The Daily Worker Newspaper, February 7, 1928, Page 2

* tegral parts of when the cri is at its most c Page Two THE DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 1928 Unanimous Report of Political Comugittee to Plenum Made by “Comrades; “The significance of the trend of developments in the economic condi- tions of this country and in the world situation can b mbolized by merely citing such present events as the Havana Conference, the war on Nic- aragua by the United States, the Conference of the A. fF. of L. bureau- eracy on injunction the proposed thew Woll in iation, the n, the crisis union move- ration of anti-strike law the name of th crisis in the m in the American ment as a whole, Admiral Plunk ing straight tow Britain, the situation i creasingly viet Union and the fact trade the de t that we are head- with ¢ China, the in- role of the So- international affairs t we are on the eve important in of a presidential election in the United States. “I have not attempted to catalog events. I have mer ed at random a number of events in order to clearly the significance ment histor “The Politic Party has for s the present the count: tempt tc omic and po! ificant to you the mo- indica con- the con- ditions of th Party’s tasks in jective condit fundamental | problems of th the situation in our Party the Labor Mov as a whole. nt and the Party American ge rialist Aggression ed The War Danger. the outset to ex- American im- “It is necessary at of amine the trend perialist aggrandizement and the war danger. ‘The ger of a_pew—ime- perialist.world war is the significant feature of the present world situa- tion. At the same time when we speak of a world war we do not only have in mind the danger of a world war arising out of the antagonisms among the powers but We recognize t e danger of an imperialist atta on the Soviet Union is in th e the most sig- nificant feature of the whole inter- national situation. “At present the most important an- tagonism among the imperialist powers is that between Great Britain and the United Sta Witness the naval limitations fiasco at Geneva. Notice the attempt of Kellogg to separate France from Great Britain | by offering unilateral an’ multi- lateral and all kinds of peacé treaties. Notice the ife between the Stan- dard Oil of } York and the Royal Dutch Shell. The establishment of an imperial Marketing Board by Great Britain in order to promote economic relations between the in- he British Empire is @ postive step against the United States which has been making en- eroachments of substantial character on British market control particularly e| has only served to sharpen the -|tagonisms, and served only to : Spa outlook before | | Canada. “And when we speak of the Havana Conference we do not speak of it merely as a conference of American Imperialism against Latin America. We speak of the Havana Conference also as a basic movement of American imperialism against the other imperialist powers which are competing with increasing effective- ness against the United States in the world market. “We need not mention the conflict over tariff and over debts. They are »bvious. “In estimating the present inter- national situation it is found that B: n imperialism continues as the reactionary driving force in the | immediate moment, primarily as the reactionary driving force in an attempt to form a bloc of imperialist | powers against the Soviet Union and {to destroy the revolutionary forces, the genuine revolutionary forces, in China. But in recognizing this fact we must always keep in mind that American imperialism is playing an easingly dominant role. The eitect of the trend towards ilization, the effect of rationali- nd partial stabilization among ropean capitalist powers has jnot avoided the crisis which the | bourgeoisie had hoped to avoid, but an- en- the the | gender | very im new antagonisms out of stabilization forces among erialist groups. hese irreconcilable antagonisms are a source of war—are the sources of war. | “In this sense the antagonism be- tween Great Britain and the United States today has taken the place of the antagonism — the imperialist rivalry—between Germany and Great Britain in the pre-war days. “The general acuteness of the struggle and the insolubility of the contradictions faced by international capitalism are evidenced in the fol- lowing events particularly: “The failure of the league of na- tions economic conference at Geneva last summer, the growth of interna- tional cartels and sharpening econ- omic rivalry resulting therefrom, the widening chasm between British and American imperialism, the sharpen- ing conflict between French and Ital- ian imperialism over hegemony in the Mediterranean, over domination in the Balkans and over colonies, the in- creasing tension in the Pacific among |the three outstanding powers, Amer- ica, Japan and England, particularly over China. War Against/Soviet Union. “But in exammhing all these contra- dictions we must emphasize that the central objective of the imperialist powers remains as firmly as ever the smashing of the Soviet Union and the dest¥uction of all revolutionary forces in China. This danger holds true despite all the antagonisms. “American imperialist policies are reflecting themselves very clearly in- |in- Australia and India in addition to} sofar as China and the Soviet Union are concerned. The role played by | Admiral Bristol, now known as ‘am- bassador,’ a ‘diplomat admiral,’ in helping to smash the Soviet move- ment in Canton, the continued hos- tility towards the Soviet Union as re- cently evidenced in the declaration of Kellogg banning even all private loans in this country to the Soviet Union. “But it is an undeniable fact that the outstanding manifestations, the most brutal expression of American imperialism today is shown in the fight against the colonial peoples and the interests of the colonial and semi- colonial peoples of Latin America. This aggression does not at all times assume the character of immediate war. In the case of Nicaragua it is outright war. In the case of the fraudulent good-will ambassador, Lindbergh, it is a survey of possibil- ities for war. In the case of Havana it is an attempt to disrupt the forces of opposition to American imperial- ism, to sow seeds of dissension among the peoples of Latin America. In the case of the appointment of Morrow to Mexico, we have an example which is | a time-saver. Instead of having aj middle man like Coolidge as a con-| necting link between the Mexican em- bassy and the New York stock ex change, they have a direct connection between this stock exchange and Mexico, and do business more quickly. “In the light of this objective in- ternational situation, the central task of the Party today is to fight the war danger. For us the problem of the war danger is not a question of ab- straction. Insofar as an attack on the Soviet Union goes, insofar as an attack on the revolutionary forces in China is concerned, and insofar as the war in Nicaragua goes, it is an im- mediate, practical question of great urgency. In the face of the billion; dollar navy, certainly we are not deal- ing with abstractions, but we are dealing with brutal facts. The cam- paign of the Party to fight the war danger is a campaign of concrete or- ganization character in addition to the sharpened agitation by our ranks. Growth of and Increasing Domination By American Imperialism. “A few words about the growth of and increased domination by Ameri- can imperialism. We do not propose to estimate the conditions of Ameri- can imperialism statically. What has been happening? What is the basis of this increasing aggression of Yan- kee imperialism? There are two out- standing events in the results of the world war. First, the establishment of the Soviet Union and second the shifting of the world’s economic cen- ter of gravity from Europe to Ameri- ca, in a broader sense from the At- lantic to the Pacific. This shifting has occurred and is continuing at the expense of primarily, the European imperialist powers. “Before the imperialist war; on the eve of the world war, the American ruling class possessed two billion dol- lars in currency, gold. Today, the HOLD “DAILY” ON FEDERAL CHARGE Arrests Follow Grand Jury Indictment (Continued from Page One) Moment when the employers of the country have determined to carry out to the finish their plan for the de- struction of the labor movement, in the miners’ union stage, when the} employers in oth ting their forces for a similar drive on the unions in their trades. Attack on Militants. The attack has also been timed for the exact moment when the labor of-| ficialdom in th n Federation | of Labor ing | with such or- | an Bar As- ation of a na- Its signifi- oF ganizations as sociation in the p tional anti-str w. eance is to be fond at this moment in the working together of such labor officials as Matthew Woll with the large open shoppers of the country in a proposed country-wide “rational- ization” scheme in industry, aimed at f miners and hundreds of thousand other workers who ar of employment. The purpose of the attack against the DAILY WORKER is to be cast out} launched by the paper for the relief of the 3,500,000 of ers in the United & or the or. ganization of a Labor Varty as the first means of securing the strength-; ening of the workers . The Significance of the attack is seen} most definitely in the fact that it has come at exactly the moment when the paper’s n for the con- version by the labor unions of the policy of class collaboration into a policy of struggle against the bosses has begun to have considerable in- fluence. Blow at Campaign. The considerable success which has resulted from the current campaign for 10,000 new readers to the DAILY WORKER is also seen as one of the reasons why the blow has fallen at this particular moment. Pending a trial in the case the date Ps which has not yet been set, Dunne jan and Miller were released on $1,000 bail each. ul further | visible in the light of the campaigns! ed work- | (Continued from Page One) of Machinists and in the unions of ether trades. “T can say that if we had organ- ized in San Francisco a powerful left | wing, the present conditions would | furnish the basis for a general strike of the city. “In its general characteristics the situation in San Francisco is repeated in practically every important city in the west. “We are justified in saying in the thesis of the Political Committee that we are on the eye of big struggles, and that in these struggles the left wing and our Party will play an im- portant role. Appreciate the West. “There are many who would have | appreciated the opportunity to see at | first hand the evidences of the turn- ing point in the class struggle as they are to be seen in the west. One | of the big steps forward of this plen- |um should be to set our Party on the way to appreciate the importance of |the west and its problems. There are that section some very large basic ndustries. There is a large, unor- |ganized and very severely exploited working class. There is a large radi- cal element -that is sympathetic and . heb can be organized into our Par- One of the means of strengthen- ee and building the Party is to es- \tablish an appreciation of this oppor- tunity. “Save the Unions!” | « tasks in the fight to save the unions jand to organize the unorganized. When strikes are going on such as the tremendous struggle in Pennsyl- | yania and Ohio, and such as that in Colorado, when there is mass unem- ployment—then it is up to us to mo- bilize the Party and thru the Party to organize the left wing and the working class. “These tasks can be accomplished best by building and strengthening \the Party. “We must not only call attention to the new situation and to the offen- sive against the working class, but also to the fact that out of all our campaigns we must succeed in build- ing our Party into a powerful mass Communist Party in the United States. And of course this can be done only if we continue the work of the Party in the unification which was started by the last convention. e have before us tremendous’ Jay Lovestone, Executive Secretary of the Workers (Communist) Party. American ruling class possesses over four and a half billion dollars of gold. In the United States we find about 7 per cent of the world’s population. Yet the United States controls 44 per cent of the world’s coal; 70 per cent of the world’s oil; 52 per cent of the world’s steel; 60 per cent of the world’s cotton and corn; 50 per cent of the railway mileage, copper pro- duction and pig iron production. Ob- | viously we have a very strong basis for a powerful imperialism. “The very economic order is the basis of American imperialist strength. Notice the growih in mass production. Within the last years the output has increased nearly 50 per cent per capita. As an example, let us take the automobile industry which represents a very highly con- centrated industry. In that industry we had in recent years an increase of 24 per cent in-the numbers of work- ers and simultaneously an increase of over 204 per cent in the volume of production. “As a result we witness in the United States a tremendous growth of capital. From 1880 to 1922 the amount of capital in the United States has increased 6% times. The National Bank assets today are at their highest point and are estimated over 30 billion dollars. The total de- posits are over 40 billion dollars. But with this accumulation of capi- tal we find coincident phenomena of huge concentration of capital. “In this country there are dver a thousand factories each employing over a thousand workers. The trend towards consolidation in the bigger industries is marked. New York’s biggest banks control over 60 per cent of the entire credit resources of the country. The trend towards domination of economy today by fi- nance capital is dramatized by the recent appointment of J. P. Morgan, | dous accumulation of capital. the head of American finande, as the head of the United States Steel Cor- poration. “A further manifestation of the growth of American imperialism in recent years is to be noticed in the | growth of the export of capital. The figures I cite show that in 1923 America exported slightly less than half a billion dollars of capital, in 1927 more than a billion and a half dollars. And since the opening of the world war America has exported ex- elusive of government loans approx- imately 15 billion dollars of capital. 1A recent decision of the New York Stock Exchange to list foreign se- curities, is of basic importance, not only economically but also politically for the American working class. It shows the increasing domination of the world resources by American im- perialism.. It indicates the tremen- It lays the basis for further revision of the tariff and the development, as a re- sult thereof, of fundamental political changes. « “It is estimated by the British fi- nancial authority, Sir George Paish, that the total annual income of the American bourgeoisie on exported capital and war loans today is nearly a billion dollars. “Because of this development there naturally follows the basis for a re- grouping of class forces. For ex- ample, we are developing in the United States a powerful rentier class, a section of the bourgeoisie divorced entirely from production, popularly known in an inaccurate way as the ‘coupon-clippers.’ An especi- ally parasitic section of this rentier class is the group of owners of wholly and partially tax-exempt securities. There are in the-United States today such securities totalling 32 billion dollars. This fact, this development of the rentier class, is of basic im- portance for the working class in the fact that it indicates the growing parasitism and the growing stagna- tion of the American ruling class. Basic Forces for Intensification of American Imperialist Drive. “Recent years have witnessed an intensification of the American im- perialist drive for the domination of the world market, for markets for its surplus capital. “There are five basic forces mak- ing for the intensification of this drive by American imperialism. “Firstly, the over-development of certain basic industries. The Iron Age just announced that ten steel corporations, the first ten steel cor- porations, can produce 90 per cent of all the steel needed in this country. In 1925 the department of commerce estimated that the general excess in- dustrial capacity was 26 per cent. Today it is undoubtedly much bigger. credits. The veritable plethora of eredits in this country compels a sharpening of the imperialist efforts on the part of the ruling class of the “The second force is the surplus of |: United States to find markets for its surplus capital. “This means what?’ This means sharpening antagonisms between the U. S. and other imperialist pow- ers exporting capital. “Thirdly, we notice in recent years particularly a continued increase on the part of the imperialist powers of partially stabilized Europe in their capacity to compete. Notice the for- mation of huge trusts and cartels. The other day Julius Klein of the U. S. Dept. of Commerce, in speaking of the cartels, in estimating this danger to American imperialism, said: “They are causing deepest con- cern throughout this country, par- ticularly where — steel-rails, tin, enamel, aluminum ware, artificial silk, copper, electrical bulbs and wire are manufactured. “There is another phase of com- petitive effort that you should have fully in mind and that is the in- dividual governments in Europe are preparing with a seriousness and intensity never manifest before for a new drive for foreign mark- ets.” “This is plain talk from one of the | outstanding economic experts of the | ruling class. “The fourth force is the marked depression in capitalist economy. “Fifth, is the growing limitation of the domestic market which has con- tinued to serve as one of the out- standing forces, making for the prowess of American capitalist econ- omy. One of the basic causes for the increased attack on Latin-Amer- ica is the growing limitation of the domestic market, The Present Economic Situation. “The key to the Party policy in the immediate future and for some time to come is to be found in the present economic situation. The general trend of American capitalism is still up- ward, but there have been certain basic changes in some fundamental phases of the system of American economy since our last plenum. At that time we noticed the beginning of a recession. Now we can state positively that we have not yet reached the bottom of a basic de- pression in American industry. “Just factually, to indicate some trends; insofar as the workers.are concerned, some basic factors. “The unemployment situation: New York State figures for December in- dicate only slightly less unemploy- ment than in December 1921. In De- cember, for the country as a whole, unemployment was about 644% lower than in the corresponding month of the previous year. For November, compared with 1928, the decline in employment was about 13%. “One question naturally comes be- fore us: in what industries does un- employment occir? “We note that it has.oceurred very heavily in the basic industries. In steel the decline in employment was 11.2%, In electrical apparatus manu- facturing somewhat over 9% and in Militancy Grows in West, Gitlow Reports it is possible to mobilize the workers. We must mobilize them against American imperialism. The Amer- ican workers as well as the workers | of all other countries will march for- | ward to the proletarian revolution.” Dunne Speaks. Comrade William F. Dunne spoke | on the present situation and the tasks of the Party, saying: “The Plenum of the Central Com- mittee of our Party meets at a time when the ruling class of the United | States is delivering heavier blows against the labor movement and against the working class as a whole. i The offensive against the labor move- ment, coupled with the betrayals of the trade union bureaucracy, means that we are facing a crisis of the deepest and most far-reaching char- acter. We see a recession in every basic industry. This has laid the basis for great gi of the masses. “The central point is the imperial- ist war danger. We see the ban that | has been put on the loan to the Sov- | iet Union railways. This has become the basis for a new attack of the, capitalist press upon the Soviets! Union. “Our Party, in the face of the | crisis in the labor movement, and confronted with the imperialist war! danger, first as a growing drive | against the Soviet Union, has great | tasks to carry out. The Political ; Committee will bring before the Cen- | tral Committee Plenum a_ theses thoroly analyzing this crisis and out- lining definite, practical, conerete | steps with which we can go to the | working class to organize it and suc- cessfully lead it finally to victory, | “Never before since the world war | was the working class of this coun- | try confronted with such a danger to | its organizations, to its social status, and its living standards. Never has world war been so im#inent since , 1917. It is under these conditions | that the Political Committee has | drafted this theses, \ “The unity of our Party is the pre- | requisite for carrying out these, tasks. Only with our Party, as the advance guard of the working class, centering upon these tasks, instead | of dissipating its enerry in internal struggles, can we fulfill them. “This Plenum marks an advance since the time of the last Party con- “If we proceed we will find that |vention. I would say to those com- rades who began to be pessimistic in regard to the prospects of making \of our Party into the revolutionary party of the American working class —that they must revise this view. “This Plenum marks a_ turning point in the history of the working \class, provided the Party responds well, and provided we can strengthen our bonds with the Mexican and Can- adian Ccmmunist Parties and with the Communist International. if we keep our strong bonds with the Communist International can we estimate and act correctly in this crisis in the labor movement.” * *. e Other speeches made during the same session, as well as the second part of Comrade Lovestone’s re- port for the Political Committee, will be published in tomorrow’s is- sue of The DAILY WORKER. Outclowning the Clown Students of Glasgow University dressed up one of their number to look like “Big” Bill Thomp- son, anti-British mayor of Chi- cago and general political clown, “Hizzoner” is shown here burning the Encyclopedia Britannica at a lamp-post. Only HAVANA CONFAB MAY GO ON ROCKS Intervention Issue May Break Meeting (Continued from Page One) end in disintegration. Others, how- ever, contend that, in view of pre- vious experience with similar gather- ings of nations, the United States will feign a compromise so that an ap- pearance of sacisfaction at least will be maintained by all the delegates. The first word in this direction is seen in appointment of the interna- tional law commission which will meet behind closed doors and that, it is es:imated will be an “incentive to bet- ter harmony” since Charles E. Hughes is chairman of the subcommittee. ‘ * * Pan-American Union May Go. HAVANA, Feb. 6. — Probable dis- integration of the Pan-American union was seen today in a proposal offered by the Salvadorean: delegate Guerrero to the effect that any Amer- ican republic no: ratifying the con- vention for the maintenance of the union, within a specified time, would the union. Guerrero set this period at two years, As it was considered impossible that the 21 member republics would ratify j the convention within this period of , time, it was considered by many lead- ers here that adoption of the Guer- rero proposal would result in numer- aus constructive notices of withdraw- al, | This and other points were raised before the first commission of the jconference this afternoon in connec- j-ion with the question whether the union should continue as at present jon a basis of resolutions adopted by the member governments, or whether jit should henceforward be placed on la basis of an international conven- | tion. The issues involved were brought out by the reading of the text of the articles proposed, and after prolonged debate the Guerrero proposal was re- ferred to a sub-committee, which was charged with the task of drafting a proposal acceptable to all members of the union. | be considered as having given notice! of its contemplated withdrawal from | NEGROES SUFFER DISCRIMINATION Ne 2X, Campus Cases Bring Protest To crystalize opposition to the dis- crimination against Negro students at New -York- University, a second con- ference of labor, student and civic or- ganizations will be held tonight at the Abyssinian Church, W. 138th St. and Seventh Ave., at 8:30, The Negro students attending the university have been prevented from participating in all phases of college life due largely to the presence of sev- eral southern students at the univer- sity. They are Mattie M. Neely, Reba McLain, William S. Dougherty and Albert Smith. A mass meeting to protest against the discrimination at the university will be held Thursday, Feb. 24, at St. Marks M. E, church, 138th St. and Edgecombe Ave., at 8 P. M. WASHINGTON, Feb. 6. — Canada has accepted American suggestions. for drastic regulations to curb rum smuggling along the 3,000 mile inter- national boundary. FOR YOUR HEALTH Strictly Pure FLORIDA HONEY) Guaranteed by the BEE-FARMER. Speckal Prices During Run ef This “Ad” 5 Lbs. $1.25 6 Lbs. $1.40 10% Goes to “Daily Worker” ORDER BY MAIL. JACK FEURER 3656 Park Ave., Bronx New York City. Lovestone the railroad shops the decline has shown that over 112,000 workers are no longer employed—workers who were employed three years agu. “Unemployment has assumed @ mass character in cities like Cleve- land, Boston and Chicago. In New York the official reports indicate that the lodging houses are doing a better business than they have ever done before. Even in Los Angeles, the lat- est figures indicate 70,000 unemploy- ed. Chicago boasts of breadlines longer than at any time since 19138. The latest of figures of the depart- ment of commerce on unemployment show an approximate volume of 3,- 000,000. When compared with the of- ficial figures for 1921, it is still some- what less than in 1921. But that year was admittedly a black year even in the eyes of the bourgeois economists. 4 | “Not only has unemployment in- creased, but wage totals have fallen. For the country as a whole, for last | December, wages have fallen almost |7% in the year. In the steel indus- |tny, the wage total has declined about 115%; in automobiles 10%, and the recent facts indicate that the decline of wage totals in the automobile in- dustry will be much greater. In the metal industry, other than iron and | steel, the decline has been over 11%. Textiles, coal and other industries have seen in the recent months in- creasing wage cuts. “Take the building industry—one of the outstanding props of the Amer- ican post-war prosperity. 1927 was the first year when there was a drop in the volume of building since the war. The automobile sales in 1927 were the lowest in five years. For the first time since 1921 the net op- erating income of railways has de- clined. “Always keep in mind the fact that the workers pay the price for these declines, “Coal and oil have been suffering continuously from basic derangement. “The total value of farm products including animal products, in ‘1927, was less than in 1926. “It is true that chain stores, and public utilities corporations have done well in 1927. This is due primarily to high centralization, and powerful development of technic, extreme ra- tionalization. “It is likewise true that the stock market has on the whole been quite buoyant. But here we must keep in mind the fact that the stock market, that finance capital is no longer a barometer of capitalist economy as a whole, is no longer a barometer of the conditions of productive economy. This explains why we had in the same year that the stock market was so buoyant, so many commercial fail- ures (over 23,000) and nearly 50,000 bankruptcy cases.” * * * Comrade Lovestone’s report for the Political Committee will be continued in tomorrow’s issue of 4 The DAILY WORKER. THREE KILLED AT CROSSING. HAMMOND, Ind., Feb. 6. — Three men were ground to pieces here today when a fast Chicago-bound Wabash railroad train struck their automo- bile at an unprotected grade crossing. Announcing! | No. 4 of the WORKERS LIBRARY! A New Pamphlet by Jay Lovestone Analyzing the political | and economic back- | ground for the 1928 Presidential election. PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION WORKERS gay ucvusront 20} | WORKERS LIBRARY -PUBLISHERS 39. E.125 St. New York Pipher i