The Daily Worker Newspaper, December 27, 1928, Page 6

— - 2 Page Six fi eee Maman ee Mehr So oon DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 27, 1928 Dea ee aes 7 = oa = = = = Seen ann = — = Published by National Daily Ass’n., Inc., Daily, Except Su Union S« Worker Publishing at 26-28 sseeeees. Sacncisce es» -RMMOr ROBERT MINOR WM. F. DUNNE «.. Assistant Editor New Needle Trades Industrial Union Will Make History r ‘At the end of this week will occur in the trade union movement an event of nation- wide—even world-wide importance. The simultaneous conventions of the Cloak and Dressmakers and the Fur Workers Unions, called in New York City, will at the same time make their decision on the question on immediate amalgamation of these two great unions. But it is more than the amalgamation of two unions. It is the laying of the corner- stone of the new great industrial union of the Needle Trades. “The Cloak and Dressmakers Union and the Fur Workers Union, now entering the third year of a titanic struggle against the combined forces of their boss exploiters, their police oppressors and their A. F. of L. and socialist betrayers, now stand on the threshold of combining their power organ- izationally by laying a foundation which will, with correct policies, support the still greater structure of a mighty amalgamated needle trades industrial union of all workers in every branch. We know that even after amalgamation (and that amalgamation will be decided upon is quite certainty) the struggle to build the union until it controls the industry will be a gigantic one. We are convinced, however, that nothing can stop these determined fight- ers from doing just that. Our certainty is rock-founded by the fact that despite all the predictions of the ene- mies of the left wing, and the pessimistic and cynical forecasts of immediate destruc- tion made by certain cowardly “progres- sives,” who stood by in awestricken dismay at the array of forces against the needle trades unions—these left wing unions have not only refused to be destroyed, but have maintained themselves in the center and have gained adhering locals who will launch an amalga- mated organization this week. Another reason for our great confidence in the success of the new union is the unde- niable fact that the A. F. of L. craft union- ism and its helplessness before growing cap- italist trustification (even- in the hitherto Daily 325 We | fi Central Organ of the Workers (Communist) Party % TREY SUBSCRIPTION RATES: By Mail (in New York only): $4.50 six mos, $2.50 three mos, By Mail (outside of New York): $6 a year $3.50 six mos, $2.00 three mos, Address and mail all checks to The Daily Worker, 26-28 Union Square, New York, N. Y. $8 a year ards cannot be gotten through the traitorous Schlesingers, Matthew Wolls and McGradys. That is definite. For, will the “union” that is built by the bosses, their money and their police ever make unpleasant demands from their godfathers No! And those workers who do not know it as yet will know it soon; then they, too, will join for the fight to re- establish unionism in the industry. It is the duty of the militant workers who are active in this big event to cast aside the narrow traditions of the past which, if they are not discarded, can only cripple and de- stroy the thing which they are here to build. Pedantic craft-union prejudices have through-out the struggle been a handicap to the progress of the needle trades workers. Craft union ideology must and will be thrown aside in this present action, if success for the workers is to be attained, Nor is it possible for conscious and sin- cere workers to be content with an attitude bounded by national boundaries. The most urgent need—for successful struggle in this and all other countries—is to weave the un- breakable bond of solidarity between the workers of all countries of the ‘world. If the needle trades union delegates are to accom- plish their duty they must face with fearless, | class-conscious eyes, the question of interna- tional relations. On the one hand is interna- tional class loyalty crystallized in the Red International of Labor Unions; on the other hand is international manipulation of the la- bor unions by the bosses and the imperialist governments through the yellow organization of treachery, the Amsterdam International. The workers who assemble for this event in New York cannot evade the fact that they face a period of rapid preparation for im- perialist world war. Their actions cannot but be influenced by, and in turn exert an in- fluence upon, such a situation. These are not static times. One sixth of the world is in the possession of the working class, and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics—the so- cialist Fatherland of all class-conscious work- ers of all countries is a beacon light for all workers who have eyes to see. We are confident that the delegates as- sembled will have the courage and intelli- gence to serve the interests of the workers whom they represent. And if they have, they “impregnable” needle industry), has out- lived its time. And yet another reason is the knowledge that the needle trades workers have too in- spiring a tradition of struggle long total annihilation of union conditions in will make history—they will blaze a trail which many tens of thousands will follow. We have presented some of the reasons for the inevitable growth to control of the new national needle trades union. The merging of strength in the common fight will soon to endure -for their industry. And decent working stand- | prove this. Teaching Communism in Central Asia By ANNA LOUISE STRONG. TASHKENT, Uzbek, U. S. S. R., (FP).—I never saw a school in my life that gave me quite such an un- expected thrill as the one I discov- ered just by chance as I plodded my way through the dark filth of Old Town, the native city of Tashkent. Picture all about, Asia as she has been'for centuries: a couple of hun- dred thousand people set down in their native mud, no lights in the narrow street which runs between earthen walls. Suddenly the narrow alley of mud, lit only by stray candles carried by wiser passersby than we, widens and brightens a trifle as the glow from windsws touches it. A very anci m my interpreter, i wh'ch a school is established in some of the rooms. “Let's go in,” I suggest, and we wander into a class room, contain- ing about twenty-five boys of ag from thi-teen to sixt-on. Thy a sitting by twos and threes in the old-style long desks with benches, and facing a blackboard on which a boy of fifteen is giving a demonstra tion. But where is the teacher? I so no adult and proceed to ask. The boys explain that the teacher come: in the day time to give instruction for six hours. This group I have stumbled upon have gathered not for instruction but for “collective study,” which the class munages by itself without a teacher. I ask if they have no place at home to study and they answer that at home each must work alone and perhaps cannot understand his lesson, but here to- gether all can help, each other and someone is sure to understand. "They are, I learn, the fifth grade class of a regular Seven Grade or- dinary school of the city of Tash- kent. (Ed. note: The Uzbek nation ~ fs in the Soviet Union). To my query whether girls are also in their school and if so why none of them is alowed out at night, since I see only boys, I am told that of course there are girls in the school now, but none of them has reached fifth gra‘ since it is only three or four years since girls began to go to school at all. Hence none of the girls yet, faced the problem of night Byudy, | | |since classes below the fifth do not|atre goes travelling even the practise it. How they will solve this |darkest villages, in spite of all the in the future the boys do not know; \cursings of the mu!lahs, th: whole they understand as well as I do that population turns out to see it. Also it is still a terribly shocking thing there is a flocd «f new Bo a for girls to be abroad at night in erature, dramas, poems, Central Asia, when even grown some of the last ef which ha’ women are supposed to be in_the'translated intc Eussian and women’s quarters by sundown. German. I ask the boys what they expect| At the other extreme of the scale to be when they finish school. There from these primary schools may be is no general agreement, but the near-taken the Communist University est ones say “engineer” and “doctor.” |that I visited the same day. Here They tell me that “to build a new also the method is that of “self- Central Asia one needs most of all teaching.” Seventeen nationalities engineers and expert agriculturists, are taught here. . .For those who but since they are city boys they can read Russian fluently there is are not so interested in agriculture. no lecture system at all; the teacher Also doctors are much needed for meets the class, outlines the subject, 1 the new sanitation that must be |the varying points of view, gives learned.” lists of reading. Thereafter there is I go into the next room; here the |the “reading hour,” in which the seem a younger group, but are Pupils read the required reading in Fifth Grade. One small lad|the same room not over thirteen is demonstrating a going up to him with questions, prism and its properties; it is a| After ten days comes the “con- ometry lesson.: Another goes to sultation,” in which groups of five ¢ board to work out a problem in at a time meet the teacher for an cecimals which w third boy reads|hour each for general discussion. alaid to him. All rhe class write Following this the whole class, of down this problem together and not. more than twenty-five, meets work over it; comparing their re- with the teacher, and each group of sult with the one on the board. One five chooses a speaker, who gives a boy arises; he is just beginning deci- talk of twenty minutes on the sub- mals and doesn’t understand why you ject. Discusion follows, summed up add 4.8 and 5 by putting the 5 under after two or three days of this, by the 4 and not under the 8. Another a thirty minute talk from * the boy rises and explains. teacher. All this in perfect order, under) Lest these methods seem too re- the “starosta” or leader chosen by|markable for application in Central the cl self as chairman. And) Asia, let it be added that here are Run- serious evils noted also in the uni- I remark versity, and mentioned to me by the niling that if they work six hours| rector. Chief among these is “dog- day and three in the evening, they | matism.” How can you teach Com- are working longer than the eight-|munism which demands the whole hour day of the workers. They smile|of natural science plus the social to » been even boys I also i these are Fifth Grade boys! ning their own school! in return and one of them replies sciences, to people in whose langu-| that they do not do this every night| ages there in tue week, and besides, it is not for pay but for learning, Me dake, has not been published a single book on evolution. To peo- ple into whose minds the scientific SF as -Raskis te’ "te aM eae oe conepetion of life has never entered. saw also the new Uzbek Theatre,| Who belong to the same Central —the first dramas given in the Uz-|Asia in which a ruler once said, bek language. Mohammedanism pro-| when asked for vital statistics: sciibes theatres, acd dramas are ac-| «allah knows who is born, and Al- cursed, but as my interpreter re- 4 marked: “Curses have ceas.d tc|/#h knows when each dies; and how frigiten since the novies came,” He| Should man pry into the secrets of added that when the new Uzbek The-' Allah!” EE Tt iy Y HANDS The Struggle Against Imperialist War and the Tasks of the Communists (Note:—This is the fourth stallment of the thesis adopted by the Sixth World Congress of the Communist International at its re- cent sessions in Moscow, on “The Struggle Against Imperialist War and the Tasks of the Communists,” Publication wili be continued in the Daily Worker until completed —Ed- itor.) 0 cs eh: xe |2. The Struggle During Imperialist | War. 18. The political program of the ;Communists in an imperialist war is the program worked out and ap-| |plied by the Bolshevik Party under |the leadership of Lenin in its heroic struggle against the last imperialist |war. The main points of this pro- jgram may be summarized as fol- lows: (a) The rejection of imperialist | Strongly to combat all tendencies in the labor movement which openly, or covertly, justify this war. (b) Defeatism, i. e., to work for the defeat of the home imperialist government in this war. Revolutionary Defeatism. (c) Genuine internationalism, je, not “international” phrases ani |formal “agreements,” but revolu- tionary defeatist work to be carried |on by the proletariat in all the bel- |ligerent countries, for the overthrow of their home bourgeoisie, (d) To transform the war be- tween imperialist states into prole- tarian civil war against the bour- |zeoisie, for the purpose of estab- \lishing the dictatorship of the prole- |tariat and Socialism—this transfor- mation to be achieved by means of i; revolutionary mass action in the jrear, and fraternalization at the front. ‘ | (e) A “democratic” or “just” |peace cannot result from an imper- |ialist war without the overthrow of |the bourgeoisie and the seizure of | power by the proletariat in the most. |important beiligerent states. There- |fore, “peace” cannot be the central with the teacher, /slogan during imperialist war; the | |central slogan must be “proletarian |vevolution.” It is the bounden duty |of Communists strongly to combat lall peace phrasemongering; for at a-certain moment in the war this jean be utilized by the bourgeoisie as an extremely important ideolog- ical weapon to prevent the imper- ialist war from being transformed into civil war. United Front From Below. Communist must not confine themselves merely to conducting propaganda in favor of this pro- gram; they must rouse the masses of the workers to fight for it by applying the tacties of the united proletarian front from below. 19, “Transform the imperialist war into civil war” means primar- jily, revolutionary mass action. The |Communists resolutely repudiate all |so-called “means” of combating war that hamper the revolutionary mass action. Conse- quently, they repudiate individual actions that have no connection with revolutionary mass actions or that |fail to contribute to their develop- ment. Oppose “Against War” Slogan. Communists combat the propa- ganda in favor of the “against the war” prescriptions that are recom- mended by the petty bourgeois ele- ents in the labor movement. Pre- |sbriptions like “refusal to bear jarms,” “refusal to shoot,” etc., are, counter-measures to prevent it. in- | still circulated widely among the| They will call the strikers to the masses today, and many workers |colors, militarize the factories, etc. seriously believe in their efficacy.| Communists, therefore, cannot, in As a matter of fact, these prescrip-|war time, confine themselves to ab- tions are meaningless and harmful. |stract general strike propaganda. The Communists must tell the|As in peace time, they must carry | workers that the struggle against|on daily revolutionary work in the war is not a single and simultane-|factories and trade unions. They ous act, and that revolutionary |must champion the economic de- mass action on the part of the|mands of the workers and link up workers and poor peasants, in the | these demands with anti-war propa- rear and at the front, for the armed | ganda; organize revolutionary fac- “national defense” in this war. To enlighten the work: nts | jas to its reactionary eter, development of | overthrow of the bourgeoisie, is the | only proper means of eccmbating war, to which ali other means must | be directed. While combating the | above-mentioned prescriptions for | individual iaction, which can only \hinder mass action, the Communists |must at the same time rouse the | workers to display a spirit of revo- |lutionary heroism in the struggle against imperialist wars, | General Strike Agaiast War. 20. The Communists’ attitude to- ‘| wards the question of the general strike against war is determined by the same point of view, viz., the trans- formation of imperialist war into civil war. Already in 1907, Lenin, in opposing Herve, repudiated the | general strike slogan as a “panacea” . |to be applied regardless of the con- \erete situation and divorced from |the general class struggle of the |proletariat. In 1922, on the basis |of experiences in the world war, he {formulated his position still more |definitely. In his instructions to |the delegation to the Hague Peace | Congress, he said: | “Tt is impossible to ‘reply’ to war |with a general strike, just as it is |impossible to reply to war with | ‘revolution,’ in the simple and literal sense of the word.” This holds good to this day. But while Communists repudiate the slogan of “reply to war with a gen- eral strike,” and warn the workers against harboring such _ illusions, which can only injure the real struggle against war, they do not |by any nieans abandon the weapon |of the general strike in the struggle |against war, and sharply condemn any suggestion to do so as an op- | portunist deviation. | Side by side with other revolution- ary mass actions (demonstrations. | strikes in munition works, transport | strikes, ete.), the general strike—as the supreme form of the mass strike movement—is an extremely im- portant weapon, and as a transition to the armed uprising it constitutes a stage in the transformation of im- perialist war into civil war. This | transformation, however, does not |depend upon the will of the Party lalone. It presupposes the existence of a revolutionary situation, the capacity of the proletariat for mass action, ete. Part of Revolutionary Mass Action. | These conditions do not as a rule | prevail at the very beginning of the war; they develop in the course of the war. But even in war time the general strike does not come like a | bolt from heaven. It comes on the rising tide of revolutionary mass ac- tion (demonstrations, partial strikes, etc.) and as a result of the per- sistent preparation, which the Com- munists must make, and which may entail heavy sacrifices. Of course, a gen@:al strike in war time will lead to revolutionary re- sults much more rapidly than in peace time; but it is by no means easier to prepare for and organize it in war time than in peace time. On the contrary, in war time the bourgeoisie will take determined tory councils; capture the subordin- ate trade union organizations; elim- inate the social-patriotic elentents from these organizations, and, when they have been captured, elect new executives parallel with the reform- ist executives, and despite the will lof the latter, organize, lead and ex- |tend partial strikes, ete. The general strike must not be jan abstract watchword. It must be the aim and outcome of our general | practical activity. That being the case, the revolutionary proletariat |must be ready, in the event of a general strike, firmly to steer a }eourse toward transforming the strike into an armed rebellion, if conditions are propitious for that. Oppose “Boycott War” Slogan. 21. From the same standpoint of the transformation of imperialist war into civil war, the Communists take their stand with regard to the slogan of refusal of military service (boycott of war) advocated by cer- tain “radical” pacifists and left so- cial democrats. The Communists fight against this slogan for the following reasons: (a) The idea that imperialist war can be rendered impossible by a call for the refusal of military service, by calling upon those liable for military service to refuse to an- swer the call for mobilization is as illusory as the idea of “replying to war with a general strike.” ‘Propa- ganda in favor of this prescription merely serves to weaken the genu- ine revolutionary struggle against war. Work in Army Necessary. (a) Even if a “mass boycott” were at least partially successful, /the result would be that the most | determined and class-conscious work- ers would remain outside the army. Systematic revolutionary work in the army—one of the most vital ‘tasks in the struggle against war— |Would then be impossible. Lenin was absolutely right, there- |fore, when in 1922, on the basis of jexperience of the world war, he wrote: “ ‘Boycott the war’ is a stupid phrase. The Communists must participate in every reaction- ary war.” But Lenin’s instructions regard- ing the Communists’ attitude to- ward the boycott (the refusal of military service) as a means of com- bating war, does not mean that the Communists must urge the masses of workers to join the bourgeois armies. It means that the Commu- nists, while strongly combating the harmful and illusory boycott slogan, must agitate for revolutionary work and organization in the bourgeois army, for the arming of the prole- tariat. and for the transformation of imperialist war into civil war. Turn Weapons Agninst Bourgeoisie. Therefore, when the question of joining the bourgeois army or re- fusal of military service (boycott) is raised, the Communists must advise the workers and poor peasants to reject the refusal of the military service slogan, to avail themselves of the opportunity to learn the use of arms, to carry on revoiutionary | work in the army and, at the proper | moment, to turn their against the bourgeoisie. In the event of a big mass imove- | ment arising at the moment of the outbreak of war in favor of refus- ing military service, the Commu- nists must join that movement to give it a revolutionary character; they must put forward concrete de- |mands and slogans of action in the |direction of revolutionary mass ac- | tion against imperialist war and utilize the movement as much as | possible for the purpose of revolu- tionizing the masses. But even in uch an event, the Communists must combat the boycott ideology and the | pacifist boycott slogan, | They must speak out quite frankly |about the inadequacy of refusal. of | military service as a means of com- |bating war, and make it clear to weapons | of combating the imperialist war is to transform it into civil war. Strenuous propaganda must be con- |ducted urging the necessity for car- rying on revolutionary work in the bourgeois armies. Develop ‘il War. If the general situation is favor- able for it, Communists must utilize such mass movements for the for- mation of guerilla forces, and for the immediate development of civil war. This applies especially to countries where strong national revolutionary movements exist. In such countries the Communists, on the declaration of war—especially war against the Soviet Union—or in the course of the war, if the situa- tion is favorable, must issue the slo- gan of national-revolutionary rebel- lion against the imperialist and for the immediate formation of national- revolutionary guerilla forces. Oppose Voluntary Recruiting. 22. In countries where the sys- tem of compulsory military service does not exist, the government, at the beginning of the war, will launch a wide recruiting campaign for vol- unteers, and, if it deems it neces- sary, will introduce compulsory military service. In such countries, also, the Communist Parties must |set themselves the aim of trans- forming the imperialist war into civil war. But in pursuing this aim the Com- munists must also fight against the bourgeois recruiting campaign for volunteers and against the introduc- tion of compulsory military service. Under no circumstances, however, must they foster the illusion that the war can be prevented or stopped by refusing to join the army or by op- posing the introduction of compul- sory military service and that, there- fore, revolutionary work in the army is superfluous, It must. be made clear to the masses that the strug- gle sgainst conscription is only of secondary importance compared with the fight against the imperialist war itself. Revolutionary work in the army must be organized and openly advocated. Revolutionary Work at Front. 28. An extremely important point in the matter of transforming im- perialist’ war into. civil war is revo- lutionary work at the front. In this, the Communists must not confine themselves merely to propaganda, but must issue definite slogans of action’ corresponding to the concrete situation. (a) In connec with the econ- omic demands and complaints of the soldiers, collective refusal, or the masses that the only correct way | | traitorous | workers’ | Weihe, Nutt, and others, in going |over to the employers, saying: | rupted, lis largely based. Gompers Was A Protector of A.F.L. Grafters WILLIAM Z. FOSTER Continued Gompers always protected the grafters. He himself apparently did not take money from the employ- ers, nor did he accept their many offers of political positions. He got his reward for his treason to the workers by being maintained as president of the A. F. of L., where he basked in friendly publicity and lived as a wealthy man. All the worst labor fakers gave him their active support. For years it was axiomatic that the more of a labor faker the more of a Gompersite. “Skinny” Madden, Sam _ Parks, Simon O'Donnell, Frank Feeney, Robert Brindell, Matthew Woll, George L. Berry, et al, were Gomp- ers’ bosom friends and co-workers. On their like his rule was based. Whenever and wherever building trades fakers were exposed Gomp- ers never failed to defend them to the last. Likewise in other indus- tries. In the 1920 convention of the A. F. of L. Mahon, head of the Street Carmen’s Union, was accused correctly by the Detroit Federation of Labor of running an “open shop” sheet metal works in Detroit. Bui the charges were smothered and Mahon was whitewashed. Charac- teristically, Gompers, in his book, “Seventy Years of Life and Labor” (Vol. 1, p. 340) thus defends the conduct of the steel leaders Jarrett, Bishop, “It was not that they were cor- but they were weaned away; the organization paid them very meager salaries, less indeed than that of a first class man in the industry.” Is graft diminishing in the build- ing trades? This is a difficult ques- tion. Some factors appears to make against it in its old forms. The em- |ployers, becoming constantly more trustified, have less and less need lof the trade union leaders’ coopera- |tion for the maintenance of hard and fast local monopolies of labor and material which exclude outside competition. And it is upon such illegitimate cooperation that the ypical building trades graft system Moreover, the growing strength of the employers, and the breaking down of the skilled trades through specialization tend te weaken the position of the build- ing trades unions and to make it somewhat more difficult for the venal officials to carry on their traditional policy of wholesale plun- der, But, whether increasing or de- creasing, the building trades graft is practiced on a wide scale and it poisons and demoralizes the whole lnbor movement. Plundering the Workers. In preceding chapters it has Leen shown how the all-too-plentiful la- bor fakers accept Judas favors from the capitalists and their political henchmen in return for betraying the interests of the workers. But these misleaders of labor, who see in the labor movement merely a rich field to be exploited for their per- sonal advantage, do not content themselves even with such extensive forms of bribery and corruption. A very large part of their program is the direct plundering of the workers and their organizations. This plun- dering assumes innumerable forms, only the more important of which are herewith touched upon: A universal method of robbing ti workers is through extravagantly high salaries and expenses for union officials. These run from two to twenty times the common wage of the rank and file of the organiza- tions concerned. The bureaucrats, by virtue of their iron-clad contro] of the unions, continue to screw up their salaries and expense accounts until they develop the incomes ~* capitalists. The practice is prey. lent in all the unions, and its effect is a widespread demoralization. In many cases since our investigation was made, the salaries here quoted have been increased. To Be Continued “BECKY THATCHER” DIES. HANNIBAL, Mo., Dec. 26 (U.R),— “Becky Thatcher,” Tom Sawyer’s girl, is dead. Mrs. Laura Frazer, girlhood friend of Mark Twain, and original of his famous fiction ¢har- acter, “Becky” died here today at the age of 91, WORKER BURNED. MILWAUKEE, (By Mail).—Ar- thur Wile, a worker at the Brooks Machine Co., was seriously burned wher a machine on which he was | at work short-circuited. forms of soldiers and sailors’ strikes should be applied. (b) The most important slogan of action at the front is the slogan of fraternization. The purpose of fraternization is to unite the worker and peasant soldiers in the opposite lines of trenches against their offi- cers, Experience in the last world war has shown that mass fraterniza- tion inevitably leads to class differ- entiation in the armies and to armed conflicts between soldiers and offi- cers. The Communists in the army must organize fraternization and give it a clear political color, par- ticularly in regard to the question of peace and the organization of the revolutionary forces in the army, To Be Continued sabotage of service, and certain .