The Daily Worker Newspaper, February 14, 1930, Page 4

Publishing @., Ync Telephone Stuyve he Daily Worker 8. Cable: Square. “DAI Sunday, at 26-28 Onion New York. } WORK MUNICIPAL LESSONS OF THE 1929 ELECTIONS LEON PLA the of socialist. pa the of ole the ient activity of we anifested tendencies of indiffer age in the last muni- In Rochester, our | investigating, were of fhe | oo late for them to file week or so later they found al election camp: candic c y had still time to put up a Party ticket. In the judicial elections in Chicago, our comrades were of the opinion that only lawyers could run for judges and since they have only one lawyer in the Party they there- ered it impossible to participate in 1 elections. However, later, they t that non-lawyers could also be put dates in the judicial elections. The arred at a time when our comrades | ed a bitter battle against the capitalist court, which got 24 members of the Party in jail, and imposed heavy bail upon our com- rades. However, in spite of all this, instead of exposing capitalist justice, they failed to par- ticipate in the municipal elections for the mple reason that they did not take the trouble to investigate more carefully the conditions for | up a party ticket. In Buffalo, the + committee and the membership failed miserably in securing the few hundred signa- tures that would have put our Party on the In Philadelphia, where it was only to secure 7,000 signatures to put up a party ticket in the last municipal elections, all the comrades ha secured in the city of Philadelphia, where such favorable oppor- tunities for a party campaign exist, was only 1,200 signatures. This indifference and gross neglect was against the interests of the Party. Even in a city like New York, with a member- ship of over 3,000, the Party had only a partial slate and could not secure enough signatures to put up candidates in every district. In Ak- yon and Youngstown, two most important in- dustrial cities in Ohio, where the workers are most miserably exploited, our comrades did not even take the trouble to try to get on the bal- lot. The indifference on the part of our mem- bership, their right-wing outlook and approach to party campaigns, was best manifested in Embridge, Pa., an important steel center, where a Party unit with 20 members could not secure 34 signatures, which is all that was necessary to put the Party candidate on the ballot. In Avella, a mining center in Pennsylvania, where the Party and the National Miners Union ex- ercise a great influence, no attempt was even made to have the Party participate in the elec- tions. In st Pittsburgh, where, during August 1, we had splendid anti-war demonstra- tions, no Party candidates were put up. In Detroit the Party did not concern itself with the elections. In the Boston district, the Party put as its candidate for mayor Com- rade Canter, who is now serving a jail sentence for his activities in the Sacco-Vanzetti demon- strations. In spite of all this the Party failed to utilize the favorable objective situation or link the struggle for the release of Comrade | Cantor with the municipal elections in Boston In addition to these gross mistakes of indif- | ference, there were also manifested gross ex- amples of opportunism and right-wing atti- tudes. In Yorkville, Ohio, our comrades re- fused to distribute the platform of the Party because workers found with them might be blacklisted, or it might hinder those comrades who have some chances in the elections. In East Pittsburgh and Monnessin, Pa., workers halls, under the control of our Party carried advertisements for capitalist candidates, widely displaying them in their halls during the pri- | maries and when the district committee pro- tested against this, the comrades resented this action on the part of the district under the ex- cuse that when these capitalist candidates will be elected they will lower the taxes on these halls, to which the Party is not contributing. There were also attempts to get candidates to run on the Party ticket who were successful in primaries on the Republican, Democratic and Labor Party tickets. In addition to these mistakes we must also j point our other political shortcomings of these municipal elections. First, there was a com- plete failure to understand local politics. There was a complete failure and inability to utilize Jocal issues facing the workers and connect them up with the general revolutionary | pro- gram of our Party. The district committees failed completely to understand the issues and problems facing the workers in the territories under their jurisdiction. They failed concretely to expose the capitalist parties. There was also a gross neglect in the utilization of the dis- content of the working masses and the first signs of the developing economic crisis. They failed to point out the graft and corruption as a direct product of the capitalist system. This was best expressed in the election plat- form of the Philadelphia district, where Party comrades stated that: “The pre-election fights within and between the parties of the bosses are of no concern to the workers.’ To these mistakes there must also be added the great shortcoming that occurred in the underestima- | tion of social reformism and the insufficient exposure of the treacherous role of the social- ist party. The Central Committee and the dis- trict organization failed sufficiently to expose Premier MacDonald on his last visit to the United States, whicihi the Socialist Party util- ized as an advertisement for themselves in the elections. The underestimation of social re- 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 .....sscecccscecescceceecccceesauseee Address ....sssserececereeese Uit¥eceeeeeee Occupation .......ceeeeeeereeeeee ABC. Party, 43 East 125th St., New York, N. Y. Mail this to the Central Office, Communist ‘ 4 | ers, formism is also best expressed in the election platform of the Philadelphia district, which “In this country the Socialist Party anizationally weak and the bosses do not as yet need to turn to it for help in getting out of the eri in England and Germany.” In San Francisco, for example, our comrades were of the opinion that because the Socialist Party did not have its candidates in the recent elections, therefore there was no need to ex- pose the Socialist Party, the treacherous A. F, of L, and social reformism generally in their platform. The general participation of our Party mem- bership in the elections was very mechanical and not political. The Party failed to a very large extent to mobilize the support of work- ing class organizations which are very close to the Party as recruiting agents and agitators for the program of the Party in its election campaign. The Young Communist League, with the exception of Pittsburgh and San Francisco, made a very poor showing in the elections. The programs put forth by the various Party districts in the last elections were in the main politicaly correct and based on the line of the Party and the Communist International. How- ever, all platforms without exception, suffered from the fact that they did not deal suffi- ciently, if at all, with local issues and local problems of the workers. The general char- } acter of our platforms was best manifested by this example: In Buffalo, the comrades simply | took the New York platform and copied verba- tum as much as could go into two mimeo- graphed sheets. To this must also be added the fact that practically without exception, the Party platforms were put out too late—on the average only about two weeks prior to the elec- tion date. The Communist Party, with the exception of New York and Cleveland, actually doubled its vote when compared with the national elections in 1928. In the industrial towns, in Penhsyl- vania, where the Party for the first time put up its independent ticket, the Party received more votes than the Labor Party or the So- cialist Party. In San Francisco, the Party re- ceived 6,114 votes, or 12 per cent of the total vote cast. In Toledo and Canton, and other industrial towns, where the Party had its can- didates, the vote was more than doubled. An instance that could picture the good response of the workers to the Party’s program is Springfield, Ohio. There the Party has only one member, who, with another Negro worker then not yet a member of the Party, were run- ning as candidates for the Board of Education. The result was that the white comrade received 1,489 votes, the colored comrade, 983, com- pared with 10 votes received during the Na- tional elections. Generally, in the State of Ohio, this year we received 2,412 votes, com- pared with 997 during the national elections, Other cities and districts also showed a gain in meMbership and general popularization of the program of the Party among the masses. There where the Party actually participated in these elections, the workers responded very well to the Party candidates and Party pro- gram. These municipal elections best expose the strong right wing tendencies and ideology that still exist in our Party. The expulsion of Lovestone and his group does not expel the right-wing danger that still exists in various forms in our Party. On the contrary, the struggle against the right danger must be in- tensified and carried on systematically in every phase of Party life and Party activity. The results of the municipal elections very definitely demonstrated the growing discontent and radicalization of the working masses. The results of the elections also show the strength- ening of capitalist reaction against the work- It brought up the Socialist Party as def- initely the third party of capitalism, which will try to play an important role in the com- ing elections. The results of the elections also definitely demonstrate to the Party the im- portance of participating and mobilizing ‘the Party membership in parliamentary struggles. The last municipal elections must be a lesson to the Party and at the same time a call for action for mobilization for the coming congres- sional elections. This year the entire congress and one-third of the Senate as well as various governorial elections will take place all over the United States. Unless the Central Com- mittee of the Party and the district and city organizations with the active support of the enire Party membership begin to make immedi- ate plans and preparations for these congres- sional, senatorial and governorial elections, we will again meet with as little success as we had in the last municipal elections, but at the same time the Party will miss a great opportunity, particularly in the present period of develop- ing class’ struggle and growing unemployment, to bring forward to the masses of workers its program not only for the immediate interests of the workers, but for the overthrow of the capitalist system and establishment of a Work- ers and Farmers Government. A Correction In “The Communist” for January, there was a serious typographical error in the C. I. Reso- lution on the Negro Question, on page 53, where in quoting Lenin it is made to speak of “the right of segregation by the oppressed countries” instead of “the right of separation.” The paragraph as corrected reads: “The center of gravity in educating the workers of the oppresing countries in the principles of internationalism must inevit- ably consist in the propaganda and defense by the workers of the right of separation by the oppressed countries. We have the right and duty to treat every socialist of an op- pressing nation who does not conduct such propaganda, as an imperialist and as a scoundrel.” (Lenin, selected articles on the national question.) Another typographical error occurred in the February issue of “The Communist,” in Com- rade Zinoviev’s article; on page 123, where “underlying dialectics” was changed into “ly- ing dialectics” by omitting the word “under.” Fight the Right Danger. A Hundred Proletarians for Every Petty Bourgeois Rene- gade! ae Central Organ of the Commuiist tai., of the U.S. A. By Mail (in New York City only): $8.00 a year; By Mail (outside of New York City): $6.00 a year: SURSCRIPYION RATES: $3.50 $4.50 six months; 50 three months $2. six months: $2.00 three months By Fred Ellis By J- STALIN. UMBER 16 of the “Krasnaya Sweysda” con- tains an article which while undoubtedly correct on the whole nevertheless gives two inexact formulations. to correct these inexactitudes. In the first place the article s “In the restoration period we ried out the policy of restricting the capitalist elements in the town and in the village. With the com- mencement of the reconstruction period we went over from the policy of restricting to the policy of ousting the capitalist elements.” This statement is incorrect. restricting the capitalist elements and policy of ousting them are not two different policies. It is one and the same policy. Oust- ing the capitalist elements in the village is an inevitable result and an essential part of the policy of restricting the capitalist elements, kulaks as a class. To oust the capitalist ele- able to withstand the pressure of taxation and the restrictive measures employed by the So- viet power. Of course the policy of restricting policy of restricting the capitalist elements in the village is bound to lead to the ousting of individual groups of kulaks. The ousting of individual groups of the kulaks cannot there- fore be regarded as anything else but an in- evitable result and essential part of the policy of restricting the capitalist elements in the village. : With us this policy was applied not only in the restoration period but also in the recon- struction period, in the period since the 15th Party Congress (December, 1927), in the per- iod after the 16th Party Conference (April, 1929) as well as after this conference until the summer of 1929 when there commenced the period of compact collectivization when’ the turn to the policy of liquidating the kulaks as a class, began. If we examine the most important docu- ments of the Party, beginning with the 14th Party Congress in December, 1925 (see reso- lution on the Report of the Central Commit- tee) and ending with the 16th Party confer- ence in April, 1929 (see the Resolution on “The ways to raise the level of agriculture”), we are bound to notice that this thesis on “Restricting the exploiting tendencies of the kulaks” or “Restricting the growth of capi- talism in the village” always stand@@ beside the thesis on “Ousting the capitalist elements in the village,” on “Overcoming the capitalist elements in the village.” What does that mean? It means that the Party does not separate the ousting of the capitalist elements in the village from the policy of restricting the ex- ploiting tendencies of the capitalist elements in the village. The 15th Party Congress and also the 16th Party Conference stood wholely and entirely on the basis of the policy of “restricting the efforts at exploitation on the part of the agri- cultural bourgeoisie.” (Resolution of the 15th Party Congress on “Work in the Village.”) On the basis of the policy of employing new measures which restrict the development of capitalism in the village (Ibid), on the basis of the policy of “decisively restricting the ex- ploiting tendencies of the kulaks” (see the resolution of the 15th Party Congress on the Five-Year Plan), on the basis of the policy of “attack on the kulaks” in the sense of the “transition to a more extensive systematic and energetic restriction of the kulaks and of private property,” (Ibid), on the basis of the policy of “still more determined economic squeezing out” of the “elements of private capitalist economy in town and country” (see resolution of the 15th Party Congress on the Report of the C, C.). Therefore (a) the ‘author of the article in question is wrong when he represents the pol- iey of restricting the capitalist elements and { the policy of ousting them as two different } a The policy of | the | 7 5 | Congress the policy of restricting the exploit- the policy of restricting the exploiting ten- dencies of the kulaks. To oust the capitalist | elements in the village is not to oust the | ments in the village is to oust and overcome | individual groups of the kulaks which are un- | the exploiting tendencies of the kulaks, the ; The Question of Liquidating the Kulaks as a Class policies. The facts declare that here we have to do with one and the same policy of re- stricting capitalism, an essential part and re- sult of which is the ousting of individual I think it is necessary | SOUPS of kulaks. Therefore (b) the author of the article in question is wrong when he maintains that the ousting of the capitalist elements in the vil- lage first commenced in the reconstruction period, in the period of the 15th Party Con- gress- In actual fact the ousting of these ele- ments took place both before the 15th Party Congress, in the restoration period, and after the 15th Party Congress, in the reconstruc- tion period. In the period of the 15th Party ing tendencies of kulak economy was only reinforced by new additional measures, where- by the ousting of individual groups of kulaks was bound to increase. 2. The article states: “The policy of liquidating the kulaks as’ a class entirely corresponds to the policy of oust- ing the capitalist elements. It is a continua- tion of this policy in a new stage.” This sentence is inexact, and therefore in- correct. Of course the policy of liquidating the kulaks as a class could not drop from the sky. It was prepared by the whole preceding period of restricting, i. e., also of ousting the capitalist elements in the village. But that does not mean that it does not differ funda- mentally from the policy of restricting (and ousting) the capitalist elements in the vil- lage, that it is, so to speak, a continuation of the policy of restrictiof. To speak as the author of the article speaks is to deny the existence of a turn in the development of the village since the summer of 1929. So to speak means to deny the fact that in this period we have carried out a turn in the policy of our Party in the village. So to speak means to create a certain ideological loophole for the Right elements of our Party who are now clinging to the decisions of the 15th Party Congress against the new policy of the Party, just as Comrade Frumkin clung to the deci- sions of the 14th Party Congress against the policy of extending the collective and Soviet Farms, On what presumptions did the XV. Party Congress proceed when it announced the rein- forcement of the policy of the restriction (and ousting) the capitalist elements in the village? It proceeded from the presumption that in spite of this restriction of the kulak the kulaks still are bound to exist as'a class’ for some time. Upon this basis the XV. Party Congress kept in force the law regarding the leasing of land although it knew very well that the tenants consist in the main of kulaks, Upon this basis the XV. Party Congress allowed to remain in force the law on wage labor in the village and demanded its exact observance. Upon this basis there was once again declared the impermissibility of dekulakisation. Do these laws and these decisions contradict the policy of restricting (and ousting) the capi- talist elements in the village? Certainly not. Do these laws and these decisions contradict the policy of liquidating the-kulaks as a class? Most certainly! These laws and these deci- sions must therefore be abolished now in the sphere of compact. collectivization which is growing and extending not daily but hourly. Moreover they have been already abolished in the sphere of compact collectivization by the course of the collectivization movement itself. Can one maintain after this that the policy of liquidating the kulak as a class is the con- tinuation of the restriction (and ousting) of the capitalist elements in the village? It is clear that one cannot say that. The author of the article forgets that we cannot oust the kulak class as a class by taxa- tion measures and any other restrictions, while leaving in the hands of this class the means of production, with the right to free use of the soil, by our retaining in practice the law regarding wage labor in the village, the law regarding the renting of land and the prohibi- tion of dekulakisation. The author forgets that with a policy of restricting the exploit- ing tendencies of the kulaks one can only STARVE OR FIGHT! A Challenge to the Unemployed By GRACE M. BURNHAM, Labor Research Association. v Old Age and Unemployment. Forty years of age is now pretty generally accepted as the dividing line between get- ting and not getting a job today.’ Some con- cerns place an even lower limit for applicants for employment. On the other hand there are still ‘thousands of workers over 40 at their jobs and some of these workers might find re-employment if they were laid off. But the keen cutting edge of the industrial guillotine moves faster and the older worker is the one most apt to lag. behind in the production gang: The worker over forty, therefore, is the first candidate for unemployment. The first to be laid off, the least likely to be re-hired. In the midst of phenomenal dividends and the amassing of huge private fortunes, the ma- jority of the working class earn scarcely enough to exist. It is impossible for them to put anything aside for old age. It has been estimated that there are in the country about 2,000,000 persons—at least one-third of the population 65 years of age and over—unem- ployable and unprovided for. A few states give a miserable pittance called a pension to perhaps a thousand of these unfortunates. The others drift to the charities and to the poor houses. Here, herded in filthy and over- crowded barracks, fed like animals, robbed of all pretense of self respect and privacy, the aged poor live out their last chapter of ex- ploitation. Into the ranks now comes a new supply of cast-offs; workers in the prime of life, forty, fifty, sixty years old. Among them are skilled mechanics whose skill is no longer required by the machine; musicians thrown out of work work for them, Child Labor and Unemployment. On the other hand, the employers see to it that there is work for millions of children and youth below 16 years of age. Children of 14 may go to work in 41 states. Only two states haye fixed the working age at 16 or above. In the remaining states the working age is below 14. It is a well known fact that child labor laws are flagrantly evaded. Child labor is cheap. The weekly earnings of one-fourth of Pennsylvania's child laborers are less than $7.15, according to a recent re- port of the Department of Labor and Industry of that state. One-half of the children earned less than $8:50 a week. About 71 per cent had not completed the eighth grade at school. And Pennsylvania is one of the “better” states re- garding child labor legislation, specifying a maximum of 9 hours a day and 51 hours a week for children 14 years of age and over. Georgia allows a 60 hour week for 14 year old children in textile plants. If orphans or chil- dren of widows, they may go to work at 12. Mississippi allows boys of 12 to work in tex- tiles. It is estimated that one child out of every twenty engaged in industry is injured | as a result of his employment. Over 2,000 ac- cidents disabling children and youths under 18 for seven days or more, are reported an- nually in New York State. During the first nine months of 1926 there were 2,763 work ac- cidents to Ohio children, With millions of adults unemployed the children of the working class are being ex- ploited by capitalis® industry, untrained for work and without any education, to be killed, maimed, or stunted for life. (To Be Continued) by the “talkies” and ‘the radio; craftsmen whose careful efforts are too slow and costly : for the machine age. These men are-able and anxious to work but capitalist society has no & \ ) Problems and Tasks of the I. L.D. THE INTERNATIONAL LABOR DEFENSE, at its Fourth National Convention, adopted a resolution on the General Situation, the Problems and the Future Tasks of the I-L.D., giving an analysis of the present economic and political situation, and outlining the problems and tasks of the I.L.D. The resolution deals with the following questions: 1,.—The Present Economic and Political Situation in the U. S. The United States is today in a period of rapidly developing crisis which has its cause in the growing disproportion between the pro- ductive capacity of American industry and the consumptive capacities of the markets and is accompanied by a tremendously growing un- employment. In order. to further increase the exploitation of the American workers and place the burden of the economic crisis upon them, American imperialism, under the leadership of President Hoover, mobilized the most powerful forces of the American trusts and banking interests in the “National Business Council.” These at- tempts to “organize” American capitalism in order to overcome its inherent contradictions, must meet with failure. Only in a country where capitalism is abolished, and where the workers and farmers control the government, can production and distribution be organized and planned- The growing attacks upon the American workers, only further sharpen their resistance against this capitalist offensive. Only through sharp class struggle can the workers improve their miserable conditions. In the struggle against the working class, American capitalism is not only mobilizing all its economic forces, but more than ever before, capitalism is merged with the government ma- chine, as examplified in Gastonia and Illinois. This active participation of the government as a strikebreaker brings out clearly the political characterization of the workers’ struggles. In meeting the offensive of the bosses and the attacks of the government, the American workers recognize more than ever their duty to defend themselves and organize workers’ defense corps to protect their lives and organ- izations against the growing terror of the bosses. The bosses’ attack against the workers is supported by the American Federation of La- bor and the socialist party whose role is that of social fascists. The agreement between Green and Hoover further exposes the strike- breaking role of the A. F. of L. The socialist party’s support of the “National Business Council” shows that it is a partner to the imperialists’ war plans and attacks upon the standard of living of the American working class. The S. P. as well as the “left” wing reckon upon ousting individual groups of kulaks which not only does not contradict the retention of the kulaks as a class for a cer- tain time but presupposes this. The policy of restricting and ousting individual groups of the kulaks does not suffice to oust them as a class. In order to oust the kulaks as a class the: resistance of this class must be broken in open fight, and they must be’ deprived of the sources of production of their existence and development. (Free use of the soil, prop- erty in the means of production, leasehold, the right to employ wage labor, etc). That is the turn ‘in the policy of liquidaiing the kulaks as a class. Without this, the words re- garding ousting the kulaks as a class is idle chatter which is only useful and agreeable to the Rights. Without this any serious, still less a compact collectivization of the village is unthinkable. The poor and middle peasants of our villages, who are crushing the kulaks and realizing compact collectivization, have fully realized this. It is obvious, however, fen some of our comrades do not understand Therefore the present policy of the Party in the village is not a continuation of the old policy but a turn from the old policy of re- stricting (and ousting) the capitalist elements in the village to the new policy of liquidating the kulak as a class. in the A. F. of L., the Muste group, whose main purpose is to mislead the workers and prevent them from energetic struggle against capitalism, are acting as agents of American imperialism within the ranks of the American working class. The present attacks of the bosses area di- rect part- of the extensive imperialist war pre- parations for new and armed struggle for the re-division of the world, and particularly for the imperialist attack against the Soviet Union. The International Labor Defense, a prole- tarian defense organization, the American sec- tion of the world organization, the Interna- tional Red Aid, must play an important role in the struggle against imperialist war. This must be especially so in the United States, the most powerful imperialist nation and there- fore an outstanding aggressor against . the USSR, The International Labor Defense supports: in every way all persecuted, arrested and .im- prisoned fighters against imperialist war and militarism. 2.—Toward a Broad Mass Defense = Organization. This period of growing acute conflicts be- tween the workers and their oppressors. calls for a quick turning in the methods of struggle, | the organizational forms and the whole ap- proach of the I. L. D. to the American working class, so that it will rapidly become a broad mass defense organization of the native as well as the foreign-born, of the Negroes as well as the white workers. 3 Support of struggles for self-defense will be the main issue in all mass struggles. It must | be linked up closely with the whole question | of struggle against capitalist class justice. (To be continued) | Unemployment in Japan Grow: Alarmed at. the seriousness of the economic crisis the Dep't of Home Affairs of the Jap- anese government recently conducted an “in- vestigation” concerning unemployment in Jap- an. The number given as the result of the “investigation” was 268,590. However, this statement of the Home Department was imme- diately challenged .by several authorities in this field as “very inaccurate” since the report does not include apprentices, messenger boys, student-workers, small shop keepers, etc., who have lost their means of living in the present. economic crisis. To this criticism the. Home Department hastily answered recognizing’ part- ly the inaccuracy of, the figures. The present Minseito government which suc- ceeded last July General Tanaka’s reactionary government and which since then is frantically trying to reorganize crumbling Japanese écon- omy, has just lifter the 13 year standing gold embargo to the great satisfaction ofthe Jap- anese bourgeoisie. However, it must be re- membered that this was done at the expense of the Japanese working class, for unless cap- italist rationalization of industry is to be car- ried on intensively and effectively—for the capitalists, of course—Japanese capitalism could not have lifted it, The present Hamaguchi government which is participating in the London Arms Conference walks around in the columns of the bourgeois press as “liberal.” Yet we remember that this is the government which just a week or so ago dissolved the Imperial Diet and a few days ago arrested 14,000 Korean peasants and work- > ers, and which is now ready to give death sen- tences to the leading Communists arrested dur- ing the regime of former’ Premier: Tanaka. Japanese imperialism is now experiencing a profound crisis. Workers without employment together with poor peasants are struggling valiantly under the leadership of the Commu- nist Party. With 800,000 unemployed—the authorities who challenged the Home Depart- ment figures claim this number to be near’ correct—in Japan ‘the coming February 26 international unemployment demonstration will be a mass demonstration significant not only economically but also ‘politically, for the work- ers are beginning to realize that the only way out is the overthrow of the capitalist system,