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

_~ Published: by t! Square Page Four New Winning the Negro Masses By HAROLD WILLIAMS HE Seventh Party convention will assemble the going throu severe econom eri e ¢ is the growing re- rs and th he worl he colonies. ast. year ot lism, i g its face ies. In thi to carry ompanied The U aries, Union intern has laid down a tion against white chau- g of Negro workers building of the Since the into our owr Amer Party Re in s y of propa- being looked the champion Our drive in the south has aroused pparatus and its lac the , to the extent that now facing the re to preach full ial equality and the letermifation to the Negro and he South. The immediate gro work must be accom- loping these new Negro go out with the class con- 2 white proletariat in win- y of the gro workers to our utionary trade unions. The Garvey Movement. In the Chicago District, a new phenomenon has developed in our Recruiting Drive in the bringing forward of about 75 members of the Universal Negro Improvement Association, called the Garvey Movement, into and with the possibility of also nd white speakers to speak at ion and open air meetings on While these new mem- line in practice, yet on cussion of the Garvey imself, they reject th however, exceptions 2 proletar section of we have the task today of petty bourgeo yy of Garvey as the crisis in / becomes deeper and the attempt on the part of the bosses to shift the burden more upon the shoulders of the Negroes, the most exploitgd and oppressed section of the workers, becomes more open. Another event is determining more and more the solidarity on the part of the Negroes and our white Party members. Already we have seen where in St. Louis the Negro workers are asking what has become of our white comrades ruggle. The following is a typical 1ong the new Negro worker Jon’t , Comrade Williams, that it is ult Oo get e workers to it with the Negroes Louis). Or: Your fine speakers ome to us and tell us the k of things we ve to hear—only you tell us about how e Commu rty has white folks for mem- well k folks. But where are the (St. Louis). Here then we see that he question is not, “How can we keep the Negro workers in the ( munist Party?” but How can we get the class-conscious sec- on of to fight with the Negro italist oppression and for ” A similar qu ewhere, as in the aching meeting on May 25th ich the Negro workers found t a handful of white com- In order to counter- rt of the Negro vage the sharpest estations of White Chau- ch is expressing itself more and more as the Party endeavors to do mass ac- tivity among the Negro masses. The Seat of Opportunism. | The Amer: number of y the s Negro Labor Congress for a ars in the Chieago district was at of the most right-wing opportunism g the few Negro Party members. There ally no guidance from the Part nt that there was no mass activity industries but it was confined primarily to collaboration with the Negro min- sters and other petty bourgeois elements. Last November, with the establishment of a new Negro leadership in the district, these com- rades (Isbell, Henry, Doty, Griffin) openly re- sisted the Party line. They declared at the District Negro Committee meeting that it was impossible for the Communist Party to appeal to Negroes and if we did attract them to our meetings we could not get them to join the Party or hold them within its ranks. This was the first time, in my opinion, that I heard such an expression from Negro workers. We told them that the Party would recruit Negroes and would hold them in the Party. Seeing that we were determined to carry the Party line through, they decided to sabotage all of our Party activity on the South Side among the Negroes. But despite this tendency, a few of us were able to isolate them and we can say that, as a conservative figure, we have today no less than 200 Negro workers in the Party | and the continuous Party influence among the Negroes in the district as far south as St. Louis, Indianapolis, etc., is felt. The line of these comrades became a chronic opposition to the Party in the course of which the A.N.L.C, was liquidated. Everything which these comrades had done had to be undone, and today with the recruiting of new forces we are now building real functioning branches of the A.N.L.C. under Party directive. History has placed upon our Party the task to such an e in the bi 1 of becoming the champion and defender of the | oppressed Negro masses despite the open fas- cist terror of the bosses and their government. The Chicago district is moving forward and will continue to be one of the most important centers for the building of our Party and auxiliaries among the Negro and white masses *for the establishment of a workers’ dictator- | ship. S: _ Gaining New Forces By TRIVA (indianapolis, Ind.) is in place, in the pre-convention discus- to bring out before the Party a few ding the situation and our work- ing in this locality, for this is a new field of our { t work. To begin with, it is enough to e present economic crisis is wide and de t in this ci and as a result of it we haye here more than 65,000 workers out ef jobs. This big s of unemployed work- ers are facing actual starvation, and poverty- stricken families are at, that right now. ‘As one comes to talk with workers, it is a simple thing, actually the first thigg, to find are many workers and their out bread—with no food at all. rom the houses have been noticeable ix months. Bread lines are 1 it is a terrible sight to see it. Show Willingness to Organize. finding themselves in such desper- s have come together in big mass nd showed their willingness to or- , to fight the very system which got them in such a position. With only a few gatherings before May 1, they had enough forces to prepare for that big demonstration on May 1. On call of a comrade to sign their names for militant working class organiza- tion, hundreds of them signed up. In fact, every worker that had a chance to get a slip of paper at that very moment signed his name and gave his addr From our literature, Daily Worker and our speakers, the workers got the idea of our revo- lutionary organizations, of our militant work- ii fighting program, and were ready to come right into our ranks and fight the enemy, the capitalist system which brings about these unbearable conditions for the workers and their families. The mass move toward our Party’s program and its ranks and toward a new revolutionary’ union, the Trade Union Unity League,.is being Made in the city where we have seven or eight fnternationals of the reactionary American Federation of Labor. nose of that bourgeois-corrupted outfit of bu- reaucrats, these workers are willing to step numerous a Workers Workers " in the line of struggle of the working. class! This, in itself, is self-evident that a broad radicalization is going on in the ranks of the workers here as in every place else. Then another fact of interest to us is, that the most outstanding workers in all of these movements are ones that have been for years in the old unions of the A. F. of L., but they have found out that that organization is not of any use to them as workers. With the forming of our Party organiza- tion in this locality it is looked upon by masses ¢? workers as something of urgent need that Right under the very | | will give to the revolting masses of workers program and leadership in coming mass strug- gles heading us. It will assure to the work- ers possibilities to organize themselves into | the Trade Union Unity League, by organizing unemployed workers into councils and by form- ing shop committees of workers right on the job to take up an organized fight for better working conditions, more pay and shorter working hours. Workers have come to realize that it is the only way for them to organize strong unions of their own. | Above all, here we have living proof that the Party’s estimation of the actual situation and applying its policy is a correct one. Work- ers will follow our Party for the simple reason that they see in it leadership for struggle. They are looking to our Party as the only organized | power in the country with a program for the entire working class. Its demand of work or wages, social insurance for the workers, fight against imperialist war, fight against ration- alization and speed-up, for the 7-hour day and | 5-day week—these are the demands that ¢on- cern the life of every wage worker in the country. Preparing the working class to de- | fend the Soviet Union, the only country of | workers’ rule today, against imperialist at- | tack, is meeting with approval among the !arge | mass of workers, The only reason why we have not as yet | succeeded in getting a bigger organization | than we have now is the fact, noticed all over the country, that we lack forces. We have some organizing means, but that is behind the actual requirements. Here in this locality we are suffering on account of that. But it will not last long, for we are developing and build- ing our power every day. Negro Workers Ready to Join. Then another fact of interest to the Party is that here at the very start we succeeded to base our Party in the midst of Negro work- | ers. Negro workers in this locality have dem- | onstrated by their actual participation in the | movement hereto that they are ready to Ie | up with all the rest of the working class in struggle against the capitalists’ double sup- | pression of them as workers and as a race. Already. they have taken the forefront in our work at the present time. Our Party policy of organizing Negro and white together to defend the Negro workers from lynching is approved by the most advanced Negro work- ers in this city. We are confident that the revolutionary working class movement, the Communist Party and militant workers’ unions | will have its strongest base right among the | Negro workers, and that our Party in the near future will have its best followers, lend- ers and fighters among thousands of Neorn Central Organ of the Communist Varty of Daily SQ Worker = faehet the U, S. A. ttan and Bronx, New York ae ee SUBSCRIPTION RATES! 2 3 Si: Ss 4 Oo mi FOr Ore Gar City: and foreien. which are: O ; ting Boroushs of nus ra8: if oreuats és “Please God! Stabilize My World! Save My Civilization!” —By QUIRT. By W. BURKE. S a result of the economic crisis in which American capitalism finds itself at’ present it is intensifying its preparations for a joint imperialist attack against the Soviet Union and for an armed struggle against its fore- most enemy—British imperialism. These prep- arations ume two forms. In the world po- | litical arena, American capitalism is strug- | gling for the balance of power, through dis- armament conferences, the Kellogg pact, naval reduction conferences, ideological preparation | for an attack against the Soviet Union through the “religious persecution” campaign, Whalen | forgeries, etc. Internal preparations take the | form of greater attacks against the interests | of the working class through rationalization, mass unemployment, attacks against militant | working class organizations, militarization of the youth, placing of industries in readiness for war production and spreading of pacifist illusions among the people. In these preparations the American bour- geoisie gives its greatest attention, and is utilizing every means, to win the young work- ers to its side and prepare them for war. One of the most important means which the bour- | geoisie use in this work is sports. The capi- | talist class knows quite well the fact (which our Party and League has yet failed to grasp), | that in order to win over and prepare new re- | cruits for its army at the front, and to safe- | guard its rear against the “internal enemy,” it must carry on the major share of its war | preparations among the workers in the indus- | tries, As a result we find today that the bour- geoisie have entered their best technical sports of. company sports. Millions of dollars are spent each year by the industrial concerns of .the country in this work. Factory stadiums, gyms and athletie fields are being built on an | ever greater scale. Even special schools have been set up by the bosses for the training >{ company sports directors, The Y. M,C. A the largest organization in this field, trains hundreds of these ve . factories each year. “atbles Today the company sports movement can count millions of young and adult workers in its ranks. Westinghouse, Western Electric, Pennsylvania Railroad System, not only have sports clubs involving those that are active in sports, but all of the workers employed by them. The Howthorpe Athletic Club of the Western Elec- | trie Co. of Chicago has a membership of | 30,000, inclusive of all the workers and the | office staff. There is not a mine or a factory of any size in the country today that does not promote sports for its employes. In many instances athletic games provided by the company teams form the main form of “social activity in the small company towns and villages. In such cases sports serve as the best, means for the bosses to promote and develop class collaboration among the work- ers. Their slogan is: “All are equal on the athletic field” and “there is no class division | in sports.” . What has our movement done to this day to struggle against this company sports move- ment? Practically nothing. The Labor Sports Union of America has workers in this city, the most oppressed werk- ers. The Party Convention meets at a time cf great importance. It is now that our Party's new forces are being built all over the coun- try. After throwing out of its ranks the rene- gade elements and clearing itself of facticnal- ism and having become a real section of the | world Party—the Comintern, the Seventh Con- vention, will have great meaning to all toilers of the United States of Americe Sports and the Revolutionary Movement ! forces into the factories for the organization | Firms like the General Motors, ' not as yet taken up the struggle against the company sports movement. Yet the Labor Sports Union cannot grow into a mass work- ers’ sports organization unless it orientates | its work toward the factories and mines. Some steps are being taken by the L. S. U. to ori- entate its work, but the Party and the League must support its activities by placing forces into. the movement. Organizing fractions within the L. S. U. and give political direction to the work of the comrades within the Labor Sports Union. . The Trade Union Unity League cannot ig- norg the company sports movement if it is to carry out its revolutionary role of organizing the workers in the basic industries. It is pre- cisely in these industries that the company sports movement is the strongest. The Trade Union Unity League must give the Labor Sports Union close co-operation in the strug- gle against company sports and the building of workers’ ‘factory sports clubs. Sport clubs in the factories can be used as a basis for shop committees and trade unions. Trade Union Unity League members and Party nuclei and all revolutionary workers should carry on persistent propaganda in the factories, exposing the role of the company sports clubs and agitating and organizing workers’ factory clubs. Only by a united effort of all workers in the factories, members of militant working class organizations under the leadership of our Party will we be able to smash the company sports movement and its influence upon the workers and organize the workers into revo- | lutionary unions and sport clubs. Some Serious Shortcomings By JACK KLING. Moe of our Party comrades do not under- stand the importance of promptness. The section convention of our Party was called for six o’clock. Only about ten comrades showed up at that time. The convention opened up at 9 o'clock and lasted until 2:30 a. m. As a result, toward the closing of the meeting the meeting was demoralized and the comrades were tired, The question of the Youth League was left in the background. Although the dis- trict representative and the section organizer, when reporting, stressed the importance of the League at the very beginning of the con- vention, the entire question of the League was left in the background. For example, when the section organizer proposed the order of business nothing was said about a League re- port. The League comrades had to remind the comrades that a League report must also be given. When the various committees were proposed no League members were suggested to be placed on any-of the committees. The League had to fight so that a League comrade should be placed on each of the committees. When the League delegation proposed that a certain League member be placed on a certain com- mittee the comrades immediately raised the question: “Instead of whom do you propose the comrade?” No additional nominees were permitted. This is certainly not Communistic. However, the delegates present immediately pointed out that this was the wrong procedure and must be changed. The relationship of the League and the Party ~oust be changed in that particular sec- tion, The new section executive committee of vue Party will have to appoint a special and leading comrade of the section to devote most of his activity in helping develop and build the League in the section. The question of the Pioncers was entirely left out, and it was. left ior the League delegation to bring it be- . fore the convention, Eeey ake despite the shortcomings, the convention marched for- ward. The Party will haye to pay more and much more attention in the developing of the League. : 1 etnias | countries. A LETTER FROM PRISON TO THE 7th PARTY CONVENTION June 12, 1930. Seventh National Convention . Communist Party, U.S.A. ,Dear Comrades: E wish to express our full agreement with and endorsement of the thesis and resolu- tions presented by the Central Committee to the Convention. The cyclical crisis which has engulfed Amer- iean capitalism has not only brought the United States fully within the maelstrom of the world economic crisis, but has tremendously deepened the world crisis. The analysis of the Comintern and of the last two plenums of the Party are fully borne out by events. The crisis is becoming deeper with accompanying attacks upon the workers and poor farmers, with international tariff wars and wage cuttings, with more aggressive imperialist attacks upon the colonies by the respective imperialist powers, with the danger of an imperialist war brought nearer by the “peace” and “naval reduction” parleys and plans, with more acute danger of a military attack upon the Soviet Union. The masses have answered the attacks of the capitalists by a manifestation of deeper radicalization and greater readiness to strug- gle. The world revolutionary tide constantly In Poland, Germany, France, Czecho- slovakia, Greece, Japan, South America, Cuba, the masses have engaged in big stfikes against wage cuts and radicalization, these movements becoming political in character. The masses have shown that they will not accept a worsen- ing of conditions, without a bitter fight. The demonstrations in the United States on March 6 and May 1, the strikes in the South, the struggles of workers in all parts of the country, many of them spontaneous, the readi- ness of the workers to follow the Party and T.U.U.L., indicate the growing radicalization and willingness of the workers to fight against the vicious rationalization schemes of Amer- ican capitalism. Strikes in textile, mining, auto, rubber, shoe, clothing, food, building, show that discontent is rife in all industries and sections. The awakening of the Negro and the willingness of the white worker to fight and defend him is a sign of the break- ing down of the barriers to a more militant struggle. These phenomena have manifested themselves in face of the A. F. of L. bureaucracy, the socialist party and Musteites, whose fascist role, each in its way, is to help the capitalists in suppressing strikes and struggles, to assist in their rationalization schemes and keep the workers loyal to capitalism. The establishment of a Soviet Government in China embracing 70,000,000 people and the revolt in India are two outstanding factors of the present situation. The growth of the Com- munist Party of India and the exposure’ of the imperialist activites of the British Labor Party and the Second International as a whole, are matters of the greatest significance to the in- ternational proletarian revolutionary move- ment. ‘ Exceeding even these factors are the achieve- * ments of the Soviet Union in building Social- ism. This is a victory of the Russian workers and peasants and of the Central Committee of the C.P.S.U., a victory that stands unchallenged and which throws into rout the Bucharinites and Trotskyites. This development affects not only the Soviet Union, but every capitalist country. The Five-Year Plan is not only an in- spiration to the workers and peasants through- out the world, but a cause for fear and dismay on the part of the capitalists. The unparalelled expansion of industry and collectivization of agriculture with increasing well being for the workers and peasants of the Soviet Union, con- trasted with the crisis and its terrors for the workers and poor farmes in the capitalist counties, is filling the capitalists with the greatest apprehension. The capitalists try to find their way out of the general crisis of capitalism by rationaliza- tion <nd war, both of which lead to disaster for capitalism. The capitalists and their social- fascist tools are feverishly preparing for war, especially against the Soviet Union. The Comintern, having strengthened itself by the defeat of all right groups, becomes the rallying center for all the revolutionary mill- ions the world over, notably in the colonial As capitalism goes into crisis, the influence of the social-fascists over the masses diminishes and that of the Comintern increases. Our Party has decided achievements to its credit—first of all, the unification of the Party and the inner consolidation of its forces, the smashing defeat of the Lovestone right oppor- tunist group and the initiation of a systematic struggle against the opportunist tendencies of the Party. This achievement, with the aid of the Comintern, made possible the progress of the Party. With the unification of the Party came objective analysis and self-criticism, but this is as yet inadequate and must be strength- ened. The March 6 and May 1 demonstrations, the great increase in the Party membership, the building of the T.U.U.L. in new industries, the raising of the influence of the T.U.U.L. as the revolutionary union center, the populariza- tion of the R.I.L.U. among the American work- ers, are of first-rate importance as showing the general strengthening of the Party in prestige, organization and influence. The establishment of the Party and T.U.U.L. in the South, under the hardest conditions and with meagre forces, cannot be overestimated, especially since the Party had to meet the united force of the capitalists, government, Ku Klux Klan and other fascist organizations, the A. F, of L., S.P. and Musteites. The rallying of Negro and white workers under the banner of our Party in the South is of great signifi- cance, The Party has weaknesses that speedily overcome if it is to fulfill tasks in the coming struggles. The demonsvrations led by the Party have shown its tremendous political influence and the confidence of ever larger masses of workers in the Party, but also manifested its political and organizational weakness. Strong opportunist tendencies are present especially in the trade union work and in the districts, this being amply dealt with in the Thesis. Insufficient mass work is especial- ly notable in all districts and.must be speedily remedied. Weakness is also to be noted in the be 4 of cadres of live, capable, responsible function- aries who have fully “made the turn,” lack of check-up and control, of ability to coordinate the various campaigns that the Party must con- duct simultaneously to meet the needs of the various phases of the struggle, failure to ac- tivize and control the activities of every mem¢ ust be ay BOURNE VAM O Tc ies ber, proper distribution of work so that each member has a responsible task and no comrade is overburdened (which too often is the case at the present time), failure to train the com- rades for their work, failure to hold, activize and advance new recruits to fill the posts in the Party and mass organizations—these are some of the basic weaknesses of the Party, A fundamental weakness of our Party is the continued feebleness of the Y.C.L, This is all the more dangerous because of the tremendous and growing role of the youth in American industry and the class struggle. The Party must give decisive attention to the building of the Y.C.L. The perspective in the United States is one of deepening crisis, as the world over, vicious wage-slashing campaigns against the workers, further radicalization and mass struggle. Especially during the coming winter will the crisis deepen and the struggle intensify. Un- employment will increase; the employers have definitely initiated a wage cutting campaign. This will throw great tasks of leadership upon our Party. The workers will fight. The entire Party must be prepared and keyed up to meet this situation, to organize the workers to strug- gle and to lead them in the fight. The campaign against our Party in all sec- tions of the country, the imprisonment of com-§ rades for long terms, the campaign particu- larly against us in the South (Powers, Carr and the four other comrades), Whalen’s forged documents and the Fish investigation, show the preparations the capitalist class and govern- ment are making as they develop their general attack against the workers. To meet this situation, the basic task is to build our Party. The recruiting campaign, especially among workers in basic and war in- dustries, must be pushed more energetically than ever. More intense work must be done among the Negro and young workers, the com- position must be improved, shop nuclei’ must be established in all industries and be activized into functioning units leading struggles. New cadres must be developed. The struggle against right opportunism, the main danger, and also against “left” sectarianism must be intensi- fied. The keynote of the convention, as emphasized in the thesis, must be mass work. The con- vention must devote its main attention to or- ganizing this work. While in complete agree- ment with the analysis and tasks as laid down in the Party thesis, we desire to emphasize the following urgent tasks in the mass work: ‘ 1, Building the T.U.U.L. A good start has been made in building the T.U.U.L., both in the existing revolutionary unions and in penetrat- ing new industries. But this is only a begin- ning. The 50,000 membership campaign must be the starting point for day-by-day enrollment of new members in the unions, of forming » shop committees in shops, factories, mines, or} railroads and ships. The R.I.L.U. 5th Con- gress must be emphasized. The revolutionary union papers. must become mass organs. The local Councils must be built up. All our forces must much more militantly be thrown into this work. 2. Defend the Soviet Union. We must pop- ularize among the masses of workers and farm- ers of this country the achievements in build- ing Socialism in the Soviet Union, which is an inspiration to all workers. In many sections of our Party there is a distinct underestima- : tion of the tremendous effects of these achieve- ments as an instrument for revolutionizing the masses of this country. The vast object lesson of the actual building of Socialism in the So- viet Union with such striking success, has tre- mendous power in persuading the workers of the correctness of our Communist Party pro- gram as a whole. 3. China, India, Philippines and Latin America. We must arouse and rally the work- ers of the United States to give actual support to the masses of these countries who are strug- gling against imperialism. The Comintern has repeatedly reminded us of the necessity of the Parties in the imperialist countries actively aid- ing the revolutionary movements in the col- onies. This is a duty that must not be ne- glected. 4, Unemployment. The struggle against unemployment, with its center, the fight for unemployment insurance, is an elementary task. The convention on July 4-5 in Chicago must be a mass demonstration of unemployed and employed workers such as this country has never witnessed. March 6 showed us the tre- mendous possibilities of unemployment as an issue for developing revolutionary struggles of the masses. 5. Election Campaign. The election cam- paign will be, for our Party, a most intportant rallying period for the seething discontent among the masses of workers. We must be really alive to its possibilities. We must util- ize it to strengthen the Party, the T.U.U.L. and all revolutionary organizations. The central issue of the election campaign must be unempleyment, especially the fight for unemployment insurance. The Party Districts, Sections and Nuclei must no longer base elec- tion activities primarily upon street corner meetings and rallies, but carry on their work in the shops through united front election com- mittees, shop bulletins, shop gates meetings, ete. This campaign must rally the greatest possible masses of workers behind the slogans of the Party. 6. Daily Worker. The campaign for the Daily Worker must no longer be a matter of emergency, but be linked up with the daily worker and every campaign of the Party and revolutionary unions The Daily Worker must become the mass organ of the American work- ers. ". War Danger. Saturating all our tasks and definitely interviewed with them is the campaign against the war danger, not only in- ter-imperialist but particularly against the So- | viet Union. The danger of war becomes ever graver and the masses must be mobilized for an intense fight against this danger. In conclusion, we appeal through the conven- tion to the membership of the Party to throw themselves into the work of the Party. Mass work is’ our slogan, the conquest of the major- ity of the workers our goal. We are convinced that the decisions of the convention will put our Party to work so that it may become an even worthier section of the Comintern, and better equipped to lead the workers and poor farmers of this country in revolutionary strug- gle for a Workers and Farmers Govenment of the United States. Fraternally, WM. Z. FOSTER, ROBERT MINOR, ISRAEL AMTER, atlanta