The Daily Worker Newspaper, February 7, 1928, Page 6

™ Strik Page Six THE DAILY WORKER Published by the NATIONAL DAILY WORKER PUBLISHING ASS'N, Inc. Daily, Except Sunday $3 First Street, New York, N. Y. Cable Address: SUBSCRIPTION RATES By Mail (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 $2.50 three months. $2.00 three months. Phone, Orchard 1680 “Daiwork” ‘Addrest and mail out checks to TEE DAILY WORKER, 33 First Street, New York, N. Y. ..ROBERT MINOR ...WM. F. DUNNE red as second-class mail at the post-office at New York, N. ¥., under the act of March 3, 1879. Assistant Editor... Answer the Wall Street, Goyérament Attack cn the Worker With Préletarian Blows! The sharpening of the imperialist offensive in the United States is to be seen in the indictment by the federal grand jury and the arrest of Comrades Alex Bittelman, Williari Dunne, J. Louis Engdahl, Bert Miller and Alex Gordon of the Young Work- ers League. Based on the publication of the poem America, by Comrade Gordon, on March 12, 1917, in the magazine section of The DAILY WORKER, on charges made by representatives of the order of Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Keymen of America and other 100 per cent American organizations, the present case was preceded by a prosecution brought under a state statute. Comrade Dunne served a thirty-day sentence in the New York city workhouse and Comrade Miller 7 days in the Tombs last summer in this case. The revival of the case as the basis for criminal charge in the federal court at this time, for which the defendants can be given a five-year s convicted of violating the postal laws un- der the statute cited, coincides with the exposure by The DAILY WORKE ne real purpose of the Wall Street war on Nicaragua and the ign conducted against it by the Communist Party of America of which it is the official organ. ides with the full meeting of the Central f our party which has adopted a militant the war danger, the drive on the labor g class and the rapidly increasing un- The arrest also coi Executive Committce program for combatti movement and the we employment. The imminent war danger marked by the increasing conflicts among the er nations and the growing offensive against the Soviet Union, the concealed but vicious drive of American government upon Latin America which the Havana conference brings into clear relief, the war on the miners and their families in Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia and Colorado, the anti-strike law proposals made jointly by A: F. of L. officials and the Amer- ican Bar Association, the flood of injunctions, in a word, the up- surge of a whole wave of reaction, coupled with growing indus- trial depression, finds Wall Street government striking a heavy blow at the only American daily paper which exposes the imperi- alist conspiracy against the working class and the Latin American peeples and calls upon the masses to organize to defeat it. Attacks upon Communists-and their press in all imperialist countr an infallible sign of a new reactionary drive or the intensification of one already under way. Imperialist government at that section of the working class which is most con- nd militant. SC}0OU. . To the American working class the attempt to throttle The DAILY WORKER is a signal that Wall Street government is tak- ing new steps to prevent organized resistance to its program of union-smashing, wage-cutting and war. The defense of this case will cost a great deal of money. The DAILY WORKER has no money. The prosecution is backed by the millions of Wall Street and endorsed by every organization which is an enemy of the working s in addition to the fascist groups which made the formal S. we appeal to our readers and supporters—the most militant sec- tion of our cl. The throttling of The DAILY WORKER and the jailing of leading members of its staff would be a tremendous blow to the eause of the working class. We say with proletarian pride that The DAILY WORKER is feared and hated by the capitalists and their agents in the labor movement. They would give much to still its voice. This they must not be allowed to do. The struggle must be carried on. The working class of this country can not spare The DAILY WORKER in this period of crisis. Send money to carry on the defense. Buy and subscribe for The-DAILY WORKER. Support The DAILY WORKER as it supports all struggles of the toiling masses. Answer the blow of Wall Street government at the only revo- lutionary American daily with proletarian blows. Organize to defend The DAILY WORKER which fights for the interests of the whole working class. Coolidge Demands Completely Servile’Press In his speech before the national press club at Washington, Calvin Coolidge openly demanded of the press that it exist only as a servile adjunct of American imperialist policy. “In interna- tional affairs,” said Coolidge, the press “should cooperate with its own government.” He added: “Whenever any of the press of our country undertake to exert their influence in behalf of foreign interests, the candor of the situation would be greatly increased if the foreign connections were publicly disclosed.” This is nothing more than a dirty, inept attempt to terrorize the entire press of the United States and to imply that any publi- cation that dicegrees with the imperialist policy of the govern- rent must be in the employ of some foreign power. If the press resents the lies, the provocations, the forgeries, the duplicity of Mr. Kellogg and the state department against Mexico, or against the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics or protests intervention and wholesale murder of defenseless men, women and children in Nicaragua, or the Mellon policy of terror in the Pennsylvania coal fields, that must indicate, according to Coolidge, that such a por- tion of the press is bribed by some “foreign power.” This is the second recent occasion on which Coolidge has spoken in favor of a press that devotes its talents to singing praise of the Wall Street administration at Washington. Since the dictatorship of Wall Street as exemplified by the Coolidge government at Washington must conceal its hideous fea- tures under the thin disguise of bourgeois democracy, it cannot ( 4 { THE DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 1928 ABOVE THE CLOUDS By Fred Ellis Industry in the United States faces a severe depression. But that doesn’t worry the capitalist very much. He sits tight with his money bags. It’s the workers—suffering wage cuts and unemployment—who will worry about the next meal. ~% © By NORMAN H. TALLENTIRE. MINNEAPOLIS, Minn., Feb. 6.— Two significant meetings of support- ers of the farmer-labor movement in Minnesota were held here recently. One was on January 28, when a well- attended meeting of Ramsey County iarmer-laborites was held in the St. Paul Labor Temple to nominate can- didates for the oncoming city elec- tions, The other was on Monday, January 80, when a conference of all armer-labor elements, particulariy the trade union section in Hennepin County was held at labor headquar- ters, Minneapolis. At this meeting it was announced that the nominating convention for the state of Minnesota will convene on March 29th. It is also rumored that at the close of the state convention, progressives and farmer-laborites of the northwestern states will gather to discuss the ad- visability of launching a national ticket. In both meetings the need for in- tensive work to build up and strength- en the farmer-labor movement in Min- nesota was stressed, altho it is ap- parent that certain elements asso- ciated with the farmer-labor _move- ment have not yet thoroly learned the disastrous lessons of class-collabora- cion and bargaining with the old poli- sical parties. A Recent Election. One year ago the farmer-laborites in Hennepin County were facing a municipal election in Minneapolis. The left wing and progressives put up a splendid fight for a full ticket to be headed by a labor candidate for mayor. At that time, however, there developed a strong sentiment among a section of the laborites, fostered by the agents of George -B. Leach, re- publican mayor of Minneapolis, who are always working assiduously in the ranks of organized labor to prevent. a labor candidate for mayor, which forces were then so powerful as to defeat the proposal for nominating a full ticket.. The sentiment expressed by these opponentg of a full ticket was that should a labor candidate be nominated for mayor against the “friend of labor,” George B. Leach, then it would result in the defeat of the progressive labor aldermen “who had done so much for organized la- bor.” Due to the backward trend of the labor movement in Minneapolis, the result of almost four years of red- baiting and disruptive tactics by agents of the Gompers machine and republican party in the labor move- ment, there was not enough strength to defeat the opponents of a full slate. Therefore labor went into the battle one year ago in Minneapolis without | any head to the ticket, with the ad sult that the labor aldermen were al- most wiped off the ticket—Rudsdil, ilanscom, Scett and others wno nad been long in office going down to’ defeat, (It is only fair.to state that I. G. Scott, left wing candidate, was fighting right down the line for a full ticket, along with the progressives and militants.) Disastrous Results. T.e disastrous results of this cam-| paign one year ago are now apparent | to even the most backward and con- servative elements in the lebor move- ment. Not less than a round score! of labor men and farmer-laborites who were working actively against the nomination of a labor candidate for mayor in Minneapolis one year ago have openly admitted their mis- take and stated that this tactic is ruinous and futile, playing as it does into the hands of the misleaders of labor and the old-line politicians by drawing the workers into the ranks of the old political parties. Neverthe- less, despite the lessons of the elec- tions a year ago in Minneapolis we have an identical situation in Kamsey County, St. Paul, today. In the labor conference recently the reactionary and backward elements in the labor movement lined up to op- pose the full ticket in St. Paul. In- stead of running a full ticket of a mayor and six commissioners, up to date-it is only proposed to run four commissioners. It was openly stated on the-floor of the conference that if a couple of places were left open, this would give the so-called “labor” representatives on the City Council opportunity to dicker with the repre- sentatives of the old parties. This of course is opportunism pure and sim- ple, opportunism of the rankest kind, even worse in its ultimate results for the workers than the old A. F. of L. \policy of rewarding your friends and punishing your enemies. Dangerous Tactics. This is the tactic that has time and time again destroyed the morale and disrupted the organizational efforts of all honest elements to build an inde- pendent party of the farmers and workers. So long as these tactics are employed, we will find the situation obtaining as in Minneapolis and St. Paul at the present time—that the rank and file workers are apathetic, despondent and disheartened, due to the results of following these blind who cannot see the ruinous conse- quences of this policy of begging for favors from the enemies of the work- ers in the political field, instead of fighting the battle of the workers on a clean-cut basis of independent poli- tical action through an independent party of labor. It is a certainty that the campaign in St. Paul will result in the same awakening of the honest elements in the labor party in that city as was effected by the disastrous campaign in Minneapolis one year ago. What is recessary in Minnesota is a build- ing up of party sentiment, creation of the necessary party, loyalty to build a powerful instrument of the workers which will be strong enough to compel even the most “influential” candidates to obey its decisions and carry out its programs. Certain enemies of the labor move- ment in this’ section are already chortling with glee over the fact that the leaders of the farmer-labor move- ment in Minnesota are lukewarm to a national ticket in 1928, This is evi- [eho of the blind, without vision, \denced by the opinions of Mr. Charles B. Cheney in his “Minnesota Politics” column in the reactionary Minneapolis Journal, One of the old mottoes of the labor movement used to, be: “Read the columns of the Journal; see what they advocate and fight for the op- posite.” This is a good slogan to fol- low. Whenever Mr. Cheney expresses an‘opinion that a certain achievement is not desired by the laborites, an ex- amination into the roots of the metter will probably discover that this-is the openly suppress every adverse criticism in the press as does Mus- sdlini in Italy, kept in power by American dollars, but the speech of Coolidge clearly proves that a completely subservient press is the ideal toward which American imperialism is driving. Such a speech also proves thatthe most powerful ruling class in the world appreciates the power ofthe press. This should be a lesson to the working class of the United States to take effec- tive steps to guarantee the existence of the one English daily that dares to challenge on every front the power of the Wall |Street masters of Cal Coolidge—The:- DAILY WORKER. very thing that the farmer-laborites are most anxious to achieve and which will best serve the interests of the workers. At least this can be stated —that if the rank and file farmer- laborites recognize the best way’ to serve their party and the interests of the workers and farmers, they will get a good line on what will benefit the workers and farmers by going contrary to the advice of Mr. Cheney, or any other of the political writers in the capitalist press—Tribune, Journal or Star. A Crying Need. The erying need in Minnesota to- day is an intensive drive to build and reinforce the Farmer-Labor Associa- tion of Minnesota to such an extent that the policies and programs of the association will dominate the situation in Minnesota politics and will compel the adherence and recognition of all candidates to the party platform, no matter what prominence they may have achieved thru the votes of the workers and farmers of this state. The significant thing about the la- bor conferences held this week end was the demand for immediate action to build the party; the appointment of committees of action representing all sections of the labor movement in the conferences of Saturday and Mon- day night to point to the determina- tion of the workers in the Twin Cities to do their share to reinforce and build the movement and to carry it to vic- tory in the coming campaigns. The 266,000 votes cast for the farmer- labor ticket in 1926 (an off-year) will be cast again this year, together with approximately an additional 100,000 to 150,000. In fact, it is not beyond the possibilities of practical politics that with a strongly organized cria- paign, directed by the party under the leadership the party authority and regular party committees, that the farmer-labor party of Minnesota, in the fall of 1928, may register a vic- tory and elect the major part of its slate to office thruout the entire state, Outline Plans. _ These are the plans of the progres- sive elements within the farmer-labor movement and it is significant, at a time when the movement is awaken- ing again to action, that those who for years have been fighting most vigorously the promotion of an inde- PREPARING FOR THE 1928 CAMPAIGN Plan Farmer-Labor Nominating Convention in Minnesota pendent political party of labor; that those representatives within the labor movement who have been conspicuous by their servile pandering to the rep- resentatives of the republican party, the candidates of the bosses and of the banks, are now seeking re-en- trance to the labor party and return- ing to the fold of the labor movement in which they once played a prominent part. This, we say, is significant be- cause it points to the potential power and untold resources of the farmer- labor movement in Minnesota; that even those who have stood against the farmer-labor movement and support- ed the candidates of the democratic and republican parties against: the labor party, are now seeking admis- sion ‘nto the ranks of labor. In this situation the slogan: Build the Organ- ization. Every Union Man a Mem- ber of the Labor Party. Every Ex- ploited Farmer a Member of the La- bor Partyis the slogan under which to fight and win. At the same time addtional vigilance is the watchword for those sincere, devoted, honest ele- ments who thru the storm and stress of years have worked for and built the farmer-labor party. Tney must beware cf these “champions of labor” who appear in the councils of the la- bor party at the time when there is an important political campaign be- fore us; at this time when the labor movement is likely to sweep to vic- tory, we find those who have been sontemptuous of the labor movement, who have denounced it on every oc- casion, now seekmg admissio1 to its ranks and councils, This is at one and the same time an inspiration to go forward and also a warning to be- ware. Go forward to build the party and to victory. Beware of those labor men who become active in the labor party only when labor appears to be on the eve of victory. The workers and farmers must know the motives and intentions of those who join the party at a time like this, Inasmuch as the farmer- labor movement of Minnesota is root- ed in the convictions of 400,000 to 500,000 honest workers and farmers, there is no doubt of the outcome and a vigorous and straight campaign for labor’s candidates under the banner of labor’s party, spells victory for labor’s cause, ee no American be fooled by that little tilt among the senators con- cerning Negro votes and prohibition. Neither Swanson and Glass, of Vir- ginia; nor Bruce, of Maryland; nor Borah, of Idaho, had any interest in defending the right of American Ne- groes to vote. They were all inter- ested in the rights of whiskey, and Senator Bruce, who wants his drinks, dragged in the Negro question for spite, Borah is sincerely against essary to “stay friends” with the southern prohibitionists, he finds him- self continually trying to uphold one part of the constitution, the 18th Amendment, while encouraging the violation and evasion of other parts, the 14th and 15th Amendments. Per- haps he feels that in order to stand with the south (or to keep them jstanding with him) on the liquor ques- ;tion, he must stand with them on the |Negro question; for the southerners would disagree with Jesus Christ on the subject of paradise if he dis- agreed with them on the subject of the Negro. Therefore Borah finds himself playing on the Negro ques- tion the same ignoble role that Daniel Webster played on the question of fugitive slave laws, ~ Borah is wrong on the rights of Ne- groes and promises to stay wrong; he liquor, but by feeling it eternally nec- | NegroVotesafid the Senate sees, or pretends to see, no violation of the constitution when southern state officers refuse to register Negro citizens as voters, His technical ar- gument is this: That the state laws of the south do not direct the officers to refuse Negroes and that the re- fusal is the act of the individual of- ficers. Borvh, “a great statesman,” does not know, or pretends not to know, that the administration of laws by state officials is as much an act of the state as the making of laws by the state’s legislature. The argument of Bruce, of Mary- land, is much simpler: If we let you southerners get away with stealing the Negro’s vote, why can’t you re- |eiprocate by letting us whiskey fel- lows get around the 18th Amend- ment? - Such an appeal is an appeal to the “honor of thieves.” Then Swanson, supported by Glass, of Virginia, professes to believe that the mere passing of the 15th Amend- ment, which sought to make it plainly {unlawful to disfranchise people on ac- count of race or color, “repeals” Sec- tion 2 of the 14th Amendment, which calls for reduction of a state’s repre- sentation in proportion to such unlaw- ful disfranchisement. It is a mere quibble to say that the 15th Amend- ment “repeals” anything, when the sole object ‘of the 15th was to support. BOOKS| THE COAL DIGGER. THE MINERS’ FREEDOM. By Carter Goodrich. Marshall Jones Co. $2. machine has become a substi- tute for “Destiny.” The ancient tragical notions clustering around the idea of “Fate” are now shifted to the machine. Life becomes incidental to the gigantic process of production. Human values melt away before the whirling, grinding approach of this squealing monster, reducing life to a series of motions at one end, measur- ing its value in piles of production on the other. Carter Goodrich sees this grim monster invading the mines. Under the earth’s surface, this “Freedom” kept up a sardonic survival. (Obyie ously there was no place for it in the, sun!) But now the horrors of the} factory track “Freedom” down to its}, last hiding place. The miner’s pick ) will become a tooth in a cutting chain. His easy manipulations give way to the charted movements of efficient guidance. His “gob-pile democracy,” his jovial chewing of tobacco, his smoking and quitting when he is tired, will fade away before batallions of time-clocks, conveyors, cutting ma- chines, and morose experts who will try to “stabilize” the industry by burying the land under a mountain of undemanded coal! What will the miner do about it? This is the question raised by the author. “Will a new indiscipline re- place the old?”, he asks. “Or will the mine become a coal factory, and production be standardized?” He instances cases where miners actually dynamited machines that took away their “freedom on the job.” Rut this is hardly a solution. On the ether hand the mechanization of mines may give certain operators an ad- vantage in the market. But the ten- dency will be, as the author himself indicates, to intensify an already bad situation. Evidently machinery can, aside from modernizing methods of production, become a nuisance. It is self-evident that to this time machinery has merely served to ex- ploit the worker without rewarding him for his extra loss a fsweat. One- tenth of the miners now employed could, with mechanical methods, sup- ply this country with the necessary fuel. What ther, would happen to the rest? For this problem society offers at present no solution. Every industry is overcrowded; every mar- ket is glutted with products; our sys- tem is in a bad slump. The miners’ tragedy is an incident in the class struggle. ‘heir “free- dom” about to disappear, what is go- ing to happen? Miners are grim fighters. They are deeply mine-con- scious. and will struggle to main- tain their traditions. When at last the squeal of the machine will replace the curse of the miner, he will have to meet the issve on a class basis. For the miners’ fight is the fight of the whole working class. His “free- dem”—such as it has been—is insig- nificant compared even with the free- dom of a miner in Soviet Russia to- dey. But even this bone is to be taken from him! So much sooner then will the miner know where he belongs in the social scheme. So much sooner will he realize that his fight is one with the toilers the world over. What he will then do will be his answer to the questions daintily propounded by Carter Goodrich in this book. -—-ED. FALKOWSKI. Mine Strike Good God! Must I now meekly bend my head And cringe back to that gloom I know: so well? Forget the wrongs my tongue may never tell, Forget the plea they silenced with their lead, Forget the hillside strewm with mur- dered dead, Where once they drove me—mocked me when I fell All black and bloody by their holes of hell, While all my loved ones wept uncom: forted? It is the land my fathers fought to own — — Here where they curse me—beaten and alone? But God, it’s cold! My children sob and cry, Shall I go back into the mines and wait, And lash the conflagration of my hate — — Or shal! T stand and fight them till I die! —A PAINT. CREEK MINER. * * / (Reprinted from “May Days” by Genevieve Taggard. Boni & Live~ right). and strengthen the law laid down the 14th, A * * * So we have it: the error of Borah is perhaps due to the fact that he does not know the south; the falla- cious arguments of Swanson and Glass are due to the fact that they know all about the south; and the position of Bruce is due to his interest in the anti-prohibition cause, None of this statesmanship tends to secure Negro citizens their rights to vote and share in their own government, Bruce boldly acknowledges that he is not at all interested in getting the Negro his vote, but is simply threatening to use the unconstitutional treatment of Negro in a “deal” to get whiskey. ) | (