The Daily Worker Newspaper, June 21, 1928, Page 6

ah i SIaat Sa | Page Six THE DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 1928 ~ A BLACK EYE THE DAILY WORKER Published by the NATIONAL DAILY WORKER PUBLISHING ASS'N, Inc. Daily, Except Sunday 83 First Street, New York, N. Y. Cable Address: SUBSCRIPTION RATES ae By Mail (in New York only): By Mail (outside of New York): | $8.00 per year $4.50 six rcaths $6.50 per year 3.50 six months $2.50 three months. $2.00 three months. | Phone, Orchard 1680 “Daiwork” Address and mail out checks to THE DAILY WORKER, 83 First Street, New York, N. Y- ROBERT MINOR <Se \llWM. F. DUNNE <u as second-class mail at the post-office at New York, N. ¥., under the act of March 38, 1879. A Negro Hangs at the Door of the Democratic Convention | The hanging of Robert Powell within eight miles of the deor of the convention hall at Houston is an “appropriate” prelimin- ary to the opening of the democratic national convention. The little business men of the convention city in which the stalwart democrat, Al Smith, will receive the nomination for | the presidency, in the words of one capitalist newspaper cor- respondent, “are proud and excited, and they don’t want any-| thing to go wrong. Probably nothing will go wrong.” In the same issue of the same paper is printed an account | of the abduction of a wounded Negro boy and his murder by hanging within eight miles of the Sam Houston Hall where the | democracy will assemble, the act being committed by eight mur- derers who did not take the trouble to mask their faces as they | drove their victim through the streets of Houston with a rope around his neck. | Indeed “nothing went wrorg.” The young man, accused of keeping up his side of a gun fight with a white detective, both men being wounded, was taken from the “Negro ward” of the Jefferson Davis hospital and hanged from a bridge. The petty capitalists who form the leading stratum of the) democratic party in the Southern states, will approve fully of the} “decoration” for the coming convention. The body of a murdered | man, with a face that is black, swinging in the breezes within | a pleasant afternoon automobile ride of the convention hall will delight the early-arriving democratic delegates. It might do} much to unify the convention—the Ku Klux Klan on the one | hand, and Tammany Hall on the other. Behind the superficial | phenomena of klanism and Tammany, of course, are the real } elements that must bring about the unity of the democratic con- | vention: these are the power of finance-capital of. Wall Street on | the one hand and the vast herd of petty business interests of we South. The democratic party of the South, in its composition, | still contains the vast majority of the small business elements. | It is controlled at the top, and manipulated as a machine, by the) Wall Street bankers who made Al Smith governor of New York. | : The practically certain nomination of Smith is the expression} (Continued From Previous Issue.) of this control of the party by the highest powers of Wall Street. THE WAR DANGER | Why does the body of the young Negro = hang at the door | One of our principal tasks in the of the democratic convention? Because the interests of capi-| coming election campaign is to arouse talism in the South are served by keeping the working class and {the workers to the danger of a new the working farmer class sharply divided into race divisions. |World war. Never was such a war 5 ¥ 5 A + |more imminent. This danger mani- Segregation, disenfranchisement, exclusion from trade UNIONS: | testa jtsal® frank Watious directions: socia] inequality—and lynching, of Negroes, are a business i developing attack of the great essity to the small business class which makes up the “democracy anerialiay Powers upon ae Soviet | Union; ie growing rivalries e~ of the South. | tween the various imperialist powers ; A : PIE . b |for markets and world domination, The republican convention did not have a Negro hanging by lespecially between the United States the neck at its door; it only needed to go so far as to keep the |and Great Britain; the attacks on the The position of the two big parties of capitalism is the same pate at the igs een (from Le Stele A : A jon hall was audience: “an ‘aiti’”), yes, an on the Negro question. If the merce paces ‘ Fecaee |Haiti too, and many other cae: not “decorated” with a Negro’s dead iy, 1 1s partly jall these tendencies, all these devel- the convention was held further north where outward show of Jopments are pregnant with the dan- fashion is not so extreme, and because convenient occasion did|ger of a fresh world war. A world t off | war may start from any of these, and not offer. |when it does come, the previous war The republican party, which, in the South, used to be mis-/Will seem in comparison a pink tea a ? s TE | affair. called the Negro’s party, is through with the Negro. Today we confront unprecedented cote . $ rag ues ees |preparations for war, armaments This is because the interests of capitalism as a whole coin | without parallels Did yon read inthe cide with the special suppression of the Negro workers and | papers, Aided day toriswo aes) abous farmers—and even the suppression and disenfranchisement of the |the gas explosion in Hamburg, when i lass. a supply of gas was accidentally re- ee re ap neeS leased, poisonous enough to have * * * jwiped out the entire poeple of Ham- It is interesting to note the actions of the so-called socialist fou Sates eer CmUnaEaE .. Ht j rty. als 3 ;j ‘ ‘ or circumst Ss prevented. ie gas party in this connection. That party also supporting capitalism, | fom coltig, with fightfal “effects, carefully refrains from interference with the racial segregation into the most densely populated sec- issue in the South “because if we take in the niggers, the whites |tions of the city. The militarist pro- won’t join.” This is its practice, though its pretense (in the gram that the world imperialists are North) is otherwise. We recall the sturdy defense of the Re tere ar eee peti Klux Klan that was made in the socialist party @onvention four|geadiy and upon a. more gigantis years ago, as well as the weazle words with which that party |scale than ever before in the history now evades the Negro question. of the world. And the whole thing a lis developing towards a climax in the sharpening antagonisms that I have i iti ” ‘just briefly indicated. Take it from any angle. no political party can defend the; YapGiniae Avaanehta. cause of the Negro masses in the United States, unless that party | ‘Ati: Sie kibrea ks banal 64: ceoed: faces the revolutionary connotations of such a course. Only | ments, these gigantic preparations for party that represents the interests of the most suppressed and |war, are being carried out under a exploited sections of the working class and farmers can speak marvel oa erase of peace. See ‘ sg: ry fserimi i 1e ersailles Treaty was signed we and act unqualifiedly for the Negro against all discrimination, for |v ave been treated to an almost con- full social, political and all other forms of equality. Any party 7 Ma stant series of “peace” conferences, that does this will be classed as “the nigger party” by the petty \“disarmament” conferences, “anti- capitalist class and the section of labor aristocracy which fol-|war” conferences, a whole stream of el the lead of capitalism. No party could, for instance, cham- |them. ‘nee at te end of a thats pion the dictatorship of the proletariat without facing the cer- years the armaments are greater than i ‘ever before in history and the war tainty of rule by workers’ councils composed of Negro workers |danger grows more and more immi- as well as white workers. \nent. The latest, pseudo-peace man- euver for covering up the prepara- tions for war by the imperialists orig- inates nowhere else than in the United States. What I refer to is * * * * . * The only party that champions the Negro to the full limit, in actions and program, accepting gladly all that is involved tuereby, is necessarily the revolutionary party of the working the bo-called Kelloee peapeeel eo pnt: class—the Workers (Communist) Party. lav wate The only party that did not have, at least figuratively, the lee ete Unltd Gen ee eit body of a lynched Negro hanging at the door of its national con-|, proposition to abolish armaments vention is the Workers (Communist) Party. all over the world. This created a great sensation. Among the masses White workers and Negro workers! of workers of the world the feeling Workers of all races, unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains—and your ropes! grew that only the Soviet Union was serious in its proposals for world Join the Communist Party. ‘ ¢ peace, With their militaristic pro- gram thus exposed in its nakedness, } amd Vote Communist! the capitalists had to do something to counteract the Soviet Union’s propo- sition. The first attempted answer to the Soviet Union was that made by the British delegation at the confer- ence where ihe disarmament proposal was made. And what did the British delegation say in substance? It was an answer of oM-time diplomacy, an answer of the naked iron fist. That Great Britain does not agree with the Soviet Union’s proposals for world peace; that she declares world peace to be a chimera, that the pro- posals for disarmament are impossi- ble, and that she intends to maintain her armies and navies. Race For Armaments. This was the answer of Great Bri- | tain. But the United States, the lead- ing imperialist country in the world, jhas a much more skillful answer to | |the Soviet Union than that. What | does America say? She says through the mouth of Kellogg, “Let us out- law war; let us come together and agree that there shall be no war.” jAnd the leading capitalist countries |of the world are accepting this hypo- jeritical proposal of America. What |does it all mean? It means simply | jthat under the slogan of “outlawing |war” the world imperialists will con- jtinue their race for building up their |armaments and preparations for |world war. This deceitful hypocri- jtical slogan is thrown out to blind \the eyes of the masses, to make them {think that the capitalists are really {trying to stop war. The United |States, highly expert in fooling the }masses, has put out some. clever slo- }gans for covering up its war aims. The Kellogg proposal to “outlaw war,” which is being endorsed by re- formists all over the world, including the socialist parties, is perhaps the most skillful scheme ever set afloat since the days of Wilson’s famous slogan: that the Allies were fighting the world war “to make the world safe for democracy,” To expose the real meaning of Kel- jloge’s proposition, to fight against the vast war plans of the United: States, to arouse the American work- ing class against the militaristic pro- gram of American imperialism, to mobilize the workers against the war in Nicaragua, against the whole pro- gram of imperialist aggression in Latin America, in China, and the militarization of the workers in this country—these are basic tasks of our Workers (Communist) Party, and they must stand in the very fore- front of our election campaign. Defend Soviet Union. Especially in this connection must we undertake to mobilize the masses of workers in defense of the Soviet Union. Today the Soviet Union ad- vances with giant strides. It is mak- ing tremendous progress in building its industries, in establishing a so- the most tremendous difficulties. The very existence of the Soviet Union is a menace to the capitalist order the world over. It is an inspiration to the workers of the world, a living proof of the feasibility of the prole- REFUSE @% : OgyrzE PAN At ce INVENTIONS calist commonwealth in the face of |- government and seize its great na- tural resources, And now, under the leadership of Great Britain and with most active participation’ by the United States, slowly, systematically they proceed with their mobilization of forces. They are awaiting the op- portune time to strike at the Soviet Union with all their massed power. Fundamental to the success of their attack on the Soviet Union will be to keep the world’s workers demoral- ized and inactive while the counter- revolutionary struggles are being car- ried on. The capitalists depend on the’ social democratic parties of the world, who identify the workers’ in- terests with those of their respective capitalist classes, to help them cut the Soviet Union to pieces. In the re- voluticnary upheavals in the years following the world war, it was the socialist parties that beat back the rising tide of proletarian révolt and preserved the capitalist system in Europe. The capitalists believe that the socialists will once more be able to deliver a master betrayal of the revolution, that they can hold back the working masses while the capital- ists. deliver their carefully prepared attack against the Soviet Union. War On Capitalism. But this time the impertalists are reckoning without their host. No longer have the social democratic parties their former undisputed lead- ership of the working class. lest few years, in all the important ccuntries, revolutionary Communist parties have been Wuilt up. They have sunk their roo! leep among the mas- ses. Under the leadership of the Communist International ‘they ) are mobitizing their forces. The power of this great movement constantly grows. When the international cap- italist class, when the imperialists of the world, assisted by. their social democratic lackeys, deem the time op- fortune and strike at the Soviet Union the blow they are now prepar- ing, they will wake up to a crushing defeat. ‘When that war begins, the tarian revolution. ‘The capitalists of every country are determined to de- stroy the Soviet Union at all costs. They want to wreck its working class WILLIAM Z. FOSTER . In the Communist International and the mil- lions of workers thruout Europe and other countries that follow its lead will not simply adopt a defensive pol- iey, they will not merely seek to withhold their government attacks from the Soviet Union. On the con- trary, they will put into effect the great Leninist strategy. They will turn the imperialist war against the Soviet Union into « civil war of the workers against capitalism. They will destroy the capitalist order and be- gin the building of the proletarian society. (Applause.) ECONOMIC DEPRESSION— EMPLOYERS’ OFFENSIVE Comrades, the United States is now in the midst of an industria] depres- sion. Amgtican imperialism, embar- rassed with the enormous masses of commodities produced by millions of super-speeded workers, is not able to Gispese of these products. The work- ers, paid only a fraction of what they produce, cannot buy them back. The employers cannot sell them abroad. Many industries have been closed down. At least four million workers are unemployed at the pres- ent time, American capitalism, with ell its power and with all the boasts of its defenders that it has found the formula of continuous prosperity, shows that it, too, is possessed of the weaknesses, and contradictions of capitalism in other countries. It also is subject to crisis. Many signs in- dicate that we are on the eve of a serious industrial depression. The employers, quick to take ad- vantage of the situation, are making a great drive against the living and working standards and organizations of the workers. They aim at develop- ing a working class, docile, speeded up, and a tool in their schemes af world imperialism. Wage cuts have been widespread in the industries, especially among the armies’ of un- organized, unskilled workers. For the moment the organtzed skilled workers have mostly escaped the wage cuts, but their turn will come later. The employers forge ahead with their cpen shop drive. Where- ever the workers resist they are con- fronted with an unprecedented use of the government against them, injunc- tions, troops, gunmen, etc. . Labor in Fighting Mood. The workers are becoming increas- ingly in a fighting mood, especially is this true of the great masses of semi-skilled and unskilled workers in the basic industries who have suffer- ed most from wage cuts, speed-up and unemployment. The strike of New Bedford amongst the textile workers, the Haverill shoe strike of a few months ago, the Os- hawa strike among the automobile workers, indicate their growing mil- itancy. General Motors Strike. Perhaps most of you have not heard of the Oshawa strike of some four thousand workers of the General: Mo- tors Corporation in Canada. This strike, although a small one, was very significant ant and an indicator of HAnaOuTS GEMS OF LEARNING W. D, Mahon, President, Amalga- mated Association of Street and Elec- tric Railway Employes of America— “Capital, with its autocracy, must be curbed. Labor, with its curbed and chained power, must be freed; and our belief is that the way to bring condition is to harness, through co- operative organization, labor and cap- ital into a united team of industrial democracy, and through co-operation, each having its own organization, standing squarely upon its rights, with the. provisions of arbitration, make them work even, each pulling its share of the burden and receiving its full share of the products pro- duced, keeping in mind the public and their respective relations to the same in such a manner as to always keep in sight the fact that true success de- pends upon equal justice and the rights of alg classes concerned.” Mr. Mahon should know that you can’t team up any two horses. How would he like to plow a field with a white mare and Cal Coolidge’s elee- trie pony. * * * King Dykeman, President Kiwanis Club of Seattle—“I am honored to be the elected president of the Seattle Kiwanis club during the international convention year. ... I reflect the feeling of every member of our Seattle club, of every Kiwanian in {our great and truly international dis- trict, when I say that we welcome you with our whole hearts. The heart- |iness of our handclasp is only indi- jeative of the warmth and love that |glows within us.” It might be added that the profits of Kiwanian store- keepers are considerably boosted dur- ing convention periods. * * * “Americana” of Pittsburgh writes in to inform us of the progress in the mechanization of the patriot-manufac- turing business of the American jingo- ists. He clipped the following ad from the catalogue of I. Robbins and Sons,: 203 Market street, Pittsburgh: “177-27 Musical Toilet Paper Dis- tributor—When the paper is pulled the music starts to play ‘The Star Spangled Banner’, A splendid crea- tion, size of board 8% by 5 3-8 inch- es, white enameled with strong hold- er, nickeled finish. A real musical instrument. A big hit. Each $4.50.” Americana suggests that if I. Rob- . * e Shylock’s Agent ee The above tintype is S. Parker Gil- bert, the world’s best known bill col- lector. -He is agent-general of repar- ations and since he’s been in Germany, he’s made a lot of friends. The rail- road owners have been doing him a lot of favors and in return he’s decided they must have a big boost in rates, As a favor to the working class Gil- bert has increased hours, heightened the speed-up and slashed wages. conditicns prevailing | widespread in American industry at the present) time. The automobile workers for! years were among the best paid work- ers in the United States, But re cently their wages have been repeat- edly cut, they have been speeded up enormously; unemployment has borne} down upon them; in short their form- er relatively favorable conditions have been taken from them to such an ex- tent that a growing spirit of re- sistanca is spreading among them, in Canada as well as in the United States. The strike of the Oshawa workers is a signal of the growing aiscontent among the great masses cf automobile workers. The auto- mobile industry has been held up, not only in this country but all over the werld, as a most decisive achieve- ment of American capitalism; as the industry in which American capital- ism, with a formula of mass produc-_ tion and high wages, had laid/ the basis for a contented working class. Yet we see that under the weight of | wage cuts, speed up, unemployment and generally worsened conditions the privileged automobile workers are being forced down to such a position that sentiment for organization and struggle is rapidly developing among them. i i And what is true of the automobile workers is becoming the case in the various other basic industries. There the workers have been err | wage cuts and similar conditions. fighting mood develops among them. Undoubtedly they will wage many important struggles in the near fu: about the proper labor and economic | i