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

Page Six THE DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1928 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: “ iwork” Phone, Stuyvesant 1696-7-3 SUBSCRIPTION RATES By Mail (in New York o' 68 per year $4.50 six months $2.50 three months By Mail (outside of New York): $6.00 per year $3.50 six months $2 three months Address and mail out checks to T E DAILY WORKER, 26-28 Union Square, New York, N. Y. St Assistant Editor. .-ROBERT MINOR -WM. F. DUNNE Entered as second-class mail at the post-office af. New York, N. Y., under the act of March 3, 1879. VOTE COMMUNIST! For President WILLIAM Z. FOSTER For the Workers: ‘ Senator Curtis’ Reply. The late Elbert Hubbard used to say: “When someone beats you in an argument, @o not despair. All is not yet lost. You can still call him names.” Hubbard, pen valet extraordinary for the capitalist exploiters of this country, only for- mulated in a concise and comprehensive man- ner that which has long been the chief stock- in-trade of democratic and republican as well “as socialist party politicians. The latest example of such “political ar- gument,” was the retort of Senator Curtis of Kansas, vice-presidential candidate on the re- publican ticket to a farmer in Spen- cer, Iowa, who asked questions that could not be answered about the Mellon-Hoover-Cool- idge policies, with particular reference to farm relief and Teapot Dome. Mr. Curtis, in- stead of replying to the questions of the farmer, pointed a scornful finger at him and said: “You're too damn dumb to understand it, anyway.” In this rejoinder is revealed something more than mere impudence on the part of Curtis, himself one of the most servile, stupid, incompetent ornaments of that cave of the winds known as the United States senate. Curtis was one of the regulars, vot- ing like a marionette on all the republican swindles and approved every act of every grafter in the entire history of the Harding- Mellon-Hoover-Coolidge Teapot Dome cab- inet. Curtis’ reply to the Iowa farmer is classic, in that it symbolizes in one sentence the at- titude of the old party politicians toward the exploited masses of this country. The poli- ticians believe themselves superior people, destined to rule over dumb, driven cattle. To question such people about their records at For the Party of the Class Struggle! Against the Capitalists! Washington is regarded as impudence. It is | a wonder the hoodlums that usually follow in the wake of old party presidential candidates did not throw the questioner out of the hall, especially in view of the fact that his queries were such that Curtis could not even attempt to reply otherwise than by calling the farmer names. The difference between Communists and all other political parties is no more clearly revealed than in the attitude toward the workers and farmers who comprise the audi- ences. At all Communist campaign meetings questions and even discussion from the floor is welcome. The arguments and program of the Workers (Communist) Party can be defended anywhere, against anyone, because the Communists alone have a program that will solve the problems facing the exploited masses of workers and farmers. Political parties are instruments by which classes endeavor to gain control of the gov- ernment. No party can speak for all the people. However, the old parties—as well as the socialist party in its present decrepit state—try to conceal their class character, hence their programs are deliberately de- signed to deceive the masses, to conceal their real class character. On the other hand the Communists are the vanguard of the work- ing class and go before the masses with an avowedly class program, hence we are al- ways ready, willing and anxious to explain the most minute details of our program and policies. We have nothing to conceal, while the other parties have to conceal the very reason for their existence—the fact that they represent the exploiting class against the workers and farmers of the country. Trade Union Agreements— Advantageous or Harmful Superficial observers of the labor move- ment, particularly the university professors who try to formulate theories to justify the betrayals of the working class by the reac- tionary officials of the American Federation of Labor, make a fetish out of trade union agreements. Prof. John R. Commons of the University of Wisconsin is the founder of the modern school of Jearned apologists for that theory and practice of trade union fak- ery that has come to be known under the term of Gompersism, The Jesser Webbs ia) schon ar pan Brookwond For Vice-President BENJAMIN GITLOW bor college” faculty, Selig Pearlman of Wis- consin University and a considerable num- ber of graduates of these institutions. Com- mons and his associates hold that a union which does not maintain continuous con- tracts with employers is doomed to failure. | In analyzing the birth and decline of various independent unions they claim that the fail- ure to obtain agreements from employers is “the rock upon which all such unions have broken.” Certainly no intelligent worker will take a stand in opposition to all agreements. Like- wise no one except traitors to labor or their theoretical defenders in the university chairs will advocate the signing of any agreements that may be obtained. Agreements are most advantageous to trade unions when they are forced from the employer in a struggle that results in vic- tory for the workers. Under such con- ditions agreements serve as a weapon inas- much as they cover periods of low produc- tivity in a given industry and expire at a date favorable to the workers and unfavor- able for the employer. Under certain condi- tions, in industries formerly unorganized or industries in which the workers have only weak organizations, it is possible to sign agreements without’ improvements in condi- tions or increases in wages, provided they expire at a time favorable to the workers. During the life of such agreements intensive -organizational work can proceed so that the workers will be in a better position to fight the employers. But certainly it is never advantageous to the workers to sign agreements accepting wage-cuts and expiring at a time when the workers are least able to put up a fight. Such agreements would result in initiating a whole series of wage-cuts and a policy of steady retreat on the part of labor. The formerly militant sections of the American Federation of Labor thave never made a fetish of agreements. For instance, the International Typographical Union, dur- ing the short period since the war that it was dominated by progressive forces (in fact and not in name only), refused for years to sign agreements with certain newspaper publish- ers in Chicago simply because the employers insisted upon agreements expiring at a date unfavorable to the union. The same policy was followed in Cleveland and other cities in the job printing end of the industry. Far better to work without any agreements at all than to accept them when they are a menace to the future success of the workers. The 2,000 coal miners of Illinois’ who have gone on strike against the infamous treachery of the Lewis-Fishwick machine and who re- fuse to abide by agreements that ratify wage-cuts have followed the right line thus far. Their next step must be a break with Lewis and all his henchmen and affiliation with the National Miners Union under a leadership developed out of the struggle and steeled in the long fight against Lewis and the operators, a leadership that realizes full well that only by organization and a deter- mined fight that will compel the employers to grant living wages and decent conditions in the mining industry can there be any thought of agreements. Genuine Farm Relief. News from the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics is to the effect that the Ukraine harvest has fallen short of expectations, leaving 850,000 men, women and children of the agricultural area‘in that part of the So- viet Union in a position where they cannot maintain their living standards on returns from their crop. The Soviet government, as soon as the condition of the peasants was ascertained, appropriated the sum of 31,000,- 000 rubles toward the cost of supplies needed and the local government appro- priated 10,000,000 rubles for the same purpose. Here {is a case of the one government on earth that represents the people who inhabit its territory meeting a farm crisis with quick and adequate relief. Not with fake promises as is the case of the republican party in this country, ‘or of promises of an investigation committee as is the case of Al, Smith and the democrats—both aspiring to serve as ad-+ ministrators of a government that exists only in order that the capitalist class may continue to exploit the workers and farmers, —but with practical relief policies. ‘ bes Hundreds of Porto Rican Peasants ee . 4 The fierce hurricane which swept across Porto Rico killed hundreds of peasants and left hundreds of thousands homeless. box hovels in which the peasants live and left a trail of dead and dying, oft wrecked hovels and ruined rte storm smashed the tiny my fields in its wake. a¥; Killed In Terrific Huw ¥ # Above, wotkers of San Juan clearing the streets of debris. eb rricane Which Swept Island SPUR The The Workers | By ROY STEPHENS |(OMMUN(SM is growing in the Party in t | with the secretary of state. At their Grand Island convention the Amer- middle-West. The’ workers in Workers Rally to Party Despite Attacks of |ica Tcgion devoted one afternoon Mine and Packing House Barons | this section of the country have al- ready put the Workers (Commu- nist) Party on the bailot in the states of: Nebraska, Iowa, Séuth Da- | kota, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas. Indications are that the Communist ticket will be on the bal- |lot in every middle-western state. A big fight is also being carried on to organize the workers in the pack- |ing houses and other big industries. | As a result of these activities at- tempts are being made in the states of Nebraska, Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas to keep the Communist ticket off the ballot and send the most militant fighters to jail. There are also indications that attempts will be made in several other states to likewise prevent the workers from putting their ticket on the ballot. The conclusion to be drawn frora \ihis is that it is a concerted attac! | by the employers and open-shop in- | |terests to destroy the Communist | movement in the middle-west. That |is just what is happening. Some Characteristics. In order to understand just why |the employers fear the Communists | so in this section of the country one must understand the conditions ex- isting here and the peculiar char- acteristics of this section. The middle-west is admittediy the most American section of the coun- try. By this is meant that here the | people are the greatest per cent na- tive-born and the most free trum the customs of foreign immigrants | |who come to our shores. Naturally |such American schemes as class- collaboration and company unionism are put into practice most effec- | tively here. The capitalist press has jalways boasted that Communism cannot grow in this part of the coun- | try. Since the war the labor move- ment has been almost completely de- istroyed. The strong unions of the \miners and packing house workers |ave no more. Cities like Omaha, |Kansas City, St. Joseph and Den- ver boast that iabor tyoubles have been solved. At the present time | Kansas City and Omaha are spending induce manufacturers to locate in these cities. Since the republican | convention at Kansas City the cham- ter of commerce has decided to spend en additional five million at once. Here they boast raw mater- ials and labor are abundant. | A. F. of L. Betrayals. | The American Federation of La-| bor has completely: betrayed the workers. The fakers who are in |up new schemes to prevent any mili- taney. This Labor Day in Omaha the reactionary mayor of the city, Mayor Dahlman, who owns a lot of stock in the street railway and other |corporations here, was invited to ad- dress their meetings. At one time there were strong I. W. W. and socialist organizations in this section of the country, but they no longer exist. Today what is left jof the socialists openly praise such | politicians as Norris and Brookhart. The I. W. W. has no members ex- cept in a few of the mining regions |of Colorado and Wyoming and there \they fight the militants and the {Communists and through their wrong tactics they lost the Colorado \coal strike. Only the Communists are carrying on a militant campaign |against the employers and the Wall Street government. The farmers, too, in this section are suffering greatly because of the | exploitation of them by the capital- |ist class. Thousands are yearly los- ing their farms and being forced to gc into the cities and join the ranks of the unemployed. The agricul- tural laborers have had their condi- tions made worse by the introduc- tion of combines and better machin- ery.. The highways have been full vain in search of employment. Communists Gain. Lately the Workers (Communist) |Party has been making great gains. |In Colorado the Communists were ac- | tive during the coal strike and now lcontrol spend their time thinking | ing the fight for a new union. In the packing plants they are publish- £ their sessions to attacking the | Communists. Boast of Stool Pigeons. R. A. Kirkpatrick, chairman of |the Americanization committee, | boasted that the Legion was carry: Told You So | AL SMITH and Herbert Hoover are now playing the role of | political confidence men to the work- ers and farmers. While Herbert was | trying to seduce the labor vote in | New Jersey, Al was out in the potato | and corn belt trying to win the hand | and heart of the farmer. Hoover and Al did not talk about love weaving webs of fancy on the horns of the moon; _ they talked steak and potatoes. They talked about it, that’s all. The worker who takes Hoover seriously de- serves to car- ry a lighter- than-air dinner pail and the poor | farmer who believes the tale of Tam- | many Al, doesn’t know enough to shake a mouse out of his whiskers, | eee et Quite can afford to spend half a million dollars on his radio broad- casting and Hoover can afford to spend as much more. They will get | their vote-bait in the newspapers and into the sitting rooms of the voters thruout the country. Milli- ons of workers and farmers will undoubtedly fall for their hokum. But an ever-increasing number of the exploited masses are getting hep to the democratic and Repub- T. J. O'Flaherty lican parties. Fooling the masses | 1 C y \ est and serving the capitalists has been | the profession of the .plute parties for generations, The workers are | waking up and those of them that have gotten the dust out of their | eyes are looking towards the Work- ers (Communist) Party for leader- | ship. * e+ |S all probability there will not be much more fuss made about the ing shop papers and calling on the |ing on an extensive espionage cam- | Queens sewer scandal. Patten, Con- workers, to organize. Many mass paign, saying that Legion stool-|nolly’s man won out over his oppo- meetings are being held, at which’! pigeons attended several Communist | nents in the primaries last Tuesday. Communist speakers show up Nor- ris and Brookhart and other politi- cians as supporters of the capitalist system. But in doing so they have enraged the employers and the state officials. In Kansas, Hugo Oehler, district organizer, and ten other workers were arrested for speaking and hav- ing in their possession such radical literature as the Daily Worker, La- bor Defender and “Party Platform.” As yet their cases have not been jheard, but under the vicious crim-| inal syndicalist law of Kansas they may be sentenced to five to ten | years’ imprisonment. The Armour Company caused their arrest by re- |porting to the police that the Com- |munists were trying to organize the | packing house workers. | Jingoes Bar Negroes. In Texas the secretary of state |vefuses to allow the Workers Party to go on the ballot, even though they |have complied with the law. Here jingoism flourishes and race dis- crimination is at its height. Ne- groes sre prevented by law from voting in the primary election. In Oklahonfa the’ state officials are using every possible trick to prevent the Communist electors |meetings and furnished reports to the department of justice at Wash- ington. Marcus Poteet of the Lin- |coln Post of the American Legion |stated that while he knew of no legal objection to the Workers Party filing he thought that a Communist organization is subversive of Amer- jican ideals and that the placing of |a Communist ticket on the Ameri- can bailot is so odious that the situ- ation transcends technicalities of the law. Newspapers in Nebraska carried headlines announcing that a Red | Plot had been discovered here. An American Legionnaire delivered a speech over radio station WOW, in which he attacked the Communists at great length. Want to Continue Exploitation. The capitalist class hope to de- stroy the Communist movement in the middle-west. They want to |keep this section of the country un- organized so as to exploit the work- \ers to the utmost and keep the mid- |dle-west a reservoir from which to jder for the next imperialist war. But the Communist Party will not be destroyed. The attacks of our |enemies will only cause us to grow. |recruit the bulk of the cannon fod-| Tammany opposed Patten, evidently | because the wigwam warriors want- jed the sewers all to themselves. | Tammany was stopped at the bridge. | “Tho shalt not pass” was the slogan {of the Queens Democratic’ bosses. Thieves will insist on falling out. Se ie T’S mighty hard for a fellow with |" money to know what to do these days. He is beset with danger from all sides. John M. Philips, the late | Sewer-pipe king, or as he called him- \self the “King of Queens” trusted a nurse he met by accident as most nurses are met.‘ As you may know | Philips is supposed to be dead, tho it would not surprise his friends to \learn that he pulled off a resurrec- tion. But anyhow, this nurse who admired the late pipe sultan, ts now | telling all in the pages of a New | York tabloid. Needless to say she is doing it in the interests of clean | Sovernment. So far she has suc- | seeded only in whetting our curios- | ity. Cae Sear i see gist of her story is that this man who made others bend to his will as if they were so many reeds was as weak as a woman’s tears in from filing on the Farmer-Labor | Workers are learning that the Com- the hands of John Barleycorn. But ticket, even though they, tov, have |munists are fighters and from the | he always carried a medallion which complied with the law. |attempts of the capitalist class to|he picked up on the street and no | In Nebraska the employers and | keep us off the ballot they willlearn | matter how muddled he was, when |state officials are using the “red |that democracy is only a dictator- he touched this charm, his brain baiters” in the American Legion and,|ship of the capitalists and only the| cleared and he shot out decisions all summer with them wandering in | Veterans. of Foreign Wars to_ hel; them throw the Workers Party ticket off the ballot. Governor Adam McMullen recently made a speech youth. American Legion and other jingo- Yorkers (Communist) Party fights ‘or a workers’ and farmers’ govern- ment. | Workers, defeat the attacks of the |to a workers’ and farmers’ govern- several million dollars each year to in Pittsburg, Kansas, they are lead-| ists got busy and filed a protest ment! Imperialist War and Working Class Youth | By W. J. WHITE. WHAT part will the youth of this | country play when the war \drums are sounding? This is today |a potent question which we must | answer correctly. How must we or- |ganize our youth of the working \class in order to offset the patriotic | |hokum which is being instilled into their minds thru their eyes and ears | by the teacher, the preacher and the | political ‘bunkum and hokum_ ped- | dlers who are behind the many ac- tivities in sports, camn fire girls, | the boy scouts, the Y. M. C, A. and \the numerous sports clubs which are being organized among the youth in order to keep their minds wedded to the capitalist system? It is doubtful if any other worker jaside from the actual building up \of the armv and navy, is getting as |much consideration as this propa- | ganda which is today being carried |on among the youth by the capital- lists of the country. | Papers and Magazines In order that the youth mav be |Inshed to the chariot of the War |God of capitalism, printers’ ink is being epilled by the gallon and the | physical advantages which come |from the many netivities connected | with the boy scouts, the Y, M, C, A. | huts, the outdoor life, ete., are held | out Jn such an alluring way and in | such a manner that the real inten- ition is skillfully hidden behind all this poisonous propaganda. In this [propaganda the paid hirelings of ths masters “brass check" press are drawn vp, and they respond with a will to the commands of thelr mas- ters. Not only are the daily papers | Propaganda for Coming War suit the purposes of the bosses, but. the magazines are also drawn upon to warp and twist the minds of the young so that they will willingly go out when called von in case of under the guise of the physical well- | ‘respond to the numerous calls to go \into the camps of the Citizens’ Mili- itary Training Camps. / | ‘The Part of the Church. | The religious press, especially of ‘some of the large protestant de- nominations, and also the press of the catholic church is filled with this camouflaged war propaganda. ,The feelings of working class fathers and |mothers are skillfully played upon ‘by such papers and their patriotism and religious bigotry is appealed to under the ‘guise of the physical well- fare of their children and the need of having them fit to take their part in the affairs of life. Baseball leagues confined strictly to the mem- bers of the churches are fostered and given publicity by the chureh papers, the same is true of football and kindred sports. The catholic church takes advantage of the pa- triotie appeal to the young to build up catholic organizations patterned after the camp fire girls and the boy scouts, but the church sees to it that these organizations are confined to the members of its congregations. actively engaged in this work of) | moulding the minds of the young to/ These organizations of the youth are as much patriotism is instilled into the heads of the young in these in- stitutions as in the purely secular institutions. Who Furnishes the Money? banking and capitalist institutions can be seen at work. It is they who go into their tills to furnish the |money for the meets and games ‘where the public can not be induced to pay for the necessary uniforms and paraphernalia. Of course they \bring to bear as much as possible he law of emulation in which they pit civic pride and use school re- ‘igion and every other stimulation they can play upon in accomplish- ling their ends. The big banks thru \their directors are the leaders who put up the money for the Y. M. C. \A. the Young Men’s Catholic So- ‘cleties and they are always ex- |tremely careful to see that so far jas possible none of their money is wasted, but that it bears a very heavy interest in their favor. Prizes are put up for the winners in the contests. Silver loving cups are made the prize for some contest, while in others it may take on any one of a thousand different forms, however, always having in view the advancement of the cause of big business and capitalism, and war. Very fortunately our party is |alive to this question, and in every Capitalist Press, Church and Schools Screech congress and the plenum of the Workers (Communist) Party this question of the youth is seriously being discussed. This is finding ever and ever more response in the organizations of the young workers fostered in the parochial schools and | and they are especially carrying on} more and more propaganda in the training camps of the Citizens’ Mili- ‘tary Training Camps, and also among those young who are still under the influence of the propa- |perialistic rulers. This is as it \should be for if we neglect our work among the youth in the mills ‘and factories of the country, then we are not fulfilling our revolution- ary+task. Organize the youth! Build up the Young Workers League and the Pioneers in the United States, for upon them rests the future of our Party. One of the means which will bring real results to our Party in bringing to the front those best fitted to lead in this work, is the numerous schools which the Party is conducting in such cen- ters as Ohio, Wisconsin, New York and Massachusetts. It is from them that we can look for the training and discipline of our young workers. In this we are, considering our small membership and compara- tively weak resources doing a very fine work, and we can in the near future, I hope, bring to bear for this work more and better and ever larger schools with an ever growing number of members attending the schools we will be opening from time classes in these and the other, reactionaries of the rising | bearing the stamp of wisdom. Sam- son lost his herculean strength when he got trimmed by a woman. Per- haps some modern damsel went thru |in which he stated that the Com- employers in the middle-west! Your | Philips’ pocket and stole his amulet. munists are making great inroads |answer must be the placing of the Great men sometimes not only have in the state, especially amorg the Communist ticket on the ballot in| feet. of clay Following his speech the |at least thirty-five states. Forward | in their hip pockets. but carry their brains * * ok [RE 80 per cent of the population that have pyorrhea and don’t know it are not so badly off. They ;might have halitosis and see the world turning away from them. Still, Bernarr McFadden, the big vegetable jand vitamin man is not satisfied. This public benefactor is never satis- \fied unless he is helping to make the people healthier and increasing his bank roll. The style in disease is constantly changing. Today it is the fashion to go on the war path |against pyorrhea; tomorrow it may be the lowly bunior. tied sari | ‘Mc FADDEN has successfully har- |" nessed every ‘known disease to |his chariot. What sin is to the evan- In all of this the hand of the big ganda of the industrial and im-|8elist disease is to McFadden. While fighting the medical profession Mc- Fadden eruns the biggest clearing house for quackery in the United States. His numerous publications carry fake medicine ads guarantee- ing to cure everything that afflicts the human anatomy from corns to consumption. His tabloid is the most vulgarly sensational rag published in the United States. He is the patron saint of the neurotic and the ‘Moses of the half-baked who believe that everybody who comes forward with a panacea for human ills is a saviour, - Ln OMohesty to time. This is the key to our tasks among the young. Only by founding such schools and building up our papers can we hope to off- set and check-mate the work of the capitalists in their work of making our class. —=-