The Daily Worker Newspaper, February 5, 1930, Page 4

Page Four ew York blished by the Comprodaily Publishing C ‘ City, N. and mail all checks to the Daily y except Sunday, 1696-7-8. Cabii Telephone 28 Union 9 8. IworRK.” Worker, 26-28 Union Square, New York. N. Y. FIGHT UNDERESTIMATION OF SHOP PAPER WORK By GERTRUDE HAESSLE Party today, from top to botto: fering sevarely from an underestimation of ene of the most effective weapons of mass ac- tivity that we have—the shop paper. This un- éerestimation is so general that no one comrade or leader can be held ponsible for it—the whole Party imply soaked in it. In giving the following examples of this underestimation which occurred just recently, meant to put the blame on any of the “transgressors’—they merely serve as the ex- on of the disease with which the whole y is afflicted, and which is decidedly a symptom of the right danger within our Party. Show Lack of Understanding. ident which took place in one of the 1 serve to illustrate of this important rank and file com- ion was the ent by the unit » paper work to ool during the , is suf- it is no An ir units a few weeks ago wi the mass lerstand mong th ect under di: a comrade to b he course in sh activity The choosing to attend d be A B C to any e orientated as it should j the proper educational were being done in this field. When volunteers were ked for to attend the class, zealous and active comrade expressed ise he was co-editing a trade s lack of understanding of the shop: be, ¢ work and ur shop paper work is certainly not the fault of the comrade in question, but the fault of the Party as a whole for not having made clear to the comrades the function and importance of shop And when we see what the } tioned by a single reporter although the head of every leading department spoke. In the recruiting drive, sop papers also have their quota, but in reporting on the drive, the speak- er did not mention one word about them. Of course, the showing in reaching the quota in New York is absolutely ridiculous, but that is not the reason the comrade neglected to mention it, for he did not hesitate to point out other important and glaring shortcomings. It was simply part of the general attitude toward shop paper work. The Agitprop Director, who spoke afterwards, should, in this era of col- lective leadership, have remedied the situation, since he is in charge of developing the shop paper work in the District. Again not a word! And how do matters stand in the Central Committee on this question? There has been practically no centralized direction on shop paper work in the history of the Party. The present leadership really intends to improve this situation and started the formation of a national shop paper committee composed of comrades experienced in this phase of Party activity. A memo for a general plan of work was drawn up at their request and presented during the first week of December. The plan was tentatively accepted and a meting of the new committee was to be held three days later. It is almost two months later and no meeting has been held, not because it was forgotten, for attention was frequently called to the de- lay. The work is getting alopg as best it can. When the Agitprop Department, which has charge of the work, did not seem to move, it was attempted to set up revolutionary com- | petition, and the Organization Department was | nection with this work. situation in the higher bodies of the Party, this lack of appreciation is easily understand- ; able. Underestimate Importance. Let us take, for instance, the Workers Schoo! of New York, where our future leader: theoret are being, trained. In cla ng the course for Shop ‘Paper Editors in the School Catalog, it was placed under the illum- inating heading: “English, Public Speaking and Journalism.” such a type of important ma: this head, rade from the unit gets the impression that the course is for labor journalists! When this was pointed out to the authorities of the school, they stuck by their academic guns and insisted that the c ification was correct. And if we recall the splendid general mem- bership meeting in New York on Jan. 28, we will remem ser that shop papers were not men- + appealéd to, for it also must function in con- In vain. The same im- mobility and delay. Both departments, we know, are frequently busy. Is that an ex- cuse for utterly neglecting an important mass activity? The comrades are over-busy, but they must have a sense of proportion, and surely the more backward a certain phase of work is, the more important it is that it be gotten under | way. If the school itself can place | activity under | no wonder the rank and file com- | Must Know Shop Paper Functions. Is it any wonder that the rank and file com- rades don’t even know what a shop paper is and how it functions in the shop? Is it any wonder that they don’t realize the future po- tentialities of this weapon of: the working class —that it will soon become the focus and rally- ing point of all our work in the factories, | which by its very nature is necessarily illegal? This uation is clearly a remnant of the former rgiht leadership. But it is a big rem- nant and requires immediate eradication. The right danger is still rampant in our Party, and the underestimation of shop paper work a clear symptom of it. ¥ The Party National Training School By A. MARKOFF. a ¢ de by the Central Committee ‘ ty to have a National Training school is of great importance, and will be hail- Party member. : Pp. of capitalism and the sharpening class struz- gles, places before the Party the necessity of training more members for leadership in the coming struggles. Already a number of im- portant struggles between the workers and capitalists in the U. S. has taken place, the in New Bed- ss., Gastonia, Marion, N. C., the food and shoe workers strike in N, Y., the strike of the miners in Southern Illino In all of these struggles, the workers came into direct conflict not only with the bosses and their hired thugs, but also with the open murderous attacks on the part of the state forces. In all of these struggles we see the complete mer; of state and municipal police, courts, militia, with the owners of the factories, mines, mills, etc. Fascist methods equal in brutality to those used by Mussolini, Horthy, and other fascist regimes are employed by the bosses in attack- ing the workers, who are compelled to struggle against the against inhuman exploitation, speed up, low wages, long hours, ete. The most backward workers, are drawn into the struggle, Gastonia, Marion, New Orleans. The American Federation of Labor is openly and brazenly betraying the workers on every front. The leaders of the 4. F. of L. have merged their forces with the state apparatus in order to prevent struggles on the part of the workers. This is another tendency towards the fas- cization of the labor organizations, an attempt places the workers in this country in a condi- | tion of virtual slavery. sent period with the deepening crisis | The socialist party is another wing of the imperialist machine, aiding the American Fed- eration of Labor and the government to en- slave the workers, so that they will be in no position to resist the exploitation, war danger, ete. The Muste group, with its sugar coated phrases, is another instrument used by the bourgeoisie to mislead the workers, to dull the edge of the class struggle. The only leadership which many workers have already accepted, and which the majority of the working class in the U. S. will eventual- ly turn tosis the Communist Party of the U. S., and the Trade Union Unity League. The forces of our Party at present are in- adequate to cope with these problems; it is es- sential for our Party to develop a cadre of proletarian leaders, to increase the membership in the Party, to build more shop and factory nuclei, to make thees nuclei function well, to issue many shop papers, etc. While our membership is loyal and devoted, always ready to sacrifice for the movement, many are not in a position to lead the masses in their struggles, because of lack of theoretical preparation, for lack of a true Leninist con- ception of the movement. It is for this reason .that the training of 40 or 50 comrades coming from many parts of the U. S. is imperative, agd all.the districts | must use all their resources to,make this Na- to emasculate the workers organizations, to con- | vert them into pawns for the bosses and the government to do with as they like. The pledge given by Greene, president of the American Federation of Labor, to the so-called Indus- trial Council organized by Hoover, that the workers shall not fight for a higher wage, tional Training School possible. ° The financial question is a serious one. We all know the financial difficulties of the Na- tional office, and cannot expect the Central Committee to meet the expenses connected with the school. It is therefore up to the Districts to immediately fulfill their quotas, which are not too burdensome. In every district there are certain individuals who will contribute to- wards education. These must be approached. Through special affairs some money can be collected. But it must be done at once, with- out delay. For a National Party Training School! For a stronger and bigger Communist’ Party in the U.S.A. The Flunkeys of Wall Street A Letter on the Great Gastonia Case. Fellow Workers and Comrades: I am one of the Gastonia defendants who Was sentenced to a living death for defending @ur union hall and women and children who were living in tents that the Workers Inter- national Relief had furnished after the bosses | and their: tools had thrown them out on the street. The militia was there, city police, the country sheriffs and all of the petty bosses that they could get deputized. After seeing all of the brutality by the mili- | tia, police, sheriffs and deputies imposed on the | strikers for asking for bread and meat to eat, and a chance to rest a few minutes of their lives, and after the raid on our headquarters and destroying of our food that any real red- blooded man would have done what we did, and maybe more, for we knew we had to de- fend ourselves or be disarmed by the police and then beaten to death by the mob, I had been beaten up just a day of so before, and I know what they meant to do. They wanted to get Beal in particular, and they thought if they had to get some of the rest of us to get him it would not matter for we are only workers. The police had been beat- ing old women over the head wivh clubs, and we had sent Governor Gardner a letter demand- ing that action be made to stop such brutality. But he is a mili boss himself, and don’t give : Bette ¥ a damn what happens to the workers. He was not satisfied with the rough treatment that he could give the workers, and he had to lie himself,in for governor so that he could make more money for himself and Jess for the work- ers. Not only that but I think that he was in- strumental in getting Carpenter for one of his flunkeys in as Solicitor to help him in his rob- bery of the working class. He knew ‘that if the workers got more pay some place else that they fould not work for him for less pay when they could get more pay some place else. We sevend defendants realize that our lives were saved from the chair by the working class, and we know that the workers can save us from a living death in the pen by mass pressure. And while we are out we ask the workers to help us save Mooney and Billings who have been in a living hell for their interest for the class that they belong to. We need these gallant fighters in our ranks. We ask the workers of the world to join in the fight to free them. We ask the workers to help us stop the murder of workers like Ella May and Sacco and Vanzetti and all the other martyrs of the working class. And all the way this can be done is through organising and doing away with all capitalists apd the capi- talist system, that can be run by such as Carpenter and his tools. We know that he is a tool of Gardner and Gardner is a tool of Hoover and Hoover is just a flunkey of Wall Street and all other capitalist frase. i. ¥. (Red) HENDRYX. “UNEMPLOYMENT AIN’T SO BAD” p [Res ago V. I. Lenin analyzed the relation the proletarian revolution, exposing their use as instruments of the most brutal attack against the working class. We witness another example of this in the present day enthusiasm of the liberals for Mr. Victor Chernov, one of imperialism’s tools against the Soviet Union. * Who is Mr. Chernov? He is a member of the Central Committee of the Social-Revolu- tionary Party which has carried on a cam- paign of individual assassination against the leaders of the Soviet Union since 1918. Mr. Chernov was himself chairman of what was called the “Committee of the Constituent As- sembly” which carried on civil war on the Volga and in the Urals against the Soviet Power through the instrumentality of the Czecho-Slovak troops. His colleagues, Tschaik- ovsk ment” in Archangel which was set up and sup- ported by the bayonets and machine guns of British and American troops. Mr. Chernov paxticipated in the assassination campaign in ‘which Volodarsky and Uritsky, two of the most ing class*were killed, and Lenin was severely wounded. The well-known Trial of the Social- Revolutionaries in Moscow in 1925, fully re- vealed and established these and thousands of other facts along the same lines. Of course it was no accident that these red- handed murderers found their defenders pre- cisely among those who cry loudest against the “violence” of Bolshevism, and that the “pacifist” gentlemen, Kurt Rosenfeld and Van- dervelde, leaders of the Second International, should be the “attorneys of the defense” of the assassins. ‘These gentlemen believe firmly in the “right” of “freedom” of all violent acts against the Soviet Union. Now Mr. Chernov is in the United States, gathering money and “moral” support to con- tinue his struggle against the Soviet Union. And the workers who know him and his past exploits, have denounced him in his own meet- ings. Mr. Chernov’s “socialist” aids immedi- of petty-bourgeois slogans of “freedom” to | Central Organ of the Corn.munist Party was president of the so-called “goverh- | loved and trusted leaders of the Russian work- | the freedom that comes with 3. A. : * By Mail (in New York City ar By Mail (outside of New York SUBSCRIPTION RATES: 8.00 a year; 'y): $6.00 a year; $4.50 six months; $3.50 six months; $2.50 three months $2.00 three months By Fred Ellis . POR occa My Wie Nay ~ How Libéralism Unites with. Assassins Against Soviet Union es ee ‘ately called in the police to silence these em- barrasing interrupters. Thése workers had their “right” to “free speech” violently taken away from them, because it interferred with Mr. Chernov’s “right” to freely organize his vio- lence against the Soviet Union. And thereupon there rushed to the aid of Mr. Chernov none other than the Civil Liberties Union in the person of Mr. Clinton J. Taft, to protest against the workerw because they de- nounced Mr. Chernoy, According to Mr. Taft, thg workers were “unfair and unAmerican” in refusing to sit quietly while Mr. Chernov car- vied on his campaign in preparation for a re- newed series of assassinations in the Soviet Union. Mr. Taft and the Civ Liberties Union see nothing to protest against in the activities of Mr. Chernov and his associates, indeed they seem to fully endorse them, but they “dis- approve heartily” of such “violations of free speech” as these workers were “guilty” of in freely speaking their condemnatign of the as- sassin Chernov. THE ECONOMIC CRISIS AND TASKS OF Y.CL. I. The Enlarged Plenum of the Young Communist International emphasized the cor- rectness of the decisions of the 10th Plenum ( of the Comintern which have been confirmed in the further shaking up of capitalist stabil- ization and by the general sharpening of class struggles, pointing to the beginning of an economic crisis in the United States as an event of the greatest historical importance, marking the beginning of that general crisis of capitalism which the 10th Plenum predicted. The Political Committee of the Communist Party of the U. S. A. in its resolution on the “Economic Crisis and the Party Tasks” has carefully analyzed the present situation, point- ing out the deep going economic crisis already gripping the country, which will become one of the most far-reaching crises in the history of capitalism, involving the whole capitalist world. It is the duty of every League mem- ber to study all the facts indicating the ser- jousness of this crisis which is as yet only in its first stages, and the perspectives for its extension. Only by understanding the full significance of this crisis, by struggling against all tendencies to underestimate the deep nature of the crisis and its consequence, by re-orientating all its activities to meet the demands of the crisis—can the League prepare itself for the performance of those gigantic tasks which the new situation presents. The capitalist class will try to come out of this crisis, first of all, at the expense of the working class through the creation of mass unemployment and intensified attacks upon wages ard working conditions, and secondly, at the expense of their imperialist rivals, of the oppressed masses in the colonies and semi- colonies and by means of new and sharper at- tacks against the Soviet Union. The new capitalist offensive, which will find especial reflection in the worsening of the conditions of that most exploited section of the working class, the young. workers, will call forth stu- pendous struggles on the part of the workers in which the young workers will play an in- creasingly important role. The new attacks upon the colonial masses will create a new revolutionary wave in the colonies (India, Haiti, etc.). The sharpening of the contradic- tions between the imperialists themselves and especially between the capitalist world and the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics con- fronts us with the immediate danger of w: the main danger of war against the Soviet Union and the danger of a new world war be- tween the imperialists themselves, especially between Great Britain and the United States. The Crisis and the Young Workers. Il. The analysis of the conditions of the young workers by the League’s Fifth National Convention has been fully confirmed by recent developments. The tendencies for the grow- ing role of the youth in production and in the class struggle not only have become definite facts but are being further accentuated with the development of the crisis. The economic crisis also inereases the proportion of young workers in industry, and the weight of the working youth in the basic industries min- ing, auto, steel, etc.). This increase in the retative importance of the young workers in industry also subjects the youth to ever greater exploitation and re- sults in an especially strong radicalization among the working youth. The definite low- ering of the standard of living of the young workers, the marked reduction in their wages, their greater physical exhaustion, which al- ready showed itself in connection with capi- talist rationalization, will show itself to an ever greater extent with the development of the crisis. The intensified attacks against the Thus smoothly and without the flicker of an eyelid do the liberals, in the name of “free- dom” and “opposition to violence,” unite them- selves with the advocates and practitioners of assassination of Soviet leaders, showing the true political face behind the “liberal” mask. “Freedom” is for the Chernovs, but not for the workers who wish to protest against Chernov; violence is sanctified when it is used against the working class, but becomes a crime when it is used by the workers against their oppres- SO That is the true political face of liberal- ism. It is the face of imperialist oppression, rendered only the most disgusting by its hypo- critical mask. : The workers more and more realize that the only freedom that means anything to them is the overthrow of the fraudulent “democracy” of the capitalist dictatorship, and the establishment of a work- ers’ government, the dictatorship of the prole- tariat. Only by this road can freedom become freedom for the working class, and violence working class called forth by the economic crisfs will be felt especially by the young workers. These young workers, already work- ing at top speed and receiving wages far be- low the level of existence, will least of all be able to accept the speed-up and wage cuts which will ensue and among the first to join the counter offensive of the workers against th- row capitalist offensive. —— the economic crisis 1s causing the young workers to move to the left at an ex- tremely rapid pace. This growing activity on the part of the young workers finds expression in the ever increasing number of youth strikes, in the participation of the young workers i the general struggles of the workers and in the extreme militancy and higher level of these struggles. The crisis will further in- crease the number of youth strikes at the same time that the tendency of these youth strikes to pass rapidly into general struggles of the workers in the factory and industry will he- come ever more marked. The active partici- pation of the young workers in all recent against the workers be abolished. Class Against Class in the Illinois Mine’ Fight By GERRY ALLARD. Tt present struggle that the miners of I!- linois are going through is marked by the fierce brutality and terror instigated by the bosses and all shades of political allies. The strike from the very first day assumed a poli- tical character when the state forces, federal authorities and county sheriffs challenged the | right of the Illinois miners to strike. In as- sisting the coal onerators the United Mine Workers of America officials were deputized, with the protection of “badges” they perform- ed the role of sluggers and raiders on miners homes. ‘ In spite of the deportation threats, slugging’, jailings, ransacking of homes, the miners are determined to carry on the struggle. The lead- ers-of the Illinois National Miners Union are practically all under charges of inciting to riot State President Voyzey and Board Member Thompson are facing Jong terms in prison for their activities. Over a hundred rank and file miners are out on bond facing the same charges, but the coal operators are out “gunning” for the leaders of the National Mine Workers Union. One of the rank and filers, Bradley, is in the Franklin County jail now serving 60 days for carrying a gun after he had been threatened by sluggers. My home was raided. The cops raided my shack under the pretense that I was running a “disorderly house.” This was followed by the raiding of my parents’ home by thugs. Scores of other incidents mark the unscrupulous, brazen, damnable attacks that. the government forces have launched against us. They are determined to exterminate the National Miners Union and we are preparing to defend ourselves under any circumstances, Threats have even come in that they are going to destroy our relief and defense headquarters, the local union hall at Livingston, Illinois, was bombed and every window shattered. The re- peating of the attacks against the Ludlow and Panther Creek miners are soon to be the order of the day. ¢ . “ets The miners are beginning to see why the state forces are so militant in their attempts to smash the strike. The challenge of the * Illinois miners to the Hoover truce with the fake A. F. of L., is most’ damaging to their conspiracy of further enslaving the miners and the workers of this country. The miners under the leadership of the NMU are fighting against the ever worsening conditions, the cutting of wages and lengthening of hours. The program of rationalization at the expense of the miners and for greater profits of the coal operators is being militantly fought by miners. The pre&ent struggle is a great victory for the miners of Illinois. It has taught them the purpose and functions of the®@bosses’ gov ernment, it has proven the allying of the U. M. W. A. officials with the coal operators, it has exposed the fake I.W.W. and substantiated the incorrectness of the Muste outfit’s policies. As a whole the miners are going through a strug- gle which is one of a series of struggles that will establish the fighting, revolutionary NMU. With all these lessons and obstacles cleared the miners continue much less confused. The sharper the struggle of the miners the clearer the class distinction becomés. More and more miners begin to realize the role of the,Commu- nist Party as the leader of their struggles. The International Labor Defense did some great work in the defense of the coal miners. At the sinstant arast of a miner the LL.D. strikes (Gastonia, Elizabethton, Illinois, etc.), their relatively good response on Red Day, In- ternational Youth Day, and in the Haiti dem- onstrations; their active participation in the Trade Union Unity Convention; their response to Party and League shop papers and cam- naigns—shows to what extent the youth are becoming one of the most militant sections of the working class ahd one of the strongest forces in the struggle against the consequences of capitalist rationalization and for the final overthrowing of the capitalist system. . The already large unemployment among the young workers is rapidly increasing with the further development of the crisis. Although relatively the young workers are not so much effected by unemployment as the adult’ work- ers, the young workers are hard hit by the big lay-offs which come in the wake of over- production as an outstanding feature of the crisis. The low wages which they previously received means that they are immediately con- ronted with actual starvation, at the same time are given second place in what little re- lief may be given to the unemployed. Those young workers who remain at work suffer the most extreme worsening of their conditions. Those young workers who are unemployed feel in the most drastic way its effects. In those occupations where the young workers can find jobs easier than the older workers, their jobs was ready for his release. Lawyers and organ- izers of the I.L.D. are a very important fac- tor in our struggle. Branches of the I.L.D, are rapidly being established and they must become permanent organizations. When such organizations as the I.L.D, and the Workers International Relief pledged their solidarity with us in the coal fields we were very much pleased and we knew that we were not fight- ing alone and isolated. ‘ firing as a means of keeping down wages. The capitalist class in its efforts to make the workers pay for the crisis, will so far reduce the income of working class families through lay-offs, wage cuts, etc. of both young and adult workers, that new sections of ghildren and youth will be forced to look for work. Un- employgnent especially effects the youth in the mass lay-offs in the highly rationalized light and medium industries (electrical manufactur-* ing, radio, confectionary, ett.). The young Negro workers feel most sharply the effects of the developing crisis since they are even more exploited than the other sec- tions of the young: workers and therefore rapidly radicalized and ripe for recruiting into the League. The deepening of the chronic agricultural crisis as a result of the economic crash is felt with particular intensity by the farming youth. The worsening of conditions on the farms in- creases the already large migration of the farming youth to the cities despite the fact that the growing mass unemployment renders hopeless the possibility of finding work, as a result they become an important part of the permanent army of unemployed, while thou- sands are forced into the army and navy. The mass unemployment causes a certain migra- tion back to the farm despite the fact that even worce starvation conditions await the youth there than when they were forced to migrate to the city. The further class differentiation in agriculture has marked effects upon the farming youth who are becoming more and more concentrated among the class of agricul- tural wage workers while the children of the poor and middle farmers who continue work- ing for their parents are forced to work with- out pay or any share of the diminishing profits. . The bourgeoisie is doing everything it its power to increase its influence over the young workers, both ideologically and organization- ally, as an important, part of its attack upon the conditions of the toiling youth and in an attempt to stem their growing radicalization. At the same time they are increasing their measures of repression and ° terrorization against the Young Communist League and other revolutionary youth organizations (Hoo- ver’s statement, McNutt’s proposal to Amer- ican Legion Convention). They put this in- creased political, ideological and economic pressure upon the young workers because they understand to what extent the outcome of the | impending imperialist wars and class strug- gles depends upon the part that will be played in them by the working youth. The crisis which brings with it the immediate danger of war gives a tremendous impetus to the rapid process of militarization which further at- tempts to directly or indirectly embrace the entire population. This is seen clearly in such measures as the proposed Coughlin Bill, pro- viding military training in the public schools for all students between 10 and 18 years of age; the strengthening of the unorganized re- serves, the more rapid militarization of the bourgeois youth organizations (development of rifle clubs, company sport clubs, ete.), and the exploitation of the growing unemployment to strengthen the regular army and navy, in- creased numbers of workers in the armed forces and decline in number of desertions. Social reformism plays an important role in this respect and tries to assert its influence over the young workers with the help of the apparatus of the American Federation of La- bor; the socialist party, the Muste “progres- sives” and their attempts at organization of the youth, which together with other “left” socialist elements represent the greatest dan- ger in winning the working youth, the at- tempts to resurrect the Young People’s Social- ist League in some sections of the country and the further prostitution of this organiza- tion before the traitorous A. F. of L. bureau- eracy at its recent national convention, and finally, in the attempts to organize an Anti- Communist Youth League on the part of the Lovestone renegades. The radicalization of the young workers takes away the base of the social reformists among the young workers and while social re- formism remains the chief ideological bar- rier which we have to overcome amongst the young workers, there can be no real growth of reformist youth organizations but only disin- tegration, providing the Young Communist League plays its role. The reformists are, therefore, resorting to even more reactionary methods in their efforts to crush the move- ments of the working youth and to prevent their organization and joining ever more opens ly the campaign of terror against the revolu- tionary workers’ organizations which is espe cially concentrated against the Young Commu- nist League. > (To be continued) ra Far 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. Name oun siti oadeeescctecsabey Address, i. scs wears cones ervt SHES ocenss Occupation . seeeee Agercooee : c Mail this to the Central Office, Communist Party, 43 East 125th St., New York, N. } are very insecure, and they are confronted with a highly developed system of hiring and { i