The Daily Worker Newspaper, October 10, 1929, Page 4

4 by the Comp: New York ¢ he tae Central Organ of the ¢ Baily ae Worker) 2° By Ma!! (in New York onl By Mail 7 : $8.00 a year; (outside of New York): $6.00 a year; oa “2% SUBSCRIPTION RATES: $2.50 three month $2.00 three month $4.50 six month $3.50 six month: ie Notice'of C. C. C. Action on the Case of E. Kobel, Esthonian Editor E. Kobel, who until now was editor of the Esthonian pape Tim,” has been expelled from the Communist Party of the U. S. for anti-Comintern and anti-Party stand and actions as manifes' an ideological solidarization with the renegade Lovestone and his group of disrupters and splitters, ip attending the meetings of this group, and in a defiant attitude toward authoritative Party committees and their decisions. CENTRAL CONTROL COMMITTEE C. P. OF U. S. A. CHAS. DIRBA, Sec’y. GUATEMALA AND ITS TRADE MOVEMENT By GUMES UNION The social structure of Guatemala has changed very little in re- lation with that which it had when it was a colony of Spain. The trade union and mutualist organizations of half a century ago still exist. The workers and artisans were able to organize only for mutual aid. They fought for no more than the juridical recognition of certain rights and for these only by legal means and without attacking in the slightest degree the constituted social regime. These organizations did not cease to exist even during the most despotic regimes the Guatemalan people had suffered. During the 22 years of the bloody tyranny of Estrada Cabrera, the organizations, “The Workers’ Future,” the “Artisans’ Center,” the “Mutualist Crusade” and others, did no more than practice mutual aid, and that deficiently, accommodating themselves to the dominant power. ALWAYS A COLONY Guatemala has never ceased being a colony. It was a colony of Spain for three centuries, and after having obtained its political inde- pendence it was conquered economically by British imperialism. The principal economic resources of the country were monopolized by British capitalists, and the “independent” government itself was mortgaged to British imperialism by means of big loans, that have never been paid even to this day, because the state income is enough only to pay the interest on these loans. The pressure of British imperialism on the various governments | which have ruled the destiny of Guatemala has culminated in the dis- membering of the national territory. President Cabrera presented to the British Crown one of the rich- est regions of the country, Belice, in exchange for a “sword of honor.” This zone has been colonized by Negro slaves from Jamaica and from Africa, for the exploitation of coal mines and timber, and it continues being actually an English colony. Meanwhile, United States imperialism was conquering little by little other natural resources not yet exploited by the English and, in this manner, initiated its penetration in Guatemala, which has carried as its consequence the struggle between the two imperialisms. Yankee imperialism took account of the fact that it would not be able to triumph without having in its hands the political control, and therefore aided a series of coup d’etats led sometimes by the “Liberal” and some- times by the “Conservative” national political parties. U. S. IMPERIALISM ENTERS The movement of 1871, known as the “Reform,” was no more than an audacious stroke of North American imperialism supporting the Conservative Party. After that date was constructed the inter-oceanic railway by the North American company, “The International Railway of Central America,” and the fight began for control of the banks and the exploitation of sugar, coffee and. cotton. This struggle could not be directed satisfactorily to North Amer- ican imperialism by the various governments that followed that of the “Reformer,” Justino Rufino Barrios. It was necessary to establish an iron dictatorship—under no matter which party—that would favor the consolidation of American imperialism and the displacement of British imperialism. Such a dictatorship was exercised by the government of Estrada Cabrera. During the 22 years which it lasted the “United Fruit Com- pany” and the “Cuyamel Company” obtained the concessions of the eastern banana zones. ‘ Immediately after the world war all the resources that had been in the hands of German and British imperialisms passed automatically into the hands of North American imperialism. The government of Estrada Cabrera, following the orders of the White House, had de- clared war on Germany and the Central Powers. The governments which followed that of Cabrera have been, in fact, agents of North American imperialism, and Guatemala is actually a colony of the United | States. In 1923 the real trade union movement began with the formation of trade unions that proclaim the necessity of class struggle by means of direct action. THE FIRST GREAT STRIKE In 1924 ten thousand peones (unskilled agricultural workers little better than serfs) declared the first strike against the United Fruit Company in 54 of its plantations. They demanded a raise in ‘wages, the eight-hour day and beter living conditions. Thi sstrike, which lasted for 27 days, was crushed by force of arms, as a consequence of the lack of an organization that might have directed the movement. A great number of workers were killed or wounded, jailed and de- ported from the country. The same year, 1924, five thousand railroad workers entered the struggle in defense of similar demands. The direct intervention of the United States minister determined the dissolution of the organ- Jzation and, with it, the complete failure of the strike. Imperialism went further. It demanded that the government de- cree a Jaw prohibiting all strike movements and declaring leaders of such movements responsible for crimes of sedition and rebellion. Since | then the Railway Workers’ Union has not been able to be reorganized. In 1925 1500 bakers of the capital city and of other cities declared a strike for a wage raise, no night work and a betterment of working conditions. It was the first successful strike. Almost all points of the strikers were accepted. The victory was due to the fact that the baking industry is not in the hands of imperialism, and, secondly, to the, existence of a strong and devolutionary trade union, “Sindicato de Panaderos,” which directed the movement. However, many workers, both of the said union and of other organizations that aided the strike, were imprisoned and tortured. CLASS TRADE UNIONS DEVELOPING Toward the end of the same year the organization of working men and women made rapid advances. Numerous trade unions were formed and began the struggle direttly, by means of strikes and other mass movements. Among the most important of these struggles were those of the Coffee Sorters (women), the Soap Workers, Glass Workers and Garment Workers (women), for the putting into effect of the eight- hour Jaw and for increased wages. Thése strikes took on a clearly political character, because the workers saw themselves compelled to fight against the government which, closely linked to the capitalists, adopted severe repressive measures against the proletariat. I nthe last few years the organization of trade unions has attained great progress, as may be seen by the growing consolidation of the “Federacion Regional de Trabajadores de Guatemala,” the national centrevo fclass struggle unionism in the country. Class consciousness is growing ever stronger in the Guatemalan proletariat. CORRECTION Owing to an error in typestetting Leon Plott’s article on the “Rcle of the Labor. Government in England,” which appeared in yesterday's | Daily Worker, contains the sentence “The disarmament negotiations | between MacDonald and Hoover do lessen the war danger.” Obviously _ it should read: “The disarmament negotiations between MacDonald and | Woover do NOT lessen the war davger.” i | THE CAPITALIST STATE TO THE 3 MARION MASSA RELEASE, GO MURDER MORE WORKERS.” E DEPUTIES: “HERE’S YOUR By Fred Ellis Open ‘Le | of a section of the Party from the fundamental tasks of the world | of the imperialist character of Swedish capitalism. | for its place among the other imperialist states and following in the | participation in wars. of the C. P. Comrades: | The Tenth Plenum of the E.C.C.I., having examined the state of | affairs in the Swedish Communist Party, has instructed the Presidium of the E.C.C.I. to address to all Swedish Communists the following open letter: hs The Swedish Communist Party is among those sections of the Comintern, the influence of which on wide proletarian masses has been growing continuously, in spite of the condition created by the partial and relative stabilization of capitalism. In the course of the last five years the Party has almost trebled its membership (from 7,000 to 18,000). At the last parliamentary elections it polled over 150,000 votes; it strengthened its influence in trade unions by steady systematic work; the recentstrikes in the mining and paper industries have shown that our Party in Sweden is on the road to securing a leading role in the leading Swedish labor movement. All these successes are indisputable, and every member of the Swedish Communist Party can be justly proud of them. These achivements of the Swedish comrades can even serve as a lesson to other sections of the Comintern, But side by side with these successes, serious opportunist leader- ship errors have cropped up in the Party, which, if not rectified and liquidated without much delay by the Party as a whole, threaten to impede the further growth of the influence of the Communist Party and to impair its fighting capacity. The fact that the entire rank and file of the Party did not react immediately to the opportunist errors of their leadership, is due not only to the ignorance of the Party in regard to divergencies among the leaders. It is also due to the fact that the rank and file of the Party has not yet a clear notion of the political line of the Comintern, that the Party leaders have failed to explain to the whole Party without delay the meaning of the decisions of the Tenth Plenum of the E.C.C.I. and of the Sixth World Congress of the Comintern. The still existing “provincialism,” i.e. a certain dissociation Communist movement, a lagging behind this movement, have retarded the rectification of the line of the Party by its rank and file. In order to overcome the relics of this provincialism, to assimilate completely the political line of the Comintern, Swedish Communist workers must be fully aware of the changes which have taken place in the last years in the correlation of class forces on the international arena, as well as in Sweden itself. The characteristic feature of the present world situation is a mon- strous accentuation of all capitalist contradictions. Owing to the ac- centuation of these contradictions, under the blows of the universal revolutionary labor movement, of insurrections in the colonies and, above all, of the glorious successes of the proletariat in the U.S.S.R. which is building up socialism, capitalist stabilization is becoming more and more unstable. The war of 1914-1918 which gave vent to the capi- talist contradictions accumulated prior to 1914, will no doubt be con- siderably exceeded by the terrible events towards which the capitalist world is certainly marching. The frantic struggle of markets leads inevitably to armed struggle for another distribution of the world. All the capitalist states, big and small, are becoming part and parcel of the system of world imperialism through the establishment and development of international trusts and cartels, and are drawn on the path of unprecendented aggressive im- perialist policy. Concerns such as the Swedish Kruger Concern, which operates with American capital, which owns 75 per cent of the world production of matches, which penetrates into the farthest nooks and corners of the terrestrial globe and which also strives for a monopolist amalgamation of the mineral production of the world, is a vivid example The contemporary Sweden is not a small patriarchal state with characteristics of semi- colonial dependence, it is a young imperialist state fighting greedily wake of the policy of world imperialism. The Swedish bourgeoisie acts as the most energetic agent of world imperialism in the Baltic states by endeavoring to form a bloc of Baltic states against the Soviet Union. Like all imperialist spoliators, it subsidizes, through the Kruger Con- cern, political reaction in Rumania, Yugoslavia, Poland, Esthonia, Latvia. The assertion that in a future war Sweden will remain neutral is nothing but a pseudo-pacifist legend. The keynote of the development of Swedish capitalism is its closer and close association with the im- perialist system of the world. It leads Sweden inevitably into active This accentuation of external contradictions is closely connected with the accentuation of the internal contradictions of capitalism, In order to be able to compete on the world market and to cheapen pro- duction, the bourgeoisie is lowering the standard of living of the work- | ing class. The capitalist rationalization carried through in the capital- ist countries, is the most ruthless form of the bourgeois offensive against the toiling masses. It brings with it innumerable hardships to the proletariat; a longer working day, lower wages, mass unemployment. This pressure in the economic sphere is accompanied by brutal political reaction in regard to the working class. These new processes have ngt left Sweden untouched. Hundreds of thousands of Swedish workers are feeling the effect of this new pressure of trustified capital, unpre- cédented in its intensity. Just as in the rest of the world, this pressure calls forth a counter-offensive of the working class which has no wish to allow itself to be thrown into the abyss of poverty and extinction, without resistance. This leads inevitably to class conflicts of consider- ° able magnitude, The class front is becoming more distinct. on the one side, the triple alliance of the capitalist state, employers’ organ- izations and reformist bureaucracy; on the other side, the fighting | forces of the proletarian masses which are becoming rapidly radicalized. { The strikes which swept Sweden in the last year, signalize the beginning of the big class struggles between these irreconciliable forces. These strikes open to the Swedish workers a phase of revolutionary eruptions. The maturing of another revival of the revolutionary labor movement is accelerating the fascization of the Swedish bourgeoisie as well as the conversion of Swedish social-democracy into social-fascism. The policy | tter of the ECCI to Membership | of the state apparatus which is becoming fascisized—all this combined of Sweden of Mondism, compulsory arbitration, by which social-democracy is | throttling strikes, its policy of expulsion of revolutionary elements from trade unions which is only complementary to the methods of repression is radically changing the old pre-war ideas of the role of social-dem- ocracy as a worker’s party. Those who fail to see all these changes will never be able to steer, at this new stage of the world labor move- | ment, a correct revolutionary course and to lead the mass of the work- ers in the coming class struggles. The changes must be realized first of all by the Swedish Commu- nist workers; they must understand that the “third period” in the post-war development of capitalism and the universal labor movement is not the relatively quiet time experienced prior to 1914. The old “Swedish idyll” of petty-bourgeois prosperity with the mirage of which social-democracy is endeavoring to allure the workers, aust be relegated to the realm-of fiction. Hardships Hardships, star- vation, and unemployment are knocking at the doors of the workers’ dwellings. Stubborn, ruthless, self-sacrificing struggle is in store for the working class. Its struggle with social fascism for the toiling masses, the Communist vanguard will fight out not on the basis of a “labor majority” in municipal councils and parliaments, but on the basis of civil war wiwth the forces of trust capital, These changes also determine the tasks which are confronting the | Cemmunists and which were laid down by the Sixth World Congress ana by the Tenth Plenum of the E.C.C.I. Our “class against class” pclicy is a revolutionary program of struggle in all spheres, This policy, in the struggle against war, is based on “the enemy is in our own country” principle. This revolutionary policy is incompatible with any slurring over the miperialist character of the Swedish capitalist state, the imperialist’ aggressiveness of the Swedish bourgeoisie. It is con- trary to all manifestations of provincialism, national narowness which is frequently disguised in Sweden by theories about special “specific features” of the Swedish capitalism. The “class against class” policy also means life or death struggle against the agency of trust capital— tke Swedish social-democracy. To consider now social-democracy as a workers’ party, to invite proletarian masses to create a “labor majority” in parliaments and municipal councils, is tantamount, under present conditions, to inviting the workers to collaborate with the bourgeoisie. The policy of the Comintern presupposes struggle for independent leadership of the labor movements apart from and against social-dem- ocracy, struggle against trade union legalism, separate demonstrations based on the tactics of united front from below, as for instance, in the militant demonstrations on May 1. It is opposed to all khvostism, peaceful “democratic” cohabitation with social-democracy in the enter- prises. It presupposes methods other than those of social-democracy for the capture of the majority of the working class. Not only by methods of peaceful propaganda and agitation, not by metahods of “loyal” discussions with social-democracy, but by ruthless class strug- gles in the course of which the treachery of social-democracy will be more and more divulged, will we, Communists, be able to capture the majority of the working class. Not by capitulation before the trade union reformist bureaucracy will Communists be able to keep. and extend their positions in the trade unions, but by energetic resistance to repressive measures in trade unions applied by the social-democratic upper stratum. The “class against class” policy presupposes, further- more, consistent and ruthless struggle against Right tendencies, the result of capitalist pressure and the pressure of the still strong social- democracy on some weak layers of the Communist Party. It is incom- petible with unprincipled philistinism, with shielding épportunist errors or with the toleration of such. Without energetic, consistent struggle against Right opportunist tendencies, your Party cannot become a strong Communist Party capable of asserting itself and leading the working class towards proletarian dictatorship. A close examination, from the viewpoint of the Comintern policy, of the course pursued by the ‘Central Committee” of your Party, will ccmpel you to admit that this course has deviated from the line of the Communist International in a series of very important questions. The present majority in the C.C. failed to understand the substance of this line/ it adopted it formally, only by words, but carried on in reality a stubborn struggle against the opposition and the Swedish Young Communist League who endeavored to show to the rank and file of the Party the mistakes made by the C. C. The Comintern line demanded of the Swedish Communist Party energetic consistent struggle against Swedish imperialism, but the majority in the C.C. weakened this strug- gle by reservations concerning the “dependent character” of Swedish capitalism, The Comintern line demanded explanation to the Swedish workrs that in a future war the Swedish bourgeoisie woll not remain neutral, that it is an active factor of imperialist policy making for war. The parliamentary fraction of the Swedish Communist Party introduced in the Riksdag, false, through and through opportunist proposals of the bourgeoisie, re disarmament, which foster pacifist illusions among the masses, particularly dangerous in a country like S#eden whose neutrality during the war still miltates against the watchfulness of the working class in. regard to the war danger. In accordance with the Comintern line, the Swedish comrades should have made use of the parliamentary platform for ruthless exposure of the fascist role of the Swedish bourgeoisie and its agency, the Swedish social-democracy. But the parliamentary Communist fraction, while taking a correct position . on a number of other vital problems, at times drifted towards the posi- tion of “Left” social-democracy by introducing all kinds of “business proposals.” The “class against class” policy demanded conversion of the May Day demonstration into a militant demonstration of the Swed- ish working class, not only against the Swedish bourgeoisie, but also against Swedish social-fascism. The leadership of the biggest Stock- holm organization, with Einar Olssen at the head, called off, in agree- ment with social-democracy, the May Day demonstration, emansculating in an opportunist manner the significance of May Day in a situation rendered,acute by the accentugtion of class differences. At the time when the blood of Berlin workers was flowing by order of the social- 1 SAW IT ce Translated by Brian Rhys MY 4 & L & Reprinted, by permission, from “I Saw It Myself” by Henrl Barbusse, published and copyrighted by E. P. Dutton & Co, Incy New York. ditpctte ae STORY was built around him which agreed in every way with the phophesies of of Old Testament: Jesus the Messiah, born of the Virgin Mary and of the Holy Ghost, of the line of David, was born at Bethlehem, lived at Nazareth, preached on the shores of the Sea of Tiberias, brought unheard of miracles, was taken and put to death byt the Pharisees and priests of Jerusalem, who forced Pontius Pilate’s hand, arose on the third day and ascended into heaven. The books which recount this story are called the Gospels. They first appeared towards the end of the first century ‘after Jesus Christ;’ the last appeared, in the form that we now know it, towards the end of the second century. By this semi-magical device, the Resurrection, the man Jesus was now for the first time assimilated to the divine Myth; he was decked out in superhuman qualities, clouded about with an afterglow of wonder, of ancient prophecy, new commandments. And a strange mixture it all’ made. But stranger than all, this humble victim the preacher, who had been requisioned like some beast of sacrifice to give up his body in martyrdom to the Doctrnie of Redemption, to symbolize in the flesh this Agony of theologians, was great in himself, and his greatest is apparent in spite of ‘all religious paraphernalia heaped upon his head. Echoing in the Gospels where Jesus is eae and mutilated is something of the true voice of the true Jesus, some reverbration of his cry for justice and equality—that great ery of the Jew, calling on ustice for a people enslaved, which he sent ringing out over the desert of upturned faces, Cn Se ypaus the most extraordniary thing about this very true and simple story—the thing which evidence tells us more and more plainly, now that we can look the scriptures squarely in theface—is that the real Jesus, Jesus the man, lives on among the tales invented by the gospel romancers. Looking down these pages with open mind, we still can find, can recognize certain human verities which the inventors of a religion could never have invented. This real Jesus, who eludes us in the realm of fact (except as the man condemned for fomenting political and social unrest), be- cause we only have the scenario and the biassed material of the stage- managers of religion, is revealed to us mostdirectly in his thought, wae could not be disguised as effectively as the events of his earthly ife. (To be Continued) fascist Zoergiebel, when armed social-fascist bands in Poland were kill- ing proletarian demonstrators, the leaders of the Stockholm organiza- tion were so loyal in regard to the agreement made with social-dem- ocracy that they did not even procure speakers to address the several hudred workers who had assembled in spite of the calling-off of the May Day demonstration. Such policy on the part of the chairman of the Stockholm committee was nothing but a continuation of the in- | admissible policy of blocs with social-democracy condemned by the overwhelming majority of the Party. The Comintern line dictated to | the leaders of the Swedish Communist Party ruthless struggle against conerete signs of a Right tendency, relentless exposure of all opportun- ist mistakes, but the course pursued by your leaders consisted in syste- matically ignoring these mistakes, in cultivating in the Party a con- ciliatory attitude to them, in attempts to justify them in the eyes of the Party. The majority of your C.C. did not condemn these mistakes at the June Plenum. On the contrary, it defended them in the face of the just criticism of the minority of the C.C. and the Comintern dele- gation, representing the C. C. minority as factional mischief-makers in the eyes of the Party. Even after these mistakes had been sub- mitted to severe criticism at the Tenth Plenum of the E.C.C.I., the chairman of the Polit Bureau of the Party, Comrade Flyg, defended at the Plenum the conduct of the Stockholm leadership and the proposal of the parliamentary fraction re disarmament by typically “Left” so- cial-democratic arguments. An extreme attitude of toleration to these mistakes was taken up by a section of the Swedish delegation which represented the majority of the C.C. in the drawing up of this letter. Instead of straightforward, Bolshevist bold condemnation of the oppor- tunist wobblings in the Party, it either openly defended the opportunist mistakes, or gave meaningless evasive answers which make it more difficult for the Party to overcome these mistakes and rectify its line. This persistence on the part of the majority of your C.C. in defending the opportunist mistakes is more dangerous than the mistakes them- selves. Every separate mistake can be remedied, but defense of oppor- tunist’ mistakes degenerates into opportunist dviations which impede the further Bolshevist development of the Party. It is this atmosphere of conejliatorship in regard to opportunism that made capitulatorship possible’ among comrades such as Westerlund in regard to resisting the repressions of the social-fascist trade union bureaucracy, it is such conditions that give rise to views such as Grimlund’s re necessity of supporting capitalist rationalization, ete. The Executive Committee of the Comintern has repeatedly drawn the attention of the leadership of the Swedish Communist Party to the opportunist tendencies in the activity of the Party, calling it to energetic struggle against Right opportunism. In its letter of October 10, 1928 and May 2, 1929, it recommended the mobilization of the wohle Party to resist opportunist tendencies. It did everything in its power to give the C. C. itself an opportunity to make good its mistakes. But this method of influencing your C. C. did not have any results. The first of these E.C.C.I. leters was not even brought to the notice of the Party. This compels the E.C.C.I. to demand openly, before the whole Party and with its active cooperation, that the C.C. rectify the Party line and make good the opportunist mistakes which had been committed. There must be throughout the Party, from the bottom to the top, a serious discussion of questions connected with the political line of the Party and its or- ganizational work, the present minority of the C.C. being guaranteed full possibility of defending its views before the Party. In this dis- cussion, all problems must be dealt with on the basis of principle; there must be no room for opportunist attempts to obscure questions of principle by secondary matters, to conceal by misleading maneuvers, the true meaning of the line of the Comintern and of the disagreement with this line on the part of some comrades, from the Communist workers of Sweden. The discussion on the Open Letter of the E.C.C.I. must contribute towards bringing to light the opportunist elements in the Party, towards the renewal of the leading cadres and to the self-purging of the Party from the hangers-on and alien elements. Only such a discussion, on the basis o fprinciple, will strengthen the real Leninist unity of the Communist Party of Sweden, and the latter will know how to deal a very sharp rebuff to all those who attempt to shake this unity. The E.C.C.I. recommends that a Party Congress be called not earlier than within four months to sum up the results of the political work done in regard to the rectification of the Party line. Side by side with criticism of past mistakes, the Party will have to give at this Congress, aswell as during the inner Party discussion, a concrete form to its tasks in the struggle against wawr, capitalist rationalization, social fascism and pacifist illusions. It will also have to give a concrete form to the tasks set by the Tenth Plenum of the E.C.C.I1.: conquest by the Communist Party of the leading role in the labor movement in Sweden, giving economic struggles a political character (problem of the mass political strike), firmer establishment of the Party in enter- prises by means of reorganization on the basis of factory nuclei, con- solidation of the influence of the Party in trade unions accompanied by elaboration of concrete measures to resist the infamous disruptive work of the reformist bureaucracy. The entering of new sections of female workers and youths into the class struggle as a result of capitalist rationalization makes it the duty of the Communist Party of Sweden to devote particular attention to these strata, Furthemore, the Con- gress will have to replenish the leadership of your Party by comrades who became conspicuous in the course of recent class struggles, and will have to give an opportunity te all who wish honestly, sincerely and in a Bolshevist manner to make good their mistakes under the vigilant control of the Party and with its energetic help, i The Presidium of the E.C.C.I. expresses the firm conviction that only on’ the basis of such self-criticism will the Party continue to grow and to bring new life into its ranks. The Presidium is convinced that your Party, which has been able in the past to resist unanimously all attempts to sabotage the decisions of the Comintern, will profit by the experience of the Bolshevik Parties of other countries, overcome energetically opportunism and conciliatorship in its ranks and will be- come jn the near future one of the foremost and most capable sections of the Communist International. “ + ye Stabe ee ge * aes é ~ au — ‘guliadaane. I | if ——— FEY >. conn agen RO RN Page ene ae ee