The Daily Worker Newspaper, September 20, 1929, Page 4

. tern Address. pes eed By “therCoMprodsilys Publishing 6. 5 Wgeiware, New’ York. City, N./¥. Telephone Stuy Feng fadréss and mail all checks to the Daily Worker, — By Mail (in New York or SUBSCRIPTION RATES: rg Union Unity League RWGdhition Adopted by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the U.S A. ‘ The Trade Union Unity Convention, by its composition, the ex- tent of its representation.and its readiness to seize upon the corr program of class struggle, became a living confirmation of the cor ness of the line of the Sixth World Congr the Fourth Congress the Red International of Lah bor Unions and the Tenth Plenum of the Executive Committee of the Communist International and appli tion of this line by the present leadership of the Communist F the United States of America. The Convention constituted in it the growing radicalization of the of the United States under the pressure of capitalist rationalization. The success of the conven- tion was in itself a striking refutation of the theory of exceptio put forward by Lovestone and Pepper and which found expr though in different forms, in the pre-convention thesis of both the former majority and minority of the Part It was the best evidence of the correctness of the criticism of the Comintern contained in the Open Letter to the Sixth Convention of the Party and in the Comin- The convention's character and vitality, coming at this time in this country, showed up the ridiculousness of the non-Marx theory of “primacy of outer contradictions” on the basis of Lovestone is trying to ‘substitute the “second industrial revoluti the softening of the inner contradictions for the growing radicalization of the workers—a result of the sharpening of the inner contradictions of American imperialism which is part of the growing world cri of capitalism and can not escape from it despite its continued growth, but is undergoing a sharpening of all its contradictions, precisely be- cause of its development. The formation of the Trade Union Unity League is of the development of the class struggle in the United § of the growing crisis of world capitalism and the growing radi tion of the masses. The T. U. U. L. is the new instrument’ for the United States, called forth by the present period of capitalism, in a country where the bulk of the workers are unorganized and where the A. F. of L. has been reduced to a narrow organization of the most highly skilled workers, the aristocracy of labor. The T. U. U, L. cor- responds to the fact that the semi-skilled and unskilled, the unorgan- ized workers, are the most revolutionary section of the working class. The T. U.’U. L. is based upon these sections of the working cl " The Trade Union Unity League structure, form and method as a revolutionary organization of struggle are based on the international experience of the working class struggle—are part of the experiences and traditions of the Red International of Labor Unions of which the T. U. U. L. is the United States Section. It is a part of the world- wide tendency for the workers to develop new forms of struggle against the combination of trustified capital, the state and the social fascists. The T. U. U. L. will coordinate the struggles of the exploited masses, initiate the struggle of the organization of the unorganized, conduct the masses into struggle against capitalism, the capitalist state, and the social fascists. The T. U. U. L. will organize and direct the work in the old A. F. of L. unions that still retain masses within them, and win these masses for revolutionary struggle. The T. U. U. L. will coordinate the struggle of the workers in the new industrial unions with the struggles developing against the A. F. of L. bureau- cracy within the A. F. of L. unions. The T. U. U. L. will develop into the center of the American workers, as against the A. F. of L. which is a tool of American imperialism. The Convention, recognizing this historic role, recognized that its aims can only be achieved in the struggle against all forms of social reformism and its program of class collaboration. The convention recognized that it cannot separate the struggle against trustified capi- tal and the government from the struggle against the A. F. of L. and f a dramatic demonstration of - social Musteites who are part of the machinery of capitalism. SOME ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND SOME SHORTCOMINGS. In appraising the success and the scope of the convention .of the T. U. U. L, it is necessary that .the weaknesses be not overlooked. There was inadequate ideological preparation and insufficient or- ganizational work. Pessimism, underestimation of radicalization and the failure of the districts to carry through the tasks outlined for them all militated against the success of the convention. Nevertheless there were represented 690 delegates from the most important and basic industries of the country and from 18 states. The bulk of the dele- gates cdme from heavy industry and the overwhelming number of the | - delegates represented semi-skilled and unskilled workers in the basic industries. For the first time in the history of the T. U. E. L. there were represented two Southern states. The Pacific Coast was repre- sented by 17 delegates. The miners had the largest delegation, num- bering 181, and the auto and metal industries were represented by 52 and 66 delegates respectively. There were 20 delegates from the railroads, 8 from the marine workers, 11 rubber workers, 11 from the electrical industry including two large electric power plants employ- | ing, together, 65,000 workers. Other delegations included 38 textile, 54 needle workers, 41 building trades workers, 35 food workers, among them packing house workers, 15 shoe and leather workers, as well as smaller delegations from lumber and oil. There were at the convention 64 Negro delegates, most of them from the basic industries (mining, packing house, marine, railroad, metal and auto). There were 159 young workers and 72 women in the total delegation. There were also Latin American, Chinese and Japanese delegates, principally from the Pacific Coast. Industrial unions organized under the leadership of the T. U. E. L. were. represented by 382 cclenn Of these unions, 3 were national unions (mining, textile, needle) nd four are of local character (shoe, food, marine, auto). The membership of these unions was shown to be very small and the number proved that many good opportunities in organizing local unions were not taken advantage of. In the selection of delegates, insufficient ideological preparation was carried on. In many cases, the delegates were elected from the top without the mem- bership being drawn in. vail in the work of these new unions, Shop committees in the basic industries were represented by 107 delegates. In all, they represented 74 shop committees (34 steel and metal, 16 auto, 6 railroad, 5 rubber, 3 oil, 3 packing, 2 electric power, 1 metal mining, etc.). While this is a good beginning, it must be stated that inactivity, the number of shop committees would have been multiplied manifold. There were represented 14 A, F. of L. local unions including print- ers, railroad, metal, food, needle, cigarmakers, public service workers, ete. T. U. E. L. groups in the A. F. of L. unions were represented by 126 delegates. This reflected the slackening of the work in the old unions and the abandonment of the masses to the bureaucracy. It also reflected the hesitation on the part of Party members to carry ‘on a struggle for the convention in the A. F. of L. unions. COMPOSITION SHOWS DEEP RADICALIZATION. The composition of the convention delegates revealed the growing readiness for struggle among the semi-skilled and unskilled workers “*“who‘bear the burden of capitalist rationalization. This was already indicated by the Seuthern Textile Conference. The large Negro dele- gation is a reflection of the growing importance of the Negro in the basic industries of the country and their readiness to struggle on the | ~ one hand as a class and on the other hand as an oppressed race. The large number of women and young workers also reveals their grow- ing importance in rationalized industry, bearing a double exploitation --against which they are ready to struggle in increasing numbers. In a “word, the Trade Union Unit? Convention, by its very composition, re- , oS Party and the T. U, E. L., in the main there has been an orientation if it was not for pessimism, underestimation of radicalization and | This showed how old union practices still pre- | 4 delegates were there despite the lack of spe- activ the conven _ INDUSTRIAL CONFERE Ss. The intensity of the work of the convention, the seriousness with which the delegates took up tk problems, the persistence and in- terest dis: d in the 16 industrial conferences and in the special con- ferences of Negro, you delegates well as the conference for work among Latin A s and for the building of Labor Unity, and the § hern conference, was rther evidence of the ripeness of the movement and deep- ization of the masses. Not only the confe meet according to schedule, but many of them met | two and three times to continue their unfinished work. These confer- ences took up the detailed problems of the workers in the various industri nd hundreds of delegates participated in the business of the conferences giving reports, making suggestions, criticism, ete. Particularly, the Negro Conference displayed revolutionary energy and : after all the other conferences had adjourned, this con- mued to meet and take up its problems. Dozens of white delegates active in stries where Negro workers are employed par- ticipated in this rence, The Mining Confere in which over 200 regular and fraternal delegates participated, was another example of the seriousness with which the delegates approached their problems. The Youth Confer- ence was the best ind al conference of young workers ever held and corresponds to the easing importance of the youth in ration- alized industry, PROLETARIAN CONVENTION REFUTES OPPORTUNISTS. The discussion on the floor of the convention tended to become agitational in character and lacked sufficient concreteness. This was partly overcome by the putting forth of speakers from time to time who tried to lead the ussion back to the problems raised in the re- ports but did not suc d entirely. Much of this shortcoming was, however, overcome in the work of the special conferences. The delegates further displayed the growing radicalization of the masses in their response to the issue of the Gastonia defense. They showed that they understood the real meaning of Gastonia. They unanimously rejected the liberal point of view put forth by the Love- stoneites thru Frank Vrataric and adopted with great enthusiasm the policy of the Party. Not only did the delegates demonstrate enthusiastically for the building of new unions, the organization of the unorganized, the seven- hour day, etc., but they showed the high level of the convention re- flecting the radicalization of the masses in their tremendous outburst of proletarian enthusiasm for the defense of the Soviet Union and the five-year plan of building socialism in the Soviet Union. They gave the best answer to the Lovestoneites and Trotskyites (Cannon) who speak about “running sores” and the “degeneration of the prole- tarian dictatorship.” % One of the questions most seriously discussed by the delegates was the struggle against imperialist war and the struggle against American imperialism. The delegates enth ically endorsed affiliation with the Red International of Labor Unions and the Pan-Pacifie Secretariat, and close relationship with the Latin American Confederation of Labor, recognized that the struggle against the A. F. of L, bureaucrats, the socialists and the Musteites is part of the struggle against capitalism and the capitalist state. They showed in unhesitating manner that the Lovestoneites have nothing in common with the proletariat of the United States by unanimously defeating the Musteite resolution on the Labor Party put forth to the convention by Benjamin Gitlow. There was no challenge to the line of the Convention. The few Lovestone followers who were there did not dare challenge the line of the Convention in the face of the militant spirit of the Convention. One or two Trotskyite followers who were there similarly did not dare challenge the line of the Convention. The official Musteites had no support whatsoever in the Convention. Musteism has no real follow- ing among the semi-skilled and, unskilled workers. It at best reflects the attitude of the skilled workers organized in the A. F. of L. who “flected the deep process of radicalization of the semi-skilled and un- | skilled, workers, the bulk of the workers itt industry. The convention | also reflected the fact that despite the many shortcomings of the | towards the organization of the unorganized, towards the workers in | & the basic industries and increased, though entirely inadequate activit: among the Negrd masses. The fact that there were represented 4 states in contrast to the T. U. E. L. convention of 1927 at which only 9 | states were represented is an indication that the T. U. U. L, has estab- lished itself as a national organization. While progress has been made in the “South, as witnessed by the fact that there were textile dele- a gates from North Carolina and mipers and others from West Virginia, Pe “Alabama; in which. states are most important indutries, principally a it was a great shortcoming that there were no delegates from the im- portant states of South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia and mining, textile, steel, electric power. The fact that there was not a ) single. Negro celegers from the South is evidence of the still existing underestimation of Negro work and the capitulation before difficulties. Also, the total number of Negro delegates was small in comparison with the possibilities. For example, New York and Chicago, the two , are being robbed of their skill and who will find that only the Trade | Union Unity League will champion their interests as the new recruits | in the main bulk of the workers, the semi-skilled and unskilled. Muste- | ism is trying to save the A. F. of L. for the capitalists as the bulwark | of reaction. It is only the failure of the Trade Union Unity League | to energetically carry on the struggle for the organization of the un- organized that can make it possible for them to fool, for a time, some | workers with their “left” phrases. The Musteites have shown their | strikebreaking role in Elizabethton, Marion, S. C., and wherever else | they entered the field. Their role is the savior of the A. F. of L. | bureaucracy and to attack the left wing. They are the most danger- | ous enemies of the labor movement. The T.U.U.L. must conduct a merciless struggle against Musteism, The Lovestonites, while not daring to challenge the main line of the Convention, while their “expert” trade union leader, Ben Gitlow, | did not-even take the floor and face the militant proletarian conven- tion, composed of the great majority of workers in the shops, did put forward two resolutions challenging the line of the Party: on the Labor Party. ani on the Gastonia Defense. They did not even dare | defend these resolutions, but merely handed them in, in writing. Both of the resolutions were unanimously defeated, even the few Lovestone- ites could not summén enough courage to vote for their own resolutions. The Lovestonites, While not putting forward their main line against | the line of the Party in presenting these two resolutions, were the mouthpiece of the Cannonites and Musteites whose line on the Labor Party and the Gastonia defense is the same as that of the Lovestone- ites. TASKS AND OPPORTUNITIES, ‘ The Convention unanimously adopted the program, constitution and the resolutions, and elected a national Committee of 53, nearly half of whom are at present working in the factories. The bulk of the mem- largest districts, had a totally inadequate delegation and not from the | bers of the National Committee are from the basic industries, among ’ * ‘ eee districts to drasv the Negro workers into ie Convention of the Trade |Carpenter: “Pardon Me Sir, Can You Tell Me Where to Find the Ly nchers?” —By Ellis | satisfied with bringing together our little skeleton unions into a central them seven Negroes, four young workers and three women. (In the election of the National Committee, Gitlow was nominated and received only two votes out of the 690 delegates.) The National Committee elected a board of 15 with representatives from ‘he most important industries. The officers elected at the convention include the general secretary, the assistant secretary-treasurer, the national organizer and the national Negro organizer. Of the four officers, two new workers have been drawn into the leadership of the T.U.U.L. Comrade Schmies from the auto industry and Comrade Ford. More attention must be given in the future to drawing fresh forces direct from the struggle in the basic industries into the leadership of the T.U.U.L. The con- vention decided to organize a Youth, Women’s and International De- partment. In approaching the tasks following the convention, we must bear in mind that the convention showed that the Party had fallen behind the mood of struggle of the masses. in the pre-convention stage. Pes- simism, underestimation of radicalization, theories to the effect that “we are merely in the agitational and not yet in the organizational stage,” etc, were great handicaps militating against the organization of the masses for struggle. This pessimism is a distinct manifestation of the right danger. In the post-convention stage, the ideological work must therefore be directed towards liquidating all these remnants of the right wing tendency within the Party, and special efforts must be made to catch up with the mood of the masses and their readiness for struggle. Any relaxation or inactivity at this time means a failure to take advantage of the workers’ growing mood for struggle. A fundamental task is the immediate bridging of the gap between the fighting spirit and composition at the convention and the absence ot any real organized T.U.U.L. in even the most important districts ani cities. Immediate steps must be undertaken through delegates’ | reports, local conferences, mass meetings, factory gate meetings, etc., to popularize the program of the T.U.U.L. Convention and to utilize | these activities for the setting up and strengthening of the T.U.U.L. | machinery everywhere. Unions, shop committees, left wing groups, | etc., that sent delegates to the Cleveland Convention or the various district_and local conventions must become an organic part of the Trade Union Unity League. They must carry on a campaign among the workers in the shops to win them for a real support of the activ- ities, program, etc., of the T.U.U.L. They must make Labor Unity their official organ, not merely in words but by popularizing it among the broad masses. The unions affiliated to the T.U.U.L. must overcome the old prac- tices and carry on their work on the basis of the program and consti- tution of the T.U.U.L. and in line with the decisions and experiences of the R.I.L.U. They must aim to develope the initiative of the masses, inaugurate a real proletarian democracy, fight against all manifesta- tions of bureaucratism, develop rank and file organizing committees, mass defense corps, etc. BUILD FIGHTING UNIONS! At the same time we must not make the mistake of becoming self- body but bear in mind that only through leading the masses in struggle against the capitalists, the state and bureaucrats will the T.U.U.L. be built. The T.U.U.L. and its sections must guard against becoming, in the eyes of the masses, small propaganda sects but must be the fighting unions putting forth the basic demands of the workers and mobilizing them for struggle. In this spirit must the coming conventions of the needle, mining and textile unions be held. They must mobilize for a real struggle to organize the unorganized; similarly, the coming conventions to estab- lish national unions in the auto and shoe industries must prepare for a real national campaign to organize the unorganized. Our organizing _ committees in steel, packing, etc., must really become living centers uniting and directing the struggles of the workers in their industries. One of the most pressing immediate tasks is the Charlotte Conference October 12, and the general building of the T.U.U.L. in the South. The work in the A. F. of L. unions must be strengthened. Parti- cularly in the building and printing trades. The policy of the A. F. of L. thus far has been to ignore the T.U.U.L. and to concentrate fire upon the individual left unions. They will now open fire against the T.U.U.L. as it becomes a real factor in the struggle of the workers, It is no accident that immediately following the T.U.U.L. convention the New York Times carries a front page story about the “disintegra- tion of Communism in the United States.” The T.U.U.L. which in the past has neglected work among the Negro masses must now in earnest undertake the organization of the Negro workers. A special ideological campaign must be undertaken to overcome white chauvinism and undé¥estimation of work among the Negro masses. Similarly, we must carry on a campaign among the workers against the wrong attitude towards work among working women and working youth. A struggle must be conducted against all craftism, localism, ete. Without overcoming all these deviations, the T.U.U.L. will not succeed in becoming the organization of the masses of exploited work- ers. In order to carry out these tasks, the Party forces must be mobil- ized to the fullest extent. Party fractions must be built up and directed by the respective industrial departments. A campaign of building the Party, the creation of factory nuclei, the building of shop papers, the building of the Daily Worker and the entire Party press must be undertaken in all earnest. This work must be concentrated principally in the basic industries. Special attention must be paid to drawing Negro workers into the Party. The Cleveland Convention and the local convention of the T.U.U.L. have fully demon- strated the important role of the factory nuclei and factory papers. In these plants where we had live nuclei and factory papers, shop committees were formed and the work of organizing the workers is under way. The extending of the base of the Party and its influence is one of the conditions for organizing the unorganized and a guarantee for the winning of the support of the masses for the line of the Party. It is the laying of the basis not only for a powerful Trade Union Unity League but for a mass Communist Party. 8 « AIWOI $8.00 a year; $4.50 six months; $2.50 three months ;? N.Y By Mail (outside of New York): $6.00 a year; $3.50 six months; $2.00 three months # ntral Organ of the Communist Party of the U.,S. A. i ig ze a 1 SAW IT= Henri New ie Reprinted, by permission, from “I Saw It Myself” by published and copyrighted Wy E. P. Dutton & Co» Inew AND WE WERE CELEBRATING PEACE. . SYNOPSIS Samuel Schwartzbard, an ex-soldier and a naturalized Frencll- man, returns to his native town in the Ukraine to find that the entire Jewish quarter has been wiped out in blood that day by the Atamon: Petliura. 8, 4 3 . RT a ¥ OMETIMES Petliura’s Cossacks had forced mothers to hold ‘their babies to the knife with their own hands; the neck was sliced through and the tiny body, streaming with blood, left in’ the mother’s arms; her body they ran through a few moments after—when she had had the time to sound the gulfs of despair to their very depths. In other houses, they had made the victims strip; the whole fam- ily grouped together, naked; lean old men, fat women, willowy girls— all displayed their bodies, overwhelmed with terror and shame. “And now, dance!” They raised their legs, gambolled, danced, and were « struck down one by one; the last survivor was kept dancing by mur- derous threats until a bullet’ pierced him through forehead or chest, and he toppled over onto the heap of his own kith and kin, They had hung naked Jews by their hands to the ceiling ina room where a wood fire was alight. The soldiers then had played at slicing off the biggest lumps of flesh at a blow; then they roasted these lumps of meat and put them to the mouths of the tortured onlookers. Some had been forced to eat their clothes before being killed. One old man had had his beard shaved off and been made to eat it; then, when they had laughed enough at the sight, they had bled him. Young Spector, they said, had been killed before his father’s eyes, then the father had been ordered to lick his own child’s blood. : They had hacked off arms, legs, lips, put out eyes, disembowelled pregnant women—and if inside the houses they had mostly worked with the steel, in the streets they had used rifles and machine-guns to fire on those jumping out of the windows to escape. > 4 * ee AN? well they knew, these few shipwrecked survivors floating on a 2 sea of blood, who could only bleed tears, that this pogrom in Pros- kurov—which kad accounted that day, in three hours, for three thou- sand five-hundred to four thousand victims, eighteen hundred of whom were dead—was only one little episode in the great campaign of ex- termination against the Jews which -had descended upon the country. now that the Head Ataman Petliura held it in his clutches, Prosku- rov, Elisabetgrad, Jitemir, Bar, Petchera, Filchtine, and fifty other towns and districts in the Ukraine, only indicates the scenes of the worst massacres in the long tale of martyrdom. Between 1917. and 1920, according to the lowest estimates, one hundred thousand people’ were massacred, every one innocent in the eyes of heaven. Let is not be said that these are exaggerations. Attested state- ments exist, countless reports, detailed records of inquiries; such 2 mass of documents that facts cannot be questioned and that one thing only is assured—namely that many of these horrors have never come to light. Li z Let it not be said that the Jews have themselves to blame for their extermination. On the contrary, these were peaceful tribes, having nothing to do with politics. Let it not be said that the commander-in-chief is not responsible for the wildness of his subordinate officers. However great.the dis- gust we may feel for those man-faced beasts called Semessensko, Pa- lienko, Anghel, Petrov, Kozyr-Zyrko, and for many others besides (who are perhaps flourishing and strutting about at this very moment. in some capital, like the ruffian Makhno in Paris), for all those who organized the main pogroms during the vile period of Petliura’s mili- tary dictatorship—Petliura is to blame over and above them all. (To be Continued) ! ROAD TO PROLETARIAN REVOLUTION i By CHARLES E. RUTHENBERG. f (From “The Farmer-Labor United Front” 19238.) E By what methods can we win leadership over and the support of a majority of the working class for our program of the proletarian Tevo- lution and the dictatorship of the proletariat? There are two methods through which it might be conceived that. this could be done. The first of these is the method of propaganda; that is, that we should present to the working class our indictment of the capitalist system, facts about the exploitation of the working class, the theory of surplus value, the class struggle and the materialist con- ception of history, and by publishing books, newspapers, pamphlets on the subject and through agitation at meetings, convert a majority of the working class to a belief in our analysis of the existing capitalist. social order and the way in which the evils of this system can be abolished. This method of propaganda to win the support of a ma- jority of the workers is the method which has been employed by the socialist labor party. It is the method now advocated by the prole- tarion party. These organizations believe that through a theoretical prc .tation of the fundamental Communist principles a majority of the working class can be won for the support of these principles and that some fine day the proletarian revolution will come about. Such a method, however, will never bring about the proletarian revolution. If we were to depend upon propaganda alone we could wait for another million years and there would be no proletarian revolution nor a dic- tatorship of the working class. We must carry on educational work in our Party. We must carry on educational work among sympathizers of our Party. It is our task to educate as many workers as possible to an understanding of the fundamental principles of Communism but we cannot rely“upon that method alone to achieve the proletarian revolution. The method which has been adopted by the Communist Interna- tional and the Communist Parties the world over is quite @ different method. The method of the: Communists is one of the things which distinguishes the Communist Party from previous working’ class or- ganizations which have sought to bring about the proletarian revo- lution, As Communists we know that the capitalist system brings about continual conflicts between economic groups in the present social order. The wage workers come jin ,constant conflict with the capi- talists over questions affecting their daily lives. The workers desire higher wages. They want shorter hours of labor. They want improve- ment in their working conditions. Struggles over these questions even broader questions grow out of the fundamental conflict of wage workers and the capitalists. These conflicts are not matters: theory. They are hard, bitter, everyday struggles which decide the standard of living of the workers and their families. * Similarly the exploited farmers find themselves in conflict with the exploiters from day to day. The farmers struggle against’'the bankers who hold the mortgages on their land.. Phey are in continual conflict with the marketing organizations to which they’ sell their products. Their interests are in opposition to those of the railroads which transport their goods. Thus both wage workers and farmers are engaged in a continual struggle with the capitalists. 4 The policy of the Communist Party is to associate itself: with the workers in the everyday struggle. Communists fight with: the wage workers and farmers in support of the demands which ‘they: make, of the capitalists because it is in these struggles and through these struggles that the workers learn the character of the capitalist sys- tem, and there is developed the will to power ofthe workers, the de- sai ay to triumph over the enemy who: explojts and oppresses them. The everyday struggles of the workers create the most-favorable condition for establishing the influence and leadership of the Com: munist Party, The cea learn by- experience the character of the capitalist system. They learn by their experience in the struggle that the government under the capitalist system is merely an agency of the capitalists for maintaining the system of exploitation. They learn this, not through theoretical presentation and proof of the facts, but through the hard knocks of their experience with the capitalists and with the government which supports the capitalist system... es ht While fighting with the workers to realize their immediate de- mands against the capitalists, it is the part of the Communists. to point out to them at every stage of the development of. the struggle that these immediate demands cannot solve their problems,. Thus, in the process of the struggle itself, the workers become more conscious of their class interests and of their class enemy, It is in the process of struggle that the revolutionary will of the workers develops,’ and through these struggles they are led step by step to the final struggle of the proletarign revolution. ne E ? | | ) &