The Daily Worker Newspaper, November 28, 1929, Page 4

blished by the Comproaais New York City, N XN Page Four Right Wing Deviations in Our Press By P. SMITH. t against | its “Freiheit,” our Jewish daily, has taken up an active the right-wing tendencies that repeatedly showed themse columns. After the Palestine mistakes followed others, e. news about an alliance between America and England, a triu’ item about the labor victory in Australia, because of the gz social-fascist labor party in the Australian elections. Such items in the “Freiheit” show clearly the influence of social democratic ideology, of petty-bourgeois eclecticism over editors responsible for them. Such editors who first make themselves guilty of the gross mistake regarding Palestine, then proceed praising Nadir Khan in Afghanistan and speak- ing about an alliance between England and Amer of the Young Plan and the negotiations between Hoover and MacDonald, are in t page because not able correctly to estimate the world situation, where the conflict between British and American imperialism is the oustanding conflict between the imperialist states of today—not “the greatest and most important conflict of our times’—as stated by the “Freiheit’” when correcting its own mista! The greatest and most important historic conflict of out times is the conflict between the Soviet Union and the imperialist world. Editors who see in an election victory of the social-fascists a step | forward for the working cl: are not capable of editing a Party paper! and the editorial board of the “Freiheit,” together with the Jewish Bureau of the Central Committee and the Language Department of the Central Committee already has removed the city editor of the “Frei- heit” and discharged three other members of the staff. This is a very necessary step of cleansing out petty-bourgeois elements from among our Party editors. But not only the Ludu” (our Czechoslovak dai ry decisive way about an alliance between England and U.: of MacDonald’s visit to "Washington. The headline on the first page of “Rovnost Ludu’” read: “Anglickos Amerikou zaklucilo ententu” (England entered into alliance with America). At the same time we have to remind our paper “Rovnost Ludu” about the fact that it still—in spite of earlier criticism —pursues a policy of keeping itself too much from the Party. We find still today editorials by Art Shields, Esther Lowell or Leland Olds in our Communist Czechoslovak paper. These articles could be used as material for Communist articles, but to publish these non-Communist articles as editorials, is intolerable. Our Lithuanian papers “Vilnis” and “Laisve” show a tendency not to reflect the activity of the Party, but are paying much attention to special Lithuanian questions. Neither “Rovnost Ludu” nor “Laisve” or “Vilnis” had yet published the theses of our Party Plenum at the beginning of October! We do not demand that our Party press should contain only theses and Party documents, but we request our papers to utilize Party ma- terial, to prefer translating articles from the Daily Worker to articles by petty-bourgeois writers. More of the Party face in our press! And we address this especially to our Czechoslovak and Lithuanian papers. It seems that many of our Party papers are far from recognizing the fact that we are now living in the third period—they continue to go on with their old policy, as if we were still living in the peaceful atmosphere of the second period. Take for instance a certain monthly, not owned by the Party— edited by a Party member. With the exception of a few news from the Soviet Union, there is not a word that shows anything Communist, but plenty of petty-bourgeois and even religious illusions. There are religious poems, reports about meetings starting with preachings, with- out a word of criticism; the editorials do not reflect any struggle at all, only parliamentary illusions instead of bringing to the forefront issues of class struggle. If the line is not sharpened, if articles of religious or other bour- geois contents are allowed to be published in a paper with a Party member as editor, the Party must take more decisive steps than only criticising the editor for his wrong line. The Party cannot tolerate that a Party member in a position of editor neglects month after month to utilize his position for Party propaganda and allows all sorts of dirt to be published in a paper under his control. Certainly, the reaction- aries in the organization will start a fight against our revolutionary struggle and the editor may lose his place if our comrades have ne- glected to organize their forces for a real fight, but the fight cannot and should not be avoided. It must be taken up in the paper and sup- ported in the organization. | Only a few weeks ago we were forced to criticize the fraction in the leading committee of the Scandinavian Workers Association of America for shortcomings in a manifesto about their coming conven- tion, in New York City, December, 1929. Now we have to call the attention of the editor of “Ny Tid” to an article about the International Order of Good Templars with not a } single word of criticism against the order and its activity, only a “neutral” petty-bourgeois relation of chronological facts from its his- tory. The question of temperance and prohibition plays still a great role among the Scandinavian workers in America, the more carefully must we be on our guard, not to allow ourselves to capitulate before the backwardness of petty-bourgeois organizations. Only through an energetic struggle will we win the most active elements of the workers for our line, never through a policy of giving up criticism. At the same time, we have to call the attention to the publication in “Ny Tid” of an appeal for financial support from the Foreign Lan- guage Information Service. This semi-official capitalist institution of a clearly anti-labor character must not receive support from our press. Furthemore, we find in the same issue a report from a confere @f the Western District of the Scandinavian Workers Association of America. Swabeck is mentioned as speaking and voting against a resolution endorsing the Trade Union Unity League Conference in Cleveland—the paper giving his arguments without even a single word of criticism. This must be corrected and such a standpoint has to be vigorously fought by our press, and an enemy of the working cl such as.Mr. Swabeck should not for a minute be tolerated in a conference of revolutionary workers. In the same report there is to be found an appeal to the members of the workers clubs to get control, influence and leadership of the workers labor sports clubs. This reflects a tendency of making the workers clubs the leading organizations among the Scandinavian work- ers in America. This tendency must be combatted, since the only or- ganization capable of leading the working class is the Communist Party and the task of the Communist fractions is to carry through the line of the Party in Labor Sports as well as in workers clubs and other | non-Party mass organizations of the workebs, Every tendency to re- place the'Party fractions by some other conglomerations must be fought. The fractions may gather around them a bloc of oppositional non-Part elements but this broad opposition must not be allowed to play the role of Communist fractions. Some of our papers have contained rather misleading statements | ‘about the stock exchange crash in Wall Street, partly because of the Daily Worker being too late in bringing the Party policy on this mat- ter. Our Finnish daily “Eteenpain” for instance in its issue of October 30 carries a headline on its first page: “Wall Street speculators again suffer great losses.” This headline is misleading, since finance-capital- ists, the main speculators on Wall Street, did not lose but gained millions in this crash. The small investors were squeezed out from among the speculators. But the main thing of the crash is that it casts the shadow of the approaching crisis over the whole capitalist | society, not only the speculators. We hope that every paper criticised above will correct its line and trough a thorough self-criticism develop further on the way of Bolshe- nzation of our press. ‘reiheit” made these mistakes, the “Rovnost y in Chicago) spoke in a v nce Decision on the Expulsion of Benj. Lifshitz. The Central Control Committee has expelled Benj. Lifsh former member of the C. C., from the Party for ideological and active organ- izational alignment with the renegade Lovestone group of enemies and | slanderers of the Comintern and of the Party. Starting out as a conciliator, who, under the cloak of the right of criticism, persistently maintained opposition to important aspects of | the C, I. Address and of the Thesis and decisions of the Tenth Plenum of the ECCI, as well as to the necessary organizational steps taken by the Comintern against the international right wing and by the C. P. of U. S. A. against their allies here; while at the same time declaring acceptance of CI and of Party decisions; Benjamin Lifshitz has now gone over completely and openly into the camp of the renegades. He ‘attended and was one of the speakers at the Lovestone ban- quet on November 2nd, and when called before the CCC in this con- nection, he did not hesitate to declare himself fully and actively a mem- | her of the Lovestone group. There is no room for such people in the revolutionary ranks of the Communist Party. CENTRAL CONTROL COMMITTEE, C. P. OF U.S. A. | * Fay ‘Ze Pk Ra SUBSCRIPTION RATES: sees 74, SPAS ‘ Baby Sa= I r By Mail (in New York only): $8.00 a year: $4.50 six months: $2.50 three months 4 ec pe iz By Mail (Outalde of New York): $6.00 a year; $3.50 six months; $2.00 three months Central Orgun of the Communist Party of the 0. & A ss TURKEY FOR A FEW! The New Reactionary Civil War and the Prospects of the Revolution in China By N. DOONPIN (Continued) THE NANKING REGIME. HE Nanking government was born out of the womb of counter- aE revolution, when the Chinese bourgeoisie, under the leadership of Chiang Kai-shek, betrayed the Revolution in April, 1927 and or- ganized a government at Nanking as a rallying center for all counter- revolutionary forces in South China. Later, as the result of the tem- porary defeat of the workers and peasants by the combined forces of reaction with the support of imperialism, Nanking became the “central government” of China. Every leaf of the short history of the Nanking regime is stained with the blood of the workers and peasants. It is a record of the most ruthless suppression of mass movements and mass revolts. It s, at the same time, a chronology of corruption, deceit, avid failure in internal polities and the most shameful capitulation ot foreign powers. Indeed, the two dominant features of hte Nanking regime, white terrorist policy toward mass movements and open capitulation to reaction and imperiali compliment -each other. It was only by » of unprecedented terrorist methods that Nanking was able rarily suppress the revolution and hold the masses in sub- it temporarily safe for the imperialists and native d feudal elements to ¢ on their grim business of Since the Nanking government came into power, all the privileges which the work had gained through bloody struggle during the revolution were abolished and all the lands which the peas- ants took over during the revolution were taken away and given back to the landlords. All militant trade unions and peasant leagues were closed and in their place governmental unions were set up. The work- ers and peasants were deprived entirely of the freedom of speech, right of organization, and assembly, and strike. The punishment for being a member of the Communist Party or a revolutionary trade union is death. According to conservative estimates made in this spring, from the summer of 1927 up to the spring of 1929, within a period of one year and a half, more than half a million Chinese workers and peasants, including women and children, were executed by the Nan- king regime. Just take the month of November, 1928, a normal month without mass disturbances in China; the newspapers report 2,169 ar- rested, 36 executed and 53 sentenced to long terms of imprisonment. (The Chinese Red Flag, Dec. 18, 1928). The reason why the number of executions exceeds the number of arrests is because many execu- tions took place on the streets without going through the formality of trial. The fact that many arrests and executions are done in secret and newspapers report only about 20 or 30 per cent of the actual num- ber of them, the extent and mass character of the white terror can be well imagined. However, while doing its utmost to suppress the reyolution by terrorist measures, the Nanking government, by intensifying almost all the contradictions in China, is unwittingly preparing the group for a new revolution. The unprecedented crisis in agriculture which plays a rominating role in Chinese economy is very severely affecting . the whole economic life of China. In July of this year, the Chinese ambas- sador in the United States stated officially in the press that 37 million people in China were starving. The newspapers in China, foreign or Chinese, are full of tales of horror about the famine. But the govern- ment has not taken any fundamental measure to meet the crisis, Even in relief work, beyond appropriating the pitiful sum of a half a million Mexican dollars, the government is absolutely helpless. Of course Chiang Kai-shek takes $1,000,000 from the public treasury for himself each month, but that does not help the situation since he is not yet a famine sufferer! The crisis is cutting its deep wounds. into the economic life of China. One of its results is bound to be the increas- ing pauperization of the peasantry and further concentration of land into the hands of big landlords, thus strengthening the ‘system of ‘semi- feudalistic method of exploitaiton and deepening the contradictions in the villages. Nanking recognized the grave situation of class antagon- exploi _ isms in the villages, not only in the famine districts but throughout China, and attempts were made to minimize the contradictions by re- formist measures. A 25 per cent reduction of rents was once put through in Chekiang, but the reduction was abolished as soon as the landlords felt a little safer. A commission was set up to work out measures for agrarian reform, but no concerte measures could be agreed upon and so far the commission has not offered any definite proposal. The June session of the Kuomintang Executive formally announced its failure to work out measures for agrarian reform by deciding to post- pone all such measures for four years. Side by side with the rapid deterioraiton of agriculture, industry as a whole also remains depressed, especially the heavy industries. i The severely oppressed condition of the Tientsin flour mill industry, the reduced production of Chinese Cigarette factories, the stagnation in the leather industry, and the crisis in the silk industry all contribute to present a gloomy picture. (See M. Volin, China in 1928, published by the Chinese Labor University in Moscow, and the Communist Inter- naitonal, Vol. 6, No. 28.). In addition to the agricultural crisis and industrial depression, Nanking is also faced with financial bankruptcy. The repeated attempts of T. V. Soong, Chiang Kai-shek’s minister of finance wnd a real spokesman of the Shanghai national bourgeoisie, to put the finances of the country in order met with failure at every turn. Early in August this year, Mr. Soong, in desperaiton, made a declaration which contains the following words: “During the last year the finances of the whole country have fallen into a most hopeless state. The people are groaning under the immense burden. Every one had hoped that, following the unification of the country, the military expenditure would have been reduced and brought into the regular budget. If no guarantee can be given, if even after the Disbandment Conference, the military expenditure still remains unlimited, and the estimates withold exact definition—in such a case our government’s ability to obtain financial credits must be reduced to zero, and the financial burdens resting on our people will increase without limit. Life, already extremely difficult, will become impossible.” (Yeh Shih Pao, Peking, August 8, 1929). What a picture of financial bankruptey! No government can last long under such circumstances. ‘Thus, instead of ushering in a. period of prosperity and economic development, as many well-wishers of Nanking expected, Nanking not only remains utterly helpless in the face of an agriculture crisis, industrial depression, and financial bankruptcy, but makes the situation worse by corruption, intensified oppression and exploitation of the masses and complete capitulation to the increasingly aggressive incroachments of the imperialist powers. The crucial problem in China’s relations with the imperialist powers is the tariff question. In estimating the result of Nanking’s foreign policy we must see what alterations Nanking has brought about in conncetion with this question. Comrade Volin put the question very correctly. He said, “The future position of China in the system of international imperialism and the corresponding form and direction of China’s development all depends upon how the tariff problem is solved.” (See M. Volin, China in 1928). What has Nanking done about the tariff problem? Despite the publicity with which Nanking tried to emphasize the importance of the empty promise of the powers to grant China tariff autonomy, the history of the tariff negotiations which Nanking conducted last year with the powers tells a story of complete defeat. The new tariff rates formally promulgated by the Nanking government on December 5, 1928 and put inot operation on February 1 of this: year, are almost completely the rates proposed by the Japanese, British and American delegations at the 1925-26 Tariff Conference. According to the new rates the import duty on merchan- dise ranges from 27.5 per cent to 7.5 per_ cent. Such important com- modities as cotton cloth, cotton yarn, cement, coal, porcelain, matches, and paper still maintain the old rate of 7.5 per cent. A glance the above items is sufficient to show the absolute ineffectiveness of the new tariff agreement as a protection to Chinese industry. The new tariff agreement has not even answered the minimum requirement of the most important native industry for protection. Thus, the question of tariff autonomy turned into a question of a slight increase of tariff rates for revenue purposes in the hands of Nanking. The control of im- perialism in Chinese industry was not even slightly altered by the new tariff agreement! And furthermore, the control of the tariff admin- istration still remains in the hands of foreigners. It is true that the powers made a little concession by allowing Nanking a higher rate than the old agreement. According to the Chinese Tariff Superintend- | ent Chang Fa-Yuan’s report, the new agreement will yield about 30,- 000,000 Haikuan Taels additional income for the government. For this meager sum, consider what China lost by the agreement! Thirty taels —what a price! The next important item in Nanking’s program on foreign affairs | is the abolition of unequal treaties which was later “prudently” changed into a question of mere revision. A careful study of all the “new” treaties concluded by Nanking with imperialist powers reveals the fact, that in those treaties, all the main special privileges enjoyed by foreigners and foreign capital in China are still carefully preserved and guarded. In essence, the so-called “revisions” are no revisions at all! Aside from these “revisions,” the other dealings which Nanking made with various imperialist powers, such as the recognition of the notorious Nishihara loan, and the new Manchurian railroad agreement with Japan, the Radio and Aviation agreements with American capital- ists,and the naval agreement with Great Britain, each forms an im- portant chapter in the history of Nanking’s complete capitulation to The Movement for Indepen: , _ dence of the Philippines | from U.S. Imperialism By HARRY GANNES. OON there will come to Washington another Independence Commis- | sion from the Philippine Islands. Since United States imperialism established its rule in the Philippines this has been a regular gesture on | the part of the petty bourgeois politicians in the islands. The present Commission is headed by Quezon. | ~The masses of the Philippine people want independence from Amer- ican imperialism. One of the main requisites for the success of a poli- tician is that he espouse the cause of freedom from American capi- talism. Both major political parties declare in their program that they “demand immediate, absolute and complete independence” from the United States. At first the fight on the part of the petty bourgeois politicians had a certain militancy about it. However, in recent years the Philippine political leaders have openly betrayed the independence movement. When Governor-General Wood became master of the islands on behalf of Wall Street, he overlooked the necessity of completely winning over these politicians in order to mislead the masses. Asa result, they half- heartedly r ed his encroachments. They appealed to President Coolidge against Wood’s domination. But Coolidge very politely in- formed Senator Roxas that General Wood’s policy had the sanction of the United States government, . Wood was followed by Col. Stimson, now Secretary of State, under Hoover. Stimson was given the job as Governor-General of the Philip- pines because of his success in bribing Moncada in Nicaragua and for his work in the defeat of the revolutionary Sandino movement. The Filipino politicians hailed Stimson as a conquering hero and promised him full cooperation. Stimson made a speech forecasting his policy. It was an open imperialist declaration: more United States capital to be invested in the Philippines; greater economic development by Wall Street; no in- dependence; permanent U. S. retention of the Islands, and a continua- tion of Gneral Wood’s policy of political and economic domination, but with one difference, the native petty bourgeois politicians would be drawn into active, cooperation; they would be treated as advisers in the exploitation of the masses. This was swallowed whole-heartedly by Quezon, Roxas, Osmena, ete. Only one voice was raised in opposi- tion, that of the Filipino representative in the United States House of Representatives, Gabaldon. In a final speech in Congress, Gabaldon protested mildly against further United States imperialist encroach- ment and insisted on the right of the Filipino bourgeoisie to exploit their own masses. He did not object to American imperialism’s continued investments, but he did think that Washington ought to grant the Philippines independence as solemnly promised by the United States in the Jones Law. When Gabaldon returned for election as.a senator, his 07 party betrayed him for daring to raise his voice against the con- ciliationist policy of the leading politicians. United States imperialism, with the aid of the leaders of the “in- dependence” movement, is riveting its hold on these important outposts in the Pacific. The Philippines, the largest of the United States colonies, is the spearhead of Wall Street penetration in the British and Japanese markets in the Orient. These large, straggling islands, 700 miles from the coast of China, bring right to the door of Japanese and British imperialism 700,685 square miles of United States territory with a population. of eleven million people. In American war preparations, the Philippines occupy a prominent place. The fortification of the Philippines is second in im- portance to the militarization of the Panama area. Ninety per cent of the population is agricultural. Small farms prevail. The land laws limit estates to 2,500 acres. American rubber trusts are now forcing a change in the land: laws to permit them to acquire millions of acres for rubber growing purposes, and in this they will get the support of the politicians. Governor-General Davis, who succeeds Stimson, is assured of full cooperation in the interest of Amer- ican capitalism. Industry is mainly American controlled. Trade with the Philip- pines grows by leaps and bounds. The lack of tariff barriers between the two countries favors commerce, and the Philippine bourgeoisie when- ever it surreptitiously mentions independence, is threatened with an imposition of tariff restrictions. The only serious independence moyement can come from the work- ing and peasant masses who have consistently fought against United States imperialism. TO THOSE WHO DOUBT WAR DANGER By A. HERCLET (Paris). (Delegate of the French Unity Confederation of Unions, to the Vladi- vostok Conference of the Pan-Pacific Trade Unions, last July.) T returning, not from the Manchurian frontier, but. better said from the Manchurian “front,” it is surprising to see that certain militant worlrs even yet doubt the reality of the dangers of war against the Soviet Union. There is no “danger” of war, or “imminence of war,” but there is now war against the Soviet Union. Tens of thousands of Chinese sol- diers are concentrated from one to the other extreme of the Soviet- Manchurian frontier and along the Amur and Oussouri rivers. More than 60,000 czarist counter-revolutionists of the Ataman Semenoff, armed, equipped and financed by France, England and Japan, and in- structed by French, English and Japanese officers, reinforce the army of the Chinese militarists, who are nothing but mercenaries at the service of the big imperialist powers. All the white guard emigres, all the old landlords, nobles and of- ficers of the czar, are turning their eyes to the front of Manchuria in the hope that a general attack will develop against the Soviet Union. And after the aggression of Harbin on July 10, the seizure of the Chinese Eastern Railway and the murder of many Soviet citizens in Manchuria, on the Soviet-China frontier attacks have been made daily. The invasions of bands of regular Chinese troops and Russian white guards into Soviet territory have multiplied. Many Red Soldiers, work- ers and peasants of the frontier region have been killed. If it would serve some purpose, we would be pleased if some mili- tant workers, or those who claim to be such, might be there, around Nikolsk, Oussouri or Harbarovsk, under rifle fire and artillery bom- bardment of the white guards and Chinese, to see—if there is danger of war! Every Workers’ Child a Member of the Young Pioneers! To fulfill their part of the contract with the Young Pioneers of the Ukraine, U. S. S. R., made at the International Pioneer Congress, the Young Pioneers of America are starting a huge membership drive. The Young Pioneers is the only organization of working class chil- dren that really fights for the interests of the working class. Every strike, every struggle of the workers, finds the Pioneers on the picket lines, helping the workers win. The Young Pioneers organize the workers’ children in the schools to fight for better conditions in school. The schools where the work- ers’ children go are always the worst. They are dirty, dark, and crowded. At this time the bosses are preparing for a new war, an .at- tack on the workers’ government in the Soviet Union. For this, they | try to use the workers’ children too. They build such. organizations as | ee Boy Scouts, to train the children to become good fighters for the OSSes. ' The Young Pioneers expose these war plans of the bosses, We-call on all workers’ children to join us in our fight against the Boy Scouts! It is the duty of every workers’ child to answer our call, and join the ranks of the Young Pioneers. ‘ Eyery workers’ child a member of the Young Pioneers! Join the Young Pioneers! / the imperialist powers. r Thus, Nanking “sold the country,” to use a Chinese expression, and | intended to keep most of the “proceeds” herself. The strong resent- ment and dissatisfaction of the other militarist cliques and the particu- lar interests they represent all of whom desire the right to “sell the country” which means the control of the “central” government, are to be expected. Fanned by the ambitious imperialist powers, especially England and Japan, who desire to change the status quo of the existing division of the spheres of influence and enjoy the benefit of the change, the flame of revolt against Nanking flared up, Rallying all the dis- contented elements against Nanking, the extensive Anti-Nanking bloe was formed. Chang Fa-Kwei made the first more in Ichang, and, with a hidden howl, all jumped on Chiang Kai-shek and his clique! . (To Be Continued} Young Pioneers Start Big Membership Drive! J