The Daily Worker Newspaper, November 5, 1930, Page 4

Ce ee — Published by the Comprodaily Publishing Co., Inc., daily, except Sunday, at 50 East 13th Street, New York City, N. Y. Address and mail all checks to the Daily Worker, 50 East 13th Street, New York, N. ¥. Page Four Telephone Algonquin 7956-7. Cable: PRE-PLENUM DISCUSSION Our Work In By IRVING KEITH, Philadelphia District HE Shock Plan, not only showed us how to strengthen the League in those centers where we already some organization. It also started us on the road towards building the League in those important strategic cen- ters where we had no organization. Thus, one of the chief tasks given the Philadelphia dis- trict of the League was the building of an organization in the Anthracite. k set for us in the Anthracite was the successful carrying through of a min- ing youth conference. This conference, of course, was not to be an end in itself but was to be a means of establishing the League as a factor in the daily life and struggles of the young miners; to build the revolutionary min- ers’ union through the recruiting of young miners, building youth sections, etc. To carry through such a program it was necessary to have a clearly defined policy on the building of the union, at least some basic organization of the union and an understanding of the con- ditions of the young miners. Based on these it was neces ave a planned program of activity to reach the young mine workers. The central ta Youth in Anthracite. The young workers constitute about 25 per cent of the total number of mine workers. Al- most all of these are employed either as labor- ers in the mines or on the breakers. The wages of these young laborers and the adult laborers in the mines are about the same, aver- aging from $5.5 $6.50 per day. The young mine workers are forced to belong to the United Mine Workers and are compelled, by the recently introduced check-off, to pay dues. However, they have neither voice nor vote, nor may they hold office in the local unions until they are 21 years of age. The new agreement, signed between the anthracite operators and the U.M.W., which went into effect on Sep- tember Ist, leaves the way open for an increase of the speed-up and an extensive introduction of machinery. With this we can expect an increase in unemployment, on the one hand, and an increase in the percentage of young miners. Besides the mining industry the Anthracite has a large and important textile industry. In the silk mills from 75 to 85 per cen# of the workers are young. The conditions of these young workers are now miserable, and with a constant increase in the speed of produttion, and wage cuts taking place daily, are getting worse. For the League these textile mills must become an important point for concentrated activity. One of our biggest mistakes hereto- fore was the failure to even pay the slightest attention to these mills, or create in even one mill a base for the National Textile Workers’ Union and the League. General. Policies and Work. The Party, League and union in Philadelphia have been drifting along without a clear policy on how to proceed in order to win over the mass of the mine workers from the U.M.W. Where the U.M.W. has as its organizational base the mine local we were trying to organize general city locals. There was no plan of work, thus no concentration on any particular mines, or for that matter, on any® particular | city. No consistent day to day activity was carried on to build the union, Party or League. Each comrade was working in his own field, trying to build an organization overnight in the whole length and breadth of the Anthracite. At the time of the Pittsburgh convention of the miners’ union the comrades were talking of sending 20 delegates, without having even one functioning mine group. The Party, about a@ year ago, spoke of a general strike in the Anthracite on September 1st. In the Philadel- phia district borough of the League we spoke of it as late as July. On September 1st we were even too weak to have one Unemployment Demonstration in the entire Anthracite. There were no mine committees, no organization. This was a result of the lack of policy, chaotic work, no consistency and no conentration, Reaction on Youth Work. The failure of the League to this date to hold a mining youth conference and to es- tablish itself very firmly in the Anthracite, is very closely connected with this general situa- tion in the Party. It must be very clear to us that the sole blame for this does not and can- not rest on the Party. We failed, in the first place, to pay sufficient attention to the con- sistent following up of the old connections and the few new ones established. We failed to consolidate these connections into organization. New methods of work remained a phrase on paper, or were deeply concealed in our minds. Faced with a situation where, because of the sharpness of the terror, it was impossible for us to sell or distribute literature at the mines, we were unable to formulate methods which would enable us to reach the young miners. We were faced with tremendous difficulties; no means of issuing a leaflet as we have no mimeograph machine; often not even fare to go out to the mines or small mining towns; and we could not overcome these difficulties quickly enough. Today, however, though still faced, to a great extent, with these difficulties, and many other obstacles, we begin to see a way, through the carrying on of consistent work, to build an organization and overcome the greatest of these difficulties. The fact that there was no organizational base for the union, no program which would lead to the formation of this base, and no perspective, made it impossible to speak seri- ously of carrying through a mining youth con- ference. Especially is this so in view of the situation in the industry. There is no con- centration of young workers in any particular mine, as we find in other industries. For ex- ample, if we speak of 35 per cent young work- ers in the metal industry we know that these are concentrated in certain youth factories such as radio plants, electrical supply plants, etc. Here we can have specific youth factory concentration. When we speak of 25 per cent young workers in Anthracite mines, however, ‘we must understand that this is an average percentage in almost all mines. 4 The general looseness and organizational weakness manifested themselves clearly in the work of the League. We ran from town to town, accomplishing very little. For example: ‘we organized a unit in a town about 60 miles from the section office. We held a demon- stration there on International Youth Day in Young Communist League, U.S.A. | them attractive to young workers, must be | utilized. the Anthracite } which about 1,000 workers participated. Now it is extremely difficult to give the proper attention to.this unit, to follow up the work started and crystallize the sentiment which was manifesed into concrete organizational re- sults. We cannot, because of the great distance from the center, inconvenient travelling and | lack of forces, give enough attention, at the | present moment, to assure the development | of the local forces, | | Present Policies. The Party has now worked out a policy of building broad Action Committees in the mines and U.M.W. locals. These committees, com- posed of members of the revolutionary union and workers ready to fight under its leader- ship, must form the basis of a mass organiza- tion; must be a means of giving leadership to the dissatisfied miners, leading their discontent into revolutionary channels and winning them away from the U.M.W. With this policy has been worked out a program for concentrated activity with assignments made to all com- | rades in the field, making them responsible for s, such as building Action Commit- In the next few certain tas! tees in specified mines, etc. mittees and local unions of the M.O.S.W.I.U. functioning. The perspective is a district Con- ference of the union in the Anthracite to be held within the next 3 or 4 months. | | weeks we must have a number of these com- | Our activity must be concentrated in one sec- tion of the Anthracite. Our main task must be the recruiting of young mine workers into these Action Committees and into the union, and of the best elements into the League. Our work in this field must lead to a Youth Con- ference in connection with the District Con- ference of the union. We must succeed through this work in establishing the League firmly, through the building of several units, and definitely establishing our leadership over a large section of the young miners, | The League must here also make a change. | | | We shall have to pay much more attention to the textile industry. We must immediately work out a plan of coneentrated activity on one mill and establish here a shop nucleus with a committee of the N.T.W.U. around it. This task, if properly carried through, will give us a base for carrying on more extensive work for the building of the textile union in the | Anthracite, where the mills can in 24 hours | be turned into gun cotton manufacturing plants, thus making it an important and basic war industry. : Methods and Approach. If these tasks are to be carried through, and they must be, our approach to the young workers, our methods of work, must be radi- cally changed. Instead of only talking about youthful methods of work we must learn how to apply in specific situations. Such means, for example, as a forum, with the subjects carefully selected and advertised so as to make Advertising a dance after each of | these discussions should enable us to draw many young workers. to the forums. This is only one means. We must be very flexible in our methods. Sports, and other similar acti- vities, must. be developed as another means of attracting the young workers to us. And where we cannot sell the Young Worker and other literature at the mines, we must utilize the method of selling and distributing litera- ture in the pool-rooms and similar places | where he young workers congregate in. the evenings. Finally, we must learn how to, not only ex- pose our mistakes, weaknesses and shortcom- ings, but must also learn how to draw the necessary lessons from our experiences and make every conscious effort to overcome them. From our work before, and especially since, the introduction of the Shock Plan, we can gain many lessons. These must serve as a means of furthering the work of the League. Should we fail to do this, all ouf experience will mean nothing. The Shock Plan has proven definitely, even to the most cynical, that our League can carry mass organization. towards making a change in the whole life and | come to its end soon officially and shortly the | work started with it and especially the meth- ods which we have started to introduce must be carried on much more intensively and at a , much more rapid tempo. The League Plenum will have to discuss thoroughly our mistakes and shortcomings, draw the necessary lessons from them and thus become the mobilization point of all active elements. | | | on work, good work, and build itself into a ' | | \“Yankee Colonies” Shows War Danger in South America NEW YORK:—No worker should miss the new International Pamphlet “Yankee Colonies.” It lays bare one of the most important aspects of the background for the new imperialist war, “DAIWORK.” | | | | It has given us a start > of M attan and Bronx, New York City. SUBSCRIPTION RATES: By mail everywhere: One year, $6; six months, $3; two months, $1; excepting Boroughs Foreign: One year, $8; six months, $4.50 “LECTIONS!” By BURCK By JORGE ete | Nicaragua, Cuba, and Way Points Well, the election is over in Nicaragua, too. And as down there everything has been Amer- icanized, so have elections. The marines “super~ vised” the election, and the marine commander who was especially loaned by Hoover to take charge of the voting arrangements, says that aside from complaints of the buying of votes, everything was all hunky-dory. In Cuba the elections took place Nov. 1. There, also, things went along fine. Everything peace- ful. Only 12,500 soldiers held ready for action, martial law in Havana. The Communist Party outlawed. The fake “nationalist” party boycot- ting the elections. The censorship slamped down Decisions on the Pittsburgh Opposition Cases The history of the Pittsburgh opposition cases application. Controversies between several leading com- rades in Pittsburgh and the District Bureau came to a climax when John Kasper (former T.U.U.L. organizer) and Max Garfinkel defied instructions of the District Bureau in connection year. For this they were expelled from the Party. Whereupon attempts were made to mobilize the membership against the Nistrict Bureau, in connection with which two more members were expelled, John Otis (former T.U.U.L. organ- izer) and Morris Sshindler (former Agitprop di- rector of the District.) All of them appealed the decisions of the Dis- trict to the Central Control Commission, and all based their appeals, at first, on the conten- tions that they had no disagreements with the line of the Party, that the fight was only on Personal grounds, and that they had been vic- timized for their attacks upon the errors and shortcomings of the district leadership. Upon a careful review of materials submitted by both sides, the Central Control Commission upheld the decisions of the District upon the basis of the following main points: 1. The fact that. the opposition conducted a common fight against the recognized district leadership, that they had a common line of forward the same arguments proved that it was an organized opposition, regardless of whether there were any organized caucus meetings held or not. 2. An organized opposition, which goes to the extent of open defiance of District de- divergence from the line of the Party. Leading comrades, who agree with the line of the Party and have confidence in its central leadership, would never resort to such disruptive tactics, but would forward their information and ap- peals to the control bodies of the Party for tle correction of any errors or shortcomings on the part of the leading bodies of the district. 3. The right wing opportunist line and ten- dencies of the opposition in Pittsburgh was dis- | closed not only in such acts as the changing of the Party slogan of “Down Tools on May First” into the slogan of “Demonstrate on May First,” but also in their attitude on strike strategy and unemployed councils. It manifested itself fur- ther in the very claim of theirs that the whole fight was only on personal grounds. Subsequently, Max Garfinkel and John Kasper came to the realization of their errors and ap- plied for readmission. Max Garfinkel was readmitted in September upon his statement that he understood his errors, and Kasper, and that he pledged himself to | fight the right danger wherever it may exist. now being prepared. “At every step,” writes | South America, British and American imperial- | | ism tread on each other’s toes. The entire | billion-dollar naval armament scheme passed by | Congress following the London Naval Confer- | ence revolves around the strategic position of | the American colonies.” terms the true nature of United States “pro- tection” of the semi-colonial Cuba, Nicaragua, Panama and Mexico. The Spanish-American War is shown’ as the first entry of American capitalism into imperialism. Since the time of that war of conquest, waged to. take. colonies from another imperialist. power, “Yankee Col- onies” shows that Wall Street has gathered to itself 125,000 square miles of territory and nearly 15 million persons. The nature of imperialism is shown by the | author in the fact that while the bourgeois leaders of colonies and semi-colcnies draw closer and closer to their American capitalist masters, the mass of workers and peasants grow con- tinually more militant in their fight for in- dependence. .“Yankee Colonies,” which is No, 7 in the In- | ternational series, is available. It may be or- dered at 10 cents ‘the copy from Workers Li- brary, Publishers, 50 East 13th St., New York, who will be glad to give information concern- John Kasper was readmitted recently, when Harry Gannes, the author, “both in North and | he submitted the following statement, and. the District Control ommended this: Statement of John Kasper While District Secretary of the Trade Union Commiission of Pittsburgh rec- | Dnity League in Pittsburgh, for months I re- | sisted the district leadership in the carrying out The pamphlet exposes in sure and brilliant | to breaking of Party discipline by my coming of Party policies, which unhealthy attitude Jed to New York against the decision of the District Bureau, My whole attitude at that time I now condemn, I realize with regret that my fight against Comrades Salzman. and Overgaard, which. I wrongly considered as being personal, in reality was a political fight, . ‘As a member of the Westinghouse Shop Nuc- leus, I. shared the responsibility with Schindler and Otis for not issuing the Shop Bulletin regu- larly as directed by the District Bureau, . I fully condemn the right wing error on the May Day leaflets, which were prepared by Schindler, and which had on it the slogan “Dem- onstrate May First” instead of the Party slogan of “Down Tools’ May First.” Though months have passed since my expul- sion from the Party, I have only now come to the realization that the Party was correct in its charge of “organized opposition;” for, although there were no intentional efforts on-my part to orgenize the Party membership against the ing other International pamphlets. Discounts are allowed on large or bundle orders, Party, nor have there been group meetings, yet brings out several points of general interest and | with the unemployment conference which was | held in New York at the end of March this | gaps that have been made in some sections, and | third year. attack and that even in their appeals they put | cisions and of trying to mobilize the members | Socialist Competition in the USSR By K. ROBERT. 'HE second year of the Five-Year Plan of so- cialist construction in the Soviet Union has just been completed: Throughout the country, in factories and mines, on collectivefarms and communes, workers and peasants have gathered in masses not alone to celebrate achievements, but to critically review the past work, close the plan for the fulfillment of the program for the Everywhere, great enthusiasm coupled with an iron determination stirs mil- lions of working and peasant masses to forge ahead to the successful completion of this col- lossal program. Everywhere the call rings out— “We shall complete the Five-Year Plan in four years!” The Force of Socialist Competition. To understand how it is possible to carry through such a broad and intensive program of industrial ‘and agricultural development, it is necessary to understand the fundamental, moti- vating force. of Socialist Competition. The Five-Year Plan represents the will of the working and :peasant masses of the Soviet Union to build socialist industry and agriculture. It is a planned economic program of tremendous | Scope that rests upon the vital enthusiasm of the masses for’ socialist construction, for the | liquidation of all remnants. of capitalism in the Soviet Union, for the safeguarding of the prole- tarian dictatorship, for its leader, the Commu- nist Party. . Socialist competition is one of the basic prin- ciples by which this enthusiasm ‘of the masses is mobilized in the factories and on the farms, for the fulfillment of the Five-Year Plan. It helps to direct this enthusiasm, this will, into or- against the district leadership, is a sure sign of | that he dissociated himself from Schindler, Otis | there were discussions and consultations between. Otis, Schnider and myself on the general line to be pursued by all of us during and after my expulsion. .This, I mow realize, was nothing but organized opposition. . I want to dissociate myself~ from: these com- | rades and from the policy purstied by them. I stand for the carrfing out of the Party line at all times and under all circumstances. In view of the fact that there was some oppo- | sition movement in the Hill Unit against ac- cepting of Party decisions on my case, I want | to state that I condemn this opposition, by whomever it was led. ‘As to the article, which appeared ffi the coun- ter-revolutionary “Militant,” I want.to declare that I have been wrongly considered’ by com- fades as having had any association with the counter-revolutionists of either the’ ‘Trotskyist or Lovestoneist brand. My attitude towards these enemies of the working class has always been and will remain the same as that of the Com- intern and of the Party, which very correctly analyzed both groups as being the true. ser- vants of international imperialism. The policy of the Party is correct that Party members cannot. fraternize with them, or show any degree -of | leniency to them, but must show only hostility towards these enemies of the Party. On the basis of this, I now grasp that the approach of a Trotskyist, shortly after. the. District action against me, was an insult to my. Communist in- tegrity, and that I should have instantly kicked him out, instead of stopping to speak to him, however few and hostile. words. f Upon the basis of the change in my ‘attitude and ideology towards the Party, I, ask the Party to grant me the greatest privilege in the life - of a worker—membership in the Communist Party, and thus give me ‘the opportunity again to offer all that is in'me for revolutionary cause of the proletariat and its world leader, the Com- munist International. * (Signed) JOHN KASPER. The appeals of John Otis and Morris Schind- ler,’ however, were rejected, ‘because’ they ‘are still maintaining their former wrong’ positions; while at the same time the Central Control Commission. holds the door open for their re- turn to the Party’ by granting them the right to apply for re-admission after six months from the date of District Control Commission action against them, _ | GENTRAL CONTROL COMMISSION COMMUNIST PARTY OF U. 5. A. ganized channels of productive effort. It is a method and tactic of increasing and intensify- ing collective action by the workers and peas- ants, drawing them into the greatest self- activity, the most energetic participation in the mighty task of successfully completing the pro- duction plan. Socialist vs. Capitalist Competition. In the United States, as in all capitalist coun- tries, competition as applied to the working class, is a principle used by the ruling class to divide the workers, to set up one section against the other, in order more easily to attack their. conditions of ‘living. The capitalist class needs its reserve army of unemployed to com- pete for jobs with those still employed, in order to destroy the morale and solidarity of the workérs. Thus the army of 8 million unem- ployed in the United States represents to the capitalists, a competitive force against the em- ployed workers, making possible a wage-slashing, speed-up, terror campaign. So, also, the ruling class sets up the Negro workers as job competi- tors against the white workers, breeding race hatred. So, also, women and young. workers are turned into competitors of male and adult labor—all on the bosses’ principle of “Divide and Conquer.” In the Soviet Union, however, in the land of the proletarian dictatorship, the principle of workers’ competition is used by the masses as one of the most constructive forces for unified action in advancing their common welfare through the Five-Year Plan. The workers in the factories, mines, on the railroads; the peas- ants on the farms, compete to build, not to destroy; not against one another, but for their mutual gain. Socialist competition unites them, binds them together, urges them forward to the more rapid and effective completion of their aims in socialist construction. Forms of Socialist Competition. There are various methodsand forms of so- cialist competition, from the individual competi- | tion of one workers with another, to the com- mune, where.a.group: of workers carry through their task ‘collectively and divide the wages equally. ‘The most widespread form of this self activity in the Soviet Union, is the method of Shock Brigade work. Usually, a group of workers en- gaged in the same processes band together and enter into competition with another group of workers to raise their productivity highest, ful- fill their production’ assignment earliest, de- crease waste the most, et cetera. These’ shock brigades comprise, to begin with, the leading, most active and politically developed elements in the factory. But the impetus of this compe- tition draws huge numters into the movement. There are many thousands of shock brigades throughout the Soviet Union, carrying produc- tion forward at a tremendous pace, and with it, developing a basic workers’ initiative and spirit of collectivity. (To Be Continued) _ Every Party member, every Young Communist must sell 25 cepies of the Daily Worker before fac- tory gates each week to be in good standing. Today in Workers’ History November 5, 1855—Eugene-V. Debs, in- | dustrial union and socialist leader, born at Terre Haute, Ind. 1867—Bread riots in Eketer, England. 1916—Deputies fired on boatload of I.W.W. members coming to Everett, Wash., in free speech fight, five workers killed, 31 wounded. 1918—Revolu- tionary general strike in Kiel and Ham- burg, Germany; spread of Workers’ and Soldiers Councils. 1918—Communist Party ° of Greece founded at Congress at Piraeus. ‘ 1920—Injunction prohibiting Boston shoe strikers. from all activity. ‘ on every telegram and paper. Half the election boards forgot to open up the polls and the other half came in a few hours late, then went out for lunch. Even President Machado himself had to wait forty minutes un- til the election board got around to the polls. And only 30 per cent of those registered as voters actually voted. This is the “democracy” which American im- perialism guarantees to Cuba under the’ Platt Amendment. So Machado says he is “very proud” that things went off so “successfully,” and everybody can go to sleep again—until some fine morn- ing Machado will be found climbing out the back window in his shiri-tail trying to escape his “loyal fellow citizens.” Counted Out No doubt the well known stealing of votes ac- counts for the fact that whereas the bourgeois columnist and fake “socialist” Heywood Broun, rolled up such a vote in the silk-stocking dis- trict of Texas Guinan, all the ballots for “Red Sparks” were thrown out and our fond hopes of going to Congress and throwing ink wells at Nicolas Longworth, speaker of the House of Misrepresentatives, are often dashed to the ground. But we are undismayed. If we can’t use ink- wells in Washington, we will use a typewriter in New York. Either way, our contribution is but an aid and a guidance to the masses who must themselves strike the blow that makes them free, “The emancipation of the working class must be the work of the workers themselves.” Which Reminds Us. Whih reminds us of the ridiculous self-praise put out by the Fishwick group of tricksters among the coal miners in their sheet. It says: “Frank Keeney and Fred Mooney, the district Officials, are more than just union leaders to the Kelley’s Creek miners. Listening to the miners, you get the impression that they are some sort of demi-gods, whom the fates were kind enough to give to the West Virginia miners to ‘ead them from poverty and despair to a bet- ter standard of living.” Clearly the West Virginia miners are due to get disillusioned. We are not against leaders just because they are leaders, but we are against leaders who lead in the wrong direction, to class collaboration with the bosses, like these two Fishwick social fascist union officials. But whether leaders are good or bad the only thing that will insure the masses getting what they want is their own determined and, dis- ciplined mass struggle. So also, though Com- munists in Congress would help, yet there is no substitute for the persistent, organized struggle of the masses. Revolutionary parliamentarism, including throwing inkwells at Nick Longworth, is only part of the broader struggles which must go on until the masses find out that to get bread and freedom they must establish a Soviet power of their own. er bere Fire “Civil Liberties” The Civil Liberties Union, under the gentle guidance of the “socialist” party has become a weird and wonderful affair. Six weeks or so ago, it “announced” that it would no longer go bonds for members of the Communist Party, casually mentioning that it kadn’t anyhow. A week or so later, not being sure that the blacklist had taken effect, precisely the same “announcement” came out again just as if it were news. The only thing new about it being that this time Roger Baldwin got his name as the announcer, thus rectifying the possible over- sight which left Roger out of sight in the first “announcement.” That, of course, had to be corrected. Still the “socialists” were not satisfied, though the capitalist papers did the best they could to help the blacklist along, possibly somebody who might go bail for Communists persecuted by the police had not be properly scared by these gentlemen. So at “the best attended meeting in its history,” the Civil Liberties Union offi- cially, though we doubt finally, reiterated the previous “announcements.” But the ironical thing about this is, that when the unemployed, led by Communists, were beaten up at the City Hall, these “socialists,” in fear lest the workers would turn to the Communists, horned in with an appeal to Mayor Walker that he “treat Communists like you treat other people.” Of Rurely The trical « Value Somebody who walked into the German Reich- stag library, walked out again with the original German Constitution of 1849. Nobody knows who stole it, or whether the thief, who seems to heve gotten away with a book on the “moral- ity of soldiers’ and three other “volumes on sex matters”—so the paper reports them to be —-Wwas merely trying to preserve the morals cf the “socialists” and fascists in the Reichstag, or was making a collection of lewd literature, and took the Constitution on suspicion. Anyway, the German Constitution seems strikingly similar to that of the United States; because, according to the dispatch published in the N. Y. Times, it is said to be “of purely theoretical value.” An Undesirable Alien A noted artist, Grey Barnard, was so busy working on a monument to be called “The Spirit of America,” that he forgot where he was. He was in America, yes, but his studio was standing on some land owned by Rockefeller, and Rocke- feller, in a spirit of gratitude for Tammany re- ducing nis taxes, gave the land to the city, supposedly for a park. So the sculptor, “Spirit of America” and all, is being evicted by the Tammany government,