The Daily Worker Newspaper, February 24, 1928, Page 6

Page Six THE DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, FRIDAY. THE DAILY WORKER Published by the NATIONAL DAILY WORKER PUBLISHING ASS'N, Inc, Daily, Except Sunday 83 Ficst Street, New York, N. Y. Cable Address: SUBSCRIPTION RATES By Mail (in New York only): By Mail (outside of New York): §?.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” | Addres: and mail out checks to | THE DAILY WORKER, 33 First Street, New York, N. Y. | ..ROBERT MINOR ost-office at New York, N. ¥., under rch 3, 1879. second-class mail at th the act of red 6. Dictatorship at Havana In regard to American policy at Havana the New York Times 21 says editorially: for Februar “We have made it clear that the surest guarantee: | against our intrusion upon the Caribbean states is for these states to manage their affairs without imperiling American lives or legitimate American interests.” Since the state department issues all passports it stands | back of American citizens (at least all prosperous citizens) who} | ...WM. F. DUNNE | enter the various Latin American countries; and, since it likewise passes upon all foreign loans, its stands back of the enterprises ; in which American capitalists engage. The word “legitimate” as | } used by the Times therefore means that all “American interests” are backed by the state department. Further, since Wall Street government interprets the Monroe Doctrine to mean that it is the sole authority which determines whether the conduct of their affairs by Latin American govern- ments is favorable or unfavorable to “American interests,” the | Times is stating the bald fact that American imperialist govern- ment has set itself up as the dictator over the Latin American republics and their peoples. Charles Evans Hughes as the chief spokesman of American imperialism in the Havana conference reserved for it the right to intervene in any country, in any manner and at any time it sees fit to do so in the interest of the imperialist rulers. ° This is the cold fact established by the Havana conference: That the Latin American republics now stand always in danger of armed invasion by American forces if in the judgment of im- perialism’s advisers such invasion will advance the program of conquest of which the war on the Nicaraguan people is a part. Wall Street government at Havana asserted its right of sov- ereignty over Latin America. This sovereignty can be given actual governmental expression only by war; and the Havana -enference policy of American government is a war policy. The Latin American peoples will not submit to American im- l The fact that only the Argentine delegate made an ight (and at that a timid fight) against this policy does ‘een that the peoples of the other republics have abandoned ught of struggle. It means only that American diplomacy .ed by Wall Street and its army and navy was able to intimi- .e and bribe Latin American officials into betraying the in- terests of the masses at Havana. 4 These masses will have the last word and it is only by the support of the Latin American workers’ and peasants’ organiza- tions and nationalist movements directed against imperialism by American workers and farmers that imperialism can be defeated. The Havana conference was a flaming danger signal to the masses of the United States, Canada and Latin America. It has brought nearer and made clearer the danger of imperialist war. The same forces that are making war upon the striking coal miners and their families—trying to starve 600,000 men, women and childrén into submission—are preparing for war upon the workers and peasants of Latin America. The weapon of the masses of two continents is organization for war against United States imperialism, the arch war maker and the enemy of the workers of the United States and of Latin America alike. Davis Deceives on Taniff Issue Secretary of Labor Davis, following in the foot-steps of the democratic politicians, is attempting to exploit the sufferings of the unemployed masses in the interests of the republican party and in the interests of those capitalists who are profiting by the tariff. ‘The workers must not permit themselves to be fooled by these maneuvers of the republican politicians. Mr. Davis attempts to impress the workers that the way to solve the unemployment situation is to maintain the tariff on foreign goods. He says that the removal of the tariff would en- _ danger employment and wages of the American workers. The conscious American workers will not believe this stuff. They will remember that despite the fact that the American gov- By BILL DUNNE. “PELIGION,” said Marx, opium of the people.” Alfred Baker Lewis, state secre- tary of the socialist party in Massa- chusetts, disagrees with Marx. In a letter to the Boston Transcript, pub- lished on February 14, Lewis states that he is a member of the Episcopal church. The Lewis position as set forth in his letter is that there is no conflict between religion and socialism. This is about the same as saying that there is no conflict between super- stition and science—which is about the most obvious untruth one can in- dulge in. Socialism is scientific or it is not socialism. The Utopian theories of Fourier, Owens and St. Simon did not survive the scientific Marxian analy- sis of the evolution of society, of its class character and its commodity method of production—production for sale and exchange, production for the market exclusively—the proof that history “is a series of class strug- gles.” Religion proceeds on the false the that mankind must be “tre- deemed,” i. e., made better by the adoption of a code of morals con- trived by a supernatural being—a god. All evil, according to theologians, is the result of mankind’s evil dis- position and the god—there is much difference of opinion among religion- ists as to whom and what he is— must be respected and obeyed. His mandates are made known to the masses by self-appointed spokesmen who claim that the god speaks thru them. “is the This procedure of selecting the god’s spokesmen has not changed since prehistoric times. The Episcopal church uses the same age-old method and it follows therefore that the re- ligious adviser of Alfred Baker Lewis has no more of a mandate than do the medicine men of primitive tribes. Religion Is Superstition. Socialism has a conflict with re- ligion. Leaders who call themselves socialists may not have a conflict with ‘*rnment has been in the hands of a republican administration for | aearly twelve successive years, an administration which has main- | tained a high protective tariff in the interests of several big’ in- | dustrial combinations, yet unemployment has been growing and | not diminishing. The workers will also remember that despite | the domination of the republican party with its high prot tariff policies, the working class of America today is pz through the severest unemployment crisis since 1924. Today | ‘Vere are about five million unemployed workers, with consequent ‘fering, misery and starvation. The speech of Davis is nothing else than the maneuver of a republican politician to utilize the resentment of the working ' masses in the interests of the republican party and the big capi- | talists of the United States. The Workers (Communist) Party will wage a determined struggle against these maneuvers. It will continue to bend all its efforts to mobilize all organized as well as unorganized work- | ers, the employed as well as the unemployed, for a militant strug- gle against unemployment and for effective unemplgyment relief. The Lenin-Ruthenberg drive for the incresse of the Workers ‘Party membership and for the building up of the circulation of The DAILY WORKER is designed to strengthen this campaign against pees religion but this merely proves that they are not socialists but middle class reformers or outright capitalist agents. vet us take a look at the letter tten by Alfred Baker Lewis: “To the Editor of the Transcript: “Your correspondent, Mr. Moore, seems very determined to have your readers believe that there is some antagonism between socialism and religion. I am glad he admits that the socialist party of the Unit- ed States is not opposed to religion. That is at least a step for him in the right direction. “That the other socialist parties “Before my God, I am as innocent as a babe, Episcopalian = “I DIDN’T DONE IT...” FEBRU. ARY 24, 1928 ee é ” said William J. Burns, before receiving his 15-day jail sentence for shadowing jurors in the Standard Oil trial, Burns, in co-operation with the bosses, has sent more labor men to jail than any other single man in the ae “Furthermore, Mr. Moore’s own church, the Episcopal church, finds no necessary opposition between socialism and religion. Both Edith Williams, who has several times been a candidate of the socialist party, and I myself, the state secre- tary of the socialist party, are members of the Episcopal church.... “Alfred Baker Lewis “Cambridge, Feb. 13.” The Episcopal church, to which Lewis gives allegiance, is the church of the aristocracy as Upton Sinclair so ably proves in his “Profits of Re- ligion.” But this is a small matter compared to the fact that a leader of the socialist party in one of the most important industrial states takes so much trouble to show that there is no antagonism between socialism and religion. What is the reason for this? The churches are institutions of and for the ruling class. The whole theological doctrine of salvation—a paradise in a supernatural world after death for those who follow the clergy—has the effect of fixing the thoughts of the masses on the future instead of on the present. If one is assured of a heavenly home after a brief stay on earth—and misery suf- fered on earth together with servile obedience to the clerical code is the best guarantee of ghostly happiness— it is clear that it is more or less a waste of effort, and even jeopardises one’s place in the heavenly mansions, if one fights oppression unceasingly. Religion is made for slaves and helps to make slaves, “golden rule christianity” which the theologians preach is only for the ex- ploited section of the population. It is intended to lull them into acquies- cence to the demands of the ruling class—and it does so where it is not counteracted by scientific socialist propaganda and the conduct of the class struggle in a militant manner. ibe ee The only time the clergy have played a progressive role has been when individuals among them, at a time when scientific thinking was un- known, have broken with the hier- archy and joined with the proletarian and peasant masses in onslaughts on the ruling class which were not and could not be conducted in accord with the prevailing concept of christian conduct, At such times, these clerics have merely symbolised the rise of a new social epoch, have been swept along by a shift in class relation- ships. But since the rise of capitalist so- ciety and the appearance of the work- ing class as a class separate from all others, carrying the social revolu- tion in its hands, the churches and the clergy have played a completely reactionary role. They have been and they are found on the side of reac- tion in every struggle between the working class and its oppressors. Lately there has been noticeable a tendency’in both the Roman Catholic and protestant churches for sections of the clergy to ally itself to some extent with the labor aristocracy—to favor the organization of unions, higher wages, better working and san- Furthermore, the meekness and itary conditions, etc. By Fred Ellis Pe ie This is by no means the dominant tendency and it appears chiefly among those clergymen depending for their support on sections of the middle class who find themselves in conflict with the big capitalists over certain points of the imperialist program, who feel the burden of increased :tax- ation for imperialist adventures, etc., arid who need the support of the masses. But even this activity of these sec- tions of the clergy is by no means progressive. As a matter of fact it is the clerical expression of the class peace and efficiency unionism theory of the labor bureaucracy. The policy has as its goal not the encouragement of resistance to exploitation, but sub- mission to it. It is reactionary in es- sence and its objective effect solely that of retarding militant working class organization and the develop- ment of class-consciousness. a socialist party leader belonging to a church—Episcopal or otherwise: One is that he believes the super- stitions disseminated by the clergy, and the other is that he wants to ap- pear respectable and avoid conflict with and criticism by the upper classes, If Alfred Baker Lewis belongs to the Episcopal church for the first rea- son he is so ignorant that no worker should trust him. If he belongs for the second rea- son he is a hypocrite and a coward and likewise unworthy of the confi- dence of the working class. The reformist theory that religion is a private matter is put forward by (Continued from Last Iseue.) The defeated White Guards left be- hind many gangs of bandits. These gangs terrorized the civil population, raided factories, trains, and destroyed whatever they could. The Ukrainian’ Young Communists performed enor- mous tasks in combatting this bandit- ism. There are some very striking cases on record. In the Don district there were 10 nuclei with 202-mem- bers. These 202 members fought in 154 battles in the course of 1‘ years. Twenty-seven members . were wounded, 16 killed, 55 were taken prisoners, 21 of whom were tortured to death. The Young Communists re- vealed great heroism in their strug- gle against banditry. There were also some tragic cases, for instance, the destruction of a Young Commu nist detachment in Tripol. The. de- tachment did not take any protective measures and settled down in the dif- ferent homes of the neighborhood; the kulaks, knowing that the detach- affisiated in the labor and socialist international, such as the British labor party, are not opposed to re- ligion is also undeniable. That prominent individual socialists in this country are not only religious but ordained ministers of religion is also true, among them Rev. John Haynes Holmes, Rev. Norman Thomas, Bishop Paul Jones, Rev. Harry F. Ward and, to come near- er home, Mayor Bakeman of Pea- body. 4 ment was scattered, attacked :he members individually and killed them all. That gang was soon after suppressed by the Red army. Underground Activity Then the underground activi'y which he Young Communists carried on in the enemy’s rear (in the Ukraine during the Petlura period, in the cau- easus, in Odessa, Simferopol, Niko- laev, White Russia, etc.) merits at- tention, There were cases when spies be- + trayed Young Communists, who died for the proleiarian revolution un- flinchingly. In Odessa nine young Communists were sentenced to death by the Whites and before their exe- cution they made a statement: “We die, but we are triumphant and we hail the victorious offensive of the Red Army. We look forward to, and believe ih, the final triumph of the Communist ideals. Long live the Red Army! Long live the Communist In- ternational! (Signed):* Dora Lubar- skaya, Ida Krasnosichokina, Yasha Roiffman, Lev. Spivak, Boris Mik- hailoviteh Duninovsky, Vas Pet- trenko, Misha Piltsman, Polia Park.” The Red Army detachments which smashed the ‘enemy forces captured this letter of these young heroes. But how many unknown heroie Young Communists fell in ‘he defence of the proletarian revolution? Reductien of Army. The final destruction of the counter-revolution and the frecing of the Soviet outposts from bani ry, raised the question of reducing the Army and placing it on a peace foot- ing. The Workers’ and Peasants’ Government not aiming at conquests, decided to keep an army for defensive purposes only as to protect the U. S. S. R. from attacks of the West Euro- pean bourgeoisie. The U. 8. S. R. was continuously menaced by an attack, but at the present time that menace has greatly increased. The British imperialists and now the Young Communists and the Red Army banking interests are preparing a direct attack on the U. S. S. R. (as witness the severance of diplomatic relations with the U. S. S. R. by the British Tories, the raid on Arcos, the raid on the Pekin Embassy, the or- ganization of terrorist acts against the most prominent figures in the U. S. S. R., ete.). Under these conditions, during the period of peaceful construction, the Y.C.L. devoted much attention to questions of defending the U. 8. S. R. in the ranks of the Red Army and among the broad masses of the toil- ing youth, Army of Workers and Peasants The Red Army is an army vf work- ers and peasants. The leading role in the Red Army as in every phase of life in the Union of Soviet Social- ist Republics, falls to the proletariat as represented by its vanguard, the Communist Party. The Young Com- munist activities in the army consti- tute a component part of Party ac- tivity (see decision of the Sixth Con- gress of the Russian Leninist Y.C.L. on work in the Red Army and Navy). (To Be Continued). Se 83, BUT HAS TO WORK. LAWRENCE, L. I, Feb, 23.— James Laucheim of this town is 83 years old, but still must work as a clerk. He is said to be the oldest clerk in Long Island. qt There are two possible reasons for | Workers Lives Cheap Under Capitalism By M. RENUD. 'HIS mad and insane machinery age, with its established institution of exploitation, slavery and oppres- sion, daily claims its toll of victims from the ranks of those whose posi- tion in life is to toil eternally and serve industry. How often it is the life of & worker, or a serious injury disabling him while performing his task in return for a miserable wage? There rarely passes a period with no accounts of tragedies which take the lives of workers, leaving their de- pendents without any means of a live- lihood, We are filled with horror and pain when visualizing miners struggling amidst the black giants of destrue- tion, overcome by the deadly fumes, away from the sun and light, seek- ing air, dying amidst an agony of un- told torture. Only recently the lives of twenty-one miners were taken in an Illinois town. They went down into the dungeon, to earn bread for their hungry wives and children and a maintenance in the company’s barn —but they never saw the light again. The bosses were warned against the possibility of infloating gas—but hu- man life is cheaper. An hour’s work was saved—and new slaves took the vacant places of their martyred com- rades, perhaps to await the same fate. Such tales are plentiful and end- less; the guilty murderers are cleared of their share of responsibility, and the undisturbed exploiters continue their vicious methods of slaughter. Will it continue? Will those work- ers not throw off the yoke of their masters? The suffering of the proletariat has for centuries accumulated to go down into history as a glorious page of heroic martyrdom, but the spirit of discontent in the ranks of the weak and oppressed will rise and unite in the great cause of international eman- cipation. ocialism in Massachusetts socialist officialdom to cover up just such flagrant instances as that in which the secretary of the socialist party in Massachusetts is involved. The doctrine that there is no con- flict between socialism and religion can be true only when socialism sur- renders to superstition and becomes reformism. In respect to his religious beliefs, Alfred Baker Lewis is far to the right of middle class political leaders of France, Germany and Italy whose atheism and anti-clerical- ism is the expression of what mili- tancy they have left. Such types as Lewis are a menace to the working class. They know that the term “socialism” has a powerful appeal to the most advanced section of the working class—the section from which is recruited the speakers, organizers, writers and fighters of the labor movement and which is found always in the forefront of the class struggle. These leaders disem- bowel socialism, crawl inside the corpse whose Vitals they have ex- tracted and by their reformist antics in the name of socialism create con- fusion and demoralization in the ranks of the masses. It is from such a source as this that emanated the theory that the Sacco and Vanzetti campaign should be conducted as a great humanitarian crusade and its class nature con- cealed, It was from this source that came attempts to sabotage the build- ing of a powerful movement with its base in the working class and ta make the main feature of a class case involving the lives of two revolution- ary workers appeals to their execu- ltioners on the grounds of “justice” and “saving the fair name of the courts.” * * Leaders of the working class who swallow the superstitions of the the- ologians, or who are afraid “to make religion an issue,” are weak leaders at best and at their worst are treach- erous leaders. Their adherence to religious doc trine or their failure to expose its anti-working class character is proof that they have not freed themselves from illusions relative to the class na- ture of capitalism’s institutions, that they fear the non-religious masses and will not lead them in open strug- gle against the capitalist class and ite government. The socialist party in Massachu- setts is not led by a socialist but by an Episcopalian. This socialist party leader, like all the rest, having at- tained respectability, has no desire for revolution. Religion and the social revolution are in conflict just as the social revo- lution is in conflict with all other class instruments of the capitalists. A Communist leader who professed religion of any brand would be kicked out of the party publicly. In the so cialist party, as evidenced by Lewis' letter, it is a matter of pride to have as many preachers as possible. The revolutionary workers of the United States have already made their choice between the revolutionary socialism of the Communist Party, the socialism of Marx and Lenin, ant the religion and reaction disguised at socialism which is ladled out in poi sonous doses by such leaders as Lew the Episcopalia in. ay