The Daily Worker Newspaper, December 21, 1927, Page 6

| Page Six THE DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, DEC. 21, 1927 BACK TO BACK, THE CHINESE WORKERS AND PEASANTS FIGHT! By Fred Ellis contracts, promise to become even Published by the NATIONAL DAILY WORKER PUBLISHING ASS'N, Inc. | Daily, Except Sunday 83 First Street, New York, N. Y. Cable Address: SUBSCRIPTION RATES By Mail (in New York only): By Mail (outside ise ew York): $8.00 per year $4.50 six months $6.00 per year $8.50 six months $: three month: $2. 00 three months. Phone, Orchard 1680 “Daiwork” out. che Street, Ney York, N.Y: : ROBERT MINOR ..WM. F. DUNNE office at New York, N. ¥. under | 3, 1879. | .. The Brand Bill, the Labor Movement and the Foreign-Language Press A bill aimed at every foreign-language publication which is | not absolutely the instrument of capitalist reaction in general and | the open she» in particula:, has been introduced in congress by | Representative Brand of Georgia. | “Opposition to organized government” is put forward as the main reason why certain foreign language papers should be denied | the use of the mails and as usual the assumption is that only the | | Communist press will be affected since the anarchist foreign | language press is practically non-existent and in spite of the fact | that Communists are not against government in principle, but | against capitalist government. Communists in the Soviet Union | have established a government which excels in organization any- | thing yet seen. But it is not organized for the capitalist class but | against it. | Just as is the case with the drive on the Communists and | the left wing in the unions, conducted jointly by the bosses, the government and reactionary labor officialdom, the attack on ine LS WHAT THE OPPOSITION HAS TO SAY revolutionary section of the foreign-language press will not stop | there. It will be extended to include in its attack every language | paper which opposes in any way the intensive exploitation and | brutal persecutiorl’of the foreign-born workers carried on in the | United States just as the attack on the left wing became an at- | tack on the unions. | The Brand bill is part of the general drive against the for- eign born workers, especially in basic industry, which finds ex- pression in bills for the registration and fingerprinting of the foreign-born, in resolutions like those of the Bellaire, O., chamber of commerce denouncing the striking coal miners who are foreign- born, in the demand for the deportation of foreign-born workers | who go on strike made by various boss-controlled 100 per cent American organizations and in injunctions like that issued in Ohio, prohibiting foreign-born miners from appearing on the picket line. Against all such attempts to create a special classification of subject at all times to police supervision and to place the n-language press under the same kind of espionage, the labur movement must fight as a unit. Such legislation is nothing more or less than a scheme to establish a nationwide blacklist, organized by government agen- cies and placed at the disposal of the capitalists for whatever pur- poses they choose to use it for. Spying on workers by government and private agencies of the eapitalists is already a fine art. Every important industry is infested with “under cover men” who ferret out militant work- ers and try by all means, including murder, to prevent union or- ganization. The Brand bill is intended to extend this tactic to the for- eign-language press and prevent it being used in organization campaigns, election campaigns, worker defense campaigns or any other work that strengthens the labor movement and raises the jevel of class consciousness. The Council for the Protection of the Foreign-Born has its work cut out for it. In its fight against the further enslavement of the foreign-born workers it must have the support of the entire labor movement. The defeat of such measures as the Brand bill will be a vic- tery for the entire working class. The Red Cross and Relief for Miners and Their Families . By instructing its Iowa state branch to give no aid to the striking miners the Red Cross has furnished further proof that it is an agency of the capitalists and their government. The Iowa State Federation of Labor in issuing an appeal for relief for the miners and their families states: “The state chapter of Red Cross started a campaign to assist men, women and children who are in destitute cir- cumstances in the mining communities of Appanoose and Monroe counties. The coal operators protested to the Na- tional Red Cross who sent a representative to lowa who in- structed the state chapter that they could not assist the miners’ families who were destitute. They also refused to allow the Red Cross agencies in the above-mentioned coun- ties to handle or distribute food or clothing sent in by out- side agencies.” The Red Cross gets much favorable publicity for its work in such disasters as the recent floods. Its function here is clearly to make such arrangements as are necessary to prevent outbursts of discontent and give what is purely an instrument of imperialism a humanitarian character. In addition such exercises serve to keep its machinery in working order. But the suffering in the mining camps is a result of the class st-ugele and the Red Cross lines up with the class it serves in war and “peace.” One of the main tasks of the labor movement is to form and support its own relief organizations and to make every relief cam- paign a means of exposing the Red Cross and similar agencies as instruments which confine their “humanitarian” activities to} those situations where intervention aids the capitalist class and its government. “Mr, Avila is a young man of excellent character, and euv..ely subordinate at ail times.” Talk about damnir of the letter \of rec anyone with faint praise! Yet this is i, eal make from an intelligence officer | ‘| |ship causes the least possible damage The fight of the Chinese workers and peasants against unbear able slavery under the combined imperialist powers and Chinese rene- gades, takes the form which is inevitable in such a fight in this age— the struggle for the state power of workers’ and peasants’ soviets. They are fighting for the All red-! blooded: workers a cause of the workers and farmers of the entire world. nd farmers of the entire world should fight to help them. Speeches Made at the Soviet ‘Union Communist Party Executive | MY proposal to discuss separately the question of the Wrangel of- ficer and the military conspiracy has | been rejected. I put forward the ques- tion as to why, how, and by whom! the Party had been deceived, in say- ing that the Opposition had partici- |pated in a counter-revolutionary or- ganization. And, as a further proof of what you mean by discussion, you | decided to hide from the Party my short speech’ about the fictitious Wrangel officer. The question is how and why the present leading fraction was com- pelled to deceive the Party by pre- senting a GPU agent as a Wrangel officer, and by frightening the Party with false statement concerning Op- position participation in counter-rev- elation. organzaitions? The main political question What is all this leading to? In our declaration of July last year we accurately foretold all the stages through which the destruction of the! Leninist Leadership of the Party and its temporary replacement by the Sta- linist leadership was taking place. I say temporary replacement be- cause the more the leading group is “victorious” the more will it weaken, and we can now say that Stalin’s present organizational victory is the forerunner of his political collapse. The main task of the Opposition is to see that the consequences of the perilous policy of the present leader- is: to the Party. Present Policy. OU want to exclude us from the Central Committee. We agree that this is fully in line with the policy of the present leadership at its pre- sent stage of development or rather defeat, The ruling fraction, which dares to exclude from the Party hun- dreds of such fine Bolsheviks as Mratchkovsky, Serebriakov, Preobra- zhensky, Sharov, Sarkis, Vuyovitch, comrades who alone could form a party secretariat with immeasurably more authority, more educated and incomparably more Leninist, than our present secretariat—the Stalin-Bu- kharin fraction which has incarcerat- ed many fine Party comrades in the GPU prison, which holds down the Party by force, by suppressing Party thought and disorganizing the work- ers’ vanguard not only in the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics but throughout the whole world; this oroughiy opportunist fraction which during the past year has had at its i ail Chiang-Kai ong-yu-<i ang, Wong-Chin-W. the Purcells, | Hiskses, Ben Tilletts, Kuusinens, | Smerals, Reppert, Heinz Nena RE Ee, ®Kondrat land: Ustrailova..:this fraction cennoul |bear us on the Central Commit even a month prior to the Congress, We can quite understand that. You, |have hidden our program, or rather; tried to hide it. To be frightened of a program is to be frighiened of the | masses: | We told you on September 8 that) we would get our program before the | Party in spite of all the bans and we | have done so. The selection of people through the Secretariat by the Stalinist group ac- {quired from the time of Lenin’s ill- ness an independent political nature; that is why Lenin gave his final ad- vice to the Party: “Remove Stalin, who might bring the Party to split and destruction.” (Vociferous inter- ruptions.) 4 ZINOVIEV, TROTSKY — AND STALIN II. Trotsky’s Speech (On Thursday morning, December 22, The DAILY WORKER will publish the speech of Joseph Stalin, Secretary of the Com- munist Party of the Soviet Union, in reply to the calumnies and inaccuracies which are apparent in the speeches of Zinoviev and Trotsky.) —EDITOR, “Advice Hidden.” pe selected apparatus having hid- den. this advice, we are now con- fronted with the results. The leading fraction thinks it can do anything it likes by violence, but it is profoundly wrong. By terrorizing the Party the ruling fraction is lowering its capa- city to maintain fear over the class enemies, 3 The Party regime expresses the en- tire policy of the leadership. Of late the class basis of this policy has moved from left to right: from the workers to the lower middle class, from the worker to the technical ex- pert, from the rank and file Party member to the bureaucrat, from the poor peasant to the rich peasant, from the Shanghai worker to Chiang Kai- shek, from the Chinese peasants to the upper class officers’ clique, from the British workers to Purcell, Hicks, the General Council people, ete. This is the very substance of Stalinism. Though the Stalin fraction is deal- ing blows left and right, it is really giving way to blows from the left and right. It is adopting a bureaucratic centrist policy half-way between two class policies. But the transition from the work- ing class to a middle class policy takes a zigzag course; extension of the elec- toral instructions under pressure from the rich peasants (the whip from thé right), then its withdrawal under pressure from the opposition (the whip from the left). In spite of many zig-zags in labor legislation the gen- eral course is to the right. The recent jubilee manifesto is un- doubtedly a left zig-zag, but we must not forget at the moment that it is only a zig-zag. The jubilee zig-zag to the left im- mediately realized will meet with most stern resistance in the ranks of the majority itself. Today “get rich quick” and tomorrow bribes from the rich peasants. Behind the backs of the extreme bureaucrats there stands the awakening bourgeoisie. . .(Trotsky is interrupted by extreme commotion, noise, hooting and cries of “get down.” The delegates rise and leave the hall). (To Be Continued.) KARL MARX AND THE BUSINESS OF BASEBALL But this is a strug-|naturally try to squeeze the highest By MARTIN ABERN. ‘The economic theories developed or the laws formulated by Karl Marx are | now making themselves felt in the | field of sports, particularly baseball. To many, this new development is unusual; actually, it is natural, in- evitable and based on ascertainable causes. The trend in professional baseball is for trustification of the enterprise, towards a system of concentration of the ownership of the ball teams thru- out the country, high and low, and towards interlocking ‘directorates or ownership. Whereas in the past, a Major League Ball owner, for example, of New York, Pittsburgh, Chicago or St. Louis, was satisfied to despoil and profit through the ownership of his particular group of players, it is now found necessary to maintain either domination or actual ownership of a group of teams in the minor leagues. Big and Little Magnates. This is resulting in a good deal of discussion and bicter dissension be- tween the owners of the teams in the larger cities, or major leagues, and the minor league teams; that is, a struggle between big business and small business, or the petty bour- “| geoisie of baseball, Some Exceptions, Baseball rules and laws, of course, are not governed entirely even by or- d 'y pitalist procedure. They have their own special laws such as velate to the ownership and tvade of | ‘their labor, that is, the ‘ball players, | | which go further in their enslaving | ‘aspect, contractually, than even ordi- | nary capitalist business. But with | this we are not concerning ourselves at the moment. Big Capital Counts. It has been noted even in recent years that such ball clubs as New York and Chicago and those having the largest sources of income are the ones to get the best commodities— the best baseball products. The less influential and rich owners of major | league teams have to be satisfied with lesser products. The result is that such teams as the New York Yankees, the Giants. Chicago, manage to wet i } superior teams. which, no doubt for its own economic interests, it will find some ways of |adjustment. But adjustment with the petty bourgeoisie owners leaving out of account the laborers, the players, is not so simple. Squeezing the Little Fellows. As we note today, it is insufficient, for example, for a steel corporation merely to have control over matters in its immediate vicinity, the factory, ground, the men in the factory, and so on. It is essential that it also control, dominate and own subsidiary bodies and raw materials. So such corporations own also railroads, coal mines, electric power plants, etc. That is, all the raw materials also which ! go into the final making of a particu- \lar product. While in the past, it is ltrue, such monopoly tended toward cheaper prices, and often better pro- ducts, today we know that the result is monopoly of price and, due to the partial eciimination of competitive forces, the passing off of inferior pro- ducts. The Competitive Period. For years in the history of baseball and in fact up to a very recent per- iod, the little fellows, that is, in the small towns throughout the country, such as Dallas, Texas, San Francisco, California, Waco, Texas, Minneapolis, Minn., and so on (to use names at | random to illustrate. I do not know |the status ef these particular clubs) |had ownership of their teams, In imany cases, it has been a “sporting” proposition, a town-booming proposi- tion, and not ,entirely an ordinary | business proposition, though the trend is very much in the latter direction, even in these places. For the most part, the owners of these small town teams depended upon the sale of a particular player who might have ex- ceptional ability to a higher grade | team, and thus perhaps realize finan- cial equilibrium over the period of a baseball season. | Small Fry Methods. However, like all other petty bour- geois business men who are after their full pound of flesh, or, if you please, desire their rights, these little fry gle within big business itself and; price possible out of the big business baseball moguls and have often suc- ceeded. Since sport is not sport, but business, the Morgans of baseball, such as the John McGraws, the Ru- perts, the Wrigleys and the rest have sometimes squirmed and become a bit sore over these excessive prices, as they termed them, Occasionally, they received a “lemon” and were soured. Generally, they “strike” the minors pretty hard thru the “draft” and other forms of squeezing. Still, this method of obtaining new players desired in the big business institutions was too unsatisfactory and uncertain. Big baseball was and is determined to have a permanent source. of supply of raw material. Buying the Source of Supply. In recent years, therefore, major league ball teams have been either openly or secretly (more often the latter, because they did not wish as yet such transactions to be publicly known), purchasing minor league ball teams. This practice was instituted in a large degree by Branch Rickey, for- mer manager of the St. Louis Car- dinals, who purchased, for instance, the Syracuse, Ft. Smith and Houston teams and developed his raw mater- ial of baseball players at the source, Cheaper Labor. He was then later able to ‘bring | them to the major league team of St. | Louis at little or no cost at all. other cases, the practice of lending or “forming out” players to smaller | teams for further training and devel- opment, that is, for finishing up or polishing up within their own labora-| tories, has been a steady and common practice, Virtually every team in the major league has followed this meth- od. Now it is desirous of having com- plete ownership and certainty in this field as far as possible. Big Business Methods. The methods of big business, of ad- vanced capitalist economy, must and will prevail throughout baseball. With economie foresight, such as it is, they are preparing for the future. Indi- vidual ownership is passing; the sale and distribution of the commodity— the baseball plaver. the form of his \ } In; more rigid and slave-like, going much further than the well known and hideous “yellow-dog contract,” in their form (as is known, the slaves of baseball nave no union, although Davey Pultz attempted many years | ago to form such an organization.) | Some Revolts. | This might be of interest to the | youth for a detailed article some | other time, as would also be probably the history of the occasional rebellions and revolts in baseball: the successful one of the American League and the [biaeucesnatal revolt of the Federal In essence, this struggle is a strug- gle between the bourgeoisie of base- bail and the petty bourgeoisie, in which the players themselves have very little say, except occasionally, and particularly when there is one of. marked calibre who is able to sell his labor power, or ability to play, at a high price, such as Babe Ruth or Ty Cobb. No Longer a Sport. Hereafter, therefore, it will be an increased method to dig up rookies, to train them for years on minor league teams which are owned by that par- ticular big league team, and then to bring them to the big league team. Some may lament this development in baseball, believing that it is still a sport instead of a purely com- mercial proposition. It still is a sport in some places, (sandlots mainly) but not in very many, and surely the re- jecent scandals in baseball should | awaken everyone to realize that this |“sport” is no different than selling potatoes, cabbages, railroads, or seats in the Senate. It would be well for the youth es- pecially to learn these lessons and to recognize that professional sports ar purely capitalistic enterprises ar that the entertainment of the youth is of really no concern to them, not to speak of their physical and mental development. Professional and Employers’ Sports Against Workers’ Sports. The outcome of this conflict be- tween big business and little business is quite clear: the little fellows will be squeezed, cry and resist as they will. As Miller Huggins, Yankee manager, puts it: “Whether or not it will be a good thing for baseball, I won't attempt to say, byt it’s surely coming—unless, of course, legislation should be passed by baseball itself to prevent the practice.” The Trend of Development. Cheap materials, control of raw material, ownership of the products from top to bottom—that is ¢he de- velopment of baseball today in America. Other sports will show similar developments. Professional baseball is hokum and clever exploi- tation, both of the players themselves and of the masses who come to watch. With scandal, gambling, corruption, exploitation in this field of profes- sional baseball, it becomes more neces- sary than ever in this country to de- velop a workers’ sports movement. Here and there, in the soccer field, for example, we have already such work- ers’ organization, but the mass of young people in this country are in- terested in the two major sports of baseball and football. Sport and Company Unions. Owners of large factories, such as the Western Electric and many other big corporations realize this, and take advantage of this natural in- terest to develop a greater loyalty, interest and speed of work on the part of their employees. They toss out a few pennies of their profits for a gymnasium, baseball or football field, and then tell the boys to go to it. Workers’ Sports. Trustification, monopoly, company union basebalJ,—all these parallel the development of capitalism in the fields of industry and finance. As, we endeavor to meet and resist capitalist oppression on the “economic and political field through our trade unions, cooperatives and political par- ties of labor, the working youth must consider the formation of workers’ sport organizations, for their physicag and mental development, on a class basis. Questions and Answers Of First Delegation ( To U.S.S.R. Published’ Following the publication of the of- ficial report of the first American la- bor delegation to Soviet Russia, head- ed by James P. Maurer, the Workers Library Publishers of this city, have just issued in book form the inter- view of this delegation with Josef Stalin, head of the All Union Commn- nist Party. The book is issued under; the title of “Questions and Answers to American Trade Uhionists” and is pre- faced by an introduction by Jay Love- | stone, secretary 6f the Workers (Com- | munist) Party, The questions asked by the delega- | tion concern the connection between ius Corgmunist Party and the govern- iment, the relation between the city | workers and peasants, the attitude of |the Party towards religion and other |matters. Stalin answers all these | questions in detail and brilliantly. Stalin Also Asks Questions. After answering all the questions submitted, Stalin begged permission to ask questions of the delegation, Brophy, Coyle, Robt. Dunn and others of the American delegation answered various questions put by Stalin on why trade unions in the U. S. are so small, why there is no Labor Party and on other matters of particular interest to American workers. “Questions and Answers to Ameri- can Trade Unionists” sells at 25 cents a copy and can be secured from the_ publishers at 29 E. 125 St., New York, os ote sane i SERRE BREESE AST AS LR ranma ace Ras =; ae ad