The Daily Worker Newspaper, November 1, 1928, Page 6

r Publishing Ass’n., Inc., Daily, » at 26-28 Union Square, New Y Telephone, % Stuyvesant 1696- Daiwork” ROBERT MINOR . Editor WM. F. DUNNE Assistant Editor For President For President WILLIAM Z. FOSTER Wm. Z. Foster For the Workers! VOTE COMMUNIST! For the Party of the Class Struggle! Bs HE DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 1928 SUBSCRIPTION RATES: By Mail (in New York only): $4.50 six mos, $2.50 three mos, By Mail (outside of New York): * $3.50 six mos. $2.00 three mos. $8 a year $6 a year Address and mail out checks to The Daily Worker, 26-28 Union Square, New York, N. Y. For Vice-President BENJAMIN GITLOW Ben Gitlow Against the Capitalists! ‘The Socialist Party’s “Comrade”— Al Smith Of course there is nothing more “social-‘ istic’ about the multi-millioneires’ presi- dential candidate on the democratic ticket than there is about the multi-millionaire: candidate on the republican ticket. Nor is there anything remotely resembling socialism in Al Smith, Raskob’s friend, any more than there is of tropical temperature in the region of the North Pole. Yet it is an open secret that the socialist | party is worried sick about the inroads being made by the Tammany orators among the New York followers of the socialist party since Hoover made his little joke about Al Smith as a “state socialist.” The smaller fry among the Tammany orators on the East Side of New York have been given their orders to use “socialistic” terms in describing Smith’s alleged “progressivéness.” It is an actual fact that in the New York working class districts in which the socialist party has hitherto re- ceived its biggest vote, speakers for the big capitalist democratic party are addressing their audiences in some cases as “comrades.” Democratic party speakers in at least two re- cent New York meetings have hinted that the way to get “socialism” is to vote for the head of the reactionary, crime-soaked, Wall Street-supported machine of Tammany. In at least one instance a Tammany speaker has told his audience outright that Smith is a This is what. worries the yellow socialist party. The explanation is easy. The New York State candidates of the socialist party, like their candidates of other fields, are pre- senting a program that cannot be dis- tinguished in any essential way whatsoever from the reactionary program of Tammany Hall. For instance, in a recent debate Louis Waldman, candidate of the socialist party for governor of New York, vehemently declared himself to be a “conservative socialist” after a Tammany speaker before the same audience had declared Smith to be “progressive” and “socialisti nd both speakers ‘gave the fdentical program of “public ownership” (by the capitalist state) as the program of each of their respective parties. While it is completely idiotic to think there is anything “socialistic” about the democratic party (whose orators in non-working-class districts sing the opposite song), it is equally absurd to claim there is anything remotely approaching socialism in anything done or said by the socialist party. The socialist party has in fact been forced by the logic of its own actions into the posi- tion of openly fighting the working class on a hundred fronts, into fighting and slander- ing the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics in a brazen and naked way where it formerly covered itself with fig-leaves, into more and more open visible corruption with both the capitalist employers and the Tammany machine. This has compelled it to declare it- self openly as “‘ workers the socialist party has been obliged to declare itself opposed to the class struggle (although of course it participates actively in the class struggle on the side of the em- ployers). Waldman, as its candidate for gov- ernor, logically compelled to say in his speeches “Iam sot a red,” while the Reverend Thomas, as candidate for president, is com- pelled to write that he is “not an orthodox Marxist.” And all of them are driven to fight openly against the idea of working class rule and to defend what they are pleased to call “American democracy” (Capitalist class rule). Many more thousands of workers this ii year will understand that the socialist party is a wing of a general “party of capitalism.” Many more thousands are learning that the Workers (Communist) Party is the working class party—the only working class party. With thirty-four states on the ballot, the Workers (Communist) Party can and must pile up a large vote. It is not deceiving the workers as to what this vote would mean. It tells the workers frankly that they cannot be liberated by ballots chst in a capitalist society, that they cannot attain Socialism by the machinery provided by capitalists. The building up of a socialist social system can begin only after the working class takes control of a given country as the ruling class, And the rule of the working class can be at- tained only through militant, courageous class struggle, the revolutionary struggle, under the leadership of the revolutionary party. Of course Tammany orators are not calling Al Smith a “Communist.” He is the Rey- erend Thomas’ “comrade”—not the workers’ comrade. Vote Communist. The Reverend Norman Thomas and Al Smith and Herbert Hoover are “comrades” of one big party of capitalism. Hoover’s Insult to Farmers Each of the capitalist political parties are | pretending to be gravely concerned about the farm problem. Smith, the democratic candi- date, made a gesture of approval of the “gen- | eral principles” of the MeNary-Haugen bill, conservative.” In fighting the | but balked at committing himself on the equalization fee which is supposed to guar- antee the farmer a sufficient return to cover the cost of production of his marketable pro- ducts. The sponsors of the McNary-Haugen bill emphasize the fact that the whole of the bill is that part dealing with the equalization fee. Now comes Hoover, the republican candi- date, with a declaration that if the Decem- ber session of congress does not give “ade- quate attention” to farm relief he will call a special session in the Spring when he is in- augurated. That is as meaningless as Smith’s insult- ing gesture. Both candidates procéed upon the assumption that the impoverished farm- ers are too, stupid to see through such palpable frauds. Instead of definite proposals that will bene- fit the farmers Hoover promises a special session of congress. Both Hoover and Smith are serving their masters, the exploiters and oppressors of the workers and farmers, by endeavoring to en- list the farm vote in support of the policies of Wall Street. It is against precisely such an alliance that intelligent farmers who are aware of their interests must fight. Instead of such an alliance the bankrupt farmers must ally themselves with the other great section of the exploited population, the working class. Only the Workers (Communist) Party has an effective program for the farmers, by proposing an alliance with the working class and a united struggle for real relief for the farmers, such as a five year moratorium on farm mortgages, including debts on chat- tels; protection of the working farmer against monopolistic prices; a farm relief fund of a billion dollars; a federal law against forced farm foreclosures; the land to belong to its users, The farmers who support any party other than the Workers (Communist) Party only aid their oppressors more firmly fasten the chains of servitude upon them. | jand Thomas Burt, M. P., secretary of the Northumberland Miners. | They were ultra-respectable, but |could put up a good fight when cir- cumstances favored them. They did |fight well and aippiaripien © for the | right to organize, and for What was |declared to be “full and equal rights |before the law,” and, betimes, for |a substantial rise in the standard of \life, but they never recognized the jnecessity for a change in the econ- omic basis of society. The behavior lof the delegates of the Trades Union Congress at Swansea this year shows how their influence has lasted. Secularism was much to the front. |Thousands of the _ best-informed workmen of the seventies and WHEN I WAS TWENTY-ONE By TOM MANN. the Continent. |tractors brought in blacklegs from The fight, which was were: Maudsley’s, who had a large works on or next to the site of the lis establis | present |negotiated in May, 1927, declared [Ni | vision of the United States.” |facts. have shown since then how | United States imperialism has ex- |tinguished the last vestiges of in- |dependence and national self-deter- |mination of the Nicaraguan people. maker; Daniel Guile (ironfounder), Fifty-one years ago this month, when I was twenty-one, I came to London for the first time. There was a strike on... - It was a different London then. Karl Marx and Frederick Engels were alive, the “Junta” was in pow- er (although they were not so dif- ferent, in some ways, from the pres- | ent General Council), and the law courts were being built; it was there that the strike raged. The stonemasons were conducting a big s@ike against the contractors. It was iter fight, and the con~ |for reduction of hours and increase in wages, lasted eight months. The |men were beaten. | There was also a series of bitter | fights in the cotton trade, and there | was 2) good deal of savagery on both | sides. I had come from Birmingham after seven years’ experience in the metal trade, very slack, shipbuilding and marine ‘engineering on the Thames were \erffually, leaving for the north. ‘THe | firms of engincers there Trade in London was | |present Waterloo Station; Hum-| | phrey & Tenants, of Deptford; and! John Penn’s, of Greenwich. | The men most prominent in the! trade union movement were Henry | | Broadhurst, secretary of the Parlia-| |mentary Committee of the Trades | Union Congress, George Howell, M.| P., George Shipton, secretary of the| London Trades Council; John Bur-| |nett, secretary of the Amalgamated Engineers; Robert Applegarth, sec- retary of the Carpenters; George i Odger (who died in 1877), a shoe- oo. “UGH, NIGGER PARTY!” | | By Fred Ellis Beast of Prey.Crouc By JOHN PEPPER HE beast of prey is crouching for a new spring, United States im-| An “American” Election Is Held in Nicaragua perialism is making thoroughgoing |preparations to accomplish the per- manent occupation of Nicaragua. November 4 is election day in Nicarag The “lucky” Nicara- |guans are enjoying a most brutal, bloody and barbarous military in- ivasion by United States marines. Under the pretext of supervising the el | tion uds” ‘on November 4 |ernment, which at the same time is | facts election | Daily Worker which exposed the manufacturing wholesale | | | hing for a “Democracy” at All Costs Let us examine the facts. How does United States imperialism ac- complish the feat of fitting a round peg into a square hole—the carry- ing out of “free and fair” elections ions and preventing “elec- | under the military supervision of a in | foreign imperialism? Nicaragua, the United States gov- | We shall not use the innumerable revealed’ in articles in the frauds for November 6 in the United }rule of United States imperialism States, is holding the Nicaraguan |in Nicaragua. We shall not use the people under the rule of its military | just and true denunciations made by forces. “free” ing a faked, shameless dictatorship of marines not less in- famous than the reign of Cossack- dom in Tsarist Russia. An “American” Election. General Me is the head of the military occupation of Nicaragua by the United States. He reports proudly that the entire country has been districted and| | American officers have been detailed | as supervisors at the polls. There will be “not an election booth with- | out its American.” .The réporter of | the New York Times states: “Not one who watched General McCoy and his subordinates in the trying days last summer has any doubt that the election will be as fair as it is humanly possible to make it.” The notorious Stimson agreement brazen-facedly that “the next | ‘icaraguan national election would be free and fair and under the super- The ‘free and fair” military rule of eighties found satisfaction in a cam- paign on theological affairs, and many of them did not give a thought |to raising their standard of life. The belief in hell, and the fear of hell, had so dominated their earlier |lives that it was a source of pleasure |to throw it off and to help others to do so, It was a year of a great teetotal campaign. The temperance move- ment was used by the capitalists to send people to sleep mentally, whilst they were robbed of the results of their labor, After fifty-one years I see many difficulties, but I~see, also, many influences at work in our direction. It is good to have lived to see this, and especially to have been per- mitted * small share in bringing it forces of Sandino’s army. United States imperialism, General Sandino, head of the Na- |under the pretext of establishing |tional Liberation Army of the institutions of “democracy,” | Nicaraguan people. We shall sum- mon to the witness stand such a capitalist newspaper as the New York Times, which is one of the andard-bearers of United States imperialism, and such a capitalist | journalist as Harold Norman Denny, whose “fairness” toward United States imperialism is beyond any shadow of doubt. Preliminaries to “Election.” The first step to establish a “free and fair” election was the attempt to exterminate the revolting armed As Mr. Denny puts it: “A virtual state of war came to exist in the northern depart- ments of Nicaragua and consti- tuted a serious menace to our pro- gram of a free and honest elec- tion.” The second step towards “free and fair” elections was the procla- mation of General McCoy as dicta- tor of the country. We again quote Mr. Denny: “In order to make our super- vision effective it was necessary to have the Nicaraguan Congress pass a temporary law giving Gen- eral McCoy dictatorial powers over the election and closing in advance every possible loophole.” The Nicaraguan people are as free as birds of the air. If any- body doubts this in the slightest he should read Mr. Denny’s statement, which declares that the decree ap- pointing General McCoy as dictator of Nicaragua was written in the United States state department and was then passed by the mercenary Nicaraguan senate: “Such a measure—one accept- ment, if indeed it was not actu- ally written there—was adopted without difficulty by the Nicara- guan senate on Jan. 10 of this year.” Unforseen Difficulty. But then there arose an unforseen difficulty. One section of the con- servative party in the chamber of deputies did not like General Me- Coy as dictator and tried to push througl/ a substitute measure, which Mr. Denny characterizes as follows: “.. . which American officials felt would pull the teeth of super- vision and put General McCoy in the impossible position of helpless observer, instead of absolute dic- tator of the conduct of the elec- tion.” Mr. Denny goes on to relate the fight in the chamber of deputies, where the majority took the posi- tion that the supervision project was “unconstitutional and preju- dicial to the dignity of Nicaragua.” One of the speakers even went so far, Mr. Denny tells us with much indignation and horror, as to assert that “Coolidge is a faker if he says that he will not transgress the laws of weaker nations.” (It is really remarkable how well these Latin about, tlle el \Americans know “our” beloved and highly esteemed president and his imperialist attitude toward smaller | | nations.) The chamber of deputies rejected the supervision measure by a vote jot 23 to 17. | “Democracy” Vindicated. But democracy had to be estab- lished at all costs. If the majority of the chamber of deputies -was against American supervision, then some other “democratic” ways and means had to be found to achieve it. Mr. Denny reports with imper- turbable calm: “General McCoy and Minister Eberhardt heard the news calmly and set about to establish super- vision otherwise.” i€ The state department in Wash- /ington became again the genuine formulator of the real will of the | Nicaraguan people. Mr. Denny re- |ports with conscious pride: | “The cables were kept busy be- | tween Washington and Managua. Then, on March 21, President Diaz issued an executive decree, read on the streets of Managua to the ac- “companiment of stirring band } music, according to time-honored | custom, establishing —_absdlute American supervision. The de- cree had been drawn with exceed- | ing .care to make it within the bounds of the Nicaraguan consti- tution, but even so its validity was attacked by opponents of our pol-* icy. Needless to say, the decree previously had been submitted to the state department and ap- proved. It gave General McCoy dictatorial powers and provided for American chairmen of cvery election board on down to the re- motest rural polling places.” An “Unimpeachable” Decree. Only incorrigible | Communists could say that a presidential decree is not the most proper source for “constitutional freedom.” And cer- tainly only an unfair opponent of fair United States imperialism would dare to say that such a decree is not in harmony with the Nicaraguan constitution, Mr. Denny assures us that the decree must necessarily be unimpeachable in character, because —very likely to make Nicaraguan democracy as much as possible the expression of huge masses of the Nicaraguan people—‘“needless to say, the decree previously had been submitted to the state department and approved.” The irreproachable Mr. Denny, end with him the New York Times, operate on the theory that the United States is the biggest and fairest democracy in the world, and if such a democracy engages on its payroll a puppet president and that president issues a decree, which was submitted to and approved by the United States state department and which gives dictatorial power to a general of the United States, then certainly that procedure is the most democratic method to establish “free and fair” elections, to get the most untainted, uninfluenced expression of the true will of the Nicaraguan people, Unwelcome Blessing. But even the decree making Gen- eral McCoy the dictator of Nicara- gua was not sufficient to establish “democracy” in that unhappy coun- try. It is hard to believe how dif- ficult it is to establish genuine “democracy” in these die-hard Lat- in-American countries. It is im- possible to imagine how many dif- New Spring {gospel of American democracy in foreign countries, these generals + |and officers and marines, have to|imperialism for the % overcome in convincing the hard-|Pvesidency have already made an- {headed Latin Americans to accept |the blessings of popular rule. Mr. |Denny complains in the following way: “But even then the opponents of supervision were not done. There existed one joker in the supervision measure. The Amer- ican officials saw this weak spot from the first, but knew no way to remove it. That was the pro- vision that if no candidate re- ceived a majority of all the yotes cast the president would be occ by congress. Since congress would ‘be strongly conservative, and would act impartially only by a miracle, such an eventuality would haye defeated our whole program of supervision.” | Representatives of United States \imperialism are always upholding \the “constitution.” The Nicaraguan |constitution states that if no can- |didate receives a majority of all votes cast, the president shall be elected by congress. The majority of congress is conservative, and only a “miracle” would force these con- ‘\servatives to elect anybody but a conservative. But everybody knows |that United States generals and of- |ficers are enlightened, progressive |people, and certainly they don’t be- lieve in miracles. It was clear that something had to be done, some- thing very effective and something very quickly, especially since a very dangerous situation was develop- ing. Go “Democracy” One Better. These Nicaraguans have no tra- dition for “democracy” and have not the faintest idea how té conduct a “free and fair” election. There- fore, they began to organize polit- ical parties, and. what is more, all these political parties had the am- bition to participate in the presi- dential elections. Of course, such nonsense could not be tolerated, be- cause if there are’ more than two political parties participating in the elections, then there is a possibility’ that none of them will receive the majority of the votes cast and the whole election will be thrown into congress. Everyone must admit that that was a very hard “joker,” but, of course, General McCoy and his officers, who had gone through the school of genuine American “democracy,” found some way out of the tight situation. They found the simplest, most democratic, most straightforward, genuine American way of handling the situation. They simply eliminated, exterminated, suppressed all political parties but the official conservative and liberal parties, which are already old-timers in the pay of United States imper- islism. Organize the Unorganized. Nicaraguans are very irregular and disorderly people. Every 100 per cent jingo American knows that. They tried to organize not less than four additional parties with the sin- ister purpose of complicating mat- ters for the American general and his officefs and participating in the presidential elections. There was first a split in the conservative party. Both factions held their con- ventions and named their candidates for president. Then, “to add to the confusion”—as Mr. Denny relates— “Dr, Luis Corea .. . revived the so- called liberal-republican party.” But not only that. Some of these Nicara- guans went so far as to organize an anti-American party, which showed clearly that they had not grasped the most elementary rules of de- cency, Mr. Denny reports: _ “A frankly anti-American | party, called the nationalist party, =" = = was set in motion by Toribio Ti- jerino . . . a supporter of San- dino.” But genuine “democracy” tri- umphed over all these sinister in- trigues. The United States general began a counter-offensive against jthe vile offensive of all these polit- \ical parties, and carried the day. Mr. Harold Norman Denny, as war |correspondent of this magnificent |battle to establish democracy, shows jus how General McCoy crushed the enemy’s columns one after the other: “The National Election Board, headed by General McCoy, ruled out all parties except the liberal and conservative.” “It barred Corea from the ballot | on the ground that in 1926 the liberal-republicans had lost their title as a holdover party.” “The other so-called parties were dropped from consideration, according to word from Managua, when they failed to present their claims inwesponse to General Mc- Coy’s invitation.” “The conservatives also were dealt with decisively. General McCoy refused to recognize either the Cuadra Pasos or the Chamorro candidates and called on the fac- H tions to get together.” | As a result of simplified democ- tacy there remained only wto can- |didates in the field, the “liheral,” |Moneado, a bourgeois college ,pro- |fessor, and the conservative, Adolfo Benard, “a wealthy sugar manufac- turer and representative of the ancient conservative aristocracy.” Now Take Your Choice. On November 4 the Nicaraguan people, the peasants and workers of | Nicaragua, have the right to choose |hetween the bourgeois college pro- fessor and the wealthy sugar manu- facturer. And we can assure every |hody that there will be no election |fraud. Everyone can deposit his vote “freely,” and certainly we can | believe it, when Mr. Kellogg and his |state department assures us that |the umited states government does |not care whether the bourgeois pro- |fessor or the wealthy sugar manu- facturer will be elected. Why should it care? It knows they both are in |the pay of United States imperial- lism, i Both candidates of United States Nicaraguan nouncements demanding “the con- |tinuation of American military con- |trol in Nicaragua.” Moncada, the | “liberal” candidate, addressed a let- ter to Benard, the conservative can- didate, suggesting that American military supervision should be main- tained not only on November 4 but in the coming 1932 election, and Mr. Benard, the wealthy sugar man- ufacturer,* replied that “I welcome with enthusiasm your laudable idea to maintain at other constitutional times free suffrage under the ‘friendly mediation of the govern- ment of the United States.” At the same time he proposed a United States high commission to control all revenues of Nicaragua and solve the financial problems of the coun- try, and to make it complete, he made a third proposal also. He re- quested the United States govern- ment to “sustain the National Guard in its non-political form which it has been given by the government of the United States.” The National Guard is @fficered by United States }marines and is an instrument of United States imperialism. Prepares Permanent Rule. The working class of the United States must take note of these new developments in Nicaragua. The beast of prey of United States im- perialism is crouching for a new, spring, for the permanent military’ occupation of Nicaragua. The No- yember 4 Nicaraguan elections under the military dictatorship of United States imperialism must be answered in the November 6 elec- tions in the United States. The working class of America must give a clear, unambiguous answer to the brazen attempt to establish a mili- tary dictatorship in Nicaragua. No- vember 4 in Nicaragua and Novem- her 6 in the United States are but two sides of the same issue. The American working class must under- stand that it cannot defeat the mas- ter class of the United States, if it does not help to liberate the Nica- raguan people and the peoples of all other American colonies and semi- colonies from the oppression’ of United States imperialism. A heavy Communist vote on No- vember 6 will be a demonstration against United States imperialist rule in Nicaragua. The Communist vote must be a protest against the infamous war waged on the Nicaraguan people. Demand Withdrawal of Troops. The Communist vote must express the demand for’the immediate with- drawal of all United States troops from Nicaragua. The Communist vote is the expres- sion of the struggle of the working class in the United States for the complete and immediate liberation of Latin-American peoples from United States domination. The workers of the United States must rally around tke vlatform of | the Communist Party, which says: “Not a man, not a gun, not a cent for the imperialist army and navy! “Down with the imperialist war against Nicaragua! Defeat Wall Street’s war in Nicaragua! Ma- rines sent to Nicaragua must re- fuse to fight against the National Liberation Army. American ma- rines in Nicaragua and China, go over to the side of the Nicaraguan and Chinese revolutions! “Immediate withdrawal of all American troops from Latin Amer- ica and from the colonies of the Pacific. Immediate withdrawal of United States warships and ma-. rines from China. ag “Complete and immediate organ for all American |