The Daily Worker Newspaper, January 14, 1929, Page 6

- Baily 345 Wage six lorker Central Organ of the Workers (Communist) Party Published SUBSCRIPTION RA’ By } in New York only): r $4.50 six months hi 0 three mont: By Mail (outside of New York): a 3. months $2.00 three months : Address and mail all checks to BNO The Daily Worker, 26-28 Union WM. F. DUNNE Square : . ¥. The “Hoover Era” Is Baptized In Blood. The bloody page of history of all Latin-American coun- tries is open for the “Hoover Era!” Julio Mella, beloved Communist leader of the Cuban workers and of the class-conscious workers of Mexico, is shot in the back in the streets of Mexico by an agent of the United States imperialist government. An agent of Machado, president of Cuba—you might But Machado himself is nothing but the hired flunkey of United States imperialism, the Cuban government under his presidency is but a corps of clerks for the imperialist government at Washington which rules and bleeds the Cuban people through Machado and a swarm of police thugs under him. : The most unvarnished methods of direct violence against the working class and the plantation slaves of United States investors and native landed aristocrats.are the methods Machado applies under orders from his masters at Washing- ton. A few months ago, when the so-called “Pan-American Conference” was staged in Havana by United States im- perialism to facilitate the roping of the whole of the Latin- American peoples into the corral as subjects of Wall Street rule, Machado’s government. ruthlessly imprisoned hundreds of the best of the working class to prevent the slightest word of objection to the surrender of the national independence of Latin-American republics. Representatives of anti-im- perialist views from other Latin-American republics were forcibly prevented from landing on Cuban soil during the conference. Hoover's recent tour in the style of “Emperor” through Latin-America as through conquered provinces, was intended by the Yankee imperialists as a dramatization of the ‘new relations“ of master and slave between Wall Street govern- ment and the peoples whom it now claims as subjects. And none but a mind paralyzed with imperialist patriotism or slave psychology can imagine that this program of im- perialism can be attempted without resulting in the release of violent social eruptions from the Latin-American masses. Necessarily the front line of resistance will and does come from the revolutionary working class and its Party—the Communist Party. Wall Street imperialism knows whom it has to fight first of all, in the effort to conquer Latin- America! The Communist Party! Wall Street’s murderers know against what leaders their assassins’ daggers and re- volvers must be turned if the leadership of the anti-imperialist struggle is to be weakened! And our Comrade, Julio Meila, was one of the foremost. It is inevitable that the brunt of this imperialist pro- gram of violence is put upon the Communists in each country. Three years ago, the whole world of labor was stirred to protest by the Cuban government’s imprisonment of our Com- rade Julio Mella. His release was forced solely by the activity of the masses of workers in his behalf and in behalf of the cause he represented. All Latin-America rang with the pro- test until he was released. His work was resumed, this time on Mexican soil. Comrade Mella’s qualities of leadership were tested and proven to the working class’ throughout Mexico, Central and South America. Now he is dead by the method which has become fixed as the historic method of capitalist reaction in this period— assassination. Murder has already become the classic method of im- perialist reaction for this period, both in Europe and every- where. But the murder of Comrade Mella nevertheless marks with dripping red blood a newly turned page in the history of Latin-American peoples. It is the period of Hoover. In this period will come the severest test of the fight- ing qualities and the political integrity of all elements of the Latin American countries that have classified themselves as opposed to Yankee imperialism. There will be desertion by the weak, wavering and shifting from side to side by the petty-bourgeois classes in the various republics of the south; but out of all changes due to the pressure of Yankee im- perialist corruption will emerge the hegemony of the work- ing class of. these countries in the leadership of the anti- imperialist struggle. a Simultaneously the savage pressure of the United States capitalists upon.the living standards and political rights of the working class in this country will bring its own conse- quences in sharp class struggles and awakening class con- sciousness, further progress of the movement for getting vid of the imperialist trade union bureaucrats, the building of class-conscious ‘unions. Each of these phenomena will bring closer the mass solidarity of the United States workers with the working class and the anti-imperialist cause of the Latin American republics. The fake “pan-Americanism” of Hoover, Coolidge Gompers and Green—which means the common slavery of all Latin America to the United States—will be torn asunder, to be displaced by. the solidarity of the working class in the United States with the Latin-American struggle against our common enemy—the imperialist United States government. The pain that strikes through the hearts of all class- scious workers at the news of the brutal murder of our omrade, Julio Mella, is softened by the knowledge that he d not die in vain. The “Hoover Era” already places the brand of “mur- rer” four times anew upon the face of Wall Street Imperial- once for the crimes in Nicaragua, again for the shoot- of Columbian workers enslaved by the United Fruit Co., hird for the Wall Street war between Bolivia and Paraguay, now the fourth time for the murder of our comrade ‘ “The blood of these workers will cement our cause in breakable solidarity. The “Hoover Era” will also be the era of Julio Mella, many proud achievements of the cause for which he DATLY WORKER, NEW YORK, MONDAY, JANUARY 14, 1929 “SPs. Atpmmerecee. WALL STREETS GUNMAN By Fred Ellis erman Social Democrat Crisis This concluding instalment con- | tinues the story of the complete surrender of the Germary Social Democratic Party to capitalism. The betrayal of 9,000,000 workers, the warship program, are but a small part of the serdid story of Complete Surrender On the Program of Government to Bourgeois Parties | Social Democratic treachery. | 3 Laster |ment from a Weimar coalition into . la grand coalition. ae In view of the fact that the popu- lar verdict given in the election was | decidedly anti-monarchist (the mon- archist nationalist party lost near- ly two million yotes and 30 seats, the fascists practically disappeared from the parliament) the Weimar|members of the government should coalition should be the constitution-|act not as representatives of their al government, if a coalition it must !Tespective parties, but as individ- be, But the republican scruples of | vals, pending the settlement of con- the social democratic leaders are| troversial questions as regards the not so exacting in their relation with | Composition and program of the the bourgeoisie, as they are when | coalition, The result of this ar- lreyolutionary situation has to be/?amgement was presently felt, par- met from the working class point of | ticularly in relation to the construe- | view. |tion of new battleships. The repre- Act as “Individual” Socialists. To free themselves from the re- sponsibility to the party, the social democratic ministers accepted the suggestion of Stresemann that the To save the capitalist state, the social democratic leaders not only betrayed the working class voters; they even violated their cherished goddess of republicanism. At the behest of the monarchist president of the republic, Hindenburg, the so- cial democratic leaders agreed to enter into coalition with the quasi- monarchist peoples’ party. Big Industry Dominant. The peoples’ party, in spite of its defeat at the polls, dominates the political -life of the country, not by virtue of its lingering homage to |the decayed and discredited mon- jarchy, but because it is the party of heavy industry. Through the policy of Gustav Stresemann, the leader of the peoples’ party, Germany has regained her position inside the con- stellation of imperialist states (the | League of Nations). Stresemann is |the father and promoter of the pol- jicy of “west orientation” in German |foreign relations, as against the |former tendency of a rapproche- |ment with the U. S. S. R. to resist jthe domination of Entente imperial- lism, In view of this record of his, in addition to the fact that his Party represents the heavy |closely connected with international trust and finance, Stresemann |should conduct the foreign policy of jany German government which | wanted to defend the present order jof things. And Stresemann would not enter.a government except to dominate it in the interests of heavy industry and international trust- |capital. So, the composition of the coalition was determined neither by \the social democratic chancellor, nor jeven by the outcome of the election. It was dictated by the big bour- |geoisie, through the monarchist president and the convenience of in- ternational finance. Complete Surrender on Program. Next, the social democratic mini ters surrendered themselves com- pletely to the bourgeoisie on the question of the program of the gov- ernment. Indeed, the social demo- cratic minister had little to say about it, unless they were prepared |to go out of the coalition, and travel the road of revolution. By their firm determination to shun that road themselves, and to mislead the working class away from it, the so- cial democratic leaders had tacitly agreed that the program of the coalition government should be the promotion of the interests of the new German imperialism. f Masters of the situation, Strese, mann and his party of heavy indus- try took the offensive. They re- fused to enter the coalition, unless the social democrats agreed to the subversion of the republican gov- ernment of Prussia. These gave in, agreeing in principle to the recon- vetion of the Prussian govern- industries | sentative of the bourgeois parties in the coalition, of course, persis- | tently defended the interests of their class; whereas on every controver- sial issue the social democratic min- isters availed themselves of the |freedom of responsibility to the | party to betray the class whom they pretended to represent in the gov- ernment, Betray 9,000,000 Workers. To cover up their surrender on essential questions concerning the policy of the government, the social democratic ministers desired to have |four points of minor importance ‘settled. They had to do something |about their election pledges. The |points they raised were about (1) |amnesty for political prisoners; (2) | Legislation making the day of the adoption of the Weimar constitution a national holiday; (3) Educational |reform; and (4) Construction of battleships. None of these are re- |motely connected with the burning economic demands of the working class, not to mention the realiza- tion of socialism. Nevertheless, |even these points were not conceded |by the bourgeois parties, Except |partial amnesty, no agreement could be reached on the other items. In deference to the sentifnents of the not negligible monarchist ele- {ments among its supporters, the | peoples’ party, and even the center | party, would not commit themselves as regards legislation about a repub- lican national holiday. Still, the so- cial democratic leaders did not hesi- tate to betray nine million working class voters for the bourgeois re- public! The catholic center party was opposed to educational reform freeing the schools from the |tion of the church, Cruiser-Building Crisis, But the first shock to the coali- tion, throwing the social democratic party in the throes of an unprece- | dented crisis, resulted from the con- troversy on the construction of new battleships. The previous govern- ment, in spite of the opposition of the social democrats, had decided to build four armored cruisers replac- ing the old ones left‘to Germany by the Versailles Treaty. On the insistence of the bourgeois | parties the settlement of the con- | troversy over the construction of the battleships, together with all the other controversial questions, major or minor, were postponed un- til the grand. coalition would be definitely constituted in the autumn after the republican government of Prussia had been adulterated with monarchist leven. So, the social democrats entered the coalition un- conditionally, on the terms dictated by the bourgeoisie, even by the mon- archists, a Permit Warship Building. Presently, the bourgeois minister of defense, a general of the old | domina- | | army, demanded the sanction of the! | government for the actual construc- |tion of the battleships, in spite o! |the fact that the settlement of this | | question had been postponed on the linsistence of the bourgeois parties. | |The minister of defense made his) |demand on the ground that the de-| | cision had been made by the pre-| vious parliament, and the financial | provision in the previous year’s | budget. The social democratic min- isters were placed in a very awk- | ward position. The previous par- | liament had decided to construct the battleships against their opposition. Then, to oppose the construction of new battleships was one of the main slogans in the election, , Besides, no- | body with the slightest regard for the interests of the German work- | ing class can approve of the expen- | diture of money for the construction | of new battleships, when the money | could be employed to reduce the | heavy tax upon wages. Neverthe- | less, the social democratic ministers agreed to the construction of the| cruisers, cynically violating their election pledges, the expressed anti- militarist sentiment of the working class and their own profession of disarmament and pacifism. , They could not do otherwise, unless they | were prepared to abandon the policy of coalition, and thereby cease to be social democrats. Their refusal | to agree should be followed by their | resignation, which would mean a re-| turn to the political crisis to solve | which the coalition was formed. Cynical Deceptioi. | The whole social democratic party | and the masses were enraged by| the action of the social democratic ministers. The demagogic talents of the leaders, the maneuvering ability.of the party bureaucrats and power of persuasion of all, had to be taxed to the extreme to prevent that the revolt of the masses went beyond-control. In opposition to the Communist demand for a referen- dum, the social democratic minis- ters declared their intention to ask the Reichstag to prohibit the con- struction of all battleships. By his maneuver they deceived the social democratic workers who were persuaded not to support the Communist demand for referendum. Their refusal to submit the ques- tion to a referendum’ revealed the hypocritie and demagogic nature of the dramatic move of the social’ democratic leaders bringing the fol- lowing motion before the Reichstag: “The Reichstag prohibits the con- struetion of all battleships.” It was a foregone conclusion that the mo- tion would be defeated inthe Reich- stag, as except the social democrats, Communists and perhaps a few democrats, all would vote against it. And precisely for this reason—the surety of its defeat—did the social democratic leaders table the motion. If they really meant to have the construction of battleships prohibit- ed constitutionally, they would have supported the Communist demand for referendum. The result of the election revealed that the roots of parliamentary de- mocracy were decayed. The com- Position of the new Reichstag was such as made the formation of a majority government impossible without violating the verdict of the electorate, In the election, the vot- ing had been clearly on class lines. In casting their votes by millions for the social democratic and Com- munist candidates, the working class, even a certain section of the petty bourgeoisie, had expressed their will’ to fight the policies of capitalist stabilization. They wanted a government which would protect and promote the interests of the working class. This‘ was a repudiation of the policy of coalition; for those wish- ing to defend working class inter- ests could not enter into coalition |with the advocates of capitalist ra-| serious | tionalization which had been realized | and was to be further carried on, at the expense of the working class. The lessons of the election were: first, the rejection of the policy of coalition by the working class, and second, the inapplicability of parlia- mentary democracy in a situation characterized by sharpening class struggle. Insurmountable Crisis After the election it became evi- dent that the capitalist state was far from being stabilized. On the con- trary, capitalist stabilization, effect- ed through rationalization, had fur- ther accentuated the class conflict —which contributed to the decay of the bourgeois democratic state. Judged by the composition. of the newly-elected Reichstag, the parli- amentary democratic state is no more stable than it was in the rey- oluntionary days of 1928. Indeed, it is less so, in spite of superficial ap- pearances. Today, without the social democrats, there cannot be a gov- ernment having a majority in the Reichstag. This political crisis would be in- surmountable within the limits of parliamentary democracy, should the social democrats act according to the will of their electors. The result of the election placed the social |demoeratic party before two alter- | natives, namely, (1) either to make parliamentary government impos- sible, thereby beginning the strug- gle for the revolutionary overthrow of the cipitalist state, or (2) to enter into coalition with the bourgeoisie to help the stabilization of the cap- italist state. Saviors of Capitalist State The social democratic leaders, ‘however, had their course previous- ly decided. They are hostile to rev-| olution, and, therefore, were only too eager to assume the respons- ibility of forming a coalition gov- ernment which would steer the ship of the capitalist republic out of the troubled waters of a political crisis fraught with revolutionary possi- bilities. What else could they do? The other course would be to join forces with the Communists in a determined opposition to the pos- sible conflict of bourgeois block with a very precarious majority, causing ‘a permanent parliamentary crisis. The inevitable result would be dissolution of the Reichstag and new elections before long. In the new election taking place under such circumstances, the so- ‘cial democrats and communists would be sure to be returned in still greater number. With a possible working class majority in the Rechs- tag, the social democratic leaders would have no more excuse for de- laying the enforcement of the So- cialist program. The illusions of parliamentary democracy, with which the social democratic theorists have misled and betrayed the mass- es for years, would, in that case, be rudely shaken, It would become clear that there is no gradual and peaceful way between bourgeois democracy and Socialism. The two are mutually exclusive. The bourgeoisie would be- [BILL HAYW Copyright, 1929, by Interna- tional Publishers Co., Inc. All rights reserved, Republication for- bidden except by permission. In previous parts Haywood wrote of his birthplace, Salt Lake City; boyhood among the Mormons; life! lat the tough mining camp at Ophir, | Utah; to work at nine years of age, la miner; his little schooling; bound out to a cruel farmer; his first strike; odd jobs at Salt Lake City; a Negro lynching; off to work, at 15, in @ Nevada mine; an Indian massacre as told by both sides; ac- quiring culture by candle light; the | Knights of Labor and the Great) Strike of 1886; Haywood. wants to| join a union, convinced by Pat Reynolds. Now go on reading.— EDITOR. * PART VIII. | Soon after this I made gny first) visit home since I had begun to work, in the mine, After a few! weeks I returned to Nevada, The next year was a year of financial crisis, and panics of this kind affect the miner as well as the workers in other industries. The Ohio mine was closed down, and I was left in charge. I lived alone at the camp with my dogs for| company, and did my own cooking. * Wm. D. Haywood OOD’S BOOK man in front of me with both leg to keep from turning on the rope. While at the Brooklyn mine, sent to Nevada for my sweetheart Nevada Jane Minor, We were mar 3 " . tied and went to live in Salt Lak By WILLIAM D. HAYWOOD | city, where our first child wa SYNOPSIS born, a boy who died at birth Shortly afterward we returned t Nevada, where I spent some tim doing assessment work for Tha Hoppin, and prospecting. I late went to work on the Hoppin ranch A cowboy’s life is not the joyous adventurous existence shown in th moving pictures, read about ii cheap novels, or to be seen i World’s Exhibitions. The cowboy’ work begins at daybreak. If he ij on the ranch he rolls out of bed slips on his pants, boots and hat and goes to the barn to feed hit saddle horses. It is his greates pride that he does not work on foot Coming back, he washes his fact and hands at the pump, and take his place at the long table; th Chinese cook brings in piles of beef. steaks, potatoes, hot cakes, anc “long butter,” as the flour-gravy i: called, because on a big cattl ranch where there are thousands 0} cows, ofttimes there will be not one milk cow, and no butter but whai |is hauled many miles from town t¢ the ranch. There are various kinds of work for the cowboy to do during the dif. ferent seasons on a cow ranch. The cattle are not pastured or herded, but run wild on the mountains ané sage-brush flats. They are roundeé up in the Spring and Fall, the round-up being called the “rodeo.” This and other words commonly used in the southwest come down Some time later I returned to} Utah and went to work in the | Brooklyn mine. My first job there was firing the boilers and running| the top car, taking away the waste | and ore that were sent to the sur-| face. The Brooklyn was an inclined shaft fourteen hundred feet deep, in | which there was a skip that was hauled up by the engine for which I was firing the boilers. For a while I worked in what was called the| Mormon stope; it had been given| |this name because several of the men employed there were from the | San Pete: valley, a strictly Mormon| | section. I worked in several differ-| ent places in this mine, which was} | producing lead. There were men) | going to and coming from the hos-| |pital all the time, suffering from |lead poisoning. This is one of the) vocational diseases with | which the workers have to contend, | but there was no provision made for |them, In that part of the country! the miners were sent to hospitals in Salt Lake City which they them- selves maintained. Every miner had one dollar a month taken out of his! wages by the company for hospital | services. Their transportation to and from the hospital the workers had to pay themselves. A crowd of lead miners presents a ghastly ap-| pearance, as their faces are ashen pale. There are many dangers to which a miner is exposed besides rheuma- tism, consumption, lead poisoning, |and other diseases. One of these is | the constant danger of falling rock when a mine is not kept closely tim- bered. I was working but a short distance from Louis Fontaine when he was killed by a slab of rock from the drill that he was holding. We got the body out of the stope on a timber truck, ran it to the station, and put all that was left of Louis in the skip. We rang three bells for the surface. Some of us laid off to go to the funeral. The men rode on the skip coming up to dinner at quitting time. Four could sit in the skip on either side, | two on the crossbar, and one on the | angle to which the steel cable was | fastened. One day I got on the cable behind the man on the angle and rode all the way to the top. It was one of the most hair-raising exper- iences of my life. The cable was whipping the timbers at the top and the rollers on which the skip ran up the steep incline. I was afraid every second that my hands would be caught as I held on to the ‘cable behind my head, and I gripped the a eet ticipated long ago such a sharpen- ing of the situation. And, in order. to hinder the development of the! class struggle to such a pitch, they formulated the policy of ‘coalition. Afraid of Revolution The counter-revolutionary _pur- pose of coalition was still more re- vealed in the process of its forma- tion. The theory that coalition gov- ernment can serve as the instru- ment for the realization of Social- ism makes one expect that the so- cial democrats, while entering them, would make conditions guarantee- ing the promotion of working class interests. But the social democrats entered the present coalition goy- ernment (as all of them do every- where) on the terms dictated by the bourgeois parties. The latest in- stance in Germany is the worst, for all the bourgeois parties had been heavily beaten at the polls. Fear of revolution, anxiety to save the cap- italist republic, obliged the social democratic leaders to forego their clectoral triumph, to betray the nine million voters, : Not Even Republicans The first stage of the negotiation for the formation of the coalition cabinet was concerned with its com- position. Should it be a Weimar co- alition or a grand coalition? The former is a cabinet based upon the gin the civil war. They would not have their property, power and privileges taken away by acts of parliament, As intelligent people, the social democratic theorists an- parties that unconditionally accept the republican constitution of Wei- mar. The latter includes the peop! |as soon as night fell. the roof that crushed his head on} to us from the days when this part of the country was a Spanish col- ony, and Spanish was the usual lan- guage. The foreman, who wa: called major-domo, of the biggest ranch in the neighborhood issued the call for the rodeo. Cowboys from all the ranches in a radius of a hundred miles or more came with their saddle horses, each bringing three or four. The bedding con- sisted of a couple of blankets and a bed-canvas. When traveling with the rodeo, the men rolled up their bedding and put it in the chuck wagon which also carried the cook- ing utensils and the grub, Starting from the home ranch the outfit would camp on the banks of a stream or near a spring or some- times would be compelled to make a dry camp, in which case they hauled along barrels of water for the emergency. After supper we stretched our beds on the ground, gambled and otherwise amused our- selves, telling stories of past exper- ience and singing lilting and rollick- ing songs. A horse-wrangler or two guarded the paratha, the herd*of saddle horses. We all went to sleep At the first break of day, the cook was up get- ting breakfast. The wranglers brought the horses. The cowboys went to the corral. Each roped his horse out of the band, saddled and bridled it and then went to the chuck wagon for breakfast. After eating we rolled cigarettes, mounted our horses and started for the mountains, some going up one canyon, some up another. We rodé to the highest summits. Turning, we drove before us all the cattle on that part of the range. The round- up took place in the valley below, where the cattle were brought to- gether. The cowboys formed a cir- cle around them, fifty or a hundred |cowboys spaced out around several hundred head of cattle. Two or four cowboys from the biggest ranch rode among the herd and drove out |the cows and young calves; they were able to recognize their own by the brands and earmarks on the cows. The task was then for the |cowboys from each ranch to brand |and earmark the calves that be- | longed to the ranch they were work- jing for. The parting out continued until all the cows and young calves were separated from the herd. The other cattle were started back to the mountains, Two or three small |fires were lit in the corral and the first bunch of cows was driven in; the other bunches were held to await their turn. We roped the calves by the hind legs and dragged them near the fire by taking a turn with the rope around the horns of our sad- dies. We cut the ears of the calves: with our own peculiar marks, crop, underbit, swallow-fork or other de- signs. The brand of the ranch was burnt into hip or shoulder, This proceeded until all the calves were branded and earmarked, the males* gelded, leaving one out of every’ twenty-five or fifty for breeding Purposes, selecting those which in the opinion of the cowboys ‘would make big, strong animals. Outside of the bawling and bellowing of the” calves and cows, there was silence; we had little to say while at work,’ 48 we were nearly choked with dust. * 2 2 In the next instalment Haywood writes more of his life as a cowboy how cowboys barbecue a steers in Nevada; an old time “round-up”; “bronco-busting”; “Lovely Jesus! . Can't he buck?”; sprees and shoot- ing scrapes of cow-punchers and miners; Henry Miller, big cattle- ranch owner; how he got wealthy; a story of “Arbuckle’s” coffee; Mil-* ler and Lux, land monopolists; Hay- wood moves to Fort McDermitt./ ly hun- er, unemployment, ‘tighter Roowe about thelr necks thanvever before.” From 4 by Lenin party, which has never adhered ful- ly to republican principles.