The Daily Worker Newspaper, September 12, 1928, Page 6

Page Six = ee ee Worker Central Organ of the Workers (Communist) Party Published by NATIONAL DAILY WORKER PUBLISHING ASS’N, Inc., Daily, Except Sunday — 26-28 Union Square, New York, N. Y. Cable Address: “Dziwork” Phone, Stuyvesant 1696-7-8 By Mail (in New York only): $2.50 three months $8 per year $4.50 six 1nonths SUBSCRIPTION 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 WORKER, 26-28 Union Square, New York, N. Y. <> ROBERT MINOR WM. F. DUNNE Entered as second-class mail at the post-office a’ New York, N. Y., under the act of March 3, 1879. For the Workers: For the Party of the Class Struggle! VOTE COMMUNIST! For President WILLIAM Z. FOSTER For Vice-President BENJAMIN GITLOW Against the Capitalists! Protecting the Holy Al Smith. The clerical angle of Al Smith’s candidacy for president may yet furnish the finance- capitalist government at Washington with a new approach to the problem of suppressing political propaganda of which it does not ap- The mailing of postcards said to con- vey someone’s opinion of Al Smith has re- sulted in a movement to bar from the mails certain kinds of election propaganda that may be classified by capitalisit office holders We haven’t forgotten that propaganda for the liberation of the working class has already been officially declared to be in the legal sense “scurrilous” and “ob- scene,” and on that ground workers have al- ready been jailed in several cases. prove. as “scurrilous.” Postmaster General New says in connec- the postcards directed against tion with Smith: “Scurrility should have no part in any poli- tical campaign nor should religion. “There are many reasons for opposing a candidate, but defamatory statements of this kind should not be among them. In the strong- est way possible I wish to condemn such at- tacks on Governor Smith or any other candi- date, and I shall do everything to prevent the mails from being a party to them.” We have said many times that Al Smith’s Teal pope is not in Rome, but in Wall Street. The real menace of Al Smith comes from his character as a tool of American super-trusts The effective- ness of the pope and all other religious in- struments is preserved merely as they are * tools for the befuddlement of the masses by the very sober heads of the oligarchy of finance-capital from which even the pope has to borrow money and ask favors. But when a candidate of Wall Street en- and banking combinations. ters the national political campaign obvious- ly backed by clerical elements, and when at the same time a veritable Torquemadan cen- sorship is proposed to stop any criticism of that candidate’s clerical affiliations, it begins to look as though another means of hand- cuffing the working class movement is being sought. There is nothing strange in the fact that Postmaster General New of the Teapot Dome cabinet undertakes to defend the can- didate of the rival big capitalist party as an accompaniment to the move for further Tsarist censorship of political propaganda sent through the mails. It only goes to show that both the democratic and republican parties, with Al Smith and Herbert Hoover, represent the same financial oligarchy, and that their contest for office is mainly a con- test of servants for employment by the one master. The only touch required to finish the picture is for the Reverend Norman Thomas, candidate for his own little capi- talist party, to add his sanctimonious voice to the howl against “scurrility.” Surely he will not lose the chance to defend “the opium of the people!” The only real scurrility is the lying propa- ganda for capitalism, for the perpetuation of the filthy, criminal system of enslavement and exploitation, which all of the capitalist parties are conducting every day in tens of millions of copies of capitalist papers. Read the Daily Worker and learn to under- stand your own working class movement for liberation, your own working class point of view which the capitalist class wants every excuse to suppress as “scurrilous.” And vote Communist. Join your class party and fight for libera- tion from capitalism and all its “popes,” both | of finance and of superstition. American Cooperative Movement By GEORGE HALON (Continued.) It is not possible for a living, fighting movement to remain an out- sider in the social struggle. This movement must consider and discuss different economic and political __theories and determine its attitude towards the big problems of the working class. The Congress Decision. * “The Fifth cooperative congress held in Minneapolis on November | 4-6, 1926, unanimously decided that: “Whereas, the cooperative move-| ment in its nature is primarily a working class movement against the present system based on profit, and “Whereas, a change in the pres- ent economic system of society can be accomplished only thru the united action of the whole working class, therefore “Be it resolved, that this Fifth National Congress in convention as- sembled at Minneapolis, Minn., Nov. 4-5-6, 1926, declares the cooperative movement to be a part of the gen- eral labor movement, and that therefore the cooperative movement should seek the cooperation of all workers and farmers’ movements for the benefit of the exploited toilers.” This official declaration of the Cooperative League of the U. S. A. very clearly states that the chang- ing of the present system of society is such a big task that it requires the united action of the whole work- ing class and that therefore the co- operative movement cannot be an isolated movement but must seek cooperation of all workers’ and farmers’ for the benefit of the ex- ploited toilers. The resolution now put for a referendum would prevent even dis- cussion of all vital problems the solving of which would benefit the exploited toilers. Thus this referen- dum is not only an attempt to nul-| lify the unanimously adopted con-| posed to be within the scope of this gress decision, but also a move to| “neutrality,” but also attacks upon fsolate the cooperative movement|the whole working class are part| lof the “neutrality,” and everything from the labor movement. political action, and especially one party, the Workers Communist Party of America. The comment of J. H. Walker, a member of the Board of Directors of the Cooperative League, is a very typical one. Here’s his “neu- trality”: movement, writes in the August sue of “Cooperation,” the official organ of the League about political issues. Instead of refraining from “politics” as he requires others in in the cooperative movement to do, he presents in the official coopera- tive magazine his own personal “Neutrality.” “programs and theories.” “I favor the resolution with one qualification and that is: The League should have the right to discuss and act on political matters to the extent of having the right to eliminate from its membership Communists and fascists. Regard- less of what their open declarations And what does this apostle of “neutrality” propose to the Co- operators? First he states that “At present the matter stands about thus: knaves, fools and patriots vote for mammon; dreamers, philan- thropists and reformers vote for a socialism; gentlemen, philosophers are, by experience, I know that they | pega ” ; | ges vote not at all.” Then he, have for their purpose the destruc- However, Geanite® that “There. de tion of every movement that means betterment of the workers, except the Communist or fascist move- ments, through which they expect to usher in through revolution, a probably no such thing as good gov- ernment, but there are governments that are better than others.” Thus preparing a ground for a “better” dictatorship, establish exbcutivee Oe uate tee ic rs ue ne the NCES We Aeime. | fr cooperation than the republi- bahar 5 “leans have. But Mr. Smith, the “T don’t think those gentlemen : ‘ ‘ : democratic candidate, introduces i ot : should be permitted in the Coopera |something new. He is a Catholic; ee ae ar Trade and the Catholic Church is honestly organization of the workers that) ‘ , «.. (tion, Its leaders recommend co- nas Rea rs aaa operation to their people. It is the r Boas only religious organization which tablishment of the organization the| sles cooperation one of its prin- use of their economic and political ree ee eee ee ; swers and. influence, solving thelr ciples and is active in its promotion, powers an i This is not a theory; it is a fact.” problems and making progress| peacefully. From experience, I; To boost Mr. Smith is “neu- know that the matter of truth,|trality,” to attack the Communists honesty or humanity has no place|is “neutrality,” but to explain that in their program.” the cooperative movement must be “Red-Baiting.” a working class movement to fight Thus this Mr. Walker wants to| the battles of the workers and poor “eliminate” all “divisive and con-|farmers is “controversial and de- troversial questions” by “Red bait- | visive.” ing” stuff. And he considers his This is the logic of those who want to rob the cooperative move- |ment of its working class nature and who want to mislead the co- operators into the fold of capitalist | politics and gapitalist political par- |ties, and to prevent the working |class from building its own inde- pendent political party. All lying, misleading statement as an example of the neutrality proposed in the referendum. An attack upon Communists and their “political and economic theory” is not the only thing sup- progressive cooperators re. The ultimate result of this would|in behalf of the working class is|gardless of their religious or polit- mean that the cooperative move- | considered -ment become movement without any social mean- ing. “Neutrality” Only a Phra: The most ardent proponents of this “neutrality” do not support their theory in practise. They are in politics, even in party politics. Instead of remaining “neutral” in al politics, they attack in most os purely a_ business | visive.” | the “controversial and de-|ical views, should open their eyes and understand the true meaning Dr. Warbasse, the president of|of these “neutrality” maneuvers. Cooperative League, has in|The future of the American co- many of his writings declared that: |operative movement demands that “Most of the people in the world|it must first of,all be a genuine are workers, therefore most of the| working class movement. Under fools are workers....” But Mr.|centralized capitalism the coopera- Walker has nothing to say against | tive movement has no other alterna- this ‘economic theory.” | tive than to live and grow into a big -Dr. Warbasse, who ardently fa-|social movement for the purpose of way workers’ independent yors “neutrality” in the cooperative helping the exploited toilers. - |and sincerely in favor of Coopera- | “WE’VE JUST BEGUN TO FIGHT!” Fred Ellis B On United States Imperialism | The following speech was de- | livered by Comrade John Pepper at the Sixth World Congress of the Communist International. It analyzes the position of American | capitalism and the nature of the sharpening class struggle in the United States. | | ne eae | | (Continued.) | The second problem I want to |elaborate upon is the question of | radicalization and bourgeoisification | of the American working class. | The same document of certain American comrades which I already | quoted from errs in the estimation |of the amount and volume of the |radicalization of the American | working class also. I have to give ja few quotations: “There is a general growth of dis- |content, militance and readiness to | struggle among the semi-skilled and junskilled workers (the bulk of the | American proletariat).” | | Another passage: | “The progress of widespread and | general radicalization is taking place in all industries among the most ex- ploited sections of the workers.” The Labor Movement. | I have to state that these asser- | tions of the document do not corre- | spond with the facts. There is a jcertain amount of radicalization of the American working class, a rad- licalization of certain industries. | There is a certain left trend among the unskilled workers, but we can- |not say that that Left trend is gen- ‘eral or nationwide, that it embraces \the bulk of the American workers jalready. I am afraid that even in |Germany, France or Great Britain, in those countries which show the [mae marked tendencies of the rad- \icalization of the working classes— even there we cannot say today yet that the radicalization of the Left trend embraces the bulk of the | working class. | It is interesting to note a remark- |able contradiction: the same com- |rades who charge the Central Com- | mittee of the American Party, that | ida ds not-yetia mass’ party. |it overlooks the general radicaliza- | tion of the American working class, | put forward the accusations here in | Moscow only nine months ago, that | the Central Committee of the Amer- | ican Party refuses to recognize that there is a powerful process of bour- | geoisification of the American work- |ing class going on. I am of the opinion that the American Party had the correct position nine months |2g0 stating that thereisa marked | tendency of the bourgeoisification of the American working class, but at the same time there is another ten- dency of radicalization of certain sections of the working class which serves as sufficient basis for mass Communist work. Two-Fold Process. I stated just a few days ago in |the Profintern: Stabilization in Eu- rope serves as the basis for the growth of reformism and the con- tradictions of stabilization create a basis for the growth of the Com- munist Party. The world hegemony of American imperialism serves as the basis for the further growth of American reformism and creates the possibilities for the further growth of the American Federation of La- bor. On the other hand the contradic- | tion arising from the growing power of et agg imperialism create pos- } Zz Comrade Pepper Analyzes Position of Labor Movement in United States sibilities for the growth of radical-|cept the political leadership of the | ization of the masses for the in-|Communist Party of America, but crease of the Communist mass /at the same time they accept in a movement. I want to emphasize: it is a two- |Ship of the Communists. fold process and it amounts to po- litical blindness to overlook one or|are among the fundamental prob- the other side of it. I would like to characterize cer- tain special American features of the radicalization of the working ¢lass. I am of the opinion that in- stead of repeating here. general phrases about the general radical- ization of the bulk of the American working class it is our duty to try to give a concrete analysis of the volume, the limitations, the forms and the special features of the rad- icalization of America. The limitations of radicalization | at present which determine the amount of the leftward trend are the following: 1. The absence of big political growing degree the strike leader- The problems of unemployment | lems of present-day America. Some comrades criticized here Comrade | Bukharin that he did not pay enough | attention to unemployment. I think it is an unjust criticism because | Comrade Bukharin analyzed thor- cughly the new kind of unemploy- ment, the permanent growth of the industrial reserve army, the perpet- ual disemployment of hundreds of thousands and even millions of work- ers. i Some other comrades think that Comrade Bukharin’s thesis on per- |manent disemployment, on the ab- |solute decrease of the numbers of | the working class in America, must issues between the capitalist par- | ties. 2. Unlike 1924 there is no third party movement at this time. 8. There is no labor party move- ment on a national or mass scale at present. 4. The bulk of the American working class belong still at present to the old capitalist political par- ties, The twelve railroad brother- hoods which a few years ago were the backbone of an independent po- litical movement of the American working class endorsed a few weeks ago Hoover as president. The Amer- ican Federation of Labor, which in 1924 endorsed the third party move- ment of LaFollette will now endorse Al Smith, the candidate of the demo- cratic party. 5. The socialist party of Amer- ica ceased to be a proletarian party and the Communist Party of Amer- The American working class was not able to develop yet a mass political party which exercises an influence on millions of workers. ; The above given facts show clearly the limitation of the radicalization especially the political radicalization of the American working class. The basic factor of the situation is— as stated in the political resolution of the May Plenum of the American Party—the analysis of the moods and actions of the masses of the nn- skilled and semi-skilled workers. We can state that there is a very significant amount of radicalization going on among the most exploited sections of the working class as proven by the struggles of the min- ers, textile workers and workers in the needle trades. Special Features. The radicalization in America has certain features in contradistinction to the radicalization in certain Euro- pean countries. Germany’s radical- ization manifests itself on the polit- ical field and lags behind on the trade union field. The workers are willing to follow politically the Communist Party of Germany, but they are not willing to accept its strike leader- ship. In America the leftward workers are not yet willing to ac- | |not mean a harmonious development | federal lead to “opportunism.” I think this is an unfounded and ridiculous charge.*. Tens of millions of work- ers permanently disemployed out of the process of production—that does | There is no other country at pres- | |ent which manifests such a marked | ‘tendency for merging state appa- | ratuses and finance capital as the United States of America. There are special historic reasons which explain the rapid and almost complete merger of trusts and state apparatus in America. It is not an |necident that the whole history of America’s political and economic de- velopment is responsible for the fact that this merging process, this trus- | tification of the state apparatus, goes on in America more rapidly and thoroughly than in any other country. 2 In the other capitalist countries the centralized bureaucratic militar- istic state apparatus of the bour- geoisie developed prior to the period of finance capital. Centralized bu- reaucratic state apparatus in Amer- ica began to develop only in the period of imperialism hand in hand | with the growth of finance capital and trusts. Further, America never had a system of feudalism as the European countries. The class struggle between the feudalists and the city bourgeoisie which gave rise to the bureaucratic centralized state apparatus in the hands of the mon- archy never played any role in the history of America. As late as in 1884 the number of employes in America jbut it means a revolutionary situa-| amounted only to 13,780, In 1912, |tion. It is ridiculous to forget that | immediately before the war, the fed- | by year from America. from the process of production, even if they do not produce, are still proletarian elements and humah be- | |those workers who are thrown out |eral bureaucracy had already in- creased to 278,000. Today, in 1928, |the federal bureaucracy numbers 559,138. The total number of gov- ings who want to eat, who will re- | ernment employes—(federal, state sist agaist starvation. J Sharper Struggle. | It is clear that the increasing | sharpness of the ‘class struggle and | the growing resistance of the work- | ers will not permit that capitalism | shall push out the bulk of the work- ing class from the process of pro- | cuction. On the other hand, we should note that capitalism is ablo| to regulate to a certain degree this process. In America there is a pro- hibition of immigration which means that hundreds of thousands of for- | eign-born workers are excluded year t Again there | is a possibility of emigration from America to other younger capitalist or half-capitalist countries. Again there is a possibility that the ten- deney to diminish the absolute num- bers of the working class will again come temporarily to an end. Anycne who denies the.existence of this new phenomenon is polemis- ing not against Comrade Bukharin but against the very facts. The facts about America speak a very clear and eloquent language. In 1927 the factories produced 26 per cent more than in 1919. During this same period the number of wage earners employed in manufacturing decreased by not less than 980,000. Eleven per cent fewer wage earners than in 1919 produced in manufac- turing in 1927 26 per cent more products. In other words, each worker produced 40 per cent more. And the same tendency manifests itself not only in the factories, but in railroading, too. And this abso- and local) is not less than three million today. A list of the leading men of the various branches of the American government reads lile a list of the members of directors of trusts, banks and corporations. Now comrades, I want to refer to the Right danger in the American Party. The document officially sub- mitted to the Communist Interna- |tional and signed by some of the American leading comrades, calis it- self “The Right danger in the American Party.” .Is there a Right danger in America? It must be so |in such a powerful imperialist coun- try with such a powerful labor aristocracy. Yes, there is a right danger and the American delegation is justified in introducing an amend- ment to that section of the thesis of Comrade Bukharin which deals with America. Our amendment reads: f 9 “It is necessary that the Ameri- can Party C. E. C. should continue and intensify its fight against Right deviations.” ‘ (To Be Continued.) Williamsburg Red Week Will Begin ' This Saturday Section 6 of the Workers (Com- munist) Party will launch an in- tensified Red Week Election Cam- paign next Saturday, which will last. thruout next week and which is ex- | pected to result in a sufficient num- ber of signatures to put the candi- lute decrease of the numbers of the working class went hand in hand with “prosperity,” with rapidly in- creased produc! ‘ dates of the Workers (Communist) |Party on the ballot in the 6th and | 13th Assembly Districts of Brooklyn. Saturday night, Sept. 22, will be Told You So OME time ago this column had a “ little yarn about a reader of the | Daily Worker who dropped his paper into a seat on a subway train with the object in view of hav- ing either a pas- senger or a member of the train crew pick it up. He was successful and it occurred to me that this is avery good way to bring the Daily Worker to the attention of | T. J. O'Flaherty the workers. A |comrade who, joined the Party recently tells me in a_ letter that he has followed this. method | since he first began to read the |Communist daily, Others should | please do likewise. * eae 4 Wee on the subject of the Daily Worker may we not again call your .attention to the subscription drive now under way. We want! 10,000 more new subscribers and this is the time to go after them. The masses are excited over politics and this is good for them. But it is not good for them to be fed on cap- italist dope and the Daily Worker is the only revolutionary daily pub- lished in the American language that sets them right on questions of the day and shows them the way to go forward on the road to freedom from capitalism. . ee” ‘VERY intelligent radical knows bee that the Daily Worker is pub- | lished at a loss, Its advertising revenue is derived from ads from t efisoninctors, vegetarian restau- |rants, dentists and good-natured |lawyers. At best this source of in- ;¢ome cannot be but inadequate to meet the heavy expenses that are |incurred in getting out a daily paper. There is a deficit that must “ be met. * THE Daily Worker deficit can be | reduced to a minimum by build- | ing up a large circulation thru pre- | paid subscriptions. - This will enable the Management Committee to in- | crease the paper in size and—now it [can be told—to keep the editorial + te and business office staffs in coffee and doughnuts and an occasional substantial meal. And the goal of 10,000 new subscribers set by the Management Committee in this cam- paign can be realized. Every mem- ber of the Workers (Communist) Party should become a subscriber as well as every Communist voter. | Should this be accomplished we | would have a circulation of at least 100,000 by the end of the year. But we are not utopians, and 10,000 new subs would make us quite happy. 0 ee Cc is not necessary to tell you what the Daily Worker is doing in the class struggle. Suffice it to say that in every fight of the workers against the bosses the Daily Work- er is on the firing line. And where the workers are passive it encourages them to fight in an organized man- ner because that is the only way the workers can win better condi- tions now and train themselves for the bigger fights to come. The | Daily Worker is not merely a work- ingelass newspaper, that presents the workers side of the class strug- gle in its news columns, it is an or- ganizer of the workers for battle against capitalism under the guidance and leadership of the Workers (Communist) Party. a a ee 0’ another page you will see a sub blank and sub rates. Fill out the blank, send a check or money order along and the Daily Worker will be delivered at your door every morning by a letter carrier, who could not be better employed than distributing a Communist news- paper. Wall Street will elect its candidate in November. That is certain. But if the Daily Worker adds 10,000 new subscribers to its list, there will be joy in Red Square. * CUR 3 aa fears of a great ent: demic of corruption are being en pressed in the capitalist press. The police are growing more corrupt daily. Not satisfied with their sal- aries they are fastening themselves on the payrolls of bootleggers and other followers of the golden calf. Their loyalty to the municipalities that pay their wages decrease in in- verse ratio to the in€rease of the honorariums of the business men. Son OHohesty Red Night in Williamsburg, with open-air meetings to be held at the Grand Street Extension and Have- meyer Street; Ellery Street and Tompkins Ave.; and°Graham Ave. and Varét Street corners. After these various Red meetings are con- cluded, all the speakers who spread the message of Communism will have a final wind-up meeting at the Grand Street Extension and Have- meyer Street. The Williamsburg headquarters at_ 46 Ten Eyck Street will be open every day during the week after 6 p.m, and after 1 p. m. on Saturdays for those who will participate in the signature drive. Special em- phasis will be laid on the distribu- tion of the Daily Worker and other Communist literature by .the Red Campaigners engaged in securing | signatures. Saget | J