The Daily Worker Newspaper, May 23, 1930, Page 4

By M. H. POWERS. (Written in Jail.) HE attempt of the Southern st to send two organizerse of Party to the electric chair ! of bosses’ t ism in the paign has been in pr tonia strike but i the last few monti The increase result of ihe prese h are t ies in the ec bacco, dustry number ¢ it did other which the peewee fa mer (who is dc pe’ crisis April m ran in part time, and tobacco plants itiated and are stil! being continued. Make Workers Shoulder acts of Crisis. The capitalist class utili duce the already w living of the Southern workers. First, of thousands were thrown out into the street It is estimated that in North Carolina tw hundred thousand workers are unemployed. The same is true of every other state in the South. A new campaign of wage-cuts began, in some mills reaching as high as 40 per cent. Speed-up and stretch-out is being introduced much more than before, the result being that production is increased with less men employ- ed. In other words permanent unemployment for new tens of thousands of workers. In many cases (Gastonia, etc.) the entire population of a mill town would be idle—starving, the “lucky” ones workifg two or three days a week for as low as four or six dollars a week Bosses Fear Workers’ Resistance. These conditions have developed a spirit of mass resistance among Southern workers both Negro and white, and the only force in the field willing and copable of organizing and leading this mass resistance is the Communist Party and the Trade Union Unity League. The month of February found not only the National Textile Workers Union in the fiel but also a new squad of energetic organizers of the revolutionary unions covering almost the entire South. The building of the Communist Party was undertaken not in words but in deed The work proceeded rapidly and the response of the workers to our program and slogans was great. It was no accident that our first cam- paign lynching. For the first time in the South our Party as a Party has carried through a real campaign against the lynching of Jimmy Levine, a Negro tenant farmer of Virginia Hundreds of workers, Negro and white attend- ed our meetings. Banners and leaflets at these demonstrations carried slogans “Down with lynch law,” “Organize Committees of Negro and White Workers to Fight Lynchin| These demonstrations were the first of its kind carried on directly under the leadership of our Party. Then came the March 6 demonstration which were of a real mass character. In Char lotte, N. C., more than 3,000 workers took part. Hundreds of police and the Loray com mittee of 100 came to break up the demonstra- tion but did not dare to interfere. Six hun dred to a thousan¢ workers came armed, ready to defend the demonstration. From the city hall several hundred workers, Negro and white marched down to the N.T.W.U. Hall where 150 joined the T.U.U.L. On March 7 the capitalist government open- ed its present attack. First the city council in Winston-Salem, N. C. passed a new city ordinance prohibiting street meetings between | in February was a campaign against” 5 to 7 p. t time when the i Tobacco slaves leave wo: workers work for five to eight ¢ rs a week n opwed more than 25 arrests with 44 months sentences on the chain sur organ id the union in Geo 1 in North and nia, the m ningha am, Ala., and the incidents. To all this must be added the numerous ynehi of Negro worker ich is now tak- ¢ pl over the as a part of the ampaign to divide the workers so they can be ed easily and their government h ize any group of work- In all cases es of boss men and hired professional th It proves that the Southern working class will not fight on the side of the mill owners. The Southern workers are following the lead of the revolu- en able to s for mob act hey had to re tionary Party of the work , the Com- munist Party and the revo! ry trade inions. Role of the A. F. of L. and Musteites. loyal ally that the capitalist class The or gle against the workers are the of L. and the Musteites. While id the revolutionary Trade Unions facing vicious’ terrorism, the leaders of the Ame deration. of Labor and the Musteites are being welcomed by the mill own- chambers of commerce and the capitalist They are given free use of Chamber of Commerce buildings, City Halls, ete. The are fully convinced of the val s in the struggle against the workers. where in Georgia, North and South Care- ee, Alabama and Virginia the A. been the initiator and leader of of terror. In Charlotte, S. C. of the A. F. of L. has claimed the raid on the Marine Workers .D, headquarters. These fas- d and fought before the press. the credit for League and I. cists must be ex entire working class. Taking the Offensive. s our immediate task in the South? ake the offensive. The present con- ms of the workers, the attempt to drive Party underground, and the attempt to send two Communist organizers to the electric chair brings the struggle of the Southern work- ers to a head. Not only ers but a the workers of the North must be mobilized to answer the challenge of boss terrorism and list class justice. This re- quires a 100 per cent mobilization of our P; first. In the South aside from the increased ac- tivity to organize the workers into the rev tionary unions and actually prepare them for mass struggles in the near future. Our Party must take advantage of the com ing National and State Election campaigns which will take place in every state in the South. Negro and white workers will be nom- ted for State and National offices. Tens of thousands of workers will be mobilized around the slogans of our Party to fight for l\insurance, relief for the unemployed, for the 7-hour day, for the right to organize and the right of workers to defend themselves against lynch law and all other forms of capi- talist class terrorism. For the unity of the gro and white workers in a common struggle nst boss rule, on the basis of full social, political and economic equalit: If-determination for the Negro masses, for he abolition of taxes on the tenant farmers, against the poll tax which disfranchises the working population, n of the chain gang and the un- conditional freedom for all class war prisoners. These demands linked up with the bigger political demands of our Party will prepare the Southern workers for greater class strug- gles and for the final strugglé for the over- throw of the bloody rule of capitalism and the establishment of a revolutionary Workers and Poor Farmers Government. What We mu dit [mperial Valley--Another Gastonia By EVA SHAFRAN, STRIKE of nation-wide significance is now in preparation in Imperial Valley, Cal. The workers of the United States will get acqainted with still more blazing facts of slavery and exploitation in our land of “prosperity,” and another red page in the history of the class struggle in this country will be written. Imperial Valley is an agricultural center. More than 13,000 workers live and work unde: the st conditions imaginable. Twelve and fourteen hours a day work under 100 to 105, and even as high as 112 degrees of heat, get- ting from $3 to $4 per day. Living in company and private shacks, in rooms that are hardly large enough for person, are families of seven and eight, drinking water from the ditch. In 1926 they struck for better living and working conditions. In 1929 another strike took pl: In 1930, January and February, they carried on two strike stitzgles against the Fruit and Vegetable Growers, All these strikes were lost; they were mislead and be- trayed by the reformist ieaders of the Mexican Mutuai Aid Association and the treacherous A. F. of L. Strikebreaking. The Mexican Mutual Aid Association raised the slogan “Back to Mexico!” in order to divert the minds of the masses of workers from the struggle against capitalist exploitation in the place where they live and slave; in order to weaken this struggle. The A.F.L. came out openly and “bawled out” the “foreigners” for their “unpatriotic” attitude, and spread the general scare of deportations on account of activity. The workers lost their strikes, but not som- pletely. Right after the strikes of January and Feb- ruary the Agricultural Workers Industrial League, a section of the Trade Union Unity League, came out to the workers with the slogan: “Organize! Prepare for a strike in the coming cantaloupe season!” And since that time the workers have been organizing themselves into the A.W.I.L. under the leadership of the T.U.U.L. Sengitons in the sheds and fieldp: grew \ ! worse from day to day. The dissatisfaction and their readiness to fight grew. The A,W.LL. grew daily. And when the growers realized the danger facingathem, they made the now nown attack on the workers and their tant leaders, on April 14, a week prior to the conference that was to declare the strike in May, in the cantaloupe season, Fifteen of the 104 arrested on April 14, and placed under $40,000 each, are now held in jail under a “reduced” bail of $15,000 each. These fifteen workers and leaders of the A.W.LL, and T.U.U.L. are charged with erimin- syndicalism, providing the possibility of ending them to the penitentiary from one to nurteen years. Latin Workers. Aside from the issue of er’ there is still a greater issue involved in the case of Imperial Valley. There is the problem of the first serious attempt to organize the agricultural workers and the Latin American workers, Imperial Valley is so far the first place where organization of the agricultural workers, that slave under the worst sort of exploitation, and are totally unorganized, in the form of militant fights take place. We can say that the success or failure in the Imperial Valley situation the key-note to the problem of organization of the agricultural workers, and Latin American workers (for most of the work- ers in Imperial Valley are Mexican, Filipino, ete.) in America, ninal syndicalism Bosses Worried. The growers though backed by the largest financial interests in the country realize this. They are afraid of the possibility of the or- ganization of the agricultural slaves which would reduce their fat profits, and they are therefore determined not to allow the workers to organize. This is the reason for the attack of April 14, this is the reason for the white terrorism prevailing now in Imperial Valley. The workers of the whole country must mobilize and support this struggle. The work- ers of Imperial Valley must get full support, hoth financially and morally from the entire working class of this country. ARAM AA AO DMMMARAM ODT DO eee rs. Several raids | ue of these } the Southern work- | | culture.* and the right of | Baily 2 Cou Inc, Gal, excent Sunday, at 2628 On phone Btryvesant 1 Cable: “DALWOTEE he Daily Worker 26-28 jiete Nee. Neri Sa Central Organ ot the ¢ ommuiust Party of the U. A. FORWARD TO THE CHINESE SOVIET CONGRESS! % By BURCK Ry ma Mach everywhere: One year an and Bronx, New months: and fore! which “two enghiba $1; are: One year $8; six months $4.50 even satis: | tactic from above was 2 eee On the Agricultural Dratt Program By ERIK BERT. rialization of Capitalist Agriculture, jie is not in the Draft Program an in tegrated statement concerning the in- creased use of machinery in American agri- This results from the fact that em- phasis has been placed almost exclusively on the “disintegration and worsening of ihe con- ditions of small farming,’& On page 109 of the February Communist we can see from the data given that, whereas the area of improved land increased from 503,073 acres in 1920 to 505,027 in 1925 the value of farm machinery in use dropped from $3,594,772,000 in 1920 to $2,691,703,000 in 1925, The conclusion drawn is as follows: “While we see here the growth of capitalism in agriculture, we see also in the drop of machinery and implement va tion from 1920 to 1925 an indication of wh Lenin meant by a “stagnation in technics” a part of the whole process of “the crowé out of small by large production.” This dic took place at the same time that the cap talized value of land itself dropped from billion dollars in 1920 to 37 billion dollars i 1925.” (p. 110.) *The Draft Program for Negro Farmer. hewever, notes the following: “In the pas few years American agriculture is to an eve: larger extent being brought under the sway of finance capital and experiences in conne tion with that of a technical revolution. Tra tors and combines have taken the upper hand in American large-scale-gagriculture. It be- comes for the small, and even the middle farm’ er, even more difficult to compete with me- chanized modern large-scale farming, The price of production in small and even middle farming is incomparably higher than the price of production on big farms. As a result of this, the technical revolution tends to drive the small farmers off their land, to concen- trate the soil in big farms, to create agricul- tural stock companies, etc.” The data submitted points out the fact that following the severe slump in agriculiure in 1921 there was a retrogression in technique from the point of view of the amount of ma- chinery used (the inability of the farmers to make replacements for worn-out implements). The index of Domestic Sales Billed of agri- cultural machinery compiled by the Federal I. The In Reserve Bank of Chicago shows the following trend since 1923. 1928 — 92.5 1926, — 182.1 1924 — 90.5 1927 — 1368 1925 — 117.1 1928 — 160.7 1929 — 184.8 (Relatives 1923-1925 —100. Compiled from reports on dollar amounts by 83 manufacturers in the U. S. for 1923 to 1928 and 73 manufacturers for 1929.) The same facts are indicated in amother series which differentiates the classes of ma- chinery. t Total Sales Billed by Groups (83 Firms). Barn Equip- Heavy Group * Light Group ** ment Group*** 1926 125.5 140.6 137.0 1927 156.4 128.8 141.3 1928 212.0 144.3 150.9 1929 256.2 166.7 173.9 (1929 73 Firms) This latter series, it should be noted, indi- cates total sales billed, that is, it includes ex- port sales. Two qualifications must be made regarding both series, There is not to the knowledge of the author any means available by which we could tell (1) what percentage of domestic sales are for replacement, (2) what part of the increase in sales by these 83 manufacturers signifies increased concen- tration of production within the agricultural machinery industry, Despite the noted qualifications we believe the data indicates an upward trend in the use of agricultural machine; This increase in the use of agricultural?machinery not only | occurred during a period df general agricul- — tural crisis but is an expression of that crisis and gne of the means by which that crisis had been extended and deepened. The use of agricultural machinery means the ability to produce more cheaply. In consequence those i farmers without such machinery must lower yet further their dard of living in order to compete. The fact that the vast majority | of farmers have no other alternative as capi- talist producers, because of their inability to the investment necessary to acquire such —that is the ‘stagnation in tech- The Draft Program (p. 106) implies “Further mechanization, then, while maintaining the c alist system of property relations in which the benefits of increased mechanization goes to an exf@oiting class, would (our emphasis—E.B.) merely worsen conditions of the majority of the farm popu- lation, of farm wage labor and the poor and middle farmer, tending to reduce their stand- ards to the starvation level of the pauperized y of China and India, since a major- could not share in better mechanization or uld be affected adversely by it.” It is our pinion that in view of the increase in the se of agricultural machinery the verb used hould be “will” and not “would.” The foregoing excerpt is 1 the Draft Pr pea: ‘am on the bourgeois ‘“solu- on” of the agricultural crisis—‘more me- hanization.” The Draft Program_ states, ‘lore mechanization, if it could be realized, ur emphasi .) would solve nothing for he United States fa ” (p. 106.) More mechanization” is being realized we be- and is not only solving nothing for the farm masses but is degrading their condition still further, What is the special significance of increased investment in agricultural machinery for the middle farmers, “It a pleasant bourgeois fiction that mortgages are obtained by farm- otter their conditions by thus securing They: doubtless have this intention, mas: but the above figures show that, with the ex- ception of a minori of well-to-do, the ma- jority fall still more into the hands of finance capital; e, by “securing” capital, capital “secures” them as its bond slaves.” (The Communist, February, p. 114.) These farmers either increase their mort- gage debt if they can to buy the agricultural implements, the use of which they hope will better their conditions, or they buy them on j the installment plan. In either case they fall to an increased degree under the domination of finance capital. A small minority may by the use of such machinery rise into the class of rich farmers, farmers, however, will find that they have added one more burden to that which they al- ready bear, one further means by which fi- nance capital exploits them. The Draft Program quotes Comrade Rich- man to the effect that “in fifteen mid-western states, from January, 1920, to March, 1923, 22.51 per cent of owners and : tenants became bankrupt. it is noted, that 14.40 per cent of owners and 20.54 per cent of tenants retained their property (the tenants obviously only the use of their expropriated equipment, machines, animals, ete.)” The Draft Program points out that this leniency makes a peon of the bankrupt debtor —who “must raise the crop he is told to raise; he cannot, if a tenant, take his equipment he must accept without argument prices offered by crop buyers, who often are the same as or in league with the creditor.” Comrade O. Preedin (cited by Com- rade Richman, The Communist, Jan.-Feb., 1929, p. 89) has suggested as the cause of this “leniency” the inability of bankers to sell the farms they might acquire through foreclosure. “Permanent leniency is a common phenomenon But this leniency suddenly comes to an end as soon as a good There seems to be one other circumstance rising which would make an abrupt end to even this “len- Good buyers have not ap- peared to take the lands off of the hands of In conse- quence, “Mortgage companies, banks, and in- dividual investors possessing lands taken un- der foreclosure are exchanging the realty for the company’s (farm corporation's) stock, pre- ferring to take a chance at profit to waiting | for a real estate price revival.” elsewher (p. 114.) under present conditions. buyer appears for the farm.” iency” of peonage. those who have acquired them. ger, Annalist, Feb. 14, 1930, p. 404.) PRE-CONVENTION DISCUSSION How Shall We Organize the Unorganized? By EARL BROWDER. (Continued from Wednesday Issue) N overcoming the weaknesses of our trade union work, and winning the mas to our leadership in the economic struggles, a central tactic is that of the united front. But the main thesis and the trade union resolution pre- pared for the Party Convention give special attention to this question, and lay down the application to be followed in some detail. The forms outlined are those of the united front from below, based mainly upon activities in the shops. Comrade Stahl, who can sce nothing in trade unionism but the A. F. of L., thinks this is all a sham. He says that by organizing revolu- tionary unions, “the Party broke the slogan of the united front from below.” He is not ied with this formulation, but pro- ceeds to charge that “the wrong united front also made worse.” Then ion, to that “the united front in the A. F. of L. yen up without ggle.” What do th s mean, re made after reading the t of the ma ematic united Reliance on the sponsaneity must be replaced by most 83 front organization from below.” . . . “De- tailed plans must be worked out by all dis- triets for an organized mass mobilization of the workers primarily on the basis of shops. The committee thus established im the shops must be made to report their activities to the workers in the shops and to central lead- ing bodies . .. must gradually broaden out and take permanent form; the basis for a trade union organization in the shops.” ete., ete, What does Comrade Stahl find wrong with this? He thinks this means “to leave the fight- ing front in the reactionary trade unions by leaving them or founding new ones.” By mak- ing work in the shops and building new unions our primary tasks, says Stahl, we “abandon the united front! What shall we say to this comrade? we must tell him that he is dangerously close to the line of the opportunists, who can see the “united front” only as a coalition with the “left” veformists, the “progre ” and Muste group. That is the line of Lovestone and also of Cannon—both Right and “Left” opportunists. But it has very little in common, to speak mildly, wtih the line of our Party or of the Communist International. The real united front from below cannot find its main base in revolutionary fractions in the A. F. of L., because that organization contains only a small part of the working class, Tt must. and com- and that not the most important par be based upon revolutionary groups mittees in the shops, and upon the new unions whit h begin the organization of the unorgan- i. That is the oly road by which we can reach the main masses of the workers. Only in connection with this main road, and sub- ordinated to this main road, can we really carry out properly that additional task laid down in our thes’ “To increase manifold | the ies of the Communist fractions in the rea ni trade unior 8.” When Comrade Stahl raises the cry against | this united front from below, and places against it the “united front in the A, F. of’ L.,” he is, whether consciously or not joining hands ith the enemies of the Party. What remains of the arguments of Comrade Stahl? The kernel of truth that was hidden beneath his absolutely wrong and opportunist opposition to the Central Committee thesis, is this, that the economic base for the rule of the bur cy in the A. F. of L. has been rar- rowe at the possibil: for effective work of our fractions in the reactionary unions are greater, be of the unemployment and econ- omic ¢ That our fraction work in the re- actionary uni is poorly organized and un- isfi ready established in the thes: its proper order as a sub- terin: these weakn upon a remedy. The basie error of Comrade Stahl lies in the fact that he wishes to abandon the main line of march entirely, in favor of concentrating all attention upon remedying our weaknesses upon a less important line. This must be di vely rejected. Our Party will go forward along the path which it has laid down; the winning of the majority of the working class, the organization of the unorganized, the independent leadership of the struggles of the workers, by means of the united front from below and the building of the revolutionary unions. We will clarify all those comrades who are still confused about the meaning of this main line of struggle, we will carefully work out the details of its appli- cation; and will ruthlessly fight against all opportunist tendencies to deviate from the line | or to hinder its application. es and insisting Demand the release of Fos- ter, Minor, Amter and Ray- mond, in prison for fighting for unemployment insurance. part of a comment | ca’ the majority of these middle | started stock selling campaigns in the West using as sales argument the fact that they ean produce at prices far below those of the individual farmer—prices at which he goes bankrupt. The basis for such low t pro- duction is the widespread use of agricultural machinery on big acreage farms. The increased use of machinery, the possibilities of lowering the costs of production by its use makes it advantageous to the bankers and others who have been “lenient” toward bi upt farmers to group farms into large units with fewer farmers necessary to run the farm. Similarly ihe success of corporations farming on a large scale with machinery (which cannot be pected over night) will be an added incent to the capitalist class to expell more farmer: from the land through increased oppression. The essential features of our approach to the subject of agricultural machinery (and other technological improvements) is con- tained in the following quotation of Lenin. “In essence, the fundamental tendency of capitalism is the crowding out of small by arge production, both in industry and in agri- culture, But this sense of immediate exprop- riation, this crowding out, takes also the form of disintegration and worsening of the condi- tions of small:farming which sometimes lasts years and tens of years. The worsened con- ditions take the form of excessive labor, of under-nourishment, of indebtedness, of poor forage and cattle raising in general, of poorer care, improvement and fertilization of the soil, of stagnation in technics, etc.” (The Commu- nist, February, p. 109.) The development of the agricultural crisis ies with it “a stagnation in tecHnics” for proba9!y the majority of farmers (and all the weompanying misery) but it has as its other | aspect an increase in the amount of machinery used by a minority of the farmers. The Draft Program has emphasized the first of these two features, The second has been noted in pass- ing, under, the section on Class Categories on the Farms’ (The Communist, February, p. 119), while the first was included under Capitalist Development in Agriculture. The second, be- cause of its importance within the entire agri- cultural question deserves more than passing notice. It becomes a cause for continued stag- nation in technies at the other pole. Some fur- ther consequences we have noted above. Finally, it is of the utmost importance be- cause its development means the growth of the agricultural proletariat in relation to the entire farming population. Technical improvement at one pole of agri- culture should, however, not be interpreted to mean complete industrialization of agriculture in short order. Capitalism cannot accomplish that. The Draft Program correctly points out the abject technical condition prevalent in American agriculture. This should hinder any lectical conceptions regarding the indus- ion of American agriculture, (To be Continued) This group is comprised of threshers, tractors and combines, and for the 3-year per- iod, July, 1925, to June, 1928, inclusive, was 45.1 per cent of total sales billed to domestic and foreign customers. ** This group consists of all classes of agri- cultural machinery and equipment not included in the barn equipment and heavy machinery groups and was 52.7 per cent of total sales in the 3-year period given above. ** This group was 2.2 per cent of total | sales for the 3 years, { The following and preceding series are from Standard Trade and Securities Service, Standard Statistical Bulletin, 1930-1931 Base } Book Issue, p. 177. (C, M. Har- Harger points out that these farm corporations have Btn UIE ore, seine ee ienaa EY PARTICIPATE IN OUR DISCUSSION. The Central Committee calls upon all members of our Party and invites all revolutionary workers to participate in our pre- convention discussions. The ccl- umns of the Communist press are open for discussion of the prob- lems of the American workers and the tactics and policies of our Party. We especially call upon our comrades working in factories and those active in the trade union moyement and in the everyday work of our Party to participate in the pre-convention discussion. The comrades are asked to write short and to the /| point (articles must not exceed 700 words), because of limitation of space. Write simply and use only one side of each sheet of paper. Correspondence in tor- eign languages should he sent directly to the paper of the given foreign Janguage; only corre- spondence for publication in the Daily Worker should be sent to the Agitprop Department, Cen- tral Committee, Communist Party of the United States of America, 43 EB. 125th St. | COMMUNIST PARTY U.S. A. —————__—__———_. Helping Start the “Southern Worker” HE campaign for funds to start publication of the Southern Worker, being carried on in the language press, shows very uneven re- sults Two Finnish papers, Eteenpain and Tyomies, have already exceeded their quotas. Uus Ilm, Esthonian, stands exactly at 100 per cent. A few others have raised about half of their part. But as a whole the results are only about 40 per cent, after many weeks. This must be remedied, and the full amount needed must be raised within a few weeks, in order that the new Southern paper may issue. its first number before the Party convention on June 20th. The following shows the quotes assigned to each language paper, and the amount which has been raised: Name of Paper Quotas Assigned Result Per Cent Liberator, Negro .. ‘Vyouties, Finnish) Pantkki, Finnish) Finnish Finnish. Flonish Amerikan Uus 1h Totals vathontan