The Daily Worker Newspaper, January 10, 1930, Page 4

is Published by the Comprodaily Publishing Co., Inc., & Page Four Square, New York City, N. Y. Telephone Stuyve Addrees and mail all checks to the Daily Worker. 26-28 Union Square, New Yor! ONE NS PARTY RECRUITING DRIVE District Two Recruiting Drive Results to December 7 New Members ous s! 108 ta. Recruited Members Recruited New Negro ¢ Quota Percentage 29 3 15% 35.99 Jistrict has just passed one-third of our 1,000 new members. This means ught up after a slow start. It that we must maintain at least our order that we may succeed, ing our total quota in time. Section Eight continues to with 46 per cent of its total tained. This section also leads in the gro recruits secured. The next tion One, which has 80 per cent No other section has as yet ) per cent of their total quota, and the standing of the district is the result of the fact that approximately one-third of our re- the various ave Cé tempo in , in 2 ted ead, cruits have been brought in by fractions in unions and other mass organiza- tions Of our fractions, the Hungarian are the most active and hold the lead with a total of eighteen new members recruited. The ex- ample of the Hungarian fractions could well erve as a model to those fractions that have criminally neglected this drive. It appears, however, that other language bureaus and Party organs, and consequently fractions, do, not concern themselves with Party campaigns. The District Bureau has taken note of this further expression of the right danger in our Language fractions and will take organiza- tional action against those Bureaus who prove, by their disregard for Party campaigns, that they are unfit for reponsible Party work, The insufficient attention to shops and fac- tories in the basic indus which is the chief shortcoming in our drive is clearly ex- emplified by the poor results shown in such sections as New Jersey, as well as the fact that we have as yet been able to organize only one new shop-nucleus. Every unit is again instructed to slect an important shop in the territory of the unit and organize systematic and consistent activities around such shop. Regular distribution and sale of literature and other propaganda material around the shops } | their Communist duty in this will result in contacts that will make possible the realizaion of our aims in this drive. The District Bureau kas passed a motion of severe censure against Sections Nine, Five, and the Up-State units for failure to perform drive. Sections Two, Six and Seven are sharply criticised for the poor showing they have made thus far. All sections are warned that they must be careful of falling behind in the important work of recruiting Negro werkers for the Party. Many of the sections are completely ignoring this most important task. Very few of the Sections report results in recruiting young workers for the Young Com- munist League. The League, on the contrary, has brought a considerable number of recruits to the, Party since the drive began. We again remind the sections of the chal- lenges they made when the drive began. We would suggest that those Sections that are far behind, either recall their challenges or take serious steps to make good. More concentration on the shops, active par- ticipation in the Red Sundays, which begin with next Sunday, when we concentrate all our forces for a systematic canvass of the working class quarters in Harlem and Browns- ville, vigorous work on the part of all trade union and language fractions; these are the requirements, if we are to get 75 per cent of our quota by the time of the Lenin Memorial meeting and realize our full quota by Febru- ary 10th, when the drive will be concluded. Face towards the factories! Build New Shop Nuclei! One Hundred and Fifty New Mem- bers During the Coming Week! Seven Hun- dred and Fifty New Members; 150 New Negro Members by Jan. 22nd! Build the Party for the Greater Struggles Now Developing! Organization Department, District Two. The New Dues System By I, AMTER. 2 HE Central Committee, faced with many problems, some of the not least important of which are financial problems, has decided on a change in the dues system in the Party. According to this system the members of the Party will not pay a flat rate—which was not supposed to be the case in the past at least, theoretically, but in practice was true, but will pay according to income. Certainly on this basis there could be nothing more equitable. “According to your income you will be asked to support the Party financially.” The C.C. has asked worked out the plan that comrades earning $15 a week or less and housewives shall pay 10c weekly as dues. From $15 to $25, 25s weekly, $25 to $30, 50s, $31 to $40, 75¢ weekly, $41 to $50, $1 weekly, above $50, $1 plus special tax. On the basis of a proportionate dues sys- tem, nothing could be more fair. According to his or her income,*each member shall en- able the Party to carry on its work. (This is only the financial aspect of the question.) Now to take up a few special features of the decision. First of all the weekly basis of the payments. It is well known’that when a comrade falls into arrears for a few months, he finds it difficult to meet his obligations. This has so often been the case, that we find comrades willing to drop out of the Party, because of their inability to meet their arrears. If payments are made on a weekly basis—with all provisions being made for the-stamps, etc.— the members of the Party will be able to meet their obligations without any trouble. As the amount of dues—beginning with the lowest income category. No one will declare that those having an income of only $15 a wees—and all housewives—should contribute ess than 10 cents weekly. On the basis of month- ly dues, 45 cents seems more, for the mem- ber has to pay it in one sum, and frequently has not the money. On the basis of weekly payments, he will be able to meet it without difficulty. (Many a comrade with} an income of this size does not hesitate to buy cigaret- tes, go to movie, etc., so that this difficulty 1s met.) As to housewives, today they pay 25 cts. monthly, and yet these same housewives do not hesitate also to go to the movie, to buy knicknacks—and although henceforth their dues though paid weekly will amount to more ger month, they will be able to pay them in such small sums that they will not be noticed. Az to the rising categories, it is again true that the amount paid per month will be more, but owing to the fact that the payments are weekly, they will not be noticed so much. Is the progressive dues system correct? No comrade will question it. Is the rate of rise in the dues too great? Considered monetarily some comardes will declare emphatically in the affirmative. And yet not only in New York, but in other districts, the comrades forget that even those who paid nominally 50 cents dues, actually paid more in the form of a tax for the upkeep of a hall, for renting a oom. etc. This is the practice throughout we Party—an unavoidable practice owing to the lack of meeting places. Thus the new sys- tem does not tax the membership to the ex- tent that one supposes. It will be noticed that all comrades earn- ing more than $51 will pay not only $1 a week in dues, but will be subject to special taxes. No comrade earning that sum of money has ‘the right to object, for the basis of financial must be “each according to his Does the new dues system represent too reat a tax upon the membership? If one re- some of the European parties, one will that the system of 2% or 8% of one’s rs in dues has been in voguesfor some It is a correct system, and has a justi- | fied basis. But taken at its face value, will it be too much strain on the membership? It will not. First. of ali, the weekly payment spreads it over a shorter period, and makes it Jess.of a strain on the earnings of the com- rades. Secondly, the members of the Party will be relieved of many other taxes and as- sessments that the Party must place upon them if the work is to continue. Some Party members declare that they are willing to make contributions to the Party from time to time, when an emergency occurs, but they do not wish their obligation to the Party to be placed at such a high figure. This is a wrong attitude and must be corrected at on¢e. We are in the Party as a dedication to the revolutionary movement, This means that in consecrating ourselves to the Party we rec- ognize that the Party has taken control of us, and that all the work we do is subject to the discipline of the Party. Must then the Party, which must direct and be esponsible for all rev- olutionary work, be dependent on the voluntary, self-given response of the membership, or must it be able to carry on its work, knowing that the members of the Party belong to the Party? Surely a Party which depends on the mo- mentary response of its members not only will not be able to carry on financially, but also will not be able to cope with the emergencies as they occur. Therefore, greater contribution to the Party not as a voluntary gift, but as an obligation to the revolutionary movement. It is also clear that with a larger financial income, the Party first of all will be able to perform its work more effectively (for despite the cynical remarks of some comrades, much of the work of the Party remains undone be- cause of lack of funds as, for instance, the sending out of organizers, publication of lit- erature, leaflets, etc.). Secondly, the larger income of the Party will relieve the member- ship of the continental assessments that are made nationally, in the districts and locals and even units, in order to keep up halls, get out leaflets, shop bulletins, ete. Thirdly, and this is most important, it will create a more wholesomeatt attitude towrad the Party, which will no longer be the recipient of contributions, but is the general staff, which both in activity and in the matter of funds has the right to call upon the membership to support to a greater degree than hitherto. As regards the comrades with high incomes, they will be especially assessed, for these com- rades, though willing revolutionists, are not connectcd with the masses in the shops, they have no mass influence, they are not doing basic work, they are not exposed to periods of unemployment and to discharge for Com- munist work, which is the situation among the masses of unskilled and semi-skilled work- ers today. If these latter caegories of work- er° are not yet in the Party—our Party has a large proportion «” skilled workers in its ranks—it is clear that in the present and coming struggles, it will be particularly the unskilled and semi-skilled workers who will be drawn into the Party. ‘Therefore there can be no objection on the scores raised above, Other objections, however, are raised, as a warning to the Party. One of th:m takes the line that we will not be able to win the exploited workers for the Party, and this will be particularly harmful for the coming recruiting drive. This is not true. Workers who wish to join the Party do not ask what the dues are. Workers coming to our ranks, want to know what the Party stands for, what its activities are. Many of these workers come to us through the struggle itself, recognizing that every militant worker belongs in our ranks. The question of dues is the last one these workers raise—the last one, if at all, that they men, tion. By PHILIP A. RAYMOND 1 this time of the year, heads of various industries are taking inventory, figuring up profit or loss and making an estimate as to possible profits during the coming year. Increasing numbers of workers im the auto- mobi'2 industry are beginning ‘to take stock of vhat they have to show for their labor and what they can expect to show for the future. Wage-Cuts, Speed-Up, Unemployment for the Workers. The bosses continued the Christmas spirit with wage-cuts at ‘ce beginning of the New Year. On January 8, 1929, trimmers, sanders, and girls quit work in a body at the Dodge plant in protest against drastic wage-cuts. Trimmers who put in 52 hours in 2 weeks wee getting $29 for their pains. The truckers were cut from 52.5 cents to 36 cents per hour. During the same month, wage-cuts took place in the Pontiac, Continental, Briggs and other plants in every auto center throughout the na- tion. Ii February, a wage-cut of 20% for the men and 40 for the girls took place in Fish- er Body Plant No. 21. Soon afterwards an- other cut took place in Plant No, 38. Lack of space prevents us from giving a complete list of all t!> reports of wage cuts that came into the Union office. The fact of the matter is that wage cuts from 10 per cent to 40 per cent took place, week after week, in General Motors, Briggs, Murray Body, Nash and other auto plants throvghout the country. Wage-cuts were accompanied ir almost every instance by increased speeding up. In Jan- uary, a Gleason operator in the Chevrolet plant wrote of having to attend to nine machines, instead of four. Soon after, the Chevrolet Gear and Axle Plant attempted to cut the time schedule for a rear axle to go through the thirteen departments, the production line, from 2 hours and 5 minutes to 1 hour and 41 min- utes. Hudson officials boasted that they could beat Ford for speed and many Hudson work- ers agree with them. By July, Mr. Wilson, former employment manager of the Ford Rouge Plant, who had just been fired for selling Ford jobs to workers, stated that there were 2,000 less men onjthe pay roll at the end of Spring than there were during the Winter. same time, daily production had increased from 5,000 to 7,500. “Step on it,” and “Speed ’em At the pores Org an of the Communist Party of the U.S. A. | plants. By Mali (in New Tork City only) By Mall (outside of New York Ci SUBSCRIPTION RATES: $8.00 a year; 6.00 a year; $4.50 six months; 3, $3.50 six months; 50 three months $2.00 three months By Fred Ellis Wage Cuts and Struggles Grow in Auto Industry up,” are words familiar to the workers in every automobile factory. Unemployment. Instability of employment is more marked in the automobile industry than in any other industry, according to a statement of the United States Depariment of Labor, based on a survey of seventy-eight plants engagd in the manufacture of automobiles, trucks, busses, bodies or some substantial part of an auto- mobile. In July, with producticn still goiffg on at a terrific pace, thousands of workers were being fired—7,000 workers were laid off at Chryslers. Other thousands were laid off at Fisher Body, Oakland, and other automobile Hundreds gf unemployed workers were ned up at Murray Body, Briggs’, Dodge’s and other factories in Detroit. At the Ford Rouge Plant, great mobs of men would stand patiently for hours in a space enclosed by a fence, a strong fence, the kind that is used in the stock yards to keep cattle in check. By November, the army of unemployed exceeded 100,000 in Detroit alone. This growing army of perma- nently unemployed workers is “Open Shop Prosperity.” Auto Workers Fight Back. Greater numbers of auto workers are re- sisting the encroachments of the bosses. From the very beginning of the year, department walkouts occurred in Dodge’s, Pontiac and other automobile plants in Detroit, Pontiac and other auto centers. In February, a strike of several hundred workers in the Fisher Body No. 21, under the*leadership of the Auto Work- ers’ Union, stopped a wage cut of from 10 to 40 per cent. In the same month, 100 trimmers went on strike in Fisher Body Plant No. 38 against a wage cut of 50 cents on a job. Plant No. 18, of the same company, closed down at this time and the company transferred men from this plant and cut the prices on these scabs 20 per cent. The strike was lost. In the middle of April, a strike of 500 work- ers in the Graham-Paige plant in Wayne, Mich., took place against a wage-cut of 10 per cent for the men and 20 per cent for the wo- men,.. The strike lasted two weeks, and while they did not succeed ir winning all of their demands, they forced the company to rescind the wage-cut. £ Other strikes, led by the Auto Workers’ Let those comrades who beldng to unions and who pay $3, $4 a month dues, and those who belong to sick and death benefit socie- ties, etc., in which they must pay high dues and assesments, answer whether the Party should come first or last. Their answer to this question is the answer to the objections that they raise. There must be developed in our Party some- what of the spirit of the wobblies, It is true that these workers have wrong policy, do not believe in leadership—for each one of them is that these workers have a wrong policy, do not know tactics, are unstable, cannot hold a job not because of activity but because of a wrong attitude on how to fight the capitalist system. On the other hand, the wobblies have one quality that the Party well could emulate, A wobbly is completely devoted to the I. W. W.; what he has belongs. to the organizaion (I speak of the better sort of wobblies, most of whom have disappeared or have joined our Party, recognizing the wrong position of the L.W.W. and the correct position, polities tactics of our Party). This quality has still to be recognized and brought into our Party. The new dues system will help instill this attitude, this discipline into our Party. It will help to put a different spirit into our Partie spirit a polis self: ‘one stan@ing that the Party has the right to claim one’s whole being, just as the professional rev- olutionist knows that he must accept afy- thing that the Party imposes on him. This means that the professional revolutionist is completely at the disposal of the Party, to be sent where the Party decides, to accept posi- | tions that may mean hunger (and many of them mean that today). This puts discipline of the Party, acceptance of Party decisions, on a higher plane than hitherto. Does this mean that a member of the Party will be judged according to his dues payments? Nothing of the kind: it means that just as in the past—only more intensified, owing to the sharpened class struggle, the danger of war and of the inerczsing attacks on our Party, a member will be judged by his carry- ing on of Party work. Each according to his ability and willingness to do work for the Par- ty. But it will also r.ean that this willingness will be linked up with a firm recognition of the necessity of greater financial support of the Party, so that it will avoid crises, and be able to carry on its - -rk more effectively, The best clements of the working class join our Party because ‘they see that our Party is the leader in the iy strung. They will ice our Party ust the same the of the LENIN ON THE PROLETARIAT AND THE WAR DANGER Editor's Note: In connection with the Lenin Campaign of the Communist Party, the DAILY WORKER is running a Lenin Corner during the month of January, containing some of Lenin’s most important teachings on imperi- alist war and the organization of the Commu- nist Party. The present article is taken from Lenin's Imperialist War—The Struggle Against So- cial Chauvinism and Social Pacifism, consti- tuting Vol. XVIII of his Collected Works (In- ternational Publishers, New York.) The War and Russian Social-Democracy. The European War, which the governments and the bourgeois parties of all countries were preparing for decades, has broken out. The growth of armaments, the sharpening of the struggle for markets in the epoch of the latest, the imperialist, stage in the development of cap- italism of the foremost countries, the dynastic interests of the most backward East European monarchies, were inevitably bound to bring about, and did bring about, the present war. To seize lands and to conquer foreign nations, to ruin competing nations, to pillage their wealth, to divert the attention of the laboring masses from the domestic political crises of Russia, Germany, England, and other coun- tries, to disunite the workers and fool them with nationalism, to annihilate their vanguards Union, took place in Fisher Body No. 18, the Fisher Body Plant in Oakland, Cal., and in the Grand Rapids Body Co. in Grand Rapids, Mich. The biggest strike in the Detroit auto industry since 1921 occurred when over 2,000 workers struck against a 20 per cent wage cut in the Murray Body Co. plant on July 17. Under the leadership of the Auto Workers’ Union, a militant struggle was carried on for five days, with mass picket lines and struggles against police brutality. At » mass meeting of the strikers, the strikers called the strike off on the basis of an agreemen’ made between the company and the negotiating committee. The agreement called for rescinding all wage cuts, no discrimination against the leaders, for equal division of work during slack periods and other terms favorable to the srikers. The Union warned the men against accepting a verbal greement, but the strikers, by an over- ‘whelming vote, decided to call the strike off. As foretold by the organizers of the Auto Workers’ Union and the Trade Union Unity League, the company broke its agreement as soon as the men allowed their ranks to be broken. Our Mistakes. While the auto workers have put up several battles against the employers, while the dis- content and resistance of the workers is grow- ing, we cannot register many permanent organ- izational gains. The membership of the Auto Workers’ Union, which is the best weapon of the: workers, has only slightly increased. It is important that we frankly discuss and try to overcome our shortcomings. Our principal fault has been lack of organization in the shops. We must organize shop locals and draw more workers from the shops into active work in building up the union. We must give moré attention to the organization of Negro and young workers. More efforts should be given to build up the ciruculation of the Auto Work- er’s News. With definite plans to build each sho? local, with every member of the. union an active organizer, there is every reason to look for better organizational results during the coming year. Our Friends. We are also in a position to recognize our friends. The Communist Party and Young Communist League have given every possible aid in building up the Union and in supporting us in tim: of strike. The International Labor Defense has taken care of all of our workers jailed for their activity in behalf of the union and <triking workers. During the Murray Body strike, the Workers International Relief has helped to support the workers “and their families in need of aid. The Auto Workers’ Union is now a part of the Trade Union Unity League. Building the Union in 1930. Auto manufacturers know that a period of intense competition lies ahead. Authorities al- ready speak of 1930 production being at least 15 per cent behind this year’s totals. This would mean a production of about 4,500,000 cars in 1930, hardly enough for six months’ capacity production. Nevertheless, employers will ‘try to maintain their huge profits at the expense of the workers, by trying to put over more wage cuts, speeding up and worsening conditions, Many struggles took place.in the auto in- dustry in 1929 against wage-cuts, speed-up and inhuman conditions. We have been strengthened through experience and have learned from our mistakes. The year 1930 will not only see more struggles, but also mili- tant organization. a Party not playing round with revolution, but seriously inall phases of the work, is organ- izing and mobilizing for the daily struggle and for the Proletarian Revolution. Will we lose some members? Undoubtedly— some of the members who have not really ac- cepted the reorganization of the Party, who still dream of a reorganization backward to the language system, who do not see nor wish to participate in the sharpening class struggle, will use the new dues system as an excuse for leaving the Party. The Party wishes to keep in its ranks all earnest, sincere revolutionists. but if sincerity is based only on iow dues, then it is flimsy character. No good revolutionist, who is doing work in the Party, will leave us. On the contrary, he will recognize that the Party AT LAST has adopted the proper form of organization for its revolutionary work; that it is plunging into the struggle as never before; that in order to carry on its work, financial means are necessary and that these means must be provided, not by appeals, as sesments, etc, but by the Party members as- suming more OBLIGATIONS that will enable the Party as a whole to do its work—and do it effectively. The new dues system i: a revol in order to weaken the revolutionary moves ment of the proletariat, such is the only real essence, the significance and the meaning of the present war. Upon Social-Democracy, in the first place, devolves the duty to make clear this real mean- ing of the war, and mercilessly to unmask the falsehoods, the sophisms and the “patriotic” phrases which are spread by the ruling classes, the landowners and the bourgeoisie, in defense of the war. One of the belligerent groups of nations is headed by the German bourgeoisie. It has fooled the working class and the laboring masses by asserting that it wages the war for the defense of the fatherland, liberty, and civ- ilization, for the liberation of the peoples that are oppressed by czarism, for the destruction of reactionary czarism. In reality, that same bourgeoisie, servile in face of the Prussian Junkers with Wilhelm II at their head, has always been the most faithful ally of ezarism and the enemy of the revolutionary movement. of ‘-e workers and peasants in Russia, In reality, that bourgeoisie will, together with the Junkers, direct all its efforts, no matter what the outcome of the war may be, to support the czarist monarchy against a revolution in Russia. In reality, the German bourgeoisie under- took a predatory campaign against Serbia with the aim of subjugating it and throttling the national revolution of the Southern Slavs, at the same time directing the bulk of its mili- tary forces against freer countries, Belgium and France, in order to pillage the richer com- petitor. The German bourgeoisie, spreading the fable of a defensive war on its part, in reality chose the moment which was. most pro- pitious for its warfare, utilizing its latest im- provements in military technique and forestall- ing the new armaments that had already been mapped out and approved of by Russia and France. : At the head of the other group of belligerent nations are the English and French bourgeoisie, which fool the working class and the laboring masses by asserting that this group leads a war for the fatherland, freedom and civiliza- tion against the militarism and despotism of Germany. In reality, this bourgeoisie has long been buying for its billions, and preparing for an attack on Germany, the armies of Russian ezarism, the most reactionary and barbarous monarchy of Europe. In reality, the task of the struggle of the English and French bourgeoisie is to seize the German colonies and to ruin a competing na- tion which is distinguished by a more rapid economic development. For this noble aim, the “advanced” democratic nations are help- ing ferocious czarism still more to choke Poland, the Ukraine, ete., still more to throttle the revolution in Russia. Neither of the two groups of belligerent coun- tries is behind the other in robberies, bestiali- ties and endless brutalities of wat. But in order to fool the proletarians and detract their attention from the only war for real freedom, namely, a civil war against the bourgeoisie, both of “their own” and “foreign” countries, in order to further this noble aim the bour- geoisie of each country strives, by means of patriotic phrases, to extol the significance of “its own” national war and to assert that. it strives to vanquish the adversary, not for the sake of robbery and seizure of lands, but for the sake of “liberating” all the other peoples except its own, Put the greater the efforts of the govern- ments and the bourgeoisie of all countries to disunite the workers and to pit them one against the other, the more ferociously they use for this lofty purpose a system of martial law and military censorship (which measures even now, in time of war, are more successful against the “enemy within” than against the enemy without), the more urgent is the duty of the class-conscious proletatriat to defend its class solidarity, its internationalism, its Socailist convictions against the orgy of chauvinism of the “patriotic” bourgeois cliques of: all countries. To repudiate this task would, on the part of the class-conscious workers, mean to renounee all their striving towards freedom and democracy, not to speak of Socialism. - (To Be Continued) Bomb Negro Home in Atlanta ATLANTA, Ga., Jan. 7,—In this Headquar. ters city of the Ku Klux Klan, there are 32 parks, which the Negro and white workers do not have time to use. They are dumping grounds for tons of K. K. K. leaflets, all de- signed to split the working class. About two months ago, the home of Harmon White, Negro building worker, was bombed and set on fire while he and his family were asleep. It was entirely destroyed, and the. family lost all they owned, in the way of furniture, ete. A neighbor, Ed Madison, found five eight-inch sticks of dynamite on his front porch that same night, but they had not yet exploded, Previously the Madison home had also been bombed. In spite of all this poisonous propaganda and provocation, the Negro and white workers ate uniting to fight against the bosses, and are he- ginning to talk of worker and farm labor de- fense corps. The chain gangs which do heavy work on the roads, are kept full of framed-up Negro workers, Workers! Join the Party of Your Class! . Communist Party U. S. A. <i 43 East 125th Street) y New York City. ao the undersigned, want to join the Commii- nist Party. Send me more information. -