The Daily Worker Newspaper, February 22, 1929, Page 6

———— DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1929 Baily S22 Central Organ of the Workers (Communist) Party RIPTION R¢ New York only): $4.50 six months nonths of New York): six months nths Published by the National Daily Worker Publishing Association, >: ROBERT MI WM. F. DUNNE checks to $8 Union « Ass, Editor lorker | “FASCISM. George Washington’s Birthday The ruling class will celebrate today the anniversary of the birth of George Washington. Banks are closed and factories to a large extent, and the coupon-clipping aristocracy will play much poker and golf and will drink much good, fresh-smuggled red booze and French champagne—indeed most of the “best people” of al! of the vast country will be throughout the day happy and drunk and pious and patriotic with comfortable thoughts of fat divi- dends, “safe” enterprises built to colo: size exploiting scores of millions of “docile” slaves on six continents, toil- ing night and day to keep the yellow floods of gold pouring into the treasure-boxes of these same pious Yankee pluto- crats. Never before did George Washington—as a name, and to some extent a myth—receive as much adulation as he will receive today from the bloated capitalist class which looks upon him as “Father of the (richest) country.” The proletariat also, in large part, will spend the day "outside of the factories and mills whose wheels, at least in the lighter industries, will stop in honor of George Washing- ton. Millions of American workers of this country will be reached by the form of propaganda for which the American capitalist class maintains the holiday of Washington’s birth- day as an institution. Many will be affected by the be- fuddling, stupifying lies about “American democracy.” In effect, the propaganda use of this holiday is in fixing in the minds of the ‘masses the idea that the system of ex- ploitation under which they live is not only an eternal sys- tem, but that its “perpetuation” would be in the interest of these self-same masses. According to bourgeois political economy and philosophy, history was a process of turbulent changes until the present capitalist republic was founded, after which history ceases to proceed by violent change and leaves a fixed, unchangeable, ideal system of “democracy.” This concept is a foundation stone in the ideological super- structure which helps to hold the monstrous system of capi- talist class rule and exploitation together. But every ruling class of the past has philosophized and taught the same concept about its own system. And each of these “permanent” and “perfectly ideal” systems has, in turn, fallen in destruction before the hammering blows of social forces bringing in a successive system. And when the reactionary, life-crushing capitalist class and its retainers try to utilize the example of the Revolu- tion by which the capitalist class with force and violence overthrew the preceding system and established the rule of the capitalist class, in order to support the illusion that “revo- lution is not history’s way of removing also the capitalist class—then it is the duty of class-conscious workers to chal- lenge the lie. “The imperialist beast with dull eyes can only see the his- torical past and is unable to penetrate the curtain which hides the future.” But as the past was revolution, also the future is revo- lution. As long as there is class division in society, an ex- ploiting class and an exploited, the class strugggle continues and cannot but continue to the revolutionary combat; the de- velopment of the capitalist system itself generates the con- tradictions which are insoluble without the cataclysm of im- perialist war and proletarian revolution. “But the sober glance of the proletariat which has felt all the glories of capitalist rationalization and all the burdens of ‘industrial peace’ upon its own skin, can see clearly the gigantic accumulation of capitalist contradictions and the steady and rapid intensification of the class struggle everywhere.” Intelligent members of our class do not let themselves be fooled into seeing the revolutionary traditions of the American War of Independence that was led by George Washington as proof of the invalidity of revolutions. The revolution of 1776 was a bourgeois revolution, not a work- ing class revolution. There could be no proletarian revolu- tion where there was not yet a proletarian class. But all revolutionary traditions belong to the class which is today the revolutionary class. Allowing for the vast differences between the nature of the bourgeois revolution and that of the proletarian revolution, the proletariat nevertheless can and must learn much from the historic struggle by which this capitalist republic (with its most advanced and efficient form of destructive exploitation of the industrial working class, the agricultural toilers and the semi-colonial and colonial slaves of the Wall Street government) forced itself with fire and sword into the world. Intelligent workers understand that George Washing- ton was, in his time and place, a truly great revolutionist. He was a great organizer of a revolutionary fighting army capable of defeating the regular troops of the then-estab- lished legal authority. This is especially worth mentioning in connection with the celebration which the proletariat of the whole world will make tomorrow, February 23. For tomorrow is Red Army Day—ihe anniversary of the found- ing of the Red Army of the Union of Socialist Soviet Re- _ publics. Of course the revolutionary army of the Soviet _- Union and that of the American colonies in 1776 can be com- _ pared only with very important differences. But the work- ing class can well honor Washington with his attainment, ven though the present imperialist armies of the United ‘States are the exact opposite of the revolutionary army of ‘workers and peasants of the Union of Socialist Soviet Re- publics. By revolution, by heroic, merciless civil war, this bour- geois republic came into existence. By immensely bigger, more heroic, more merciless civil r, its successor—the American Soviet Republic of work- ‘and farmers, integral part of the World Union of all So- st Soviet Republics—will likewise come into existence. eal | _ T.ULE.L. Report at Mexican Congress ALBERT WEISBORD. The fifth article of this series by Albert Weisbord, representa- tive of the United States Trade Union Educational League to the Mexican Unity Congress of Work- ers and Peasants published yester- day and the previous day, dealt with the organizations represent- ed, the business transacted, rela- tions with the Trade Union Edu- cational League, and the achieve- ments of the congress. Today we publish the first half of the speech of Weisbord before the congress on Jan. 26, 1929, * By * * Comrades, the fact that the fra- ternal delegate from America can- not speak Spanish shows eloquentl; how lated have been the revolu- tionary trade union movemen:s in the United States and in Mexico from each other. This isolation be- tween the two revolutionary move- ments has cost both of them very dear. Today the closest =: hbe- tween the revolutionary trad2 union movements in the United States and in Mexico and Latin America gen- jerally, has become of the greatest necessity. While we have delayed our unity, based on the class struggle, Yankee imperialism has increased its op- pression of the toiling masses both in the United States and in ico. Emerging from the last war enorm- ously powerful, the American bosses jand bankers have become the strongest in the world. At home American capjtalism has driven the great mass of workers down more than ever. Repeated wage cut: lengthened hours, most inhu speed-up—a speed-up that s: very life blood of the work leaves him exhausted—a huge of 4,000,000 workers out of these are the conditions facing the masses in America. Hand in hand with this has gone an increasing fascination of govern- ment. A huge force of police and government officials has been cre- ated ready to throw itself aga the working class. Today the s breaking injunction, the murde |tacties of soldiers and pol: jailing of many hundreds of ‘ers, have become every day occv rences when workers strike for bet- \ter conditions, Indeed, the very |right of the workers to strike is be- |with the right to strike goes the \right to organize. The growth of American capitul- ism is meaning the smash-up of jthe trade union movement in Amer- ica. The basic’ mass trade unions jhave been and are being destroyed. |Never before has the contro! the | government of the United States, by the bankers and big business men, been so open and brazen as today. |The victory of millionaire Herbert Hoover means that the sharpest al- tack yet made by American capital- ism will be launched against the toiling masses with the full and most active support of the government. Left Wing in U. S. Grows, But do not think that the Ame’ ican workers have not fought beck. As American capitalism grows, the revolutionary movement in the Uni- ted States has grown. 1,000,000 workers quit the mines, mills and jfactories to demonstrate in the streets for the liberation of Sacco and Vanzetti. Long, bitter strikes have broken out in which the prole- tariat have given the bosses blow for blow. Within the past two years alone we saw 200,000 miners fight for 18 months, 15,000 textile workers in Passaic struggle for over a year, ‘tens of thousands of clothing work- ers in New York City fight on for many months, 30,000 textile workers Massachusetts, battle for coal fields of Colorado, etc. mass strikes have been under the actual leadership or strong influ-| ¥ six|of these countries have, many cf|ica and us, the workers of the’ Uni- | months, the bloody conflict in the|them, become mére puppets, mere|ted States. All tools, in the hands of American capi-| these, and other long and bitter|talists to crush the masses further. | Does any one think that the mur- derous governments of Cuba, of ence of the Trade Union Educational | Nicaragua, or of Colombia, to men- League. |tion only a few, are not only fancy In these struggles the proletariat names for Yankee imperialism? The is becoming hardened and matured.|murder of Julio Antonio Mella, the The corrupt officials of the Amer-|massacre of Cuban strikers, the ican Federation of Labor have be-|slaughter of the Colombian workers, come discredited. New and revolu-|the atrocious war against the brave tionary unions, affiliated with the Nicaraguan people whose heroism, Trade Union Educational League,|as typified by the soldiers of San- and internationally to the Red In-|dino, will stand as a glorious monu- ternational of Labor Unions, such as|ment for the toiling masses of the the National Miners’ Union, the Na- world—what are these things but tional Textile Workers’ Union, the|the advancing iron heel of Amer- » | Mexico ard Latin America, that we ing. ing practically taken away. And} American Power Monopoly Needle Trade Workers’ Industrial Union, have been created. The organization of the masses of| unorganized workers, of whom we | have at least 25,000,000 in the Uni-| ted States, is proceeding. The! strongest blows of the capitalists | have not been able to shatter us.| The revolutionary trade union move- | ment is emerging stronger than ever. Simultaneously with this attack on American labor, Yankee imperiai- ism seeks to conquer the whole| world. In Europe, in China, in In- dia, in Canada, in Latin America, everywhere the increasing weight of | the hand of American capitalism is| seen. Today it tries to mortgay:| all of Germany, shoots down the Chinese masses, attacks the Soviet Union, drives out European compe- tition from Mexico and Latin Amer- ica. Tomorrow the American guns of war will speak against England, or against Japan, or against France, or against any other force that may | stand in its way. Comrades, it is when we come to see most clearly how things are go- The Caribbean must become} an American lake, all Latin Amer- ica must become a huge colony for the Yankee Wall Street, a huge colony where the masses are cr- slaved, where the resources are seized, where foreign competition is driven out of the makrets, and where American imperialism can best pre- pare for war. This is the open policy of Wall Street. To this end billions of dollars ia capital, in machinery, in commodi- ties, have been poured into Mexico and Latin America. The governments ican imperialism? Morrow-Gil Friendship. In this connection we, must point out clearly and unmistakably that the “friendship” recently attained between the imperialism government of the United States and the gov- ernment of Mexico, is at the expense of the workers and peasants of Mexico, that Yankee imperialism is consciously and deliberately! strengthening its control over Mex- ico by this means, as a part of its whole policy, based on the Monroe Doctrine, of driving British imperi alism from its present position in Latin America, and that the hour is rapidly approaching when diplom- acy ends and armed conflict begins. In such a war the masses of Latin America will be asked, even com- pelled, to die for the bankers of Wall Street. When Herbert Hoover comes to Mexico, as when he toured South America, it will be as a con- queror, as a Caesar looking over his empire. In the struggle against this Caesar the proletariat and peas- antry of Mexico and Latin Amer-| ica can rely on no other force but themselves and the support of the workers throughout the world. Comrades, I am here to declare most solemnly to you in the name of the Trade Union Educational League, representing 250,000 revo- lutionary trade unionists in the Uni- ted States, that we especially pledge ourselyes to carry on unceasing war against this American imperialism, whose hands are bloody with the blood of the toilers of both Amer- icas, and who stands as our common enemy, fighting both you, the ti! ers of Mexico and all Latin Amer- Controls Mexican Resources MEXICO CITY, Feb, 21.—Amer- | : ican power monopoly is acquiring control of Mexican power plants and power resources. Every possible source of light and power is passing into the hands of the General Elec- tric Co. of the United States. This move in Mexico is part of a general expansion of the American power trust in all of Latin America, Ambassador Dwight Morrow, for- mer ,partner of the House of Mor- gan, was also one of the directors of the General Electric, and is to- day one of the controlling factors in the organization, Carried Out Secretly. The purchase of the power re- sources of Mexico has been carried on very secretly and astutely. The General Electric does not openly appear, but dozens of smaller com- panies, controlled by it, have been organized to buy up the necessary property. An ertire floor in the enormous Banco de Mexico serves as offices; no names are painted on the doors; all the employes are pledged to absolute secrecy. Inthe federal district the company is or- eign Power Company; elsewhere other names are used. No source of power, large or small, is being ignored; and enor- mous sums are being spent. Recently for one small Canadian company in the north of the republic the Gen- eral Electric paid $11,000,000, It practically controls already the en- tire resources of the states of So- nora, Sinaloa, Jalisco, Durango and much of the north, It is actively buying up properties in Michoacan, Vera Cruz, Tamaulipas, Mexico, Hi- dalgo and other states. Negotiations are being carried on to secure control of the powerful Canadian company which supplies, light and power for Mexico City, the federal district and adjacent states, and which is constructing an enormous dam in Michoacan. The workers of Vera Cruz, in a small plant, owned by the state, re- cently blocked an attempt of the governor to sell out/for a ridicu- lously small sum to one of the dummy companies; but in general, owing to the secrecy with which the purchases have been maneuvered, in New, Bedford and Fall River,,zanized as the American and For- very few obstacles have been en- countered, a :|antry in Mexico and all Latin Amer- By Fred Ellis Labor Imperialism. | The struggle against Americin \imperialism must become also a deadly struggle against the Pan- American Federation of Labor, which is only the “labor” instru- ment of Wall Street. We must re- member that the tentacles of U. S. imperialism have reached into the labor movement of both countries, corrupting their venal officials, at- \tempting to disarm the workers of |Latin America before imperialist |@ggression with hypocritical phrases | of “good will” and fraternity, and} |Cesigning to make the trade unic f the United States accessories ty \the imperialist subjugation of the ‘Latin peoples and the exploitation jand murder of their fellow-workers |south of the Rio Bravo (Grande), I mean that unspeakable instrm- |ment of Yankee imperialism, the | | Pan-American Federation of Labor, | |whose every act is dictated to suit| the policies of the imperialist State |Department of the United States | government, and which is a coarze caricature of an international labor |organization whose actions we revo- jlationary and militant trade usion- ists of the U. S. répudiate, and |whcse leaders and organizers we de- |nounce as scoundrels and traitors jto the proletariat of all America. | The actions of Green, Woll, Mo- jreres and Iglesixs, in the corruption jand stifling of true proletarian “in- | ternationalism, stand out for all to see. Their “Monroe Doctrine of La- bor” is a reflection of the domina- |tion with armed forces by Yankee. | \land of the oppressed peoples of | |Latin America, Green, Woll and |Co., who in the U. S. corrupi ‘the trade unions with schemes of class collaboration and deliver the trade unionists of the American -Federa- tion of Labor over to the most in- tensive exploitation, wish to impose \such policies on the Latin-American | proletariat by the domination of the American Fenderation of Labor in the Pan-American Federation.of La- bor to obtain the collaboration of the Latin-American ‘workers * with their imperialist exploiters, We de- clare this to be international treason to the proletariat, and ask from and pledge to the proletariat and peas- ica, fraternal assistance in destrcy- ing such conceptions, in driving out ef our trade unions such traitors and in attaining true international and proletarian solidarity in action. | In the crimes of U.S. imperial- ism, the Pan-American Federation of Labor, like the yellow Amster- dam International of Indias, China, and elsewhere plays a definite role. The murders in Cuba, in Colombia, in Nicaragua, and the hundreds of other aggressions of Wall Street meet never a protest from the Pan- American Federation of Labor led by Green and Woll. To sive final proof of a total lack of international proletarian solidarity, the last con- vention of the American Kederation of Labor petitioned the impcrialirt U.S. government to stop Mexican workers from immigrating to the United States. We, of the Trade Union Educational League, declare to you that proletarian solidarity and interests have no boundary lines fer us. We welcome our Mexican brothers as comrades and join them in the struggle for the emancipation of labor. : * * * The second part of Weisbord’s speech, to be published tomorrow on this page, takes up the pro- posals of United “States-Mexican labor unity made by the TUEL, the tasks before the Left wing in the two cour.@ies, and the coming Montevideo conference to ort:‘ze | THERE were meetings in Denver at night, meetings out among the Copyright, 1929, by Internationai Publishers Co., Inc. BILL HAYWOOD’S All rights reserved. -Republica- tion forbidden except by permission, ‘BOOK Mother Jones; John Mitchell the Traitor; Three Miners Murdered in Nevada; ' Nayajo Indians Won’t Scab In previous chapters Haywood told of his early life as cowboy, miner and homesteader in Utah, Nevada and Idaho; of his rise after years in the mines and the union;.to the head of the Western Federa- tion of Miners; the battles of the W. F..M. under his leadership. He is now telling about the struggle in Colorado. se oe PART XLII. By WILLIAM D. HAYWOOD. smelter men, meetings of the party, committee meetings, but never too much work, Never enough to keep my mind busy. Mother Jones came to Denver about this timé. I went to the Ox- ford Hotel to see her. She was a fine old woman with snow white hair and a baby complexion, She had a pleasant voice, but how it could rake and rasp when she was talking about her enemy, the capitalist class! When she was a young woman, Mother Jones had struggled in the South against the yellow fever and had lost her husband and children, who had all died of the terrible disease, She came North, and in revolt against the helplessness ‘of poverty, began to work at organizing the coal miners. Her work ‘in West Virginia made a thrilling record. Wherever trouble broke out against the miners, Mother Jones went there. When a bridge was patrolled by ‘soldiers, she waded the river in winter; when ‘trains were being watched, the train crew smuggled her through. She always went where she wanted to go. When she came to Colorado, she had lost none of the cotrage and stubbornness that made this little old woman so hated and feared by the employers, . “Mother” went to Trinidad while the strike of the coal miners was on. One day I sent her 2 telegram saying that the troops: were leay- ing for Trinidad in the morning. I later learned that this telegram was a great surprise to Governor Peabody, who said that at the time I had wired, he had not ‘yet issued the order. He couldn’t understand how I knew the troops were going, as he hadn’t spoken about it to any one. Shortly after the arrival of the soldiers in Trinidad, Mother Jones, with three other organizers, was deported. The old woman was hustled out without, consideration, and had but a few moments to pack her things. She was shipped to Helper, and when she arrived there, they arrested her and put her in the pest:house, where they hoped she would catch smallpox or some other disease that would kill her. But she escaped the next day and came to Denver. * 2 A notorious magazine, called Polly Pry’s Magazine, printed a frightful tirade against Mother Jones:- John Mitchell: of the United Mine Workers seemed to think that there was some truth in the things that were written, and to his lasting disgrace he discharged Mother’ Jones as organizer, after all the brave work she had done for the miners of West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere. I was glad to get her-as an organizer for the W.F.M. She worked for us a short time during the Cripple Creek strike, but then took up her work among the coal miners again. : There were two jacks who came to Colorado during the coal-miners’ strike—one a jackass and the other the jack of spades; John Mitchell, president of the United Mine Workers of America, and John D. Rocke: feller, Jr., among whose many interests was the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company. . The coal miners of the West had first been organized by the West: ern Federation, but as the United Mine Workers, made up only of coal miners, extended its jurisdiction, the coal miners dropped away from us and joined it. When John Mitchell came to Denver he stopped at the St. James Hotel, and passed the office of the W.F.M. on his way to pay his respects to the Citizens’ Alliance! It was natural to suppose that he would have come to the Western Federation, if for no other purpose than to thank the organization for the support that it had given the United Mine Workers ‘during the strike of 1902. The treasurer of the U.M.W.A. in compiling his report of the contributions, liad mentioned the different unions and had given the sum total as com- ing from the international which they made up. But the unions of the W.F.M. were: scattered all through the report. Sexton, the editor of the U.M.W.A. Journal, wrote an article in which he mentioned two or three contributions as being the total amount contributed by the West- ern Federation. I went through the report and found that the W.F.M. had been the largest contributor per capita of any organization in the United States, In addition to this financial support, we had offered to lay down tools in every coal mining camp where we ‘were organized, if the U.M.W.A. would make the strike a general strike: ake There were sixteen strikers of the U:M.W.A. from the northern field in jail in Denver for violating an injunction while Mitchell was there. He did not go to see them. He went to the Citizens’ Alliance. The unions of the U.M.W.A. andthe W.F.M. were fighting jointly for the eight-hour day. John Mitchell did not represent the workers who were on strike. : I have said that the coal miners of the West were first organized in the W.F.M., but this is not true as to all of them. Some, among them the minérs of Hatina,.Wyoming, were organized as independent bodies. A large majority of the Hanna Union were Chinese. There was a strike at Hanna in which the Chinese took the lead and when the white.men were weakening after a long time on strike the Chinese went around to them arid offered’ to double their ‘relief, if they would but stand firm to win the strike. . ; Te te * A tragedy had occurred’ at Ely, Nevada. “We felt it necessary to send John Murphy there to Jearn the details. When ‘he returned ‘it was. to report that the union, deciding to make some demand of the company, had appointed @ committee ‘of three to see the superin- tendent. As the committee ‘approached the office the superintendent, “who had been notified of their coming, seemed’ to have become panic “stricken, He started to shoot with a Winchester rifle, killing all three of the.unarmed men, Murphy ledtned’that’the superintendent had at once made his escape from the town. Nothing’ was ever done to prose- cute him for the three moardets, fey ~ & ‘The smelter trust was successful in getting a unique crew of strike- breakers at Durango for a few days. They were Navajo Indians. But the native Americans did not take kindly to the work they were called on to. do, One evening a Pow-Wow was held at which a young chief ‘For a long time Navajo Indians live in this country. Long be- fore white men come. We grow corn, we make blanket, we have lots of sheep. We get lots of deer, catch fish, live pretty good. White man come, he make smelter. Make everything hot like hell. Make fire- water; cold water hot. Make work night time.’ Night’ sleep. time. Navajo no more work night’time. Navajo no more work in smelter. Tomorrow we go home.” * . The strike of the Denver smelter men was extending to the work- ers in other industries, and for a time it Jooked as though the city of Denver would be involved in #,general strike, but, the development was squelched by the typographical union, which, as a result of the turbances, secured: for. themselves a seven-hour twenty-minute day. They callously left the smelter men alone to fight against eleven and twelve hours a day. . In the course of my work I went to a meeting of the typographical “union. When the president introduced me, he said that I would “entertain them for a few minutes.” I told them. when I took the platform, that I had not come to entertain them. I ‘had come to make an appeal on behalf of the ver smelter men, who were workers the same as they, and to whom they owed a duty as union. men, and that duty was to give the Denver smelter men their entrie support. I left before the discussion, to speak at another meet- ing, and I never‘heard of any action being taken, In ‘the next instalment Haywood writes of the continued battle at Cripple Creek; of martial law under Generals Bell and Chase; how they trained a Gatling gun on the civil court to intimidate the civil indge, and ignored his order issued in the face of their threat; tense ‘times in the Old West. Readers who wish to read all of, Haywood's * *” a Latin-American Jabor confedera- tion, book at one time, can obtain it free with one yearly subscription, re- newal or extension, to the Daily Worker. No extra cost.