The Daily Worker Newspaper, August 14, 1930, Page 4

Published by the Cc Page Four =, 8 t Sune 7-8 Cabli Square New The Political Report of the Central Committee to of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Comrad Dai I. The matter is somewhat different in the question of Right opportunism, y led, or has been led, by Comrades , Ry- It ca be said of the Right at they ize the possibility of building up sm in the Soviet Union, No, this they e, and in this they differ from the sts. But it is the misfortune of the Right opportunists that whilst they admit the possibility of building up Socialism in one country, they refuse to recognize the ways and means struggle, without which the building up of Socialism is impossible. They refuse to recog that the all-around devel- opment of industry is the key to the reor- ganization of our whole national economy on the’ basis of Socialism. Th refuse to rec nize the irreconcilable class struggle agai the capitalist elements and the inten. fensive against capitalism. The} that all these ways and means represent system of measures without which it is im- possible to maintain the dictatorship of the proletariat and to build up Social country. They believe that Socialism can be built up secretly, in the natural course of events, without class struggle, without an of- fensive against the capitalist elements. They believe that the capitalist elements will either die out unnoticeably by themselves, or will grow into Socialism. And as such historical miracles do not happen, the result is that in actual fact the Right opportunists ars slipping into an attitude denying the possibility of building up Socialism in our country. naira ete It cannot be said of the Right on again, that they deny the possibility of draw- ing the decisive masses of the pe the task of building up of Socialism in the village. No, they recognize this, And here again they differ from the Trotskyists. But ilst formally recognizing this possibility, they reject those ways and means without which the drawing of the peasantry in the work of building up o* Socialism is impossible. They will not admit that the Soviet and collective farms form the decisive means, the “great road” leading the decisive masses of the peas- antry to the building up of Socialism. They will not admit that unless the policy of liquid- ating the kulak as a class is carried out, the reorganization of thé village on the basis of Socialism is impossible. They believe that the yillage cen be shunted onto the track of So- cialism, seciefly, without class war, solely by means of the buying and selling co-operatives; for they are convinced that the kulak will grow into Socialism of himself. They believe that at the present juncture the point of the great- nury in The Party est importanc- is not the accelerated pace the development of industry, and not the col- lective and Soviet farms, but the “release” of the elementary forces of the market, the “liberation” of the market and the liberation of the individual farm, including the capitalist elements of the village, from their “fetters.” But since the kulak cannot grow into Social- | ism, and the “liberation” of the market sig- nifies he arming of he kulak and the disarm- ing of the working class, it results that the Right opportunists adopt a standpoint deny- ing the possibility of inducing the participa- tion of the decisive masses of the peasantry in the building up of Socialism. This explains, at bottom, the fact that the Right generally conclude their cockfights against the Trotskyists by forming a bloc with them behind the scenes, The fundamental evil of Right opportunism is the fact that it breaks with the Leninist conception uf the class war, and sinks down | to the level of petty bourgeois liberalism. There can be no doubt that the victory o the Right deviation in our Party would mea the complete disarmament of the working clas the arming of the capitalist elements in th village, and i ased prospects for the restora tion of capitalism in the Soviet Union. The Right opportunists do not adopt the standpoint that they should form another par ty, and here again they differ from the Trot: skyists. The leaders of the Right opportunists have openly admitted their errors and capitu- lated to the Party. But it would be foolish to suppose from this that Right opportunism is therefore dead and buried. Its strength is not to be measured by this factor. The strength of Right opportunism is the strength of the petty bourgeois element, in the fury of the assault on the Party on the part of the capi- talist elements in general and the kulak in par- ticular. As it is just ior this reason—the fact that the Right deviation mirrors the re- sistance of the disappearing classes—that at the present moment it is the greatest danger in the Party. Therefore the Party considers a resolute and irreconciliable struggle against the Right deviation to be necessary. There can be no doubt that without a resolute struggle against the Right deviation, and without the isolation of its leading elements, we should not have achieved the mobilization of the pow- ers of the Party and the working class, the mobilization of the forces of the poor and middle peasantry, for the developed offensive of Socialisri, for the organization of Soviet and collective farms, for the reconstruction of our heavy industry, and for the liquidation of the kulak as a class. That is the position with regard to the The Struggle for Social Insurance in Michigan By JACK STACHEL. 'HE state of Michigan in which is located the heart of the auto industry, as well as other highly rationalized industries (steel, chemical, furniture, etc.), is an outstanding example of the insecurity of the workers under capitalism. The highly rationalized auto in- dustry contributes more than its proportionate share of those victims of capitalism facing starvation either through unemployment, old age or industrial accidents. All these social evils always existing under capitalist produc- ‘tion are particularly great today because of the terrific speed-up, and finds its highest expression in the auto industry. Fordism has become synonymous with insecurity from un- employment, old age and accidents. Hiding behind the fiction of “high wages” the bosses in the auto industry as throughout industry S. in the have not even taken the share of responsibility for these social evils springing from capitalist production which the workers of Germany, Great Britain and other European countries have through their struggles, com- pelled their capitalists to assume. If one stands at the Ford gates all day one will think that he is near a_ hospital. Thousands of workers are wounied and maimed every week and not a small number meet death in the interests of the auto mag- nates’ greed. Throughout the auto industry workers are subjected to the greatest hazards and no attempt is made to install machinery to safeguard the lives of the workers. The maddening speed-up inevitably takes its: toll of life and limb, Similarly workers who have had their energy sapped out in a few years are replaced by younger and more energetic men who await the samesfate. The madden- ing speed-up, the brutal driving of the work- ers throws tens of thousands of auto work- ers out of employment even if the pace of production is maintained. In the present eco- nomic crisis additional tens of thousands of workers face complete or part time unemploy- ment. Masses Responsive to Social Insurance. It is not to the credit of the Communist Party that in all the years of its existence it did not recognize the necessity for struggle for Social Insurance. It is to the credit of the Communist International that it directed our Party to consider one of its principal ac- tivities the struggle for Social Insurance. This point was particularly stressed to the Party by Comrade Stalin who repeatedly told the comrades in the United States to organize a broad movement for Social Insurance. It was only in the past few months that our Party has taken the lead in the agitation for Social Insurance and has particularly popularized the fight for Unemployment Insurnce. The response of the workers to this agitation showed the readiness of the workers to fight for Social Insurance, and the possibility of developing the widest mass movement around this issue. But until the present, the move- ment was purely agitational and did not bear a sufficient concreteness. It is only now after the Party has put forward the Social Insur- ance Bill that the Party is in a position to actually mobilize the masses for struggle around these demands, and through this cam- paign expose the rottenness of the capitalist system. the class character of the capitalist state, and utilize this issue not only in the struggle against the bosses’ offensive but to win the workers for the struggle against capi- talism under the leadership of the Communist Party. Bosses Fear Social Insurance Bill. That the movement for social insurance has vitality and that our Party will rally large masses in this struggle is not unknown to the bosses and their agents. Already they show fear of the progress made by the Communist Party in the agitation for Social Insurance. The bosses through many of their “liberals” and reformists have organized in the state of Michigan an organization called the “Social Insurance League.” This organization is al- ready collecting signatures calling for an amendment to the state constitution creating a Social Insurance Fund. This movement is not limited to unemployment alone. These same elements together with Jerry Buckly recently killed by the underworld in Detroit have also formed an Old Age Insurance League also seeking an amendment to the state constitu- tion, In this movement are already allied the labor fakers of the A. F. of L., many liberals and “progressive” politicians of the republican and democratic parties as well as socialists. That the fascist Buckley, who openly carried on provocations against the Communist Party on his radio, was connected with this move- ment, and that this movement is now carried on as a memorial to him shows that the bosses, the auto magnates and the bankers are behind this movement in an attempt to divert the growing radicalization of the masses into channels away from the Commu- nist Party and the Trade Union Unity League. In fact the Unemployment Insurance League is openly carrying on agitation telling the workers to keep away from demonstrations and the Communists but sign their petitions and they will get relief from their present suffering. Party Seeking Referendum Vote. But these elements will not succeed, pro- viding our Party is on the job. ‘What the masses want is food, clothing and shelter and not promises. They will be able to fool the workers for a time, only if our Party does not undertake a serious struggle for the So- cial Insurance Bill. In the first place we must tell the workers that only through struggle will they get Social Insurance. That side by side with trying to secure the bill passed through a referendum we must back up this bill through huge demonstrations, strikes and struggles. The Communist Party in Detroit has already taken the initiative to popularize the Social Insurance Bill and to collect 159,000 signatures by December 1st, thus placing the Social Insurance Bill to a referendum vote in the bienniel spring elections in April. That the bosses’ government will place every ob- stacle to the Communist Party both legal and otherwise in trying to prevent a referendum there is no doubt. But our Party will rally the masses in the struggle for the Social In- surance Bill, We will not only carry on the struggle fo ‘he Party Social Insurance Bill but at the same time exp*se the bosses’ Social Insurance League Bill. This bill sponsored by the progressives, lib- erals and reformers is nothing but a fraud, In the first place the bill provides that the un- ee on “Left” and right deviations in the It is our task to continue the ir’ fight on two fronts, aga resenting against the geois liberalism. rep Jism, and petty it is our task to continue the irreconciliable struggle against those conciliatory elements in the Party which fail to grasp the necessity of the determined struggle on two fronts, or bour- aWorker Central Onganget thecSd>apuumist Porty U.S.A. Sy mail SUBSCRIPTION RATES: everywhere: One year $6; si months $3: two months $1; Manhattap and Bronx, New York City. and foreign. which are: excepting Boroughs of One yr. $8; six mons. $4.50 feign not to grasp this necessity. (b) The survey of the struggle giong on in our Party against the deviations would be incomplete without a reference to the devia- tions existing in the Party on the national question, I refer firstly to the deviation in the direction of Greater Russian chauvinism, and secondly to the deviation in the direction of local nationalism. These deviations ‘are not so conspicuous and intrusive as the “Left” By BILL DUNNE. 'HE economic crisis and the world crisis of capitalism place befor this convention as its main task, the mobilizing of our Party for the winning of the decisive sections of the American working class. If this convention does not accomplish this task, then it will have failed to do its duty to the Party and io the American. working class. The Communist International tells us repeat- edly with ever greater emphasis that the road to a mass Party in the United States leads through the revolutionary trade unions. Any- one who thinks that the building of the red trade unions in the U. S. is the cial task of a certain few of the comrades in our Party, ith the C. I. ec. whole Party, is not in line the thesis of the Central Com In industry a new phase of the offensive against the working class has begun. It is quite clear, comrades, that the measures of rationalization taken so far by the class and its government in this by no means enabled them to begin solving the crisis, Still more of the burden is being placed upon the masses of the American working or ist offensive. Instead of. indirect methods of wage cuts in the decisive industries, we see a two-sided offensive—mass lay-offs, simulta- neously with direct wage cuts in coal mining, Demand All War Funds For Social Insurance! : Build the Red Trade Unions in United States Speech Delivered At Seventh Convention of the C.P.U.S.A,. and not the task of every comrade and of the | class and this is the new phase of the capital- | BY BURCK. metal mining, and steel particularly. It means that in the very sharpest form millions of workers in the most decisive industries are faced today with the necessity of struggle for mere existence. Our inability so far to put ourselves at the head of large masses in the decisive industries, the fact that our leadership so far is confined to the mass demonstrations for unemployment, the political strike on May 1, that we see our Party only in a few places at the head of the struggling workers, constitutes a great danger. This is one of the reasons why we find com- rades questioning the radicalization of the masses, questioning their willingness to strug- gle. If the Party is not lealing struggles, they y the workers don’t want to struggle; they say the workers are filled with illusions as to the liquidation of the crisis, as to its duration, ete.; the workers are not feeling the burden’ as badly as we say they are, they are not suffer- ing as much. This is one of the results inside our Party of our organizational weakness. But the masses are suffernig, ready for struggle. We must be able to stimulate organization and broaden these struggles. We must unlock the door that will open the reservoir of these tremendous class forees under our leadership, The methods, the forms, must be found. The study of and the day to day application of our. revolutionary strike strategy is indispensable. By JACK JOHSTONE. “WHAT are workers to do when they are hungry; are being evicted from their homes; are out of a job and can’t find any work to do?” This question is one that is being asked by tens of thousands of workers in New York today, and is becoming a more serious problem as winter approaches, The answer of the bosses and their govern- ment to this question is simple and is easily understood. The profits of the employing class must be maintained, and the cost of the crisis must be paid by the working class. Their method of enforcing this program is through wage cuts, speed up and to throw those work- ers whom they cannot exploit with profit, into the streets to starve. March 6 demonstration against unemploy- ment and for unemployed insurance held on Union Square in New York was met by the employers, the government, the fascist A. F. of L, and socialist party bureaucracy by a vicious attack and the sending of the leaders of the demonstration to the penitentiary. The unem- ployed workers asked for Work or Wages and they were given black jacks, were slugged, ridlen down by mounted police and jailed. It is sedition, a crime against this govern- ment by dollars to figth against starvation. employed receive a maximum of 40 per cent of their wages for a total period of 12 we: at no time the amount paid per week to exceed $20, According to the provisions of this bill an unemployed worker in the auto industry averaging $25 per week would receive a maxi- mum of $120 for himself and his family after which he is doomed to starvation. The bill deliberately leaves out the workers on the land from the provisions of the bill. The fund is to be administered by the Department of Labor and Industry of the state, which means that no workers militant in the struggle against capitalist exploitation and oppression will ever receive one cent. A worker is only } Demonstrate September First! The issue is clear: either the capitalist class shall pay the cost of the crisis or the working- class shall pay? Only through the organized strength of the working masses, the employed and the unemployed, the Negro and the white, can the program of the employers to make the workers pay the cost of the crisis be defeated. j “Labor Day” must become a day of struggle against unemployment on Union Square at. 12 noon, September 1, Again will the workers, under the leadership of the Trade Union Unity the XVI. Party Congress e J. Stalin’s Address on June 27, 1936 They may be termed creeping deviations. This does not, however, mean that they do not exist. No, they exist, and—what is the main thing—they are grow- ing. There can be no doubt of this, There can be no doubt, for the reason that the whole atmosphere o. the intensified class struggle is bound to lead to a certain increase of na- tional friction, finding its echo in the Party. Therefore, the true countenance of these devia- tions must be revealed and shown in its true light. What is the nature of the deviation in the direction of Greater Russian chauvinism under our present conditions? Essentially this chauvinism consists of the endeavor to evade the national differences of language, of culture, of habits of life, to pre- pare the liquidation of tne national federal republics ar.d territorities; of the endeavor to override the principle of equal national rights, and to utilize the policy of the Party for the nationalization of the apparatus, the press, the schools, and the other state and public or- ganizations. The opportunists of this type, taking as starting point the factor that when Socialism has won the victory the nations will have to join together and merge their mother tongues in one uniform common speech, consider that the time has now come to liquidate the na- tional differences, and to abandon the policy of supporting the development of the national cultures of the peoples hitherto held in bond- age. They refer to Lenin, citing him wrongly, sometimes even distorting his words and cal- umniating him. Lenin said that under Social- ism’ the interests of the nationalities will be- come mutual—does this not mean, say the opportunists, that it is time to clear away the national republics and territories in the inter- ests of .. . internationalism? Lenin, when polemising in 1913 against the members of the “federations,” said that the slogan of national culture is a bourgeois slogan—does this not mean, it is argued, that it is time to clear away the national culture of the peoples of the Soviet Union in the interests of . . . interna- tionalism? Lenin said that under Socialism na- tional vassalage and national barriers will be abolished—does this not mean, it is urged, that it is time to do away with the policy according consideration to the national peculiarities of the peoples, and to go forward to the policy of assimiliation in the interests of .. . interna- tionalism? And so forth. There can-be no doubt that this deviation in the national question, hiding as it does be- hind. the thask of internationalism and the name of Lenin, is the mgst subtle and, therefore, the most dangerous species of Greater Russian nationalism. In the first place, Lenin never said that the or Right deviations. ‘ national differences will have to disappear and the national languages merge into one uniform language within the bounds of one state be- fore the victory of socialism on a world scale. On the-contrary, Lenin stated precisely the opposite, that “the national and state differ- ences among the peoples and countries will continue to exist for a very long. time even after the realization of the dictatorship of the proletariat on a world scale.” (Vol. 17, p. 178. Russian.) How can Lenin be appealed to and yet such a definite statement be ignored? It is true that a one-time Mar: now a renegade and reformist, Mr. Kautsky, main- tains precisely the contrary of what Lenin taught us. He maintains, in opposition to Lenin, that the victory of the proletarian revolution in a united Austro-German state in the middle of last century would have led to the rise of a common German language and the German- izing of the Czechs, as only the strength of that which had freed itself from the fetters of deception, only the strength of modern culture, which the Germans brought with them, would have made the backward Czech petty bourgeois, peasants and proletarians (to whom their stunted nationality could give nothing) into Germans without any forced Germanization. (Preface to Marx’s “Revolution and Counter- revolution.”) Such a “conception” as this is quite in kee»’ g with Kautsky’s social chauy ism. I combatted these views of Kautsky’s in 1925 in my lecture at the university for the peoples of the East. Is it possible for us Marxists, who intend to remain international- ists to the end, that this anti-Marxist scrib- bling of a German chauvinist who has lost all sen — of porportion can be of any importance? Who is right, Kautsky or Lenin? How can we explain the fact that such comparatively backward nationalities like the White Russians and the Ukrainians, nearer related to the Great Russians than the Czechs ty the Co-mans, have not been Russifiel as result of the victory of the proletarian revolu- tion in the Soviet Union, but have, on the contrary, awakened to new life and have de- veloped as independent nations? How can we explain why such nationalities as the Turk- menes, Kirgises, Usbeks, and Tadshikes (not to speak of the Georgians, Armenians, Azer- beijanians, etc.), in spite of their backward- ness, have not only n-* been Russified in con- sequence of the victory of socialism in the Soviet Union, but on the contrary, awakened to r--v life, and developed as independent na- tions? Is it not clear that our worthy opportun- ists, in their hunt for a psewlo-international- i:.1, have fallen into ~~xutskyian social chauy- inism? Is it not clear that they, in striving for one common languaz;2 on the territory of one state, the Soviet Union, are in reality striving for the restcration of the privileges of the former ruling language, the Great Russian? What then becomes of internationalism? Marion Demonstrates American Democracy By B. D. AMIS. TE latest outstanding example of “Amer- ican democracy” and liberty for the Negro workers was demonstrated to the American Negroes last week in Marion, Ind. Marion, before practically unknown, overnight had its name blazoned upon the front pages of the bourgeois press and sealed in the blood of two Negro workers became the “exponent of Amer- ican democracy,” and the chief rival of Texas, Georgia, Mississippi, Oklahoma, etc, Simul- taneously, it joined the southern states and voiced its approval of attempting to perpetuate “white (boss) supremacy” through lynching and mob terrorism. American Democracy and the Negro Workers. The American Negro workers have. been the footstool of bourgeois society*ever since the first boat load of slaves landed on the shores of Virginia in 1619. From the sweat and blood of these workers, American capitalism has made its base of super and inhuman ex- ploitation. The Negroes are exploited as workers and are oppressed as a national min- ority. As workers they first feel the sharp- ness of the economic crisis. They are the first to lose their jobs and receive evictions from their homes. The most menial jobs are given these workers who receive the lowest pay and work the longest hours. The fascist and social fascist leadership of the American Federation of Labor has never been concerned to organize these workers. Only here and there through the initiative of misleaders of the labor movement or reformists have a few Jim-Crow locals been established. And these have never taken up the grievances of the Negro workers nor. presented a militant pro- gram gf action whereby their barbarous con- ditions ould be bettered. Council and the Council of Unemployed: dem- onstrate against unemployment and for unem- ployed insurance and for the release of the. un- employed delegation—Foster, Amter, Minor and Raymond, The complete plans for the organizing of the unemployed demonstration to be; held on Union Square September 1 will be discussed at a special meeting of the Trade Union Unity Council which will be held in the Irving Plaza Hall, Thurs lay, August 14, at 7:45 p. m. Shop committees, shop delegate councils, industrial unions, unemployed councils, workers’ clubs, the rank and file of the A, F, of L. unions are urged to send a special quota of delegates to this meeting. Only one main question will be discussed, that is, the mobilizing of the workers to demonstrate aczainst unemployment on Sep- tember 1 on Union Square. entitled to insurance according to the bill after he has been unemployed for more’ than a week, and only those workers are insured who have been employed for a week. The employer pays into the fund for every work- er who has been employed in his establishment for a week or more. It can readily be seen that this bill can be interpreted to mean that the 8 million now unemployed having no em- ployer will not be subject to insurance at all. Also what is to prevent every employer from having his workers employed one week out of every two and thus they will receive no insurance at all, since payments only. start after they have been unemployed more than As a national minority the oppression is more keenly felt. The white rulnig class pur- sues’ a conscious. and deliberate policy of spreading the germ of race hatred among all workers. Through the text books and schools, the churches and theatres, the press and radio, a veritable breast work of poisonous propa- ganda is built. Yearly tons of literature pro- nounce the Negro worker as inferior. Segre- gation, discrimination, lynching, mob ' terror- ism and the worst: forms of persecution are the lot of the Negro workers. Not alone are the “Gold Star Mothers” Jim-Crowed, but in the jails and prisons this damnable practice is carried on so efficiently to the extent of pro- voking race wars, Through this carefully planned system of propaganda, the hosses kindle the fire for race riots and through lynchings attempt to keep 1 up hatred among the Negro and white workers. Thereby the ranks of the workers are split and organizaton is rendered difficult. This is done to prevent the building of united fronts of rank and file workers fighting against the real enemy, the capitalist class. As long as the capitalist system of society endures, so long will there be “festivals” as was held in Marion. An escape from the South to North or to Africa is not the solution to the Negro problem. The semi-feudal oppres- sion in the South has its counterpart in a highly intensified industrial exploitation in the North. In Africa and the colonial countries, imperialism has developed the most barbarous system of chattel slavery. To the Negro work- ers “democracy” is an unknown term. To smash mob terrorism, to fight against lynchings, and race hatred requires the soli darity of Negro and white workers united in a common struggle against the main enemy, capitalism. The revolutionary Negro liberation move- ment is supported by the fullest realization of the class conscious white workers that capi- talism attempts. to retain racial subjection in order to perpetuate the exploitation and op- pression of the entire working class, Sharp struggles, lynchings, race wars, economic and race discrimination against the Negroes are methods used by the boss class to lower the conditions of the white workers. The demon- strative solidarity of Negro and white workers fighting for social, economic and political equality for the Negro workers is a factor that will gather the Negro workers to become the natural allies of the world revolutionary proletariat. Only through such a united force, exterminating capitalism and all its out- growths (lynchings, unemployment, economic crises, and white chauvinism) and in its place establishing a rule of the workers and peasants will such debacles as took place in Marion disappear. The liberation struggle of the American working class involves the liberation movement of the Negro workers, The Communist Party the vanguard of the working class, leads in organizing both Negro and white workers for struggle against all forms of oppression and persecution. It is the Communist Party that raises the slogan of self-determination, the highest expression of equality, for the Negro masses, The Com- munist Party through struggle will win the American proletariat to struggle for the na- tional aspirations of the Negro workers, Un- der the leadership of the Communist Party, the Negro workers will assume the hegemony of the Negro liberation movement, a week? It is clear that the bosses will not give any unemployment insurance to the work- ers without a bitter struggle. They will not even give the little demanded in this fraudu- lent “bill unless the movement for Social In- surance grows and the situation becomes threatening to capitalism. Then the bosses in an effort to defeat the Social Insurance Bill of the Communist Party may pass this fraud- ulent. bill under which the workers will be thrown a bone and those active in the class struggle will be completely victimized, The Proposed old age bill is equally fraudulent, can after the fake New York State old The Communist Party will expose this fake maneuver of the bosses to divert the struggles of the workers for so:‘al insurance and organ- ize a broad mass movement for the genuine Social Insurance Bill of the Communist Party. The Detroit District will utilize the election campaign to rouse the masses in the struggle for this bill and at the same time organize to- gether with the Trade Union Unity League, strikes and demonstrations of the employed and unemployed workers around its bill. ‘The September 1st demonstration must be a higk point in this fight 1 ante Vv