The Daily Worker Newspaper, January 12, 1928, Page 6

je aneiserneeds 3 Page pix THE DAILY WORKER, W YORK, THURSDAY, JANUARY 12, 1928 THE DAILY WORKER) “GAS OR No GAs—you Work” By Fred Elis [Tabor Defender | Published by the NATIONAL DAILY WORKER PUBLISHING ASS'N, Inc. | in Larger Form a Daily, Except Sunday First Street, New York, N. Y. ; The February issue of the Labor Defender, now on the press, enlarged Cable Address: SUBSCRIPTION RATES in size by eight pages, and carrying more photographs on recent evenis Phone, Orchard 1680 “Datwork” By Mait (in New York only): By Mail (outside of New York): $8.00 per year $4.50 six months $6.00 per year $3.50 six months A $2.50 three months. 2.00 three months. ‘Address and mail out checks to > THE DAILY WORKER, 33 First Street, New York, N. Y. Assistant Edit OT sos -ROBERT MINOR .. WM. F. DUNNE Entered as second-class mail at the post-office at New York, N. Y. under 1879. Good News from Nicaragua Hollow indeed will sound the stilted rhetoric of Calvin Cool- idge at the Pan-American conference at Havana if he indulges in the usual hypocritical banalities about the Monroe doctrine as the defender of the rights of small nations, while reinforcements are being rushed to Nicaragua to supplement the marines, the naval and air forces striving to exterminate by blood and fire the forces of Sandino, the leader of the national liberation movement. ; The ferocity of the imperialist slaughter was intensified ‘in Nicaragua because of the desire of the Mellon-Coolidge-Kellogg butchers to silence the revolt before the Havana conference. But it is quite evident now, on the eve of the conference, that the gun- men in command of the invading forces of imperialism miscalcu- lated the power of resistance of Sandino’s forces. Latest news from the war-torn area in the northern part of Nicaragua is extremely disheartening to the imperialists. Mem- bers of the so-called national guard, commanded by American marine officers, have revolted, threatened the lives of the officers and seized large quantities of ammunition as well as some large field pieces, and joined the forces of Sandino. The national guard was created in the hope of training a mercenary native constabulary that would defend the interests of American imperialism against the rest of the population. The mutiny of a part of the constabulary is indicative of the wide- spread influence of the national liberation movement, even among It is to be hoped that more of the | native constabulary will follow suit and become a real national guard—against the imperialist invaders. This latest development in the Nicaraguan situation again proves that it is extremely | dangerous for a tyrannical government to place arms in the hands | of those it tries to subjugate. The history of the imperialist conquest of Cuba is one of repeated invasions before it was reduced to its present state of | existence under a native mercenary government completely sub- | servient to Wall Street. The American idea of independence for small nations, as expressed by the Coolidge administration, is Cuba today, with a so-called native government that carries out | the predatory policies of imperialism against its own people. Such | is the character of the servile government that is “host” to the But even in Cuba, as in all the southern republics, there are powerful anti-imperialist forces ready to challenge the power of Wall Street and its hirelings. On three occasions after the hypocritical government of the United States proclaimed “freedom for Cuba,” American armed foxees have occupied that territory. After withdrawing troops in .i£02, they were sent back again in 1905. There they remained until 1912, when they were again withdrawn, but still the native vassal government was not able to cope with the masses, so again the country was invaded in 1917. Three times the army of occu- | pation left Cuba and as many times was it called back. | The low, depraved anti-labor government of Cuba, fawning | before Wall Street, is the Coolidge ideal of “independence” for the most backward masses. conference. Latin America. If such efforts were put forth to hold Cuba, it is easy to un- derstand why the Nicaraguan liberation movement is assailed with such ferocity. A second inieroceanic canal has become an imperative part of the imperialist program of the Wall Street government. proposed canal and the naval bases adjacent thereto are not only considered absolute necessities for imperialist policy in Central and South America, but are a part of the general world policy. Any force that threatens the Nicaraguan canal project menaces American imperialist policy as a whole. the militant workers of the United States who perceive in the growing power of American imperialism their deadly enemy, that is using the super-profits bludgeoned out of the colonial and semi- colonial masses to bribe and corrupt the reactionary labor officials and a considerable upper strata of the American working class against the masses of labor, must join in the fight against the in- vasion of Nicaragua and should demand the instant withdrawal of all armed forces from that country. demands, but no stone must be left unturned to translate into ac- | tion the hatred of imperialism by carrying on widespread agita- | tion among the dock workers and other transport workers to pre- | went the shipment of supplies to the United States forces now engaged in trying to exterminate the independence movement. The workers of Cuba, who have fought many a battle against the ruthlessness of American invading forces should make of the Pan-American conference an occasion for strikes and mass pro- tests in order to give the lie to their servile government that has been chosen to pay homage to the imperialist monster and to strive, with Coolidge, Hughes, Fletcher, Morrow and the rest of the Wall Street gang, to prevent the real sentiments of Latin} Americans against United States imperialism becoming known. with revolution. ter-revolutionists. all similar situations. i Defying the Lightning s What is described as the fourth plenary session of the Kuo-| mintang is convened in Nanking, China, on the order of Chiang Kai-shek, the servile butcher who tried to drown the revolution in oceans of blood. Despatches from Nanking to the kept press all speak of the spirit of “determined optimism” which prevails among the imperialist flunkeys. note that depicts the real atmosphere, an atmosphere surcharged | The Chinese correspondent of the Times re- | ports there exists a “profound fear of Communist tendencies | _ throughout South China, which is resulting in continued efforts to stamp out all traces of optimism.” ‘ports reveal the confusion which pervades the ranks of the coun- Still blinded by the dazzling flash from Canton that lit up the revolutionary landscape, the Chiang Kai-sheks imagine that behind the flimsy shield of the defunct Kuomintang they can, like Ajax. sith impunity defy the lightning. Fearful of the day when they will answer for their crimes before the revolutionary tribunals of the workers and peasants, the counter-revolutionists proclaim the triumph of their reac- tionary policies, just as all their ilk have done and will do in But the mighty power that burst forth at. Canton is not crushed. Workers and peasant armed detach- \ This For that reason alone Not merely must we make But there also sounds another | These contradictory re- ‘sian traitors Toll of “union-management co-operation” in Illinois coal fields, where men must remain in mines in spite of gas formation. Colorado Strike Forces Divides Capitalists By HUGO OEHLER. DENVER, Jan. 11.—“History is a history of Class Struggles,” and in writing the history of Colorado, the class struggle, the struggle of the miners in the last two decades, is an ever increasing problem for the Colo- rado rulers. The strike of the 10,- 690 miners that began October 18th swept through the whole structure of capitalism in Colorado and ex- tended its influence to the remotest corners of the state. The striking miners, a composition mostly of Spanish speaking and Eng- lish speaking workers who have re- vyolted against the Rockefeller insti- tution, the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company, are also facing the com- bined forces of reaction and the state. Divisions in Capitalist Institutions However, at this period of the class struggle, that takes ‘the forms of strikes, there is considerable division in the ranks of the capitalist imstitu- tions. The division extends further into the ranks of the enemy, but they are divisions caused by currents at work in the lower stratum, the work- ers, and from changes of the structure within the system. At this period a centralized state machinery becomes all the more important for the capi- talist class in order to counterbalance the transformation from below. The C. F. and I. The C. F. and I. with the Steel Mill at Pucblo and mines in the southern part of the state is the strongest economic group in the state of Colo- rado. The independent coal operators who are located in all three sections of the state, the south, central and northern ficld, have a combined force that cannot compete with the C. F. and I. Tn policies, wages and condi- tiens in the coal industry of Colorado the independent producers are forced to follow the initiative and dictations of the Rockefell nstitution. The sugar beet industry, the larg- est agricultural industry in Colorado, the other industries and the “inde- pendent” coal operators, are con- sidered as the “home boys”, while the C. F, and I. has been a force in itself. Two Oid Parties. In the last election Governor Adams was given a landslide by the voters as a democrat and the same voters gave the republican the rest. Political Rivalry. Naturally when industrial strife and conflict heeomes an open battle be- tween the workers and the capitalists the politicians are thrown into tur- moil ‘and a free-for-all among them for the benefit of the next campaign commences. This was the case in Colorado. Governor Adams was no” a C. F. and I. flunkey. He represents the “home boys.” His executive po- sition, with so many republicans around him placed him, as a politician, in a most unwelcome position. C. F. and I. Defense. At the very start'the C. F. and I. and the press they control clamored for blood. At the beginning of the strike the C. F. and L, through E. H. Weitzel, issued the following state- ment: “I know that our trouble would end with the stopping of picketing. I haye been in this business thirty years and the only way you can stop picket- ing is to call out the soldiers. The only man who can call out the sol- diers is Governor Adams. We want him to do it.” The “neutral” position the Governor started with could not be maintained. The pressure of the C. F. I. forced him from it. As all politicians of the capitalist and reformist parties, he was doomed to support the economic interests of the capitalists. By the 4th of November, State Police, created by the Governor to take the place of the State Rangers, were in the field. They were sent to the southern field, the C. F. and I. section of the coal \fields. They started and continued a \campaign in behalf of this Rocke- 36en ments hold many important centers in South China and are steadily gaining adherents to their cause. There is still much speculation as to the exact historical significance of the uprising at Canton. In face of such a tremen- dous movement there is always the temptation to analogize. There are no exact historical analogies. analogy always limps. But History never exactly repeats itself, because there is never an exact historical duplication of all objective and subjective forces. But there are comparisons, and when we consider Canton there irresistably arises before us the memory of ;the July days in in 1917 ' Russia, 1917. After the insurrectionary- wave against the Rus- in which the Bolsheviks endeavored to direct the spontaneous movement into effective channels there arose the reactionary Kerensky cabinet, proclaiming the consolidation of the government of the ‘‘moderates,” the demise of Bolshevism. In their stilted debates they spoke of their tem- porary triumph as though all the ages that stretched into the distant future belonged to them and their kind. They tried to convince themselves that the dark night of reaction was eternal, that the dawn would never break. But the world now knows that July was only a flash that heralded the storm that broke with elemental fury in November and swept into the scrap heap of history all the pretense of those who set themselves up as executioners of the revolution. So it will be in China. With the shield of the Kuomintang which at a given period of the revolution represented anti-imper- ialism, they hope to divert the storm. But that shield will never avail against the irresistible force of the revolution, which even now is gathering force for the Chinese November. Lackeys of imperialism, the renegades of the Chinese revo- lution are still puppets of history who, in spite of the support given them by the United States, Britain and other imperialist powers will be utterly annihilated by the working class, in revo- lutionary alliance with the hundreds of millions of peasants, to PF whom the history’ of the future belongs. feller institution and violated openly the laws that seemed detrimental to them in order to stop picketing and imprisoned the most active workers. More Pressure. The systematic campaign of the C. F. and I. was forcing the “humani- tarians” from their pedestal. With wholesale arrest of leaders, wholesale invasion by stool-pigeons, with the C. F. and I. and the yellow press clamor- ing for blood, their moment came. On the twenty-first, in the northern field, at the Columbine, the State Police under Scherf met the strikers at day- break at the mines and riddled their ranks with bullets, resulting in the murder of six and injury of scores of others. Annear of the State Indus- trial Commission and Adj.-Gen. New- len “happened” to be on the scene and praised Scherf for his splendid job of directing the murder. A cor- oner’s jury of business men and rich farmers whitewashed the work of the State Police. “State of Insurrection.” A state of insurrection was pro- claimed by the Governor, and the National Guards under Adjt.-Gen. Newlon rushed to the north field at snce. Newlon is a Republican and his force, with the exception of Major Audrelin, is largely composed of the same party elements. With more power to the C. F. and I, and “the Democratic Governor’s own State Po- lice doing their bit in the southern field, in the C. F. and I. field things were moving along fine for the capi- talists. Although martial law was not declared in Weld and Boulder counties the Adjutant General arresi- ed strikers and had many held as prisoners. By the 26th the Governor and the Adjutant General were in a battle over marital law. Newlon insisted on martial law and thé Governor in- sisted on leaving things as they were. While this was in full swing publicly, the battle between the Governor and the Attorney Gereral, Boatright, who would like to be the next Governor, was at its height over financial mat- ters. A little later a shake-up in the State Penitentiary was also worry- ing the Governo~ The politician’s motto is to take advantage of the situation’ and this is the status of the group that rides on the backs of the workers of Colo- rado. . i The K. K. K. In Fremont County, where the Klan has a weekly publication and influ- ence of importance, their position was in support of the striking min- ers and the I. W. W. Not that they ioved the I. W. W. or its principles, nor the Mexicans, but because the Democrats and Republicans had both fought them in ‘election campaigns. The attitude of the miners, their wholehearted support of the strike, was a force the Klan could not ignore us a local body even though the I. W. W. were at the helm. The Protestant Church. The church, like the other capital- ist institutions, has been divided from the first on the Colorado strike. The Denver Ministerial Alliance and the Weld County Ministerial Alliance, with committees working for a solu- tion and a® settlement, favored the miners. The Weld County group were bitter against the I. W. W. lead- ership, as though in practice you can separate the two, All the churches, the liberals, with few exceptions, be- gan their investigations and arrived at the conclusions that the miners deserved more wages weeks after the strike started. ship, yet all had been on the scene before the wobblies and did nothing to remedy the condition. They dealt with empty words while the organ- izers who were in the field before the strike were translating the words into deeds. The Catholic Church. The Catholics were also a divided camp. The Daily American Tribune of Dubuque, Iowa, in an editorial up- held in the strike, and in forceful lan- guage supported their position. Bish- op J. Henry Tihen, head of the Cath- olie Church in Colorado, upheld the rights of the striking miners. Cath- olic priests in the southern field went among their Mexican flocks at the beginning of the strike and endeav- ored to persuade the miners to return to the mines and scab. In the different religious denom- inations as well as the many other ‘capitalist institutions we fin? that their spokesmen are divided on the issue of the strike. Many are on both sides and most of them against the leadership. The American Legion. At the funeral of a fellow worker, Vodivich, the sixth victim of the State Police, the American Legion was part of the funeral procession. In the State Police, officers and rep- resentatives of the American Legion are gunning for the interests of the coal operators. The Lower Middle Class in Unison, All through the camps those mer- chants who depend upon the strikers for trade are favorable to the strik- ers. Local officials depending upon the miners’ vote know what’s what also. In Walsenburg, where the I. W. W. hall and headquarters prior to the strike was located, the “Citizens’ Committee,” with the mayor and other hoodlums, instigated by the Chamber of Commerce and the reac- tionary merchants of the C. F. and L, raided the J.’ W. W. hall, burned some supplies and endeavored to scare them into submission. This happened the night before the Pueblo conference that brought in a unanimous strike vote. The Mexican Consul. The Mexican Consul, stationed at Denver, at the beginning of the strike came to the southern field and tried to induce the Mexican miners to re- {urn to work but when he met well- organized opposition he retreated and went back to Denver to leave the Spanish-gpeaking miners to continue their excellent loyalty to the strike. The Press. The capitalist papers of Colorado and especially the biggest one under C. F. and I. control, the Denver Post, howled for blood and troops at the very start. All through the cam- paign, lies and more lies has been ‘heir policy. A few of the papers vere more fair in articles than the Derver Post but all were lined up against the I. W. W. and the strik- ing miners. Often editorials of the Denver Post seemed to favor the miners but close observation would prove that they were two-edged swords. The capitalist press reporters with few exceptions made excellent inform- ers and stool-pigeons for-the enem- ies of the strikers. The Colleges. Like the other capitalist institu- tions the students and faculty were lso divided. The students of sociol- ‘ogy and economics enjoyed the. op- portunity for this “field work” of in- vestigating the strike. Students of the University of Denver, Colorado Most of them denounced the leader- University and Iliff School of The- \ f in the class struggle, features in spe- cial articles, photos and cartoons the latest developments in the American invasion of Nicaragua. The cover, a striking photo from the war zone, is supplemented by many o-hers of the struggle in Nica- ragua included in a special two-page layout. Manuel Gomez, secretary of the All-America Anti-Imperialist League, contributes a striking article presenting the facts of the invasion and the interests of American labor involved. Tom Mooney Features. The case of ihe frame-up of Tom Mooney, receiving renewdll attention, is presented in photographs and com- ment. A general view of the Amer- ican class struggle is given in a pic- torial review of the miners’ strug- gles in Colorado, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. T. J. O’Flaherty, writing from the coal fields of Penn- sylvania, contributes a brilliant ar- ticle on the great battle of the miners in that region. James P. Cannon, sec- retary of International Labor De- fense, summarizes the lessons of the successful fight tha: freed Greco and Carrillo. Hay Bales, cartoonist, has been added to the contributing staff. U. S. Rakes in Loot of World By LELAND OLDS How the heart of capitalism has been transferred to the United States is again recalled by year-end reports on the gold holdings of the principal countries. The latest report by the New York banking firms, Dominick & Dominick, places the monetary. gold stock of the United States a: more than half of the world total of 8,- 261,900,000. The United States now holds more gold than was held by all the gov- ernments and central banks of the world in 1914. Today the United States holds 55 per cent of the $8,- 261,000,000 total. Great gold stocks always accumu- late where the world’s most success- ful exploiters make their headquar- ters. Money lenders have always been at the center of preda.ory empire. A history of the precious metals be- comes a history of war, conquest and enslavement. So the golden heart of empire has moved westward, from the eastern shores of the Mediterran- ean to Car.hage, to Rome, to the com- mercial cities of northern Italy, to Spain, to England and finally to the United States. It brings with it on the one hand a struggle to rule the world and on the other intensified class struggles.. . Lynched in Jail By WILLIAM PICKENS It is reported that a white prisoner in a Los Angeles jail was beaten to death by other white prisoners be- cause they thought that he was the criminal who had kidnapped and slain the little girl, If anything were needed to better illustrate the crim- inality of America, this hideous crime of these criminals supplies that illus- tration. So, even in jail they lynched an innocent man. He was not inno- cent of everything, of course, or he would not have been in jail; but he was innocent of the offense for which his fellow offenders beat him to death, That is a grim comment on the whole business of lynching: they can- not be trusted to kill the right man, even when he is in jail. How much less can they be trusted to “get” the right man when they are all out of jail and free to roam around and seize the first object of their wrath! These prisoners who took part in killing their fellow prisoner are not a bit less detestable than the young fiend Hickman, whom they thought they were killing; and their crime would be none the less excuseless if their victim had been Hickman. —[—[>[———ee ology investigated and spoke to strike meetings and also to’ meetings held at universities and churches. Many able supporters of the strikers and 1, W. W. were among them. Student Militiamen. On the other hand the calling of the National Guards to the north field by the Governor’s proclamation brought many students out as enem- ies of the strikers, students to shoot down striking miners. The Denver Evening News of Nov. 22 says: “Just Plain Kids—The Colorado National Guard sounds big and military, but scores of the members are boys—just plain kids in their teens, high school students, college freshmen, blossom- ing out in their first adventure.” In the ranks of the capitalist in- stitutions, the State, the Church, the School, the Klan, the Legion and the middle class there is division and year by year as the class struggle becomes more acvte in America these forces will be weakened as greater numbers of workers take their place in the’ ranks of the revolutionary workers, under their militant leadership, marching. forward to a workers’ and farmers’ government,