The Daily Worker Newspaper, March 30, 1928, Page 6

> oie ’ for the Anthresite, and who even suggest the idea of a separate ‘2 Page Six THE DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 1920 THE DAILY WORKER Published by the NATIONAL DAILY WORKER PUBLISHING ASS’, Inc. | Daily, Except Sunday 83 First Street, New York, N. Y. ble Address SUBSCRIPTION Ri By Mail (in New York only): By Mail (outside of New York): $8.00 per year $4.50 six hs §6.50 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. ROBERT MINOR \ -WM. F. DUNNE kntered as second-class mail at the post-office at New York, N. ¥., under act of March the 1879. The Coal Miners’ Program The supreme moment of the struggle of the United Mine Workers to save their Union from destruction, is at hand with the great national conference of miners at Pittsburgh Sunday, April 1. At such a moment it is necessary for the mine workers to know their ground and correctly to estimate all the forces with | which they are dealing. Above all, it is necessary to maintain the | clear program and to possess the courage and determination to} put through that program in spite of every obstacle. | Every resource that can be mobilized must be lined up to/ put this correct program into action. Every man who is willing to fight to free the Unitéd Mine Workers Union from the strangle- hold of the agents of the coal operators, every man who is w: ating to fight to swing the whole unorganized fields into the struggle to| win the strike, every man who is willing to draw the Anthracite | districts into the common cause of the whole Union, to win their | particular struggle against the contract system and at the same time the greater common cause of the Mine Workers throughout | the whole country, every man who will do his mightiest to bring the Illinois, Indiana, Kansas and all coal miners into the great | fight—every such man is needed in the fighting line at Pittsburgh. But any man who is uncertain or evasive as to his own posi- tion in this fight, should be subject to very careful inquiry on the} part of the mine workers. “Middle” elements, standing between the mine workers, on; one side, and the mine workers’ enemies on the other side, ‘will | have to commit themselves one way or the other. Such forces} as may still desire to manoeuvre and waver in between the two | sides of the fight will have to come out flat-footedly for the min- ers’ cause now, or else the great movement to save the Union will | sweep over them and leave them behind. eee See In every district of the United Mine Workers there are men who have been none too clear in their position for or against the Mine Workers Save-the-Union program. The Anthracite miners especially have some men among them who wish to play a leading part in the struggle, but who have not given the workers any guarantee of what part they will play. There are certain forces who say they are against Cappelini, the tool of Lewis in the Anthracite, but these men do not take a clear stand against Lewis, the boss of Cappelini, Lewis, who is the real director of the villainous Cappelini plots against the mine workers. Against Cappelini, you say? How against Cappelini? Against Cappelini for what? Those who wish to lead the mine workers in the Anthracite must be asked. “Are you against John L. Lewis and Cappelini, and Boylan, and Murray, and Fagan, and Fishwick, and the whole cor- rupt crew of Lewis’ and the operators’ machine in the Union?” Or are you only “against Cappelini” and for Lewis? No man can be against Cappelini and for Lewis. No man can be for Lewis unless he is for the coal operators’ cause and against the Mine Workers’ cause. Some: men are shouting against Cappelini in the Anthracite and keeping mum on Lewis. Everybody knows that Cappelini is through in the Miners’ Union. Are you against Cappelini only to take Cappelini’s as John L. Lewis’ henchman? The Mine Workers have the duty to ask everyone who as- sumes to be a leader: “How do you stand on the national Save-the- | Union program?” The Mine Workers must be warned against men without a program, . Ce No district program can be effective unless it is tied up with the big national program. Just as separate district agreements have spelled ruin for the United Mine Workers, separate district programs, ignoring the national Save-the-Union program, can do tremendous damage to the miners’ cause. The mine workers want no conspiracies to put another Lewis agent in the place of Cappelini. There can be no separation of the program of the progressives in the Anthracite from the national Save-the-Union program. The mine workers will fight any agents of the operators who want to maintain the treacherous custom of separate agreements Anthracite Union. No separation of the Anthracite from the Bituminous! The struggle in the Anthracite is, and must continue to.be, a struggle for the nation-wide cause of the workers in the entire coal industry. The national Save-the-Union program calls for com- plete unity of the Anthracite miners with the soft coal miners. If there are “leaders” in the Anthracite who are dreaming of straddling the issue between the Mine Workers and their enemies, Lewis and the operators—by separating the Anthracite struggle from the nationwide struggle, then such men are traitors no less dangerous than Lewis himself. Vh- cause of the mine workers, in saving their Union, in winning the strike, in drawing in the 500,000 unorganized mine workers into the Union, in kicking out the agents of the operators and taking the-control of the Union into the hands of the Mine Workers—this cause is a national cause. The Save-the-Union movement fights boldly for the special grievances of the miners in every district—and the cause remains a nation-wide cause. The program is a nation-wide program. . This great program, put into action by the great national Save-the-Union Conference at Pittsburgh Sunday, is too sacred to temporize with men who have no program. On to Pittsburgh! place }? NO MORE SCAB COAL! ere By Fred Ellis Lift the weight of scab coa!-production that is breaking the back of the union! Draw the unorganized miners into the struggle to win the strike! Save the union! On to the big miners’ conference at Pittsburgh! & Urge Miners Join Workers Party The Workers (Communist) Party through Jack Stachel, organization Secretary, announced yesterday that the Party is making a special drive as part of the Lenin-Ruthenberg Membership drive to recruit 1,000 coal miners by May 1. The Workers (Communist) Party Stachel pointed out has been active in the campaign to save the miners’ union from destruction at the hands of the coal barons and the Lewis machine in every field, both organ- ized and unorganized. Members of the Workers (Communist) Party have taken the initiative in the organiza- tion of the Save-the-Union Commit- tee in the various districts and the building up of the forces of the Save- the-Union Committee in hundreds of locals throughout the country. Is Raising Relief. The Workers (Communist) Party is taking a leading and active part in the organization of relief in the various localities and has helped raise thousands of dollars that were sent to the Pittsburgh-Ohio Relief Commit-' tee to help feed the striking miners of the Pittsburgh-Ohio area, he added. “The Workers (Communist) Party | has raised slogans” Stachel continued, ‘in the struggle of the militant work- ers of the United Mine Workers who have shown the way to the great mass of miners in their campaigns to oust the Lewis machine and take control of the union into their own hands for the purpose of ridding the union of the bosses,’ coal operators’ and con- tractors’ control, and for the organi- zation of the hundreds of thousands workers union that will be able to defeat the offensive of the coal barons. “Miners in this struggle have had extensive experience with the old parties as well as with the socialist party. The miners are seeing clearly before them that it did not make any difference whether the government machinery was in the hands of the republicans or the democrats, that all these agencies of the government were used against the miners in their struggles and in the interests of the coal operators and the corrupt Lewis machine and its interests. “The socialist party has gone over completely to the bureaucracy and is doing everything possible to defeat the struggle of the militant miners to save their union and to oust the Lewis machine. The Workers (Communist) Party therefore feels that among the tens of thousands of miners through- out the country who are following its leadership, there are a large number of militant forces that are ready to join the Workers (Communist) Party. “The Workers (Communist Party is therefore issuing this call appealing to the miners to join the Workers (Communist) Party and build it as the best possible guarantee that the miners will succeed in their strug- gle.” Stachel laid down the following quota for the various districts in the drive for 1,000 members by May 1. Philadelphia District, including the anthracite, West Virginia—200 mem- bers. Pittsburgh District, including West- ern Pennsylvania—250 members. Ohio District, including the Fields | of Ohio, members, Kentucky, Tennessee—200 Striking Miners Join Workers Party Two typical militant miners fro outstanding aid in the great struggle of the miners in Pennsylvania and of unorganized miners and for the creation of a powerful united mine me Pennsylvania, As a Geille of its Ohio, the Workers (Communist) Party has gained hundreds of new members in the coal regions, Illinois District including several Il- linois coal fields and Indiana—250 members. Kansas District including fields in Colorado, Iowa and Montana—7b members. Seattle District, 25 members. The period between the Save-the- Union Conference April 1 and May 1, will be utilized for extensive organi- zation work to recruit the most mili- tant miners into the Party. | Special field organizers will be sent into the mining districts to con- duct mass meetings, distribute litera- ture, visit the miners in their homes, in an effort to recruit them into the Party, Stachel stated. The distribution of the DAILY WORKER on a large scale is one of the methods that will be used to |secure new members. In Ohio and Pittsburgh and other coal regions, thousands of copies of The DAILY WORKER are being distributed free every day. Exempted From Dues. All striking miners, and miners who are unemployed will receive a special free intiation stamp, giving them ex- emption from paying: initiation fee, and will also receive free dues stamps until such time as they are employed, according to Stachel. Plans are now being made to take care. of the new members who will be taken in, in the course of this period. Special classes will be or- | ganized in the various cities to train the new members in the basic prin- ciples of the party and in party or- ganization and how to carry on their work in the various mass organiza- tions. Special efforts will also be made to draw these new members into Workers’ Party activities. Gorky, a Colossus in the World of Letters (Goutineaa tenor from last issue) By SHACHNO EPSTEIN. Translated from the Yiddish by A. B. Magil. ORKY realized the artistic short- comings of “Mother” and the ideological defects. of “Confession,” and in “Matvey Kazshemiakin” and “The Town Okurov” he made a fresh attempt to create the sociological no- vel. The material here seems to have been intentionally warped, and provin- cial life, provincial customs and the barbarous provincial people are sharp- ly defined. But because Gorky strives to be very objective in “Matvey Kaz- shemiakin” and “The Town Okurov,” the life is presented too nakedly, with- out perspective. The same is also true of the story “Summer,” where the in- fluence of the revolution in bringing about a renewal of life in the village is described, But the monumental sociological no- vel that could withstand the attrition tics who had been proclaiming his end, recognized Gorky’s rebirth. The grandfather and grandmother of “My Childheod” and “In the World” are essentially many-sided symbols of the old Russian life. And in them are expressed the wo souls of the pre-October Russian people—} the Asiatic and the European, which Gorky was constantly revealing. Gorky idolizes the grandmother for, her wisdom, goodness, tenderness and refinement. But he has no love for the hard, stingy, brutal grandfather; for him he has only fear. Yet the grandfather complements the grand- mother, giving birth to that wonder- ful complexity that is called the Rus- sian people, that people that seems to have a special mission among the peoples of the world--the mission of being the bearer of a new culture, new customs, of a new morality and ethic. ‘ “My Childhood” and “In thej World” describe the various stages of | | | of time had not yet been written, Other tasks presented themselves to Gorky: more and more *he began to seek new forms, new material for his creative work, And out of this seek- ing came “My Childhood” and “In the World,” These two works, which are auto- biographical in character, are the best and most consistent that Gorky has written. And in them even those cri- a the development of a Russian folk- person from cradle until the close of kcyhood. Crime, death, hunger, li- centiousness, apathy, indolence are mingled -vith breadth of soul, clear- eyed vision, with love of life, bound- Jess kindness and deep idealism. There emerges not the biography of a specific individual, but the history of an entire people. And not a sin- gle artificial effect is used; every- thing is so natural, so faithful to life and reality that it seems that it can- not be otherwise. A child grows up in an atmosphere of heartless drunkenness, quarrels and abuse, goes through all the tor- ments of hell, becomes spiritually de- graded and corrupted, although full of dreams, of romantic longings andj; religious fervor. Yet despite all, the child beats his way out of the mor- uss and wins to his personal “I.” And towards the end of “In the World”! Gorky asks:* “Why do I relate these abomina- Hunger My stomach's “locked out” and the sky is a slippery dome of crazy colors chasing figures of around a pile of cof, eight fee and debphnaite’ —JAMES A. MILLER. tions? So that you, kind sirs, may know that they are not all past and done with! You have a fond- ness for grim fantasies, are de- lighted swith well-told horrors: the grotesquely terrible excites you. But I know real horrors, everyday ‘terrors, and I have an undeniable right to excite you unpleasantly by telling you about them, so that you may be reminded of how and under what conditions we live. Ours is a vile, a filthy life—and that’s the truth! { “TI love my fellow-humans and I have no desire to make anyone miserable, but one must not be sen- timental, one must not hide the ter- rible truth under the colorful words | of beautiful lies, Let us face life as it is! We must merge every- thing in life, all that is good, that is human in our hearts and brains.” | This was Gorky’s commentary on the hard and bitter experiences of a fifteen year old boy. And in that epoch of the past is embodied Rus- sia when it was still a sphinx, a mighty riddle. (To be continued) *This passage is taken substantial- ly from the English translation of “In the World” by Gertrude M. Foakes (Century Co., 1917). 1 have, however, improved its stilted style somewhat and made other slight cmendations—A. B. M. ¢ A Fraternal Order for the U.S. Workers: By JAMES P. CANNON. The American workers, permeated! through and through with the ideas of the ruling class, will not pass over to Communism at one step. In the course |of their development in struggle they | will approach the line of Communism by various zig-zag movements and | round-about ways. It is the task of! |the party to facilitate this procesa: and to devise various ways and means | of establishing contact with the partly \awakening workers in order to draw them ever deeper into the class strug- gle and nearer to the platform of rev- clution. From this arises the well established Communist practice of set- ting up “bridge” organizations which are at once a base of wider support | for the revolutionary movement and \a field for propaganda and agitation. | Such organizations are absolutely in- | dispensable, particularly in America | where the great masses of the workers have not yet learned the A. B. C. of \ the class struggle. The present ex- | periments in this field must be mor> | fully developed and extended and in | addition, new forms and methods of intermediary organizations must be! |devised to take advantage of re- | sources and possibilities not yet fully | utilized. | Time Ripe for Labor Fraternal Order. From this point, of view I am of {the opinion that the time is ripe to |plan the formation of an American | workers fraternal order, and I will | give reasons why I think such a proj- ject would attract thousands of work- jers who could be organized in this | way into a base of support for the movement. There is an economic basis for such an organization, and the habits and psychology of the American workers would be a power- ful supporting factor. The foundation for such a fraternal organization. on a mass basis, is group insurance. The absence of social leg- islation gives the system of insurance, both privately conducted as a busi- ness and mutual, an exceptional im- portance in America, The super- structure of ritualistic mystery and pass-word fol-de-rol in practically all the flourishing “lodges” in America rests on this economic base. Insurance Schemes of Bosses. The necessity of the workers for cheap insurance is recognized by 2 horde of professional “lodge men” who. devise various methods of sup- plying this demand. Many big corporations also exploit this need by forming benefit societies for the workers under company con- trol. The Colorado Fuel and Iron Company, for example, devotes a sec- tion of its official employees maga- zine for February to boosting “The Sunrise Mutual Benefit Association,”. organized last fal! with a membership composed “wholly of employees of the C. F. and I. Company and its sub- sidiaries.” For an initiation fee of $3.00 and dues of 75 cents per month benefits are assured in the amount of $1.50 per day for all accidents and sickness and a $75 death benefit. Existing Orders Aid Bosses. It is self-evident that a large per- centage of the 30 million lodge mem- bers in America consists of workers. In fact, it is quite safe to say that the majority of the members of such bodies as the Loyal Order of Moose, the vehicle which carried James J. Davies to the presidential cabinet as secretary of labor, are workers. All the existing American fraternal orders, without exception, are instru- ments for blunting the edge of the class struggle, for teaching patriotism and for hampering the acquisition of, a distinct class outlook on the part’ of the workers. During the world war, they became p®werful mobilization: centers for popular support of that) bloody enterprise. In many a strike. they have played a similar role. Graft-in Fraternal Orders, The swollen profit and graft of the insurance companies are matters of comomn knowledge. The fraternal in- surance orders also accumulate big/ treasuries, made up largely f the! workers’ dues, which are squandered! on big salaries, memorials and various | other “stunts.” "We should be skillful enough to divert a part of the money: which is taken from the workers for} these purposes into a genuine workers’! organization, the surplus funds of which could be given to the manger of the movement for strikes, ete. The important role played by the, workers fraternal organizptions in| foreign languages in this respect is! well known. They have set an ex-, ample which the English speaking sec- | tion of the movement has been slow) to follow. But such a development fs. hound to come and the experiences of the foreign born workers in this field will be a factor in stimulating it. The, progressive assimilation of foreign born workers into the American life and language simultaneously unde | mines the foundations of the foreign language benefit societies and broad- ens the basis for an American order. Besides being a field of propaganda and a source of financial aid to the’ general movement. such a body can be in many cases a point of support for organization work. In many indus trial towns, where all labor and radical activity is virtually outlawed, a local branch of the workers’ fraternal order, shielded by ‘certain legal safeguards | and, if necessary, by some camouflage, can and will be the fore-runner and base of operation for the o of trade union and Party.