The Daily Worker Newspaper, October 24, 1930, Page 4

e 1 econ Published by the Comprodaily Publishing Co. Inc. daily, except Sunday, at 50 East “ae ) SUBSCRIPTION RATES? i Sei 18th Street, New Y¢ , N.Y. Telephone Algonquin 7. Cable: “DAIWORK.” i By mail everywhere: One year, §6; six months, $8; two months, $1; excepting Boroughs Address and mail all c to the Daily Worker, 50 East 18th Street, New York, N. Y. Conte:l Onge Junist Party USA. of Manhattan and Bronx, New York City. Foreign: One year, $8; six months, $4.50 ———=——_=_—===———_—[—_== —— —— = —— — ——— —BY BURCK THOSE WHO WILL NOT SEE 3 THERE ARE NONE SO BL'ND AS ROBERT MINOR’S MESSAGE f TO NEW YORK WORKERS (Communist Candidate, 20th Congressional District, New York.) (Read at the Mass Meeting at Madison Square Garden, Oct. 21, 1930.) My Very Dear Comrades: apes in my life have I wanted anything of the kind so much as I want to be with you tonight, This mecting marks the o what may well prove to be the big; in working class ry and in the the world, since that of 1917, in wh elass went through the fi Verest test with its greate: foundation of the Union of Republics. The whole capitalist world today presents a picture of turmoi murderous viol Tile United Stat rather a sharp ex: talist system has r it has nothing to off nor even to the ruined except starvation, violent misery. Communists Lead Workers’ Struggle. Six months ago the workers of New York City, 100,000 strong, under the leadership of the Communist Party, demonstrated their de- mands for relief from the miseries of unem- ployment, and Whalen’s cossacks beat them down in savage and bloody repression. Sim- ilar events occurred in other American cities as they did throughout the world. All of the violence and crime committed by the smug American bourgeoisie has not succeeded in re- pressing or weakening the spirit of the Amer- ican working class. Only a few days ago the head of the American Wall Street government addressed a national gathering of bankers in Cleveland, but the peace and calm of his ban- quet was disturbed by the splendid mass dem- onstration of the working class outside the banquet hall, who again under the leadership of our American Communist Party, reminded these loathsome parasites that the demand for work or wages has not yet been met. At the in the t Soviet s offers no exception but is f that the capi- age at which me time the American Federation of Labor convention which has become nothing more s than an aus ty to the American Bankers As- sociation, had its treachery brought to the at- tention of the workers only through the fact that it had clubbed by the police masses of Boston workers, who, led again as always by the Communist Party, demonstrated their con- tempt for the fascist organization and their de- mand for work or wages. Just last week the New York workers, led the Communist Pai very appropriately invaded the dens of graft of capitalist govern- ment at the City Hall, where seven hundred million dollars was being appropriated for the city budget, to demand that the unemployed ald not be left to starve in the streets. Only by means of the most bloody physical combat is it possible for New York workers to claim their right to be heard in the sacred precincts of New York’s capitalist government. At least the cause of the American workers was voiced, despite the crimes of violence com- mitted by the Tammany thugs, under the per- sonal direction of James J. Walker, the chief dispenser of graft of the City of New York. In every battle of the American working class, the Communist Party of the United States, and only the Communist Party, proves to be the unfailing leader, Those battles are to be greater in the immediate future than even before in history and the American work- ers’ revolutionary party is far too small as yet to guarantee the best success. The first task of the American workers is to build the Communist Party. Every member of our class who permits another day to go by while he or she remains outside of the Communist Par- ty, is committing an act of neglect and injury to his class. Build Revolutionary Industrial Unions! Build the Communist Party of the United States, section of the Communist International! Without it you cannot conduct any struggle whatsoever and without its becoming a strong mass party, the American workers cannot win their battles in the tremendous months to some. A “Socialist” Candidate on the Equality of Negroes By LOUIS HYMAN. (President of the Needle Trades Workers’ Industrial Union.) CLIPPING of Mr. Heywood Broun’s column in the New York Eyening Telegram of April 26th last, dealing with the Negro prob- lem, came to my attention. The attitude of the candidate of the “socialist” party in the 17th Congressional District of New York to- wards the equality of Negroes is rather sig- nificant and throws a light on his stand on various other problems. The column was written in the days when the press was discussing Hoover’s nomination of Judge John J. Parker, to fill a vacancy in | the Supreme Court. Objections were for- warded against Mr. Parker because of his tole in enforcing the yellow dog contract and be- cause of his anti-Negro attitude. And here is what Mr. Broun had to say in this situa- tion: Is Against Equality of Negroes. “If I were a candidate for high executive office or judicial office, I would say, even without being cornered, that I would not now sanction the efforts to enforce the Four- teenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the €onstitution of the United States. I believe in the purpose for which they were formu- lated, but we must face the fact that in the year 1930 they cannot be put universally into practice except through coercion and the use of armed force.” So, here we have Mr. Broun’s open state- ment that the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States which are supposed to provide for the equality of the Negro, cannot be enforced now unless armed force is used. As if this was not enough. Mr. Broun continues to elaborate his point. “Tf I were a man in the White House,” Mr. Broun continues a few paragraphs after, “it ‘would not necessarily go against my grain to send a southerner. to the Supreme Court. I admit that I would not select John J. Parker, because even though there were nothing against him, the fact remains that there is nothing particular for him.” “TI could find a sage southerner and say to him: ‘How about taking a job on the Su- preme Court? I know, of course, that you do not believe in the Fourteenth and Fif- teenth Amendments and I do, but I realize that they can’t be enforced throyghout the South without getting United States Mar- ines to restore order and I am against that.’ “Unfortunately, you are also against the Eighteenth Amendment, which can't be en- - forced either. You can go on the Supreme bench with a clear conscience. You don’t believe in trying to enforce the unenforce- able. Neither do I.’” (Our emphasis.) Here we have Mr. Broun’s open statement that if he were the president of the United States, he would not shrink from selecting an anti-Negro judge for a justice of the Supreme Court, even though he knew that this particu- lar southerner is openly in opposition to the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments! Broun openly says he believes that the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments cannot be enforced! Mr. Broun’s excuse is that all southerners are against these amendments that are sup- posed to insure the equality of the Negro, and being a pacifist, he would not care to lead the United States Marines into the South in 4 aa to suppress a war which might have n started if the enforcement of these amendments was insisted upon. Where, then, is the difference between Heywood Broun, the “socialist,” and any other southern anti- lynching politician? Probably no politician, perhaps, with the ex- ception of open supporters of the Ku Klux Klan, would state in public that he “person- ally” is opposed to the Fourteenth and Fif- teenth Amendments. Such southern politicians do not say that Negroes have to be lynched. They merely say that they are “helpless” to do anything against lynching. If the “people” insist upon burning Negroes, what can these poor governors, mayors, and other office holders do about it? Surely, they are not going to send the United States Marines against the “people”! Use Armed Force Only Against Workers. Here we have a clear case of a “socialist” talking as one of the most bitter anti-Negro politicians would talk. Here we have a case of a “socialist” spreading tolerance towards the persecution of the Negro. And here we have a case of a party, a “socialist” party, that dared to nominate such a man on its ticket, in a city with a population of several hundred thousand Negroes! Assuming for a moment that Broun is right in saying that most southerners are against the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. What of it? Let us suppose a few thousand unemployed workers come to Heywood Broun and demand part of his enormous earnings. Or let us suppose that some unemployed work- ers call upon the banks for some money to buy bread and pay rent. Would any capi- talist governor hesitate to send out the militia or the marines to drive away the workers from the banks? Would any governor spare bullets against any group of workers appear- ing before bakeries or grocery stores in order to secure food for themselves? Lynching Is a Class Issue. Of course not! Because here they really believe in the sanctity of private property and are ready at any moment to defend private property. If the southern governors really believed in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments, they would find means of sup- pressing mob violence against Negroes. The trouble is that it is not the “people” of the southern states that believe in mob violence, but that the politicians, governors, mayors and other officials are the ones who believe in that and are fostering all acts of persecu- tion against the Negroes. It is not true what Broun says that south- erners are against the Fourteenth and Fif- teenth Amendments. Surely, the workers of the South are not against the equality of the Negroes. Surely, the oppressed textile work- ers of North Carolina, Tennessee and other states are not against these amendments. It is the ruling class of the South that does not want the -exploited Negro to enjoy at least as much rights as the whites have on paper. It is the ruling class that needs and fosters lynchings in order to keep the Negro in sub- mission, in order to have a source for cheap docile labor,,in order to keep the workers di- vided along race lines. Broun talks for the ruling class! No Lynchings Under Communism. In old Russia, Czar Nickolas and his hench- men used exactly the same arguments as the “socialist” Broun is using with regards to Negroes. The henchmen of the Czar used to pretend that it was the “people” that could not stand the Jews and that the pogroms against Jews, as well as the pogroms against Armenians in the Caucasus were expromptu acts on the part of the infuriated Russian or other masses. Every person with political understanding of the Czarist regime knew that it was not so, It was an open secret that if the authorities would not themselves desire pogroms, such pogroms would not have taken place. We see now, under the workers’ rule, that all nationalities in the Soviet Union live peacefully, and wherever there was race hatred inherited from the Czarist regime, such hatred is being eradicated by education, by the solidarity of the working class, or by force, if necessary. Under the workers’ rule, this humbug of the —=—=S—0 > > _AGITATE IN THE SHOPS! News item: Mayor Walker wants to do his “bit” towards “relie ving” the unemployed. But first he is planning to find out if there are any jobless around in New York. Only Communist Party De- , “ends Interests of Negro Masses By CYRIL BRIGGS. Mass misery and starvation arising out of the brutal attempt of the capitalist bosses to solve the present severe economic crisis at the etipense of the working class affect hardest the prejudice-isolated, frightfully oppressed Negro masses. In Harlem, and other northern ncenters of Negro population, thousands of Negro work- ers are homeless and starving as, to the bit- ter oppression of normal times is now added the problem of unemployment. The Negro workers suffer most severely because of their unorganized state, their betrayal by the labor fakers of the A. F. of L., and the “socialist” party and the treachery of the Negro mislead- ers. Thousands of Negro workers in the north are walking the streets cold, hungry and home- less. Additional numbers are being evicted daily by the landlords with the hearty co-oper- ation of the bosses courts and police. Starving, homeless and freezing, these job- less Negro workers are the victims of the most vicious discrimination in the midst of the eco- nomic crisis, as the bosses trembling before the growing solidarity and rising revolution- ary temper of the working class, deliberately stir up the vilest race passions and engineer mob attacks on the Negro workers, at the same time continuously forcing them down to lower levels of. existence, subjecting them to the most ruthless wage-cuts and selecting them as the first victims of the general lay-off policy which give the lie to the fake agreement of Hoover and Green as to no lay-offs during the eco- nomic crisis. Increased Lynchings. In the South, conditions ‘are even worse. There, for decades the Negro workers have faced the most savage oppression, living in an atmosphere of constant terror and repression. Today with millions unemployed the southern bosses are taking advantage of their economic helplessness to force them to work for nothing but a few scraps of food to keep from actu- ally starving to death. And those who dare to demand wages are thrown on the chain gang or lynched. Already for the first nine and a half months of the present year there have been 37 lynchings. In this situation, the Negro workers are” being told by the boss-class politicians and their reformist Negro tools to vote again on Novem- ber 4 for the same oppressive capitalist sys- tem which has thrown eight million workers on the streets to starve, and which regularly supports lynching and Negro oppression. The Negro misleaders (rent-gouging landlords, parasitic preachers, etc.) whose class interests are diametrically opposed to the class inter- ests of the Negro workers and farmers, and the record of whose “leadership” is one of the base treachery and resultant futility, are again busy peddling illusions in the hope of effect- ing another sell-out of the Negro masses. Negroes Can't Be Fooled Any More. But today the Negro workers will not be fooled. Disgusted with the bosses parties they have long looked about for an effective medi- um of protest, of demonstration of their re- sentment and hatred against their oppressors. And today, they know that the Communist Party is the only party fighting against lynch- ing, race hatred, jim-crowism, etc., the only working class party, the one party held in ter- ror by the bosses, Nor will the Negro reform- ists be able to convince the Negro workers southern governors, or “socialists” like Broun, would be punctured. Under the workers’ tule, persecution of Negro or lynching of Negroes would never take place. Mr. Broun’s open statements goes to prove that whether it concerns the rights of the Negro masses, or it concerns the tights of the working masses \in general, the “social- ists” are talking and acting the same as every representative of the capitalist class. The “so- cialist” party has again proven, through Mr. Broun, that it is one of the parties of the His police will take a jobless “census.” capitalist class. Thé workers have but one party to vote for on November 4th—the Com- munist Party. Vote Communist on Election Day. How the “Socialists” Declared Debs) A War-Patriot By S. D. LEVINE Communist Candidate, Tenth Congressional District, New Jersey. 0% this anniversary of the death of Eugene V. Debs and with the approaching of a new war, it will be worth while for the workers to learn of a document by Debs which, for good reasons is not mentioned by the “socialists” and is not known to many, but which played an important role in Debs’ life. e It may be surprising to many but it is a fact that Comrade Debs during the last world war was heralded as a social patriot by “so- cialist” and capitalist papers declaring that Debs, too, had changed his views on the war. So widely circulated was the story even after he was arrested for his Canton speech, a prom- inent “socialist” wrote a letter in a New York newspaper criticizing the government for. ar- resting Debs, stating that if Debs would re- main in the “socialist” party he would help convert the rest of the socialists to the sup- port of the war. A Jingoist Frame-Up The whole story of Debs’ conversion to war was a frame-up, but it served the “socialists” as a means to mislead the workers and they circulated the story. Debs wrote a denial of it bub the papers would not print the Debs letter. The Jewish Daily Forward, which on May 13, 1918 published the news that Debs had changed his position to one in favor of war refused to print the Debs denial. The writer of this article gave a copy of the letter to Comrade Burgin, at that time with the Forward, but it was returned because Ca- han objected to it being published. The files of the “socialist” Forward will not reveal any mention correcting this accusation. The New York Call printed the Debs denial on the in- side pages. Social-Patriots Support Anti-Soviet Inter- national . How the story was originated and circulated is interesting. As it is known, the socialist party under the pressure of the left forces that time in 1917 adopted the famous St. Louis resolution against war. But as the war prog- ressed’ the socialists betrayed this resolution. Meyer London, lone congressman, on April 12, 1918, wrote a letter to S. Lampert, of the East Side Liberty Loan Committee saying that any- that they are “throwing away their votes” by refusing to vote for the political parties of their oppressors—the republican, democratic and “socialist” parties. Nor can they convince ihe: Negro workers that “the Communist Party is a white man’s party”. The southern bosses have inadvert- ently answered that lie, by naming the Com- munist Party “the nigger party” because of its struggles for the Negro masses. The Com- munist Party is proud of that title. It is the party of the entire working class, the Negro workers equally with the white. workers. Full Equality Under Workers’ Government. Moreover, the history of the Jews and other minorities in Russia since the proletarian re- volution fully repudiate the slander peddled by the Negro reformist that the Communist Party is only using the Negro workers to gain power and will abandon them once that is achieved. The Negro misleaders who spread this slander ignore the funndamental differ- ence between capitalism, which cannot exist without social and racial oppression, and Com- munism which is based on full equality for all workers nd the abolition of exploitation. They forget that Soviet Russia gives a concrete demonstration of this fundamental difference in the freedom enjoyed by its minorities and _ the firm stand of the Soviet workers against | race prejudice in any form. Negro workers! Fight lynching and oppres- sion! Make November 4 a day of demonstra- tion-against your capitalist oppressors and ex- ploiters! Repudiate the misleaders! Vote Communist! For the body that does not buy a liberty bond is an enemy of the nation. Vladeck, Lee, and the rest of the socialist aldermen then in office supported the liberty bond campaign of the City of New York and even glorified the Amer- ican intervention in Archangel, Soviet Russia, by voting to build a victory arch in New York with the inscription “Archangel” on it. But this was not enough for the war pa- triots. The St. Louis resolution was a thorn in their eyes and they wanted it to be wiped off so they should be able to combat any work- er who was not a war patriot. A moement started by them to call a special convention to withdraw the St. Louis resolution. Those opposing the war also opposed the contem- plated convention arguing that it would be im- possible for the anti-war delegates to freely express their opinion on accounts of the Es- pionage Act. The war-patriots insisted that the conven- cion be held. Debs was interviewed by a re- porter of the “New Appeal” (formerly Appeal to Reason, a pre-war socialist paper), and he expressed his opinion that a convention was necessary, in view of changed conditions. What he really wanted was a more revolutionary resolution instead of the pacifist St. Louis resolution. The reporter viciously misrepre- sented his statement and gave wide publication to the story that Debs also joined the war patriots. The “socialist” patriots in the party made good use of it. I remember at a party meeting in Newark, N. J., in 1918, where some members wanted the S. P. candidates to state their position on the St. Louis resolution, Goebel, q~New Jersey “socialist” leader, de- nouncet’ them and said even Debs is now in favor of the war. Here is the full text of the Debs letter as printed on the fourth page of the New York Call, June 4, 1918: Shows up Lying Capitalist Sheets “It has been a rule of mine these many years to ignore false charges and misleading statements concerning me in capitalist publica- tions. But now and then an exception arises which requires attention and such an exception appears in the report now being circulated with editorial comment, by the capitalist press that I have come to realize the error of my posi- tion in regard to the war, and I have changed front and am now a pro-war advocate and appealing for the ‘support of the administra- tion in the prosecution of the war to the bitter end. The report is an unqualified falsehood. It is out of whole cloth, and for no other pur- pose than to create division, and if possible, disruption in the socialist party. “A leading capitalist newspaper editorial- izes upon the false and vicious report as fol- lows: “Debs has been whipped into line by a threatening public sentiment, and- at this late hour is humbly clambering aboard the band “wagon.’ “This lying profiteering organ need lay no such flattering unction to its festering heart. I have never asked any favor of the gang it represents, and am not doing so now. I have never yielded to threats or to intimidation in-any form, and I am not cowardly enough to seek refuge as so many do, in the popular side of a-public question. For War of Workers Against Exploiters “Years ago I declared that there was only one war in which I would enlist, and that was the war of the’ workers of the world against the exploiters of the world. I declared, more- over, that the working class had no interest in the wars declared and waged by the ruling classes of the various countries upon one an- other for conquest and spoils. That is my position today. I have not changed in the slightest, and any report to the contrary is absolutely untrue, and is hereby branded ac- cordingly. * “The reason I favor a convention is that I want the attitude of the party stated as nearly _as may be by the rank and file and not by the For Bread and Work! Communist Ticket! Against Mass Layoffs and Wage Cuts! By JORGE Woll’s “Monroe Doctrine of Labor” Strikes a Knot The Pan-American Federation of Labor was invented by Woodrow Wilson, who financed Gompers in starting it as the “labor” wing of Yankee imperialism, Mattie Woll at San An- tonio some years ago getting the front page by announcing a “Monroe Doctrine of Labor.” But things are not so favorable. The “Monroe Doctrine” didn’t take with Latin American workers, and only a fascist part of the Cuban unions, and the fascist Morones leadership of the Mexican unions, gave even nominal mass support to the Pan-American “labor” imperialists. It was due to hold a convention at Havana last October, a year ago, but its weakness, due to the exposure of its policy by the revolu- tionary Latin American Trade Union Confed- eration located at Montevideo, Uruguay, was so evident to the fakers of the A. F. of L. they “postponed” it. Now, things haven't improved with time. Morones of the Mexican reformist unions has been playing around with British “labor” and might upset the Yankee bean pot by exposing U. S. imperialism at a convention. And’ then Cuba, where the convention “is scheduled now for January, is liable to be the scene of battle and bloodshed any time, and while the beer there is good, the A. F. of L. fakers don’t want to find bullets in it. ee OR, Texas and a Bottle No, it’s not about Texas Guinan, but on the contrary a useful member of society. A grey- haired, motherly woman of 53 years who walked into a Fort Worth, Texas, bank and waved a bottle over her head, threatening to blow up the bank with what was supposed to be nitro-glycerine if she didn’t get $3,000 as a “loan.” The banker told her she had “no, security” (in fact no worker has), and when the bottle was taken from her, it turned out to be milk, “I had been out of work since the first of July and was desperate. I was hungry but. too proud to beg. I decided to pull a stunt which would get me into the penitentiary, where I could work and be taken care of.” Of course, Hoover would say that she prob- ably was not in “honest difficulties,” Mayor Walker would wisecrack about “serving ice cream” and Bill Green would raise a warn- ing hand against that terrible danger, “the dole.” But damn it all, when working class grand- mothers have to be breaking into the peniten- tiary to get something to eat, we don’t give a rap if demonstrating workers turn all city halls upside down and shake well before taking. Ps ‘ * College Logic Dean Redmond of City College, New York, has banned all political parties from speaking to students within college buildings till after election. Of course a “ruling” must be found. So one which is supposed to be “an amendment to Section 42, Paragraph XII of the By-Laws” is quoted as follows: “Neither the college buildings nor the grounds of the college shall be used for meetings or assemblies or for any activity, in the interest of one political party or -re- ligious sect or cult or for any propaganda against the institutions, laws and established public policies of the college, city, state, or nation.” No one, not even those foolish enough to try to “get an education” at City College, can fail to note that the “ruling” does not bar meetings for political parties in general, but only those in the interest “of one” political party. So the dean’s general ban is not in accordance with the ruling, but is in accord- ance with maintaining the political status quo, by banning a discussion of social change when social change is on the order of the day. But then what should one expect from a “college” that resembles a penitentiary enough to identify itself with “established policies” of city, state and nation? 2 Wear Out Every Copy! “Your papers are getting good, so they say here. The workers are asking me what's the news today. They almost wear out every paper I get reading it. War makes them think different—so it makes me think different, too. They are taking interest in the Daily Worker. When the apple rush harvest starts, then we will have nickels. And we will have to get some newsboys.”—I. W. R., Wen- utchee, Wash. Readers! Bring the Daily to the masses! Wear out your copy! Renew! Sell! On to 60,000! leaders, and a convention comes nearest doing this. It has been urged that we have not the money to cover the cost of a convention. “Now is the time for us to remember that we are the socialists and stand our ground. We shall, no doubt, be put to a severe test, but if we are true to the principles of interna- tional socialism we have nothing to fear and we shall come out victorious in the end. “IT have condemned the German majority socialists and I am not going to imitate their perfidy, much as the capitalist press may abuse me for not doing so,” That was the statement of a revolutionist which the Hillquits and the Cahans did not like and which the yellow Jewish Daily For- ward, now chief mouthpiece of the “socialists” in New York, had suppressed, because it hated Debs for his reyolutionary stand, because it wanted its readers to believe that Debs be- came a war-patriot. On this fourth anniver- sary of Debs’ death the treacherous role of the “socialist” party is clearer than ever. Con- demn the party on election day! Vote Com- munist November 4th! * The capitalist press, the “lying profiteering organs” who have slandered Debs, have become the organs of Thomas, Broun, Cahan and Hill- quit. Smash the traitors to the best traditions of Debs on election day! Against Impe-