The Daily Worker Newspaper, September 14, 1929, Page 4

i a ex ““talist reactionaries and liberals in attacking the Party’s defense of DAILY WORKER, NEW. YORK, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1929 =e Central rear of the Communist Party of the U.S. A. PARTY LIFE Resolution In Support of the Comintern and the C. E. C. and Against the Renegades, Splitters, and Conciliators. Adopted by Unit A, | ES® Section 4, District 2, August 29, 1929. ‘ The r every unit of our Party and for every loyal Communis tand in support of line and discipline of the Communist International -and arty in the execution of the line and decisions of the CI and against-the opportunist renegades headed by Lovestone, who as the most vicious agents of social-imperialism are waging a most un aign against the Comintern, openly and brazenly fighting to split, corrrupt, and destroy our Party. The Thesis of the Tenth Plenum of the ECCI on the International Situation recounts in detail the sharpening class struggles all over the world which conclusively prove the correctness of the analysis of the world economic and political situation given by the Sixth World Congress. “Despite the prophecies of: social democracy and of the Right and conciliationist elements in unison with it, the stabilization of capitalism has not only not become’ firm, but on the contrary, it is being more and more shaken. Ever more clearrly is being confirmed the correctness of the estimation by the Sixth Congress of the present, the third iod of post-war capitalism as a period of its growing general cr‘ of an elerated sharpening of the fundamental outer and inner contradictions of imperialism inevitably leading to imper- ialist wars, to the greatest class conflicts, to a period of the unfolding of a new revolutionary up-grade movement in the principal capitalist countries, to great an nperialist revolutions in the colonial countries.” The Comintern in its Open Letter to the Sixth Convention of our Party corrected the deviations of our Party from the line of the Sixth Congress, the mistakes of the Majority and the Minority, and de- manded the liquidation of the unprincipled factionalism and the con- solidation of the Party on the line of the VI World Congress. It par- icularly condemned the “overestimation of American imperialism” and “the underestimation of the effect of the technical development and rationalization on the working élass” as “an intolerable oppor- | tunist mistake.” But the Convention became the arena of unprincipled factional struggle and was forced further away from the line of the Comintern. The Address of the Comintern to our Party again condemned the gross distortions of the line of the Sixth Congress, especially “the so-called theory of ‘exceptionalism’ which found its clearest exponents in the persons of Comrades Pepper and Lovestone.” It exposed “the factional lack of principle as an expression of opportunism which finds its expression in the fact that both groups were putting the interests of their faction above the interests of the Party.” It categorically warned, “On the strength of this, the American Communist Party is confrented now in all sharpness with the question of the danger of the political disintegration of the present leading cadres which threat- ens to undermine the whole work of the Party.” Under the leadership of Lovestone, a renegade opposition, open and concealed, erystalized itself against all the decisions of the Comin- tern and is leading a fight to split our Party. The brazen refusal to accept the, Addrress, the splitting cable, the organization of a caucus, | and the circularization of a spurious appeal among the Party members | ie e has come f lprker |The International Situation and Tasks of the Communist International Report of Comrade Kuusinen AT THE TENTH PLENUM OF THE EXECUT IVE COMMITTEE OF THE COMINTERN Ill. THE ACCENTUATION OF THE INNER CLASS ANTAGONISMS IN THE CAPITALIST COUNTRIES. The Fascisation of the Bourgeois Class Regime. The Right deny that a general fascisation process of the bourgeois class regime is going on. They tell us that bourgeois democracy is in reality capitalist class dictatorship. We know perfectly well that bour- geois democracy, in its old forms, is of not very much use to the ruling bourgeoisie in the present period. A change is going on in the bourgeois class regime, a transition from methods of parliamentarism to methods of a frankly terrorist coersive regime, to methods of civil war. These methods, which were certainly used also in the past, within the frame- work of bourgeois democracy, assume at present in the cgpitalist couns tries a dominating role in the state and the bourgeois class regime in general. This cou some countrie: of the bourgeoisie is not yet complete everywhere; in s the process is longer*than in others. This process is going on not only in Italy, Poland, Finland, the Balkan States and similar countries, but everywhere in the capitalist world. Italian fascism has, of course, also peculiar national features. One can see that some of the main features of Italian fascism are as- serting themselves more and more also in other capitalist countries. Of course it would be wrong to say that fascism reigns already everywhere, that the MacDonald regime is British fascism, etc. What asserted it- self in Italy all at once, will take considerable time in other countries, and in a number of countries it will be probably impossible to carry it through because the proletarian revolution will prevent it. Even in Germany, fascism is not yet fully developed, and this applies to a great- er extent to Great Britain. British fascism finds expression at present partly in the British regime in the colonies, partly in the fascist organ- izations in Britain itself, and partly also in the beginning of fascisation of the Labor Party and the MacDonald government. Fascism will no doubt make enormous strides in Britain in the next years, but just now the process is not complete, and let us hope that the British proletariat will put a stop to it. At present, this process is most rapid in Germany. What it looks like in reality, we can gather from the state of affairs in the states ruled by the Zoergiebels and Severings. One should com- pare this reality with Kautsky’s description of the “modern*democratic state” where “equally of defensive power” reigns (or, adds Kautsky, “equality of defenselessness,” because ‘it is obvious that the bourgeoisie which has at its disposal tanks, armored cars, ete., does its utmost to make the proletariat defenseless). According to Kautsky’s description, this state is going through a “change of function” which he compares with the transition from the state of a caterpillar to the state. of a “butterfly,” when “all is love and gay fluttering from flower to flower . . .” Can one imagine a more disgusting imposture than this and even sympathizers, the circulars ridiculing the Party’s preparation for Red Day which was a day for the mobilization of the American workers in defense of the Soviet Union, referring to the Party’s slogan cf “Down Tools” as “empty talk,” the solidarization with the capi- the Gastonia strikers, the attack upon the Trade Union Unity Con- ference, the attack upon the Party leadership as “degenerate” and | upon the Communist International as “a running sore,” the burglariza- tion and rifling of the National Office, the connection with the oppor- tunist internationl right wing—all these anti-Party acts have placed those traitors outside the ranks of Communism. | This unit declares its wholehearted support of the Communist In- ternational and of the CEC of our Party on the line of the Address and the Tenth Plenum of the ECCI. We fully endorse and support the CEC in the expulsion of the renegadés and splitters, Lovestone, Gitlow, Wolfe, Zam, Benjamin, W. Miller, W. White, E. Welsh, M. Nemser, and their ilk. We fully support the action of the Section Executive in demanding statements from the oppositionists. Sabi, Kreinin, Rosen, Anna Thompson, and the action of the district in expelling these renegades. We declare that the consolidation of our Party demands that dras- tic measures be immediately taken against all oppositionists and con- ciliators. We further demand and will support the expulsion of all conciliators from our ranks. Time for clarification can only be ex- tended to proletarian elements,who have not yet been sufficiently en- lightened. We call upon the CEC to conduct a broad educational cam- paign on the Thesis of the Tenth Plenum of the ECCI and to mobilize our Party solidly behind the Comintern for the great tasks which it faces as the vanguard of the working class of the United States in the present_period of decisive class battles. FURTHER DISINTEGRATION OF THE TROTSKYIST OPPOSITION. | M. L. Malkin, now in Great Meadows State Prison, who was an active Trotskyite prior to his being sent to jail, has recognized his | error in joining the Trotskyite oppositions and fighting against the | Communist International, renounces his association to the Trotskyite opposition and requests reinstatement in the Communist Party and the Communist International, His casé has been referred to the Distrrict | Control Commission.“ | (Copy of Tetter from’ M. L. Malkin.) Communist Party of the U.'S. A. 43 E. 125th St., New York City. Comrades: The position that the Soviet Union finds herself in at the present time with the international capitalist imperialism threatening to in- vade it at the first opportune moment and. with its allies, the Chinese butchers and war lords as its tools for an excuse to attack the Soviet Union, also with the help of the Allies faithful traitorous 2nd Socialist | International aligning and serving capitalism as they have shown them- selves in the past with the murder of Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Lux- | emburg and in the Vienna uprising by murdering thousands of workers | and also the bloody Zogriebel May Day in Berlin, etc. I am therefore fully convinced that by my following the line of the Trotsky Opposition I am fighting against the interests of the working class and I am rendering a service to our enemies, the capi- talist class, io z 1. Also by L. D. Trotsky writing for the capitalist press, attack- ing the Soviet Union and the Communist International, thereby paving the way’ into the capitalist class, the class that put me where I am now, behind prison walls, for fighting for the interests of the working class and the class that is trying to frame and burn our 15 Gastonia | workers like they did to our martyrs, Sacco and Vanzetti. | 2. The organization of a dual Pafty like the National League of | Bolshevists-Leninists and its section in this country, the so-calle] Com- munist League of America, by that weakening the prestige of the Communist Interrnational and so giving aid to the oppressors of the working class and endangering the existence of the working class fath- erland, the Soviet Union. I therefore fully denounce my former affiliations and all connec- tions with the Trotsky Opposition to take their places in the ranks of the working class by reinstating themselves into the proletarian world party, the Communist International, and rally around for the defense of the first workers’ homeland, the Soviet Union. at I also greet the Central Committee of our Party and endorse the , line of the Communist International and of the Central Committee of | the Party. I urge all comrades to fight against the formation of an anti-Proletarian Party and not to repeat the error which I have com- mitted in breaking the discipline of the Party in fighting against the Comintern and our revolutionary section in the United States, the Communist Party of America. For the Communist International, leader of the world proletariat. be * For the building of a revolutionary trade union center. “+ For the victory of the Gastonia textile workers. t Against the counter-revolutionary Trotskyites and the Opportunist ‘American and International right wing. Yours for the Soviet Union and the Communist Union. M. L. MALKIN. 19961. District Secretaris+. | ay | | | | | M. L, Malkin, H 10061. Great Meadows Kautskyite flying of the bourgeois state into “socialism” which is, in reality, nothing but transition to fascism?. Another question is, if fascisation is to be estimated as strength or weakness of the bourgeois class rule. Comrade Ewert and others imagine perhaps that they are crying out against a pessimist prognosis | when they assert that bourgeois democracy is not replaced by a fascist mane men NAY SELF "bution rs Oe. Imes New } Reprinted, by permission, frem “I | Dublished and copyrighted by E. P. THE WORST TORTURE OF ‘ALL, SYNOPSIS Five politicals who have escaped from Rumania jails meet near the Turkish frontier while enroute to Soviet Russia. They reoall tortures which the white terror has visited upon them—the cage, gherla, disease. . 8 8 “6A N old white-haired peasant, with eyes fixed ahead, was watching the days slowly, slowly dwindling—eighteen more and he would be regime. But in reality, the fascisation of the state regime is by no means a sign that the position of the bourgeoisie is being strengthened. We see the contrary by the map ,of the already fascisised parts of Europe: Italy, Finland, Yugoslavia, Rumania, Bulgaria and a few other | countries—can one assert that the power of the bourgeoisie is strongest and most firmly established in these countries? Stronger than in the | United States, Scandinavia, Britain, France? Certainly not. One could rather set up the rule that the more uncertain the ruling class | regime considers its own position, the more it endeavors to rest on a system of dictatorial methods of coercion. This has been frequently observed also in the past. In Russia, on the eve of the revolution, czarism seemed to be all-powerful, it had gathered so many bayonets around itself, but these bayonets no longer constituted a support to czarism. The fascisation of the bourgeois class rule brings us certainly face to face with a series of new tasks and problems of tactic which we | have to examine very carefully in order to develop our revolutionary methods in accordance with the situation. But it certainly does not mean consolidation of the position of the bourgeoisie. We can certainly | see that modern war technique is placing heavy weapons into the hands of the bourgeoisie for struggle against the unarmed masses (heavy war machines, aireraft, the chemical weapon, etc.). But because this modern warfare is becoming more and more dependent on industry, it is also becoming more and more dependent on the industrial proletariat. The struggle for the so-called ‘reliable army” is going on in every country, but this problem has become for the bourgeoisie tantamount to another problem, absolutely insoluble as far as the bourgeoisie is concerned, namely, a “reliable” proletariat. Some imperialist military experts, such as Fuller and others, advocate instead of million strong armies, small, highly qualified armies of profefssional soldiers strength- ened by fascist reserve forces, This is merely an imperialist utopia, a desperate attempt to escape from the blind alley into which the development of militarism has driven the bourgeoisie. It is impossible to carry on an imperialist war, firstly, without placing arms into the hands of the masses, without mobilizing the whole people, and, secondly, without the closest cooperation of all important branches of industry, especially in war time. This is the | main reason of the class struggle being concentrated at present in the enterprises. A constant struggle is going on between the bourgeoisie and the Communist Party for “reliable enterprises.” The issue of the coming war and the issue of the coming civil war will be decided in the enterprises (Hear, hear.). (To be Continued) | The Trade Union Unity Convention and the Lovestone Opposition By JACK STACHEL. Convention Confirms Line of Party PART I. The Trade Union Unity Convention confirmed the correctness of the line of the Communist International and the application of this line by the leadership of the CPSUA not only in the trade union work but in general. The Convention was the best expression of the grow- ing radicalization process now going on among the semi-skilled and un- skilled workers—the bulk of the workers in industry. The convention showed clearly that the pressure of capitalist rationalization is deepen- ing more and more the discontent of the bulk of the workers in the un- organized basic industries and has created a decided swing of the work- ers to the left. The Trade Union Unity Convention unmasked the falsity of the opportunist position of Lovestone & Co. which found ex- pression in the “theory of exceptionalism,” in the vulgar theory of the “second industrial revolution” and in the so-called theory of the “pri- macy of the outer contradictions” which in reality is a cover for the denial of the radicalization among the workers of this country and puts forth the theory of the softening of the inner contradictions on a world scale and in the U. S, in particular. The convention demon- strated the correctness of the analysis of the 6th World Congress and the confirmation of this analysis by the 10th Plenum of the Executive Committee of the Communist International, as well as the line and strategy laid down by the 4th Congress of the Red International of Labor Unions. Composition of Convention. Despite the fact that there was thruout the Party an underestima- tion of radicalization, in some sections of the Party particularly among old trade union functionaries. trained in the craft unions of skilled workers a display of pessimism, inadequate ideological preparation. and insufficient organizational work, there were represented at the. conven- tion 690 delegates from the most important and basic industries of the country and from 18 states. The bulk of the delegates came from heavy industry representing in the main semi-skilled and unskilled workers. For the first time in the history of the trade union work of the Party and the TUEL there were represented three States from the South. The Pacific coast was represented by 17 delegates. In other words the convention was in reality a National Convention at which the most important industrial States were represented. In con- trast to the convention of the TUEL in 1927 at which only 9 States were represented and not a single Southern State, the largest dele- gations came from the following States: Ohio, 172; Pennsylvania, 121; New York, 95; Illinois, 66; Michigan, 59; West Virginia, 45; Massa- chusetts, 36; Indiana, 24; North Carolina, 13; California, 11. Ther other eight states plus the District of Columbia were represented by from two to ten delegates. In the 1927 convention the New York District had two-thirds of *the 280 delegates at the convention while” the important industrial states had very small representation as for example Ohio only five delegates in contrast with 127 at the present time. The composition of the delegation was as follows: DE Twins Foo ovat tig Railroad ....... CMe) Steel and Metal.. Shoe and Leather ~b Auto ... see Rubber .... «it Needle . Electrical .. eal Building ...:. at Marine . Pe: | Food (incl. packing 35 Printing . ore Textile There were, also smaller delegations from oil, lumber, agricultural workers, tobacco workers,” public service workers, office workers, edu- cational workers, etc. ‘ Of the delegates represented 322 were from industrial unions or- ganized through the leadership of the T.U.E.L. Four of these unions were only of local character (auto, shoes, food, mariye) and three were the National Miners Union, the National Textile Workers Union, and the Needle Trades Industrial Union. 107 delegates represented directly 74 shop committees in the basic industries. Of these 34 were in the steel and metal industry; 16 in the auto industry; six on the railroads; five, rubber; three, oil; three, packing; two, electric power and one, metal mining. There were represented 14 focal unions affiliated with the ‘A. F. of L. from the printing, railroad, needle, food, metal and other industries. 126 delegates represented T. U. E. L. groups in the A. F. of L. unions. There were at the convention 64 Negro delegates from the most important basic industries (metal-mining, auto, railroad, marine and packinhouse workers). 159 of the delegates were young workers and 72 of the delegates were women. The composition of the convention shows that the convention was representative of the most important and basic industries of the coun- \ “the convention there was evident the seriousness with which the dele- try. It shows that in spite of the shortcomings in the work there has been a decided improvement in the orientation towards heavy industry and the organization of the unorganized. The new industrial unions though shown to enjoy a tremendous influence among the workers in | their industry are still numerically small and have revealed the fact that they have not yet learned how to carry on their work in line with the requirements of the present period. One of the reasons for this situation is the fact that the old union practices still prevail in the new industrial unions. This is a very important question that must be taken up and solved. The number of shop committees though fairly large and repre- | senting some of the most important and largest plants in basic in- dustry and in factories employing a total of 600,000 workers, neverthe- | less was small in comparison with the possibilities, Were it not for | the underestimation of radicalization, pessimism and inactivity the | number of the shop committees at the convention could have been multiplied manifold. However, it must be borne in mind that these were only a fraction of the shop committees actually in existence. In the district and local conferences there were many more shop com- mittees represented. Not all the shop committees could finance a dele- gate to Cleveland. It must be borne in mind that all districts and locals were compelled to finance their delegates both ways. At the same time we must bear in mind that not all the shop committees are really functioning bodies having a real influence in their shop. The results show that in those plants where the Party nucleus was active and published a factory bulletin the shop committee was not only | formed, but the organization of the unorganized workers is on the way. | Only with the real improvement of the work and increase in the num- ber of our factory nuclei will we really make a serious start in organ- izing the. masses in trustified industry. Insufficient Activity in A. F. of L. Unions. The small number of local unions affiliated to the A. F. of L. at the convention is a reflection of the insufficient activity in the A. F. of L. unions. It also reflected the hesitation on the part of many Party. members to bring the T.U.U.L. Convention into these unions. The Party must increase its activity manifold in the A. F. of L. unions. With the organization of the T.U.U.L. we are not abandoning the work- ers organized in ‘the A. F. of L. unions to the bureaucrats, but on the contrary, under the leadership of the T.U.U.L. which combines the work of the industrial unions and the work in the old A. F. of L. unions, we will give the bureaucrats a bigger and better fight than they have ever faced. We will win the masses from the bureaucrats. Large Negro Delegation. The Negro delegation was the largest in the history of the labor movement at any labor convention in this country. At the same time it was only a fraction of what it could have been if real systeniatic work had been conducted among the Negro workers in the preconven- tion period. Similarly it was a great shortcoming that there was not a single Negro delegate from the far South. There were 14 Neggo minersefrom the West Virginia but no Negro workers from North and South Carolina, Virginia, Alabama, etc, _. Also criticism must be made of the fact that though for the first time three southern states were represented, there were no delegates at all from South Carolina, Alabama, Tennessess, Kentucky—important states of textile, metal, electric power and mining. Convention Expression of Radicalization. It was not only the composition of the convention but the splendid fighting spirit and proletarian enthusiasm that gave evidence of the growing radicalization of the masses of semi-skilled and unskilled workers, who bear the burden of capitalist rationalization. Throughout gates tackled their problems. This seriousness reflected the growing ripeness of the movement brought about by the severe exploitation and unbearable conditions ynder which the workers in the rationalized heavy industries live. This was particularly evident in the numerous industrial conferences held and in the special conferences for Negro work, work among women, «the Youth conference and the conference for work in the South and | among the colonial workers. Particularly intense was the Negro con-_| ference which consisted of the 6# Negro delegates and was attended by many white delegates. Historic Role of Convention. ‘ . Furthermore the convention was fully aware of the historic role that it will play. The delegates realized that the Trade Union Unity | League was called forth by the present period of post war capitalism in which the contradictions are becoming ever sharpened and in which the workers in all their struggles must face the combination of trusti- fied capital, the capitalist state and the social reformists—A. F. of L. bureaucracy, the social and the Muste-ites. The convention was, ‘conscious of the fact that they were creating an instrument of a new ee out of prison. Not a long time, eighteen days, but all the same there wasn’t much time to lose. ... Soon he had only had three days left. Two days before his time was up, they lowered him down into the white mush that burns to the bone. “Mr. Constantine Cernat, prison governor, Governor General of Prisons in greater Rumania, was on his way back from his estates in Bessarabia when he was informed of the spread of the typhus epidemic which he had long known of. “He got quite worked up: ‘This is becoming serious!’ he said and dropped everything to hurry off a telegram to Galata, containing these simple words: “Until further orders, no Galata prisoners to work on my lands.” “For he knew that precautions must be taken against any spread of infection.” o. wots PT AECDOR im his turn took up the tale, to tell us of yet worse memories, locked up in his exprisoner’s head. He began his story in different fashion: “We fellows were in Jilava, being beaten, maltreated and driven, step by step, like the rest towards the charnel-house and the cemetery. But what made us miserable, more than tortures and filth, was the thought in our heads: ‘The Cause is done for’—those were the words we said to ourselves. “Our voices have been silenced—and all the other voices outside,’ we said. For when you can’t Kear anything you think there is dead silence. And there we were; sentenced for five years, ten years, or more. In other words (spades must be called spades), condemned to death. For had not the revolution, which would have brought salva- tion to the poor, been locked up in prison with us and condemned to death? Was it so? All our efforts, all our stubborn labor, love of wife and children, hopes of a share in the earthly paradise deliberately cast aside, and all, all our sufferings gone for nothing!, “That’s what we were saying, each one to himself, for to talk amongst ourselves, even to trifles, wasn’t to be thought of. And as for solemn thoughts like that, well, you can guess! Never mind, we were all thinking the same, as we’ve discovered since then. “In one word, the flame inside us was dying down. We were sink- ing to the level of suffering beasts. Pretty well all that we thought of now, was the prison diet and our treatment. eo Ae 8 ‘ “THEN we started the hunger strike, automatically almost. In other 4 words, we had had enough of it, and row we took to saying so, out loud. After all, nothing could be worse than our condition at the time. And if we had to chuck up the sponge, better chuck it up of our own free will than by theirs; at least we could rob them of that satis- faction. : “Eighty of us together, for a week at a stretch, began’ refusing the scum and skim which keeps Rumanian prisoners from dying of star- vation, stuff which makes your stomach turn against its hungry self at meal-time, until you only feed yourself by sheer force of will. “Well, this Hunger-strike succeeded. “It was surprising how it stcceeded. Raschkanu, the war minister, granted more than anyone dared hope for. We were alowed all sorts of extravagant privileges: a short turn in the yard, government news- papers to read, no more stick, no more cage without good cause... . “‘This is too good to last,’ said some. VRS 8 aa But others said: “Fhey’ve had a fright. Besides, who can tell, perhaps the working classes haye grown strong out?in the: world, on, top hs ‘ “During April, the governor called us together and made a speegh.. “‘The 1st of May,’ he said, ‘will be Easter for our holy mother the orthodox church. You shall have meat and cakes and wine.’ “Many thanks,’ some voices said, snarling, ready to ‘spit, like. “He couldn’t have heard, for he went on: “That is not all. The 1st of May is Labor Day too. -You can celebrate your feast as you like. You are free to arrange the. cere- monies to please yourselves. On the 1st of May you can talk and sing all day long, as much as you like!’ . . . Ky abe man who said all this was quite the smartest most up-to-date thing in prison warders; his name was Commander Arghir, and once you've mentioned his name, no more need be said. “So these words of his were very queer. What was still queerer was that they came true. We were allowed to arrange our own cele- brations for May Day, just as if we had been in our own homes, or better still, in a free country. “So, on the Ist.of May, there were revolutionary songs at Jilava. We had pow-wows. Just like a regular meeting, my boy. We ap- pointed a committee and stewards, and the orators spoke against capi- talism and explained the meaning of May Day to an audience of politi- cal prisoners gathered in the prison yard. Of coursegthere were a few pick-pockets or common murderers who slipped in among the audience. But after all, that was no worse than Siguaranza agents, who slip into political meetings; and then again, talking of common law, it would be quite worth calculating how often the Social Order itself deserved to come up before a real judge and be punished as guilty party. There was a motion, carried unanimously, and to finish up we sang the Internationale. And the soldiers on sentry duty on the twenty- five-foot rampart wall which overlooks the underground fottress of Jilava, struck stiff with amazement, listened to this song rising up out of the tombs. * 8 « “THEN night came, and we were shut up in the same old cells, and after such a day it was worse being locked in than ever before. And all the more because the day had lasted long and we had been able to see the stars in the sky—stars that we hadn’t seen for years, and would see no more.” Theodor stopped speaking, “What next?” ‘ “Nothing. Just the same as before. And being the safe, it was much worse, you see, after these celebrations. “The old regime began once more. All the promises they had made us were dead letter promises. They had rekindled in us the flame that was dying down inside us, and then, nothing but darknéss, isola- tion, silence—not to mention blows and bad treatment. We were, I tell you, more irrevocably buried than before: I saw that soon enough when the old prison regulations started again after May Day. . “There’s a story they telj about the days of the Inquisition—how the inquisitors found devilish delight in inflicting a new torture on the poor brutes locked up in their dark in pace; ‘the torture of hope’ it was called. They would withdraw the guards for one night, open the. doors, giving their victim the idea that he was free to escape, letting him reach the very threshold of the world of freedom and light. Then they suddenly caught him again, when he had one foot alre: set on the soil of the free, (To be Continued) a pl a penn type—a center of revolutionary industrial unions capable of ‘érganizing the masses of the exploited workers im the ‘struggle against capitalist rationalization. : . ETA .p High Political Level. It is because the convention was conscious of its role that it not only enthusiastically and unanimously adopted the program of the T.U.U.L. and its constitution which provides for the structure required in the present stage of capit development, the convention did not only enthusiastically support the sloganse of organize the unorganized, seven-hour day, full equality for Negro workers, etc, but. the con- vention demonstrated its ripeness reflecting in this the growing radi- ‘ealization of the masses—in its tremendous ‘outbutst of “proletarian enthusiasm for the defense of the Soviet Union, and: the building ‘of socialism in the Soviet, Union as embodied in the five-year’ plan. The convention was the best answer to all renegades—Lovestonites and Cannonites who speak about “running sores” and the “degeneration” of the Soviet Union. One of the questions most seriously discussed was the struggle against imperialist war and war preparations, (To be Continued) N i IH \ : ‘ ‘