The Daily Worker Newspaper, February 17, 1930, Page 4

Published by the « Square, New York Address and mail al) Page Four checks COMPLETE THE RECRUITING daily Publisning Go., x. to the Daily Worker Telephone Stuyvesa Baily [Qs AVorker rgan of the Communist Variy of the U. S. A. Ry Mail (in New York City on By Mall (outside of New York SUBSCRIPT! We 38. 4 ity): $6.00 a year; RATES: $4.50 six months; $3.50 six months; $2.50 three months $2.00 three months DRIVE-MOBILIZE THE PARTY 100% e far behind The con- District lives up to its chal- ict Organizers have to re- y thru the Daily Worker the re not able to fill their ey fell short in competition lenges. port to the reasons why own quota, w with other Dis nust be given The building up of shop nucl attention during the week—no t should permit its quota t only part Mobili very comrade who still i Nucleus but worki ing the organizat or her shop. Concen- or doing organizational rtant large factories. p for prep: h of a shop nucle trate the t nucleus must prepare shop paper—at least the must be out, n every targe factory in for the coming, active Get connec your locality! i is too low for our Party. Remember the Briti Daily Worker has challenged us in competi- tion for subscribers. So far we are lagging -behind. Are we to be beaten? Utilize the new members in these activities! Mobilize them for the most energetic work in the campaign against unemployment! Make every new member an active member! very Party Committee—from the Nucleus Buros to the Central Committee—should take s for keeping the new members. Classes must be organized for them, special discussions in the nuclei, unit meetings must be more political, more interesting and our whole ac- tivity broadened out into new fields. Make the last week of the Drive the most in- tensive week! Fill the quota in each District! Organization Department, C. C. Flashlights From the Recruit- | ing Drive Twenty-seven of the 32 recruits in Connecti- cut during the 8th week, responded at an un- employed demonstration of 800 workers in New Brit Minnesota District recruited 42 members in the 8th week of the Drive. These were dis- tributed as follows: Duluth, 16; Minneapolis, 10; Crosby, 8; Cook. Winona, St. Paul, 1: Floodwood, 1; “ Mills, 1. ine of these are metal miner N District Nine promises to follow Detroit as an example, and are making arrangements to | begin selling 125 copies of the Daily Worker daily. | Ohio comes forward with 43 new members, recruiting from all parts of the state; Canton, 8; Massillon, 2; Toledo, 2; E. Liverpool, 1; Columbu: Yorkville, 5; Powhattan, 3; War- ren, 2; Cleveland, 19. sy G The composition of the recrufts in Ohio show the District is carrying effectively its activity in the basic industries, 14 steel workers, 5 coal miners, 3 railroad workers 4 laborers, 3 food workers, 2 carpenters, 3 needleeworkers, 1 pottery worker. s The tempo of recruiting is increasing in the Pittsburgh District. The seventh week brought in 34*and the eighth, 21 new members. The overwhelming majority of these were from the coal mining towns, where the Party is well known for its leadership in the coal strike. Forty-one of 55 new members for the two weeks are coal miners. Tasks of the Trade Union Unity League Resolution Adopted by the Sixth Session of the R.LL.U. Central Council. NOTE—This is the final installment. The first installment was printed in: yesterday's issue. * * 5 (E) Work in the Reformist Unions. Rationalization, unemployment, growing radi- ealization of the masses, etc., broaden the cleav- age between the A.F.L. oligarchy and the mass of the rank and file members in the A.F.L. unions and creates the conditions for an attack in these unions against the A.F.L. bureaucracy. The guiding principle for the T.U.U..L and its followers should be: To work wherever the masses are, in the first place—in the shops and factories, among the huge mass of unorganized drawing these broad masses into the revolu- tionary trade unions. At the same time, the T.U.U.L. and its adherents must not neglect their, activities among these sections of the _workers who are still in the social-fascist trade unions. Wherever our adherents succeed, through such consistent work within the re- actionary unions to capture any local organiza- tion and win over the majority of its member- ship, these locals should be joined up to the corresponding revolutionary union of the T.U. UL. (F) The Fight Against Opportunism, While the revolutionary unions have made some progress in developing the leadership in the new economic struggles, a great many op- portunist errors may be noted which seriously hamper the growth of these unions. These errors are based in the main—on the overes- timation of the strength of American capital- ism (expressed, for example, by the assertion in the program adopted at Cleveland that the “age of competition is gone forever’); under- estimation of the radicalization of the masses, expressed in retreat before sharp manifesta- tions of the class struggle (Weisbord); the carrying over of reformist trade union ideology and practice into the revolutionary trade unions (especially in the needle trades); false estimation of rationalizgtion as a process of technical improvement instead of that of life- sapping, health-destroying speedup of human labor. Besides the errors mentioned above, there were various others, such as tendencies to ! make united front with Muste leaders (Boston shoe strike, panicky moods in the fare of grow- ing struggles (miners) tendencies to slip into a state of illegalism without struggles (Illinois miners) etc. Such practices and mistakes are real obstacles to the consolidation of the work- ers’ ranks and greatly impair the influence of the new unions. All these mistakes must be analyzed and subjected to ruthless self- criticism made before the rank and file of the workers. The fight against the right danger is a basic necessity for the revolutionary unions. Only through a long persistent struggle against opportunism and right tendencies prevailing in the American revolutionary movement will the T.U.U.L, be able to fulfill its great tasks. IX. The T.U.U.L. in the present period is confronted with a great and most responsible task. It must rise to the importance of the moment. The sharpening of the economic crisis, the growing radicalization of the workers, and the intensification of the class struggle con- front it with an unprecedented rising tide of working class activity, which is passing from the defensive to the offensive struggle. To the T.U.U.L. falls the historic role of leading the great struggles that loom in the near future If it correctly applies the decisions of the Fourth World Congress and the Sixth Session" of the R.LL.U. Central Council it can fulfill this role effectively and be the means of mob- ilizing and leading the great masses of work- ers in the struggle against capital. X. The Sixth Session of the R.I.L.U. Cent- ral Council herewith instructs the T.U.U.L. to popularize as widely as possible the reso- lutions and decisions of this Session and to ensure the broadest possible participation of the working masses in the shops and factories, Negro workers, the women and youth, in the election of representative delegations to the Fifth Congress of the R.I.L.U. XI. The Central Council of the R.I.L.U. calls upon all its adherents in the U.S.A. to con- duct a determined struggle against any at- tempt to weaken the revolutionary unions, and to combat all those who for factional or any other reasons try to split the revolutionary unions and divert them from the central task of winning over the majority of the American working class for the overthrow of American capitalism. Profits Mount in Central War Industry By ROBERT W. DUNN. How capital accumulates and profits rise in the powerful American chemical industry is revealed by Dr. Theodore M. Switz in the cur- rent Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering. Dr. Switz is chief expert on the economic and financial set-up 8f the chemical industries for the Investment Research Corporation of De- troit, an organization that advises a few rich men where to put their money to bring the heaviest returns. . All industry has been merging at headlong speed during the last few years. Chemicals are no exception, Three giant firms—“tre- -mendous horizontal and vertical combinations,” Switz calls them—stand out as premier money- makers for the wealthy. They are Allied Che- mical & Dye, Union Carbide and Carbon, and DuPont. A pie-chart representing the total tangible assets of all chemical companies in the United States shows this “big three” cover- ing 60 per cent of the circle. The DuPont as- sets represent only its chemical holdings and do not include its dominant investment in Gen- eral Motors which has poured tens of millions of profits into its coffers. “These three combined,” says Switz, “exceed in size all other domestic chemical companies taken together. Furthermore, together they are almost twice as large as the famous German I, G. or the English Imperial Chemical In- dustries, both of which represent practically the entire chemical industry in their respective | countries.” Reviewing the trend toward consolidation in recent years, Switz shows that one of the most important forces behind the movement has been “the faet that the large companies have steadily improved. their earnings year after year, whereas the earnings of many of the smaller companies have been erratic and have shown little upward trend.” He predicts that merging will continue, for this industry is much like the electrical equipment industry in which there are left but two outstanding companies, General Electric and Westinghouse. The large chemical companies will doubtless squeeze out the 47 minor companies one after the other. Profits in this industry have been “remark- able,” says this expert analyst. Fourteen chemical and drug companies between 1923 and 1927 increased their profits at the rate of 12.3% a year, which is well above an increase of 9% a year shown by some 381 industrial corporations in all fields during the same period. And profits of the three giants have increased at an even more rapid pace—at the rate of 14.2% a year. This tremendous rise in profits—at a rate much faster than that of the physical increase in production—is due, says Dr. Switz, to “the thoroughgoing rationalization or reorganization that has been going on... This includes oper- /THE venegade organ of Lovestone denies thé / facts of Lovestone appearing as a state witness in 1920, deny that Lov me gained immunity from prosecution for himself by this testimony, deny that his testimony was looked upon by the state as of especial value to them in establishing their case, deny that there was pearance in court for the state. We will let the facts speak for themselves, preme Court by the official stenographer, in the appeal by the defense. Did Lovestone testify in court for the state tura to his testimony, beginning with page 375. We find Lovestone freely answering all questions asked, 149 questions in all, before he made any objections all. On the 150th question he balked and refused to answer. The following conversation between Mr. Lovestone and “His Honor” the Jud%e throws much light on the reasons: “Question by the Court: I understand you refuse to answer that question on the ground you say it would tend to incriminate you?” “Answer by Lovestone: (Enlarg- ing upon this, Lovestone I do not mean ingrimination merely within the juris- dictional area of the state of New York, I suppose you are aware of the fact that I have an indictment against me in the city of Chicago. That is the reason that I claim my ground, constitutional ground of incrim- ination. Now what I is that while this ion of the legislature of the state of as you say, does give me immunity in the juvisdictional area of the state of New York, I cannot see Why on earth it can possibly give me any im- munity without this ie al boundary.” After some haggling, the trict attorney finally delivered the additional guarantees of personal immunity for Lovestone also in Chi- cago as well as New York. The court record says: “Mr. Rorke: If your Honor please, I have been authorized by the state’s attorney, the prosecuting attorney of Cook County, Illi- nois, Mr. McClay Hoyne, in the event that this defendant Lovestone, who is now on the stand. refuses to answer questions put to him by the district attorney of the county of New York on the grounds that his an- swers would incgiminate him in the state of Illinois, I was authorized on behalf of the state of Illinois to offer the witness im- munity against prosecution on the charge growing out of the formation and the organ- ization of the Communist Party of America.” Note that Mr. Rorke makes an “offer” of immunity, in return for the same kind of tes- timony regarding the Chicago convention as had already been given by Lovestone regard- ing New York. Lovestone considered that such testimony would endanger himself unless he had guarantees of immunit: His testimony was nfainly concerned with what other people did and said, and what positions they held. But after he had this “offer” from Mr. Rorke, he hesitated no longer about testifying freely about Chicago also. Lovestone stated his position to the court in the following words (page 407, Stenographic Record): “Well, on the advice of counsel after the instruction of the Court and upon recogni- tion of the fact that the statement made here in public in the court will hold good for immunity in jurisdictions outside the ating plants nearer to capacity, greater me- chanization of equipment and mategial hand- ling, increasing application of research studies and scientific control to factory operations - . .” Workers in chemicals will know what these lines means‘in terms of the daily work life— reduction of forces (unemployment) “readjust- ments” in wages, speeding up of work, in- creases in tasks, and all the current devices of up-to-the-minute personnel management: For the combines in this leading war industry anything whatever wrong with Lovestone’s ap- | We quote from the record certified to the Su- , in return for immunity from prosecution? We | ‘ Better Times Coming | | By ROBERT MINOR. “No Job, Nothing to Eat, no Home? Well, You May Get'a Chance to Fight for Your Country Soon.” Lovestone, State’s Witness “local area of New York, that is, in Cook Couffty, Illinois, in the city of Chicago, I am prepared to, waive my. previous objections on the ground of incrimination.” Then Lovestone proceeded to answer 423 more questions, without, any more objections because it might incrimfnate anybody, making a total of 573 questions in all that he an- swered, totalling more than 100 pages of tes- timony. What was the nature of this testimony? Much of it was identifying documents and per- sons for the state, A goo] example is the following: “Question: I show you People’s Exhibit 41, for Identification, and ask you to look at it; tell us if that fairly represents the delegates in convention at Chicago? An- swer: It does.” Lovestone claims that most of his testimony was defending the principles of Communism. Let us see how he “defended” it; we turn to page 472, where Lovestone is explaining what the program of the Party means. 2 “Question: Now the next measure, ’d, re- pudiation of all national debts and the fi- nancial obligationse of the old system? An- swer: That is also ‘scientifically incorregt, and my basis for this answer is that it, at rtain times that may be so and at certain times it may not be so. For instance, you take the Soviet government of Russia. At one time it thought it was necessary@for its preservation to repudiate debts. On the contrary now it is ready to pay debts when it sees fit.” . Generally his testimony is full of such ex- pressions as: “We never have advocated it (ex} riation of capitalist private proper- ty).” “I have never said that it was the mis- sion of the Communist Party to overthrow governments.” At times Mr. Lovestone was such a voluble witness, volunteering to extend his remarks far beyond the questions even, that the (ourt rebuked him for saying too mucly, for volun- teering information. What was the general significance of Love- stone’s testimony for the state? The state thought this significance was very great. His testimony occupies 102 pages of record. The name of Lovestone is the only one of the wit- nesses cited by the judge in delivering sen- tence. The judge said (page 538-544): “A National Convention was called for Chi- cago in September, 1919, and when that plat- form committee, as it might be termed, the committee that drafted tke program and mani- festo, attempted to draft the program of the new Communist Party, they took the program of the left wing, and they blue-penciled out of it certain extremely radical expressions, but they left all the meat in there. I am not speak- ing only from surmise. I am speaking from the very document that this witness Lovestone stated was the document which was corrected in his own handwriting and which shows upon its face that they took the left wing manifesto and pasted it on sheets of paper and then eliminated from it certain very radical expres- sions... . It is the sentence of the court that you be imprisoned in state prison at hard labor for the term, the minimum of which shall not be less than five years and the maximum of which shall not be more than ten years.” This record is valuable, not only in properly evaluating the political role of Lovestone as a right wing enemy of the Communist Interna- tional and the Communist Party of the United States, but also as an ‘object lesson for all comrades in the movement of the kind of at- titude toward the courts which is absolutely impermissable in a Party member. It is the duty of Communists to throw every possible obst@le in the way of conviction of their fellow Party members in the courts, to defend these wembers by ll possible means, and absolutely to refuse to give testimony for the state in any form. Testimony of Communists can only be given for the defense of Communists, not for the state, and then it must be based upon uncompromising defense of the Party and its are militantly anti-union and 100 per cent |\ program. And any one who trades his itesti- e e open shop. mony to the State for personal immunity from » workers became plentiful and jobs scarce, STARVE _A Challenge to the Unembloyed By GRACE M. BURNHAM, Labor Research Association. Ped ey (Continued) OR FIGHT! In. 1918, when the removal of hundreds of | thousands. of workers from industry to the | battle. front caused a marked shortage of labor, the federal government was quick to come to the aid of the war profiteer. Over a million dollars was appropriated by the president and congress to build up and co- ordinate state and city employing offices. In the short period of nine months over 800 free public employment offices were functioning. “The United States Employment Service,” says Isador Lubin: in a statement to the Senate | Committee investigating unemployment 1928-29, “was organized primarily to help those ‘industries which had been crippled by the loss of man power, rather than to help workers secure jobs.” The United States Em- ployment Servite was scrapped as soon as In 1919 the federal appropriation for the service had been cut to $400,000. The present ap- propriation is only $200,000 and the free em- ployment offices now number but 170 in 35 states. The inadequacy of these offices is shown by the following table: Distribution of the 170 Free Public Employ- "ment Offices Among the 35 States and the District of Columbia, and Approximate Num- ber Wage Earners—1928. Approx. No. No. Wage Earners State Offices in State Arizona 1 105,000 Arkansas . 4 508,000 California 12 1,210,000 Gonnecticut. .. if 472,000 Delaware 1 74,000 Dist. of Col. . 1 189,000 Georgia 1 903,000 Illinois 17 2,102,000 Indiana . 5 894,000 Iowa . 3 687,000 Kansas . 5 499,000 Kentucky 1 681,000 Louisiana 3 545,000 Maine... 1 248,000 Maryland 1 482,000 Massachusetts 4 1,382,000 Michigan’ .. il 1,179,000 Minnesota 6 726,000 Missouri 4 1,054,000 * Nevada .. 1 30,000 New Hampshire 2 154,000 New Jersey .. 6 1,049,000 New York . 11 3,602,000 North Carolina . 6 717,000 Ohio ...... 11 1,842,000 Oklahoma 4 545,000 Oregon ... +. 5 258,000 Pennsylvania 14 2,741,000 Rhode Island . 1 220,000 South Dakota 3 166,000 Tennessee 1 664,000 Vermont 1 110,000 Virginia 5 667,000 West Virginia ont 393,000 Wisconsin +10 797,000 Wyoming ... wd 66,000 Thirteen states have not even one public employment office. As can be seen from a casual comparison of the number of state of- fices with the wage earners in each state, “these offices are ludicrously insufficient for handling the placement of over 30 million wage in | earners in the United States. The state ° of California had 10 publie employment offices in 1929 compared with 328 fee charging private employment agencies. California workers pay annually into the coffers of these 328 private agencies about two million dollars in fees. While a few states operate employment of- fices on a more or less efficient basis most of these offices are nothing but corrupt political sinecures where workers waste their time in useless quests for jobs. The persons in charge’ are untrained and unqualified for their work. Fees are split with labor contractors and gang bosses. When a construction job opens up on a railroad or in & lumber camp 2 bunch of workers is often sent out with conditions of work deliberately kept from them. Anyone who has visited the typical “free” employment agency with its blackboard on which » are scribbled the jobs that come in and its crowd of desperate, starving applicants can picture the fate of the fellow who finds:himself tied to a construction gang miles away from the town in which he got his job, or in a lamber camp where the company owns the only shacks available and the only soup kitchen where a man can buy a bite to eat. Railroad fare, meal checks, room rent must be paid back before the worker can think of “chucking his. job.” Conditions, no matter how intolerable, must be put up with until these drafts on the pay envelope have been met. The state of Wisconsin operates one.of the “more efficient” public employment offices. The director of the Employment Service ap- points an Advisory Committee with four repre- | sentatives of the employers, four of the trade unions (A. F. of L:), and one “impartial” per- son. “Ninety-five per cent of the applicants to the public employment offices,” says Prof. John R. Commons, in advocating this arrange- ment for the-rest of the country, “come from the ranks of the unorganized. The manufac- turers’ side of the committee is always going to protect unorganized labor. They are not going to let them be discriminated against by the union.” In this connection it is tmpor- tant to note that among the representatives of the employers on the Milwaukee advisory com mittee is the secretary of the employment de- partment of the state metal trades association, well known as an anti-union, strike-breaking organization. The obvious persons to administer an em- ployment service in the interests of the work- ers would be a committee representing those “95 per cent of the workers” who use the em- ployment offices, But representation from councils or committees of the unemployed would be relished neither by the open shop em- ployers who want workers at their own price, nor by the craft unions who fear the revolu- tionary temper of the unemployed. Commons clearly exposes his attitude toward labor when he says: “The unorganized are not doing any fighting at’ all. They are not engaged in any political movements to amount to anything. They are Negroes and other classes of people and are advised (by the Milwaukee office) that it is impossible for them ever to select a person that would represent them.” Such statements give the true measure of the most effective public employment - office system now in operation in this country and of the capitalist economists who support such projects. They are a challenge. to the unor- ganized, to the Negro workers, to the unem- ployed to take into their own hands the ma- chinery for getting and keeping jobs and for controlling the conditions under which men will or will not work. . (To Be Continued) Problems and Tasks of the LL.D. NOTE—This is the last installment of a review of the resolution on the “General Situation, Problems and the future Tasks of the International Labor Defense,’ passed at the Pittsburgh National Conference of the 1.L.D. * Not Neutral in Politics. The International Labor Defense is not neutral in politics. As a working class or- ganization it takes definite position on all im- portant political problems. The united front character of the I.L.D., establishing a mass base in the broad ranks of the workers, does not mean that it cannot declare openly its clear Pgsition in the class struggle. In the presidential elections of 1928, the ILL.D. called on the workers to vote for the candidates of the Communist Party. Although some results have been achieved in interesting and securing support of the rank and file of the A. F. of L, and some proletarian elements in the Socialist Party, in spite of the slander campaign by the reactionary bureau- cracy, nevertheless, our activity has received insufficient .attention. Communications re- ceived from A. F. of L. local unions reflect sharply the growing unemployment, actual hunger in the ranks of these workers, making them very sympathetic to our appeal. Although the I.L.D. has organized and par- ticipated in demonstrations against terror in Latin America, in Europe and Asia, the ac- * prosecution, should be unhesitatingly kicked out of the movement. The facts in the case speak loud, indeed. The International Control Commission considered these fatts as proving conduct “unbecoming a Communist,” when it reviewed the question in 1925. If the International Control Commission judgement, nevertheless, closed the case, it was because of Lovestone’s own admission that his conduct was wrong, and because the Interna- tional Control Commission believed that Love- ~‘stone dy torepair in revolutionary serv- ice the damage he had done in non-Communist action: as a gvitness for the prosecution. But Lovestone’s present course must change this judgment.» The willing witness for the prose- cution, whose only concern was not the fate of ‘the defendant and the interest of the revolu- tionary movement, but instead his own im- munity, ‘has now turned into an. active agent of the bourgeoisie against the only revolution- ary Party, the Communist International. Love- stone’s role today determines the judgment on the action of the witness for the prosecution of yesterday. ‘ tivities are not sufficiently broad enough nor are they efficiently organized. This protest is not sufficiently joined with American struggle with the result that it does not assume a sufficiently mass character. This task the I.L.D. must face more seriously. Every district organization of ‘the I.L.D, should concentrate activity in some Latin American country and maintain :close relations with it. In the Giletti case, the I.L.D. has forced the federal government to establish the precedent of permitting its prisoner: to go to the Soviet Union, instead of being deported to Italy. An effort is being made to extend this ruling to other deportees. Deportations continue to be one of the prin- cipal methods‘ of the ruling class to eliminate the most active and leading elements in the struggle of the working class, Insufficient activities have been carried on to draw the agricultural workers and poor farmers into the I.L.D., although some progress has been made in this direction lately and 1. L.D. branches among farmers organized. While emphasizing the struggle for the work- ers’ right of self-defense, the campaign of re- | lentless exposure against the frame-up system must be continued with all energy. Enemies of the Working Class. The I.L.D. cannot tolerate as members of its organization those who are opposed to its class policies. It must, therefore, combat the hostile policies of\Cannon and Lovestone and those who support them. : The 1.L.D. as a class organization supports the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics .and joins the slogan of “Defense of the Soviet Union!” while Cannon and Lovestone are vi- ciously attacking and openly hostile..to .the Soviet Power. Both fought against the correct, class policies of the.1.L.D, in the Gastoni® campaign at the very moment when the pris- oners were facing’ the electric chair, |. The I.L.D. provides .assistance to the class war prisoners and for their dependants. Every branch of the I.L.D. has been called on to adopt some prisoner or dependant, Not only the National Organization but dis- trict and local organizations should be more alive to the ever-present demand. for bail. Workers must also be mobilized in support of their own prisoners with the demand to “Build the LL.D. Bail Fund!” The central organ of the I.L.D., the Labor Defender, must become more than a@ publica- tion for the masses. A paying and stable cir- culation of 50,000 readers is to be secured by March 18, the anniversary of the Paris Com- mune.