The Daily Worker Newspaper, September 6, 1929, Page 4

8 a Traps) lished by the Comprodaily Publishing Co. Inc.. t 28-28 Union Sau ew. York City ‘e! Sonbne tuyvesant 1696-' Cab! ‘DAIW C SUBSCRIPTION RATES: By Mail (in New York only): $4.50 six months $2.50 By Mail (outside of New York): year $3.50 six months $2.00 three months n@ mail all checks to the Daily Worker, 26-28 Union Square, New York, N. ¥. Pub! a 4.00 & year three months we Progroms Under the Slogan of “Down With Progroms” OWARDLY fascists can be very “brave”—under some circumstances. 4 The Jewish Daily Forward has been for some years the chief press organ of the Socialist Party and the chief strikebreaking organ of the employers in industries employing a decisive proportion of Jewish work- ers, There is hardly a Jewish worker in the United States who has not been directly injured by the unscrupulous lying and strikebreaking of that organ of the cloak and suit manufacturers, which uses a “socialist” mask; and certainly the working class cause as a whole has suffered as well. There is no more consistent slanderer of the Soviet Union, no more corrupt instigator of imperialist war against the Union of Social- jst Soviet Republics, no more abandoned counter-revolutionary rag of the wealthy ruling class than the “socialist” organ of Mr. Abe Cahan, ‘And perhaps the most conspicuous characte’ istic of the yellow “For- ward” is its cowardice, its readiness to set its sails to any wind that btows to the interests of its paymasters, Today the Jewish Daily “Forward” is conducting a campaign of fascist-gangster terrorism against the organs of the working class un- | der conditions which it considers unusually favorable. The conditions are: (1) That the whole capitalist class, capitalist government and cap- italist press find it to its interest just now to conduct imperial t-mili- tarist propaganda in the guise of a DEFENSE OF JEWISH NATION- ALISM. (2) That among the masses of Jewish workers a large proportion has not yet been able to throw off the corrupting influence of the petty- bourgeois reactionary nationalist movement, is not yet able to see all questions of class struggle with the clear eyes of proletarian class- consciousness. The same gangsters which the “Forward” has in the past so often mobilized to break strikes in the needle trades in New York, Chicago, Cleveland and other cities are now being organized into fascist bands to raid and attempt to wreck the branch offices of the Communist or- gan in the Jewish language, the Daily Freiheit. Attempts are being made to terrorize newsdealers who handle the Freiheit and the other working class papers. The yellow organ of the cloak and suit manu- facturers is trying to utilize the darkest forces of reactionary national- ism to smash the press of the working class. Hoover, Wall Street’s militarist president, is with the yellow “For- ward” in this. All of the powerful capitalist newspapers are with the “Forward” in the desire to weaken the labor movement in favor of a reactionary nationalism. Every cloak and suit manufacturer, every sweat-shop proprietor, will support the “Forward” in trying to create nationalist mobs to injure the workers’ Communist press. Is it not clear that if reactionary nationalism can be made to take the place of militant class-consciousness among the Jewish workers, then the bosses can easily defeat the workers in coming struggles—for instance, in the needle trades? The revolutionary workers’ press will fight relentlessly against the reactionary nationalism which the whole of the capitalist press, church and state are trying to fan into flame among sections of the workers. The interests of the workers of all countries and races are the same, and their intersts lies in proletarian revolution, NOT in reactionary nationalist solidarity with the capitalist class of “their own” race or country. Emancipation for Jewish workers, as for all workers, lies in the class struggle and is not to be found in becoming cannon-fodder for Herbert Hoover or Lord Balfour in counter-reyolutionaty war of subju- gation of the Arabian people. ‘The class-conscious workers of all races raise the banner of struggle against the imperialism of Great Britain and the United States and all other capitalist governments, whether it be in Arabia or Nicaragua, India, China or in the “home” countries. The Communist press knows that the working class, Jew and gentile alike, will be won for this cause and upon its success will rise the freedom of all men. The valiant Com- munist Party of Palestine, including Jewish, Arabian and other workers, does and will continue to fight against imperialism and its Zionist flunkeys. This cause—the cause of proletarian revolution, coupled with the struggles for liberation of the colonial victims of imperialism—is the dearest treasure in the eyes of intelligent workers. The working class will be won for this cause. And certainly not the least valiant of the soldiers in the victorious ranks of our class will be these same Jewish workers whom the contemptible “Forward,” with counter-revolutionary “pogrom” propaganda no less vile than was used by the imperialists in the last world war, is trying to transform into enemies of their own cause. International Youth Day DAY, on the Fifteenth International Youth Day, the working youth of the entire world finds it more necessary than ever to organize the struggle against imperialist war and for the defense of the Soviet Union. Today, the danger of war is not something of the future, but a living reality of the moment. It is just at this time that the revolutionary youth, under the leadership of the Young Communist International, must carry on a decisive struggle to win the majority of the young workers to the side of the working class. International Youth Day was founded at the historic Berne Con- ference of 1915, called by the revolutionary youth, to map out the strug- gle against the world war. This conference, born out of the treachery and betrayals of the social-democrats (socialists) was held under the leadership of Karl Licbknecht, and clearly declared that there is only ene method of fighting against war, and that is by revolutionary means —by working for the overthrow of capitalism. The Berne Conference was the forerunner to the Young Communist International, and was born at the conference of the Young Socialist International in Berlin, 1919. The Young Communist International will be ten years old in No- vember. It has in the past decade clearly proven itself the only leader of the toiling youth the world over. The Young Communist Interna- tional has welded together the revolutionary youth of the world in the fire of Leninism; it has struggled against every form of opportunism, and by its revolutionary leadership has mobilized millions of young workers in the struggle against imperialist war. Today, on International Youth Day, 1929, we must remember the lessons of the last war and of Lenin and Liebknecht. Today, more than ever before, pacifism is used as a smoke-screen by the imperialist powers to hide their tremendous preparations for war. We know that the socialists of today, together with the Hoover’s, Kelloggs, Briands, Mac- Donalds, etc., only use pacifist slogans to lull the masses to sleep, to make them unaware of the blood bath being prepared. The revolu- tionary youth is not against war. They know that it is only by putting CLASS WAR against IMPERIALIST WAR that war can be done away with in general. At the time of war, they will not use pacifist phrases to fight it, but will organize the young workers in the armies of the imperialists to turn their guns against their only enemies—the capital- ists. Today, the Young Communist League of America is demonstrating against the coming imperialist war and for the defense of the Soviet Union. The struggle against imperialist war is not only a struggle of the youth. The work of defending the Soviet Union is not only the work of the youth. The entire working class must understand the significance of International Youth Day and of the struggle to defend the Soviet Union and against capitalist war. On International Youth Day the revolutionary workers must also pay special attention to the Young Communist League and help in the development of a mass rev- olutionary youth movement. Actively defend the Soviet Union, the only fatherland of the work- ers throughout the world! Fight against pacifism, the smoke-screen for the bosses’ war pre- paratio ‘ Defeat the American capitalists and their Chinese hirelings in their war against workers’ Russia! Ms Smash the military youth organizations of the besses (C.M.T.C., National Guard, etc.)! Fight for the release of John Porter! % DEMONSTRATE TODAY ON UNION SQUARE AT 6 P, M. * DAILY WORKER, W YORK, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 1929 CKES: “And TR JIVAAM agua VPSHTROV S BONas0 w, Rush It Through, Please!” By Fred Ellis ARTICLE III. ! BICKNELL, Indiana (By Mail).— The District Convention of the Na-| tional Miners Union, in session here} continued on its third day to hear the report of the committee on reso- lutions. The convention adopted a} resolution unanimously condemning and pledging a struggle against the “cooperative mine” swindle which has invaded Indiana. The resolu- tion declared that “the so-called ‘co- operative system’ of mining, is far from a genuine cooperative enter- prises, controlled, operated and directed by the workers, but is a gigantic and colossal swindle en- gineered by the small and inde- pendent operators who are commenc- ing to feel the sting of consolidation, mergers and concentration of the in- dustry in the hands of corporations, thereby affording these tadpole operators an opportunity to crawl from under in time; such schemes serve to thwart and prevent the com- plete unionization of the miners; fosteres the false illusions of “wo. ers control of industry” under capi talism; serve to reduce wages, liqui- date conditions and generally set the \pace for low standards.” The re: lution states that the only postive way for the miners to better their conlitions is by building their union, the N, M. U. into a powerful weapon, to force concessions from the em- ployers. Lewis Aids Wage Cutting. A resolution against wage cuts was unanimously adopted. The reso- lution instructs all N. U. mem- bers to fight wage cuts by strikes wherever possible. It states: “The Lewis machine of the defunct United Mine Workers of America, in league with the mineowners, are responsible for forcing numerous wage cuts on oh the miners. The Indiana ‘con- tract’ reducing wages from $7.50 to ‘$6.10’ accepted by Lewis, engineered by Cartwright, former district p: dent, now a company official,| Calls for Workers to Defend the Soviet | Un The Indiana N.M.U. Convention }later include attacks through Poland, the Baltic and Balkan states. “In furtherance of America’s war preparations the capitalists in all in- |dustries are laying off workers, |speeding up production, lowering ion brought wage cuts to ‘organized’ In- diana. We declare opposition to wag cuts under all circumstances. Our members are instructed to fight wage cuts by s » and expose those who, like the corrupt Lewi machine, aid the employers to put across wage cuts. We further con- ;demn the ‘back-to-work’ movements at a lower wage scale, w usually engineered by the c panies.” A resolution was adopted making Bicknell, Ind., the district head- quart. until the next convention, as was in the district constitution, denying any officer the right to appoint or- ganizers for the union, who shall be elected instead. The resolution on officers’ salaries was adopted unani- mous! with much applause. It states, “that our convention clearly set forth its agreement and endorse- ment of Article 9 of our National Constitution which states that the salaries of all officers and organi- zation workers shall not be more than: the’ average wage earned by the miners when fully employed, and that all aries be discontinued dur- ing strikes, officers to receive only legitimate expenses during strikes.” The resolution committee repor on the resolution against war, and for the defense of the Soviet Union, submitted by several local unions. A large number of delegates partici- pated in the discussion. Freeman Thompson, Executive Board Member from Illinois, condemned the im- perialist attack of the Chiang Kai- shek brigands on the Soviet Union and called for mass organization of the miners as the best means to de- fend the Soviet Union. The reso- ster resolution to be embodied | | wages, etc., in an effort to cheapen ion is as follows: Resolution A st. War. |dustries on a war basis and in these pitalist countries war preparations the reactionary of- armed camps, ficials of the A.F.L. and the social- erishly increas. ist party are either openly support- s for poison gas, ing these preparations (Green, Woll, tanks battleships, and) Lewis) or else confusing the workers other military and naval supplies in| and covering up these preparations preparation for a new world slaught-|with pacifist phrases and support n which the capitalists hope to|for the fake Kellogg pact and other |secure greater profits by capturing |fake peace proposals, foreign markets, fields of invest-| “Therefore be it resolved: that the ment for their already great surplus; National Miners Union of Indiana wealth, and sources of cheap|intensify its struggle against the materials for their industries. \betrayals of the reactionary A.F.L. “While these capitalist powers|leaders, for the building and have bitter antagonisms between/|strengthening of the National Min- themselves, principally they are pre-|ers Union; and that the National paring for war against the Soviet/Miners Union will wage the most Union—the one country where the | determined struggles to prevent the | working class has taken power in its| successful carrying through of own hands and has utilized that)America’s war preparations and in power to establish the 7-hour-day (6|the event of the outbreak of -war hours for miners and other workers our whole forces will be united with engaged in hazardous occupation),|the workers in other industries in unemployment and social insurance,|an effort to bring about the defeat annual vacations for workers with) of the capitalists who control this pay, a powerful trade union move-|country and to bring victory to the {ment with over 10,000,000 members, | workers through setting up a work- and many other things which have|/ers ani, farmers government; and enabled the Russian workers to im- that this convention sees in the So- prove their own conditions and give| viet Union a country where the aid to the workers in many cther working class is in power and where countrie that power is being used to improve “The attack now going on against|the lot of the working class, the the Soviet Union by the reactionary| therefore calls upon all workers to Chiang Kai-shek government of utilize every means at their com- |China, which but recently smashed) mand to defend the Soviet Union ithe Chinese trade union movement, | against the attacks of the same cap- jand killed hundreds of Chinese] italist controlled governments which |workers and peasants, is being car-|in the past have used their brutal ried on with the full support of the| police and military power against | United States government and the|striking miners and striking work- jother big imperialist powers and is|ers in other industries. the first step of the big capitalists | | “Long live the Soviet Union! ‘to crush the Soviet Union which will; “Down with capitalism!” The Fifteenth International Youth Day (Continued) In France, 9,000 schools already include military training in their |curriculum. To these we must add \the 9,000 rifle and sport clubs. In |1927, 34,000 boys with military |training entered the exdminations. | This military training of the youth lis carried on in every capitalist state. |Even Denmark pays a yearly sub- sidy of 100,000 Kr. for this purpose, ‘and even the little Esthonia provides year for year for the military train- ling of 10,000 boys. Working Youth of the Against Imperialist War rity, every young proletarian must express and show his (or her) readi- ness to fight unitedly and militantly against American and world impe- rialism, against imperialist and counter-revolutionary wars, for the World to Demonstrate leges; the activities in the National Guard, Citizens Military Training Camps, Reserve Officers Training Corps, ete., etc. But at the present moment, when the danger of war is so imminent, especially in the provocative attacks defense of the Soviet Union, and for the improvement of the general economic and political conditions of the working youth, capitalists, with the aid of the whole state apparatus, wage an unheard of terror in order to smash any re- |production costs and place the in-| | Our Fight Against War Danger. jof the Geinese generals upon the All these above facts show how | Soviet Union—must the revolution- \important it is for the revolutionary |working masses, particularly the |young workers, who are the first ones to be utilized as cannon-fodder to fight against all these war pre parations on the part of the imper! alists. The revolutionary working yout! under the leadership of the Your Communist League of the U.S./ has always been in the front ran‘ of the struggle against the danger. It is sufficient to mention important demonstrations against ism in China, in Nicaragua, in Mex- ico and the other Latin-American countries; the activities in U. S. intervention of American imperial-| As part of their war preparations, ary working youth still further in- lerease and strengthen its fight cgainst the war danger and for the ‘ofense of the First Workers and Peasants Republic—Soviet Union. It is of absolute necessity now to ruggle against the “YPSL” (Young reoples’ Socialist League) and all xe other social-reformist “pacifist” outh organizations, which try to ill and deceive the young workers, hey shall not interfere with the mperialists in their war prepara- tions, the American capitalists conduct now a brutal campaign against the economie conditions of the working army itself; the splendid examples |class—the so-called capitalist ra- of Crouch, Trumbul, Porter, etc.;|tionalization with its wage-cuts, the struggle in the schools and col. long hours and speed-up system. The sistance or interference on the part of the revolutionary workers against the imperialist war preparations. The young workers are more and more involved in the process of pro- duction and by that also in the econ- omic struggles of the entire work- ing class. It is no accident that we find today the young workers in the front ranks of all the important struggles in this country, like Pas- saic, New Bedford, Mining, Gastonia, needle trades, etc. The young workers must join the new revolutionary unions, It is ne- cessary to link up every economic struggle with the general fight against the war danger and for the defense of the Sovict Union. We must, especially, utilize the International Youth Day to mobilize the broad masses of young workers in this country for the struggle against capitalist militarism, against the war danger, and for the defense of the Soviet Union. On the day of International Youth Day, as a day of struggle of the revolutionary youth, must be linked up concretely with the every day struggles of the American workers, especially of the youth. The demonstrations on In- ternational Youth Day must also be demonstrations for the release of the militant fighter in U. S. army—John Porter, and for the defense and un- conditional release of the Gastonia strikers, the majority of whom are young workers. International Youth Day cannot be considered as an anti-imperialist campaign of merely one week or one day. International Youth Day is a continuation of Red Day (August First), and is part of our struggle against imperialist war and for the defense of the Soviet Union. In New York, as well as all over the United States, the Young Com- munist League of the U.S.A.—the gnly revolutionary youth organiza- tion in this country—will commem- international working youth solida- t ~~ one International Youth Day Z Nat ee at ar ie = sed IT —_ tea | “ It Myself” by Henri Barbusse, ioe a Pt New York. Reprinted, by permission, published and copyrighted by E. P. Dutton & Co, Incy Russian soldiers fighting in France hear of the Revolution, They establish Soviets and demand to be returned to Russia. Eleven thou- sand of them, unmoved by the combined terror of czarist and French * * * ¥ c IS well to realize what lofty moral principles—in the fullest sense of the words—inspired this passive revolt, what deep searchings of conscience. These Russian soldiers had been slow to act, had discussed the question up and down. And,then, though the message of the Russian revolution had fired them and their hearts were won, they had not acted on impulse, nor even wildly. They had not acted on impulse, nor even wildly. They had not shown themselves aggressive. Their weapon was non-resistance, and they accepted death—exactly like Gandhi’s Hindus a few years later, when they offered their naked bodies to the British machine guns and bombs and bayonets. Their standpoint was this: We have the right to choose for our- selves because the revolution has completely altered things in our own country. Our obligations no longer hold good, for we made them to men who lied to us scandalously and who have been pulled down; our former masters danced over an earthquake and were blown away by the wind. Our destiny has changed and our eyes have been opened, at one and the same time. We are not sold for all time, like cattle to butchers, because Nicholas II wanted Constantinople and, till he got it, French money too; because British imperialism wanted to keep the sovereignty of the seas and German imperialism wanted to win it; because the United States wanted to make money, like the iron-masters and cotton kings and all other all-powerful swindlers of the human race. We can no longer swallow that tremendous paradox, according to which the Germany of Kaiser Wilhelm II was the only hungry na- tion roaring after its prey in the midst of the seraphic. concert of Allied Powers. We have the right to cancel the bonds bartered with these souls and bodies of ours, and claim ourselves back for ourselves.” * * * 'HE officers’ standpoint was this: The Revolution? Bravo! Long Live Freedom! But we must carry on the war for the benefit of the English, French and Italian governments. If you ground arms, then in the first place you’re cowards; in the second, you'll be the death of your own revolution, furthermore the French gunners will send you below. > Like all healthy-minded men who want to understand and ¢arry out their honest duty, the Russian soldiers had long discussed the ques- tion among themselves, as I have said. I know, for instance, that they debated what line of action to, adopt at the time of the attack on Fort Brimont—because they were anxious to do the right thing, and not because they were afraid. And the proof lies in the words which closed their debate. Feeling in doubt and not knowing what to do, they said: “We'll go, and we'll do what our officers tell us to do.” And off they went into that shambles in column of fours. wee tie Rot now let us return, after this digression, to the palaces already familiar to us. The French authorities were frightened of these bold rebels who were now nothing but soldiers of the revolution. Such examples can be infectious: there were seventeen outbreaks of mutiny among the French troops. The serviceable masses had begun to swell out this capitalists’ war and to feel they had enough of it. The time | had come to reflect. The French authorities said to the Russian author- | ities: “Take the men back to your country, or else break them in, and | we'll lend you a hand.” But away in Russia, in a sister palace, Keren- | sky felt still more frightened than the French of these soldiers with a Cause. This lord of revolution was always afraid of revolution. He was not anxious to see the revolutionaries back at home. He tem- porized, as his custom was, then, by way of reply, sent trustworthy reinforcements to the 2nd Brigade which was hostile to the Ist. * * * ASSESS that one had been looking down that day—from an aero- plane, say—on the camp of La Courtine, one would have seen the encircling rings closing in under the orders of General Beliaev. First ring: three battalions, three machine-gun companies and four batter- ies—all that: Russian troops and French guns. Second circle: French troops; the 19th, 78th, 82nd and 105th line regiments with cavalry and artillery. On the 14th September a last ultimatum was sent by General Beliaev. It was rejected. Steps were taken to evacuate the civilian population from the village of La Courtine; round this the conscious storm, the pre-arranged disaster, could be seen concentrating. * * * | c WAS at this stage that the Meeting of Those Condemned to Die took place, the scene which I cut out of its proper place to show you first of all. Let us quickly call back to mind the phases of that moving picture. Then, the bombardment began; two bandsmen were wiped out, eight men. The enemy had dug trenches all round La Courtine. A systematic attack is launched against these eleven-thou- sand men who are without means of self-defence, who have sacrificed their lives, but not their cause. Five days the attack lasted, attended by all the horrors of war, including isolated murders by officers with no other motive than fury and sadism, including pillage, too. The last soldiers were attacked at the bayonet’s point. Several hundreds were killed, more were wounded, eight hundred were missing. Out of eleven thousand, just a little over eight thousand were left. It is impossible | to give exact numbers for the killed, because they were buried in secret at night, and all signs of their graves were concealed. To this day one may be walking over them unawares. The rest of them were heaped up, in cargo loads, in those dark, unhealthy, reeking dens called transport hulls, to be despatched to Africa. { vo this was happening, more Russian soldiers were at Salonica. And they went through a tragedy similar to the one on the French front. But their fate was due to the October revolution, the second, the real revolution. For this was not the revolution which overthrew the old orders of things, but the revolution which built a new order upon the ruins of the old. These Russians also declared: “We are tired of obeying orders from Tzarists in France or neo-Tzarists in Russia. We will no longer stain our hands in this war of the golden calves and nigger-drivers. Our duty lies at home, in our country, in the final war of liberation.” They suffered every hardship, every pri- vation. They were tortured; attempts were made to make them die of thirst, to kill them off one by one. But for all that, they did not give in, and the survivors went to rejoin their unyielding brothers in Africa. . . . IN Africa. They melted down. They were dragged from camp to camp, from inferno to inferno. Every living day was a sorrowful ion of these exiled revolutionaries. But if the scenes changed one thing remained unchanged: their re- solve. Henceforth they would not bow to old imperialism, but serve the new-born Russia. At last, after many comings and goings, after many fierce cam- paigns, and in spite of the grave consequences involved in a decision of such vast importance—at last it was decided, in high places, to send these Russian soldiers home. But their return, which might have been thought to end their tribulation, was only the beginning of another. For they were sent back to Russia to be enrolled in the army of that white outlaw, Denikin, who was paid and equipped by France and THEIR HEADS UNBOWED 1 officers, ave left at La Courtine and treated as mutineers, " England to shatter the government Friday, September 6, with mass meetings and demonstiations which are to last over the week-end. In New York, on September 6 there will be ‘a youth demonstration on Union Square, at 6 p. m. The Young Com- munist League is now preparing to make International Youth Day equal the demonstration of Red Day and to bring the slogans and the pro- gram of the League before the thousands upon thousands of young workers, Every young proletarian must join these mass meetings and demonstra- tions and raise his (or her) voice against the existing capitalist sys- COOOL TES of the peasants and workers. (To be Continued) erences initia iy On this day we must demonstrate against the capitalist offensive un- der the following slogans: War against war! United and militant proletarian hog against the capitalist off sive Defend and release the Gastonia strikers! ‘ Immediate release for John Por- er! Defend the Soviet Union against imperialist attacks! Turn the coming imperialist war into civil war and into a victorious proletarian revolution the world over! ¢ Ste Rad) cas