The Daily Worker Newspaper, January 21, 1928, Page 8

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DUNNE 4 Assistani Entered av second-class mail at the post-office at New York, N. ¥. under 3 the act of March 3, 1879. > Why We Honor Lenin DAY the advanced sections of the workers in all countries tof the world assemble in monster meetings to do honor to the memory of Vladimir Ilyitch Ulyanov, whose name, because of the Necessity to evade the czarist police was changed to “Lenin.” Vladimir Ilyitch Lenin is now honored’ by the conscious working class of the world as the greatest figure of the present historic period, as the leader of a mass force which is in the course of transforming by its victorious struggle the entire character of human civilization. © In honoring Lenin we do not worship a dead man, nor aim- ponder over memories of deeds and events lost in the adows of the past. In Lenin’s memory we honor a concrete form of living action of today. We honor Lenin today because it is thru the theoretical and concrete teachings of Lenin, and thru the continuation of the ac- tions of which he was the leader, and thru the great world organ- ization of revolution of which he was the creative genius, that we ean bring the working class into the revolutionary action which | give it the rulership of the world and thus the power to create a and higher civilization. We honor Lenin because only by living action can Lenin be g _ We honor Lenin because the word “Lenin” means, in concrete cation, the support of the American workers for Sandino in the heroic stand of the Nicaraguan workers and peasants against United States imperialism. Because “Lenin” means in concrete application of the term to the minds of the masses of the world today—the support by the entire world of toilers of the Chinese revolution. *. Because Lenin can be honored only if we throw ourselves | into the most energetic support to the last ditch of the Pennsyl- mania, Ohio, West Virginia and Colorado mine workers against both the open enemies and the traitors who are officials of the Miners’ Union. _ We honor Lenin because in can be honored only by tire- lessly, doggedly, optimistically, and in the end successfully fight- ing thru to a complete and undisputed victory of the cause of La- | sr thruout the world on an international scale as well as in each eparate country. _ To honor Lenin means, in terms of action, to organize the ire organizable working class into powerful and treason-free labor unions, and to bring these into action, not solely for partial victories in isolated disputes, but also to support and to be the foundation of the political struggle for complete victory which means the overthrow of capitalism. To honor Lenin means to t at every ditch and every cross-road, in every shop, mine d factory for every inch of disputed ground in the day-to-day gle of Labor against capital—even the pettiest dispute over ‘most “trivial” matter. ' Translated into action, the honoring of Lenin in the tens of sands of mass meetings which are occurring in the world to- day means the rallying of millions of workers and farmers to de- their own cause in its living embodiment as the Union of alist Soviet Republics. It means to defend the toiling masses the world against the coming imperialist war, to rally those 3 to transform the coming imperialist war into a war be- een the classes for the purpose of liberating the oppressed Jasses and the colonial peoples from the rule of the imperialists —the creation of still more socialist soviet republics on the ruins of capitalist states. > o honor Lenin today means to bring tens and hundreds of usands.of partly conscious workers te understand and repudi- the,treachery of the social-democratic parties which are agents ‘the bourgeoisie in the ranks of the workers. To honor Lenin today means to build the organization of which Lenin’s strong hand laid the cornerstone—the Communist Party. It means to guard as the priceless and indispensible treasure of the working class, the revolutionary theory and practice of Marxism—the life-giving revolutionary culture and tactics of struggle which is Marxism-Leninism. "- To honor Lenin is to defend this indispensable and invincible pon of the workers’ revolution from all comers—no matter Wigue openly for the bourgeoisie against the working class, or hether te renegades who !ose confidence in the revolutionary se and try to undermine the Party and the International of nin from within, as the Trotskyists try. Honoring Lenin today means adhering unflinchingly to the volutionary theory, practice and organization of Marx and Lenin which is and can only be embodied in the great world party of volution—the Communist International. | Honoring Lenin today means untiring work for the realiza- m of his teachings in three decisive fields of Communist theory 1 practice: ‘Struggle for the union of the oppressed colonial peoples and * working class of the imperialist nations for the overthrow of orld imperialism. Struggle for the building of the unions into organs of revolu- onary <truggle--as weapons of the whole working class and as jor instruments of the proletarian state power. Struggle for the alliance of the workers and farmers against capitalists and their government. - To honor Lenin is to fight unceasingly for these objectives, ‘turn these instruments to the political struggle, the revolu- ary struggle for the liberation and the victory of the masses, _ Long live the memory and the work of our leader, our teacher, i fighter, Vladimir Ilyitch Lenin! _ Long live his revolutionary party—-The Workers (Commu- ist) Party of America! “Long live the international of Lenin—the Communist Inter- stional ! And only in action ba Lenin be honored. as é ts 10 they may be, whether the svucial-democrats who lie and in- | gree BT onsaniee weapons against the miners. ce | | (The following is an operi letter | to the delegates of the All-Russian | Soviet of the peasant deputies. The | first All-Russian Congress of Peas- | ant Deputies was held on May 17, 1917.) * . * By V. I. LENIN. i peasant depu- ties ; The Central Committee of the! |Russian Social-Democratic La-| bor Party (Bolshevik) to which I have the honor to belong, wished to give me authority to represent our Party at the Peasant Congress. As until now, illness has prevented me from fulfilling this commission, I take the liberty of addressing this open letter to you, in order to greet the All- Russia Union of the Peasantry and briefly point out the far-reaching dif- ferences of opinion which seperate our party from that of the “Social Revolutionaries” and of the “Menshe- viki.” These deep-reaching differences of opinion concern three highly import- ant questions, those of the land, of j war and of the national construction | The whole land must belong to the | peasants. All landed property must |be handed over to the peasants with- out any compensation. This is clear. | The question ‘in dispute is: Shall the | peasants take possession of the land at once, without paying rent to the landowners and without waiting until the National Assembly is called, or shall they not? Our Party holds the point of view |that the peasants should adopt the former plan and recommends the peasants settled in a district to take possession of the land at once, to carry out these measures as system- atically as possible, in no cireum- | stances to permit any destruction of |property and to use every effort to increase the production of grain and meat, for our soldiers at the front are suffering terribly from hunger |The National Assembly will work out | the final laws with regard to the soil | Preliminary ‘regulations must, how- \ever, be made by the local organiza- tions at once, before the spring-sow- jing; for our provisional government. | the government of the landowners and | capitalists, is postponing calling the Constituent Assembly and has not yet announced a date for which it will | be summoned. E provisional measures can only be taken by the local organizations. The cultivation of the fields is abso- lutely essential. The majority of the resident peasants will know how best | to administer and work the soil sys- | tematically. This work must be man- aged by them in order to improve the | provisioning of the soldiers at the |front. For this reason it is out of the question to wait until the Consti- |tuent Assembly is called. We do not lin any way disnute the right of the | National Assembly to determine in | detail the final laws regarding the | handing over of the land to the whole | people and the forms of its adminis- | tration. For the time being, however. | now, this spring, the peasants on the | spot must themselves take the initia- jtive. The soldiers at the front car and must send delegates to the vil- | lages. | Further, a close alliance between | the urban proletariat and the poorest peasants (semirproletarians) is nec- ;essary if the whole land is to be placed in the hands of the workers. Without such an alliance it is impos- sible to defeat the capitalists, but unless they are defeated the trans- ference of the land into the hands of the people will not remove the dis tress of the people. The soil cannot be eaten, and it is impossible, without money, without means, to get hold of tools, cattle and seed for sowing. The peasants must not put their trust in the capitalists nor in the rich peas- ants (for they are capitalists too) but only in the urban proletariat. In alliance with the latter, the poor peas- ants can insist on the land, the rail- ways, the banks and the factories be- ing recognized as the property of al! workers. If, however, we are satis- fied to hand over the land to the peo- ple, misery and distress will not be abolished. Jb some districts of Russia, the work- ers are introducing a kind of super- vision (control) of the factories. This supervision on the part of the work- ers greatly benefits the peasants, for in this way production is increased and the products become cheaper. The peasants, to the best of their ability. support this action of the workers, and refuse to believe the calumnies spread by the-eapitalists against the work- Not only machine guns but expulsions of militants, created elections and separate agreements are are the operators’ Lenin Speaks to Peasant Deputies Party, these treaties are yust as crim- inal as are those of the German crim- inal capitalists*eand their bandit Kaiser William and his accomplices. The blood of the workers and péas- ants shall not flow in order that these predatory aims of the capitalists may be realized. This terrible war must be termin- ated as soon as possible—not by a separate peace with Germany but by a general peace, not by a pepce con- cluded by the capitalists but by one forced on the capitalists by the work- ing masses. There is only one way to do this, that of transferring the whele power of the state into the hands of the Soviets of the Deputies of the Workers, Soldiers and Peas- ants in Russia and other countries. Such Soviets alone are eapable of putting an end to the frauds of the capitalists and of preventing the capi- talists from prolonging the war. This brings me to the third and last question I raised, that of the form of government. PUSSIA must be a democratic re- AX public. Even the majority of the lardowners and capitalists agree to ers. ‘ The second question is that of the war. This war is a war of conquest. The capitalists of all countries are carry- ing it on in order to make conquests and to increase their own profits. Thi war can and will bring nothing but destruction, horror, devastation and brutalization of the working people The party of the class-conscious work- ers and the poorest peasants, that is our party, condemns this war; it is above supporting the capitalists of any country, it is attempting to bring about an end to the war as quickly av possible by overthrowing the capital- ists in all covntries, by kindling the proletarian world revolution. Ten of the ministers in our present provisional government belong to the parties of the large landowners and capitalists, six to the parties of the “Narodniki” (socialist - revolution- aries) and the Mensheviki. In our opinion, the Social-Revolutionaries and the Mensheviki are committing a serious and fatal mistake in taking part in the government of the capital- ists and altogether being prepared to support it, Tchernov hope to persuade the capi- ae put an end to this criminal war of conquest as soon as possible The leaders of the Narodni yg Mensheviki are in error; for in real- ity, they are helping. the capitalists to prepare a new offensive against Germany, that means they are help- ing to prolong the war and to mul- tiply tenfold the terrible sufferings of the Russian people caused by the war WE are convinced that the capital- Men like Zeretilli and! this. they. who were always in favor of the monarchy, but have not real- ized that the people of Russia will never admit of the monarchy being reestablished. The capitalists are now exerting every effort to make the re- public as similar as possible to the monarchy, so that. at any given mo- ment. the monarchy can be restored (we have examples enough of this sort of thing in many courtries). For this reason, the capitalists wish ‘to maintain the staff of officials who are above people and under the com- mand of generals and officers. Un- less, however, the generals and of- ficers are chosen by the peonle, they will certainly be recruited from the class of capitalists and landowners This we know from the experiences of all the republics in the world. Our Party, the Party of class-con scious workers and poorest peasants is therefore aiming at a different kind of democratic republic. We aim at a republic in which there is no police hostile to the people, in which all officials from the highest to the low- est, are elected and are liable to be dismissed at any time if the peopl: demand it, their salary not being higher than the wages of a skilled worker. We demand’ that even the officers in the army be elected and that the standing army which is alien to the people and is commanded by a class which is hostile to the people should be replaced by a general arm- ing of the people, by.a_people’s militia. We aim at a republic in which the whole power of the state, from top to bottom, belongs exclusively and entirely to the Soviets of the Depu- ties of the Workers, Soldiers and Peasants. The workers and peasants from the majority of the population. The pow- er must belong to them but not to the landowners and capitalists. The workers and peasants from the maiority of the population. The exer- cise of power and the administration must be entrusted to their Soviets and not to the officials. These are our views, comrades. peasant delegntes! We are firmly convineed that experience will soon show the broad masses how wrong is the policy of the Narodniki and Men. sheviki. The masses will soon lear~ from experience that the salvation of | Russia, which is on the edge of 2 precipice just as are Germany anc the other belligerent countries, that the rescue of the peoples tortured by the war cannot be achieved by work- ing in common with the eanitalist |but only when in the power of the \state is transferred into th» hands of jthe majority of the population. - Work in By ED FALKOWSKI. SHAMOKIN, Pa., (FP) Jan. 20— When the colliery whistle sounded the morning call to work, Walter Kazier, together with nearly 150,000 other hard coal miners, yawned, chasing away sleep. Boiling coffee sent an aroma through the house. Going to the kitchen he found a wife, still sleepy, packing his tin can and fill- ing his botile. For Kazier was a miner and it was nearly time to leave for work. Kazier heard the gumboots of many miners squeal along the gray pave- ment as he beat his own way to the Luke Fidder Colliery, as he had done ists of all countries are deceiving the people, they promise an early and a just peace and nevertheless prolong the war of conquest. The Russian capitalists, who were supreme in the old provisional government and who have the new government in their hands, even refused to publish the secret predatory treaties concluded by the former czar, Nicholas Romanoff with the capitalists of England, France and other countries; treaties from which it is evident that it was intended to rob the Turks of Con- stantinople, the Austrians of Galicia. the Turks of Armenia, etc. The pro- visional government has recognized these treaties and is continuing to recognize them. In the opinion of our for many years. Some lamps moved through the dull mist, for the morn- ings in winter are heavy gray. Miners were carrying their mine-lamps, dimly burning through the gloom. But all this was usual to him, and he never noticed it. Never thought more of his wife, or of his eight chil- dren, left at’ home. Thought nothing of the hulking breaker, and when he huddled himself upon the cage, one of ten other silent miners whose coal- lapels were fastened about their breasts with safety pins, he was dropped into the mine. It was the day’s most ordinary incident, and horegl like the others, never noticed a While Walter Kazier, now 55 years x q ae. Death All in the Day’s the Anthracite old, and near the end of the rope, was working away at his breast of coal, things seemed normal. They were normal, too, and the fact that a few tons of rock loosened from the reef above him and crushed him to death, ‘was normal too, For our idea of what “normal” is, varies from placg to place. ‘i So Walter Kazier lay under a pile of heavy sulphur rock, just as dead as any miner could be, and a few hours later his fellows got him out. Wal.er’s normal day was ended for- ever. The news ran up and down the gangways, reaching into the breasts. “Old Walter is killed.” “Killed is he? Too bad!” murmured the lamps that groped in darkness. Kazier’s body was brought home to his wife and eight tots. Just another normal item in the year’s anthracite budget! The same day Emil LeHage, 33 years old, of Shenandoah, was crushed to death under a fall at the Locust Mountain Colliery.’ DISCIPLINE FOR “MAJOR.” Charged with representing himself as an aviation major, and cashing worthless checks thereby, Hamilton Gill, 80, said to have made and lost a fortune in Wall Street, has been held in $2,500 bail before U. S. Com- missioner Epstein in Brooklyn, A SPARKS From the NEWS TE is a strike of 9,000 shoe workers in Haverhill. The strike is of greater importance than its numbers would indicate. First of all, this strike is part of a movement of resistance to wage cuts. This move- ment is making headway in certain industries under very difficult condi- tions. Secondly, the strike is a re- volt of the rank and file of the work- ers, not only against the wage-slash- ing attempts of the employers, but also against the destructive, traitor- ous practices of the official labor leadership. It is interesting to note that the atiorney for the union is a Boston so- cialist, Mr. Bereak. Mr. Bereak is supposed to defend the interests of the workers. He is now working over- time to prevent the workers from striking. In a bit of advice given by him to the workers the other day when they went out »in protest against the wage cuts, Mr. Bereak told them substantially as follows: “The ice is too thin, you can’t go skating. The water is too cold, you can’t go fishing. The only thing you can do is stay on your job. Don’t strike.” Small wonder then that the Haver- hill “Gazette,” a capitalist paper, calls upon the workers to carry oul the ad- vice of their counsel. It is a basic fact, in reality an axiom of the class struggle today, that ihe fraudulent Sociausts are not prepared to fight for even the smallest measures mak- ing for the alleviation of the condi- tions of the workers. It is not only that they are unready to fight for the revolution,—this in itself, of course, condemns them as enemies of the workmg class—but they are not ready to do anything at all which makes for the mobilization of the workers in struggle against the capitalist class and its government. This is an in- delible feaiure of the socialist party today. The socialist party has dropped every pretence of excuse for its speaking as a party of the work- ers, even in the most limited sense. In every struggle in the labor move- ment today it is lined up with the forces of reaction against the work- ing class. Particularly is it bitter against the militant, conscious sec- tion of the workers. Mr. Berger and his company cannot revive the corpse. The socialist _party is declining in membership, according to the official admission of its national committees, Its best days are gone. Its remain- ing days are few,—even as a skeleton organization of old, retired ‘radicals. * 6 « (QEPRESENTATIVE of the war, state and navy departments, in addressing the Genera: vederation of Women’s Clubs in Washington the ouner day, lel Une cat out o1 tne bags ihey toid the whoie truth about the scheme of peace compacts now being pushed by agents of American im- peviausm. ‘ihe secreary of wai, wavis, and Adimirai Scaviueld bluntly told the bourgeois cougregation of women, hat prepareuuess comes above peace pacis. ‘tuey said that “juoderace preparedness’ is a better guaraniee against war chan even the peace compacis. Here we have the kernel of the whole UUsouvie We Maye Mnauiauued Ula lue luke Lhe buuigcuie Lak abot peace Weauues alu pouce comerences sue Were Uley ate accuduy ab Work aayelg ie vaois LOF bLupeuuing ime+ peaust Wal. iduese geluiemen, depreocuung the iuree arms of saluclical Capllausl aggression, told Lue LaCLS Hs Liley Ble. aucy aunuived ule iuuiauous of We briana peace aan muuch imviec Wan one Would ex- pect them to admit in the Lace of the pres@ie eiluris of Aimerican unperial- win to have @ speual treavy with “vance im order lo separace it from ureal brivain, But these henchmen of Wall Street also have a sense of humor. For instance the Secretary of War Davis salu wal the Wuueacy men are che jast ones in the worid to want war. .ueir object “1s to restore peace when it has been lost. ‘heir whoie purpose is to’end war as rapidiy and as quickiy and as effecuveiy as pos- sible.” Now we have it, There is a real division of labor amongst the imperialists. The bank- ers and manutiaciurers are the ones who lose the peace conditions. They are the ones whose interests in clash with the class interes.s of other im- perialist powers bring about war. The technicians, the engineers, the scien- tific managers, all these men, are the ones who do the dirty work in the laboratories. That is, not the real dirty work yet. The dirty work of killing and being killed is left to the workers and not to the Davises and the Wilburs or the Morgans. Certainly, the exploiters want» to restore peace as speedily as possible, But the workers are the ones who pay the price. That is why the. restoration of peace ofien is cheap for. for the capitalists. Mr. Davis and his cohorts forgot however, that the workers also are learning something from the art and disasters of war. They are learning that the only way. to end an imperialist war is to turn it into a civil war and overthrow the capitalist system and the imperialist clique which is responsible for the imperialist wars which murder mill. ions of workers. Ce —JAY LOVESTONE. — nd |