The Daily Worker Newspaper, September 5, 1929, Page 4

i - growing better for the workers? How does this misstate- --every day there was news of a ten per cent cut in wages in . unemployment. Why? Not from the point of view of the * the workers, Green thinks something ought to be done about | ~. the putting through of capitalist. rationalization, and closes a chet Me DERI La he agt Sew ‘er — oe Pa is ik rty of the U. S, A. Publ by the Comprodaily Publishing Co. Inc,. Daily, except Sse, Y at *ag-a8 Union Square, New ¥i ak City. ¥ Telephone Stuyvesant 1696-1-8. Cable: “DAIWORK. SUBSCRIPTION RATES: By Mall (in New York only): 34.50 six months $2.50 three months By Mail ( New York): year $3.50 six months $2.00 three montne and mail all checks to the Daily Worker, 26-28 Union Square, New York, N. ¥. <I> -. $8.00 a year A Capitalist Labor Day “Gomperism” has long been a synonym for prostitution of the trade unions to the pro-capitalist, anti-labor cause; but it is doubtful if even Sam Gompers ever frent so far in spitting venom upon the working class and in defense of the capitalist cause against the ‘workers, as did William Green, Frank Morrison and others of the A. F. of L. bureauc- racy in last Monday’s Labor Day oratory. And behind this is a reason: history has produced a period in which outright social-fascism becomes the open program of the “labor lieu- tenants of the capitalist class.” The A. F, of L. bureauer cy had never adopted the same terms for deception of the work- ing class as were and are used by the “socialist” trade union bureaucrats of Europe. But in this period when throughout the world the social-democracy is being transformed into social-fascism, there is very little difference in the vocab- ularies of a William Green of the A. F. of L. anda “Comrade” Zoergiebel, the bloody-handed fascist police chief of Berlin, member of the Social-Democratic Party, who murdered many workers of Berlin for holding a May Day parade. Tf Green and Morrison expressed the theoretical b this movement, the spirit of the present-day A. F. bureaucracy was illustrated with more dramatic quality at the show that was pulled off by Mathew Woll, Paul Vacca- relli and Ed McGrady at Whitestone Landing, Long Island, where McGrady was presented by Woll with a gold medal for his supposed successes in strikebreaking in New York during the long struggles in the needle trades, and for his services to the mill owners of Elizabethton, Tennessee, where he pulled off the cold-blooded swindle against the rayon workers’ strike. But let Vaccarelli, president of the Loyal Labor Legion of New York under whose auspices the anti- labor orgy was held, speak for himself: “The Loyal Labor Legion was organized during the world war by members of unions affiliated with the A. F. of L. These | were mostly representatives of river-front and marine workers and the officers were sworn to uphold the constitution of the United States, to FRUSTRATE STRIKES AND LOCKOUTS | AND OTHERWISE AID IN HOLDING MEN TO THEIR WAR- TIME TASKS.” These words of Vaccarelli give the essence of the social- fascism of the A. F. of L. “To frustrate strikes,” and “hold- ing men to their war-time tasks” for the bosses and the capi- talist state—that is the essence of the function of the A. F. of L. machine. And Vaccarelli’s description of the fascist work of “Gold Medal” McGrady makes the picture complete: “Other labor organizations are unanimous in the agreement that McGrady is the outstanding labor man of 1929 because of his having cleaned up the Communist element in the fur industry and the cloak and suit trades and because of his settlement (read: sell-out) of the strike of rayon workers in Elizabethton, Tenn.” Aside from the fact that McGrady did not succeed in “cleaning up the Communist element’’—what sort of an or- ganization gives gold medals to a “labor man” for trying to crush the militant workers and to break the strikes led by "IN HIS MASTER'S VINEYARD. = (EDITORS. NOTE: — Interna- tional Youth Day will be cele- brated this year by huge demon- strations of the working youth on September 6th under the auspices of the Young Communist League. Working Youth of the DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 1929 sav 15th International Youth Day World to Demonstrate Against Imperialist War These demonstrations will be held | against imperialist war, and for the defense of the Soviet Union. In New York, International Youth This histerie conference of revo- lutionary youth, decided that start- ing with that year, every September | on Friday, September 6 at 6:00 | | p.m. All workers should partici- | | pate in this important demonstra- | tion.) } Day will be célebrated ky a huge demonstration on Union Square Pee See By I. ERENBERG. them? Only a detective agency—or a fascist organization. William Green’s theoretical explanation of the role of the A. F. of L. falls in fully with its fascist practices. This theory goes: That in the early post-war period there was some sentiment for a “liquidation” of labor, and: | “This MIGHT HAVE PRECIPITATED A PERIOD OF SE- RIOUS STRIFE had it not been THAT LEADERS OF INDUS- TRIAL THOUGHT, WATCHING THE TREND OF AFFAIRS, noted that the result of the continuance of high-wages was that the dammed up purchasing desires which had been held back dur- ing the war on account of the rational economic program burst | forth and not only the high wages which were being currently earned, but accumulated savings as well were poured into the channels of commerce.” And these “good” employers (not the workers, not the labor movement) rescued the “high” wages of the workers, and: \ “They (the employers!) began consciously to propound the | principle of high wages and low costs as a policy of enlightened industrial. practice. This principle has since attracted the at- tention of economists all over the world, and while it is in no sehse new, its application on a broad scale is so novel as to im- | press the committee as being a fundamental development.” And: “,.. our national prosperity was assured, for the great mass of:the workers could buy the necessities and luxuries which their incomes and needs permitted.” What is this but the most outrageous attempt to de- ceive the workers, a calm acceptance of the capitalist apol- ogists’ falsehood that wages are really rising and conditions ment compare with the undoubted fact that last year they cut miners’ wages from $7.50 to between $4 and $5.50; that textiles, or a 20 per cent reduction for metal workers, or some other wage cut for some other large industry? ‘And why does not Green mention that a lot of the “low costs” can be summed up in the word “rationalization,” which means in the experience of all workers: speed-up, the auto- matic machine control of the speed of labor, the dropping of safety regulations, the sucking out of the lives of the work- ers at a greater speed than ever before? It seems that Mr. Green is opposed to the present chronic workers, but from the point of view of the employers, because “it creates a feeling of resentment against the existing social order” of rule by the capitalist class over an exploited work- ing class. And in order to protect the capitalist class against | it; but he does not propose anything; the A. F. of L. has no program, unless it be in line with John L. Lewis’ program of throwing 200,000 ‘‘superfluous” coal miners out of the in- dustry. : ‘But Mr. Green’s Labor Day speech has little room for remedies; his speech is loaded with advice to the capitalist class for the successful crushing of the working class and witha burst of praise of capitalism: “But, with all our difficulties and vexing situation, we are fortunate THAT WE ARE PERMITTED TO LIVE IN THE MOST BRILLIANT AND HISTORIC PERIOD OF THE WORLD'S HISTORY. We are astounded at each day's revela- tion of science, invention and genius.” Mr. Morrison tried to substantiate his boss by speaking | ' Ngguely of “substantial gains” of the A. F. of L, (depending 4b September 6, is the Fifteenth In- ternational Youth Day. This year, | more than ever before, the working youth will demonstyate against cap- italist miliarism and imperialist war. | Not only will they demonstrate ! against imperialist war, but they will also demonstrate their solidar- ity with, and their readiness to de-| fend our only Socialist fatherland |6 would be turned into an Interna- tional Day of Youth, upon which the young workers of the entire world | would demonstrate against capital- list militarism and imperialist war and for the revolutionary overthrow of the whole capitalist system, which makes these wars inevitable. ; In 1919, there was held in the City of Berlin, another congress. of \the revolutionary working youth, which was a continuation of the Stuttgart (first international con- ference of revolutionary youth in 1907) and Berne conference, and which culminated in the formation of the Young Communist Interna- tional. This new international af- | of International Red Day (August | 1.) | land, a conference of representative: SS —the Soviet Union. International Youth Day must be a continuation of the campaign and demonstrations | filiated with the Communist Inter- national and during the 10 years of its existence it has carried on | the best revolutionary traditions of Karl Liebknecht, of the Internation- |al Youth Day and of the entire in- ternational revolutionary movement of the working youth. Pacifism, War Preparations and the War Danger. At the present time we find that ihe danger of an imperialist war is reater than ever before. Especially the danger great of an imperial- ist attack upon,our only Union of Socialist- Soviet Republics. The present provocative attacks upon the Soviet Union on the part of the hirelings of world imperialism—the Chinese generals, is the best proof of how far the imperialists can go and how ready they are to attack our only Socialist fatherland. Preparing for another world slaughter, the imperialists find it recessary to spread-all kinds of pacifist illusions. All the talk about disarmament is only meant to de- ceive the mass of the workers. This talk pursues the sole aim of build- Historical Background. On September 6, 1915, at the height of the last Imperialist World , when the Second International d the socialist parties had already betrayed the workers, there v held in the City of Bern, Switzer- of the then revolutionary Socialis’ Youth International. This confer ence was called to take up the ques- tion of fighting the war and mobil- izing the Youth for a revolutionary struggle against the capitalis: sys- | tem. The Berne conference was the first gathering of revolutionaries on an international scale since the out- break of the war. The conference | was organized mainly by Karl Lieb- knecht, who together with the So- cialist Youth organizations and the Russian Bolsheviks, were the only ones who were carrying on a revo- lutionary. struggle against the last imperialist war. upon padded per capita figures such as those which give, for instance, 400,000 members to the United Mine Workers today!!!). “These gains” are enumerated in part as “a pro- nounced drift” . .. “increased wages” (where?) ... “a better understanding of trade unionism” (as explained above, a fas- cist understanding) . . . an understanding of “the value of a high purchasing power” (on the part of the bosses who “raise” the workers’ wages just to put money into circula- tion) ... “a wider: knowledge of the evil effects of the labor injunction” (but more injunctions!) ... . ete., ete. The falsetto voice of the Reverend Dr. Norman Thomas “ of the socialist party made no more than an echo of the stronger voices of the beefy fat boys. All that he and_his- party wish is that the fascism of the A. F. of L. thugs shall utilize the forms that go with social-fascism, and thereby strengthen itself. i . And where was a single word spoken against the present capitalist offensive on the standards of living of the working class? Where anything against the attempt to electrocute sixteen, labor organizers in North Carolina? Not among these social-fascists o fthe A. F. of L. and of the socialist party, but most notably at Cleveland, where the foundling of the new and revolutionary federation of American labor, the Trade Union Unity League, means the mobilization of the- masses of workers for their own cause, against the capitalist class and against social-fascism, its defender within the work- ing class, "ab? The lines are sharpening—class against class! . “| Iutionary wor! class and the toil- ti od sia |and the toi ee ORAS ‘g ing the working class into security in order to allow the bourgeoisie to prepare itself quietly and thoroughly for the new war. The official figures below charac- terize the contemporary militarism. These dry figures and facts are a convincing testimony of the reality disguised by the lying talk of the imperialists about disagreement. Numerical strength of peace time armies (in thousands): 1918 1928 States 1914 1928 1929 France ....... 132 (725 Great Britain 329 385, Italy. 5 248 390 United : 372 439 Japan ts 236 206 Total ..... 1,827 1,917 2,145 From the above table we see, that the official numerical strength of States France Great Britain, about . United States, about Italy, about .. Japan Total oqee This table shows that be 1928-29 the air-fleets of the above mention- ed five great powers have grown ten and twelve times compared with 1914, and show a tendency to rapid further growth. The, Navy. As for the navies of the above mentioned five great Powers, we must especially emphasize the nu- merical growth of the amount of cruisers, aircraft-carriers and sub- marines. There has been lately con- siderable ravalry between the United States and Great Britain with re- gard to naval construction. This is particualrly evident in the construc- tion of cruisers of the so-called Washington type, with a displace- ment of about 10,000 tons. It is very characteristic to note, by the way, that the United States confirmed the new building program (15 new cruisers) the day after the ratification’ of the Kellogg Pact. This is the best proof of the im- portance which the imperialists at- tack to their peaceful diplomatic arts. Pacts-alout renunciation of war as means of national policy are | signed in all solemnity and the next day they begin to build .... power- ful warships or the conduct of ware so. . 5 When we add to the above official statistical facts also the tremendous mechanical improvements’ of the aymy-technique, ‘the contermporary machine-guns, infantry, tanks, and specially the use of destructive poisonous gasses—we can compre- hend already how far world imper- ialism is ready for the approachi: world war and how destructive this war will be. The future world war, for which the imperialist states are preparing so stubbornly and syatem- atically, will exact from the working humanity far more human ard ma- iz vie first terrible oa eae laced 3), if the revo- ing the peace time land armies of the SURE Date 5 lB MSS 1928-29 1914 1923 1928-29 (Sup. No.) +++ 1388 1,350 1,650 2,000-2,500 + 150 385 850 —1,000-1,200 20 420 950 = 1,200-1,300 40 250 600 —1,000-1,200 250 475 600- 800 350 =2,655 94,525 5,800-7,000 0 REE CE Se SEE a Se above mentioned five great powers bas increased by over 300,000 cau- pared with 1913-1914. The reserve of the population which has received military training constitutes by 1929 over twenty mil- lion for the above mentioned five great powers, whereas in 1914, this reserve for the same amounied to seventh-eighths million. Thus, the reserve of the population with mili- tary training has increased more than 2% times. In 1914 these five powers were able to put into the field, at the mobilization, war time armies of a total numerical strength of about 5% million, whereas in 1929 they are prepared to put into the field, at the mobilization, armies, about. nine million strong, i. e. nearly twice as big as in 1914. In connection with the achieve- ments in the sphere of aero-tech- nique, every imperialist State is en- deavoring to prepare itself for maxi- mum utilization of “air-possibilities” in the future war, and is increasing its air fleets. The number of Army and Navy airplanes on service: or stop the terrible new world slaughter. ... The bourgeoisie understands well that without the young workers it will not be able to conduct any war. We, therefore, see that in aimost every capitalist state the military training of the youta is regulated today by law. As first the military preparation of the youth was carried on by private and “unpolitical” or- ganizations beneath the banner of gymnastic and spoct cv Bus to- day these neutral cloalzs are being east aside, and the military organ- izations are being made the subject of legal enactments. The countries most active in the military training of the youth are the United States, Great Britain and France; Italy and Poland are following their example. Here in the United States military prepara- tion is an obligatory subject in the high schools and colleges. Shcoting stands are provided in the schools, the colleges have their military faculties, and the passing of the state examination depends on mili- tary knowledge. The number of young workers joining the Citizens Military Training Camps increase from year to year. The Reserve Of- ficers Training Corps is already a well established institution in the high schools and colleges. Militar- ism has assumed stupendous dimen- sions in the schools and universities of our “pacifist” United States. In Great Britain, as in the United States, the military training is given by teachers provided by the army administration. The British officers training corps counts 38,000 cadets, whilst further 60,000 boys are be- ing trained as non-commissioned of- ficers in the Young Men’s Corps. Besides this, there are also boys’ rifle. clubs, which train their 200,- 000 members in shooting and drilling and the military organization of the Boy Scouts with its 582,000 mem- (To be continued) » -* { HENRI BARBUSSE TSAW IT ae isl mataw meme NAY SELF n, from “I Saw It' Myself” by Henri Barbusse, ed by E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc, New York. , mri «syYNOPSIS* yg A Czarist diplomats strike a bargain with French imperialists: as interest on loans made to Russia, forty thousand picked Russian soldiers are to be thrown into the French lines monthly. Seeing in France the “pattern of all free countries” volunteers pour in. Once in the trenches their illusions are soon trampled underfoot; unrest grows; the authori- ties employ agents provocateurs who instigate the murder of a colonel as an excuse to usher in a reign of terror. & Reprinted, by permis) ished and copyrii #0 ee eF THEIR HEADS UNBOWED : AN then, as the Russian army realized the truth of matters, into the depths where recruiting sergeants’ yarns and charms had plunged them, a great light came darting down: news of the February Revolution! Needless to say, the news was not publicly or officially announced to the men. In point of fact, everything was done to conceal it. At first only a few glimmerings reached the expeditionary force. One soldier reads the message over to himself while his fellows are communin? x7ith letters from home—pathetic letters that have slipped past the censor. An exclamation escapes him; he waves the paper, attracts attention. A knot of men gathers round: The Revolution has come in Russia! (Foolish of the censor!) An officer walks up, snatches the letter, tramples on it, white with passion. He walks off, thinks better of it, returns, picks up the battered letter and pockets it. He tries to explain to these men that it’s all a newspaper scare. Scribblers who get their copy printed daily on news sheets are nothing but mountebanks, and a man must be crazy to believe what they say. And as this is more often the case than not (the soldiers have had some), some feel doubtful. But the truth cuts through all the same, because it is harder and stronger than error and lies, It is the diamond in our universe. And at last each man knows that there’s no Tzar left in Petrograd or Moscow. A deep yearning for freedom comes over one and all. Revolution brings enlightenment to these men dumped down on foreign soil. Heaven’s gates stand open before their unhappy eyes. ee ‘HEN comes a struggle: the officers striving to cover up or contort the meaning of the social upheaval in Tzarist Russia, and the men striving to find out the truth, At last the men come to a definite decision. This happens underground, in the cellar of some glasswo Men of the 1st Regiment of the 1st Brigade have gathered there, as the result of an enquiry into ‘the facts, and after meeting delegates from other regiments. All shout together: “We want to go back to Russia! We're doing no good here.” The cry is taken up by the bulk of the Russian soldiers on the French front, and the wind of it directs, commands, lifts the entire movement into life. We can hear it howling and swirling across the trembling white cloth that receives the flicker- ing imprint of our story. The men’s decision is made known to Colonel Netchvolodoy. But here was a soldier quite unaccustomed to hear his men express their wishes and talk in this fashion. And what did he do but faint, when the deputation from his regiment informed him that the men wanted to be sent back home. . He fell headlong and they picked him up. & . 8 8 HE men’s resolution: “We want to go back to Russia” spread through the Russian rank and file gathering life force. Then came the idea that they should be sent into action, to create a big diversion. It would be excellent in every way. For when a soldier goes into action he is forced to defend himself rifle in hand, and kill to avoid being killed; he has no time to think of anything else; he breaks off his Utopian dreams of freedom, whether he wants to or not. Moreover, battles have the same effect as lancing and bleeding; they draw out the poison festering in a fighting unit, Which is all to the advantage of those watching over the established order of things. Then again, the greater the number of grand attacks, the more the officers stand to gain. There are the decorations and promotions to be got out of it all, and the higher the officer stands in the scale of rank, the more his risks tend to disappear. It is an axiom—indeed, g platitude to say that in war time the advance of the rank and file into battle presupposes the advancement of their officers, And that was why the ist Brigade of the Russian Expeditionary Force was sent to attack Brimont Fort. The Russians passed through twenty-six lines. of barbed wire entanglements, occupied the villages encircling Fort Brimont. The fort itself they could not take; the French troops had not contributed their share by sending up reinforce- ments according to plan. Finally, the Russians had to retire, having achieved nothing but the loss of seventy per cent of their forces. Seventy per cent means more than two-thirds. Arrange side by side a heap of skulls and cracked,heads and a bunch of undamaged heads which do not total a third of the stone-like or blood-stained heads, and you will have some idea what the figures mean. The survivors, after this punishment, were dispersed in the surrounding villages, so that their bad influence might not spread. * 28 8 4 ROM then on, it was one long struggle between officers and men. From the soldiers, in gradually increasing numbers, more obstinate and less passive, the call for freedom came swelling: “We do not want to stay here; we want to go back to Russia where men fight at least for something human and just, the salvation of those who are sweated and oppressed!” Meanwhile the officers attempted by all manner of means—threats, prayers, blackmail, annoyances, brutality, provoca- tion, intrigue—and with the connivance of the French authorities, to bring these regiments, alarmingly wide-awake, back into the fold, and make them the blind slaves of the “Order” prescribed by capitalists, imperialists, executioners and parasites. But the soldiers organized and appointed their councils or soviets, strove to get into touch with the rest of the Russian regiments. The officers tried to thwart the movement, alter the working and divert the efforts of these councils. Tragedy and comedy intertwined. The French played their part, too, They had decided, after the February revolution, that the Russian troops fighting in France should no longer be subject to Russian, but to French laws. Now it happens that rights of citizens in arms are contrary to French laws. Ui ancl syd cag . eset aap * * * AS there were no means of getting the better of the steady determina- tion of these volunteers who claimed the right to return home in view of the social upheaval, the Ist and 2nd Brigades were taken to a town in the Creuse Department called La Courtine and shut in there. The Russians held meetings among their camp huts to voice, with in- creasing determination and clearness, their one and plain desire, It sounded on the wind like some great, half-stifled cry, like the monoton- ous burden of a menacing prayer, and bound them yet closer in a body. They refused to give way on a single point. They were ordered to change the name Soviet into Council, and refused. On June 20th, General Lokhovtzky ordered the men of both brigades encamped inside La Courtine to commence maneuyres. They refused. More sweeping measures were tried. The men were divided into two sections. The aim was the fratricidal divorce of the 1st Brigade from the 2nd, which was more docile and responsive. Those who sub- mitted unconditionally were moved to La Cournot Camp and to Felle- tin where they began bean-feasting, not without squabbles and scandals, * . °. ° 1 M ipersecs who remained inflexible, pure in heart, were left at La cree tine and treated as mutineeers. There were eleven thousand of them —an immovable mound, a man-mountain. The last insidious efforts were made; only a handful—a further seventy men—were weeded out. The remainder disciplined themselves, adopted strict and clean rules of life, allowed themselves no liberties, no excesses, They gave up alcohol, What a stirring contrast between those virtuous and upright rebels of Courtine and the tamed slavesyof La Cournot who cele- brated their bondage with carousals! i , i Once more the Soviet of La Courtine asked the brass-hatted envoys of imperialism to send them back to Russia. They swore, they said, to do their duty as soldiers when on their native soil A certain Vorkov came from Petrograd to preach passive obedience to them. The reply was the same. A pope came to exhort them in melting tones: “Repent ye and come to confession!” They shooed him away. “Kill us if you like,” they said; “conquer us you cannot!” We will only make passing mention of the swarm of outsiders at work—spies, informers, agents, each of them pulling their string and working their little devices in the story. The soldiers in La Courtine were like a square standing back to back, besieged on the battlefield, and refusing to surrender, “You have betrayed the honor of your calling,” they told them. They replied: “We are the saviors of the dignity of our race.” “You have misled us, You are traitors,” they said. And they replied: “We have been misled. W the pawns in 3 game of lies.” a gil ay wear arn ‘ ‘ a»