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

Page Four New and York Square. ® mail all ot Addre Published by the Comprodafly Publishing Co., Neva 1896-7-8. nion Square. Cable New phor the Daily Ww: uyves: York FIRST 1930 Prepare Political Strike By A. PETERSON. American HE enemies and misleaders of labor are time and again state that May t “entirely affair.” This is a lie. So the ¢ conservative leadership built the A bor movement and reds are wrecking it. Under the pressure of the rank and file of the American workers the Federation of Or- ganized Trades and Labor Unions at their Chi- cago convention on October, 188 lopted a resolution to set May First, 6, as the for the struggle for the eight-hour day. The officials of the Knights of Labor did their utmost to break this eight-hour move- ment, but the spontaneous s sympathy strikes and boycotts that took place from 1886 on, developed the fighting spirit of the Amer- ican workers to such a stage that 1890 finds American labor determined to mobilize their forces for May Day demonstrations for the eight-hour day, for international solidarity and for a declaration to the world that while fight- ing for the eight-hour day, they will not lose sight of their ultimate aim: the abolition of wage slavery. coming out to foreign es, May First, 1890. Said the spokesmen of the A. F. 1890 among others: “May Day is to be the red letter day of American workingmen. In hundreds of cities and towns in the United States, labor unions composed of carpenters, stone masons, paint- ers and workingmen in other trades, will turn out in force to show their employers the strength of their organizations, and to en- courage one another in the belief that we are invincible. The demonstration this May Day may be called the skirmish which will open the general engagement.” On the old pages of the daily papers of May 2, 1890, we can read the reports of the brilliant mobilization of American labor. The most striking demonstration took place in Chicago and New York. The New York Tribune of 1890 declares: ‘“The mobilization for the First of May demonstration in Union Square is going on feverishly. The meetings at Clareton and Webster Halls mobilized seventy labor unions to turn out in force. Painters Local No. 8 brought in a resolution requesting the mayor to hoist the red flag on the City Hall build- ing, stating that the red flag speaks for humanity as a whole and is therefore surely worth such a place as the national American flag.” “The employers in New York made a re- quest for a strong police force and about 300 policemen were mobilized for May Da: We read in the New York papers on May 2 about this demonstration in Union Square and it becomes clear to us that on May First, 1890 Union Square became the Red Square for the American workers. “It was a day to which mlilions were look- ing forth with eager hope. In spite of the heavy rain that poured this Thursday (May 1, 1890) New York labor marched in thous- ands under the red flag which is red’ with the blood of our martyrs.” (The N. Y. Stan- dard.) In Union Square May First, 1890, McGuire, at that time general secretary of the Brother- hood of Carpenters of a, one of the spokesmen of the A. F. of L. and a radical, brought before the workers assembled in Union SqYiare resolutions which were unanimously adopted by the workers. The language of this r ution canbe well understood from the following extracts: “Resolved: That we unite our voices with the proletariat of all countries . . . “Resolved: That while struggling for the eight-hour day we will not lose sight of the ultimate aim, the abolition of wage slavery.” On May Day, 1890, the A. F. of L. spokes- men brought forward before the American workers the fact established by the Communist Manifesto, that every class struggle is a poli- | cal struggle. | May First, 19. Of course long since these historic struggles of the American workers the A. F. of L., under the leadership of the Gompers, the Greens and Wolls, has repudiated ever; tige of work- ing class principles. These A. F. of L. bur erats are today the fas agents of the ex ploiters of labor, the most dangerous enemies ‘ Inc., Gaily, exeent Sunday, at 26-28 Onion “DATWORIK.” of the working class. The militant unionists of 1890 upheld the international red flag of the worknig class on May Day. the chief red baiters, the police agents of thee bosses and their government which is dishing out mass unemployn , hunger, wage cuts and speed-up to the millions of toilers. Oscar Ryan of the N. Y. Central Trades and Labor Council shouts hurr the jobless workers and lines up with the Whal- ens and fascist veterans organizations to de- prive the workers to their right to the streets this May Day. These bosses’ agents are the main instigators of an imperialist attack against the Soviet Union where the workers rule. Union Square is the traditional mobilization ground of the militant New York working clas The capitalist government of New York has already taken steps to prevent a workers dem- onstration in Union Square by turning it over to the fascist organizations. The renegade Gitlow does his nasty bit for the capitalist gov- ernment and the fascisti by calling on the workers to give up the struggle for the right to the streets in general and Union Square in particular this May Day. Communists are not putchists and “adven- turers, we do not expect an armed struggle for power on the part of the working class this May Day. But this should not prevent every single worker and workers organizations from carrying on the most intense struggle for the right to the streets and Union Square and against the fascist demonstration planned for May Day. But this struggle is only secondary to the struggle for the organization of the mass poli- tical strike in the shops. A mass political strike for Work or Wages’ Unemployment In- surance, for seven-hour day, five-day week, against wage cuts and speed-up, against im- perialist war danger and for the defense of the Soviet Union. Help the Comrades Imprisoned in Meerut An Appeal to All Workers for Solidarity! rc is one year today since 32 revolutionary leaders, including three English comrades, were arrested and imprisoned by the British Government of India for their splendid work on behalf of the political and trade union or- ganization of the Indian workers and of the movement of independence. For twelve long months now they have been detained in the notorious Meerut jail. They are being tried without a jury by a magistrate who is a shameless agent of his imperialist masters and the vindictiveness of whose judgment may easily be foreseen, Hundreds of “witnesses” have been called including police agents from London, but our comrades on trial were re- fused the right to call important witnesses from Europe. The long drawn-out case against these working class leaders is an open attempt of the imperialist MacDonald Government to crush the Indian revolutionary working class and trade union movements. The imperialist MacDonald government has sent a so-called Labor Commission to “enquire into” labor con- ditions in India, in order to gain control of the labor movement in the interests of Bri- tish imperialism, while our comrades are held in prison by brute force. The Indian nationalist leaders who expressed lip-sympathy with the Meerut prisoners have dissolved the Defense Committee they had con- stituted, because of their fear of the workers’ movement; and the defense of our comrades has been taken over by special committees organized by the trade unions. The Indian 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. Address ....-ccsesecccemecees City. .s essere Occupation . Mail this to the Central Office. Communist Party, 43 East 125th St.. New York, N. Y. Pie Y's Wneory I | workers have realized that the Meerut trial is a cardinal question in India today, because the sentencing of their comrades to long terms of imprisonment would deprive them of their ‘ah at the police beatings of | The Greens and Wolls of today are | bravest and best leaders and expose them to the machinations of the Indian reformists. | It is not the theatrical act but the fate of the comrades imprisoned in Meerut that deserves the fullest attention of | the workers of Europe. The National Meerut Defense Committee in London has organized a special campaign for the Meerut prisoners during the present week. The propaganda will be carried on mainly among working class or- ganizations, in order to demonstrate to them the enormous importance of the Meerut trial to the European workers, and to collect funds | for the defense of the comrades on trial in India. We appeal today to all workers and pro- gressive elements in Europe to follow . the example of the workers of Great Britain and to come to the help of the Meerut comrades. We appeal to them to contribute any sum however small to the defense fund and to or- ganize special collections in every factory and workshop. We fully realize the heavy sacrifices that are daily demarded of the rkers in their struggle against the crushing burdens of capitalist exploitation. But the workers of Europe must understand that their own fate is intimately bound up with that of the colon- jal slaves, and they must regard the liberation of the peoples oppressed.and exploited by im- perialism as an integral part of their own struggle for social and economic freedom. Upon the fate of the 32 revolutionary lead- ers now on trial in Meerut depends the imme- diate future of the Indian workers’ struggle. We call upon all workers and progressive intellectuals and all working .class organiza- tions in all European countries to send their contribution without delay to V. Chatto- padhyaya, 24, Friedrichstrasse, Berlin, S. W. 48, Germany, to be forwarded to the Central | Defense Committee in India. LEAGUE AGAINST IMPERIALISM, International Secretariat. and WORKERS INTERNATIONAL RELIEF, Central Committee. The Daily Werker is the Party’s hest instrument to make contacts among the masses of workers, to build a mass Communis: Party. < Central Organ of the ‘Communist SAVE POWERS AND CARR! Paily 32: Worker . vary of the U.S. A. By Fred Ellis THE PRE-CONVENTION )) DISCUSS Report on the Theses, Delivered to Plenum of Central Committee by Comrade Browder, : April 3rd, 1930. . Il, ECONOMIC CRISIS AND THE THIRD PERIOD. The third point that we want to examine somewhat is the question of the relation be- tween the economic crisis an] the thir period of the general fost-war crisis of capitalism. This is dealt with at great length in the first draft and in the process of shortening our thesis much of this will have to be left out because it is in the nature of discussion. But leaving this out does not mean that we want to lessen the importance of this question be- cause this is a key question to the proper analysis of the present situation and perspec- tives of future development. There are two tendencies that in this respect. There is a tendency to see the U. S. as something different—separate from the general world erisis of post-war capi- talism. This is the conception of two crises existing and developing independently of one another and only incidentally affecting one an- other, an economic crisis and the general post- war crisis. We must say:that there is only one crisis and there cannot be such a thing as two separate crises of this capitalist sys- tem. There is but mahy factors enter into the of this i are wrong is one cri development | There was a crisis before the downward de- velopment of economic life—of production and all other features of economic life. There is an agrarian crisis which has certain special features of its own, and there is the economic crisis, but these are all merely special aspects of the development of the general crisis of capitalism. The economic crisis has special peculiarities. It has the characteristics of the | classical crisis of the capitalist cycle of pro- duction, but it is taking place within the post- war period of capitalism—a different environ- ment—a different background. It is taking place at a time when it becomes a stage in development of the general crisis of the whole capitalist system—the post war crisis of capi- talism. It is a cyclical crisis taking place in a period of the decline of capitalism—the de- cay of capitalism—the dying of the capitalist system. This general crisis of the period of capitalist decay includes within itself the eco- nomic crisis; the economic crisis becomes a part of it, and the general period determines the character and depth of the economic crisis. This we have tried to make clear—this inter- weaving of all elements of crisis into one crisis of capitalism. We tried to make this clear in the first draft of the thesis and in the final draft reduced it very much for the pur- pose of simplification, and not of reducing emphasis upon the importance of this point. Ill. UNEMPLOYMENT AND THE CRISIS. The factor of unemployment in the crisis is one that we must also analyze a little fur- ther. We must emphasize two aspects of un- employment in our analysis of the economic situation. (1) The aspect of unemployment as a factor in the radicalization of the workers. In this respect, it is hard to over-emphasize the importance of the factor of unemploy- ment. ‘The issue of unemployment becomes a sort of lever whereby we can set into motion the entire working class, not only unemployel but employed as well, Unemployment becomes the starting point of the development of this present period, not only of the movement of the unemployed workers but also of the radi- calization of those remaining in the shops who are working under pressure of tremendous un- employment outside of the shops. (2) Second, unemployment as a factor which itself is deepening the economic crisis—a factor for } | | | the further narrowing of the inner market of capitalism, foreing the further regression of production, etc. The unemployment, result- ing from the economic crisis, at the same time intensifies the inner processes going on within capitalism which prepared the crisis in the first place; one of the outstanding fea- tures demonstrating the inevitable develop- ment of deep crisis in the U. S. even before it showed itself in any downward movement of production—development on mass scale of permanent employment as a result of ration- alization, speed-up. To this permanent unem- ployment has been added the unemployment resulting from the cyclical crisis as a factor which intensifies and hastens rationalization and speed-up and thus further increases struc- tural, permanent unemployment. The so-called temporary unemployment re- .sulting from the economic crisis becomes an intensifying factor in the permanent crisis. Many of the comrades from the districts will be able to give very interesting figures to cencretize this fact. Comrade Stachel told us how in some towns in Michigan although pro- duction increased to 90 per cent of what it was last year. the increase in working forces has been less than half as much. While in most industries this will not be so extreme, yet the phenomena is general. Increase in production in this period does not result in equivalent increase in employment. IV. SOCIALISM VS. CAPITALISM. The development of the general crisis has been very deeply and profoundly effected by the construction of socialism in the Soviet Union, We have given a great deal of atten- tion to this in the thesis, Now, I only want in one word to emphasize this point. It is necessary to point out that something new in principle has been introduced in the past year in the Soviet Union, in the large scale de- velopments in collectivization of agriculture, and the turn in policy of CP of SU, the change from the policy of limitation of kulaks, to the policy of liquidation of kulaks as a class, This is necessary to emphasize because of the fact that there has been some confusion on this point, and that there have been deliberate and studied attempts of ‘our enemies to in- tensify this confusion. An attempt has been made to create the impression that after this turn in policy there is now a “new-turn” back to the old policy. This is of course not true. There has been no “new turn” away from the policy of liquidation of kulaks, consolidation of agriculture on a collective basis, extension of socialism into agriculture. There has been in the carrying thru of this policy a development of certain distortion of policy, opportunist and leftist. The correction of these errors, these distortions, that has been featured in the news of the past few weeks is by no means a change in the line, by no means a retreat in the development of the line. It is rather elim- ination of one of the dangers to the carrying through of the line. This correction of er- rors has already been made successfully. We can alrea'ly see that the CPSU has dealt with the problem effectively. We must very care- fully eliminate any tendency in our ranks to reflect this capitalist propaganda, the propa- ganda of the renegades that this correction of errors has been a new turn, or, as the Trot- skyites put it, a zigzag in the policy of the CPSU. (To Be Continued.) Strategic Railways in Serbia The Yugoslavian military dictatorship is Ry mail everywher Maahiitan and Bro: working feverishly to complete a number of ! strategic railway lines: the Adria line, Bel- grade-Bosnia-Montenegro. and the Old-Serbia Macedonia Bitolj line. The first line has heen rapidly extended to the Bosnian frontier. The “Yugoslavian Lloyd” (governmental organ) stresses the economic and “national” impor- tance of these lines. These lines are of great political importance not only with regard to outside danger. but in order better to hold the non-Serbian districts in check. j workers in the shops, organized through shop | stwscrrnrrow One year $ WHAT By I. AMTER. © ROM capitalist reports in the newspapers, it is clear that, with slight fluctuations up- ward and downward, there is no basic improve- ment in the economic crisis. On the contrary, the new crash in Japan brings another im- perialist country into the orbit of the sharp cr This will intensify and deepen the crisis internationally. Unable to export to the United States the large quantities of silk which were used on the American market—as a result of the Amer- ican erisis—Japan cannot buy in the United States. On the other hand, the shutting down of Japanese industry precipitates a situation for the workers of Japan which spells more intense struggle. Already a big strike has broken out in Tokio which will be the beginning of a bitter period of fight. Deeper Effects of World Crisis. Let American bankers and exchange brokers say that this means nothing to America. This is nonsense—it shows a deeper effect of the world crisis emanating from the United States. The railroad companies do not speak any long- er of the billions to be spent in improvements. The steel industry has suffered a new decline. Automobiles have not picked up; the bgilding industry shows a further reduction. The | “sixty days” of Hoover continue to be days in the future. No improvement can be ex- pected. Should, however, with the stock exchange as | a barometer, industry expand somewhat, the subsequent crash will be so much sharper. “Cheap money,“ cheap credit” is the slogan for promoting industry and commerce: But bankers and economists admit that not cheap- | ness of money or credit will help, but the | probability of return on investments—profits— determines. And for this there is no outlook— for there is no market for the overproducing industries. The ending of the “disarmament” conference in the failure that the Communists predicted, the hasty “agreement” by the three powe the United States, Great Britain and Japan contingent upon an arrangement between | France and Italy and upon the further con- tingency of England having a navy equal to | both of them—means that “preparedness” will cost not “only” $1, 000,000 or $2,500,000,000 as originally faced by the three powers that have “agreed,” but far more It means that he armament race has intensified with all energy which soon will provoke another im- perialist w@r. | { | | Struggle For Markets. Markets for industry—markets to “restore” international imperialist industry—that is the immediate struggle! This cafnot be staved off—on the contrary, the struggle will grow sharper every day. The only way out of this conflict—overpro- duction with no marketsg—international strug- gle for markets and protection by the United States in particular of its tremendous invest- ments abroad and finally procurement of raw materials for industry and especially for war —oil, copper, rubber, etc?—the only way out is imperialist war. Can it be avoided? The only alternative is a war of the imperialist powers against the Soviet Union. This is being organized with all energy and speed. It is not an accident that mobilization against the Soviet Union took place during the “disarmament” conference. The attacks by the Pope, the Archbisaop of Canterbury, the priests, rabbis and bishops in the United States, the “day of prayer,” the open attacks on the ena of the Soviet Union in Paris, attacks in the U. S. Congress and by bankers, are all part of the prepara- tions for war on the Soviet Union. The won- | derful success of the Five Year Plan with the “knocking at the door of the United States by Soviet industry” as Congressman Sirovich said a few days ago, has aroused American manu- facturers and bankers, who know that the day of reckoning is nearing—the supremacy of im- perialism with its anarchy of production and distribution is being challenged by Sovieti Unemployment—vicious attacks on the wi ers—imperialist war—armed attack on the So- | viet Union—these things face the workers immediate problems, What Must Be Done? Organization—mobilization for struggle— that is our task. The slashing of the condi- tions of the workers in the shops as a result of the fearful permanent unemployment, the speed-up, the driving mechanization of indus- try, demand immediate action. “The cooperation of the socialists with the police” at the funeral of Mazzola, the workers shot by the police in New York, shows the role of the socialist party. Cooperation with the police, whose task, as tools of the capi- talist government, is to crush the rising tide of the workers, is the historical role of the socialist party the world over, until, as in Germany and England, they are the police commanders themselves. This shows clearly the social-fascist character of the socialist party that they cannot explain away—a role they willingly assume. ‘Yascists using some- what of a labor language, with actions that are those of tre capitalist police! The conviction of the Unemployed Delega- tion—-“the greatest victory of the year,” as Dis- trict Attorney Crain said—which the Com- munists foresaw—indicates what the workers | may and must expect. Treachery of the fas- | cist leadership of the A. F. of L., treachery of the socialist party—no, their open working as agents of the bosses—leave the path open for militant action to be organized by the Commu- nist Party. May First will be another test of what the Communist Party and the Trade Union Unity League can do.’ The mass political strike of | Unity League, through the shop locals of the unions affiliated with the T.U.U.L., A.F.L. or unorganized workers—men, women and young | workers, Negro and white workers—this strike for May Day. ious attacks on the work- ers—imperialist war preparations—armed at- taéks on the Soviet Union—the struggle against these, which are one problem, must be organ- ized. May Day must be our answer. The con- ference to organize May Day—in New York on | committees linking up with the Trade Union | i ' | ree 3; two months n, Which are: Ones MUST BE DONE? Written in Tombs Prison | portunism in theory and practice. ; excepting Boroughs of ear $8; six months $4.50 ——o— April 24 at Manhattan Lyceum—must pre- | sent mass legislation from the shops—from every shop committee, every shop local of the Trade Union Unity League—every militant local of the A. F. of L., from the militant min- ority groups of locals of the A. F. of L., from y working class organization, from the un+ employed councils. A mass answer to the attacks of the bosses and their government against the working class as a whole! A mass answer to the fas- cist A. F. of L, leadership, to the social-fascist socialist party, to the open fascist American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars who are the smokescreen of the police! This must be done! This can be done! The, Communist Party and Trade Union Unity League nave a mighty task—not merely for May Day, bui for the organization and mob- ilization of the workers for continued struggle. Every auxiliary must be utilized for the struggle. The Daily Worker must become the mass paper of the workers; the workers must be made familiar with the literature of the Communist Party and Trade Union Unity League. They must be enrolled in the fighting indu 1 unions and industrial leagues of the T.U.U.L. The best fighters—especially young workers, Negro and women workers—must be brought into the Communist Party. Struggle Against Right Wing. The Party and T.U.U.L. must continue its fight—an open merciless struggle against op- No con? cealment of errors and of persistent right devi- ations. Removals of chronic right wingers from position, especially those who cannot and will not accept and carry out the line! This is imperative. Can this task be fulfilled? It can and will be done, if the Party fearlessly goes forward, Urawing fresh new proletarians into leadership in the units, sections and dis- tricts of the Party, in the industrial unions and leagues in the bridge organizations! It can and will be done, if every member throws his energy into the work—for May the continued struggle after May r the struggle of the working class all its class enemies! agains’ International Issue — New Lenin Way Volume NTERNATIONAL PUBLISHERS have just issued, as their fourth title of the series, volume XVIII of The Collected Works of ie Lenin, “the Imperialist War.” In this book are contained all of Lenin’s writings from the beginning of the World War to the end of 1915. The war danger makes Lenin’s writings on tfe war most opportune at this time. Just prior to the outbreak of the war, Lenin, who had been for many years an exile in Switzerland, moved to Galicia in order to be nearer*Russia and in closar contact with the Russian Revolutionary movement. The outbreak of the war found Lenin in the little Galician village of Peronino, nearby the Russian border. Immediately upon the declara- tion of hostilities between Austria and the Czar’s government, Lenin,eas a Russian sub- ject, was suspected of espionage. His house was searched and his manuscript on the ag- rarian question taken away from him when the gendarmes who conducted the search mis- took statistical tables for a secret code. A few days later, he was summoned to the dis- trict seat, arrested and interned. In the next two weeks his comrades toiled to effect his release. He was finally given permission ‘to proceed to neutral territory from which he could keep in touch with the International So- cialist movement. _He immediately prepared for return to Switzerland, the country cf his long exile. Thesis on War. In the time since his confinement his extra- ordinarily active mind had not rested. He ar- rive] in Berne with the outline of his thesis on the causes of the war already prepared, He came from prison in Galicia on September 5, 1914, On the sixth and seventh he presented the thesis to a group of Bolsheviks living in Berne. It was adopted in full and carried to Russia by F. Somoilov, one of the five Bolshe- vik deputies to the Duma. There, but with some modifications, it was adopted. In this book Lenin not only analyses the causes of the war, but also discusses at length its historic place. “The bourgeois . . .,” he said, “try to assure us that this is the same old time honored national war. But this is not true . . . We are now confronted with an im- peria! war, and it is the task of the socialists to turn the ‘national’ war into a civil war.” This, Lenin deemed the greatest necessity. He flayed the socialists who had deserted revolu- tionary internationalism for a nationalistic position. “The present war,” he said, “shows what a tremendous opportunist wave has risen fromthe botton of European socialism.” Fight Against Social-Chauvinism. In Germany there had been from the first a good deal of internal opposition to the so- cialist vote to support the war. But, to preserve the party unity, this had not been allowed for a long time to come out. While Lenin praised those socialists who opposed war appropria- tions, he bitterly flayed the party policies. “To rehabilitate themselves,” he said, “the Euro- pean opportunists have resorted to the old threadbare argument about maintaining the organization ‘intact.’ The German socialists have abandoned their position in order to main- tain the formal unity of the Party,” Beside Lenin’s writings on the causes of the last war “The Imperialist War” contains num- erous articles dealing with attempts to organ- ize the international revolutionary “forces of which Lenin had assumed leadershin: and which resulted in the formation of the “Zimmerwald Left.” There is also the complete text of the brochure “Socialism and War” by Lenin and Zinoviev, stating in a systematized form the Bolshevik position on imperialist war and a program for action by revolutionary minori! ; and Lenin’s own article “Karl Marx,” originally written in 1914 for inclusion in the Russian Eneyelopedia, but there mutilated by reason of the censorship, The entire essay, in which Lenin presented in ‘n clear and forceful style the essence of Marxism, is in this book made available for the first time to English readers. Like the rest of the International series of Lenin’s Collected Works, “The Imperialist War” is enriched by numerous biographical and explanatory notes, a chronology of events and other reader aid.