The Daily Worker Newspaper, July 24, 1928, Page 6

Page Six =— THE DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, TUESDAY, JULY 24, 1928 g Daily Published by NATIONAL DAILY WORKER PUBLISHING ASS’N, Inc., Daily, Except Sunday 26-28 Union Square, New York, N. Y. Cable Addre : “Deiwork” Phone, Stuyvesant 1696-7-8 SUBSCRIPT By Mail (in New York only): $8 per year $4.50 six months $2.50 three months ION RATES By Mail (outside of New York): $6.00 per year $3.50 six months $2 three months Address and mail out checks to THE DAILY W ORKER, 26-28 Union Square, New York, N. Y. : ESF Assistant Editor. — -ROBERT MINOR -.-WM. F. DUNNE Entered as second-class mail at the post-office at New York, N. Y. under the act of March 3, 1879, VOTE COMMUNIST! For President M Z. FOSTER WORKERS (COMMUNIST) PARTY | For Vice-President BENJAMIN GITLOW A Tkiy MILLION DOLLAR POT By Hermandez ‘Told You So ‘HAT Al Smith has no monopoly on corporation magnates as fi- nancial directors was proven by the selection of Jeremiah Milbank as the Eastern treasurer to raise dough for Hoover’s vote-buying: campaign. Milbank is a director in as many corporations and trusts as John J. Raskob. This should be a big year |for fellows with blocks of votes to | sell. The notoriety that Illinois and Pennsylvania shared in the last sen- atorial elections will be spread out all over the country this year. ae ne | MERICAN citizens who are ac- | customed to making an honest |ten dollar bill in elections may de- | cide to organize this year and raise the price of their ballots. The capi- talist political industry was never |in a more prosperous condition. | There is nothing that helps honest | business as much as keeping money a For the Party of the Class Struggle! in circulation. Soon selling votes For the Workers! Against the Capitalists! Mexican Workers! On Guard! No amount of capitalist newspaper ink ard no amount of credulity on the part of unwary workers can make Luis N. Morones a repre- sentative of the Mexican working class. Mr. Morones, as a “leader” of the Mexican workers, represents the influence of the Mexican petty- bourgeoisie over the unripe sections of the workers, and represents Mr. Morones’ own political career in delivering Mexican workers’ support to causes other than that of the Mexi- can working class. Morones—an outright careerist and a typical yellow trade union bureaucrat—is as much a tool of United States imperialism as any man who could be found in Mexico—if this does not entirely appear at present, it is only because | of his limited opportunities. But the resignation of Morones from the cabinet of President Calles, where he sat as minister of industry, commerce and labor as a reward for his reactionary influence in the labor movement, is a result of pressure from the clerical reaction on the Calles administra- tion. Was there ever a stranger political anomaly than this? Clerical reaction murdered Obre- gon. Now the same clerical reaction succeeds in mobilizing the strongest forces in its own support with the cry of vengeance for the mur- der of Obregon! The fact that Morones had a political careerist quarrel with Obregon and that Obregon had refused, it is said, to include Morones in the new cabinet to be formed, is not enough to explain it. No amount of hysterical lying by the reactionary press can cover up the fact that the clerical and landlord reaction inspired and carried through the assassination of Obregon. The confession of the assassin was the confession of a religious fanatic in trying to justify an assassination for political purposes. For months the open threats of murder made by clerical leaders against Obre- gon had filled the press, and after the assassin- ation, boasts came from the same source. The statements of Zertuche,- chief of police in charge of the case, showed step by step the trail of the black robe of the clerical party in the murder. If Mr. Zertuche is later terrified into contrary statements, he will have a hard time making a plausible story. The church- and-landlord reaction murdered Obregon. Now the church-and-landlord reaction is having its own way in stirring up the man- hunt for its political enemies on the basis of pretended vengeance for the murder. It is absolutely certain that some extraordinary power is lending assistance to this reaction. This reaction, a few months ago, defeated in bloody counter-revolution and in wild flight, is today apparently the strongest force in Mexi- ean politics. Calles, plainly showing in the be- ginning that he knew the clerical forces com- mitted the assassination, appears now afraid or unwilling to touch the Catholic reaction, but ready to obey its demand for a smashing drive against the forces of the working class. Already he has given in to the clerical demand for the ousting of what are called “labor men” from office. It is not difficult to discern what force it is | that gives the church-and-landlord reaction. its | strange forcefulness in this situation. The United States bankers, during these several months have been putting pressure upon both Obregon and Calles to “make peacé” with the |church and to break up the relationship of forces in which Calles and Obregon were forced to fall back upon the arms of the working class and peasantry. The pressure of Ambassador Morrow had already made big headway with Obregon. Already the United States ambassa- dor was assuming the right to dictate policy to Calles and to the incoming president-elect, be- | fore the assassination. Dispatches indicate | that Morrow assumed a more arrogant attitude than ever after Obregon’s death. Now, under the influence of Morrow, the assassination of Obregon is being made the long looked for excuse for an exterminating drive against the labor movement and the peasantry. Morones, insignificant instrument of stronger men, is not the real object of attack, but only a convenient scapegoat. Can anyone imagine the United States bankers, in assuming control of | Mexico, letting the clerical and landlord ele- |ments be sacrificed to the advantage of the working class and peasants? No, the workers |and peasants of Mexico are the coveted slaves | | whom the United States bankers want to ren- der helpless for exploitation. The church and |the reactionary landlords, having also the lust to exploit these same workers and peasants, are | too valuable allies of United States imperialism | to be sacrificed. Under the new “friendship” of the Mexican politicians with the Wall Street bankers, the church is to be white- | washed—and probably we are on the eve of a blood-bath for the working class. | The working class and peasants of Mexico | are probably in for one of the severest trials of their history. The revolution of Mexico can only be a revo- lution in so far as it is directed to driving the | United States imperialists out of that country and at the same time to crush: the power of |the clergy and landlords. This is essentially the task of the workers and peasants. Other class elements that have had an interest in smashing up the power of the landlords and clargy, now show themselves completely suborned to the Yankee imperialists. The diplomatic art of Morrow has succeeded in | subverting all other elements and isolating the working class and the poorest peasants. The Mexican working class must prepare for | the task of taking over the revolution into its own proletarian hands. Only the exploited peasants can travel the present road with the Mexican workers. The Communist Party of Mexico has big work ahead of it. It must undertake to shape the alliance of workers and peasants that will become the all-dominating force of the revolution and sweep away the parasites. United States imperialism is and will remain its most powerful as well as its most deadly enemy. The workers of the United States must be the readiest to help the Mexican workers and peasants to defeat the colossus of the North, which is in the act of swallowing Mexico. mAMPAIG N CORNER (Address all communications ta, Editor, Campaign Corner, 43 E. 126th St., New York.) Comrade B. H. Lauderdale sends word from Texas that preparations for the state convention soon to be held are being completed. Under the Texas law parties go on the bal- lot by holding state conventions. * * * | The fastest job getting out pe- titions anywhere was that of Com-| rade Oehler in Arkansas. Arriv- ing in Little Rock Thursday, he had | secured full details of the require- ments of the law and had his pe- titions in circulation by Saturday. Looks as though we will be on ballot in Arkansas with our presidential electors and a full state ticket. The law requires petitions, signed by 50 to 1,000 voters for| - each candidate. * * | ‘We note that Smith is still on the is in this election campaign to mo-| front page of the World, although it] bilize the working class for a fight|/ Bismarck, North Dakota, that a must be admitted that he has sunk} etty low. This time he has re-| to lay bricks as a publicity| ‘stunt. Wonder how high up on the| im as a bricklayer anyway. As a bricklayer Smith certainly makes a good president of any trucking corporation. It isn’t every trucking corporation president who can boast that during his adminis- tration the city of New York con- veniently decided to abolish several of its public markets, thus giving the trucking corporation an opportunity |to extend its public ‘service facili- |ties without increasi the price of fresh foods too sharpl: 0 ey Ss Seems as though A! knows the game better than Herbert. While Herb is wasting time and money fooling around with expensive pub- licity agents who don’t get much re- sults, Al has organied a private menagerie which furnishes him much food for publicity. Besides this Al has a whole bag of other little tricks. Just watch and enjoy the | fun, too. * The Workers (Communist) Party * * against the capitalist class and their government. * * * If matters continue to go from he would have been had he|bad to worse in Flint and more work-| for July 22. d a—no, not an egg—a brick. Al-|/ers commence to go out on strike | h Al may be from the side-/Mr. Raskob may find himself. too already in circulation, and Starr of New York, who ever | busy strikebreaking to bother with campaign managing. Smith, being a man of the people, might disown Raskob and appoint a new campaign manager. This would be a striking piece of publicity, sure to land him) on the front page of every paper in the country, but then what would| happen to that $3,000,000 campaign fund that Wall Street must supply. ee Ae The honor of sending in the first donation to the $100,000 Communist |Campaign Fund from the state of Massachusetts falls to Harry Bat*le jof Orange, who forwarded a two- dollar bill together with a two-cent | stamp for postage on his receipt. | Pe i ve The first lot of buttons is goi so fast that the National Commit: | |tee is considering an order for an-| other quarter million. Any sugges-| tions or drawings showing an im- provement in design over the first | button will be gratefully received. | Coa an | Comrade Starr sends word from mass meeting of the membership of [the agricultural district, compris- ing the states of North and South | Dakota and Montana, has been called Petitions for North Dakota are ‘hopes to have the South Dakota pe- |into life. Slaught (Photo on Page 3) On the 15th of July, 1927, armed police in Vienna slaughtered 86 un- armed working men, women and children.Added to this horrifying fig- ure, many hundreds were wounded by the dum-dum soft-nosed bullets used by the police which inflicted horrible wounds. The July events in Vienna and the great victory of armed police over unarmed demonstrators are of great significance for the proletarian movement. A year after the events which caused a sensation in the whole world, it is possible to review the political. significance of those few hectic days which to optimists seemed to be the beginning of new revolutionary uprisings. Social Traitors. The social democracy of Austria was considered to be a strong bul- wark against the counter-revolution. It was powerful in the army, had arms at its disposal, controlled a republican guard in the shape of the Seutzbund, the social democratic workers’ defense league, and it con- trolled the town parliament. Fur- ther it had a decisive influence in the National Council. But the re- formism of Renner stifled these forces in the heavy atmosphere of parliamentarism. The social demo- cracy entered the coalition ard sacrificed its influence over the army. Organizations of reaction- ary ex-soldiers and fascists took the initiative and the weak and vacil- lating attitude of the social demo- cracy strengthened them morally in the eyes of their backers and brought them also organizational success. The resultsewere not long in showing themselves. The em- ployers. commenced to use the na- tionalist organizations as strike- breaking reserves. The’ factories were cleaned as far as possible from social democrats and individual so- cial democrats and members of the Scutzbund were beaten to an ever increasing extent on the streets, ete., by members of the fascist and By A. GUSAKOFF. INCE the plan for the organiza- tion of reading circles has already been adopted, after a thorough dis- cussion at a joint meeting of the agitprops and literature agents, held some time ago, and we are at pres- ent confronted with the practical task of actually putting this plan We should expect some confusion as well as certain diffi- culties in the practical application of this plan, since after all, this is a new plan, and it takes some time until there is a clear understanding of it. But what is surprising is the fact that the difficulties are mostly of a technical nature, and not be- cause of disagreement, or misunder- standing of policy. It is therefore important that the difficulties with which certain units and sections are confronted in their attempt to or- ganize such circles be taken up and pointed out, so that there be more clarity and understanding of the steps to be taken in the organiza- tion of circles. And that certain dangers be avoided. It is important er of Vienna ‘When the Social Democracy of Austria Proved An Ally of the Fascists nationalist organiations. Such phen-| Flying women and children were| omena show themselves everywhere where the proletariat, infected by bourgeois - democratic _ illusions, leaves the straight line of the class struggle. In this atmosphere came the Schattendorf murders. The social democrats had arranged a party meeting in Schattendorf. The fas- cists arranged a meeting for the same day in the same place and called in reinforcements from Vien- na and the surrounding neighbor- hood. A collision occurred between the social democrats and the fas- cists. The victors were the fascists who were armed. A war invalid and a little boy were killed by a volley fired unex- pectedly from ambush into the rear of the social democratic meeting. Five seriously injured workers had to be carried to the hospital. Not one single fascist was injured. That was in January, 1927. The brutal and unprovoked mur- ders (both the killed were shot in mendous wave of indignation, strikes and mass - demonstrations oc- curred. Three of the fascists were arrested and put on trial. The pub-| lists and managed in this way to| lie prosecutor asked the court to condemn the accused, but declared very emphatically that the greater part of the responsibility must rest on the shoulders of the social dem- ocrats who, according to the prose- eutor, had provoked the collision (the murdered are of course guilty). The jury acquitted the accused com- pletely with 7 votes against 5 on the ground that they had acted in self defense, This incredible provocation drove the masses onto the streets. A tre- mendous demonstration took place in Vienna, The police attacked the demonstrators with bare sabres and took advantage of the ensuing con- fusion to fire on the demonstrators, | shot down like mad dogs on the streets. There was no resistance | worthy of the name, for the work- | ers were unarmed against the fierce | volleys of the police. It is true the | Palace of Justice and one police sta- | tion were burned out, but what the | incendiaries were is unknown to this |day. One thing is certain however, | the police had commenced to fire on | the masses and had even routed the | republican Schutzbund which ap- peared on the streets to “restore order,” long before the Palace of | Justice was set on fire. Mass Arrests. The bloody day’s harvest was 86 dead and hundreds of wounded, the number of the wounded cannot be given with exactitude for many of the wounded were treated private- ly. When the storm had subsided bourgeois class justice commenced |to glean. Mass arrests were made, but despite zealous spying and reckless building up of indictments, most of the arrested had to be re- | leased sooner or later without hav- |ing been brought to trail. The authorities corrected the jury obtain a number of-verdicts against the arrested. Before the Vienna | juries it was light work for the |defense to prove that the state- |ments of the police were lying and perjured and that the protocols put | forward as evidence had been man- ufactured by the police, so that in | all cases the accused were acquitted. | The political attitude of the so- |cial democracy in the whole affair was lamentable. When the fury of |the workers was at its height the social democratic leaders assured -kem that the police would not be permitted to slaughter unarmed men, women and children with im- punity. They promised to overthrow the government, set up a committee Workers | of investigation and form a republi- can security service to take over the maintenance of order out of the| | hands of the police. | As is usual with social democratic | | promises, nothing at all of these| brave words was ever put into ac- tion. In order to hold the masses | in their parliamentary-democratic il- | lusions the social democratic leaders | compromised at the first opportun- ity, righteously rejected all non- | parliamentary means and energeti- cally attacked—the Communists! This attitude completed the vic- | tory of the fascists and nationalists. | Today the leaders of the social dem- ocratic party of Austria are sor- |rowing that the Austrian army is | completely reactionary and that the | fascists and nationalists dominate the streets. | That is the irony of the situation. | The social democratic leaders want- | | ed law and order on the streets, be- jcause they were afraid of the) | masses, who for the most part are their own supporters. Only in par-| liament the social democracy want- ed to fight victoriously. And the | bourgeoisie, the traditional prota- | gonists of parliamentarism who the- oretically reject the class struggle, formed illegal organizations, armed | | them, and now control the streets. | | At the conferences of the fascist | |and nationalist organizations the use of armed force against some- | thing which is termed “Marxism” \is openly advocated. The tradition- | al right of asylum no longer exists in Austria today, and in the last | few days the Austrian prime minis- ter the priest Seipel has openly con- cluded a pact with Mussolini. The lessons of the blood bath in Vienna on the 15th of July, 1927, are clear enough today. Reformism in policy and tactics was the pre- lude to the Schattendorf murders | and to the acquittal of the accused, | and the same attitude of the social | democracy towards the murderous beastliness of the police on the 15th of July paved the way for the growth and strengthening of fas- cism in Austria. Wrong Way to Organize Reading Circles Mistakes Frequently Made in This Important Branch of Party Work most frequently repeated, and which at the same time touch upon the main basis of their foundation, en- dangering their existence right at the beginning of their organization We must point out how not to or- ganize reading circles. Our Mistakes. One of the mistakes so frequently repeated by our comrades in variour sections, is the tendency to substi- tute the unit educational meetings with reading circles, the plan to or- ganize the reading of certain pam- phlets, as soon as the “business part” of the meeting is over. Such a tendency shows a misconception and a lack of understanding of the entire plan and purpose of reading circles and tends to overlook many dangers as for instance the danger of tending too much towards the study of a certain pamphlet, or sub- | titions out without a few days more. to take up these errors, which are! ject, at the same time neglecting ‘ entirely the discussion of current events, party campaigns, problems and issues of the labor movement ete. That means divorcing the com- rades from the every day activities and life of the party, and taking on more and more a form of a “study circle” of the old type ¢aliber against which the party fought so much. Reading circles are not to in- terfere with regular © educational meetings of the units. The meeting of the members of such circles should take place on a different night, and not on the meeting night of the party unit. Reading, study and dis- cussion circles, are not to be con- \sidered a part of our inner party activity only, but is to be consid- ered as a part of our every day work in reaching many workers and bringing them into the movement should be considered as an import- ant method of making workers bet-make up a big majority of circles, | ter fighters for the working class | movement by combining theoretica) knowledge with practical work. Re Le eet other error which is at present being made, by almost all of our sections, which began to organize such circles, consists in the fact that they limit them to party members. only. This is altogether wrong Such narrow limitations are entirely against the entire plan and purpose of such circles. Such a basis doer not justify the organization of these circles. I believe, that if our com- rades would read the bulletin on the organization of reading circles care- fully, they would avoid many errors | be aware of all the dangers, and would learn how to avoid them. I will just quote the passage in the bulletin dealing with this particular point, since I believe that the bulle- tin gives it: in a very clear and definite form. In paragraph 3 of the bulletin w~ find the following: “As broad masses of workers as possible should be reached and included in circles. Non-party workers should may be as lucrative a business as selling fire crackers on the Fourth of July. Brokerage houses may be established that will make a speci- alty of buying votes in advance from indignant citizens and make the politicians pay through the nose on election days. In the near fu- ture we may see headlines in the papers relating to some “former newsboy who used to sell papers on Park Row, corners vote market and can name president.” Nothing is impossible in this free country. net adie ie the flivver against the Chev- rolet in this election campaign. | Smith’s campaign headquarters have been moved into the General Motors building and soon we may hear that Hoover has transferred his to the Ford factory in Detroit. Ford backs Hoover; General Motors backs Smith. With Ford’s belt system in operation in the campaign soon the Hoover “workers” may be coming home after a day's work as weary as the slaves of the Ford factory do now. + bee * HIS is not such a heartless world after all. Ask G. Maurice Heckscher? He Knows. G. M. H. is the son of old man August, who re- cently collected considerable no- toriety over a lawsuit brought against him by a diva, who tried to dive into his pocket for the neat honorarium of $40,000 for the rest of her life, in return for an occa- sional warble. The diva presumably caught the old fellow off his guard on a moonlight night while crossing the Atlantic. But that’s another story. S/S nae IS son, being one of those busi- ness men with imagination, went into bankruptcy leaving $3,000,000 worth of creditors shedding tears. The creditors took various legal steps to have something from the wreckage. It might look to the average scissorbill who owes a week’s room rent that living would be impossible for a fellow who owes three, million. But this is only one of the many proletarian delusions that keeps the working class where they are. As a matter of fact the bankrupt was only slightly incon- venienced and he did not deny him- self a single frankfurter because of his financial miscarriage. ae tek 4 now comes the creditors’ lawyers to court seeking relief for his clients and demands that all but $12,000 of the income from a trust fund goes to his clients. He figured that Heckscher could live comfort- ably on $12,000 a year. Supreme | Court Justice Frankenthaler was highly indignant. He said: “The court would be extremely hesitant to grant the plaintiff relief which will deprive the defendapt of a so substantial portion of an income es- tablished for him by a third party and compel him to reduce his scale of living to fit an arbitrary esti- mate.” Mr. Heckscher formerly lived at the rate of $150,000 a year. Figure out for yourself how much is that per diem. though party members should be drawn into the greatest possible ex- tent.” This I believe makes the en- tire issue clear. There are a few more errors which are being made now and then. Errors, which are of great importance, since they can be detrimental to the growth and de- velopment of the circles. Errors not only of technicalities, but also of orientation and conception of the entire plan. As for instance theories propounded by some of our com- rades that we should not organize Reading Circles, since we are no underground party, etc, All these errors can be avoided, if our com- rades will follow the instructions and confer with the agitprop and literature departments before under- taking the formation of such circles. We must be very careful, and try to avoid many unnecessary complica- tions, which will only be a hindrance to our progress, More attention to the formation of reading circles should be our slo- gan. More clarity on this question. Units, sub-sections and _ sections should organize discussions on this question. We must try to link up the organization of reading circles with the election campaign. And utilize the election campaign for the formation of circles, as well as util- ize the circles for the election cara- paign. We must know how not to organize Reading Circles!