The Daily Worker Newspaper, March 20, 1928, Page 6

CS Ace ALG: BET OSS ELLEN OR. Mee ES ELISE EE ESS Published by the NATIONAL DAILY WORKER PUBLISHING ASS'N, Inc. Daily, Except Sunday 33 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 $6.50 per year $3.50 six months $2.50 three months. $2.00 three months. “Dalwork” Address and mail out checks to THE DAILY WORKER, 33 First Street, New York, N. Y- .. ROBERT MINOR WM. F. DUNNE New York, N. ¥., Entered as second-class mail at the post-office under the act of March 3, 1 Save the Miners’ Union! | Sunday, the first day of April, 1928, will be the big day for the American labor movement. The national Save-the-Union Conference to be held on that date in Pittsburgh will be a turning point in the history of Ameri- can labor. It is necessary for the entire working class thoroughly to understand this fact. Whatever happens in the United Mine Workers Union cannot be merely the affair of one trade union. This great union is the proletarian core of the American Federa- tion of Labor. Aside from this mass union which is structurally not a craft union but an industrial union, the center of gravity of the A. F. of L. lies in the aristocracy of labor, the highly skilled trades, relatively highly paid and more subject to reactionary intrigues. The fate of the United Mine Workers to a large extent gov- erns the immediate future course of the existing trade union} movement. Yet it is clearly seen that the United Mine Workers Union is facing the danger of complete destruction. Such destruction would break up the proletarian core of the trade union movement: It would destroy unionism in the coal industry which.remains the fuel basis of American production. With the United Mine Work- ers eliminated as a serious factor, reactionary American capital- ism could boast that the foremost industrial country was virtually without a labor movement. This is not far from possibility. With the exception of 1922 the trade unions of the United States have for eight years been in retreat. In former times it was the invariable rule that during times of industrial expansion, the trade union membership rose with the growth of industry. But it is eight years since this rule has ceased to operate in this coun- try. The highest point the trade union movement ever reached in membership was in 1920, when there were nearly 6,000,000 mem- bers in all American trade unions. The trade unions in that year followed the rise of industria] expansion. Since 1920 the trade unions have absolutely failed to rise in membership with rises in industry. While industry reached high points in 1923 and 1926, union membership failed to keep step. Wages also failed to reflect rises of employment. The capitalist class was actually succeeding in reducing the trade unions to a negligible factor, thus approaching the open-shop ideal of a free hand for capital, “industrial feudalism.” The objective of the operators is to eliminate all Unionism from the coal industry. Of course the objective includes a general lowering of wages and standards, complete freedom from union interference, the elimination of 200,000 workers from the indus- try, and the highest possible speed-up of the workers remaining, with expensive safety measures abolished. The tactics of the operators include a partial alliance with John L, Lewis for a common attack of the trade-union bureaucracy ; and the operators, together with the police, against the militants in the ranks of the mine workers and against any effective relief system established by them. Lewis’ objective in the present situation is summed up in his own statement of his opposition to class struggle, his policy of “cooperation of labor and capital” (meaning cooperation of labor | Jeaders with coal operators), his advocacy of the elimination of 200,000 mine workers permanently from employment in the mines, his opposition to mass picketing—in short his opposition to any | action from the mine workers themselves—and his desire to re- tire from the presidency of the Union with a record so satisfactory to the capitalist class as to pave his way to an appointment in the next presidential cabinet. Lewis wants to transform the United Mine Workers Union from its original condition as a mass organi- zation, into a conservative organization in a few selected fields—-a | Union paying good salaries to officials who can make arrange- | ments with coal operators satisfactory to the operators. This is the only possible way in which Lewis can successfully make his career in national republican politics—the politics of big capital. Certainly Lewis wants the weakening of the union to stop short of the total elimination of the remnant with which he could trade. He hopes for a federal law under which government decrees would control the mines and “union regulations” would be imposed in a mild form through these decrees. ! The national Save the Union Conference at Pittsburgh there- fore assumes the greatest importance of any labor gathering of many decades in the United States. | | To save the United Mine Workers Union would be to save the | American trade union movement from the most crushing defeat in the world-history of trade unions. It would mean a turning point for the whole labor movement of the United States. It is necessary that the Pittsburgh conference be as represen- tative as the courageous mine workers can make it. Not only every local of the United Mine Workers Union, but also every un- organized mine, must send delegates to the conference. Phone, Orchard 1680 |fered at the height of the world’s | The biggest victory in the history of American labor can be won with the success of the big conference at Pittsburgh. a ‘ ‘ i By Fred Ellis The senate investigating committee was forced to admit that Pennsylvania-Ohio Miners’ Relief was most firmly estab- lished where conditions were worst. NoUnionin SmallTown. Letter Says I would like to tell you something about my life, I live in Coaldale, | Pennsylvania. Here we do not have |a workers’ organization, and the peo- ple do not know what they are. The; eall themselves Greek, because they’ never read, and go to church every | Sunday and holiday. When the pea- |ple come from church they go toa |house or saloon to drink, and do not know anything about the world. The priest does not bother with them, but tells them to give money for the church or they will go to hell. The people get scared, so they give the money which they didn’t spend for alcohol to the church. In the mean- time their children go to school hun- gry. The young children stop school when they are about thirteen years old and then they cannot get a job so they loaf around. The mothers do not care about them because they themselves are the same. I would be giaa 1t we had a Ukran- ian Workers’ School in Coaldale, but the people do not seem to want to be organized. The priest would like the people to be dumb and listen to him, because he knows if they would get emarter, they wouldn’t give as much to the church as they did before. This is the first time that I have written a letter to the Young Comrade Corner, I hope that it is printed. ANNA BORETZKY. ——» ‘How Long Can Sandino Hold Out? By MAX SHACHTMAN. Uppermost in the minds of all those who pay attention to the present situ- ation in Nicaragua is the question: How long can the revolutionary Nicaraguan forces led by Gen- eral Sandino hold out against the American marines? Is there any possibility for a successful conclusion to the war—and by that we mean a victory for the rebels—or are they “helpless and hopeless” as the liberal and pacifist journals and spokesmen (and, unfortunately, the more radical press, quite often) would have us be- lieve? Chante of Success Good. To the latter question, the answer is categorically: the rebels are neither helpless nor hopeless, and they have good chances for success. To the first question there can be no precise answer, simply because military and political questions are not mathemat- ical problems to be solved in a class room. But this does not mean that we cannot give an outline of the situ- ation and make forecasts that have a solid basis in reality. American Losses. Firstly: the rebels have already in- | flicted the most serious losses upon | the American marines. A comparison | ef American casualties in the world! war with those in the Nicaraguan | intervention wili adequately prove this. Of the 2,086,000 U. S. troops that went overseas in the world war (report of Col. Leonard E. Ayres, General Staff, Uj S. A. May 1919), | there were killed in action 34,249, and 18,700 died of wounds, including of- ficers and men (report of the adju- tant-general of the army). This total was for the entire period of 19 months of war duration. Taking a monthly average, we have a total of Amer- ican fatal casualties in the world war for a period of seven and a f months (i. e., the duration of the Nicaraguan campai £ 18,927 of- ficers and men. This s a fatal- ity list of less than 91 out of every 10.000 soldiers engaged on the other side, i May Exceed World War. | The official government figures’ given by the Associated Press (New | York Telegram. March 1.) of Ameri- | can marine dead in Nicaragua for the period of seven and a half months, | ineluding the 6 killed at Quilali in January, and the five killed at Dar- aili on February 27, are 21 dead. This figure is of course so much nonsense. Carleton Beals, after speaking with a number of marine officers, estimates | a minimum of 40 killed. The claims | of Sandino are much higher. But | even assuming only 21 dead, and the | official figure of 2,500 for the total of marines in Nicaragua, we have a proportion of 84 killed out of every | 10,000 engaged in the American in- | terventionary forces. Even the false | official figures show that Sandino has inflicted almost as severe losses upon the American forces as they suf- most bloody war. And if the real | casualty list were known, the pro- | portion of American dead in Nicara-} gua would undoubtedly greatly exceed the list of the world war. Substantiation of. these estimates can be found further in the A. P. dis- patch to the New York Times from Washington (Jan. 6) which says: “There has been almost a 35 per- i { cent casualty list in the recent brushes, marine officers point out, which is about the same as that suf- fered by the marines in the most bitter battles of the world war.” Advantages for Rebe!s. Secondly: the rebels have a trem- endous advantage over the invaders in the natural ailies formed by the topography and natural climate of the country. When the marines are not crawling at snail’s pace through treacherous swamps and marshes and uncharted trails and through thick forests that are actually jungles, they are climbing thickly-wooded, rock- strewn hills which range from 1200 to as high as 6000 feet above. sea level or across land that is covered with thick’ and thorny underbrush. Through this almost impreguable and labyr- inthine territory, progress, by bull carts, can be made at the rate of from three to six miles a day, without counting such other obstacles as rebel attacks, which cannot be prepared against effectively because the nature of the country denies the invaders the vormal flank defenses available under ordinary circumstances. As the of- ficers of the Fifth Marines told the Times correspondent: “This country & tke, Sandino, who is leading onalist struggle against na | Wall Street imperialism in’ Nicara- gua, *y gonne.” Add to these difficulties which American marines encounter: a hos- tile territory to operate in; mosquitees and other poisonous pests; an enemy skilled in the knowledge of the coun- try and in guerrilla warfare, malaria, fevers and other tropical diseases; a winter rainfall (mean for 6 months from November 1 to April 30) of 20 to 30 inches as compared with less than five inches in, let us say, Texas, and a summer rainfall (mean for 6 months from May 1 to October 31) of more than 40 inches as compared with the 5 to 15 inches in Texas, which practically means the suspension of marine activities in Nicaragua until after the fall of this year. U.S. Forces Hampered. It must be remembered that the Americans cannot send gunboats and cruisers into Nicaragua’s interior as they do along the Chinese Yangtse, because its waters have numerous rapids as in the Rio Grande or San Juan river, or obstacles like the fif- teen feet high Tipitapa falls of the Penaloya channel that connects Lakes Managua and Nicaragua. And the ad- mitted superiority attained by the use of airplanes is discounted partially not only by factors outlined above, but jalso by the fact that forest-obscured trails and camps oblige them to fly low for observation or bombing and |leave them open to rifle and machine | gun fire. One U. S. plane crashed to earth January 9, near the fighting zone; another fell January 10, at Quilali, jand a third crashed, killing its two | cecupants, on March 8 in Estéli. The cfficial excuse for the first two was | that they were “old machines of .a | type which is being superseded,” the | third was said to haye crashed be- jeause-a buzzard got tangled in tk | wings and struts. When we consider (that Denny, of the Times, admits th | “the marine officers: authorized i give out news show a lack: of frank- | Dess with the American. correspond- j ents here,” i. e., they lie like troop= , ers, and that Sandino claims that he has brought down a number of Amer- lican planes, it is far more likely \ ; than not that the first two machines {were “superseded”. by ~ well-directed | shots from rebel rifles, and that the |third plane was hit-by “the kind of metal “buzzard” that comes from a Women Active in U.S.S.R. Government A two-fold enslavement of women --oppression by capitalism and by petty and dull household drudgery, such was the heritage of the Soviet power from the czarist regime. In the very first days succeeding the October victory the proletariat not only abolished private ownership of factories and land, but also issued laws establishing equality between | women and men. The entire work of |the Communist Party and of the Sov- iet government aimed at drawing large sections of workers into admin- istration of the country. Lenin wrote: “The main and fundamental task of Bolshevism and of the Russian Octo- ber revolution is to draw into po- litical activity those who were most cppressed under capitalism.” “The chief aim of Bolshevism and of the Soviet power is: to expose the hypo- jerisy and lying nature of bourgeois democracy, to abolish private owner- ship of land, factories and work shops and. to concentrate state power in the hands of the working and exploited masses.” “But one cannot draw the masses into politics without drawing women into politics.” Years of Hard Work. It has taken many years of per- sistent end strenuous ‘work on the part of the Communist Party and the Soviet power to accomplish the actual liberation of women from household drudgery and to bring about an equal participation of the women masses in the administration of the country. The participation of working and peasant women in the Soviets and in their executive departments was much smaller during the first years ef the Sovict power than that of men, and to a certain extent this is the case even now. Working women con- stituted 5.7% of the town Soviets ir, the RSFSR in 1920; in 1921 7.1%, in 1922 9.8%, in 1923 14.1%, in 1924- 26 18.6%, in 1925-26 19.5%, 3 We get the following picture with respect to peasant women’s particjpa- tion in the village soviets: in 1922 they constituted 1% of the total mem- bership, in 1923 2.2%, in 1924-25 9%, and in 1925-26 10.6%. is harder to operate in than the Ar-?machine gun. Morale of the Rebels. Thirdly: while the Americen troops have the technical superiority over the Nicaraguans which comes inevit- ably with soldiers trained in a highly industrialized country as compared with the army of Sandino which is composed overwhelmingly of peasants, the latter have by far the advantage in morale. The Sandinistas fight with the spirit of revolutionary patriots, on their own land; the American fore- es fight out of sheer discipline, with the feeling of aggressors, on foreign soil, defending nothing tangible, and realizing—a good part of them, at least—that they are only mercenary troops for Wall Street. The Nicaraguan is accustomed both to the country and the climate, can fight guerrilla war, nives on a friend- ly land, and dies, when necessary, with revolutionary glory; there is no par- ticular glory or heroism for the mar- ine who wades through fever-ridden swamps, climbs back-breaking, un- blazed mountain paths, eats rotten canned foods and is eaten by insects, is stricken by malaria, or dies inglori- ously by a bullet fired from ambus- cade. The rebels have not only the support of their cwn countrymen but E “ Maj. Gen. J. L. Feland who is in charge of Wall Street’s war in Nic- aragua. . More than 1,000 more marines- will be sent to Corinto within a few days. ES However small the percentage of women in the Soviets they neverthe- less constitute an enormous army of working and peasant women drawn into direct participation in the ad- ministration of tke country. In 1926 there were in the RSFSR 11,845 active women workers in the town Soviets. in the village Soviets 87,000, including 300 chairmen of vil- lage Soviets. There were 22,000 peas- #nt women who attended volost Sov- iet congresses, 8,000 peasant women ip volost and Soviet committees and 7,800 peasant women in the commis- sions of the village Soviets. It is by strenuous everyday work that the Communist Party and. the Soviet government are developing uew cadres of builders of the social- ist order from the ranks of working and peasant women, As in preceding years, the slogan of the campaign is: Still greater con- solidation of proletarian dictatorship and inereased activity on the part of agricultural laborers and the poor peasantry. of the masses throughout Latin Amer- ica who see them as the focal point ‘for the struggle against American imperialism. The marines certainly ; have not the same support in the United States, where opposition to inc) tervention runs high, so high that it has not only forced some of the “pro- gressive” senators to make innoc- uously pretty and misleading speeches against U. S. activities in Nicaragua, but has even obliged such a clever old charlatan like Borah to drop the mask of the liberal and show the brutal visage of the imperialist. Sandino’s Position. Sandino is in an excellent position. In fact, he has at his command weap- ons which he has thus far left unused, and other “weapons” that are better discarded, Tt must be understood that the Nicaraguan situation will not be liquidated, even if the marines with- draw, ard an “impartial” president is chosen “under the supervision of Latin America.” In Nicaragua par- ticularly, one who leads must lead either into the arms of Wall Street . or lead with arms against Wall Street. Sandino, as the expression of the Ni- caraguan opposition to Yankee im- perialism and the demand for national independence, must utilize his revolu- tionary prestige and power to make a revolutionary Nicaragua the rallying center of a Latir American popular resistance to Wall Street and its gov- ernment. The guerrilla warfare can be made a hundred times more effect- ive when it is extended into a national struggle, and eventually into an in- jternational struggle against the north- |ern oppressor. The Nicaraguan re- bels will be supported in this not only by the Latin American people but also by the revolutionary and class conscious workers of the United States | who are théir allies. (The campaign cf the All-America Anti-Imperialist |League for bandages for Sandino ‘is |an excellent method for the American | workers to express concretely their solidarity with these courageous fight- ers against imperialism.) Victory Assured. | How long can Sandino hold out? The | spasmodically veracious Denny of the New York Times informs us (Feb. _ 29) that , “It is improbable that any re- sponsible person here (in Nicara- gua) believes that they (the ma- rines) can be withdrawn for many months, perhaps for years, to come. The Nicaraguans themselves, con- servatives and liberals alike, declare unreservedly that anarchy (read: the victorious Sandinist revolution- aries) would descend on the country again if the United States with- drew its forces.” Sandino has held out splendidly up to now, and.we can jeer confidently at the tall talk of the daily marine “victories” when Denny tells us that the marine headquarters “give out exaggerated reports as to the San- dinista dead, telling of hundveds kil- led where dozens had been slain or in some instances none at all as far us was definitely known.” quite right, further, when he us that Sandino has been “successful- ly defying one of the finest fighting forces in the world.” With the pursuit of the correct course, with faith in the powers of the masses, with proper support in Latin America and by the American workers, there is no decisive or conclusive reason why the brave revolutionaries of Nicaragua cannot * — continue their successful defiance un- til their final victory has carved a new historical epoch for the oppres- sed peoples of the two American 7 tinents. , ‘