The Daily Worker Newspaper, December 25, 1929, Page 4

\ \ Mi A. Fractions and Party Recruiting By LOUIS KOVESS. »ssibil f we do nc camy it properly. 7 highly nt drive opened am > circumstances. najority of the working ¢ every struggle hest forms of thorough under- of our “Class Ag: ain political win over the leading s wit ation his is our 1 for this great The “Little Things.” with th tter membe to th nece all Fir . drive on the order in ship The memt ort to gain the que: of bus centr even ve means a c¢ ed eff new leave nbersh fter the drive, s question of business of every fract Sesondl to put a necktie to put appli- on the applica place s into « orget Get cation car Thirdly, we r learn to look upon the workers’ members of the unions, language. fraternal organizations and other mass organ izations within which we are doing fraction work, as candidates to Communist Party mem- bership. That is, we must constantly stud: actions of these worke: How they vote on a miners relief proposal) what do they say about a motion on political prisoners, how do they react on our attacks against the labor bureaucrats, ete. Select at the fraction meet- ing the best elements and assign a fraction member to each of them. The Language Fractions. Contrary to the formerly exii situation, when our so-called “fractions” have been noth- ing else than language Party branches we have fractions, an organ for the Party or work within a given mass organization. iormerly the major part of the language work consisted business matters of the of strictly t eties and other fraternal organ- know much better how the membership of these organizations actual class struggle. The meetings more political content. we erly questior the m: s of the “old country” were n questions in many of the E fractions. Today the fractions are Americanized, tho still not enough. guage The fight aspect of izations ternational fascism is agai taking on the ing up the workers of these organ- erican capitalism and in- We can gain new mem- fight. ainst the right wingism of and other reformist agencies ing class, we can get new Party campaign of the Party, eve phase of our Communist work gives opportunity to achieve results it ase through th In fight a Lovestoneite of the opp the members. The language press has an important role in Party recruiting. The drive is an important political event and must be in the headlines, the da events connected with it, in news , editor spe articles. ten t cl struggles, like that now going n Southern Illino must result in the or- gan ional strengthening of our Party and the language buros have their role in. that. They must send organi s to the battle-field: to help organize the miners, lead them to tory over the united fprces of the coal barons 1 the Lewis-Fishwick gang and build the Party; to more effectively help the miners to achieve the 5-day week, 6-hour day and other demands. on i and t of the foreign language press sub- scribers must be given to the respective local buros to get as many of them as possible to join the Communist Party. Give the list of those workers who regularly donate for the Party, or attend its meetings, to the local comrades. Uti bers. the mass meetings to get new mem- Forward to a successful recruiting drive. Flashes from the Recruiting Drive Front As a demonstration of the enthusiasm and determination of the Party membership to build the Party and the Daily Worker in the present Party Recruiting and Daily Worker Building Drive, district after district, not being content with the quotas set by the Organization Department of the C.C., are raising these quotas. Examples of this are: Boston District: Ra quota from 300 to 40 from 10 to 20. Pittsburgh Dis nuclei quota from Cleveland District ship quota n 400 to 500; Worker quota from 400 to 1,000 ra’ shop nuclei quota from 10 to 1 new shop paper quota from 3 to 10. Minnesota District: Raised their member- ship quota from 300 to 420; their new shop nuclei quota from 5 to 14; and their now shop vaper quota from 3 to 6 their membership shop nuclei quota Raised their shop ict: to 5 sed their member- 0; their shop nuclei and their new shop paper California ship quota trom quota from 5 to 6 yuota from 2 to 5 Conecticut District: Raised their Daily Work- tw quota from 200 to 500. Thru complete mobilization and determina- tion—thru revolutionary competition, every dis- trict, every unit, every fraction and every in- lividual memb icipating in making the Pa . Moze Unemployment in Great Britain. LONDON, Dec. 24.—Out of 12,100,000 regis tered workers in England, 11 per cent were unemployed in November, This is an incr over October, when 10 per cent were unempl ed. There are over 1,300,000 registered unem: ployed workers. The greatest part of the in- creases in unemployment occurred in the build- ‘ing, engineering, shipping, cement, steel, cotton, and silk industries. Facts Show Hoovez-Green Lie on “Prosperity” The prosperity lies of Hoover, Green, the A. F? L. and the capitalist press are being punc- tured by the cold facts published by the big corporations after the drunken orgy of propa ,-~fanda of Hoover's conference. One of the biggest lies was the statement of _ 1929 they were going to spend in 1930. A X the utilities on the millions of increases over & © different story is contained in the announce "ment of the New York Edison Co. and as- “sociated light and power companies, in it: udget for 1930. There will be a cut of $3,000,000 in expendi- tures for 1930, says the budget. The budget overs both supplies and labor, and wages rep- sent a substantial portion of the total. This js the definite proposal of a wage cut by the ddison Co. of New York, \Workers! Join the Party of Your Class! * mmunist Party U..S. A. East 125th Street, ew York City. , I, the undersigned, want to join the Commu- nist Party. Send me more information. Name . ) Address .,.++++606 Mail this to the Central Office, Communist Party, 43 Best 125th St., New York, N. Y. 4 Letter from Comrade Zelms To the Central Committee: My attention has been called to certain ru- mors tending to connect me with the renegade Lovestone and his associates in their anti- munist activities against the working clas I denounce all such rumors and brand them as malicious lies. I have no connections what- ever with these enemies of the Party; have neyer attended any of their group meetings or caucuses and have not rendered any support to them. I declare, that no renegade has any right or reason to question my loyalty to the Party. 1 have accepted unconditionally all the C. I. and Party decisions, against which the trenegades “build” their opposition and develop their own counter-revolutionary theories.. I have taken my position with the Party not as matter of Communist discipline only. At this period, when the class uggle is sharpening on all fronts, the enemies of the working class are concentrating their forces more than ever. They are preparing a new blood bath for the work- they attack the Soviet Union; they strengthen their front by letting loose all the bloody forces of reaction, white terror and fas- n. This is being done in order to crush, first of all the vanguard of the working class— the Communist Party and the growing revolu tionary movement. In this situation, it is clear to any class-conscious worker, that the Party and the Communist International must be de- fended more than ever. And it is also clear to everybody, that in this situation, no. better service to the enemies of the working class can be done, and no worse crime against the working class itself can be committed. than by fighting the Party and the C, I—the only revolutionary leader of the toiling masse: The Lovestone renegades are guilty of that crime and the working class shall pass judg- ment upon them. No Communist can take any other position, but unquestionably line up with the C. I. and the Party in its fight against the | I have taken that position. ROBERT ZELMS. The Daily Worker gladly publishes Com- rade Zelms’ declaration which successfully dis- poses of the malicious efforts of the counter- revolutionary Lovestone group, in this case, to demoralize weaker members of the Party with insinuation. Comrade Zelms has here sharply and corerctly characterized the yellow gang of renegades. This is the time in which our Party is at last developing for the first time the beginning of genuine Bolshevik self-criticism. Comrades ave learning the stern revolutionary duty of analyzing and condemning their own mistakes d failures to live up to their duties to the arty and to the working+class. Such letters that of Comrede Aftonov of Detroit (pub- renegades. vroletarian honesty pointed out the injury done to the Party by the faction to which he himself belonged, and that of Comrade E. Smith of New York which criticised his own past errors and renounced even the most intimate personal ties when he said that these conflict with his duty to the Party, are evidence of a new growth of Bolshevik vitality in our Partye Comrade Zelms could, contribute greatly to the develop- ment of this‘healthy trend by himself analyz- ing and condemning his earlier course when he failed to give the unqualified and vigorous sup- port to the fight of the Party against the opportunist renegades which he now gives in this letter. With such a contribution Comrade Zelms could aid the efforts of the Party to show that a conciliatory attitude toward the opportunist renegades constitutes the greatest danger.—EDITOR, DAILY WORKER. ‘Thomas Admits “Labor Party” | priv Fails to Solve Unemployment LONDON, Dec. 24.—J. H. Thomas, lord’ seal, in his majesty’s “labor government” admitted that he has not solved the unemploy- ment problem. Thomas’s vlan is to speed-up industry in the interest of British imperialism, In a gesture of mock frankness the lickspittle Thomas sid: “Quite fravkly I tell vou I have not solved the unemployment problem.” itched a few days ago), which, with merciless | y, at 26-28 Unfon “DAIWORK.” New York. N ¥ PARTY RECRUITING DRIVE Baily SH Worker Central Organ of the Communist Party ef the U. S. A. By Mail (in New York City on! By Mail (outside of New York SCRIPTION RATES: 8.00 a year ity): $6.00 a year; $4.50 six months; $3.50 six months; $2.50 three months $2.00 three months ee By Fred Ellis Capitalist newspapers have a profitable game of panhandling in the name of “Christmas charity” for a handful of selected derelicts of the capitalist system. This hypocritical “Christmas” game of graft and superstition is useful this year to cover up the economic crisis and the unemployment of 5,000,000 real workers. Raw Materials and Colonial Oppression By SAM DON. ENIN in his Imperialism points out, “The moré capitalism develops, the more the need for raw materials arises, the more bitter competition becomes and the more feverishly the hunt for raw materials proceeds through- out the world, the more desperate becomes the struggle for the acquisition of colonies. The colonies are the sources of raw material ex- ploited for the industrial production in the leading capitalist countries. The price of raw materials is an important factor in establish- ing the price of the industrial commodities. As the competition between the imperialist powers for the world market .sharpens, the struggle, therefore, for the colonies not only as a dumping place for the export of capital and commodities, but also as a source for the exploitation of the raw materials intensifies. In ‘his Imperialism, Lenin states, “Colonial possession alone gives complete guaranty of success to the monopolies against all the risks of the struggle against all competitors, includ- ing the possibility of the latter .defending themselves by means of a law establishing a state monopoly.” . Anglo-American Rivalry. The pre-war and immediate post-war rapid tempo in the development of American capi- talist economy was to an extent due to the rich native natural resources. However, the very fact that the U. S. is today the leading capitalist country in the world, it is therefore, at present, very dependent on the world’s sup- ply of raw material. And in the face of this it lacks colonies—the principal source of raw materials, and its main rival, Great Britain, is in possession of the colonies which produce raw materials, that are so essential for the leading industries in the country. And this is precisely one of the factors which inten- sifies the antagonisms ‘and war danger be- tween the U, S. and Great Britain. The Sixth World Congress in its thesis therefore clearly pointed out that, “The antagonisms between the dollar republic, with her rapid rate of de- velopment and relatively small colonial pos- sessions, and the “declining British colonial empire, with its gigantic colonial monopoly, represents the pivot of iriternational antagon- isms in the present period, and it is precisely here that the complications of future strug- gles for a redistribution of the colonial (and not only of the colonial) world are maturing,” With the increasing competitive power of European capitalism, America has to meet greater difficulties in its desperates struggle for the penetration and conquest of the world market. Rationalization is the main method in reducing the cost of production to meet competition. At the same time American im- perialism must also fight to cheapen the price of a number of important raw materials which are monopolized by its rivals. How sharply American imperialism faces this problem can be seen from the fact that it consumés 40 per cent of the world’s raw materials. . And that includes some very strategic raw materials for the basic industries in the country, as rub- ber for the auto industry which comes from the East Inlies (mainly controlled by Britain) and manganese for steel, which comes from Brazil. , Latin America is ome of the few sections in, the world whose natural resources were not yet fully ‘xploited and destroyed by imper- ialism. Many of the natural resources in Latin America (manganese,”oil, etc.) are still controlled by Britain. This is a sharp con- tributing factor to the growing fierce rival- ries between America and Great Britain in Latin America, and the growing exploitation of the toiling massea by American imperialisin. Hoover, ‘the best salesman and representative of American imperialism, while he was secre- tary of commerce, declared war on European capitalism, because of its monopoly over .im- portant raw materials, and it was mainly di- ° ] ) rected against Great Britain, especially be- cause of its monopoly over rubber. In connection with the past visit of Mac- Donald (a visit so quickly “forgotten,” not mentioned any more by the capitalist press) and the approaching naval “disarmament” con- ference, it must not be forgotten, that pre- cisely the armed control of the colonies as a source of raw material will lead to the quick explosion of the “disarmament” myth. One of the recent Sunday issues of the New York Herald-Tribune (the most outspoken supporter of Wall Street and the Hoover regime) car- ried an article by a certain Captain L. M. Overstreet of the United States Navy. The article has a telling headline, namely: “Armed Merchant Fleet Called Essential to Protect the Trade Routes of the U. S. in Time of War.” The captain points out that, because of the growing dependence of the U. S. eign trade, America needs more er protectthe trade routes, and the one time self- sustaining America has become “in fact from a trade route point of view an island in the middle of the world.” The captain especially emphasized the dependence of Ameriéan im- perialism on raw materials and therefore the need for a large navy to. . . protect the routes and (of course, he does not state openly), the need of a large navy to capture the sources of raw materials—the colon’ In the following quotations dealing with the dependence of America on the world’s supply of raw material we hear clearly the voice of American imperialism, “What would our great steel industry do if we were unable to obtain manganese from Brazil or Russia, (American imperialism points her threatening finger to the Soviet Union), vanadium from Peruvia and chromium from Rhodesia or Asia Minor; nickel from Canada; tin from Bolivia (no won- der U. S. and G. B. fight over Bolivia—S.D.), ,and the Malay states, tungsten from China? Our automobile industry would collapse with- out rubber from the East Indies and with- out manganese for steel. What about our other industries without shellac, linseed, jute, sisal, silk, paper and many other foreign pro- ducts%” Quite a list, isn’t it? And we have here quite a desperate note, “If we will not do something about it we may collapse,” and the “something” means war! Hoover—War President! It is worth while recalling here the state- ment contained in the Comintern’s open letter to our last Party convention: “The aggres- siveness of the U. S. in the struggle for mar- kets and the most important sources of raw material throughout the world is growing swiftly. The election of Hoover as president means that American imperialism is resolutely embarking on a course which leads to colonial wars of occupation and to an, extremely rapid accentuation of the struggle between the U. S. and its chief imperialist rival (G. B.).” And precisely frofi the above analysis we can readily and clearly understand “that American imperialism is striving for a monopolist posi- tion in world polities and is becoming more involved in the universal crisis of capitalism and comes more and more into the trbit ef the growing instability of world capitalism.” And the following analysis of the ©, I. made in the thesis adopted at the Tenth Plenum ap- plies fully to the U. S. “The furious struggle for markets, for sources of raw material, for the export of capital and spheres of invest- ment is inevitably leading to war among the great imperialist powers for the expansion of economic teritory, at each other’s expense, to war for the redistribution of the world.” American imperialism’s growing aggressive- ness in the struggle for raw materials, its des- perate struggle to free itself from foreign domination in the field of raw materials, is coupled with the growing brutal exploitation of her colonies, protectorates and semi-colonies in Latin America. Her colonies must become a’ soutce for her badly needed raw materials. SOUTHERN COTTON MILLS ' AND LABOR. . By MYRA PAGE. (Continued) Their economic condition, coupled with their enforced ignorance and backwardness, has de- termined their low social status. Only the Negroes are looked upon as having an inferior position in modern southern society. Only a few as yet see that in reality, all mill workers and other laborers, both white and colored, are now members of one cla that of wage- earners, who are forced to work for the own- ers of industry, in order to make a living; and that, since these owners exploit the wor! for their own personal gain, it is to the inter- ests of wage-earners to unite in a common struggle against them for their rights. In this respect the transfer from agricultural life has meant a real gain for Poor White and Negro labor, for while scattered arou d on the farms it was hard for them to recognize their coramon problems and to organize for common aims, but when massed in mills and towns they soon begin to realize the necessity and pos- sibilities of united action. Their present unenviable position is recog- nized both by other sections of the population and by mill workers themselves. There is a stigma to being a “mill hand” or “mill bat” or “lint head,” and to living on a mill “hill.” Mill workers know that skilled workmen in the city, tradesmen and professionals feel a great social gulf between themselves and mill vil- lagers, while the banking and owning class treat them with open contempt. Only the small farmers and other low-paid groups of wage- earners and organized labor will mingle and work with mill hands as equals. And even here the race line is usually drawn, Poor Whites mixing only with Poor Whites and Negroes only with Negroes. Mill workers, for their part, present their general economic and social position and the And here American imperialism follows the “good old traditions” of British imperialism, in driving off the peasants from the land, and establishing large plantations for the cultiva- tion of raw materials. This is the course fol- lowed now by American capitalism in Haiti, Philippine Islands, Santo Domingo, the Virgin Islands, ete. American imperialism is especially desperate to develop in her colonies rubber plantations. In the December 15 issue of the Chicago Tribune in a dispatch from Manila, its cor- respondent states “What chiefly impressed Governor General Davis was the enormous dif- ficulty of encouraging wise land settlement and cultivation (read—to establish large plan- | tation for the cultivation of raw materials.— S.D.) in face of inability to gain title to a piece of land once the Filipino farmer had started to put it under cultivation.” The Philip- pine peasants resist stubbornly the imperialist “wise cultivation” which means being deprived of his piece of land. And in speaking of the resistance of Philippine’s peasantry to the rob- ber’s “wise cultivation” the correspondent lets the cat out of the bag when he states “It kept. “larvey Firestone (America’s rubber magnate) from going into the rubber business in the southern islands and has kept many similar investments from entering.” And American imperialism is clearing the road, by brutally and forcefully evicting peas- ants and enslaving them on the plantations. The correspondent admits it when he winds up his dispatch by saying “The discontent caused now by difficulties over land ownership (read —resistance of the Philippine peasants to be evicted off their land) is recognized as a major factor in sending thousands of Filipinos to Hawaii and the west coast of the U. S. ina vast emigration movement that has gained alarming momentum in the last five years.” MEANING OF HAITI REVOLT. The brutal process of evicting the peasants in the Philippine Islands and enslaving them on the capitalist plantations, is also being car- riel out by American imperialism in Haiti. And precisely this explains the present mass revolt in Haiti. The crushing of the revolt in Haiti means the eviction of the Haitian peasants at the point of the marine’s bayonet. American imperialism makes the American worker pay her, tribute to foreign imperialism for their monopoly over the sources of the raw materials. This takes place in the form of intensified rationalization. The American auto manufacturers make the auto workers pay the capitalist tribute to Great Britain’s owner- ship of the rubber plantations. Especially now, in view of the crisis in the country, the Hoover slogan is “stimulate ex- port” and therefore hand in hand with the growing brutal rationalization at home, will go on a growing brutal exploitation of the toiling masses in the Latin American coun- tries. The American working class must sup- port the Latin American toiling masses op- pressed principally by American imperialists, in decisive struggles against their common enemy—American imperialism. UNITE U. 8S. AND LATIN AMERICAN +» WORKERS. Our Party, the Communist Party, jointly wth the brother parties in Latin America, must now, around the campaign to support the Hai- tian masses in their struggle against American imperialism, unite the workers in this country with the toiling masses of Latn America. We must: especially help in the building of the Communist .Parties in the various American colonies. Then anti-imperialist work of the Party must be broadened and strengthened. Communist leadership rast he establised in a broad anti-imperialist front, as only Com- mupist leadership is a guaranty in the struggle against the petty bourgeois elements, who are the main brake on the development of a broad militant anti-imperialist movement and against their inevitable betrayals. The Haitian masses must be warned against the petty-bourgeois elements who will try to gain the leadership in the movement in order to betray it. In face of the growing struggles of the Latin American masses the Party must take to heart the sharp criticisms contained in the thesis of the Sixth World Congress with re- gards to our struggle against American im- perialism in: Latin America—namely—“. . the fact that it falls to carry on a sufficiently impressionable struggle against the predatory policy of the United States in Latin America.” attitude of other more fortunate groups toward them. They can not accept their present lot, but neither have they been able to change it as yet, according to thejr wishes, “Their ac- tivities and conversation show them to be rest- less and dissatisfied. A small part of. their discontent is due to an imperfect adjustment of the former agricultural and individualistic peo- ple to modern industrial and town life, with its demands on cooperative activity and submer- gence of the individual in the group. But there are moré permanent elements of conflict - in mill village life, such as the mill workers’ subjection to the mill owners’ exploiting sys- tem, and .the poverty, ill health, company ownership of village and homes which this system involves, and also the fact that “mill hands’ chillun gotta be mill hands too.” This statement, in varying forms, was made again and again. Yet, southern mill workers are emphatically opposed to their children entering the: mills. They give as their reasons, “Once a mill hand, always a mill hand.” “A mill hand’s got no chance.” “Th’ mill takes everything out of a body ’n don’t pay nothin’ noway.” - Nearly three-fifths of the parents stated their definite opposition to mill work but of these only a few had any real hopé of being able to, train their youth for other trades. One-fifth said they did not wish their children to become mill workers but added: “What else kin they be?” while barely one-ninth thought mill work was a good steady trade, and were willing to see their children enter it, when old enough. Others when asked, about plans for their offspring, merely shook their heads and said, “I ‘jes’ doan know.” Over three-fourths of the southern. textile workers with whom we talked are dissatisfied with their present lot, and of these one-third have formulated a class philosophy of the rea- sons for their plight and methods of dealing with their problems. Until recently they,have had little contact with the revolutionary Wwork- ing class movement, but the logic of their position has taught them a homely kind of so- cialism. They refer to themselves as “Us poor people,” and over one-half of those with whom we came in contact made ‘statements about the necessity of unionism, and “Us working class of people stickin’ together.” Scripture is quoted, decrying the rich and up- holdng the poor, and bitter remarks are made about the mill owners getting rich at the workers’ expense. ‘The experiences of southern mill workers have prepared them for militant methods and revolutionary doctrines, and they have received the Communist and left wing movement, which has recently begun“ an in- tensive campaign in the South, with en- thusiasm. There is one phase of the revolutionary program which southern labor finds itself less prepared to accept, as it runs contrary to its prejudices. This is the platform of united ef- forts of colored and white workers, on an equal footing, and their common struggle for full economic, political and social equality for all workers, regardless of race. The color line has been drawn taut in the South for over a century and a half, and generations of race hatred and race fear must be broken down be- fore Negro and white labor can fully wnder- stand one another. White workers have been so misled by propaganda of the business-con- trolled press, schools and churches that they actually believe that the Negro is at the basis of much of their trouble! They blame the Negro, though wrongly, for their double pre- dicament, first as farming Poor Whites and now as millhands, who have been forced off the land into the mills. Fearing that they will be forced to even lower depths through having to compete with Negroes in the mills, white operatives are insistent upon their “rights as white men” to a monopdly: on the jobs at. the machines, and on the recognition of their superior caste. This attitude of Anglo- Saxon superiority has received encouragement from management. Mill owners find white labor so cheap and so plentiful and profits sufficiently large so that there is no need to use Negro labor as mill operatives, although the threat of doing so has proven a useful way of keeping the two groups apart and stemming their revolts. Negro labor is naturally suspi- cious of white workers, for they have. often suffered at their hands, and they feel du- bious of white labor’s sincerity in this recent move. It sounds too goo] to be true! A Ne- gro organizer who had come South aid in unionizing colored along with white mill work- ers was warned by those of his race, “Best keep away from them white trash, for they doan mean you any good.” But the protection which mill hands gave this colored organizer from a Ku Klux Klan mob helped to break down these Negro workers’ mistrust. This is one instance which shows that southern tex- tile workers, organized into one union, are learning through their industrial struggles the common economic lot of white.and colored wage-carners, and the necessity of common ac- tion. At the same time, the new social out- look gained through contact with the labor movement is freeing them from their former prejudices. e Hye (To Be Continued) Workers Clash With Austrian Fascists, : VIENNA (By Mail).—Severe collisions be- tween workers and fascists occurred in Vienna- Neustadt recently and continued during the day and into the night. In the morning ‘the fascists organized a propaganda procession through the streets under the protection of the / social democratic police. The workers collected in great numbers and booed the fascists, At various points fights occurred. The’ police made a number of arrests and crowdsvofwork- ers gathered outside the police station and several attempts were made to storm it ‘where- by further arrests were carried out. In the afternoon further fighting occurred between | workers and Heinwwehr fascists whereby~the latter used pistols. In Grez a collision also occurred between workers and fascists. The social democratic Republican Defense League. has organized = meeting. Workers leaving the meeting were | provoked by fascists op the Ring Strasse and the fascists were thrashed, ' The fascigf parade in Leobin took place with- out any serious incidents, but later on a gang of fascists attacked a social democratic shop debate and wounded him severely with knife rusts, ene