The Daily Worker Newspaper, March 26, 1928, Page 6

Page Six THE DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, MONDAY, MARCH 26, 1928 THE D AILY WoRK ER “4 LITTLE CORRUPT, BUT OTHERWISE 0. K.” ee ee ee Ye ee Published by the NATIONAL DAILY WORKER PUBLISHING ASS’, Inc. Daily, Except Sunday 83 First Street, New York, N. Y. Cable Address: Phone, Orchard 1680 “Daiwork” 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. Address and mail out checks to THE DAILY WORKER, 33 First Street, New York, N. Y Editor -ROBERT MINOR Assistant Editor.. ..WM. F. DUNNE bntered as second-class mail at the post-office at New York, N. Y¥. the act of March 3, 1879. under Lewis’ Interlocking Program Why is it necessary for the rank and file members United Mine Workers’ against the scab coa! operators and at the same time against John L. Lewis? Of course it is not because the mine workers want to fight on two fronts at the same time, but because they are compelled to do so. The mine workers fight John L. Lewis because Lewis is fight- ing in all important respects on the side of the coal operators | against the mine workers, and only in smaller questions is Lewis qguarrelling with some of the coal operators. What are the various issues between the workers and the| bosses in the coal industry, and what position do the workers, and Lewis, and the operators, take on these issues? the line-up. To bring the entire strength of the United Mine Workers into the struggle to win the strike now on in Pennsylvania and Ohio: For: Against: The Mine Workers. Lewis and the Operators. The organization of the 500,000 unorganized mine workers | of all coal fields into the Union. For: Against: The Mine Workers. Lewis and the Operators. For the destruction of the Pennsylvania-Ohio Relief Com- mittee: For: Lewis and the Operators. Against: | The Mine Workers. For Mass Picketing and Violation of Injunction: For: Against: The Mine Workers. Lewis and the Operators. For the acceptance by the Illinois district of the Union of al cut below the Jacksonville scale: For: Lewis and the Operators. 1 | i Against: | The Mine Workers. For the individual contract system in the Anthracite: For: Against: Lewis and the Operators. The Mine Workers. For a federal anti-strike law, establishing a dictatorship by Coclidge, Mellon and the rest of the open-shop oligarchy over the mine workers, so that government decrees would become com- pulsory over the workers: For: Against: Lewis and the Operators. The Mine Workers. For keeping the Union out of those coal fields which are especially important to the Steel Trust (Fayette and Washington counties, Pa.). Fer: Lewis and the Operators. Against: The Mine Workers. On separate agreements, ending at different dates for dif- ferent districts: For: Against: Lewis and the Operators. The Mine Workers. | On the partial break-up of the Union by expulsion of all locals and districts (as in the cases of Nova Scotia, Alberta, Kansas, Illinois and the Anthracite) of which the official machinery of the Union jis taken in hand by the rank and file of the Union. For: Against: Lewis and the Operators. The Mine Workers. For the six-hoursday and the five-day week: of the} Union to fight for the life of their Union | The following is | | | | | } (Continued from Last Issue) By SHACHNO EPSTEIN ‘Translated from the Yiddish by A. B. Magil. HI UCH water has flown under the bridge of Russian literature and Russian life since Gorky published his first story. Literary schools and movements have come and gone, and changes in sceial environment have brought changes in literary forms. Gorky has never remained aloof from the life about him; he has kept con- stantly moving, yet at the same time has maintained his position as a lit- erary leader. This is not because Gorky is so adaptable and always swims with the current, but because he is by nature a_storm-bird like that other storm-bird he has immor- | talized in his poem of that name. He |never goes back, but always ahead |towards the new, towards whatever \ captivates by its daring and strange- | ness. And even when Gorky turns his ; |gaze backward and absorbs himself jin the past, it is not out of yearning for the old, but in order to find there the needs of the future. Essentially a realist, a painter of the manners of his time, Gorky can see light in shadow and beauty in ugliness. At any rate, he constantly seeks light and beauty, and if he fails to find them, he creates an illusion of their actuality so that those who lie in darkness may still find some meaning in life and be filled with |hope for something better. This re- sults in idealization, and so Gorky is at the same time a romanticist. He describes reality not as it is, but as it should be, as he wants it to be. And can it be held against the finch in one of Gorky’s poems be- cause he tries to cheer up the birds {with beautiful lies? The life of the ‘birds is gray, lonely and monotonous, and when the finch notices it, he be- only the truth, exposes the lies of the finch: he himself has visited those lands beyond mountains and woods, and everything is the same as here. The birds are disillusioned. And the question is: what was of greater serv- ice in this case, the revealing truth or the deluding lie? If one seeks a guide not in that which is, but in that which should be, then the lie be- comes the truth and the truth the lie. But though he creates illusions, Gorky is not one of those writers who likes to feed his readers with illu- sions. If he showed a weakness in that direction in his early years when he idealized those who Tie in the social gutter and exalted the “bosyak,” the |protelarian bum, to the level of a |superman, he overcame this weakness in his later writings. In fact, when Gorky attained complete artistic ma- gins to sing of a land of incredible |turity, the opposite tendency devel- |happiness, of the paradise of the birds |uped in him: he began to jeer at the that lies somewhere beyond mountains love of illusions and exaggerated the and woods. The birds listen eagerly | bad in comparison with the good. to this tale, their hearts beat with | When he left off depicting the vaga- joy. But the woodpecker, who loves |bond as a phenomenon of great moral A Titan in the World of Letters virture and began instead to reveal the soul of the ordinary folk-person, he insisted on emphasizing his brutal barbarism—a tendency especially evi- dent in his treatment of peasants. Gorky does not picture the peas- ants as argels nor envelop them in saccharine sweetness as did the Popu- list writers. In the words of his Varenka Aliasova: “I don’t like to read about the peasants. I know them, I live with them and see that people do not write correctly about them, do not tell the truth. They are described as. mild, meek creatures, but in reality they are nothing but vile en there’s no reason ‘to pity. them.” It may seem that the idealization of the vagabond and the exaggeration of the barbarism of the simple. folk- person, particularly the peasant, are expressions of two extremes. But ac- tually Gorky’s aim was identical in beth cases: to protest against the abnormalities of life and to drive jout the spineless apathy, demoraliza- ition and cruélty that dominated the | Russian scene. (To Be Continued.) By F. S. PHILLIPS. In the New Leader, Friday, March i6th, in the column called Yipseldom, there appears an item of the great- | | For: Against: jest importance for the YPSL, its The Mine Workers. Lewis and the Operators. | membership and “following.” “Com- To drive 200,000 coal miners permanently out of their jobs |"#** X and Comrade Y¥ sealed the (this will mean, of course, the elimination of Union men, because the operators will do the selecting) : | For: Against: | Lewis and the Operators. The Mine Workers. | To stop class collaboration in the Union: For: The Mine Workers. For Corruption in the Union: For: Lewis and the To organize a For: The Mine Workers (The Union is on record for-it.) For the imprisonment of Frank Corbishly and other coal miners in Illinois: For: Lewis and the Against: Lewis and the Operators. Against: Operators. The Mine Workers. Labor Party. | Against: Lewis and the Operators. Against: Operators. The Mine Workers. For the Hanging of Sam Bonito and other coal miners in the Anthracite: For: Lewis and the For the mine Workers Union: For: Against: The Mine Workers. Lewis and the Operators. It has become impossible for this greatest of all trade unions in the United States to continue being “led” by the enemy it is fighting. The present strike may be a decisive struggle for the existence or the complete destruction of the Union. Victory, and the existence of the Union, depend on the action of the mine workers over the heads of Lewis and his corrupt bureaucracy, This is why the national Save-the-Union Conference at Pitts- burgh on April 1 is the most important trade union gathering in the history of the United Mine Workers. It is also the most im- portant gathering in many years for the entire labor movement, because the United Mine Workers’ Union is not an ordinary union; Against: } Operators. The Mine Workers. workers to take control of the United Mine ring of eternal bliss, ete., and were married. Congratulations.” An “Important” Labor Event. A very important event indeed for the mass of exploited young workers \in this country. These announcements have appeared quite frequently in the | New Leader—and if we are to judge | YPSL activities from these state- ments, then we must inevitably con- clude that the Yipsels have now be- come a matrimonial agency. A short while ago, a lecture by Judge Lindsey was arranged by the YPSLL—the topic |being “Companionate Marriage.” In- | deed the YPSL has completely degen- erated into nothing more than a petty- bourgeois organization of the worst kind. Several weeks ago, the Yipsels be- came serious. They decided to debate about a living issue in America, the subject being the invasion of Nica- ragua by the forces of American im- perialism. How was the question | formulated by the YPSL for the inter- j branch debate? “Resolved that Amer- ica shall not intervene further in Nicaragua!” So-called young social- ists debating whether American im- perialism shall still further continue te shed Nicaraguan blood. These Yip- sels are not concerned with the basic question of intervention as such— from the wording it appears that the 2,700 marines already in Nicaragua are there with the YPSL’s approval --however, the soft-hearts of the Yip- sels stand up in revolt against addi- tional marines being sent to Nica- ragua. Even the liberal weekly, the Na- tion, speaks about American imperi- about America. Even Senator Heflin, the Ku Klux senator from Alabama, it is the backbone of the trade unions of this country. { * calls for the withdrawal of marines, The Yipsels are opposed to further: alism in Nicaragua. The YPSL talks|, intervention. The Young People’s So- cialist League is completely bankrupt and is acting as an unconscious agent of American imperialism. Ramblings of a Yipsel. The Yipsels have turned to having 4 little discussion about affiliation to an adult political party. A certain Wmansky, gives reasons why the YPSL should remain affiliated with the socialist party. After one reads that article (New Leader, March 9th). one becomes convinced that the ramblings of Umansky can only eman- ate from a petty-bourgeois student who wants to ‘free humanity and his soul from bondage.” Not one logical argument is given why any class- conscious young worker (and even student) who finds himself in the YPSL (if there are any such) should remain connected with the socialist party is given. Instead it is a “soul touching” appeal to the students why they should become members. of the YPSL. Y. P. S. L. Becomes a Petty-Bourgeois The Young Workers (Communist) League once had its own discussion on independence. That was in 1922, when cur Communist youth movement in America was still young; when cer- tain petty-bourgeois students and Greenwich Village radicals were op- posed to the idea of the Communist youth accepting the political leader- ship of the Communist Party. There were elso the ultra-left elements in the league that were connected with the United Toilers of America who wanted independence from the Work- ers Party because of Party affilia- tions. As far as the Young Workers (Communist) League this is no longer a problem, because every league member realizes and recognizes the leadership of the Party in the class struggle, and the league as being politically subordinated to the Party. But for the YPSL this must in- evitably become a problem time and again, because some honest elements But there were men who s And man looked up to man So I have seen a Red Dawn And I surveyed the scene as through a glass, To watch the falling sparrows and count the blades of grass. trayed within my vision, Men who mocked known gods with sly derision. I heard men moan in a thrall of pain, Who tugged and tore at bond and chain: Whose breath came hissing out through Beheled teeth And cursed old gods beyond belief. And from high places man looked down on man in scorn; with eyes forlorn. Thus in a.dream I moved across a bitter scene t And felt more deep and felt more keen For having known bitterness within men’s tears. vision of the world Against a scarlet dawn unfurled. —JAmEs A, MILLER. is concerned, ‘ Organization in the socialist league feel that the so- cialist party does not and cannot fight for the interests of the working class. They are not yet mature enough to take the next step—leave the Yipsels and join the ranks of the Young | Workers (Communist) League. - Sabotage Miners’ Relief. Last but not least—miners’ relief. The YPSL city committee was forced thru pressure from outside and pres- sure from their own members to at- tend and affiliate with the Youth Conference for Miners’ Relief. The Youth Conference when it was first organized represented some 389 dif- ferent youth organizations—social, sports. cultural, student and young worker organizations. The YPSL was amongst them. After attending one executive committee meeting, the YPSL never officially withdrew— never sent in any funds at all to the Youth Conference; never cooperated but sahotaged the work of the Youth Conference. In the report of the Youth Conference for Miners’ Relief we read that $2.800 was sent to the coal fields as relief, direct to the rank and file miners in the striking area thru the Penn.-Ohio Relief Committee. The YPSL sent their money (nobody knows just how much) thru the Lewis committee which has used up more money in wages and exnenses than the entire American Federation of Labor has yet contributed. The Yip- sels helned the Lewis machine in the coal fields and not the striking min- ers. In the tag days that were held, only one member of the YPSL went out for the striking miners. Whereas al- most 90 per cent of the others were members of the Young Workers (Com- munist) League. The Yipsels have openly sabotaged the work of joint relief werk. These are some of the activities of the YPSL. They are sufficient to show the complete degeneration of the YPSL into a petty-bourgeois. student organization—an unfit place for young workers who realize the fact that there is a class struggle going on, and those elements who sincerely want to acheive a change in society from that of capitalism to that of a workers’ and farmers’ vovernment. Colorado, the Realm of the Rockefellers UEBLO is the hub of the southern coal fields in Colorado. Its single industry is the huge steel mill of the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company, the same Rockefeller concern that dominates the coal industry here. It claims 60,000 inhabitants and is listed in the atlas as an _ independent municipality, but I did not encounter a single person among the many to ‘whom I spoke during my visit there who showed this illusion. “The C. F. and L” is omnipresent and, in popu- lar opinion, omnipotent in Pueblo. It is the largest steel plant west of Chicago and employs about 6000 men. It squats over the town like an ugly and menacing monster, watching, ruling and regulating everything. No feudal lord ever exercized more ar- bitrary power over human lives than does this awesome company of the Rockefellers which everybody calls by its initials, “The C, F. 1.” Thousands grow up, work out their lives and die ) without ever being free from the fear | and terror of its vindictive power. * * * A ganization as the Internatidnal Labor Defense is a big event in Pueblo, for the little band of courage- ous comrades who organize it as well as for the company. The C. F. & 1. never sleeps and never gets careless regarding the possible outcome of radical speeches. A large part of my audience consisted of company gun- men, spies and officials who came to watch and to intimidate, to impress the workers with their determined opposition to such meetings and to take down the names of those daring to attend. . * * HE rule of the C. F. & I. is not confined to its 6000 employes dur- ing working hours. It pervades the whole life of the community, utilizing various methods and institutions. It has its officials directly elected to the School Board and puts “Company men” in other public office without much camouflage. There is a big company store, a company church, a company Y. M. C. A., and a company hospital. All have plenty of cus- tomers. There is even a special Christian Endeavor lay-out conducted in Spanish to serve the spiritual needs of the Mexican workers along com-~ pany lines. * * * ot ia company hospital is an impos- ing edifice and is an object of company pride. The hospital, I was told, has 85 nurses and 27 doctors and a number of other things which I have forgotten. The Pueblo plant is called the ““Minnequa” Steel Works, and the company hospital bears the same euphonious Indian name. I asked the man who was showing me around to tell me the meaning of this Indian word “Minnequa.” “It means,” he said, “man, be quiet!” * * * “THE Steel Works ‘Y’ keeps ‘em young and spry!” is the snappy slogan on a poster advertising the efficacy of the gymnasium as a means of keeping the joints from getting rusty during slack time and lay-offs. It is reported or rumored that the Rockefellers have endowed many “Ys” and other institutions of Christian. Endeavor and_ Exercise, but they made the workers in the Minnequa plant pay for their own. Every man in the plant had to donate a day’s wages to the building of the company Y. M. C. A. If they don’t go and get their money’s worth of exercise, it’s their own fault. * * * 8, this Realm of the Rockefellers a group of comrades carry on their work with fortitude and perseverance that is a real inspiration to see. The head and front of the group is a woman, the wife of a steel worker, whose name I will not mention, Nothing daunts her. Through poverty, terrorism, the menace of the blacklist, threats of violence and prosecution, she goes on with her work, with de- meanor unruffled and faith un- dimmed. Company spies and thugs quail before her. We rode around town with her in an automobile be- longing to her family to see this and that comrade whom she had on her list for visitation and prodding up. She was unable to drive, although the car had been in the family a long time, and Comrade Showan took the wheel. I asked her why she didn’t learn to drive and she answered with a trace of confusion, “I guess I am afraid.” AS a contribution to the campaign of the patty to get the members to vote’and take part in the elec- tions I offer the story'told me by a Pueblo Comrade, who said he has been voting since he was 16 years old. . “I had come from the old country and I was working in the coal mines of Colorado,” he said, “when the Superintendent told us to lay off next day and vote for McKinley or we wouldn’t have any jobs next day. “T told him I was only 16 years old, but he said that didn’t make no difference, no vote, no job, so I voted. “The next year in Montana it was the same thing on election day, only this time we were told to vote for the Democrat or there would be no job. “That night I ran into a socialist meeting and heard Debs speak. I liked what he said and the next day I voted for him and kept on voting for the socialist party every tinie till 1924 when then I voted for Foster. “Who is going te be the party can- didate this year?” —TAMFS P. CANNON. PUBLIC meeting of such an or-| t