The Daily Worker Newspaper, October 6, 1930, Page 4

Published -by New ¥ i mail the Compr except Sunday, Cable: at 5 DATWORK.” 13th Street, New York, N. Y. East Dai Central Ong. eWorker hg-E>Rmunist Party U.S.A. By mail everywhere: One year, $6 of Manhattan and Bronx, New York City. SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Foreign: six months, $3; two months, $1; excepting Boroughs One year, $8; six months, $4.50 PRE-PLENUM DISCUSSION Young Communist League, U.S.A. The Turn in California By ART STEIN District Organizer, District 13 Our district, here in California, has almost complet olated from the life League nat experiences v I can only b which have come through on the work e other district of our League. It is clear that eve Shock Plan we did not succeed in ca’ even half of the ta I we set. But in going over the repor' stands out- d that is th imbued in our League the sf break once and for all the jan bonds which are holding back the development of our youth movem This in my opinion was the first prerequisite for making the turn. Our League now understands what the Y.C.I meant when it calied for a turn to mass w What remains before our coming Plenum is to see that this understanding reaches the lowest strata of our membership and to find the nec- ssary forms with which to carry through the one thing e has been it and desire to I have stated above that from the reports we have received we can say that the Leagu membership throughout the country has be to understand the turn. In the main, th true for our League in California. In carrying through the Shock Plan our District can point to certain achievements, the most outstanding being the work in building the Young Worker. T have been asked to state how we were able to do such good work for the Young Worker. The reason is simple. Our membership was made to understand the importance of the Young Worker in helping us to break with the sectarianism of our Léague in this district. The comrades found thropgh their experiences in trying to make connections in the factories, from which we were completely isolated, that the Young Worker was an invaluable organ- izer. This is the reason for the enthusiasm on the part of the membership of our district for the Young Worker. Every individual comrade directly felt the blow if the paper failed to appear even for one week. Although our Lea- gue as a whole succeeded in building the Young Worker since the last plenum the coming ple- num still has the task of making the Young Worker a weekly, of stabilizing the finances of the paper and taking steps to insure its fegular appearance. We have also made some progress, though very small, in beginning factory work. Especi- ally in Los Angeles section of the League is this true. In Los Angeles before the Shock Plan began, practically no work was done in the shops. Today, they are issuing two shop papers, have recruited one young worker into the League as a result of this work, made several good connections with other young workers, and have the possibility of forming a shop nucleus. The work there shows us tie importance of personal contacts, of visiting young workers in their homes regularly. In Northern California, where before the Shock Plan some factory was done, today very little systematic work is being done in the factories. This is mainly the fault of the leading com- rades in the district, including the district organizer, who have failed to give real leader- ship to these comrades,,failing to give sufficient direction and help in carrying through the day to day work of the League. ae We have made a beginning also in sports Three clubs are now functioning in the ict, with a membership of about 150. We | have comrades working in these clubs but as | yet there is no functioning fraction and we have failed to give real leadership to these . There is too much the idea that we can lead the clubs, even though we are not active members of it, just beeause we can say we are members of the Y.C.L. We have talked a long time about carrying on work in the Y.M.C. but very little has been done in so far as systematic work is concerned. We sent one comrade into the Y but very little effort was made to guide the activities of this com- rade, or direct the work. While we did assign comrades to work in youth organizations, we sent them only into the L.S.U. clubs, and are only now beginning to make contacts with other youth clubs. Jur main disease in this district (which is true for our League as a whole) is. the. fact that our work is not systematic; that we fail to follow up our work. A good example of this is the Anti-Militarist activity in this district. Our district did some good work in sending a group of comrades into the C.M.T.C. Bulletins were issued in all three camps in the state, we having comrades in all three camps. We also had one comrade in an N. G. camp, where w: also issue a bulletin, the comrade inside s' ceeding in distributing 200 inside of the camp himself. But once these comrades came back from camp nothing was done. As a result of our work we made some very good connections including several in the regular forces. Our task must be to follow up this work and make anti-work part of our every day League work. Another example of this same disease is our Negro work in San Francisco. Our unit in this city arranged two. meetings, in the Negro sec- tion which were very successful. We got sev- eral applications of young Negro workers for the League and. also two for the Party, but here again nothing was done to follow up this work. We are only now beginning to take our work among the Negro youth seriously, and taking steps to organize branches of the Young Liberators in the district. Our district was assignd the task of holding an agricultural youth conference. We had ab- solutely no connections with young agricultural workers and knew very little of their condi- tions, in spite of the fact that two big strikes had taken place in the Imperial Valley. We sent out one of our leading bureau members to begin work for the conference. Although no date has been set for the conference itself we have achieved certain successes in this work, among which we must include certain new ex- periences in the form and method of organiza- tion of migratory workers. Membership books and stamps have just been issued so that we can only now begin to look for organizational results. The end of the Shock Plan is only beginning of our work to break with the secetarianism of our League. With all the shortcomings in our work, we can nevertheless say that as a begin- ‘ning in making the turn the League has achieved certain successes in carrying through the Shock Plan. The coming plenum must see a definite break with the old forms, must arouse our whole membership for real mass work, and lay the basis for further successes along the road towards a mass Y.C.L. by the time of our Sixth National Convention. Experiences and Shortcomings of Youth Conference Against Lynching By LOYD DIGHT Cleveland, Ohio. The work of organizing a youth conference against lynching and discrimination and form- ing a mass organization among the Negro young workers was one of the most vital feat- ures of the Plan of Action. In this activity we gained a great deal of ex- periences which will aid us greatly in our future work among the young colored workers as well as in all of our other mass activity. Many shortcomings of our League and its methods of work were also revealed in a striking light fn our work in this field. The-first conference which we called in dis- trict six was a failure. Altho several youth organizations were approached to participate im the conference and some elected delegates, nevertheless, not one outside delegate was pres- ent at the conference. The failure of this conference was analyzed by our Buro as caused by our neglect to conduct a wide campaign mong the colored workers against lynching and Jim Crowism and to popularize the con- ference in this manner. : Therefore, our preparations for our next con- ference which was held on September 21, in- cluded the holding of numerous open-air meet- ings in the Negro section of the city, the is- suing of various leaflets which helped to popularize the conference, as well as the visit- ing of many youth organizations. Several comrades were sent to ‘the Cedar YMCA (the Negro branch of the YMCA in Cleveland) in order to get delegates from the elubs (over 30 in number) which meet there every night of the week. The hireling of the YMCA who has charge of these clubs refused to let the comrades speak. In the presence of about 25 of the boys he announced that the “Y” ‘took no stand on the question of lynching and that he would lose his job if he allowed us to Speak to the clubs. The comrades distributed ealls for the conference among the young _ workers present, and followed this up by is- _ suing an open letter to the members of the _ “Y” the following night. This open letter called ~- upon them to elect delegates among themselves _ to the conference, and also exposing the YMCA as a supporter of lynchings and Jim-Crowism, delegates from one of the: clubs were Present at the conference. They took the floor and pledged the support of their club (with -about 15 members) in the building up of the - Young Liberators in this city. They later | agreed to affiliate their club to, the Young ae tors and to help win over the rest of the of the Cedar “Y” for the Young Liber- One of the delegates is a member of the Executive Committee of the Young Liberators in this city. As a part of the preparations for ‘the con- ference we decided to hold an indoor mass meeting on the night before the conference. Leaflets were issued and about 200 of these remained to be distributed on the day of the mass meeting. Altho many comrades were hanging around the office it was difficult to get any one to help in the distribution of the leaflets. Some said: “Why don’t you pass them out yourself?”, others just blankly re- fused; but the prize excuse was given by a leading comrade of this district. who refused to go on the grounds that he had a new suit on! This is all the more estonishing when we note that the weather was very nice, not a sign of rain, and we are sure that the passing out of a few leaflets would not have such a serious effect on any suit, even a new one! This, and the reluctance of many comrades to engage in work among the young Negro work- ers can only be attributed to a gross under- estimation of Negro work based upon white chauvinism, 5 In the conference itself, which was a success (about 25 delegates were present), many more of our shortcomings were apparent. Only a few of the comrades (the YCL delegation) who took the floor actually helped the work of the conference by concrete suggestions and dis- cussion. Most of them made speeches. - These speeches would be OK at an open air meeting, but they have a bad effect at a .conference. \Firstly, because it shows an attitude of the comrades as—“Well, we organized’ this confer- ence, we know all about it, and we must tell the other delegates why they must fight against lynching”. But the worst thing about these speeches is that it discourages the other del- egates (who canot make hot speeches) fron taking a part in the discussion. A young col- ored girl who was a delegate passed a note to the secretary that she would not take the floor as she could not make a speech. Later she did and said in a few words more than all of our long-winded YCL’ers put together, and pledged the support of her organization in the struggle against lynching and discrimination. As the League more and more ceases to merely talk about mass activity and actually engages itself in this work undoubtedly we shall discover many more of these shortcomings of ours, These must be corrected. And for in- stance, in our future work of building up the YOUNG LIBERATORS we will gain much valuable experience, which if utilized together with the correcting of our mistakes and weak- nesses, we can go far on the road to becoming | a mass Bolshevik Young Communist League. THE YANKEE JANUS —BY BURCK We Can Rally Masses of Workers to Vote for Com- munism Nov. 4th Underestimation of Election Campaign Harmful to the Revolutionary Struggle. By WM. Z. FOSTER. (Communist Candidate for Governor of New York State) In the present election campaign our Party has an opportunity not only to poll a vote sev- eral times larger than ever before but also to vastly increase its prestige and mass fol- lowing in every phase of its work. To achieve this success it is necessary that we keenly realize the significance of the ‘situation and thus mobilizé all our forces into the most in- tense activity to take advantage of it. « Repétition of March 6 Coming. The workers, under the pressure of the eco- nomic crisis, are ready, to an, unprecedented degree, for organization and struggle. We have said this time and again. But many still underestimate the depth of this radicalization. One of the great surprises in store for the United States in the near future will be dra- matic demonstrations of the deep and far- reaching wave of discontent now sweeping through the American working class. March 6 gave an inkling of this, but events of the coming months will dwarf that great demon- stration. In this election the masses of workers, de- spite their unorganized conditions, will strive to make a great protest and to give vent to their deep discontent over unemployment, wage cuts, and the general worsening of their con- ditions... The capitalists, keenly aware of. this great leftward trend of the masses, are seek- ing consciously to emasculate and dissipate it through such false issues as the liquor ques- tion, ete. And their fasvist and social-fascist A. F. of L. ani socialist party lackeys, with the same objective, strain every nerve to demoralize the masses and to liquidate their militant moods with reformist talk. Mobilize All Forces. Against this capitaist. program our. Party must throw itself with all its force. It. must with a-degree of militancy and mobilization of its. forces previously unknown come forward as the fighting leader of the working class Although our Party is relatively small and the capitalist enemy very powerful, we must not be dismayed by this. With the workers in their present militant frame of mind, we can rally great masses ‘of them to vote for our Party ticket, notwithstanding all the efforts’ of the capitalists and their labor lieutenants of the A: F. of L. and “socialist” party. March 6 gave us an indication of how these masses will follow revolutionary leadership. Do Not Underestimate Campaign Work. But success inthe election campaign re-~ quires a great intensification of our work. At present the campaign proceeds too leisurely. This comes from an underestimation of the opportunity confronting us and also of the im- “portance of parliamentary elections for edu- cating and organizing the workers. The next weeks must see tenfold activity on our part, with every Party member doing his share, and a great increase in our shop gate meetings, street meetings, circulation of Party press and literature work in the unions, among the unemployed, etc. Our efforts must not be confined merely to securing workers to vote for Communist, candidates. That would be rank opportunism. The success of our election campaion is bound up with the intensification of our work in every sphere. We must drive ahead. with renewed energy in our fight for the Work- ers Unemployment Insurance Bill, for the seven-hour day, five-day weck, for strikes against wage cuts, etc. The workers are in a fighting mood, and the more militant and aggressive we are in these struggles the more the workers, who above all desire decisive p-- tion, will rally under our leadership. . We must combat all. passivity'in our ranks; we must squelch all tendencies to consider the election campaign as a thing apart from our | other campaigns. Keep Apace With the Rising Struggle. Trade Union Unity Council Call to Smash Injunctions By JACK JOHNSTONE T. U. U. C. Organizer. Within the last few years the direct interfer- ence and vicious use of the machinery of the government in the smashing. of strikes, have developed with the velocity of a cyclone. Today the injunction plays a major role as @ weapon against the workers. Coupled with the injunction which forbids the union to or- ganize—to strike—to picket—to hold meetings —to even talk about’ the low wages, long hours, and miserable working conditions—has been ad- ded Section 600 of the Penal Code of the State of New York, making a violation of the injunc- tion a criminal act for which the workers are sent to prison without a jury trial, by the’Court of Special Sessions, and after serving sentence the workers can again be arrested, tried for contempt by the court that issued the injunc- tion, and sent to prison a second time, for the one alleged offense. It is an erroncous belief held by many work- ers that capitalist law grants them the right to organize, or to strike, or to picket. Nothing is further from the truth. There is no such law on the statutes. Wherever any organization has been recognized, it has been done thranch strike struggle. Wherever injunctions have been defeated; wherever the courts have dis+ missed cases against militant striking workers, it is when the workers en masse have shown their contempt for the order of the cour:, del- iberately and in an organized mariner violated the decisions of the courts. This-is the. only way that injunctions and the” application of Section’ 600 of the Penal Code will be defeated. A. F. of L. Injunctions. It is no accident that the A. F. of L. turns from its faint-hearted criticism of “the abuse of injunctions in labor disputes” to being the outspoken champion of injunctions and among the first to demand the use of Section 600 against ihe workers. © Nationally, Ptesident Green still carries on a. pretense of.a fight against injunctions, while locally, with his sup- port, his henchmen take out injunctions against the needle workers, shoe - workers, and. food workers including cafeteria workers, butchers, bakers, fruit clerks, and.grocery clerks. of New York City. edi tbnitcina a Today in:New York City-the-use.of: Section . 600 and the injunction brings out in bold re- lief the unity of the A. F. of L. and social’st bureaucrats with the employers,-the police and the courts, in the most vicious form of struggle against the workers. It works very efficiently for the boss. A good Socialist lawyer applies for an injunction on behalf of an A. F. of L. union. For example: the Food Craft Council against the Food Workers Industrial Union, enjoining them from organizing any part «f the food industry that has now, or may in'the fu- ture, enter into an agreement with the A. F. of L.. Then, when the Food Workers Industrial a tremendous opportunity for development it iso is pregnant with danger, for if we should fail to give the workers the organization and leadership they clamor for, their movement will stream on past us and leaye us in a sectarian isolation, . ‘Let, us, therefore, tackle with All our energy and resources the great tasks that the economic crisis and the rising workers’ struggles thrust upon us. We must put more steam into:the election campaign; we must greatly strengthen our fight for unemployment insurance, and our strike movement against wage cuts. We must utilize all cur mass contacts to register a great vote for Communism. We'can, if we will but seriously try, turn this election into the great- est mass mobilization of workers that our Party has ever carried through. “ (Written at Hart’s Island Penitentiary.) Mobilize the workers of your shop, factory, | office, and store for the Madison Square Garden Demonstration to greet Minor, Foster and Am- ter’ on the day of release, October Union organizes and calls a strike in a previ- ously unorganized shop, an A. F. of L. organ- izer sells the boss a union window card and the use of his private injunction. Then the business agent instructs the police whom to ar- rest. They are taken before a good republican magistrate who sends them to Tammany Hall’s Court of Special Sessions and the striking workers are sent to prison for 30, to 60 days without jury trial, denied even the right to plead their case. Socialist Lawyers Prosecute. This form of united front is wide-spread. Just to cite a few examples: It was Solomon the socialist lawyer who applied for the injunction om behalf of the A. F. of L. Grocery and Dairy clerks Local 338 against the Food Workers In- dustrial Union. His firm, a little more in- direct, also applied for an injunction for the owner of ‘the struck firm. It was Heller, a socialist business agent, and Rosenzweig, a democratic business agent of Local 338 that | aided the police in beating up’the pickets “viiich resulted in the murder of Steve Katovis. Ep- stein of the Food Craft Councils, Max Schnei- der of the socialist-contro!led International La- dies Garment Workers company union, 2nd a host of others' are active in this work and Lave framed up with.the employers, the police and the courts, which resulted in the clubbing of workers, the breaking of strikes and the send- ing of hundreds of workers to prison in the past few months. Only the Communist Party raises the slogan of “Smash the Injunetions”, and the standard bearer, Wm, Z. Foster, candidate for governor, now lies in prison for so-called unlawful as- sembly, while the republican, democrat and so- cialist parties unite to crush the workers by the use of injunctions and Section 600 of the Pena! Code. Smashing the injunction by mass viola- tion carries with it support for the candidates and the election program of the Communist Party. Strikes IMegal. The injunction law (and the application of Section 600 of the Penal Code) virtually ont- law strikes, militant picket lines, free speech and the right of assembly. It legalizes and compels. the workers to accept the A. F. of L. company unions and class.collaboration policy. If the employer finds himself in strike strug- gle with the revolutionary industrial unions, all he has to do, is to buy an A. F. of L. window card, take out a membership card in the bosses’ sassociation and the courts will issue an injunc- tion against the workers and the union not to interfere with the A. F. of L. If the workers persist in fighting against wage cuts, they are declared criminals and sent to prison under Section 600 of the Penal Code. The same procedure is followed by the em- ployers’ association. They, too, have a blanket injunction against the revolutionary unions, covering all members of their assogiation, or those who may become members. Should a strike in a non-union member’s shop or factory take place, he does not have to go to court or hire a host of lawyers. All he has to do is to sign up with the employers association, place an A. F, of L. card on display at so much per business agent and in a few hours’ time, gun- men, thugs, police and the courts are in action against the workers, sh Injunctions Si Tt is a futile and a lost cause to fight this battle against injunction and Section 600 on a purely legal basis. There is no redress by law for the workers in this fight.. They must smash the injunctions and along with it, the applica- tion of Section 600 of the Penal Code. This can only be done by the uniting of all working- class forces, the deliherate selection af nde ar more shops or factories for organization, for strike against wage cuts, and for mass vio.a- tion of the injunction whenever it is issued. ; Joint Conference if Tn order to meet the present situation and to organize the Workers for struggle against wage cuts, unemployment, and to smash the injunc- tion, a Joint Conference is ‘called of the Trade By JORGE DELAYED YOM KIPPUR —MINUS THE CHICKEN A “constant reader” says that it would be “a fitting moment” on Yom Kippur, to “tell the readers why we had to move from a live center like Union Square to that cemetery on 18th street.” Why Yom Kippur should get all tangled up with problems of space and lighting in the mind of our comrade, we don’t know. But there is no secret as to why we moved, Seemingly Comrade Mary, you ditn’t read the issue of September 12, where it was stated that—“constantly increasing activities have loud demanded’ more space” than was avail- able at 26 Union Square. Or perhaps you think that was an “official” reason but not the “real” one. Surely you should know that the specific gravity of truth in Party statements has tremendously ‘increased in the last year. Comrade Mary evinces no conception of the multitude of problems, adequate space, mort- gages and interests, rents paid for outside space,'upkeep costs, land values, and so on, What she pines for is the “real. sense of pride in seeing our slogans broadcasted over such a wide and conspicious area”. Well, there’s nothing wrong with that. But where, Comrade Mary, is the Communist Party, in the shops and in the hearts of the workers in the shops, or in some “conspicuous” banner-flaunt- ing official quarters? Don’t overrate show and underrate substance. The Party office and that of the Daily are work places, and if they are “deserted” by the crowd which hung around the Coop, so much the better, as we could spare about 90 percent of those freaks, fairies and stool pigeons who held continual session at the doors. It had be- come a sort of Wailing Wall, minus the healthy influence of some Arabs. Don’t be downeast. When the new place is fixed up in spite of Goldfield, we'll have space for all workers inside, and can pass the joy of the space outside, and the pleasure, if so you deem it, of gazing at the brass statue of Lafay- ette and crying out: “Lafayette, we are here!” Also, the official statement mentioned declared: “The Party does not intend to abrogate its right to use Union Square for political mass demonstrations.” But about Yom Kippur: If we’ have sinned in moving, we should like to atone. We un- derstand from the Scotchman at the next desk that on Yom Kippur you fast and pray, while the head of the house waves a chicken over your head in a properly religious spirit, the idea being that the sin goes into the chicken, ae you eat the chicken at the end of the ast. = We -poor gois on-the Daily, however, have been fasting for a month without any wages, and if you’ve got any chicken, you might shoo it around, sins, feathers and all. Otherwise, we fear that we will be gathered unto Abraham's bosom with lots of sin and no chicken. see “AFRICA SPEAKS” INDEED! Last Friday on page 2 of the Daily Worker perhaps you noted a theatrical review of the Movietone “Africa Speaks,” a product of one Paul L. Hoefler of the Colorado-African Expedi- tion, who lectures four times a day at the Globe Theatre. We are indebted to a worker for calling our attention to it by an independently written re- view. The one by our reviewer, in the light of what the worker says, suffers from a kind of disease that may be called “art for art’s sake,” but which at bottom is just plain opportunism. Whe worker, E. R. Thorwarth, gives us the following.review: “4AFRICA SPEAKS’ is another searchlight in the jungle of capitalist society. Speeches... The lily-white movie magnates get a spirited sendoff by the cream of society. They sacrifice a Negro to the lions—to make a jungle talkie bring cheers from the audience, to fill the pockets of the exploiter. “The victim in darkest Africa trusted his masters of the movie. And the masters. mur- dered their servant. A most cold-blooded and deliberate murder. A murder plot which has no equal. It glorifies the crimes of the ruling class, It gives the depraved bourgoisie barbaric thrills ‘unequaled in motion pictures.’ “Yes, fellow workers, this picture shows how the ‘ruling class capitalizes crime. How they “cash in on the crimes they commit, protected by ‘law and order.’ “An episode: The white masters tell the Ne« gro: ‘Go to the truck!’ A death sentence in movietone. Concealed picture machines behind hedgewalls alongside the path of the running Negro and the pursuing lion! The movie opera- tors at all points are well prepared to ‘shoot’ the Picture of the fleeing Negro and the attacking lion. That was no accident. And there was an element of surprise only for the Negro sent into a death trap. The operators and their helpers were ready to shoot for self defense, but according to the plan they did not act until the Negro was killed.” The review the Daily printed spoke of the play's “interesting incidents,” and then con- tinued: “ Some of the episodes shown are astounding. We see a group of lions attacking one of the natives connected with the expedition, who is Killed.” This, ‘besides being atrocious grammar, ree veals a perfect bourgeois mentality in sharp dis- tinction to that of a worker who quickly pers ceives the profit motive behind the “astound= ing” scene, And it looks too much to us as though the Daily reviewer was still more shames less when he added: “If you enjoy a film or’jungle or animal lite you will call it one of the best of the lot.” He had much better.have written: “If you enjoy a lynching, or the murder of a man of an oppressed race by thrill-selling’ imperialists, you + Will call it hot stuff.” Really, the word “op. portunism” is too mild to characterize such a review, and it only got into the Daily because it gave no intimation of what was seen by the eyes of a worker—the illimitable vileness of imperialist oppression, Union Unity Councils, the Shop Delegates Coun- cils, and Executive Boards of all the local, unions and leagues affiliated to the T.U.U.C., and, representatives of labor fraternal organiza- tions, to outline plans for the smashing of the injunction by mass violation, This Anti-Injunc- tion ‘conference will be held in the Manhattan Lyceum, 66 East Fourth Street, October 10, at 7:45 p. m. sharp. All unions and leagues are notified to cancel any meetings that have. been arranged for October 10. All delegates to the Trade Union Unity Council, all delegates to Shop Delegate Councils, all Union and League Executive Boards, and representatives of labor fraternal organizations, must be mt at this im, \