The Daily Worker Newspaper, February 16, 1929, Page 6

Page Six DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 1929 Baily =Zi< Worker Central Organ of the Workers (Communist) Party SUBSCRIPTION RATES: By Mail (in New York only): $8.00 a year $4.50 six months 0 three months By Mail (outside of New York): $6.00 a year six months $2.00 three months checks to 26-28 Union N.Y. Cable: “DAIW and mail all Worker, New York, Address The Da Square, ROBERT MINOR . WM. F. Imperialist “Peace” Movements What do capitalist politicians of an imperialist country mean when they say: “Conditions of domestic violence or of international conflict exist or are threatened.” — ? Doesn’t this sound like a quotation, word for word, from a typical description of the Soviet Union by some Russian emigree monarchist, or by some Woodrow Wilson or Coolidge or Kellogg, or by some social democrat, foreign or domestic? Haven’t we heard precisely such a description of the situa- tion in Mexico when, during the past years, United States capitalists have thought the time ripe for military attacks upon that country? And isn’t it an exact repetition of the customary imperialist explanation for the murder of Nicara- guans and of Chinese workers and peasants by U. S. marines? If we hear Nicholas Murray Butler say: “The hand of every pledge-keeping nation must be raised against that nation which breaks its pledges” . -- what nation do we immediately think of as being described by this arch-imperialist college pre ident and politician as ° “that nation which breaks its pledges” ? Of course it is not possible to hear an American im- perialist speak this way without knowing that this is the language of that propaganda which has become so familiar in the advocacy of war against the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics and against any and every nation of Latin-America as well as against the Chinese workers’ and peasants’ revo- lution, and other oppressed peoples. The two bills now before Congress, one introduced in the senate by Senator Capper, the other introduced in the house by Representative Porter, lay the legal basis for the United States armed forces to be- gin, on the decision of the president, to throw an iron ring of blockade around whatever nation might incur the displeasure of the United States finance-capitalists. The Capper and Porter plans, together with Morgan's participation and Young’s chieftainship of the reparation ex- perts and the adoption of the cruiser bill, are the latest evi- dence of the extension of United States imperialist war preparations—signals of the growing war danger as a re- sult of the aggressive imperialist policies which will be pursued with increased vigor by the Hoover administration. These measures continue the course of the Kellogg pact as ostensible pacifist moves, but as real integral parts of the war maneuvers of United States imperialism. The Capper plan proposes an agreement among the sig- natory powers of the Kellogg pact, to lay an embargo on munitions of war (and in practice all supplies, including food) against any state that might be adjudged by the imperialists to have violated the pact. The power to put into force the boycott would rest in the hands of the president. The Porter resolution goes even further to put into the hands of the im- perialist president of the Wall Street government the au- thority to declare unlawful the export of munitions (or sup- plies) to “any country where conditions of domestic violence or of international conflict exist or are threatened.” called “anti-war” proposals, would | | PEACE? By Fred Ellis Conditions The first article of this series by! Albert Weisbord, representative of the Trade Union Educational League to the Mexican Unity Con- ference of Workers and Peasants, U. S. Imperialism Dominates All Capitalist Groups; the Communists Fight in Mexico lof the faces. economic crisis which it The Bloc Shattered. Today there is no bourgeois |petty-bourgeois group | that does not cater to American im: or was published in the Daily Worker yesterday. It dealt with the condi- tions of Mexican workers in the United States. The second article follows: can ruling clique sees the oil and! mine fields closing down in Mexico) and opening up in Venezuela and Co- lombia, and knows that these new) fields are enough to supply the) world for the present and that the boycott can be continued for a long} time. a eA By ALBERT WEISBORD. If the conditions of the masses in \perialism. On this question there is unanimity. In fact the present com- plicated political situation is due precisely to this unanimity For with the desertion of the battle- fronts against American’ imperial- ists, the block of various classes which had been formed to fight im- perialism is now completely shatter- As American imperialism rules, the Mexican government becomes | more reactionary. Above all Amer-| ican imperialism must have stabili-| zation. By its demonstrations in the past against the U. S., Mexico has been the anti-U. S.. leader of all! Latin America. It is the largest in Mexico} Texas and the mid-south are bad, the conditions in Mexico are much worse. If Texas resembles Europe then Mexico shows the oppression that capitalism brings to the colonial peo- ples. However, before going into this it is well to have clearly before us the economic, political and social | situation existing in Mexico today. Just as internationally we are in a new phase, the third phase of post-war capitalism, so we are in a new phase in the relationship be- s ‘country (next to Brazil). It is The Mexican government can not/ nearest to U. S. It has been the take away the concessions from the) traditional enemy of the U. S. since American and other capitalists. Nor| its foundation. It has fought again: : are there many more concessions to/ the U. §, These ar2 but some of grant and if there were, could not|the facts that have mac? Mexico be granted to other powers. The Iooked up to as the natural leader Mexican government must see asitu- | in the fight of the Latin-American ation, where having given away the i £3 it jal. lresources to be used, they are de- pecvles against American imperial liberately not being used so as to starve the government into submis- Makes Caribbean “Secure.” sion. ? This tradition must be definitely jed. Each section of the ruling class | now tries to vie with each other to | prove that it and it alone can stabi- lize the government, can control the masses, can dominate the situation and turn over the “goods” to Amer- ican imperialism. Each group cur- ries favor and the assassination of | Obregon and the coming elections thas greatly sharpened the antago- |nisms between them. The thesis of the Mexican Commu- nist Party reads as follows: Copyright, 1989, by Internation Publishers Co., Inc. OOD’S BOOK In previous chapters Haywood told of his boyhood years in Utah; of years as miner and cowboy in Nevada and Idaho; his rise to exec- BILL HAYW | All rights reserved. Republica- | tion forbidden except by permission. | utive office in the Western Federation of Miners; its battles in Den- | ver; Telluride; he is now telling of the strike at Colorado City. Now | go on reading. | * 8 8 | Speaking at a Strike; the 1903 Convention 0 | the W. F. M.; Trouble Begins at | Idaho Springs, Colorado By WILLIAM D. HAYWOOD. PART XXXVUI. | .RIVE DAYS after the strike was declared the miners of the distric had a picnic at Pinnacle Park. John C. Sullivan, president of th Colorado State Federation of Labor, formerly # Cripple Creek miner was one of the speakers. Moyer, Copley, Davis and others spoke There was plenty of enthusiasm and determination among the miners and their families who had gath- ered in the park. When I was called on, I bantered a little with the Mine Owners’ Association, the Citi- zens’ Alliance, and the Pinkerton detectives, some of whom were present, and whom I charged with being responsible for the strike. I told the miners: | The mine owners have said they would finish the El Paso tunnel themselves. I know there are many of you here who will lend them your cast-off overalls! This raised a derisive laugh from men who knew what working underground was like. I went on: I deny the statement signed by the mine owners, wherein they as sert that the strike in this district was forced or compelled by th heads of the W.F.M. This strike is by members of the unions of thi district, It is a strike of the W.F.M. against the inhuman condition | of life imposed upon the men working in the mills, reducing the ore that you produce. Our brothers, the mill men of Colorado City, hav | used’ every possible method to induce MacNeil to come to an agree | ment, or even to live up to his promises made to the commission tha was sent to him by Governor Peabody... . I challenge the mine owners when they say that affairs in this dis trict have been all that has been asked for since 1894, This is con tradicted by the continuous and bitter discrimination against member of the W.F.M. by the El Paso, Strong, Ajax, Gold-King and som other mines. Such action does not tend toward harmony and goodwil The laws of Colorado gre good enough for a uni-n man, ‘but the are not good enough for the corporations of this state, or the corpora tins would not spend vast sums to corrupt every legislature that i eleced. . . « There are many minipg eamps throughout the West where ever man working in or about the mines is a waion man. Why cannot th same conditions prevail bere? The Western Federation of Miners was born of the oppression o the mine owners, but it has grown under that oppressiop. This 01 ganization. is your life, your only security, and in this fight we mus stand with it to the end. * * tween American capitalism and Mex- Definitely Broken. | ico, Hitherto in Mexico there was! 2 M6 | lamong the big capitalist powers al The result of this policy is that the |great scramble for the huge ye-| Mexican ruling class has been defi-| broken. This is part of the prepara-| tions for the next wer that America is making and goes hand in hand “8. The fight between the differ-| ent bourgeois factions is presented in the following manner: Militarist Meeks the picnic I had a chance to speak to the secretaries of th different unions. I urged them to send me photographs and de scriptions of any “weak sisters” that broke ranks. I had an idea for The Capper and Porter proposals are further hypocritical pacifist sanctions for systematic and permanent interference i in and new domination of Latin-America by United States im- perialism. These measures aim to make United States im- perialism arbitrator and thus to insure its being the dominant world imperialist force. These proposals indicate the in- creasing executive power of the American capitalist govern- ment, which increase of executive power is in itself an im- portant and organic part of the war preparations of the United States. These proposals are clear manifestations of the increasing degree to which American imperialism is being ‘involved in the complications of Latin-America, Asia, ang Europe, and of its being, therefore, ever more subject to the difficulties and contradictions of world capitalism. These proposals would be only additional weapons in the bands of the United States government to make it a more efficient imperialist machine to crush revolutionary move- ments in the colonies, to wipe out resistance to United States imperialists, especially in Latin-America where there is noticeable a growing resistance to Yankee imperialist dom- ination. These proposals would only extend the revolution- crushing role of United States imperialism from Latin- America to the rest of the world. Under these acts, the United States will be able more effectively to serve as the guiding center of all imperialist efforts to crush the Soviet Union. The overwhelming endorsement given such proposals by the United States Chamber of Commerce in its previous referendum sheds only further light on the anti-working class°character, on the imperialist objectives of these bills. The illusory, the pacifist pretensions of these measures and their source of great danger to the American workers, the colonial masses and the Soviet Union, must be hammered into the heads of the workers. Of course the A. F. of L. and the socialist party bureau- eracy render their “heroic” services to the imperialists in support of such measures. F The Capper and Porter bills are the most menacing war measures. Their proposal is bound up with the adoption of the cruiser bill, with the increasing efforts of American im- périalism to drive out British imperialism from the Euro- pean continental market, with the clash of Anglo-American imperialist interests in Latin-America, particularly with the significance of the role of Morgan and. Young in the repara- tions and debt questions. They are symbolic of the world ‘strike-breaking and counter-revolutionary role of the ag- gressive policies of United States imperialism, as the citadel ‘of world imperialist reaction, as the most powerful enemy of the Soviet Union. Workers! Fight against the coming imperialist war! Support the revolts of enslaved peoples against U. S. im- perialism! Defend the Soviet Union! Do not be blinded by the “anti-war” fakes of the imperialist war makers and their * pacifist flunkeys! The imperialist war must be transformed into civil war for the liberation of imperialism’s slaves. The merican working class must work for the defeat of their ” imperialist governmént in the war that is coming. | changed. \dominates all the capitalist groups.) as \is tantamount to a boycott has been| government rich or poor, and so has sources of Mexico. The Mexican rul-|"itely broken. It is now desperate- ing classes could play off one set of|ly trying to win the favor of the exploiters against the other, and Pmpeciat Powers, above:all Amer could take a more “independent po-|°2” imperialism. It has deprived sition”, if necessary “threatening” | the masses of any of the benefits with “mass movements,” etc. Simi- of the last revolution, particularly larly that group of capitalists not | Where it affected American conces- favored by the government would|Sions. It has retreated from Arti- set up ite own clique which would|‘l¢ 27 of the Constitution. It has also “play” with the masses in or- greeted Morrow with fervor and has der to put as much pressure on the established a new policy of “friend- government as possible to “bring it Ship” with the American govern- EY aanont? ment. All this, to show “American Naha capitalists that Mexico is no longer A Radical Change. | “red,” that the Mexican government But today all this has radically will be “good,” and submissive to Today U. S. imperialism | American imperialism, just as good Venezuela or Colombia, and The other groups now place them-| please won’t American capitalists selves, in a sense, under the protec-| open the oil and minefields so that tion of the U. S. group and form|the Mexican government can get its one united front in dealing with the| royalties, its rake-off, its part of the Mexican government and the mass- plunder from the terrible exploita- es. In order to put pressure on the tion of the masses.. The fact is government the oil wells and mines| American imperialism has it in its have practically closed down. What/entire power to make the Mexican established on Mexico. This can all|the Mexican bourgeoisie and petty the more readily be done as— | bourgeoisie in its grip. 1. Oil production in U. S. exceeds | the demand. | 2. Huge fields an¢’ mines have} been opened up in Colombia and! Venezuela. | 3. The resources had originally been seized by the U. S., for exam-| ple, partly to be used but also partly | to prevent rivals from acquiring them and this latter aim had al- ready been accomplished. Simultaneously the Mexican gov- ernment found itself embarrassed on other fronts. More American capital was poured into Mexico than ever, so that more and more the econom- je life of the nation was gripped by American investors, The inva- sion of Nicaragua meant increased American pressure from without.| Present poverty. Increased pressure on the Mexicans) About 500 peasants on the Dina- in the U. S. and the new immigra-|lupihan estate in the province of tion regulations threw still more bur- Bataan, owned by the Roman Cath- dens on the Mexican government.| lic Archbishop of Manila, have And finally, there were the feudal | been evicted from the lands they reactionaries supported by the cath-| toil upon. This is the same estate olic church, who were arming for|on which, on January 11 and 12, fight and costing the government four peasants were beaten and tor- dearly. tured by the Philippine constabu- This boycott and united pressure lary. has completely driven the Mexic 1 government and native ruling class from its “independent” position. It is no more a case like that of “buy- ers” competing with each other for the goods of the “seller,” but now just the reverse, “sellers” (cliques By JACINTO G. MANAHAN. (President, Philippine Confedera- tion of Peasants.) MANILA, (By Mail).—The Fili- pino peasantry.have always lived the most miserable lives. Now un- der American rule the following facts speak for themselves as to the terrible insecurity of even their To Evict 3,000 More. There are also about 3,000 peas- ants on the San Pedro Tunasan es- tate in the province of Laguna, owned by the Jesuit Fathers, to be evicted from their lands and the houses which they have built. Some 4, selves for the “buys” The Bex cases are still pending in the Court off First Instance and in the Philip- [pine Supreme Court __ in Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, etc.) are competing among them- acta ee Evict Filipino Peasants by Thousands from Homes with the slaughter of workers Cuba, in Colombia, in Nicaragua (Bolivia and Paraguay) and _ else- where. This is how the Caribbean will be made “secure” for Americ1n imperialism. groups, new great land owners, and elements of the small bourgeoisie and laborites, having for candidate Valenzuela; group of the official bu- reaucrats backing Ing Ortz Rubio, (group by the acting president and by the military forces on his side was an industrial group, American in- vestors, and the group of Calles); Laborites, a group of military chiefs and small bourgeoisie support Sa- enz, another group of the small bourgeoisie and all reactionary ele- ments are backing the anti-reelection candidates Vasconcelos and Villa- real who maneuver in order to gain the help of the catholics. None of these groups have substantial dif- ferences one with the other. All of them are willing to reach a com- promise with imperialism. And the government is doing ev- erything it can to break the revolu-| tionary tradition in Mexico, to prove Mexico will be “good” and stable. Fascism is rearing its ugly head. The murder of Mella in Mexico is but the last example. A new series cf measures is being applied to work- ers and agrarian organizations. A new fascist labor code is being work- ed out which is calculated to trans- form the workers into company | unions that will be part of the state apparatus. In the countryside arm- ed guerillas are being controlled by the chiefs of military operations in each district. The recent verdicts of the Supreme Court on agrarian, oil and labor questions are new indi- cations of the growth of reaction. This nascent fascism is all to enable the Mexican government to induce American imperialists to get it out zure of power is the problem’ of strength, and is being rooted in the country by military forces, the dif- ferent groups instead of working for electoral propaganda, are preparing for an armed fight. This fight will impoverish still more the masses.” Can U. S. Control? But while these groups are pre- paring for armed struggle we must ask ourselves what are the wishes of the master, American imperial- ism, in this case, and can Ameri- can imperialism control the situa- tion? It is plain that American imperialism is strongly against arm- ed struggle. No more “playing” with masses. Stability. This means: a) disarmament of ma: 3 b) strong central authority; c) elimination of generals as decisive power; d) fas- cism. The cases of nearly 1,0:0 peas- ants, also for their ejection, on the Jalajala estate in the province of Rizal, owned by the Borja family, are still pending in the Supreme Court awaiting a decision. The ma- ority of these peasants are mem- bers of the Philippine Confedera- tion of Peasants. The fundamental question here is how strong is American imperial- ism? Can it control the situation? Mexico is in a transition situation. From decentralization (then favor- ed by American imperialism) it is moving to centralization (now fa- yored by American imperialism.) The question is, has American im- perialism, already, in this present election, been able to stabilize the situation? We turn now to the most important factor of all in this con- nection, the position of the masses, the revolutionary movements they have created. ee he. The third article, to be printed to- morrow, will give a statistical sur- vey of the Mexican proletariat, their racial, industrial and agrarian divi- Also the Filipino. workers have their troubles. In December the cigar and cigarette-makers, under the auspices of the Philippine La- bor Congress, planned. a public demonstration, which was stopped by the Provincial Commander of the Philippine Constabulary and the Provincial Governor of Rizal. Vigorous Protest. The demonstration was a vigor- ous protest against the imprison- ment of Comrade Cortez, a leader of the Cigarmakers’ Union. The public demonstration was stopped or suspended by the government authorities for the simple reason jae re sions, and economic conditions, and the situation of the Mexican labor that the workers prepared some red pe syed onan “9, Since the problem of the sei-| circular that I thought would stiffen them up for the fight. We had passed through one convulsion of martial law, in the eighi hour struggle. Out of it had come a partial victory for the worker at Colorado City. The 1908 convention was in wianimous accord 2 to the progress made. The year’s work was reviewed, the book were audited, plans were made to strengthen the organization, whic had grown from 12,500 members, at the time I was elected secretary treasurer, to more than double that number in 1903, We had accumt | Jated some funds. The delegates seemed confident that the membei ship would respond to any assessments that might be required. The struggle that we had tried so hard to avoid, but for whic we had made some small provision, had begun. - the latter part of July a compressor on the Sun-and-Moon min at Idaho Springs had been blewn up. The destruction had bee charged at once to the Western Federation of Miners. A few night later the homes of eighteen miners were invaded by the sheriff an his deputies. The men were taken to jail in spite of the tears an pleadings of their families. They were not formally arrestéd, as th | sheriff had no warrants. He did not even make a charge against an of them, but the next morning he turned them over to a mob of th Citizens’ Protective League, by whom they were roughly treated an escorted out of the town. * This was during the armistice before the second strike in Crippl Creek, and while the Denver smelter men’s strike was absorbing som of our attention, A committee of the men from Idaho Springs cam directly to headquarters at Denver, while the others followed the gan that had run them out, back to Idaho Springs. I talked over thi affair at length with the committee and got John Murphy’s advice ove the telephone. We decided that the best thing to do would be to appe: to the governor. The committee started off to the capitol building an Murphy came over to the office to see me. He said when he car in that he didn’t expect any favorable results from the. visit to th governor, and that in his opinion we should immediately apply to Judg Owers of Clear Creek county, who had his offices in Denver, for a injunction against the members of the Citizens’ Protective League i Idaho Springs. It so happened that Governor Peabody told the committee that h could do nothing in the matter, that they should appeal to court. Thi we promptly proceeded to do. Judge Owers granted an injunction whic he made permanent. When criminal complaints were filed by the mir ers against the members of the Protective League, Judge Owers cite bankers, gamblers, pimps, preachers, and the rest of them to come int his court, and he, read them a lesson they had never heard before. * * * In the next instalment Haywood writes of the clash betwee Governor Peabody and Judge Owers, and reveals some interesting anc amusing history. Those readers of the Daily Worker who wola rather read Haywood’s wonderful story all at one time, may obtair the book free by sending in an ordinary yearly subscription to the Daily Worker. Renewals and extensions for one year also will bring you the book without extra charge. For a short period of time the Daily Worker is offerin free of charge a copy of Bill Haywood’s book with ever yearly subscription. This applies to renewals as well. ] you have already subscribed extend your sub. for anothe year. p . . § I