The Daily Worker Newspaper, January 16, 1930, Page 4

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Published by the Con ly Publishing Co., Inc, daily, except Sunday, at 26-28 Unt $ Saye rker SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Page Four bs Tesla N. ¥, ‘Telephone Stuyvesant 1696-7-8. Cable: ““DALWOE ay By Malin New York City only): $8.00 a year; $4.50 six months; $2.50 three months Addrees and mai} all checks to the Daily Worker. Union Square, New York. N. By Mall (outside of New York Sity): $6.00 a year; $3.50 six month $2.00 three months Central Organ of the Communist Party of the U.S. A. By Fred Ellis RECRUITING DRIVE *t:75§ | ERS, SAVE THE COAL LENINIST CONCEPTION OF - ROLE OF COMMUNIST PARTY | for speakers was sent to the district office, but still the speakers did not show up till 8:4 Bolshevizing the Party in Chicago three out of the four speake . | speaker left town without making any a | 4 : pee ‘ vegr i: e cruiting ents for another speaker to take his place. | NOTE: The excerpts printed below are nomism “all are agreed” with this (although (Negro Work and the Recruiting ments for another speaker to take his place. | Fouls egies only ‘noratnally; "asvetg atelleboon Campaign). r Party, Negro work and t blem was In no Negro Dc ade c Chicago District there was tment tinoning. Only one ad no experience nor suff nt com Comr 1 jing was doing what he thought was best a result we had meetings rches opened and closed with prayers by When pro- a demand on Religion published for the en- Comrades, Mr, Krus®, then ject A resolu- ng all the blame on the mentioning the District did not function and who hers 1 sir raised 4 and \ House to House Drive. time, with factionalism de- he Party in general, and is making headway. ting campaign Section 5 de- cided to ¢ t 15 new Negro members. The Negro Department of the section was re- ized and ordered to arrange a mass meet- territory re present , the work of During the re gro Department of Section 4 which line with Section 5, was in- te , as well as the YCL. Ap- were made at section membership meet- ings for volunteers to distribute circulars and sell “The Liberator” in Negro territory. The comrades understood the significance of this ition and 35 volunteered. The YCL also mised to send help. On New Years day, when the distribution was to take place, it was raining all day, and yet, 31 out of the showed up and went-out to bring our message to the Negro workers, They went from house to house speaking to people, selling literature, distribut- ing the circula Almost in every house they were welcome. Many good contacts were made and some joined the Party, giving their names and ad- dresses. The Young Communist, League did not furnish even o n e member for this distribu- tion. One member of the YCL, who happened to p into the district office, was coaxed into going vut with one Party member. Organizational Shortcomings. The meeting was advertised for eight o'clock. By 7:30-the hall began to fill up with white and Negro workers. At eight the hall was packed and every available chair in the build- ing was brought into this hall. The speakers were not there. At 8:15 an emergency call put up a speaker in time. Near the end of the meeting the Pioneers and the YCL requested the chairman to allow to put up speakers, The chairman refu! their request as the meeting was running strict- ly according to schedule. In the future if the speakers will come late or will not show up at all, charges will be preferred against them. We want no leaders who are at the tail end of the movement. After the appeal to join the Party was made, twenty Negro workers joined the Party, and ee Joined the YCL, the League that led to participate in the distribution and failed to The pamphlet “Wh: in the Communist and other lite was sold at the meeting. This meeting proves what can be done by united and organized action, in spite of the short comings pointed out above. Another short coming should be mentioned None of the speak str id the local prob- Worker Should are lems. They are either not acquainted with | them or failed to stress them s tly, Keep New Members. The big problem facing the Party now is how to keep these new members. Ways and means must be found to absorb these new ele- ments, to assimilate them in our Party. past our Party was more or less of an “open corridor” where people would come in and pass out. This must not happen in the future. The Negro Department especia should devote all the energy to develop the Negro workers join- ing the Party and to help them become the lead- ers of the Negro masses. But as it is, with the running of such suc cessful meetings in Negro territory, recruiting of Negro masses into our ranks, we may safely say, that our Party is at last on the road to Bolshevizatioin. NEGRO WORK DIRECTOR SECTION 5, CHICAGO, Detroit Challenges the Party The Detroit District Committee has made the following challenge: “that the Detroit Dis- tries challenges every district in the Party that we will secure more Negro Party than any other distric The challenge must be taken up by every other district and Detroit must not be allowed to think that they are the enly district which can recruit Negro workers. While Detroit is leading the country with 83 Negro recruits other districts are close Philadelphia (57), New York (43) and Cleve- land 20). Every district must answer Detroit. In the | with the | workers to the | behind, Chicago (58), | Abolish Unnecessary Delay in Accepting New Members By J. W. “Dear Comrades: “Communist Party: “I filled out an application for member- ship, handed to me by N. S., a member of the Communist Party, Section 6, New York District. She sent it to you about three weeks ago. “Among other information I would like to know why does it take so long for the Party to communicate with the new members? “Comradely yours, (signed) G. K.” * * HE above letter from a worker, anxious to join our Party, gives a correct criticism of the Party. Too often we are content with re- cruiting “application cards” and not new ac- tive members. The present system where workers applying for membership in the Party must wait four to six weeks before being called to the nucleus for acceptance—and sometimes worse, never being accepted by the nucleus at all st be eliminated. Many workers will become discouraged wait- ing for their applications to go through the red tape of our various executives. A worker who signs an application card must be given the most detailed attention and consideration, so that we keep him or her, and develop them into revolutionary fighters of the Communist Party. No worker applying for membership in the Party should need wait more than one week or ten days before being called to a nucleus for acceptance and prior to that time a letter, greeting the action of this worker should have been sent him. We must orientate more toward the Party nucleus accepting new members and then re- ferring them for final judgment to the Section Committee (or a membership committee of the Section Committee) rather than the present practice of new members being accepted by one comrade in the District Office. The initi- ative and responsibility of the nucleus must be developed in this respect as in all others. If application cards are handed into the District Office, they should be given over to the proper nuclei to call the new member, for examination and acceptance. Another tendency which has arisen during the present Recruiting Drive, is that workers must undergo a period of probation in our Party. This is wrong. However, it is correct that greater care should be given in examining go through the Dis ‘ing in leading comrades Workers! Join the Party of Your Class! Communist Party U. S. A. 43 East 125th Street, New York City. I, the undersigned, want to join the Commu- nist Party. Send me more information. ME dines hsb s0cessicvcececsvccvsseccnsere Address Sic ases > ces welee odes Ae eae Puce dindisesepduderes'es, AGO...) _ Mail this to the Central Office, Communist may 43 Hest 125th St., New York, fH. Y. ; | ers.” new members. ination and acceptance by the nucleus must be immediately brought into the Party. tion Committee must, of course, pass final judgment on the applicant, but he must not wait weeks for this O.K. While all applications rict Committee as a mat- ter of organizational routine, acceptance by the nucleus and Section is sufficient to bring a member into the Party, unless there is a dispute or in some exceptional cases. In the case of non-proletarian elements, probation periods may be imposed. The Development and Training of District Proletarian Leaderships. By SAM DON, INCE the foundation of the Communist ternational, our international leadership has repeatedly instructed aH the sections of the Communist International to train and develop | a proletarian leadership for its various sec- tions. And this was especially true of our Communist Party. In this third period of wars and revolutions. the problem of proletarian leadership is a prob- lem of the greatest political importance. And since the Sixth World Congress, when con- fronted with many sections of the old Party leadership, not completely free from their so- cial democratic past, the Communist Interna- tional has become very insistent in the matter of drawing young proletarian elements into the very leadership of the Parties (Czecho- Slovakia, France, etc.). In view of the bad heritage of our Party, young new proletarian elements must be drawn into active leadership of the Party. In connection with our recent factional crisis, the C. I. demande@ it of our Party, as one of the most important political problems confronting the Party. This should not be forgotten. Every district in the Party faces critically the problem of forces, the problem of estab- lishing a district leadership. The Central Committee follows correctly the policy of send- ‘om the center and shifting forces into the districts. However, it seems to me that a wrong tendency has de- veloped in a number of districts, and that is to depend too much on the center in develop- ing a district leadership. The solution of the problem does not lie in importing fully a dis- trict leadership, but in the development of a local leadership. Workers Have Class Instinct. There is plenty of good local proletarian material “going to waste,” and one of the reasons why there is lack of initiative and courage in drawing new elements is the hang- over of the Lovestone regime of bringing in intellectuals, or proletarians brought in as a mere gesture. In connection with this, it is worth while recalling Lenin’s statement on this problem: “It is asserted that the leaders of the splits were usually intellectuals. This as- sertion is important, but it does not solve the problem. I am of the opinion that one must penetrate more deeply into this matter. The workers have a class instinct and with a small kmount of political training will pretty quick become consistent socialists. I am very much in favor that on our committee to every two irtellectuals there shovld be eight work- This was said in 1905. They are truly The boss of the Carl Melton Mine, Henderson, Ky., with the consent and approval of the United Mine Workers of America and of the Federal Mine Inspector sealed a burning mine to’save the coal and condemned to The men rang the alarm bell to show they were alive a short time before the entrance was sealed. death two miners caught below. However, workers after exam- | The See- | | iron battalions of the working class.” Politics in North Carolina By SI GERSON. T is already an age-old truth in the Amer- ican labor moyement that one can always tell whether a movement has influence or not by the number of boss politicians that try to attach themselves to the coat-tails of the working class. That truth has been avain proven in the state of North Carolina. The Communist Party has pointed out time and again that in the South new regiments of | the working class are being born, and that they are being welded thru struggle into “the Fur- ther, the Communist Party has pointed out, the-birth of a new contingent of the working class comes because of the fact that the South is rapidly being changed from a vast farm } country, ruled by rich: plantation owners, to a In- | golden words and especially applicable to our situation, It must be remembered that there w a certain historical base and test for the Hectual elements in the old Czarist Russi yet this clear and strong statement of Lenin. How much more true is it-of our situation! One of the essential points to be remembered in the drawing of young proletarian elements into dist leadership is that this must not be done in the old Lovestone style of merely giving appointments or merely adding com- rades to the leading committees. The leading more experienced comrades and the executives must display an attitude of patience, and at the same time involve them in all phases of Party work. The new proletarian elements must be given not only organizational tasks but also political ones. Delays Impermissable. The experience, capabilities, length of mem- bership in the Party, must of course be taken into consideration, but this correct considera- tion must not become an excuse for delaying or showing lack of enthusiasm in developing a local district proletarian leadership. The en- tire process of drawing in and developing the new proletarian elements must be carried on with the outlook that they should become the District leadership. Nor must we show hesitation to involve into immediate active Party work workers who have joined the Party as a result of our participa- tion in the struggles of their respective in- dustry, and who in the days of the struggle have been tested and have proven themselves revolutionary workers with an healthy Party outlook. A Political Task. The young proletarian comrades must be trained to become politically minded, to develop appreciation and interest for the theoretical, political problems of the Party. Through poli- tical training they will develop politicat initi- ative and executive ability, The entire process must be coupled with systematic political train- ing. A mechanical approach to this problem will only be an excuse and substitute. The develop- ment of proletarian functionaries and leader- ship must be considered as a political task, and especially linked up with the tasks con- fronting the Party in connection with the third period. More constderation to thls problem must be Jem. \ Nor should it be confined to functionaries meetings (with C.E.C, representatives) should be held for a diseussion of this important prob- lem. Nor should it be confided to functionaries meetings. Jt must reach the units and every Party momber. The entire Party: muist be | aroused to this, * | ticians—Gardner, Brogden, Jimison, Carpen- ter, Simmons, all of them, These are all class questions. The bosses and their’ politicians | than ev _ farmers, Negro and white. ‘the velvet glove” instinctive | form” in a few days. “ should get the idea that Jimison is better than country of factories, mills, mines, power sta- tions, ete. This has had not only the effect of creating tens of thousands of factory work- ers but has also had an effect on the middle and capitalist classes of the South. The bosses, big and little, and their hangers- on, the writers, preachers, teachers, are some- what split up. Shall they line up with the big bankers of the North? Or with the small southern factory owners What is to be done with the workers? How-shall we treat them? Shall we use the iron hand—the National Guard, the electric chair, and the lynch rope— or shall we use.the iron fist in the velvet glove? Can we get away with sweet promises to the workers? Shall we use the American Federation of Labor to do our dirty work? High tariff or low tariff? There are the big questions in the minds of the big bosses and the small bosses. These are the questions in the minds of the boss poli- are asking themselves these questions more r now because they see that the work- ers of North Carolina are beginning to come out as a clear, distinct political force’ under the leadership of the Communist Party, the revolutionary party of the workers and poor Enter Mr. Judas Jimison! There is a split in the ranks of the politi- tians. Some of them lean to the policy of the great Northern bankers—open force against the workers. Others towards the “iron fist in policy with the workers. Still others try to base themselves on the workers—to use the workers as ladders to political success. First among these fakers is none other, than the cheap lawyer-actor, T. P. Jimison, whose very name is a stench in the nostrils of mili- tant workers. This rascal, after getting a name for himself thru being a member of the legal defense-staff of the Gastonia defendants (Beal, Miller, etc.), finally betrayed these workers and went over bag and baggage to the side of the Manville-Jenckes and the capi- talist class—where he always ‘belonge |. He also tried to do his little best to see that these fighting leaders were kept in jail by attaching money that did not belong to him. And now this fraud throws his hat in the ring | for Congressman! He will publish his “plat- That is will be a “lib- eral” one, a la La Follette, (whom Jimison supported in- 1924), is a foregone conclusion. Jimison will make promises to the workers, will try to act more “progressive” than all the other candidates, ‘but will run on the demo- cratic party ticket. “I’m a Jeffersonian demo- crat,” Jimison says. He will try to fool the workers with this slogan. No workers of North Carolina should be fooled by such as Tom Jimison. No worker Bulwinkle, who was an open agent of Man- ville-Jenckes and the mill barons all the time. Every worker must understand that Jimison is a tool of the capitalists, that they use him because he is not a shop-worn as, for in- stance, Bulwinkle. And that is why the Char- lotte Observer writes of him, in making the announcement that he will enter the demo- cratic primaries (Dec. 31, 1929); “The former Methodist minister (T. P. Jimison , , . has been known throughout taken from the famous Lenin's brochure “What is to be done?” which is included in Volume IV of the Collected Works of V. I. Lenin, just published by the International Publishers, 381 Fourth Avenue, New York. This volume, published in two parts, includes all the writings of Lenin between 1900 afd 1902, and covers the formative period of the Russian Bolshevik Party. * * * Trade Union Politics and Social-Demo- cratic Poitics. Political Agitation and Its Restriction By’ the Economists. Recently, the overwhelming majority of Rus- sian Social-Democrats were almost wholly en- gaged in this work of exposing factory condi- tions. It is sufficient to refer to the columns of “Rabochaya Mysl” to judge to what an ex- tent they were engaged in it. ‘So much so indeed, that they lost sight of the fact that this, taken by itself, was not substantially Social- Democratic work, but merely trade union work. As a matter of fact, those exposures ‘merely dealt with the relations between the workers in.a given trade, with their immediate employ- ers, and all that it achieved was that the ven- ders of labor power learned to sell their “com- modity” on better terms, and to fight the pur- chasers of labor power over a purely commer- cial deal. Those exposures might have served (if properly utilized by revolutionaries) as a beginning and a constituent part of Social-, Democratic activity, but they might also (and with subservience,to spontaneity inevitably had to) have lead to a “pure and simple” trade union struggle and to a non-Social-Democratic labor movement. Social-Democrats lead the struggle of the working class not only for bet- ter terms for the sale of labor power, but also for the abolition of the social system which compels the propertyless class to sell itself to the rich. Social-Democracy represents the working class, not in its relation to a given group of employers, but in its relation to all classes in modern society, to the state as an organized political force. Hence, it not only follows that Social-Democrats must not con- fine themselves entirely to ‘the economic strug- | gle; they must not even allow the organization | of economic exposures to become the predo- minant part of their activities. We must ac- tively take up the political education of the working class, and the development of its poli- tical consciousness. Now, after “Zarya” and “Tskra” have made the first attack upon Eco- his career as a staunch defender of organ- ized labor. During the recent industrial trouble in Gaston and Mecklenburg coun- ties, Mr. Jimison was chief counsel for the striking textile operatives and other de- fendants. . .. + What the Charlotte “Observer” is doing for Jimison is very plain. They are “building him up” on the ‘basis of his former connections with the labor movement—connections which he made, not out of principle, but for what he could get out of them. The Charlotte “Observer” would like to see Jimison “caso in” on his former work in the labor move- ment. Mr. Jimison may be an aid in break- ing the workers away from their militant leadership and bringing them over to the A. F. of L. And best of all he may turn the new political force in the South, the rising work- ing class, into the “harmless” channels of capitalist class politics. The workers of North Carolina and the South must understand what it means when the political flies like Jimison and his kind start to buzz around the working class. It means that the working class in the South and especially in North Carolina is a force to be reckoned with, is a force to be feared. The workers of North Carolina will. see more political events like the entrance of Jimison into the democratic primaries. The deep-going struggle in the democratic party, the fight between the Simmons and. anti- Simmons forces, may yet lead to a split. A fake “progressive” group may be built up with the aid of the Jimisons, the Chapel Hill crowd of professors and, possibly, some of the Ral- eigh A. F. of L, leaders. There is even the possibility that the old yellow party of work- ingclass betrayal, the socialist party, may be revived. (In Winston-Salem there are still a number of old “socialists” who a few years ago ran a municipal ticket , there.) Must Bulid Communist Party. The workers must learn to understand these things. All the fights taking place in the big political parties of the bosses are fights be- tween the middle class and the great bankers and manufacturers. The workers have nothing to gain from any capitalist party or “new” group. These new groups and so-called “pro- gressives” are worse than the old ones, be- ‘ cause they will carry on the same dirty work for the bosses that the old ones have, with the mask of “friendship to labor” on. All these “new” groups and faker politicians will play up to the workers. As the workingclass move- ment grows in strength these politicians will become more numerous. As we started out by saynig—‘one can always’ tell whether a movement has influence or not by the numbér of boss politicians that try to attach themselves to, the coat-tails of the working class.” The attempts of these boss politicians—Jimison in North Carolina, Crothran (another would-be peanut politician, already exposed in the col- umns of the Daily Worker) in South Carolina to mislead the working class will fall ‘flat. The workers will recognize them as only flies buz- zing around the political molasses barrel. Today Jimison. Tomorrow it may be a south- ern “socialist” Norman Thomas. The southern workers will learn to see through his pink,.too, will learn to recognize the socialist party, along with the American Federation of Labor, as the worst traitors that the fighting work- ing class has. 5 be The workers must understand that their only party is the Communist Party, the party which leads on the picket lines as in the other strug- gles. This means that the Communist Party must carry on a strong camphign in these ” elections, must come out openly as the party of the oppressed Negro and. white workers ‘and poor farmers. The Party must have a special program, beside our general program, suitable to the local needs and demands of the workers. This will mark a great step. forward for the southern working class, It will be a historic step in the political ripening of the southern ~ workers, prove). The question now arises: What does political education mean? Is it sufficient to confine oneself to the propaganda of workingclass hos- tility to autocracy? Of course not. It is not enough to explain to the workers that they are politically oppressed (any more than it was to explain to them that their interests were an- tagonistic to the interests of the employers). Advantage must be taken of every concrete example of this oppression for the purpose of agitation (in the same way as we began to use concrete examples of economic oppression for the purpose of agitation). And inasmuch as political oppression affects all sorts of classes in society, inasmuch as it manifests itself in various spheres of life and activity, in indus- trial life, civic life, in personal and family life, in religious life, scientific life, etc. etc. is” it not evident that we shall not be fulfilling our task of developing the political conscious- ness of the workers if we do not undertake the organization of the political exposure of auto- cracy in all its aspects? In order to agitate over concrete examples of oppression, these examples must be exposed (in the same way as it was necessary to expose factory evils in order to carry on economic agitation). od This opportunist theory of stages has now been rejected by the League, which makes @ concession to us by declaring: “There 4s no need whatever to conduct political agitation right from the beginning, exclusively on ah economic basis.” (Two Congresses, p. 11.) This very repudiation of part of its former errors by the League will enable the future historian of Russian Social-Democracy to discern the depths to which our economists have degraded Socialism better than any number of lengthy arguments! But the League must be very naive indeed to imagine that the abamlonment of one form of restricting politics will induce us to agree to another form of restriction! Would it not be more logical to say. that the economic struggle should be conducted on the widest pos- sible basis, that it should be utilized for poli- tical agitation, but that “there is no need what- ever” to regard the economic struggle as the most widely applicable means of drawing the masses into active political struggle? (To Be Continued) The Red Flag Waves! By SARAH VICTOR. N the 16th of August, 1929, we arrived at Stettin, Germany, from where we were to take the steamer to Leningrad, U.S.S.R. We had scarcely enough time to get from the train to the boat. While hurrying the baggage to our cabin, I noticed a mags of workers in a very excited spirit, but had no time to question what it was all about... After we settled ourselves in the cabin, I came out on the deck of the steamer and somehow I was on the side op- posite from the shore. As I looked down, T saw a rowboat with five workers on it. The red flag waved from one end of it. My heart stopped beating for an instant, and then it began to pound and jump with a terrific speed. As the wind unfurled the flag, before me ap- peared the Communist emblem, the hammer and sickle. In the mean time the music.of the International came from the other end of the row boat, played on a garmoshka (accordian), 4 and yells and cheers from the other side of the steamer came loud and strong. Intermin- gled with the cheers came the old revolutionary song, “Long Were We Kept in the Prisons, and Long Were we Tortured by the Pains of Starvation.” I followed the row boat as it moved around the steamer, until it reached the side of the cheering crowd. Not knowing what the demonstration was about, I asked a man near me. He explained that a noted Communist was leaving Germany for U.S.S.R. My eyes began to look for him. I felt that when I'd see him I would know him. He would not have to be pointed out to me. Among the passengers gathered thickly in one corner of the steamer I soon saw a medium- sized man with a very pleasant, though stern face. He stood with bent arm and clenched fist held rigidly in salute. He wore a suit of dark grey cloth almost like a uniform of the old revolutionary type which added to the strength and dignity of his face. Whilst the comrades waved and cheered wildly from the shore, he repeated again aml again, “Red Front! Red Front!” The red flag waved in reply, My excitement was so great that I did not. notice that the steamer had left the shore be- hind and was going onward at quite a speed, The sounds of music and the voices shouting greetings to the comrades in the Soviet Union were still to be heard. Before those last sounds had faded away, new’ ones arose. I saw again* on the shore groups of workers with eyes shin- ing like stars from a silver sky at night, full of excitement and happiness for their comrade who had been freed from the clutches of the capitalist class. At last he was going to the land of real freedom and liberty for all who fight to free the working class from the slavery of capitalism. The ocean separated the stedm- er farther and farther from the shore. ow we could see orly small groups of’ workers here and there waving their arms,’ and the sounds of their cheers were very faint behind us. Shortly after came the call to dinner. In the ‘dining room the: head waiter’ showed us to seats just next to the man who had caused all the past excitement. Very soon we knew one another very well. We learned that he was Max Hiltz, at-one time a high. official in: the German army. He had realized what the war was all about and had become a follower of the teachings of Marx and Lenin. For this the German government had sentenced him to death. Due to the protests of the working lass the death sentence had been changed to life imprisonment. After serving eight years, he had been released. Now the Soviet Union has invited him to come and rest up in the fatherland of the working class. It goes with- out saying that we had a wonderful and in- teresting tittle together. % Fight the Right Danger,. A Hundred Proletarians’ for Every Petty Bourgeois Rene» gade! a

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