The Daily Worker Newspaper, October 10, 1930, Page 4

Fage Four 18th Street, New York City, N. ¥. Telephone Algonquin 7956-7. Cable Published by the Comprodaily Publishing Co., Inc., daily, except Sunday, at 50 East “DAIWORK.” Address and mail all checks to the Daily Worker, 50 East 13th Street, New York, N. ¥. Central Orga Daily,A Yorker Porty U.S.A. A SUBSCRIPTION RATES: ‘By mail everywhere: One year, $6; six months, $3; two months, $1; excepting Boroughs of Manhattan and Bronx, New York City. Foreign: One year, $8; six months, $4.50 HOW NOT TO CALL STRIKES By BILL LAWRENCE ITH the sharpening of the class struggle and the is of capi- talism the a rs become ne burden of t y upon the shoulders of the wo: On the other hand the fightin: s their readiness t ms is growing di seventh conven sheer economic weight of the crisis to effect a political awakening of the g the road to the Communist ganization and g the v ” “Under e condi- and fundamental work of e masses for resistance against m, and wage cuts and for un- ent relief campaigns, the organiza- the unions, the ilding of our Party s the all overshadowing tasks.” ned Against Spontaneity. gz out the above-correct statements the seventh convention realized that because of the readiness of the workers to struggle some of our comrades may go to an extreme and completely overlook the importanee of preliminary organization before a sti it warns the Party leaders against relying on the spontaneity of the masses. gle. Eowever, it seems that not always do lead- | ing co des take warnings seriously, which results costly for the Party. In this respect the Philadelphia Party had an experience from which the Party as a whole must draw the necessary lessons. For months the Marine Workers’ Industrial Union concentrated on the Philadelphia water- front. The conditions of the longshoremen, both organized and unorganized, are worsen- ing every day. As a result of the great un- employment organized longshoremen are glad to work for 50 cents an hour. The dissatisfac- tion with the ILA (section of the A. F. of L.) is growing daily. In a period of a few weeks our union was able to recruit several hundred members on the waterfront. However, in carrying on the work the MWIU made a num- ber of mistakes: Our Mistakes. 1. It carried on the activities on the basis of attacking the ILA leaders and not together with a fight against the conditions prevailing on the waterfront. 2. It concentrated entirely on the organized workers (deep water men) and practically completely neglected the unorganized (coast- wise). 8. While the union correctly raised the slo- gan “strike against wage cuts!” it didn’t lay enough stress on the importance of organiza- tion, thus failing to draw in the workers on the waterfront in the leadership of the union. | 4, The union failed to take the necessary measures to safeguard the jobs of the work- ers who enlisted in our union which resulted in victimization and blacklisting of loyal mem- bers of the union. 5. Our union completely neglected the sea- men and orientated itself entirely towards the longshoremen. 6. The theory of some of the organizers was that unless there is a strike the longshoremen will not take an active part in the organiza- tion. 7. Failure to build and establish a func- . tioning Party fraction. 8. Instead of carrying on day to day work lining up worker after worker, the work was carried on in spectacular ways; one week we would have several meetings and another week ‘we completely failed to do anything. 9. And finally a theory of exceptionalism was advanced by some of our organizers, claiming that the marine industry is different from others and that here preparatory organ- ization is unnecessary. Direct Wage Cut Avoided. In spite of the above mistakes and short- comings the influence of our union on the waterfront was growing. We became a real factor among’ the workers. The workers lis- tened and responded to our speakers. The ILA | end the bosses knew these facts and fearing | the revolt of the longshoremen avoided en open and direct wage cut by renewing the old agrce- ment, which in reality is nothing but a wage cut agreement, worsening conditions in gen- In the face of these facts what should have | been the position of our union? Not a strike at all costs, but the organization and activiza- ke, thus | i tion of the workers in dock committees, the | drawing in of longshoremen into the leadér- ship of the union, the utilization of the agree- t to expose more the ILA as the agent of the bosses and the necessary organizational s for the coming struggles on the Instead of this the organizers in- ke be called when the agree- red without having any of the most y ional preparations for the It must be stated that the district ecretariat. and the secretariat of the + T.U.U.L., though they had the correct and pointed out the mistakes, nev e- pitulated under the pressure of the union nizers and the National Office of the T.U. L, and officially approved the calling of the strike. The Secretariat allowed a Communist conception of strike strategy to be replaced by a wobbly one thus completely ignoring the warning of Comrade Foster, in his strike strat- egy where he states: “Less and less can the strike strategist upon the spontane’ of the masses, ig them into revolt against their ex- s, more and more he has to figure on preliminary organization, con- y and carried through almost trategy.” Strike Called.” But as stated above these warnings were red: The organizers got together without setting up a single committee of the workers or without even the knowledge of the workers decided that the time was ripe. The strike was called. The strike revealed the follow- ing: 1. That while the marine industry has some peculiar features, the calling of a strike, just like in any other industry necessitates the re- quired preliminary preparations, the setting up of committee, etc., ete. 2. Failure to set up committees of action and the election of a broad strike committee from below. 8. Because of the failures to set up com- mittees and to draw in the longshoremen into the leadership of the union, when the strike call was issued, we were isolated from the workers, and there was no one from among the workers to inspire the others to get off the truc! 4. The union overlooked the most funda- mental law in strike strategy by failing to have the workers approve the calling of the strike and not only the organizers. 5. The strike was called completely without the knowledge of the workers in the industry, thus taking the workers by surprise on the morning of the strike. 6. That there was a considerable sentiment for strike among the organizers, members of the secretariat and national office of the T.U. U.L. but the longshoremen on the waterfront were not yet prepared to strike. No Response. Due tothe above mistakes and in addition the great unemployment and terrof prevailing on the waterfront the longshoremen did not respond to the call of the union. It is to be expected that as a result of this the conditions of the workers on the waterfront will worsen. The ILA as is already seen is taking the offensive.. The ILA together with the bosses will and is making attempts to drive our union off the waterfront in order to make possible more wage cuts, lengthen the hours of work, etc., etc. The longshoremen will not tolerate this and will revolt. Our union must take the lead in actually organizing the workers to strike. To make possible this we must do away with the Wobbly-opportunist conception and theories of exceptionalism. We must not rely on sponta- neity. We must abandon those activities which do not bring organizational results and only help to victimize the workers. We must begin from the very bottom, line up the longshore- men one by one, organize them in groups and committees. Activize these committees and | draw the workers into the leadership of the union. More attention must be paid to the seamen. More concentration on the unorgan- ized. We must entrench ourselves among the | workers, and then, throu’* these activties we must prepare the workers themselves to vote for strike and not only the organizers. We must take seriously the instructions of Comrade Lenin: “No political party if it desires to avoid adventurist tactics can base its activities on expectations, of such outbursts and complica- tions. We must proceed along our road,’and steadily carry out our systematic work, and the less we count on the unexpected the less likely are we to be taken by surprise, by any ‘historical turn.” The Socialists Are the Enemies ot the Workers By PAUL NOVICK. The following is the second of a series of articles by Comrade Paul Novick on the “socialist” party of America. Work- ers will find these articles of much value in their discussions on the parties and platforms in the present election cam- paign. ‘ —Editor. A dispatch from Ehrenbreitstein, Germany, dated October 5, tells us: “One hundred twenty thousand members of the Stahlhelm (steel helmet) organization assembled in the Rhineland town opposite Coblenz today for a monster demonstration that called for a resurgence of nationalism. “. . . Guests of honor were a delegation of Italian fascisti, a_group of Norwegians and Finns and the former crown prince of ' Germany, who was made an honorary mem- ber of the Silesian and Brandenburg Stahl- helm societies.” This in Prussia which is ruled by a “social- ist” government! This, at a time when the Workers Red Front Fighters Organization is suppressed! The “socialists,” all through the twelve years of their reign in Prussia and all through the years when they headed the central German government, have allowed the fascist monarch- ists free reign, while at the same time suppress- ‘ing the revolutionary organizations of the work- _ ing class. More than that, the “socialists” are really the organizers of fascism, the organizers of the first fascist bands Strange as it may seem, the honor of a pio- of fascism does not rest with Benito Mus- i. It rests with the leaders of the German democratic party, Ebert, Scheidermann, Noske and others. During the stormy days of the revolution of 1918, when the rising masses of German workers, soldiers and sailors, under the leeder- ship of the Spartakus Bund, have demanded the establishment of a workers and farmers gov- ernment, Ebert, Noske, Scheidemann, Lands- burg have,organized out of the scum of the monarchist army of Ex-Kaiser Wilhelm that murder band which has—in January, 1919— done to death the revolutionary leaders of the working class, Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Lieb- knecht, and became the nucleus of the coming fascist organizations in Germany and other countries. The present fascist Hitler organization, the fascist Orgesch organization in Bavaria, are the products of the social-democratic Hoffman- Auer government which has destroyed the So viet government of Bavaria end killed the lead- er of the Bavarian workers, Levine. All those so-called “free” military corps, the various bands led by Erhardt and other monarchist army officers, were the bloody creation of Noske, war minister of the social-democratic government after the November (1918) revolu- tion, the creation of Ebert, Scheidemann, and other “socialists.” All in order to save capi- talism. Ever since those. days when the workers, soldiers and sailors of Germany were murdered by the tens of thousands, the monarchist fas- cit, bands, the murderers of Luxemburg and Liebknecht were protected, pampered, assisted in every way by the social democratic rulers of Germany. The murderers of Luxemburg and Liebknecht were given money, were given positions in the Prussian “socialist” govern- ment in April, 1929. At the famous libel suit —BY BURCK against the editor of the “Das Tagebuch,” in Berlin, it was brought out that the confessed murderer of Karl Liebknecht, Lieutenant Lipp- mann, had been employed in the Department of Justice of the “socialist” government of Prussia, and have been allowed to escape when that was the smoothest way out. None of them were punished. Major Pabst, the leader of the band, was allowed to escape to Austria, which was, in those days, ruled by a “socialist” gov- ernment supported by a “socialist” majority in Parliament. There he was allowed to estab- lish his headquarters and launch upon the or- ganization of the Heimwehr, which is now sup- plying Austria an open fascist rule. The social-democrats of Germany have cre- ated the so-called Republican Defense Law, which is a law against the Communist move- ment. Communist papers have been suspended, editors put in jail. The Red Front Fighters League, the Red Youth Front, the Anti-Fascist organization of the German workers, were per- secuted and finally suspended. The “socialist” police of Berlin are always on the side of the fascists whenever they engage in their mur- derous fights upon the workers. Fascism which is the child of social-fascism, can “get away with anything” under “socialist” rule. Only recently the “socialist” Premier of Prussia, Otto Braun, was “forced” to allow the mon- archist Stahlhelm demonstration in Hhineland after Hindenburg threatened to boycott the celebrations in that territory, To say that the social-fascists of Germany (as well as Austria) have paved the way for fascism, is not sufficient. The “socialists” are the organizers of fascism. In the American labor movement, the “so- cialists” were the first to introduce fascist methods of disbanding left wing local unions and joint boards, suppressing such bodies by force. The “socialist”-led International Garment Workers Union, in 1928, has expelled scores of left wing workers of the Dressmakers Local of Chicago and finally disbanded by force the left wing joint board of the cloakmakers union of that city, with the aid of the Chicago police and underworld. The president of that union, infamous Sigman, together with his vice-presi- dent, Pearlstein, have introduced a reign of terror against all needle workers who dared criticize their action. At one of the demonstra- tions of the rank and file, at Ashland Audi- torium, underworld gunmen have tried to mu- der Comrade William Z. Foster, While he was speaking from the stage of that hall. The shots fired at him went wild and the agents of the “socialists” escaped. The expulsion of Comrade William F. Dunne from the convention of the A. F. of L. in Seattle, the expulsions that have taken place in the United Mine Workers of America with the subsequent adoption of an amendment to the constitution that no Communist may be- long to that union, all these and other fascist facts of the A. F. of L. leadership followed after the “socialists” in the needle trades have inaugurated their fascist methods. Here, too, the honor of pioneers of fascism belongs to the “socialists.” Fascism is an octopus now let loose by the capitalist class in order to fight the working masses. In Germany, Austria, Hungary, Po- land, Finland and other countries, the fascists together with their organizers, the social-fas- cists, are suppressing the organizations of the working class, disarming the workers, forcing upon them long working hours, wage cuts, capi- talist rationalization, abolishing the 8-hour day, unemployment relief, and other living and work- ing conditions gained by the revolution in 1918. Fascism, together with social-fascism are now the open instruments of the dictatorship>of capital in many countries. In the United States, the capitalist class is trying to stem the tire of unrest with the aid Seamen’s Institute to “Solve” Unemployment in Shipping Circles By HARRY RAYMOND. Prisoner No. 52349. * (mprisoned Member of the Unemployed Delegation.) Fascist plens, programs and schemes for “solving” unemployment and “relieving” the unemployed have been appearing in such vast numbers that it has become almost impossible to keep track of them all. Among the most notorious of these schemes and plans is the Ford plan, which calls upon penniless workers to buy, the Coolidge plan, which says the economic crisis was caused by lack of religion and advocates more Jesusism and gedism for the starving unemployed, the Heywood Broun “give a job till June” plan, the “Jimmie” Walker “give a second hand suit” plan, the deportation plan of Hamilton Fish, the Whalen Cossack plan, which includes everything from wholesale clubbing to the murder of unemployed workers, the “great” psychiatric plan, which says the unemployed are mentally deficient and should be treated as insane patients and the welfare plan of municipal lodging houses, bread lines and un- employment offices. If we were asked which one of these fascist planners of unemployment plans deserves the grand prize we would answer that what each one of them deserves is a good slice of work- We do think, however, that it would be perfectly proper and fitting to present a nice little token of esteem, say, a erochetted bedroom utensil, to Dr. Archibald R. Mansfield, superintendent of the Seamen’s Church Institute, who happens to be the latest arrival in the field of fascist unemployment plans. The following is the plan of Dr. Archibald R. Mansfield as reported in the New York Times: “A plan to help solve the unemployment problem in shipping circles has been devised by the Seamen’s Church Institute of New York. .).. « “On a recent inspection tour§of the insti- The “Socialists” go hand in hand with the fas- cists. Matthew Woll is hobnobbing with Abe Cahan, S. P. leader at the latter’s 70th birth- day. Fish declares that his so-called investiga- tion committee will do no harm to the “social- ists.” The “socialists” are supplying informa- tion to the Fish Committee. One of fascist Whalen’s henchmen, Inspector Lyons, of the Tammany police, presented the Fish Committee with a translation of the articles of the in- famous Bessedovsky, printed in the New York “socialist” organ, the Jewish Daily Forward. One of the “socialist” preachers, a traitor to the Negro workers, appears before the Fish Committee, to testify against. the Communists. An agent of John L. Lewis appears before the committee and asks for more persecutions against revolutionary workers and against for- eign born workers. Fascism and social-fas- cism are the two edges of the same sword the capitalist class is using against the workers. The workers cannot vote for the “socialists” on November 4th, just as they cannot vote for the fascists. Both are the enemies of the working class. The workers have but one Party to vote for, their own Party, the Communist Party! Vote for Communism on November 4th! Vote for the Hammer and Sickle! The German workers have learned their bit- ter lesson. They have dealt the “socialists” a smashing slow on September 14 last. Do as the German workers have done! Vote Com- munist! . awaiting an opportunity. to ship out. . . tute’s building at 25 South Street, Superin- tendent Archibald R. Mansfield noticed scores of young men in the lobbies and reading rooms “As a result of Dr. Mansfield’s efforts the free employment bureau of the institute ar- ranged with the organization’s marine school to offer free instructions to the prospective mariners who are out of work.” “Education as a Cure.” This, indeéd, is the most idiotic of all the jackass programs that have appeared so far. We feel certain that if Dr. Mansfield has his bumps felt and complexes looked into some very ofd and curious repressions and sup- pressed desires will be found lurking in the remote corners of his subconscious mind. In fact, we do not hesitate to nominate him as the latest candidate to the gallery of modern fascist fools, along with Calvin Coolidge, Hey- wood Broun and “Jimmie” Walker. The downright absurdity of Dr. Mansfield’s plan is too obvious to need much comment. It is sheer nonsense to suppose that unemploy- ment can be cured by educating new workers for the marine industry. While we must edu- cate the youth to enter all industries, we must vigorously combat the idea that such educa- tion will cure unemployment. To Create Strikebreaiers. We must especially fight Dr. Mansfield’s school, the sole purpose of which is to create an army of strikebreakers and finks for the shipowners. The seamen learned long ago of the strikebreaking role of the Seamen’s Church Institute. During the seamen’s strike in 1921 “Mother” Roper, a shameless old hag and one of the big shots down at the Institute, acted as the chief strikebreaker and fink herder for the shipowners. She and Dr. Mansfield are the ones who ordered the cops to black-jack and beat up militant seamen in the Institute last winter for organizing marine workers into the Marine Workers League (now the Marine Workers’ Industrial Union). Seamen must organize and fight against this sezb herding church institute and Dr. Mans- field and expose his idiotie plan. The only way seamen or any workers can attain un- employment. relief is through unemployment insurance. The only way to solve unemploy- ment, however, is by the overthrow of the capitalist system and by the setting up of a Workers’ and Farmers’ Government. Seamen! Join the Marine Workers’ Indus- trial Union! Don’t starve—fight for the Work- ers’ Unemnloyment Insurance Bill! Join the Communist Partv! Vote Communist! (Written at Hart’s Island Penitentiary.) Workers! Join the Partv of Your Class! . Communist Party U. S.A Wis 43 East 125th Street. New York City. <<< By JORGE Pleasé Inform Fish Maybe Fish would not like to call a witness on “Roosha” that could tell him how the rule that he asked about concerning the limitation on wives, thirty per man according to Fish, works out. Dr. Robert Barrett, national president of the Florence Crittenton Mission, has just returned from an extended tour of the Soviet Union where he made a survey of the problems of marriage and divorce. Here’s what he says: “I think it only fair to the Russians to say that I found a better and higher stand- | ard of morality in their chief cities than are to be found elsewhere on the Continent or, for that matier, in our chief , American cities.” The less religion the higher the morals, ap- parently. While in Rome the brothels are separate from the Vatican, in New York the new style in churches is a happy combination of a church and “apartment hotels”—a little matter that pays by dodging taxes because it is church property. While we’re on the subject of churches, you may have noted that the new Riverside Drive church was opened Sunday~in New York. It cost $4,000,000 to build, and the same week ib opened the Associated Charities said that there are 27,000 families destitute, starving and beg- ging them for aid in New York City. The other side of this you will find among the “hotels” and “dance halls” of Broadway, Heywood Broun’s world, if you can stomach it—something we cannot. Every time we are compelled to walk along Broadway in the in- famous “white light” district, we long for our own Red Army and a place to do a little “Soviet dumping.” ea oe In Brazil the government, to stop a run on the banks, has declared the next fifteen days are “official holidays” while it goes forth to battle. These holidays are likely to stretch out a good many fifteen days before the wa: is over. * fe tS ee And the Dead Shall Walk The days of miracles are not past. When a payroll is established by Tammany, even the dead rise from their graves in the cemetery and troop by the pay window to get their checks. The case is that of what is called the “Vol- unteer Firemen’s Association.” Apparently a remnant of the “Tin Hat Brigade” of 15,000 city “employees”’who never worked but always were paid, the Volunteer Firemen’s Associa- tion is composed of a lot of members of “social and political clubs” who never put out a fire and never expect to. But the city budget is somehow vigged up by Tammany to see that it supports this weird “Firemen’s Association” with funds. And the funds are used to pay “pensions” to these supposedly “ex-firemen,” only it is now re- vealed that most of them are long dead, yet are still drawing their pensions regularly! The old saying is: “Dead men tell no tales.” And though it’s hard enough to get a live one to waive immunity and talk, Conan Doyle’s spooks never made a comeback any more con- vincing than these Tammany dead men. * * Somebody Tell Hyde While New York jobless are living on hope and the east wind; while a few thousand Chi- cago jobless are invited to gotto jail and get a bowl of thin soup; while Detroit is building . a wall around the town to keep jobless on the outside; and while Cleveland jobless are comb- ing over the garbage dumps, Dr. Samuel N. Harper, professor of Russian History at the University of Chicago comes back from a visit to the Soviet Union and remarks as follows about the “ration system” which Secretary Hyde was so scornful about recently: “They keep the rationing system to make a surplus to pay for machinery. The ration is adequate.” Workers, you who are going hungry and starving in the richest country on earth, don’t you wish you were one of these “unfortunate” Russian workers with an adequate ration? ae eau | Things must be getting pretty rocky in Wall Street, with the “Business Conduct Com- mittee” summoning a long list of brokers be- fore it to tell them that they gotta stop sell- ing stocks, that stocks are to be bought and not sold. They are reminded that “securities” are being sold so low that prices are “de- morelized.” Now, isn’t it a joke that they can’t blame that on “Russian dumping.” And isn’t it funny how insecure the “securities” are getting? Ca 3 “Helning” Walker Of all solemn foolishness, one of the best examplos we saw. lately was the offer of R. Fulton Cutting, in a letter to Mayor Walker, to place “at the service of the mayor the facilities and research staff of the National Institute of Public Administration, in an effort to stamp out graft in the city government.” The funniest part was the paragraph fol- lowing, given by the N. Y' Times as showing how the prince of grafters took the offer: “Mayor Walker, after reading the letter last evening, said he had no comment to make upon it at present, but that he would certainly give the proposah consideration.” eye. Well, Well! This is what the wind blew in from Chicago: “Birth control propaganda in United States is another plot fortered by Soviets to forward their scheme to destroy the family group, Dr. Edward Lyman Cornell of Northwestern Uni- I, the undersigned, want to foin the Commu. nist Party. Send me more information. Name ...cseccccsscccenmeessecceseweunirses Address ++ UTE. cesseeee Occupation .....cesccecccceeceres ABCreeuee Mail this to the Central Office, Communist Party, 43 East 125th St.. New York, N. Y. / versity tells the inter-fraternity club.” Well, we never looked at it that way; but at least the capitalists can’t accuse the Soviets of baby dumping. . . * There’s about twice as much coffee on the world market as can be sold. That’s one rea- son why there’s a revolt in Brazil. But have you noticed any cutting ip two of vrices asked for coffee? We thought not! There'll have to be a revolt here before the monopoly gives up a penny a pound.