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

THE DAILY WORKER } Published by the NATIONAL DAILY WORKER PUBLISHING ASS’N, Ine. | Daily, Except Sunday 83 First Street, New York, N. Y. Cable Address: “Daiwork” SUBSCRIPTION RATES By Mail (in New York only): By Mail (outside of New York): $2.00 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 | Address and mail out checks to THE DAILY WORKER, 33 First Street, New York, N. Y. 31 Rditor....... ...-ROBERT MINOR Assiatant Editor. .WM. F. DUNNE Entered as second-class mail at the post-office at New York, N. ¥., under the act of March 8, 1879. “Andy---$50,000” It there a burglar or pickpocket in any jail who does not feel a flush of pride in his relative honesty when reading of the Cool- idge cabinet? | Andrew W. Mellon, American capitalism’s white god, who came down from the heavens of big business to enter into the direct administration of government in the presidential cabinet— admits—after being caught—that his hands have touched the liberty bonds of Harry Sinclair’s and Warren G. Harding’s and Calvin Coolidge’s oil-graft election fund of 1920. When John T. Pratt, brother of the president of the Standard Oil Co. of Indiana, died, he left a little penciled memorandum, which noted the name “Andy” among the list of those receiving the property stolen for Harding and Coolidge through the Continental Trading Co. Andy, who holds his position in the cabinet by violation of law, has an alibi—he “sent the bonds back.” But only after being | caught did he admit having received them. Does anyone imagine | that Mellon didn’t know of the senate investigation of the graft and the Sinclair graft bonds which he had his hands on? Why did Will Hays lie in the first investigation to conceal the trail of the Continental Trading Co. stealings from Sinclair to | the republican national committee? Why did Hays lie again just a few days ago when confessing | his fromer lies but omitting Mellon as one to whom he sent a} $50,000 allotment of the Sinclair bonds? | What is Coolidge doing now? Does anyone imagine that he does not know that the senate investigation is going on, and that | the committee pretends to want to know about the other $230,000, the rest of the Continental loot? Does anyone think that Cool-; idge, who for eight years has been, first, a non-voting member of the Harding cabinet, and then the chief of the oil-graft adminis- tration,—who has seen three members of his own cabinet go down under exposure cf direct bribery—does anyone imagine that Coolidge knows nothing about the sordid eight years of graft, ex- posure, mysterious death, suicide and efforts to conceal criminal activities which has been the fabric’ of his life during that period? Will Coolidge admit something about the $280,000 un-traced balance of the oil graft money,—as soon as he is caught? But the senate committee will not call Coolidge. Walsh may | run down a few republican cabinet members, but he will avoid t il to the white house. This is his “patriotic duty.” The ted States capitalist class government must be protected. The ing masses of this country must not be allowed to see that overnment of the United States is not an exalted and pure titution “above the classes,” but that it is a committee for ing the common affairs of the capitalist class, a ring for buying and ‘selling of the loot which is robbed from the ex- | p.aited masses, a machine of force and violence for the suppression of the working and farming masses to facilitate their exploitation by the Sinclairs, the Rockefellers and the Morgans and Coolidge and who will buy and own his successor. And maybe that suc- cessor will be Walsh. The “Slave Market” With unemployment mounting to tremendous figures, the capitalist press seizes upon any piece of cruel fakery that it can play up to the attention of the unemployed workers. Urbain Ledoux, a meaningless street faker, is given the catch-name of “Mr. Zero” by the press which tries to make him a national hero of the unemployed. That is because Ledoux’s activities do not lead to the organization of the jobless workers, but only to their demoralization with stimulated hopes of individual escape from unemployment. | But when the International Workers’ Relief, an honest work- | ing class institution, which engages in the real relief of workers | in times of stress; and in this case it not only supplies food for ; jobless thousands, but also looks to the organization of the un-} employed—it is not looked upon favorably by the capitalist press. | A yellow tabloid newspaper of New York a few days ago, in pub. lishing a photograph of the endless procession of unemployed | workers taking their portions of food at the International Work- | the ers’ Relief station, called it “Mr. Zero’s slave market.” The cheap fakery of “auctioning slaves” appeals to capital papers b use it is sufficiently insulting to the unemployed work- iently individualistic, to discourage organization and y futile to be harmless. Workers with self-respect and intelligence wil! support the International Workers Relief. Organization and not fake “slave! auctions” is the word for the four million and mere jobless men and women. Not to have a few ind “sold” (at reduced | wages) to a few half-time dish-washing ; i the missions of | the charity-mongers, hut support at the cost of industry and the | state, is the right of the workers whose only offense is that they | have created “too much” wealth and are therefore thrown into the streets. Statement on Disciplinary Move by Executive of District 2 The District Executive Committee 3. As an unstable element, that is ++ its meeting Monday, February 13, |lisruptive in his activities no matter Fa2%._ unanimously | expeed John |" "hal organization he may belong. vecker from membership in thi fo bys ad ie ii eiuty: exer © | fractional activities to the Workmen’s Sick and Benevolent Association. Becker had béen warned against these activities on many occasions by the Party and in spite of admitting that he had made Menshevik and even counter-revolutionary statements, has continued with his disruptive work. Despite the fact that he had been re- moved from the leading bureau of the Hungarian section one year ago for carrying on this fractional activity 1. For conducting cpen activities against the Party, together with a andful of renegades and non-Party mbers. trying to organize opposi- ‘tion on the issue of support of the ‘Russian opposition undeh the guise of establishing an “open forum” in the 2. For organizing fractional ac- y in the Hungarian section and MARCH 12, 1928 By Jacob Burck “But there’s plenty of pepper and salt, sir.” ‘SID BUSH-- A Tribute By MANYA AIROFF. At last, dear comrade, you are at rest As I stood by your coffin and looked at your face for the last time, it still expressed the determination with which you carried on your revo- lutionary activities and the defiance with which you met the onslaughts of the master class. I recall your favorite saying which you always used at committee meet- ings, ete., “My name may be Bush, but I do not run around the bush.” No, dear comrade, you did not twist nor turn Yours was the true, Marx- |ist-Leninist road and with care and | devotion you led your comrades and | fellow workers along this road. You {absorbed the theory of our great |leaders for the purpose of conveying | this knowledge to your fellow work- ers to that they may free themselves _from the capitalist system and build |the Communist society. | Energies Unbounded. | Even when your unbounded energy | gave way, you insisted on exhausting |every reserve of it at your task of | building the revolutionary movement. Your heart was enveloped in a re- volutionary flame thruout your life and it was, therefore, befitting that a flame should also eat up your body when your last breath left you. Beside your ashes, dear Comrade Bush, all your comrades pledge to carry forward the banner which you were forced to lower at such an early age. We shall carry on the struggle to its. successful conclusion with the | aid of the inspiration and knowledge that you have left with us. We are joining with your revolu- tionary spirit, dear comrade, and say: Long live the revolutionary move- ment of America, Long live the Communist Interna- tional, leader of the revolutionary movement of the world. Long live the social revolution. The Workers Party Marches Forward By BENJAMIN GITLOW NE of the most important plenums of The Central Committee of our| party was the plenum held in) February. The Plenum discussed all phases of the present situation and the tasks confronting our Party. It concluded the sessions by unanimously adopting the thesis presented by the Political Committee. The unanimous acceptance of the thesis indicates the progress since the last party convention and is a guarantee that the Party fully aware of the tasks before it, will be able to take full advantage of what- ever opportunities present themselves. It is necessary, if we are to under- tand fully the significance of the plenum, to consider the present sit- uation in the light of the thesis. The outstanding points brought out by the thesis are the following: 1. We are facing a new imperial- ist world war, and the danger of a war against the Soviet Union. The United States will be an active and leading factor in the war situation. 2. The peak of prosperity has been passed and a sharp decline has taken place in American industry. 3. That as a result of the grow- ing capitalist offensive against the workers, the worsening of condi- tions on account of the depression, we can expect large and important struggles to take place against the capitalists on the part of the dis- contented workers. These struggles will present many opportunities to the Party. 4. That our Party is the only factor in the labor movement that ground. 5. That in order to take full ad- vantage. of the opporiunities that | are bound to present themselves, we must concentrate on the big masses of unsailled and semi-skilled work- ers, orgaitize them and lead them in their struggles. 6. At no time was it 2s neces- fective competition of rationalized | Europe in industry, is faced with the necessity of meeting that competition by intensifying its exploitation of the workers. Hence the offensive against the workers, and the intent of Ameri- can imperialism to smash the unions in order to reduce wages, lengthen hours and further speed up produc- tion. The War Danger E crisis facing the imperialists, 'H. towards unification = the! T tne: war: dengery 8 the centeay point of the present situation. The Communist Parties must put this in the forefront of the consideration of their tasks. This especially is true for the Communist Party of the United States. This was fully ap- preciated by the Plenum because the starting point of the thesis is the war danger, with a clear indication of the leading role to be played by Ameri- can imperialism as a factor making for a world war. How to prepare for the world war and mobilize the workers against it therefore becomes the most important task before the Party. War on Soviet Union, At the same time a war against the Soviet Union is always immiment. The imperialists in order to lengthen the period of stabilization, secure re- action in the saddle erush the rising revolutionary moyements in China and elsewhere, are preparing to make war against the Soviet Union, so that the extensive territories of the Soviet Union with its enormous population can be added to the sphere of im- perialist exploitation. They hope by such a war to wipe out the center of revolutionary in- spiration to the exploited and op- | Pressed masses all over the world. has been gaining and not losing | The defense therefore of the Soviet Union is part of the whole war danger problem. This fact the plenum emphatically stressed, Now every effort must be made to win the support of the masses for the Soviet Union. Everything must be done to combat as counter-revolu- tionary and as an aid to the im- sary as now to liquidate completely |Perialists, those Tro:skyite tendencies system of class collaboration which has been tested during a period of prosperity is now to be tested during a period of depression, during a period of hard times. The party is fully aware that in the coming period particularly large sec- tions of unskilled and_ semi-skilled workers will be forced by conditions to figth against the capitalists. The capitalists-also-aware of this fact are preparing to meet it. In pre- paring to meet the coming struggles of the workers, the labor bureaucrats and the leaders of the Socialist Party are doing yeoman service to the capi- talists. The socialist party is be- coming more and more subservient to |the labor bureaucracy while the labor bureaucracy continues to swing more and more to the right. The labor bureaucracy has abandoned every \pretext of working class trade unionism. The pronouncement of William Green is as follows: “Upon the very threshold of the New Year, Organized Labor in the United States challenges the owners and management of industry to co- operate with it in the establishment and maintenance of seund economic standards and industrial peace. We | welcome the opportunity of giving our collective skill, training and technique to the development of in- dustrial and individual efficiency.” This is an open plea by the bureau- cracy of the A. F. of L. to work for industrial peace and for individual efficiency (speed up) in the interests of the imperialists, It is an offer by the bureaucracy to become the direct |agents of the bosses in indusiry, to turn the unions into company unions, |to look out for the interests of the jowners of industry and not of the workers. The latest phase of the capitalist offensive against the workers are the proposals of the Bar Association. These proposals have the endorsement of the labor bureaucracy. They provide for compulsory arbitration through | the agencies of the courts as an effec- tive measure against strikes, | oe | stil remain in our party. In facing the period of struggles we mu have complete unity and the steps already taken in this direction at and since the last convention must be energetically followed up and concluded. Sharper Antagonism. The significance of the present sit- uation is the fact that the very tem- porary stabilization of capitalism has given rise to new difficulties for the imperialists. The contradictions and antagonisms between the imperialist powers is marked by the sharpening antagonism between Great Britain and the United States. The need for sources of raw materials for its in- dustries, fields for the investment of its finance capital, are the factors that are forcing American imperialism into sharp conflicts with other im- perialist powers, notably Great Britain. opting a Menshevik attitude re- e. and the right of activities. he has defied the warning of the Party and challenged its authority by openly breaking its discinlina. At the same time, American im- nerialism faced with the growing ef- w 4 all remnants of factionalism that |Z pessimism and doubt about the So- | {viet Union, the Communist Party of | |that find expression in the labor | | Trotsxyism | perity. jPlace in American industry. Millions markets for its manufactured goods, ; the Soviet Union’ and the Comintern | movement. The -fight against! is linked up with the) right in defense of the Soviet Union. | j The Growiag Depression. \ [ATER ICAN: imperialism has passed through a period of great pros- ij ‘This period has now come to a close. A sharp decline has taken are unemployed. The bottom of the downward trend as the thesis puts it, has not yet been reached, These factors present many prob- lems. It marks a turning point for our Party. The growing depression in the United States and its conse- quent effects upon conditions in the United States and particularly upon the working class was the main fea- ture of the plenum discussions. It is a recognized fact that Ameri- can imperialism will utilize the de- ppression to intensify its offensive | against the working class, The whole 'E must, as the Plenum indicated, ‘become the organizer and leader in the present period of struggles on the part of the workers against the capitalists. We must turn our attention more to the large masses of unskilled and semi-skilled workers in the basic in- dustries. Does this involve the abandonment of the existing trade unions? Quite the contrary. Recognizing* the crisis facing the trade union movement and the pos- sibility of the trade unions being de- stroyed by the treachery of the re- actionary officialdom and the blows of the capitalists, we must do every- thing to fight to keep and maintain the unions as militant fighting or- ganizations of the workers. As Com- munists, we do not abandon the mass organizations of the workers. We do not recognize them as static bodies. It was no accident that the plenum de- voted so much time to our fight to save the Miners’ Union. At the same time, we also repudiate the conten- tion that because the trade union movement in the United States is facing a crisis which may destroy it completely, we must therefore start the organization of a new trade union movement in opposition to the A. F. of L. Unskilled Workers Important. The unskilled and _ seimi-skilled workers, who are almost totally un- organized, are the big reservoir of the working class with which we can or- ganize to revitalize the trade union movement and mobilize for militant action against the capitalists. | This as the Plenum correctly esti- | mated, as a major task for our Party. We must take the initiative. We must not hesitate. We must in this task not be the victims of the fetish of dual unionism. If the reactionary unions stand in the way of organi- zation, then we must proceed to or- ganize them into new unions. The present period is a period of coming struggles, of more favorable opportunities for our Party. This the Pienum has stressed repeatedly. |Our Party must be the leader in this | period-of-the working class. However, | We miust not make the mistake that | American imperialism, because we | are in a period of depression, has col- Japsed, that it has no power of re- sistance or temporary recuperation, Such a mistake would be due to our ing to a subjective mood ana oring the objective factors of nevican imperialism. . Equally is it wrong in the present period to state that the situation de- raands a fundamental. revision in our ; tactics on the grounds that before the situation was unfavorable, now it is more favorable, tremendous struggles are ahead, we have big opportunities, American imperialism is declining ete. This view exaggerates the pos- sibilities and underestimates the po- ‘entialities of American imperialism, The Communist International in an editorial in the “Communist Interna- tional” makes clear its position on this point as follows: “This new process is taking its own new peculiar roads: “The objective situation still does position, but for the workers’ move- ment the most difficult stage is un- doubtedly left behind. BUT this does not mean that the tasks of the working class and its Communist advance guard have been simplified in consequence. On the contrary. The class enemy is organized as never before. The concentration of capital and the fighting organiza- tion of the bourgeoisie have made gigantic strides forward during the latter’ years. The political in- fluence of concentrated capital on the state apparatus has grown to unheard of dimensions. Trustified capital is stubbornly and insistently advancing against the working class. This advance is being carried on in the most varied forms; by in- tensified methods of capitalist rationalization, lengthening the working day, and lowering of wages, raising the cost of living, the denial of the right to strike, de- privation of trade union rights, high customs duties, the growth of taxes, the intensification of the white terror, growing imperialist activity, the military encirclement of the So- viet Union—such are the expres- sions of its advance.” Says the Communist International, the concentration of capital and the fighting organizations of the bour- geoisie have made gigantic strides. And of no country is this mere true than the United States. Aware of this fact, and the neces- sity of mobilizing the workers for struggle against the bourgeoisie, our Party must continue to develop those tactics which tend to broaden its in- fluence and give it contact with the masses. It must continue the united front tactics, to mobilize ever larger sections of the working class against the bourgoisie. To succumb to sub- jectivism and to ignore objective realities is to fall into. sectarianism and isolation from the~masses, the biggest calamity that can befall our party. Big Work Ahead. We face tremendous tasks, beset with great difficulties. It is not enough to be satisfied that our Par'y has been the only one in the labor movement that can record gains, Our Party s still too weak. We must strengthen our Party. We must materially increase its member- ship. We must utilize the campaigns to consolidate the Party and build it up. The war danger, the depression, unemployment, the growing offensive against the workers, demand a uni- fied Communist Party. The Plenum has shown the Party the way. It has established political unity in the unanimous acceptance of the thesis. It has pointed out the way in which the Party can take full advantage of the objective factors de- veloping in the United States. By throwing the Party into mass work, by mobilizing the workers against the threatened war and in defense of the Soviet Union, organizing the unor+ ganized, fighting for the unemployed, mobilization of the workers for mili- tant struggle against the capitalist offensive, and by the liquidation of all under the leadership of the Central Committee will march forward become the revolutionary ‘the toiling in remnants of factionalism the Party . _