The Daily Worker Newspaper, October 29, 1927, Page 7

xm DAILY WORKER, NW VOR, SATURDAY; OCTOBER 8:2, 1927 Page Seven Government Lies Are Expo sed By PAUL. CROUCH. N EXPOSE of the falsehoods gore to lure young workers into she army has been made by the con- servative Honolulu Advertiser. The protest of the soldier against his harsh treatment, forcing itself even into the capitalist press, is signifi- cant..°A ‘soldier now in St. Louis wrote a letter to the St. Louis Post- Dispatch telling a few of the things the soldier is forced to endure in Hawaii. This soldier formerly be- longed to the 21st Infantry at Scho- field Barracks, the regiment in which Walter Trumbull and I were: soldiers béfore our imprisonment. We were personally acquainted with several of-the-soldiers who died of alcoholic poisoning while trying to forget their unendurable condition. Commenting on this letter, the Honolulu Advertiser said, in part: “Not long ago there was an up- heaval in army circles when six sold- diers stationed at’ Schofield died of SXsholic poisoning. The tragedy was echoed all over the country. Many lefters from soldiers stationed here nd doubt went out on the next mail, some to their parents, some to news- papers, others to tasual friends. One soldier now residing in St. Louis, formerly a member of 21st Infantry tationed at Schofield, becoming re- uiniscent, wrote the following to a %, Louis newspaper: ‘These. men’ who died are of stveral thousands at that post who are drinking anything witha kick, not because they erave it, but be- cause they don’t care. Why don’t they ~care?~-Because- they. must serve three years in a god-for- sakencountry. A soldier cannot transfer to any regiment in the states. He must serve all of his three years there, unless the reg- iment—is transferred . . . Honolulu is a picturesque city for the rich tourists, with its beaches and beau- tiful. scenery. But for the soldier it is:a hell hole. Soldiers are only allowed on certain streets and mili- ta¥y police are on every corner to see that the regulation is enforced. There are countless tragedies en- acted at Schofield-Barracks,” “ \.. We would eall the attention of army authorities to one thing— he POSTERS THAT LURE-YOUNG {EN INTO. “ARMY. LIFE IN.HA- WAIT.-(My caps—P.C.) These lurid two sheets~and-three ‘sheets paint a colorful picture of ease and idleness, beneath palm trees with hula dancers all about’to provide entertainment. When-the~soldier arrives in- Hawaii, he finds another situation entirely. The army is so'upright and honest in everything else it does—then why practice this one deception upon the young men who visit the recruiting stations in mainland cities? Why paint a soldier’s life in Hawaii as one long summer’s dream beneath palm trees and upon sunny beaches, with Hawaiian sirens to help them) while their hours away?” This confession by a capitalist newspaper is significant. It reveals the deception practiced by the War! Department in luring young workers into the army for use as cannon fod- der in imperialist wars and the in- evitable disillusionment of ithe re- cruit. But it does not tell the story of the extremely brutal treatment by the officers and the systematic tor- ture of the soldiers—the real cause of the “hell hole.” We must tell the rest of the story of army life to the workers—we must get the facts from the soldiers them- | selves and make them public. The harsh treatment of the soldier | is not without a purpose. It is the! deliberate intention of the military authorities to crush all human in-| stincts so that the soldier will be ready “to do and die and not to reason why.” They desire the sol- dier to prefer even war and the pos- sibilities of death to a continuation of his present condition. | | Heavy Donations Go to Goose-Step University Columbia University received re- cently gifts to the amount of $210,- 000, according to an announcement of its president, Nicholas Murray Butler. The most important contri- butions were from the Carnegie | Foundation, the National Lead Com- pany and other members of that trust, the American Smelting and Refining Company, the motion picture trust. No effort was made to conceal the fact that the university is subsidized by big capital. Philadelphia Banquet To Help Daily Worker PHILADELPHIA, Pa., Oct. 28.—A supper, with entertainment stunts, is the decision of Unit 1-E of the Work-| ers (Communist) Party here as their} task to help The DAILY WORKER. It will be in Scandinavian Hall, N. E. corner of 8th and Fairmount Ave., Saturday at 8 p. m., Oct. 29. seeeeer senses renee rar sy te The First Volume of the + New Workers Library Publications The TENTH YEAR The Rise and Achievements of Soviet Russia By J. Louis Encpan. EGINNING the se- ries of new attrac- tive publications “The Tenth Year’ is a valu- able account of the great achievements of the worid’s first workers’ government. Written in a popular simple style, here is a most interesting new book to present to =~-yeur shop-mates on the 10th birthday of Soviet Russia. your fellow workers in the 15: teagae 12 cents im lots of 10 cents im lots of 100 or more 9 cents in lots of 300 or more = Buy one for yourself--BUY TEN (or more) to give to shop and trade union. 10 or more = The DAILY WORKER (Book Deft.) 33 First St., New York Lenin = Said:- Not a single class in history achieved power without putting forward its political leaders and tyr movement and leading it.” spokesmen capable of organizing - And he proceeded to organize the Bolshevik Party of Russia without. which the Russian Revolution would have “We must organize a strong been impossible. party in this country that will be able to organize and lead the masses. ‘he Workers: (Communist) in the fight for: Party asks you to join and help A Labor Party and a United Labor Ticket in the 1928 elections. The defense of the Soviet Union and against capitalist wars. The organization of the unorganized. Making existing-unions organize a militant struggle. The protection of the foreign born. __ Application for Membership in Workers (Communist) Party “Fill out this blank and mail to Workers Party, 43 E. 126th St., N. Y. City) Me LS Sed ones <da bo ads Sesiaa vies Address .. “(Enelosed find one dollar for initiation fee and one month’s dues.) State By JAN KAMINSKY and HENRY REICH, Jr. With sack on shoulder through the night he crept Above the world while all of mankind slept, Defying dangers and the hidden dens Of frightful monsters. O’er the misty fens And dismal swamps he went unscathed and strong, What though the way was black and cold and long. On dizzy heights he climbed, past mountain peaks And where the eagle from his eyrie shrieks Upon the shining ladder of the sky He mounted till he stood against the high’ Blue crest of heaven. Then he looked around Among the constellations till he found Ten bright new stars. But over each of them A dreadful giant stood to guard the gem Encrusted beauty of its body. His football Aroused the giants who began to call On all the ancient gods to put a check To this invader who strode heAven’s deck. “Stop thief!” the words through heaven loudly roll. “Stop thief!” it is a great bell’s mighty toll Sounds from the vast emperian. The sky Shook with the noise and everywhere the cry Reverberated. Then above the rest One terrible voice cried down from heaven’s crest: “Who thus disturbs the peace of Gods! Who dares?” And all grew silent and the trumpet blares Were still. Then taking off his cloak The Star Thief threw it down and shrilly spoke: “Ha! ha! I dare to climb your lofty sky! I dare to walk with you, the gods, on high! I come to take the stars I need to earth To deck an emblem!” And his lusty mirth Was echoed by the heavens. “What emblem this?” one ventured. You are!” The Star Thief laughed. To tell you of our emblem and the cause It stands for. It’s sufficient now to say It stands for Revolution here to stay!” The Star Thief turned and with a mighty shout He flung himself headlong upon the stout And ugly giant nearest him and hurled Him from his post above the sleepittg world. A second sturdy giant, then a third He downward hurled and shouted but one word- That word was “Revolution.” And the others, In fear of what had happened to their brothers, Retreated in a darkly flaming cloud That hung above the heavens like a shroud. And then he plucked ten stars. He placed within his sack. His labors done He turned and clambored down the sky again “How astute And brought the stars to please the hearts of men. Each star a year — ten stars commemorate Ten years of mighty struggle toward the great Achievement and the gleaming goal. . Ten shining years the daring Star Thief stole From out the heaven’s scintillating tree, The gods were mute. Each shining one |in any of the literary reviews and book sections of the “T cannot pause The Star Thief / BOOK REVIEWS (Commemorating 10th Anniversary of the Russian Revolution.) | sales Ute | THE HISTORY OF A CLASS MURDER. THE LIFE AND DEATH OF SACCO AND VANZETTI. | $1.50. HIS book has thus far been completely ignored by the bourgeois press. Hardly a word has appeared By Eugene Lyons, International Publishers. metropolitan papers, or in the news col- umns. Can it be the continuation of the campaign of suppres- sion of the facts about the two mur- dered Italian work- ers which began the calito very day following ee ; SACCO their execution? In VANZETTI |this organized conspiracy of silence have joined the pow- erful movie interests whose czar, Will Hays, has ordered all news films burned. Here is a beautiful, powerful, eloquent book. Crowded |into 208 pages is the complete story of the two immi- |grants whose bodies were shattered by electricity and laid on green marble slabs in the death chamber of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts a few minutes ) midnight on August 28. Lyons, a labor journali sociated with the defense work from the beginning in 1921, ‘knew Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti in- timately. He visited the homes of their parents in Italy and was familiar with the background in which they |were born and reared. Possessing a knowledge of the {Italian language, Lyons has translated a number of | hitherto unpublished letters of Sacco and Vanzetti which | reveal in a dramatic way their literary and intellectual interests. * * be In a clear, convincing style the author describes the lives of the two men. In episodes, vivid and colorful, he traces the facts which culminated in their execution. | For the first time in a book the class nature of the {case is described and characterized—definitely and un- |equivocably. Not only the facts about their lives, but |the complicated maze of legal formuiae and procedure | which dragged Sacco and Vanzetti thru seven long years of “torture by hope” are brilliantly summarized, Bs from California, is related. Moore took over the de- fense work at its beginning, in 1920. He remained until | 1924, when the anarchist elements in the Boston defense committee decided on the higher strategy of ingratia- |tion with the capitalist courts—a strategy which suc- | ceeded for a time in paralyzing the protest of inter- | national labor by the standing threat of the conservative jand high-priced lawyers who warned that they would |resign if the eternal and immutable processes of law | were not rigidly followed. * * ? | “.,.It is considered and ordered by the court that | you, Nicola Sacco, suffer the punishment of death by the’ passage of a current of electricity thru your body within the week of.... And you, Bartolomeo Vanzetti...” Never did a modern Pontius Pilate listen to such searing, contemptuous and loftily ironic speech as the chill-eyed Thayer heard from the lips of the “unlettered” 2 Vanzetti on the spring morning in the Dedham court Each one the symbol of a world to be! By MARTIN MORIARTY. HHREE months on the Western Front had not hardened Private | George A. Adamson of the 88th Vic- toria Rifles to the life on the “sol-| dier’s glorious trade.” Whatever ro-| mantic illusions he had of an exis-| tence where men’s lives .were as} cheap as the bullets that killed them | had heen shattered at the first roar| of the field guns, at the first crash| of the barrage, at the first bomb from an enemy aeroplane that had grected him on his way to the trenches. He trembled to recall the horrors of that first day even now. There were boys of his age who had been able to take their place in the front line with the same care-free spirit with which they had donned a uniform. Or at least they were bet- ter actors. Such adaptability to con- ditigns was foreign to Adamson’s na- ture. He had quivered when the command of the sergeant—“Single file!” was passed along the ranks. Three more nights like this before the relief! How he lived thru the previous week was a problem he pre- ferred to forget. Everything had} gone wrong this spell. The letter |from home he was just reading had | mentioned a parcel which should have jreached him days ago—and parcels meant cakes, and candy, and cigaret- tes,—things which made for a vision of life in an atmosphere of murder. For it was murder, however much people preferred the more euphonious term of war. The rifle beside him spat murder in reply to every shot from the opposite trench. At close quarters, the relentless “plunge— twist—recover” of the bayonet could! pierce the entrails of a man whom he had never even seen before—and a rifle was only the toy gun of the} wooden soldier when the huge shell-| holes in the vicinity testified to the long-range destruction of the four- point-seven. In the bombing party the night before the captain had ex- ualties—fifty maimed, blinded, mur- dered, that, the report stated, the en- emy approximately sustained. And that deadly rattle of the machine gun could wipe out whole companies. Yes, war was murder—and for what pur- pose? What quarrel had he with the Germans? They had dropped bombs on defenseless women and children, said the newspapers. Yet did not British aeroplanes, emissaries of those Franco-British white angels of peace, bomb Cuxhaven in 1914? “Missing —Believed Killed” pressed satisfaction at the fifty cas- |. which spelled the soldier’s paradise. The officer had called for volunteers, but had looked hard at Adamson when he mentioned the word. He wanted volunteers, and Adamson had never been on a bombing raid. Adam- son went. But why not press a gun to his head and say “Go!”? Why not coerce openly, as he had heen coerced into nearly every move from the time when the white feathers of pretty flappers had driven him into the recruiting booth, to the occasion of this, his first excursion of assassi- nation? In those hectic days of 1914 a beribboned sergeant picked him out’ from among the crowds that thronged the streets in the city lunch-hour. A group gathered around to listen to the exhortations of the recruiter. Petite stenographers smiled encourag- ingly. “Come on, kid! Show your pluck—don’t be a slacker!” said a fat salesman safely outside the class of 19—35. Fearful of going, yet fearful of staying, he “showed his pluck” and enlisted. Public opinion, which meant the opinion of the select coterie in whose interests the war was being’ waged, had coerced an- other into the ranks of death... . Three more nights! The seemingly eternal blackness, illumined only by the brilliant flash of a star-shell. The “zip” of the sniper’s bullet as it sent another man into the sleen of death —another “gone west.” The sicken- ing stench of mud and slime and’ mutilated corpses. The nerve-shatter- ing racket of the Lewis gun. How. much longer before a crazy world re- turned to sanity? ‘ There is a stir along the line, “Stand by, men,” says the captain, “and get ready to go over.” A-sur- prise decision at which there are sub- dued cursings. Another bloody bat- tle for the possession of a few hun- dred yards of barren earth; more lives to be lost so that headquarters could report progress, reflected Adamson as he fixed his bayonet. Over the top! A mad rush /into death, and the scene is charged with activity. Already the wounded are. moaning in agony; and Adamson waits. “Adamson! Get moving! Put a jerk in it!” thunders an officer. The War Office sent the stereo- typed letter of sympathy to a stricken mother. In the records received, her son was listed ‘“missing—believed,| killed,” they said. In the casualty re- port of Captain Stanley Lawrence of when the sentence of death was pronounced. The attitude of the liberals and intellectuals during \the height of the agitation for the release of Sacco and | Vanzetti is described by Lyons with insight and a fine irony. “A meeting of 10,000 workers pledging their |heart’s blood to Sacco and Vanzetti as comrades and | brother was given a paragraph in the day’s news. And |a timid expression of hope that Massachusetts would yet save its fair name, if signed by a single clergyman or fourth assistant district attorney, was given the same space.” The pious and belated “efforts” of the New York World are described: “The World sent its labor reporter into New England and he emerged with a series of articles based almost entirely on the Madeiros and Department of Justice affidavits, and overlooked the mass of new evidence.” Later Lyons comments on the Heywood Broun episode and the disgustingly vacil- lating editorial policy of the paper during the last days. ae a * The absurdity of describing the verdict as a “mis- tearriage of justice’ becomes glaring after reading Lyons’ graphic and penetrating story. “Their execution was not a miscarriage of justice. It was a deliberate, indeed a formal, carrying out of justice such as it is in the society of today.” The tremendous and angry international protest of labor during the seven years that the two framed-up workers were being tortured, and particularly during the last few months prior to their official murder, is described. In one chapter, “Seven Days That Shook the World,” Lyons tells of the eleventh-hour attempts |to wrest Sacco and Vanzetti from the electric chair im- mediately following the “report” of Fuller’s reactionary committee. The primary impetus in the international mass ex- pression came from the “Red Aid International,” de- clares Lyons. “But the active, pushing, indignant en- ergy came from the International Labor Defense in the United States, the ‘Rhote Hilfe’ in Germany, and the ‘International Class War Prisoners’ Aid’ in England.” * * * The viciously prejudiced Thayer, the 75-year-old Judge Grant, the pseudo-liberal President Lowell and the anonymous President Stratton, the third member of the committee, are also characterized and revealed with a swift, biting irony. And of their report, he says: “Haste was apparent in its structure; off-hand, ill-chosen words; weak, unsupported assertions; impatient judgments. Fuller, the automobile magnate, surely would not have allowed an advertisement of a Packard car to go out to the world in as weak and unconvincing a form as this statement by Fuller the governor, condemning Sacco and Vanzetti to death.” * * ” Sacco and Vanzetti’s early background, their political and literary interests, all these are sketched by Lyons 'with warm sympathy and keen discernment. Vanzetti decided to come to America. “There, he hoped, life would be fuller, deeper and freer, He would find the knowledge for which he thirsted and the leisure to think things out.” The pitiful chronicle of the early days of Sacco and Vadnzetti in America are described with great power and deep insight. In the drama of their heart-breaking ‘experiences as common laborers in the drab manufac- turing towns of New England Lyons tells the story of the American immigrant, ; * * * !The book is illustrated with photographs of Sacco and Vanzetti, and on the cover-jacket is a reproduc- tion of Fred Ellis’ famous cartoon, showing a worker broken on the wheel of American capitalism, which originally appeared in The DAILY WORKER. The prin- eipal members of the Massachusetts murder crew are represented. There are photographs of William G. ‘Thompson and Fred H. Moore, lawyers for the defense. From a technical point of view the book is excellent. It is printed in clear, bold type and is sturdily bound. the 88th Victoria Rifles to Headquar- Three more nights! Participation in the bombing expedition had not given him the coveted “blichtw” hit ters, there was inserted a_nof 3 “7659 Pvte. G. A. "Adeenon sini eowardica.” The book, now being simultaneously translated into half bs hirknd languages, will undoubtedly become the source- k for this great working class epic. . —SENDER GARLIN, | great detail the forces wo | carried out by the Wuhan gover | ARMED THEM. | the landlord and militari The role of Fred Moore, courageous labor attorney | | with reactionary generals and ARRE | tions in the policy of the United States promise to ¢ THE CLASS FORCES IN THE CHINESE REVOLUTION. CHINA: A SURVEY OF THE HI ECONOMIC FORCES BEHIN IST REVOLUTION. by the Communist Party 1 ican Agency, Daily Worker Publishing Co. Thirty- five cents. ITHOUToubt the most exhaustive and ace yet pub little under: must be r write ruggle wa eration. Altho written before the last the collapse and surrender of t the count evolutionary and consequently not cont uation 2 that time, thi ed by the Chine: It gives also the minimu T not to of the labor and p vement, eleme become the enemy But the middle c government, and the pe: challenge imperialism of the interests of the Chinese m. pa ing out energetically the arming of the Instead of extending the organ work and the mobilization of armed de’ elements of th countryside, THE PEASANTRY. Instead of strengthening the united front with the Communist Party and left wing Kuomintang and labor elements, the Wuhan government made a united front THEY MADE WAR OD TED ECUTED COMMUNISTS AND TRADE Wuhan became a front of imperialism and action. In this respect the author practically forecasts the downfall of Wuhan as a revolutionary center. * * * One of the invaluable contributions to the literature on China by the author is the exhaustive information given as to the social composition of the Chinese rural popula- tion, Since the city population in China is only 15 per AND | cent of the total (66,000,000 as against a rural popula- tion of 872,000,000) the class divisions of this section, and their relative numerical strength, are of overwhelm- ing importance. The section dealing with the role of the imperialist powers is of tremendous value but in our opinion not sufficient emphasis is placed upon the effect of the world interests of American imperialism in determining its policy in China and Asia generally. Both on Page 31 and Page 99 the author states categorically that “the United States ‘interests’ in China are mainly commercial interests.” (Emphasis in the original.) Further, speaking of the changes in Amer- ican policy in China, the author states:, “These vaci n- tinue, for they arise from the objective interests of | America in Eastern Asia.” In the first place, the policy of American imperiali toward a mass liberation movement making no com- promises with imperialism beyond those dictated by re- volutionary expediency, and expressing the interesis of the masses as against those of the landlords, ca lists and militarists, is quite different from that toward a bourgeois nationalist movement. Toward the first, it adopted a policy of iron which differed little if any from that of Great Britain. To- ba) a gs second it adopts a policy of conciliation and corruption, , second place, the world interests of American imperialism are dictating a still “firmer” policy in China and the fear of American imperialism of the tremendous repercussion of a successful Chinese revolution upon the Philippine masses cannot be overlooked as a factor making it assume a definite, if not at all times an openly, hostile attitude. “The objective role of attacker on the Pacific,” said Comrade Manuilsky, speaking to the Enlarged Executive of the Communist International in November, 1926,” will be played by the United States . . . while the objective role of defenders falls to Great Britain and Japan. Amer- ican imperialism is intricately bound up with the strug- gle for world hegemony.” Comrade Stalin commented as follows on this ques- tion of the role of American imperialism: “It is said that the Japanese imperialists show a cer- tain amount of ‘good-will’ towards the Cantonese and towards the Chinese revolution as a whole. It is said that in this respect the American imperialists are in no wav behind the Japanese. This is self-deception, com- rades. We must know how to discern the true nature of the policy of the imperialists, including the Japanese and American imperialists behind their mask. Lenin used to say that it was difficult to win over revolution- aries with @ stick, with fists, but that at time it is very easy to win them by kindness.” The “fr dliness” of American imperialism towards the nationalists, in the sense used by Comrade Stalin, certainly can not be interpreted as weakness or “vacilla- uon, Furthermore, since armed intervention by imperialist powers does not consist only of dispatch of their own troops but, so far as the Chinese liberation movement is concerned, by the possibly more dangerous method of subsidizing counter-revolutionary generals, it certainly ean not be said that America’s policy in na has been characterized by any decisive weakness toward the mass liberation movement. “Intervention by using other peo- ple—that is the kernel of imperialist intervention at present,” said Comrade Stalin. In this respect American imperialism, because of its stability and immense re sources and its longer perspective, ditional reputation for “friendlines Open Door pericod—is the most dangerous genuine mass Chinese liberation movement. . * s Chinese intellectuals, the R sands of American missiona commerce,—the whole cult of America mocracy and its hatred of Communists 2 Union, coupled with its immense were not major’ factors in bringing the W ment into the counter-revolutionary camp, * The main tendency of Amer’ pol in China ts not toward vacillation but toward aggression—as part of its world policy. But this lack of emphasis upon the role of American imperialism is a minor matter in a book which takes first rank in revolutionary literature and is indispensable to all working class students of the gigantic upheaval in China, marked now by a temporary lull, but which is again gathering its forces for the next phase of the struggle against world imperialism and native reaction. —BILL DUNNE. BOOKS RECEIVED: REVIEWED LATER, Selected Papers of Bertrand Russell. Modern Library. Solution of the Social Problem, Proudhoun. Vanguard, Transition. By Will Durant, Simon & Schuster.