the Swedish Hoeglund, the Italian Toscana con- tributed to the youth international. The 11 copies*of the youth interna- tional which appeared during the war are memorable documents, real inter- national, anti-war propaganda. The youth international and its sec-| tions especially in Scandinavia, Hol- land and Switzerland became the out- posts of the party; they worked to ereate the new revolutionary III. In- ternational from the ruins of the II. International. At the Kienthal conference the delegation of the youth international definitely supported the Left Wing of Zimmerwald and became in the further developmént of the movement the most important and strongest section of Zimmerwald tendency. The development of the socialist youth movement from socialist edu- cational organizations of pre-war days through the Berne conference to political active fighting revolu- tionary | independent organizations, jfound its climax in the foundation of the Young Communist Interna- i tional, which took place in ‘Berlin jin autumn 1919. During the years ‘of the Russian revolution, so full of decisive moments, the youth interna- tional created during the war proved to be one of the strongest and most certain pillars of the Communist movement, of the international prole- tarian revolution. The Place—Madison Sq. Garden. The Event — The Red Bazaar. The Time — October 6-7-8-9.| the revolutionary left |, Dell psycho-analyses Sinclair (p. 135): “There is little doubt that it is the neurotic conflicts in the minds of all artists which lead them to their particular themes.” But even this does not spoil a book, which, with all its faults is a real contribution to our knowledge of a really great writer—with all his faults, The book is dedicated to Joe Freeman. i , VERN SMITH. SCIENTIFIC STATE MURDER. . Capital Punishment in the 20th Century, by E. Roy Calvert. Putnam. $2. _ In these brutally hard, unsentimental days, the murder of Sacco and Vanzetti still vivid in our minds, one approaches a book of this kind with some misgiving. Nor do we become more enthusiastic when we find an in- troduction by one “Right Honorable Lord Buckmaster, P. C.”-—a sure index to the character of the book. r Workers are sadder but wiser men today. Murdered in industry and murdered legally and illegally, the lessons of the class struggle are so bre- tally obvious a “christian” plea for the abolition of capital punishment leaves us cold. Granting merit in other reasons for its abolition, we are too practically taught to have hope for its solution under a system that oppresses the great majority for the enrichment of a few. No appeal on the basis of “morality” and “christian ethics” convinces fact-hardened realists. * * “Capital punishment does not stop crime, it is bad in its influence on jailers, executioners (?), the press and the public; it is barbarous, it is nasty, ete.” To all of which a worker answers, my, isn’t that too bad! But * he doesn’t become excited enough about it to devote his life to the abolish- | , ment of capital punishment. It is only one of the many barbarous, nasty / things of a barbarous social system that has a thousand manifestations of barbarity. An intelligent worker (ask any Communist worker) knows his job is the job of dumping this system for a better one. That’s his job and it ineludes the solution of capital punishment. In this book there are quotations from great humanitariafs and poets, arguments and also an alternative (workers sent to death for their fight for Labor will be cheered with the alternative of life imprisonment!). You will. learn how many countries have abolished capital punishment and when. And you will not be surprised that in these countries workers still give their lives in the class struggle just as in any others where capital punishment exists. To those of us who have .read of the White Terror of Italy, Rou- mania, Lithuania and Finland, there is little consolation in the fact that these countries have abolished capital punishment. They continue to mur- der workers just the same. ‘(Italy “partially” reinstituted capital punishment in 1926.) : * * * . At the very outset the author pleads with the reader to believe the pres- entation is not sentimental, Whatever it is, it surely is not realistic. Tho the author does not remind us of it, we recall that the ruling class is not deterred from profit-making by any humanitarian motives—and does not stop at murder to continue it. We remember (and we will not forget!) Sacco, Vanzetti, Frank Little and others—and we are convinced that these martyrs are not the last who will give their lives in the struggle in spite of all the efforts of well-meaning humanitarians, Capital punishment is one of those problems that will be solved only with the solution of the class struggle—not with appeals to the conscience, christianity or Coue. This book leans too heavily on the side of christian morals, ethics and abstract sanctity of human life. Two thousand years of leaning on such morality without better result is somewhat unconvincing. ~-WALT CARMON. a Me