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

>ublishing Co. Telephone Cab! PRE-CONVENTION. DISCUSSION Our Agrarian Tasks: Against Oppor- | tunism in Theory and Practice By HARRISON GEORGE. (Continued) he p con- c this form of aid to and kes, mass refusal st upon them, tax- ical struggle agair good for workers’ aid t, concretely, are the workers? Comrade Bert we can get fre lowing generaliza- on the advance But if he of both are of finance with the loitation er agreed Negro Farmers” in its nity of interests,” will and definitely, position to- iat for high- er wages? that struggles, of re the interests of the poor s he hold that they injure the y insofar as the pro- 1 in gaining higher wages ? If he does either, he t ig capitalists. We give hi so absurd as to contend es for the proletariat “don’t mak to poor farmers and that therefore they may well remain “neutral.” | Hence, if he cannot show that higher wages the pr hurts the poor farmers, he le that it helps them (the degree it helps them is not here the point ion). But if it helps them, then why he become so alarmed at the “Draft sis for an alliance? If the help the proletariat in would first of all suppose it to f the ba farmers are to poor be to win |} n a degree however great ps to absorb the surplus.” Un- | Comrade Be mped at the con- means “helping solve the within the capitalist s: inated at length at t man of his own making, leaning dan- ly toward a “left” sectarian standpoint i ake,” said | uld be committing a mis in Lenin “Iskri in 1901, “if we advocated measures w h might retard social develop- ment, or artificially isolate the small peas- antry from the growth of capitalism, from the development of large scale production.” But the winning by the proletariat, the his- mentioning it as a part (and only | torically rising class, of higher wages, even if this means a “help to bsorb the surplus,” does not run counter to this criterion of Com- rade Lenin, and cannot be a re’ tion socially considered. The ¢ tinue, the fight ~il go on, with the prole- tariat and poor farmers mutually aiding the struggles of each other, but always, as Com- rade Bert correctly says, with the proletariat offering “unfaltering leadership” to the poor } farmers. The big effort of the finance capitalists, as shown by Comrade Varga (Communist Inter- national Vol. VII, No. 5), is to get farmers to diminish production. “Millions are hungry are dying of hunger, but capitalist economic policy is directed not towards increasing the production of food, but towards its ‘regulated’ diminution.” Certainly our Party must ex- pose this horrible anti-social decay of capital- ist society to the poor farming masses, mak- ing them understand the justice of the wage demands of striking workers. Big capitalists, facing the anger of the agra- rian petty-bourgeoisie, “explain’—when they pretend to explain anything—that the “scis- sors” (the differential between the prices of industrial commodities and farm products), is all these is to the agrarian crisis, and they “explain” further that the sharp side of the “scissors,” the high price of industrial com- modities, is due solely to what they call the “outrageous wage demands” of the city pro- letariat. Our Party must counteract this insi- dious and false fascist propaganda. We must make crystal clear to the poor farmers that even without the “scissors,” which are due not to “high wages” but to monopoly, there would still. be misery and bankruptcy for the poor farmers, owing to the exactions of big capital in the form of rentals borne by the farming mas Varga, giving the estimation of rental costs (in actual rent or mortgage interest) for American grain growers in 1926, shows that: “Calculated on a bushel of wheat, rent amounted to 36 cents at the selling price of One Dollar, that is, more than one-third of the proceeds. It is quite clear that if 33 per cent of the proceeds from wheat fall to rent, a sum which must be paid without reference to changes in prices, large num- bers of farmers must become bankrupt if the prices of agricultural products fall great- ly during the period covered by the tenancy agreement or the mortgage.” Our Party must make a great effort, espe- cially now during the elections, to break down the parliamentary illusions among the poor farmers, exposing the fakery of the Farm Board and Hoover’s “cooperatives;” and not making only propaganda, but actually organ. | izing committees of action in townships ove1 wide regions, committees of poor farmers to direct a genuine struggle around the forms we have noted and as waged by revolutionary farmers of other countries. Nor must our Party be alarmed because the agrarian petty- bourgeois revolutionism expresses itself in violent and vacillating forms not foreseen by pedants who want a pure and mechanically ordered revolution. Building the Trade Union Unity League By GUST YANTI HE most important task of our Party today is the building of the revolutionary unions (Trade Ur J League). It seems to me that the co des do not understand how to proceed with th we all important work. In the main the workers are radicalized, grec but we lack understanding of how to get or- ganizational accomplishments. In the neral membership meetings there is too much confusion as to how to build shop committees on the part of the Party members. My opinion on how to proceed in this phase is this: in places where there is one comrade working, this comrade should become a live wire and carry on daily propaganda until he has drawn in two other workers from the shop into the T.U.U.L. These three function as the committee of action, elected by the T.U.U.L. This committee of action proceeds to carry on propaganda on the inside, using stickers, distributing leaflets and general agit- ation. While from the outside, comrades must hold factory gate meetings, sell and distribute the Labor Unity, carry on mass distribution of leaflets explaining still further the role of the T.U.U.L., connected up with the conditions inside the factory. The comrades on the in- side must expose all the bosses schemes in order to win over the workers for the T.U.U.L. In a factory where we have half of the workers organized we can put forward the demands of the T.U.U.L. and demand the elec- tion of the shop committee. On the job no committee can be called the shop committee unless it is elected by a majority of the work- ers in the shop or factory, so let us not mix the committees of action with the shop com- mittees. One big shortcoming of our Party and es- pecially in District 13, is the lack of under- standing on the part of our comrades of the importance of fraction meetings, not only the rank and file comrades but the leading com- rades as well. The Party members must not only learn to attend fraction meetings but to earry out fraction decisions as well. In many eases it happens that those comrades who do not attend fraction meetings, when they come to the union meetings bring in other opinions than those which the fraction has agreed upon. other cases where where the comrades who do attend fraction meetings, when it comes to execution do not carry out fraction decisions; and that is a right wing tendency. We must fight against all right wingers in order to build the mass organizations of the T.U.U.L. For Party and League members to argue in union meetings is detrimental in building the new revolutionary unions. This drives work- ers away from us instead of keeping them | “lose to our movement. The comrades must | learn to attend meetings regularly, to go to union meetings well prepared, in order to at- tract workers to our movement. Meetings and Elections of Officers. The comrades do not understand as yet how to conduct their meetings. They still have the old A. F. of L, tendencies. The meetings of the revolutionary unions must be based on a democratic scale. Not to appoint but to elect workers according to their ability. We do not elect g ' looking fc!lows—we elect good ac- tive members regardless of their race, nation- ality or color. Now comes the question as how to elect executives of the unions. An idea often develops among comrades that the of- ficers constitute the execitive of the unions, which is again wrong. The executive of the union is elected from the different depart- ments of each shop or factory, from the most active workers on the job. In a town where there are many factories of the same industry, the executive is elected not from different departments, but from the most active work- ers of each factory. In instances where there are three shifts, meetings must be held not only in the evenings but also in the day time, so as to give work- ers working night time to attend meetings. The T.U.U.L, organizer is to make it his or her business to send speakers to the unions, lea- gues and groups to give the workers in the unions a basis for discussion. This. will help to develop the class consciousness and under- standing of the comrades of how to build a union. Special attention must be given to the foreign born and Negro workers. While it is true some foreign born workers cannot speak very good English, yet we find among them the most active and militant workers with much understanding of how to build the T.U. U.L. In District 138 manifestations of foreign chauvinism come from the members of the Young Communist League of one shop, against Party members of the same shop. While the Party members build the shop nucleus and start to build the new union members of the Y.C.L. are passively fighting Party members in the meetings of the union, because of their language. In all of our meetings, in all of our affairs, dances, ete., instead of selling red flowers and buttons, we must try to bring in the front, line our press, the Labor Unity, the biggest weapon against the bosses. We must try to get subs for even such a short time as one month or one week. The Labor Unity, official organ of the T.U.U.L. must be read by every worker. a The national office of the T.U.U.L. must print more pamphlets on the T.U.U.L. and each and every inember must make it his or her duty to sell these pamphlets on the job. In the shops where we have shop nuclei it at 26-28 Onton “8 “DAIWORK.” Union Sauare. New York N ¥ Baily > Central Organ oi ‘ne ¢ OTs wciy al CK A IDA 106rs Bais 1oMt 134, 100°": 91 GONE TO HELL AGAIN! : Fish Fishing for Red Herrings RAISING William Green for his “human appeal” to the nation’s lawmakers against | the reds whose “boring from within menaces the American Federation of Labor,” Repre- sentative Blanton of Texas who blows off clouds of venom against anything that looks like a workers’ organization, made a plea in the House of Representatives Friday to help Green expel the Communists faster by voting a $25,000 investigation to feret out the class- | conscious workers, Ham Fish, father of the red-baiting reso- lution, declared that the American Federation of Labor was entitled to the gratitude of the American people because it combats Com- munism, The even noisier La Guardia, after hectic flag-waving, pointed out that “other branches of the government are seeking trade relations with the Soviet Government of Russia. We are trading with Soviet Russia to the extent | of $300,000,000 or $500,000,000 annually” and referred to the tremendous unemployment as a more active force in making Communists, declared that $5,000 would be enough for a reign of terror, Business, well—that’s a point. But, spoke up a third representative, his voice only slightly over the din quite usual in the august assembly, transferring Department. of Justice, Secret Service and postal officials to the jurisdiction of the investigation costs cash, So, on and on, the resolution comes to a vote. “Resolved, That there shall be paid out of the contingent fund of the House not to ex- ceed $25,000 for the expenses of the select committee appointed under authority of H. Res. 220 to investigate Communist: propaganda in the U. S., and the head executive depart- ment is hereby requested to detail to said select committee such number of legal and expert assistants from their respective depart- ments as said committee may from time to time deem necessary.” $25,000 voted to hire more dicks, raid the offices of labor organizations, fill them with agents provocateurs, stir up another J, Mitchell Palmer terror. Wipe out the Daily Worker, it doesn’t tell the workers what we want it. to. Stir up more propaganda against the Soviet Union—the five year plan is really bounding ahead. Too dangerous. Wipe out ‘the reds. Drive the revolutionary unions un- derground. $25,000 special fund to oil up the machinery. White on Red Expose, An hour earlier, Assistant Secretary of Labor White, behind closed doors, made an “expose” of how the reds come in and out of the country. The big show is scheduled for Monday when Assistant Commissioner of Immigration Harris promises to list specific instances and make proposals how to keep out and put out revolutionary workers. Handling of “aliens” appears to be Fish’s chief interest. Most of the questions he asks in the investigation chamber deal with those not quite “American” enough to suit him. Neeley and Bachman are heavy on the “Rus- sian gold” and “Communist atrocities” angles. McGrady, earlier in the day, laid a feast be- fore them. The favorite red herring was temptingly displayed. Everything but the is the Communist duty of every comrade in- side to carry on propaganda. Also with mass work it becomes necessary to change names. Stool pigeons will always try to get informa- tion from the outside. Comrades from the out- side must be very careful not to give out any comrades working in the shop the real name or address, Such a mistake happened here in District 13 last year and also this year in a basic industry where a leading comrade got fired. Members of the shop nucleus must be in the front line organizing and not become the back tail of the workers. | nationalization of women—women assaulted by the reds, murder attempted, funds em- bezzled, Russian gold, all dangled before Fish and his committee. Fish isn’t expected to he elected next term—what swell food for pre- election publicity! McGrady’s story of the fur strike is a mas- terpiece. The Communists unable to get Jews to slug Jews, called in Greeks, “the spawn of the gutter,” sent them into the homes of A. F, of L. sympathizers, to destroy their furni- ture, assault their women, almost murder their men. Nobody mentions the Sigman gangsters. McGrady offers his “tribute of admiration and respect to Mr. Sigman who led the fight against these Communist leaders and their hordes,” etc., as Ben Zion, Forward corres- pondent, scribbles busily. “Sigman spent all his money, gave his health, almost his life to make a straight American union.” Sigman the saint! Woll, Whalen and McGrady. Fish licks his lips. Oh, those terrible reds! “Have you any recommendations to make to the committee to deal with a situation of that kind?” he asks McGrady. Matty Woll laid down the line. Whalen tried to help it along but only made a mess of his forgery. Now McGrady takes a shot. “It is most essential to find out where this money is* coming from,” McGrady replies. “We were told, and we have no evidence of this, that every one who secured a concession from iet Russia paid three per cent to- wards propaganda.” “In America they have been supporting 14 newspapers. None show a_ penny profit— they are all supported. Where does the money come from?” bellows McGrady, That the workers of the country are rallying to sup- port the only real workers’ papers available to them, McGrady does not choose to see. Another favorite charge McGrady brings forward. Like Green, McGrady calls for more active support for the A. F. of L. from the bosses as the best way of getting rid of the reds. When the federation asks many bosses to allow them to organize their workers into unions—even company unions—the bosses, real hundred percenters otherwise, frequently refuse! What about the Gastonia affair, Fish asks. McGrady pulls a long face and shakes his head. Terrible, terrible! Murder had been committed and if the bosses had only listened to the A. F. of L. it might have been avoided! The Federation had “looked over” the field even before the Communists came in, McGrady said, and discovered that the “shackles taken off from the Negroes were put on the white workers.” But the mill bosses refused to lis- ten to humanitarian arguments of the Fed- eration, so the fat boys packed up and left. Along came the terrible Communists, stirred up unrest and called a strike. But, McGrady stirringly declared, the Com- munists, to turn the sympathy of “our south- ern citizenry” against them by actually treat- ing the Negroes as equals, allowing them on the platfurm, etc., all causing “in the end— murder,” ete. ete. The Communists didn’t want to win the strike, McGrady declared, but only to sow the seeds of discontent. Again Ham Fish speaks up. “Are those unions legal? Can we do anything to deal with them?” F Alas, points out McGrady, there is no legis- lation against them. But the gentlemen of the committee smile. Then the doors are closed. Immigration, Asst. secretary of labor, and finally Robert Kelly, chief secretary of Eastern European Affairs of the state department, secretly tes- tify. The Comintern is meddling in America’s domestic affairs, Kelly, whose special func- tion is reviling the Soviet Union, declares. Harris of the Immigration Departinent is scheduled to testify Monday and give “spe- cific” instances of how the “Russian agents” got into the country to do it. SUBSCKIPTION RATES: Ry mall everywhere: One year $6; six months $3: two months $1; excepting Boroughs of Mavhetian and Bronx. New York City, and foreign, which are: One year $8: six months $4.50 On leaving the Soviet Union, the American Workers Delegation issued a letter to the So- viet workers expression their warm sym- pathy with the Five-Year Plan and the tre- mendous strides towards socialism in. the U.S.S.R. The declaration in full follows: . 8 & Dear Comrades: On the eve of our departure from the U. S. S. R., we wish to say a few words of fare- well and about our We have traveled many thousands of miles inside the Soviet Union since we arrived and shall never forget, as long as we live, what we have seen and learned. We saw the great Soviet industries, such as Stalingrad, Trak- torstroy, Selmashstroy and huge electric pow- er station. Around these institutions we saw the modern apartment houses, already up and in process of construction, to be used only by the workers. It is true we also saw obsolete workshops and huts that you inherited from the hated czarist capitalist regime. We vis- ited the enormous Soviet farm “Gigant,” one of the most stupendous undertakings ever at- tempted by man. A 500,000 acre farm in one unit, which evokes the admiration of the greatest American experts. We viewed hun- dreds of miles of collective farms and we vis- ited many of these. The peasants in every case came in large numbers to greet us. We found them as enthusiastic and hopeful and strong for collectivization and for the Five Year Plan as their comrades in the cities. Comrades, the task of arousing the en- thusiasm and intelligent support of backward peasantry for collective farming and to such high ideals is an achievement that can only be accomplished in a proletarian country. In the Ukraine we visited salt and coal mines. The “Amerikanka” coal mine is as modern as the best American mines but nowhere under capitalism are the welfare and lives of the miners so protected. Six hours a day under- ground and one month vacation with pay with doctors’ expenses paid—a thing unheard of in America. Mines in America work 8 to 10 hours a day with 3 to 9 months forced vaca- tion without pay. The Soviet Union has solved the problem of unemployment, while 7,000,000 American Workers are without work and starv- ing in the richest country on earth. We visited workers’ sanatoria in the Cau- casus. These we learned were used by the parasitic bourgeoisie before the revolution, but now are enjoyed by the workers and peasants. We rested there and bathed in the healthful mineral water springs. In bidding the Soviet Union farewell we are reminded of the anti- quated structures of the conquered bourgeoisie and saw the priceless relics of barbarism of the czars which are now in your museums. Alongside all these we see new, modern office buildings, factories and workers’ homes going up anywhere. With these material manifesta- tions of a new economic order we see the tremendous strides made in education, art and culture for the working class, and above all we feel the warm heart beats of real com- radeship, all working in unison for a higher civilization, for the building of Socialism. Comrades, we see the dawn of a classless society, the Communist society, the goal of Marx and Lenin. Yes, comrades, we believe the Five Year Plan is the stepping stone to Communism. The building up of the socialist economy in interesting experiences. | the Soviet Union is being carried. out. with the enthusiastic support of the entire work- ing class on the basis of the broadest demo- cracy. We have seen the workers in the fac- tories and the enterprises participate in and initiate every new program of reconstruction. The 12 million trade unionists in the Sovie' Union are the driving force behind the Five Year Plan. They organize their shop com- mittees and factory councils and participate with the government in the management and control of industry. They organize shock bri- gades for socialist competition thus develop- ing the self-activity of the masses. The workers select their own inspection brigades to investigate all cases of incompetency and bureaucracy in the leading organs. The of- ficials of the administration of the enterprises and of the trade unions are absolutely con- trolled by the workers from below. We have seen every institution in the Soviet Union rests upon the will of the masses. Real prole- tarian democracy is the basis upon which rests the whole power of the Soviet Union. It is this that makes the Soviet Union invincible, All this was made pssible because you have here a strong Communist Party which not only led the workers and peasants in the suc- cessful revolution which overthrew capitalism and established the proletarian state, but is also guiding the proletariat and peasantry in its great work of reconstruction. The Com- munist Party of the Soviet Union is the ad- vance guard of the workers of the world. We talked with Comrade Kalinin in the Kremlin as we have with many of your red directors; we have been the guests of the heroie Red Army and we find them all kindly, sympathetic and patient with us, although we are only simple proletarian workers of the U. S. A. This is because the government of- ficials, Red Army Commanders and directors of the enterprises are men and women from the ranks of the working class. As we again say good-bye, comrades, we pledge ourselves to expose the lies of the American capitalist class and their religious and fascist agents directed against the Soviet Union, and we will struggle against all attempts of the capital- ists to declare war on the Soviet Fatherland. In case of war we will do our utmost to rally the American workers for the defense of the first Workers’ Republic—the Soviet Union. We will tell the working class of America what we have seen and how the workers have improved their conditions. And inspired by what we have seen and learned we will do our utmost to rally the working class of America under the leadership of the Commu- nist Party and the revolutionary unions, to overthrow the capitalist rulers and establish a proletarian dictatorship in the land of Rockefeller, Morgan and Ford. Long Live the Union of Socialist Soviet Re- publics! Long Live the World Revolution! Louis Horwath, Martin Hendrickson, Rae Tantlersky, Richard Irbac, Joseph Pirka, Ben Moser, George Crystal, John Marinich, Dorothy Ross, D. Donovan, Chairman. John Rushton, Secretary. Fight for the Release of Comrade Serio By L. CANDELA. HE arrest of comrade Guido Serio, National Organizer of the Communist Party, is only an episode of the infamous campaign of the bosses to reduce the standard of living of the workers, to let them suffer all the consequen- ces of the present economic crisis. It is cap- italist logic and practice that in time of crisis the workers must be exploited more, they must suffer more misery and ill-lucks, the chain of slavery must be bound tighter around them. In the “democratic” bourgeois republic of United States of America, the interests of the bosses in this time of crisis demand also lay- offs which are occurring in ever greater scale, less pay and harder work by means of the infamous systems of rationalization. Against the workers who organize them- selves and fight the economic offensive of the bosses, the bourgeois State intervenes with all its apparatus (the school, the court, the police, the underworld), and stabs, imprisons, deports, tortures, especially those workers who more militantly fight for the interests of their class. Another sly maneuver of the capitalist class in time of crisis is the division of the working class ranks. White workers are put against Negro workers, native-born against foreign-born, skilled against unskilled, em- ployed against unemployed workers, and so on. While the crisis binds fast in its clutches the capitalist world, the bosses of this country as a part of their program of suppression of the working class, are intensifying their attacks against Negro workers and foreign-born work- ers. While at Washington bills are pending designed to transform the foreign-born work- ers into-a herd of jailbirds under police vigil- ance, the bosses’ agents are lynching Negro workers and the capitalist press incite hatred and lynching of the Negro and foreign-born workers, the authorities are increasing at a fast speed the persecution of them. The blows of reaction against foreign-born workers are, first of all, centered against the political re- fugees from the fascist countries and in par- ticular the Communists who are the vanguard of the workers’ struggle. The cases of de- portation today already are counted by the hundreds; there is a big campaign to develop a new era of “red hysteria,” the bosses are preparing the ground for a repetition of the infamous actions of 1919-20, through which thousands of workers were imprisoned and deported wholesale and which have brought “the cold blood murdering of Sacco and Van- zetti. The arbitrary arrést of comrade Serio, ef- fectuated while speaking in a workers’ mass meeting in Erie, Pa., represents the thermo- meter of the cious reaction against the foreign-born workers. Against him were made, by the policeman Scalisse, a stool-pigeon of the Italian consul, charges of anarchy, in- STATEMENT OF THE TRADE UNION DELEGATION TO USSR citing force and violence against the Govern-~ ment and the law officers. Comrade Serio is being held for deportation under the ex- orbitant bail of $25,000. This never happened before. The attack against our comrade is only a prelude of new and more violent at- tacks against the foreign-born workers in gen- eral. The International Labor Defense is already taking care of the judicial defense of comrade Serio, but we must raise in every locality the necessary funds for this work. But that is not enough, there is another way of de- fending our comrades which is the mst im- portant, the most effective; that is the mobil- ization of the masses which will not only impose the liberation of comrade Serio from the clutches of reaction; which not only must stop the deportation of Serio to Italy, where he will be met by sure death, but it must also fight against all the anti-foreign-born workers’ laws, must demand the right of as- sylum for all the political refugees. The workers, mobilized by hundreds of thousands, must demand.a stop of the in- famous persecution of. the foreign-born work- ers. All the workers’ organizations (Local Unions, workers clubs, fraternal organizations, etc.), should join the International Labor De- fense in its campaign against the persecution of foreign-born workers. Resolutions of pro- test must be passed immediately by all work- ers’ organizations and sent to the Congress through the International Labor Defense, 80 East lith Street, Room 430, New York Gity. Our campaign shall not consist of bowing be- fore this or the other Senator. It shall be mass pressure and mass. struggle not only against the persecution of foreign-born work- ers, but also against the lynching of Negro workers, against the criminal-syndicalist laws, for the release of all the class-war prisoners, against the offensive of the bosses, for the right*to organize and strike, for work or wages, for the 7-hour day. and 5-day. week, against the barbarous system of rationaliza- tion, ‘ In the coming elections the workers must rally around the Communist Party, which is their leader, which fights for said demands and for the end of the whole system of ex- ploitation. ; To those workers who are still under the illusion of bourgeoisie ideas, who are still un- der the influence of the social-fascists, we say: Only through a vigorous struggle organized and carried relentlessly against the bosses and their State apparatus, we will be able to. redeem ourselves from exploitation. He, who suggest middle way measures cannot but be a betrayer of our class, We must organize, by thousands, by mil- lions, and fight under the glorious banner o: the Communist Party.