The Daily Worker Newspaper, November 2, 1927, Page 3

od 4 “THE DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, NOV. 2, 1927 2age Three Years Report of the American Trade Union Delegation to USSR The following is the eleventh instalment of the re- port of the first American Trade Union Delega- tion to Soviet Russia, in the words of the delega- tion. The report will be published in The DAILY WORKER in successive issues until completed. = ee oe. Structure of the Government and the Communist Party The government is based upon occupational representation and the dictatorship of the proletariat. In the cities representatives are elected to the local soviets (the word soviet means council) from the factories and shops rather than primarily from geographical dis- tricts. The workers of each factory of ap- propriate size meet at their place of work to nominate and elect their representatives. Smaller factories in the same industry, shops, and similar occupational groups are combined for this purpose. Housewives are also given representation, meeting by geographical dis- tricts. Independent handicraftsmen generally meet by districts to elect their representa- tives. cording to the type of product. Jn the country the peasants of a village meet and elect their representatives to the local soviet. This is at once both geographical and occupational representation, since agricul- e is virtually the only industry. The local vorkers, however, take part in the elec s Go the local teachers and doctors ght of suffrage is not granted to those who hire three or more laborers fox, profit. Formerly homeworkers and those who hired ngle agricultural laborer were dis- franck 1, but these disabilities have been removed. Certain other classes are debarred, notably priests, ex-secret police officers of the ezar, and leaders in counter-revolutionary movements. These classes constitute a very small percentage of the population. The suf- frage is denied them on the ground that they have every reason to try to supplant the so- cialistic system and the Communistic govern- ment, and that votes should not be placed in the hands of the enemies of the existing re- gime. The village soviets perform the usual functions of a local government, including the support of the schools and the adjustment of lozal land questions. At the last elections, approximately 50 per cent of all those eligible to vote actually participated, which is about the same percentage as those voting in our presidential elections. The tasks of the city soviets are much more complex, and include education, housing, sanitation, police and fire protection, care of the streets, and the man- agement of municipal enterprises such as street-car lines, waterworks, and many muni- cipal stores. The village soviets elect representatives to the townships and the latter to the uyezd (county) soviets, which in turn elect to the gubernia (provincial) soviets. The city sov- iets also elect representatives to the provincial soviets, one delegate being allowed for every ten thousand inhabitants of the villages, and for every two thousand voters in the cities. Since the suffrage is granted to all over eigh- teen years, this means, in effect, giving the city voter approximately 214 times the repre- sentation of a country voter. The Conmun- ists defend this over-representation on the ground that the industrial workers are both more intelligent and more class conscious than the peasants. It is interesting to note that a These usually are not separated ac-| most of our industrial states have the oppo- site type of over-representation, giving the country districts much greater proportional | representation than the cities. The provincial soviet corresponds to our state legislature. It takes charge of such activities as roads, high schools, agricultural and health work, also} equalizing the burdens of taxation between} the richer and poorer localities. The provincial soviet congresses elect dele-| gates to the All-Russian Congress, It has been) commonly stated that the cities also send! representatives directly to this All-Russian} Congress, thus giving still further over-rep-| resentation to the urban workers. This con-} | ception, however, is erroneous. The cities do} not elect representatives directly to the All- Russian Congress, but instead only send them | te the provincial congresses. | Within the last few years, the organization | of the Russian state has been changed to pro- | | Vide greater flexibility and initiative for the} On the. Bublic Tasthene onithe Lenin SMaussleam various nationalities. uted Soviet Republic to the Union of Socialist | Soviet Republics. Russia is only one republic | €ral economic program of the nation. It has jin this union, although, of course, it is the|the power to regulate production, trade, largest and most important, including as it Prices, distribution and exchange. Its deci- does the whole of Siberia. The others are|Sions are subject to review by the People’s ‘the Ukraine, White Russia, The Transcauca-/Commissars as a whole or by the Central an, the Turkoman and the Uzbek Republics,| Executive Committee. Directly underneath h some fifteen smaller “autonomous” re- the Council of Labor and Defense comes the ublics, and sixteen “autonomous provinces” |Very important “Gosplan” organization de- 'te provide for the various racial minorities, | scribed above. jall of them being definitely socialist govern-| In matters such as education, health and so- havens ae bid is pos open for ell oo oe Reged the a is primarily, {tions which embrace Communism and adopt|in the hands of the separate republics. in- jthe soviet form of government to join this|deed, the creation of the individual republics yen nrsipees sen gene ane to oes be largely designed to give cultural auton- it could be admitted to the Union. The ulti-/omy to such sections as wished to preserve mate aim is to build up a federation which will their own language and culture, and to secure be a Soviet League of Nations, but with much | greater administrative decentralization, par- more centralized power than the present) ticularly important in so large a country as League possesses. | Russia. Cultural autonomy is also granted The All-Union Congress has about 1,500) within the major federated republics to those members. This makes it somewhat cumbrous, \ minor republics composed of racial or religious so pag it id meets 7 grata cadet sj cle such as the German _ the Tar- week every two years. It therefore decides|iars, the Moldavians, etc. us by allowing only general policies, turning over most of the|each group to teach its language and to pre- legislative functions to the Central Executive! serve its customs, the Communists hope to vee eect sa airy — Ge ec ic Pecan ee of nationalism from representatives, electe iy e -Russian | seriously splitting the Union. Congress, and 100 elected by the various re-| Each of the major republies has a parallel publics. This committee passes most of the | political structure to that of the Union—a Se s the oe ae 4 congress, a central executive committee and presidium of twenty-one members, which is 4 presidium. the supreme authority between sessions of the) fe ees . BA Sacer, Geutgal Weotitive Committee, The. Central| The local elections are not conducted by se Executive Committee also elects the Soca eal PUY hegerd of Beads s se enue fof Papple’s. Comulieeacn: who ere. the execu | possible to determine how every man votes. R . A |This would seem to lend itself to intimidation, tive heads of the various major departments. but it should be remembered that it would be There is a unified administration for the (very difficult to provide a secret written bal-, whole Union of some of the departments, such’ jot in a country where there is so much il- as War, Foreign Affairs and Transport.|jiteracy as in Russia. It is also true that a, Others, such as Labor, Finance and the Econ-|yotey cannot be subjected to the same in- omic Council have Commissars for each of the|tjmidation as would be the ease were indus- republics and for the Union as a whole, al-| tries and land in the hands of a few. Most of | LEADERS OF THE REVOLUTION in Red Square. Left to right: Kuybisheff, Com- Its name has been | missar of Industry; Rykov, President of Council of People’s Commissars (talking thru loud speaker); and changed from the Russian Socialist Feder-| the smaller man facing toward the right is Tomsky, famous leader of the Trade Unions in Soviet Russia. try districts where the proportion of Com- munists is slight. Trustworthy observers in- form us that discussion and voting in the vil- lages seem perfectly free. The proportion of Communists elected to of- fice increases rapidly as one goes higher in the governmental structure. In the villages the overwhelming majority of the members of the local soviets are non-Communists. The} proportion, however, in the county and pro-} vincial soviets is higher, and higher yet in the All-Russian Congress. The proportion of Commun in the Central Executive Com, mittee is still higher, while the Presidium and the Council of People’s Commissars are en- tirely composed of Communists. It should not be inferred, however, that the non-Communist members of the soviets are nec ily opposed to the Communist Party or to socialistic principles. A great many men end women in sympathy with Communist policies either do not wish to make the sac- rifice required of a member of the party or do not wish to subject themselves to its iron {period to eliminate the career-seeker, many applicants being turned down on this ground. The result is at the Cc t Party is very different from what la political par of persons whx in the same ¢ fully select understand by rgregation ne decide to vote It is rather a care- tive workers with a willing to make great 1 who are bound together by a cer d discipline. The structure of the Communist Party is very similar to that of the political state. Its , 1,200,000 members are organized into approx- imately 38,000 local cells (nuclei). These cells exist in factories and in villages, and in some s have a district org tion in the cities., They elect representati to the annual con- § s of the party, which in turn elects a Cen-. tral Committee. This is the main body to dew termine policies. It elects a political bureauj of nine, which directs the main work of tha |party between sessions of the Central Com- mittee. All members are bound by decisions of the party. This leads in practice to a high} degree of centralization, since the central coms mittee can bind individuals in advance of the annual meeting of the congress. The central administration of the party also has a great deal of influence in nominating local secreta< |ries of the party, and this still further helps to build up a central power. As is well known, tke opposition in the party, led by Trotzky and Zinoviev, has recently contended that they‘ |should have the right to question decisions of the annual congress if new circumstances arise which alter the conditions existing at the time the general policy was formed. They also in- sist upon the right to carry on within the par- ty a full discussion of the decisions of the 'Central Committee and to carry on agitation prior to the meetings of the annual congress. have believed that the sacrificial | quality of the Communist Party would disap- |pear as the old communists who suffered in | exile and prison for their principles died-off or | became superannuated. The communists have |seen this danger and have attempted to meet | Many ‘to agitation and administration. Giscipline, since members of the party are) it by setting up two organizations, the Pio- called upon for a great deal of political and| neers and the League of Communist youth must be active in the trade unions, in the O-| 10 to 16, the latter includes youths from 16 to cperatives and in political life. They must)93_ The Comsomols have branches through- give up several afternoons or evenings a week | out the U.S. S. R. and comprise approximately They aré}9 300,000 members, or nearly twice the punished much more severely than non-Com- rength of the party itself. About half of munists for any offense against the state. these are taken into the party when they Chey cannot accept a larger wage than $112.50 reach the age of eligibility. Some of the rest a month in the larger cities and even less in do not care to join, ‘and others are climinabed the provinces. Many of the technicians and on one or another ground. The Comsomols administrators who are not Communists re- jnot only carry on educational and agitationak ceive much more than this amount. Under) ork among their members, but also exercise these circumstances, therefore, many persons) .4q play together. They are also supposed to in sympathy with the aims of the party are gy social work among the unemployed juve. reluctant to join. niles, and to take care of the organization mined on a national scale. Underneath the Peoples Commissars is a Chairman of the People’s Commissars togeth- er with the Commissars of Workers’ and Peasants’ Inspection, War, Labor, Supreme Economie Council, Ways and Communicati:s, Home and Foreign Trade, and a representa- tive of the All-Russian Council of Trade Unions. This Council has charge of the gen- though the major policies tend to be deter-' the abuses of public voting in, England came It is also difficult to gain admission to the ranks of the party, particularly if one is not| Council of Labor and Defense composed of the) because of the power which the landlords and|a manual worker or a peasant. The records of some of the manufacturers had over their|applicants are carefully examined, and if they workmen by means of the covert threat that have participated in counter-revolutionary at- \if.a worker voted against the desires and in- tempts in the past they are almost always re- terests of the landlord or employer, his Job jected. There is also a probationary period of {would be endangered. ‘ever, for a considerable amount of social pres-|sants, and five years for non-manual work- ‘sure to be exercised against men who vote/ers, during which the candidate may attend against Communist principles, but this pres-| party meetings, but has not a deciding vote. sure is naturally much weaker in the coun-'Tn addition, every effort is made during this It is possible, how-|six months for workers, one year for pea-| Pioneers, playing a part which would be ogous to our Big Brother and Big Sister moves ment, ; 4 (To Be Continued.) (The full report of the American Traleg Union Delegation to Soviet Russia,.as bai lished here by courtesy of International 4 Publishers, can also be obtained in book 4 form at all bookstores.) | \ Ty ip | mainder, for “fearless devotion to \ duty” during the Nanking bom- ‘Decorate Four Sailors | For “Bravery” in Murder OF Civilians at Nanking: men cf the destroyers Noa and) reston were presented with the! vy cross today by Captoin C. A! keley, destroyer squadron com- ardiment in which several hundred | | t MANILA, Nov. 1-—Four entisted | i | i | | i | ‘Riff Chief Demands “Bio Bask French Release Ten Captives as Ransom TANGIER, Morocco, Nov. 1. —- The French government official designated to negotiate with the Riff tribesmen for the release of two Frenchmen and | Chingse citizens were killed. They! | two women recently kidnapped is en | are: Dennis Taylor, Henry Warren, | | route today for Kaiba, where the $80,- | Charles W. Horn and John Wilson.' /000 ransom demanded by the tribes- | The four men kept communica-| | men is to be paid. tions uninterrupted between the Nanking consulate and the destroy- ers on the river from March 21 to] March 24, while the Noa and Preston shelled the unpretected city of Nanking. Ex-Head of Rumanian Air Force Arrested; Helped Carol Revolt LONDON, Nov. 1—Col. Teodor- eacu, former Chief of Staff of the Rumanian air forces, was arrested today in connection with the purchase of airplanes, according to a direct dispatch received by the Daily Mail from Bucharest. The planes, it is believed, were pur- chased for the use of Prince Carol supporters. Conditions were that the French lib- erate ‘10 Ritf prisoners; French, within the next four years, re- deem any counterfeit money that might be included in the ransom; that | no military reprisals be made. The prisoners are Yves Steeg and Jean Maillet, nephews of the French governor general of Morocco; Baron- ess Steinhel and Mme. Marie Prokor- off. TWO FRENCH SOLDIERS JAILED. PARIS, Oct. 10, (By mail). — Two soldiers, accused of having carried on propaganda among the troops asking workers in the army to organize were given jail sentences. One was given 165 months, the other a year, WANTED — MORE 2EADERS! ARE YOU GETTING THEM? that the) _ Mussolini's Demand for Share of Tangier Spoils LONDON, Nov. 1. — Great Brit-' will back Italy in her demand | ;for a share of the Tangier spoils, ‘according to close observers of the j Situation. France, which is nego- | | tiating with Spain over the disposal of Tangier, is opposed to the Ital-; jian demand for a share in the ad- | ministration of Tangier. | Reports from Paris declared that | the French conservative press ex- | | | pressed alarm at the presence of | | jthe Fascist fleet at Tangier. \Fearing Torture by Gomez Bandits, Hurt | Officer Kills Himself MEXICO CITY, Nov. 1. — Captain Ramon Diaz, federal commander of the small town of San Gabriel, Jalisco, wounded when counter-revolutionists attacked the town, rather than fall into the hands of the besiegers, com- | mitted suicide, according to reports re- ceived here. Diaz is said to have feared torture by the reactionaries, Paulino Fontes, director general of railways in the Carranza regime, has been arrested and brought to Mexico City on charges of counter-revolu- tionary activities, it is reported. i TROOPS DROWNED BY CANTON ARMY Right Wing Terrorism) to Check Revolt | (Special to Daily Worker.) SHANGHAI, Nov. 1. — Foreign newspapers in Shanghai state that all! of the wounded peasant soldiers, in! the army of Yeh Ting, who’ fell into ithe hands of the ht wing punit! xpedition sent against it, were mediately drowned. | Two hundred wounded peasants are | reported to have been drowned at) Wangshan, 100 at Shanghang and 1,000 at Kiukiang. According to the! reports, Cantonese (right wing) au-/ thorities have decided to use this| method of exterminating Communists | in the future. | The native press and public opinion | are indignant at the wanton ynurder | of a Chinese soldier by an English) sentry. The murder was committed | on the territory of the Chinese section | of Shanghai, near the border. BUY THE DAILY WORKER AT THE NEWSSTANDS WOUNDED CHINESE SEND YOUR GREETINGS NOW To Be Published in the Special November 7th Number of the Daly Worker TENTH ANNIVERSARY RUSSIAN REVOLUTION Send not less than 25 cents with every name to The Daily Worker, 33 First St., New York, N. Y. FULL NAME FULL NAME TOTAL GREETINGS—Accepted from working class organizations at $200 ser full page (fraec- tions of a page on this basis) and § .50 per inch. Be sure your organization sends its greetings. ORDER A BUNDLE OF THE DAILY WORKER For the November 7th Meetings and for Distribution. RATES—$1.50 per hundred-copies | economic work outside of working hours. They | (Comsomo]). The first takes in children from a=