The Daily Worker Newspaper, November 26, 1927, Page 8

Page Eight THE DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 1927 Published by the DAILY WORKER PUBLISHING CO. Daily, Except Sunday 83 First Street, New York, N. Y. Cable Add SUBSCRIPT! By Mail (in New York only): $8.00 pe: $4.50 six months 50 three months. | | Phone, Orchard 1680 RAT | RATES s y Mail (outside of New oYrk): $6.00 per year $8.50 six months 00 three months. out. check st Street, Addres: THE DAILY WORKE New York, N. Y. under The Soviet Union and the League of Nations When the world war came to an end, as far as the great im- perialist powers were concerned, the allied nations, led by England and France organized the league of nations which was offered to | } | | 1s a guarantee that another holocaust such as | a war-weary world ¢ loosed upon the peoples of all countries in 1914 would never | in be permitted. But it was soon evident to all except those who have their | heads in the clouds that the league of nations was but an instru- | ment in the hands of the imperialist powers to enable them to} more effectively exploit the colonial and semi-colonial peoples and | to organize world imperialism against the Soviet Union. Great Britain and France controlled the league and both carried on a consistent policy of opposition to the Union of So- cialist Soviet Republics, using the league as their instrument. But the Soviet Union grew strong in spite of them and the Red Army served notice on the imperialists that it was able to defend the | revolution against open enemy and covert traitor. | Misled by the conspiracy of social-democratic “leaders” of the working class, who, as servants of the bourgeoisie, support the specious peace pretensions of the league, many honest workers sympathetic to the Soviet Union have wondered why the Soviet government has not hitherto participated in the work of the league. This question was recently put to comrade Stalin, secre- tary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union by a delegation | of 80 workers from various countries, and Stalin’s answer is as follows: “The Soviet Union is not a member of the League of Nations and does not participate in its work, because the Soviet Union is not prepared to share the responsibility for the imperialist policy of the League of Nations for the ‘man- dates’ which are distributed by the League for the exploita- and oppression of the colonial countries, for the war preparations which are covered and sanctified by the League, preparations which must inevitably lead to imperialist war. “The Soviet Union does not participate in the work of » because the Soviet Union is fighting with all its gainst all preparations for imperialist war. he Soviet Union is not prepared to become a part of that camouflage for imperialist machinations represented by gue of Nations. League is the rendezvous of the imperialist leaders tle their business there behind the scenes. The sub- out which the League speaks officially, are nothing ty phrases intended to deceive the workers. The business carried on by the leaders behind the scenes, that is the actual work of imperialism which the eloquent speakers of the League of Nations hypocritically cloak.” Comrade Stalin-has stated concisely the function of the League of Nations, which should automatically explain why the government of the Soviet Union, the foe of world imperialism and the champion of the oppressed, cannot participate in the work of this committee of imperialist bandits. The Folsom Revolt Driven to desperation by the inhuman conditions prevailing there, over one thousand convicts in Folsom Prison, California, rebelled, and surrendered only after the national guard was mob- ilized and preparations were made to lay siege to the cell block in which the men were isolated, with all the machinery of modern warfare. Knowing that their action would be followed by severe pun- given him in a thousand years. DIVIDED WE FALL By Fred Ellis ; The miners in Ohio, Indiana and Pennsylvania as well as in Colorado are being shot down and starved with impunity by the bosses because they are disunited, disorganized and weak. They must unite in one powerful union for the entire coal industry under militant leadership if they would win better conditions and protect themselves against the bloody thugs of the bosses. is Money Writes (Continued from Last Zssue.) The Springs of Pessimism NE great service was rendered to American literature by George] Cram Cook. He founded the Prov- incetown Theatre, and discovered Eugene O’Neill; a wild boy who had run away from home, and shipped as a sailor, and lived a vagabond life in various ports of the world. He! happened to be in Provincetown “with | a trunkful of plays,” when the little! group of radicals were trying to start a proletarian drama, So he got a | means neither did he—I know it, because he ‘| was indiscreet enough to write a long statement on the program, trying to tell me. My counter-statement will be briefer, and nobody will have any doubt what I mean. Pessimism is mental disease. It is that wherever and under Whatever circumstances it appears, in art and philosophy, as in everyday life. It illness in the person who voices it, and in the society which produces that person. If it continues unchecked in an individual, it is a symptom of his moral breakdown; if it prevails in the literature, art, drama, polities, or philosophy of a nation, it means that nation is in course of decay. All ‘truly great art is optimistic. sound, occupied in mastering life and expanding the social forces. It is only when those forces exhaust them- selves, that the art public enjoys con- templating moral impotence, and that the individual artist does not know whether life is worth living. The fact that practically all great art is tragic does not in any way ‘change the above thesis. I have named the three great classic dramas, the “Prometheus Bound” of Aeschy- lus, the “Prometheus Unbound” of | Shelley, and the “Samson Agonistes” lof Milton. All three are tragic; but in each case the hero struggles in the |cause of a new faith. And the same |thing applies to “The Emperor | Jones,” and “The Hairy Ape”; their individual, protagonists go down to The individual artist is happy in his| defeat, but they struggle for light, creative work, and in its reception by! and this impulse is communicated to his public; the public is active and' us. By Upton Sinclair Capitalist art, when produced by artists of sincerity and intelligence, is pessimistic, because capitalism is} dying; it has no morals, and can have none, being the negation of morality in social affairs, Proletarian art is optimistic, because it is only by hope that the workers can act, or dream of acting. Proletarian art has a mor- ality of brotherhood and service, be- cause it is only by these qualities that the masses can achieve their freedom. i And in order to avoid cheap sneers and misunderstandings, let me add that there is a capitalist art of false optimism. based upon the master- class desire to keep the workers in ignorance as to their conditions and} prospects. To unmask this art is the first, task of the social rebel, and I have tried to do my share of this service. hearing, which the commercial the- atre of Broadway would not have And) so the commercial theatre of Broad-| way has been mocked. | Tf you think that my understanding | of proletarian art is Socialist lectures disguised as novels and soap-box ora- tions preached from a stage, then let me hasten to say that these eafly plays of O’Neil are part of what I| want and have got. Here is a man| who writes about the sea, from the point of view of the wage-slaves of the sea, with full knowledge, insight, and pity; yet so far as I can recall, there is not one word of direct propa- ganda, hardly even of indirect. Let a man show capitalism as it really is in any smallest corner—as O’Neil has done in “Bound East for Cardiff”— and the message of revolt rings from every sentence. * And then “The Emperor Jones”; the first O’Neil play to reach California, and so the first that I saw on the ishment, the prisoners must have been in a desperate mood to have taken such drastic measures. Condemned to long terms of imprisonment in a prison specially fitted out for second-termers they were driven to the conclusion that it was better to take a chance on death in a struggle against their persecutors than to suffer the torture much longer. The warden of Folsom Prison is a stupid bureaucrat who was given the job as a reward for his loyalty to the regular G. O. P. machine in the days of the Bull Moose revolt. The prisons of the United States are a source of colossal graft. Bourgeois satellites of the political party in control of the federal] and state prisons make huge profits supplying those institutions with food, clothing and other commodities. The food served to the unfortunate inmates is not fit for consumption as a rule and only those who are in a position to purchase food or have it sent in to them from the outside are able to survive. It is on the food allowance that the warden’s biggest graft is found. 4s long as the capitalist system exists the worker will be followed from the cradle to the grave by the greedy exploiters, out to grind profits out of his labor. And when his foot slips on the legal banana peels strewn in his path by the legal bloodhounds of the system and he lands in one of its prisons, he is poisoned | with adulterated food and shot with up-to-date rifles if he pro- tests. The “mother of parliaments” is conducting herself in a most unseemly manner these days. Honorable members are calling | each other ugly names and even right honorable members are losing their tempers. Not since the Irish nationalists of Parnell’s | time raised the devil in the house of commons has‘there been so | much excitement in that venerable institution. The imperialist Britons were proud of the coolness with which they faced crises. jexactly as they would have done in| \I would have been still more pleased, {the author of “Singing Jailbirds,” I Are they losing their nerve? stage. Avrigid Leninist would call! that a reactionary play, because suggests a permanent, hereditary in feriority of the black race. But it is a play so full of pity and terror, of truly magical entrance into the heart of savage humanity, that it operates to humble pride and break down bar- riers. I have put so much denuncia- tion into this book, you may think me hard to please; so take note that I am ready to praise what I can, and not afraid to hail a masterpiece in my own day. “The Emperor Jones” | is my idea of great drama and great | poetry, a leap of the imagination and an enlargement of the possibilities of the theatre, And then “The Hairy Ape,” which my friend Floyd Dell hailed as defi-| nitely reactionary. For my part, I} am glad of small favors; I note a! short scene in a headquarters of the I. W. W., in which these men behave | reality. Am I correct in saying that it is the first and only time this has happened in the acted theatre of America? If O’Neil had chosen one of these rebel workers for his hero, but the theatre public would have waitgd some years to hear of it, As do not speak at a guess! Our great proletarian playwright has grown pessimistic, and is now groping in the fogs of metaphysics. I followed him for an uncomfortable evening in “The Great God Brown,” and when he was through I didn’t jknow what he was driving at, ang 7UN YPARS AGO THE PASSING OF THE PETROGRAD AND MOSCOW SOVIETS INTO THE HANDS OF THE BOLSHEVIKS. N the 31st of August the Petrograd Soviet adopted for the first time the Bolshevik resolution by a majority of 279 against 115, 51 refraining from vot- ing. Ou the 4th of September a joint meeting of the Moscow Soviet carried the Bolshevik resolution for the first time. On September the ninth the Petrograd Soviet re-elected its presidium, and on September 23rd Trotsky was elected its President. The adop- tion of the Bolshevik resolution by the Petrograd and Moscow Soviets, the election of Nogin as President of the Petrograd Soviet—all these were events of extremely great significance. These events were all the more significant because they took place at the end of August and in the early part of September. Up to that time both the Petrograd and the Moscow Soviets were in the hands of the compromising Men- sheviks and Social Revolutionaries, that is, during the early part of the revolution an overwhelming majority of the proletariat voted for the Mensheviks and Social Revolutionaries and thus gave them con- trol over Soviet organizations. The passing of the Petrograd and Moscow Soviets. into the hands of the Bolsheviks signifies the end of a great process. From the very beginning of the revolution of 1917 the Party pursued the task of winning the majority of the proletariat over to its side. During the whole of 1917, notwithstanding the efforts of the Mensheviks and Social Revolutionaries to prevent such action, the overwhelming majority of the proletariat lined up with the Bolsheviks. The Bolsheviks first won over the lower organizations of the proletariat, such as factory committees, trade unions, district Soviets, ete. The higher organiza- tions which had been captured by the Mensheviks and Social Revolutionaries remained under their con- trol for a longer period of time since it was wore difficult to call new elections in these bocics. The passing of these’ organizations into the hands of the Bolsheviks signified that all solid ground was gone from under the feet of the Menshaviks and Social Revolutionaries, and that all the lower or- ganizations, from top to bottom, had already lined up with the Bolsheviks, This change meant that the proletariat as a whole was setting out io realize the fundamental task of the revolution, namely, the struggle for power, and that the Mensheviks aid the Social Revolutionaries had failed to hold the pro- lctariat cn the platform of the bourgeois revolution. The passing of the Petrograd Soviet into ihe hands 07 the Bolsheviks meart that the enorious mass of the prcletariat, numbering hundreds of thou- sands, was fc}lowing the leadership of the Bolshe- viks. The change which took place at the end of August and at the beginning of September not only signified that the huge mass of the proletariat be- came definitely lined up with the Bolsheviks and . that the Bolsheviks were the leaders of the prole- tariat and expressors of its wishes and demands, but it also meant that at the end of August and the beginning of September, in answer to Kornilov’s mutiny., i.e., in answer to the attempt of the bour- geoisie to seize power by armed force and to estab- lish a dictatorship of the bourgeoisie, proletarian or- ganizations everywhere sided with the Bolsheviks. The fact that at the end of August and the begin- ning of September the Moscow and Petrograd Sov- iets for the first time carried by a majority a Bol- shevik resolution shows not only that the process of uniting the proletariat under the leadership of the Bolsheviks was growing and reaching completion, but also that this process had definite, sharply ex- pressed aims and aspirations. In answer to the at- tempts of the bourgeoisie to establish its dictator- ship, the proletariat handed the Petrograd and Mos- cow Soviets over to the Bolsheviks, that is, the pro- Jetariat faced definitely and boldly the acute pyob- lem of power, and set before itself a very distinct goal. In answer to the dictatorship of the bour- geoisie, the proletariat advanced the aim of Sighting for the establishment of its own dictatorship, the cictatorship of the proletariat. The following resolution was adopted by the Petro- grad Soviet on the 31st of August and by the Moscow Soviet on the 6th of September. In the face of the counter-revolutionary traitorous mutiny of General Kornilov, prepayed and supported by the Party and by certain groups whose represen- tatives are members of the Provisional government, and headed by the Cadet Party, the Executive Com- mittee deems it necessary to declare that from now on all hesitancy in the matter of establishing power must pe definitely cast aside. We must remove from positions of power not only the Cadeis, who are openly involved in this traitorous mutiny, but also the representatives of the bourgeoisie as a whole; we must change the entire policy of compromise and irresponsibility which is making possible the transformation of higher commanding organs from «n apparatus of state power into a ‘hotbed and a weapon of conspiracy against the revolution. We ean no longer tolerate the existence of the special powers of the Provisional government and its irre- sponsibility. The only way out of this situation “is the establishment of a resolute government of the revolutionary proletariat and peasantry. The activ- ity of this new government is to be based on the following: the declaration of a democratic republic, the immediate abolition of private ownership of the landed estates, and the immediate transfer of this land, without any compensation, into the hands of peasants’ committees. Until the Constituent Assembly will issue its de- cisions, there must be proclaimed an immediate pro- posal of peace to all nations and the abolition of capital punishment and other repressive measures. The achievement of all the indicated demands will be made possible only by a complete break with the rolicy of compromise and reconciliation with the bourgeoisie and by a determined struggle for power. gn the part of the wide masses, =, th | Red Rays w York Times of last Thurs- devoted two columns and a half to the forthcoming Preparatory Disarmament Conference at Geneva |and the greater part of the material published in this space dealt with the probable role that will be played by the Soviet Union at this conference. The imperialist powers that have been |charging the U. S. S. R. with “im- |perialism” for the past few years |are now'worried out of their skins because the Russian delegates intend ‘to talk “cold turkey” on the question |of disarmament. The’ Soviet govern- |ment is taking advantage of an ex- ‘cellent opportunity to smoke out the | imperialist pole-cats who bleat about | peace while they are feverishly arm- jing for the next military holocaust. * * * |FHE Nation rejoices that Great Britain has decided to cancel the building of three 10,000-ton cruisers and to build instead, one of 8000 tons. This respectable organ sees in the change of ylan a gesture towards peace. It is nothing of the sort. Be- cause of the adequate supply of na- val bases at the disposal of the Brit- jish Empire, that government has not as muck need for large war vessels with a wide cruising radius as thé United States has, with the great aistances between its bases. Liberals are easily gulled. But then they want to be. It is much more comfortable to be at peace with the world than at war. * * * UR ON SINCLAIR in the chapter of “Money Writes,” published in yes- terday’s issue, tells us that Sinclair Lewis has promised him that he would write a labor novel. We hope he keeps his promise, because we believe that Lewis can do the job hetter than any other writer on the American jmarket just now, provided he knows ‘his workers as well as he knows his preachers and his real estate agents. It would be just like Lewis to take a job in a coal mine in order to get material for his book, * * * INCLAIR places certain restrictions on the author. It is true he does not insist that it be a propa- ganda novel, but the author of “Oil” will not whoop it up for a novel “which jeers at the protestant churches of America, because they put the prohibition laws on the statute books.and are going to stick to the | job until they get the laws enforced.” \Tt may be news to Sinclair that this |same collection of superstition mon- gers that furnish the motive power |to the Anti-Saloon League also gave guidance to, the Ku Klux Klan and is hand and glove with the most reac- tionary elements in American life ‘to- day. * * * §INCLAIR would also have the au- thor of the labor novel “show the weaknesses of the radical movement, its miserable factional wrangling, its dogmatism and narrowness.” Neither Upton Sinclair nor Sinclair “Lewis is qualified for this task, even if it were a worthy one. Both are almost total losses in political judgement. hey are excellent muckrakers, but their ideal political party would be one without head or tail, * * * ‘HE factional wrangling in the la- bor movement that Sinclair objects to is the logical and inevitable result of the differences of opinion that pre- vail in the movement over the policies the workingclass movement should adopt in the struggle for bet- ter conditions and ultimate emancipa- tion from capitalism. This struggle is wholesome as well as inevitable. The Communist movement, while seeking to bring about united action on the part of the widest possible la- sists that within its own ranks there is uniformity of opinion on questions of fundamental policies. The work- ingclass movement must know where it is going and how to get there, elae it will wander in the political deserts sands. * * * 1 Nea principal struggle in the work. ingclass movement here, as Well as elsewhere, is between the ri it wing which pulls towards the Capi- talist system and the left wing which is leading the workers ip the strug. gle for the abolition of capitalism and organizing them so that they may be able to accomplish that purpose, Upton Sinclair wants to be at liberty, so that he can tilt at windmills like prohibition and wage war against ite dividuals with polygamist tendencies instead of being shackled by the rules and regulations of a revolutionary or-~ ganization, that would protect him from the lure of Messiahs like Wilson, who appear every once in a while with a personal message of salvation and a personal program to free the workers from every other but their own. ” ee * * * i IS quite evident, that since one section of the labor movement, represented by the bureaucrats of the A. F. of L. and the right wing so- cialists, stands for the present order of things, and another section repre-) sented by the Communists and thelr of capitalism, that there cannot be any “peace” in the labor movement and that which Sinclair calls “ able wrangling” must continua 1k OFLAHERIY — bor front against the capitalists, in-- sympathizers stand for the abolition PAL NST ETL TT ain mummies. acetal until its bones bleach on the torrid»