The Daily Worker Newspaper, January 7, 1931, Page 4

; Published by thy Comprodaily Publishing Co, [ne daily, exeem Su’ at 66 ‘esas Page four 18th Street, New York City. N. ¥. Telephone Algonquin 7956-7. Cab DATWC iAdidrens:'aad/ reall ‘afi; ehecke! to! ths: Dally Worker’ we divss/s19thy) Stigat) Now: York, NOY ; THE HAVE THE UNITS OF THE PARTY MADE THE TURN? | By I. AMTER. m of the Central Control Committee of the Party was a session for tak- ing up the practical work of tne Party. The line of the Party did not need investigation or mod- ification, for events had demonstrated that the line laid down by the Comintern and by the Seventh Convention of the Party was correct. But the Plenum dealt with a most important phase of our Party work: The problem of the application of the line of the Comintern’ and the Party in the every day work. It examined the work of the Party in the unions and mass or- HE Twelfth Pl ganizations. It dealt with the work of the Party organs. It investigated the work of the units of the Party. The Plenum emphasized that the P: must make a turn—the turn in method of approach to the workers, in the raising of concrete partial be and must ingle comrade demands. These y nucleus, by ina shop. Is the nucleus in facing the new methods of approach to the workers, in raising concrete everyday demands, meeting its tasks? Is it dis- cussing and deciding on new forms of work forms of work for the nucleus, for each mem- ber at the place where he works—in the shop. factory, mine, office, etc? Has the nucleus buro tlt organizes the work of the nucleus before the nucleus meeting—so that the techni- cal rout&e work of the nucleus is soon finished and the unit meeting is spent in discussing—not abstract generalities, but the concrete work of the nucleus, the everyday work of each member n the shop in carrying out the campaign of the Party? Or is the nucleus still dragging along in the ‘id fashion—not having made the turn? With 10 order of business—because either there is unit buro, or the buro does not function—w he eternal selling of and collecting for tickets, sts, etc., with the reading of documents in- ended for the unit buro, which it has not di- ested and consequently cannot present propo- als to the unit? The result of such a situation 3 that the nucleus meeting is a nerve-killing nergy-destroying process, dragging on for hous nd ending in disgust and discouragement. If the unit has made the turn—and it is the “uty o1 the District and Section Committees to scertain whether there are unit buros, if they now how to function, and teach them if they o not—then the life of the unit is entirely dif- rent. How is the unit to discuss its work? How it to discuss the work of its members in the tops (and almost all the members of the Pa: ork in shops, although not in a shop nucle! . must first know its territory. It must know 1e character of the population in the territory covers, the conditions of the homes—unem- oyment, evictions or probable evictions, etc.— school conditions, political conditions, etc. It must know the conditions in the shop on which is concent —not generally, but on basis of information received through con’ with some of the workers. This contact it ob- tains by assigning members of the nucleus to distribute ly Workers, !eaflets or other lit- erature, the comrades speaking to the workers, getting an idea of the conditions, learning the grievances—even the petty ones, which frequent- ly are the most important ones—thus enabling the nucleus to issue bulletins and lay the basis for an organization committee for the building up of a shop committee. There must be reports by the the nucleus in rotation. The members of the nucleus must discuss the conditions in the shops in which they work, discuss the w of doi work, need of ass’ nee, etc. In this manner, not only aoes the nucleus tackle its problems in the new manner, but it aids each member of the nucleus to do the same. Thus not nu- cleus becomes a leader in the territory, but each members of the nucleus becomes a potential lead- th e er in cr her shop. This what is mez e new turn—new methods of work, con jal demands. Are the units of the Party meeting the needs of the curn? —or Are they round the (urn have they also or turn? Are the meetings of the n consequence, an ins} ion to the members, that they come to the meet zest, or are they still the oid, that sap the remaini ene: mechanical meete of the com- so that new members cannot e inner life of the Party that which brough them to the Par sequently leave di: appointed? Or are the meetings of the nuc a reflection of the struggle taking place in the shops and on the re the members of the Party discuss the political issues, the or- nuzational tasks, and their concrete application to the particular situation or shop? an other have the units of the Party made the turn in practice—or are they still deologically and org ationally following the old path—and therefore are guilty of opportun- ism in practice, even though sometimes unin- tentionally? This question the nuclei and each member must ask themselves. This question the ction and District Committees must investi- gate. Till the nuclei make tue turn in practice, the life o. the Party will not correspond to the objective situation, the Party will not be func- tioning properly, the new members will not re- main in the Pariy, the turnover remain high— and the Part s a whole will not be equal to its gigantic This inves once. words, on and study must be made at Accidents on Construction Work and Workmen’s Compensation _ By A. PETER! Article 1. ‘HE writer ofthis article came close to the fact that while there is ample information yterial on commerce, real estate, etc., there are ) accurate figures on a national scale to de- ‘mine accidents and details in the construction lustry. The same is true about other indus- es. Only a few states record these accidents; rst states have inadequate statistics or no vords at all. This proves how little the gov- wment institutions, nationally and locally, do ve about the well-being of us workers. Yowever, from the figures available on acci- ats in the building construction industry, the or four million workers employed in this in- stry in the U.S.A. may claim contribution in isfying the feverish demands of profits for estors, their contribution not only in becom- : physically unfit at the age of 40, but also | ‘crushed and maimed bodies, or in becoming ypled for life. ‘he Bureau of Labor Statistics and Informa- 1 in its Oct., 1930 report puts the accidents construction work 4 per cent higher than in ng er Beat scaffolds. linois has the guarding of scaffolds and in addition also the guardir floor openings, hoist and the provision of signal systems for hoisting apparatus. Michigan has nothing but a regulation providing temporary toilers on the job. oni six states and the Dis trict of Columbia have enacted codes to safe guard building trade wor! . State of V ington has some safety standards—that empl ers continually violate the law is generally known Something About Responsibility. Mr, Davis, former secretary of labor, had some- thing to say about industrial accidents in the U.S.A. In an article in the carpenters’ monthly he states among other things—that the worke ot | members of it are also to be blamed for not learning the les- | sons of safety. He blames workers for cent of industrial accidents. But while touching the 12 per cent for which he puts the blame on the workers, Mr. Davis | fails to mention the causes and blame of the 8-1929 (and this is in spite of the fact that | re are about 20 per cent less workers em- xyed in construction work in 1930 than in 1929). total is 20 per cent above the total of 1925- 5. Only in the four states, New York, Penna., io and California, more than 68,000 accidents se reported for the year of which 650 were al. In Illinois state, 82 accidents were re- ‘ted among children on construction work un- > the age of 18. the available estimation shows at least 2,200 » Iding construction workers are killed annual- 11 each working day. It is second only to » mining industry in accidents. \s per trades; carpenters are running first; 1 workers next, ete. text to the direct accident on the job, come ) occupational diseases—the impairment of uth making the workers unfit to work. Here > painters are coming to the front places in » list. Benzoil and wood alcohol, lead-dust, mn spraying, are gradually but surely under- ting the health of the painter. Protection of the Workers. ‘Vhat concerns the protection of the health the workers in the U.S.A., there is a striking Thile the Department of Labor is stating that Cc: to ase which caused the impairment of ysical resources, the U. S. loses annually 2 bil- . dollars in wages. We may note that Con- 3s has appropriated about $54,000,000 in the 5 five years to reduce and conquer disease © ong plants and animals and not quite $4,000,- ( ) has been made available for inquiring into ventable human afflictions. ‘Vhat concerns safety codes, state regulations »* protection of building trades workers, so 27 tes have no special codes or even regulations ‘ te labor laws to safeguard the lives of work- : engaged on buildings under construction, ‘ving this responsibility to the cities and towns ‘nich under the excuse of lack of funds are wlecting it as far as possible. ‘n addition to the 27 states which have no | * ‘sty codes, 14 states have no codes but con- t/a provisions in the labor laws concerning vkers on buildings. These regtilations are sfully inadequate. New Jersey has a few pro- other 88 per cent. And in this manner he, as a true agent of the bosses’ government, is doing his service to the bosses in whitewashing their guilt. ‘ As a building trades worker, it is not hard for me to bring a life picture about this 12 per cent of the accidents—how they really occur. Speed-up, the general hustling and bustling on the job is their direct cause. The boss, contractor, foreman and pusher and in some instances even the architect or engineer are watching the movements of the workers on the job and are speeding them. The results are: a plumber rushes with pipes and breaks the feeble guards on the elevator opening. The car- | penter who rushes by and notices it is busy in | performing a day's work | order to fix in another guard). (besides, he has no Meantime a la- borer is called in a hun The cell sounds, “Ga damn, hurry up, quick!” The laborer rush- es right into the elevator opening and drops to death. A carpenter who has to Jay a c®rtain | number of beams in a day must walk fast on the walls of building and it happens that he loses his balance, drops down and breaks his head. In rushing, it is to be expected that a brick or stone may drop from a scaffold and injure a pesserby who is not even employed on the job. Such is the nature of these 12 per cent accidents. Now, in this crisis, when the building industry is hit the hardest and the majority of the work- ers are unemployed, the workers on the job are less careful, they are more afraid to lose their job, face the wolf at the door. Speed-up is the only way not to get fired at any hour. Just now the report of the Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the accidents 4 per cent above 1929-1930 in spite of the fact that there are now about 20 per cent less employed than in 1929, Our union officials in the building trades, in their collaboration with tae bosses, established the ethics of an honest day’s work and the right to hire and fire at the bosses’ will, And it is surely the boss who determines what is an honest day's work. The union officials even signed agreements inserting the clauses: “That there shall be no limitation as to the amount of work a man is to perform during his working day.” To fight apeed- ‘up Is*not in the line of these WPL. speed-up in the building the line with th> pro- gram and tactics of the Building Consiruction Workers Industrial League and it is for our 12 pet | Daily, avorker YEW OCCUPATION OF THE RUHR WORKERS LEAVE THE CAMP OF RENEGADES Applying for re-admission into the Communist Party, Bessie Eisman, a worker in the dress- ing industry of New York City, states: “I fully realize the mistake I made in voting inst the expulsion of the Lovestoneites and | the decisions of the Tenth Plenum. I am ni convinced that the line pursued by the Comintern and by the American Party is correct. The anti-Communist activities of the Love- stoneites in the mass demonstrations, their anti- Communist work in the unions and mass organ- izations of the workers, and their anti-Commun- ist analysis of the world crisis of capitalism have Comintern and of our Party in exposing the Lovestoneites as agents of American Imperialism. I feel that at this time when the Party is car- rying on struggles against the bosses and against all their agents, and is winning the masses of the working class under our leadership, my place is in the Party of the working class, the Com- munist Party of the U.S. A.” Recognizing that, Comrade Bessie Eisman is sincere in her complete dissociating from the Lovestone renegades and in her full endorsement and acceptance of the line of our Party and of the Comintern, the Central Control Commission approved her re-admission into the ranks of the Communist Party of the U.S. A. CENTRAL CONTROL COMMISSION COMMU: 'T PARTY OF THE U. S. A. JANUARY COMMUNIST OUT “Fewer high-falutin phrases and more simple every-day deetis” (Lenin), was the keynote sounded by Comrade Browder in his report to the 12th plenum, which appears in the January COMMUNIST. If the Communist Party and the Red unions are to be real mass leaders, it means serious attention to the elementary, every-day needs of the workers. Every jobless worker, every hungry | child, every wage cut, every bowl of sloppy soup, every eviction, represent forces out of which our movement develops, For our movement to give expression to this suffering and discontent, means greater practice of trade union and working class democracy; the chance for all workers to give voice to and joint action about their problems, Because the Party has been too much divorced from the daily struggles of the masses, is one reason why is could display such flagrant and such “strong remnants of bureaucratic methods,” as have been practiced by our Party members, especially in trade union work. Our weakness in this respect represents an impermissable lack of faith in the workers. We :nust learn for our selves, Lenin’s undying faith in the toiling masses, Comrade Browder's ringing call at the last plenum to get down to the vital every-day needs of the masses, to help organize and give these expression under our leadership, is given in full in the January COMMUNIST, that is in their interest to join this league and help fight speed-up,and all other evils confront- ing them in the industry, Now, let us come to the. other 88 per cent of accidents on construction work. The causes and the guilt of this 88 per cent of the accidents are quite familiar to the workers in the industry, to safeguard their profits are supplying on the jobs feeble scaffolds, stepladders, ete. The build- ing ‘inspector sees first the boss, in order to take his graft, permits the use of these feeble implemerts and materials, and overlooks the sup) -d to be law safety devices, The politicians in investigating an accident when it cocurs, do their utmost to hide the real facts of the cause and guilt. ‘These are generally known facts. ‘The boss who carries a compensation policy, | feels himself safe, He does surely not lose when a few of his workers are killed or injured. The sufferers are the workers and their families, , Now lot us see how they are protected by | compensation laws. About these Workingmen’s Com; convinced me of the correctness of the | ‘The bosses, in their only aim . | against By G. T. GRINKO People’s Commissar of Finance, U. S, S. R. XVI. What kind of a social order is being created by that rising tide of revolutionary enthusiasm which, though it has engaged the energies of the millions of people in the Soviet Union, can have been only faintly suggested here? What answer is given by actual development under the Five-Year Plan to the historical question raised by Lenin at the beginning of the New Economic Policy: ‘‘Which will be victorious in the economic and social development of the U. S. S. R.—so- cialism or capitalism?” It seems to us that the actual development during the twelve years that have passed since the October Revolution and the nearly two under the Five-Year Plan supply a perfectly clear and convincing answer. The economic construction and the social development of the Soviet Union are making rapid and decisive steps toward so- cialism, The Five-Year Plan is being carried forward with the greatest enthusiasm both as a basis for great projects and as a program for the accelerated and victorious socialist offensive the remnants of capitalism in all branches of the economic, social, political and cultural life of the U. S. S. R. The development of the productive forces of the Soviet Union is passing the milestones set by the Plan more rapidly than was ever con- templated in the most optimistic estimates. Our analysis of the results achieved in 1928-1929 show this, as do the control figures for all branches of Soviet economic and cultural development and social and political life for 1929-1930. Especially significant is the fact that the tempo contem- plated by the Five-Year Plan for the socialist reconstruction and industrialization of agricul-° ture has been greatly exceeded, accelerating the reconstruction and development of the village on socialist foundations. Only a little while ago the AH-Union Communist Party and the Soyiet Government were still considering two alte! tive drafts of the Five-Year Plan, the “basic,” drawn up with a view to the most unfavorable conditions and another, the so-called “optimu:n,” which provided for a higher tempo of develop- ment. Now there is no more talk of the mini- mum or “basic” variant of the Plan. The actual course of development has entirely eliminated it: it has converted even the “optimum” draft into a mere minimum program. Reality has sur- passed the most daring estimates. Ever more | frequently and persistently resounds the slogan, “The Five-Year Plan must be carried out in four years.” We have repeatedly emphasized the fact that any plan for the economic development of the \By mafl everywhere of Manhattan and Bronx SUBSCRIPTION RATES: One year. $6; etx months, $3; two months. New York City. Worelgn: One year. By BURCK in its entire structure, answer the question of interrelation between the various social sectors. In other words, it must make | clear what guarantee it gives of the strength- ened leadership of the sociali: socialist forms of the ecozo: However, the real process of socialization pro- ceeds much more rapidly than contemplated in the Five-Year Plan. Already in 1929-1930, 85 per cent of all persons working for hire are em- ployed in the socialired sector, which is pro- ducing 88.2 per cent of the entire output of in- dustry and accounting for 59 per cent of the entire basic capital and 76 per cent of all the capital investments during the year. But the process of socialization is especially accelerated in the field of agriculture—that is, on that very | sector of the economic front where the last di ¢isive battle with the remnants of capitalism is being fought. The Five-Year Plan contemplated bringing the sowed area of the socialist sector up to 27 million hectares by 1932-1933 but in reality we already have 20 million hectares in 1929-1930. The Five-Year Plan was based on the estimate that by 1932-1933, about 43 per cent of the grain available for market would come from the socialized sectors, whereas already by the end of 1929-1930 the socialized sector will supply over 50 per cent of all the marketable grain stocks. The great masses of the peasantry, not merely the poorest. but also the middle, have begun a determined advance, under the guidance of the Communist Party, on the road toward agricultural socialization. This has become a mass movement, extending not only to individual holdings but to entire villages, districts, even regions. social and political life of the U. S.S. R. It furnishes a conclusive answer to the question of the fate of the socialist development in the great republic of labor. . From The Five Year Plan of the Soviet Union, by G. T. Grinko, one of the original collaborators on the Five-Year Plan of So- cialist industrialization, a complete account of the Plan, containing the first two years of its operation and a political estimate of its place in world economy. By special arrangement with Interna- tional Publishers this $. book FREE WITH THE DAILY VORKER FOR ONE YEAR( $8 in Manhattan and the Bronx, $6 outside New York. Rush your subscription to the Daily Worker, 50 E. 13th St, New York. Mention this offer. Why the Panama Revolt? By H. G. IONCLUSIVE evidence that the “revolution” in Panama was engineered by American im- perialism, was given by the N. Y. American of January 5, in an interview with Richard O. Marsh, former Secretary and Charge d’Affairs of the U. S. Legation in Panama, later on at- tache of the State Department and recently a Latin-American expert of the Department of Commerce. Marsh speaks with authority as he was con- nected with the U. 6. Legation in Panama when some of the events he tells of, occured. The U. S. had made.the revolution which split Pan- ama away from Columbia, and got along all right, until, says Marsh, ight years ago one Rodolfo Chiari, was elected president. Chiari was a financier, but $500,000 in debt, and was helped into office by his creditors so he could graft a lot and play them back. Marsh says Chiari cleaned up by playing a dirty trick on the U.S.A., through ceding to a British com- pany “all the public rubber lands.” The com- pany was headed by such outstanding British imperialists as Sir Alfred Mond (who died but @ week ago.) jt to drill, equip and officer its own troops for “po- licing the concession.” Marsh himself reported this offense against Yankee interests in the canal to Washington. He says Washington pro- tested that such a step was “inconceivable, par- ticularly when British or, Japanese interests are | involved.” The U. S. protest caused the military clause to be cancelled, but the British still hold the land concession, Chiari is believed to have gotten millions of dollars for this from the British. Arosemena, the president who succeeded Chiari in 1928, was apparently also bought off by the British on the land busines, though ready to sell anything loose to American interest if the price was big enough. American imperialism became “morally out- raged” at this corruption, and Marsh says that “the best minds of Panama,” headed by Dr. Harmodio Arias, “determined on revolution.” Arias, says Marsh, {s “a sincere patriot and friend of the United tSates” (an anomally Marsh don’t seem to understand), and to show how | nice Arias is, Marsh tells us that he “has bee attorney for the United Fruit Company, Firestone Rubber Company, the Tord interes ene of the king’s home life, but a revealing d_sectors—of the | This is the crucial fact of the present | $1; excepting Boroughs $8; ex months, $4.50 Pe ——_—_——— TT U4 By JORGE nee ted. * Bo!sheviks got all excited at receiving three unusual ys from south of the Smith & Wesson Line + day, two from Texas, one from Birm- And we're going to let you take a peek nd rhe Fundamentalist,” and take it from this sheet from Fort Worth is “Funda” if not “mentalist.” Across the front page at the top is a headline in red ink capital letters read- ing: “Old Fashioned Heaven-Sent Fire-Baptized Holy Ghost Sin-Convicting Mourners-: -Bench Shouting Revival in Amarillo.” ‘That would make you sprout wings right where you're hitched, if a god-fearing Baptist. But this sheet is so all-fired fundamentalist that it declares a new civil war on the Baptist Church of the perfidious North. But now comes “Brotherhood Eyes,” a weird little Dallas sheet. It seems also Baptist, but gim Crow Baptist. More, it says it is after “the Evil Doer within the Race,” and mostly it specializes in Jecherous Negro Baptist preachers whose sins are related in cold type. It opens up by saying that “Although the State Baptist Convention is split asunder, we find the same crookedness prevailing.” Kinda of a “left wing.” But its main line is such things a@s “Preacher Faces Charge of Being Father of Baby,” and “Old Sugar Daddy Still Likes Them Young.” Inside, Madame Ismar, Spiritualist, is advertized to tell “past, presont and future for white cr eclored.” What rot, both of these bughouse sheets, with s of starvation, misery, lynchings, and war facing millions of southern workers and poor farmers! what a breath of sanity and clarity for we get from the third, the Birming- ham paper, the “Southern Worker”! Here straight from the mill towns and cotton patches we get the pulse of class struggle, of things that matter! The fight of the jobless, the struggle against lynchings, Chattanooga Elections, stories of how the farmers fight with guns for bread— and it’s not all in Arkansas, either! As an antidote to the Baptist bunk—an ex- posu’ of the Interdenominational Ministers’ Alliance in its leading the bourgeois Negro pow- wow at Chattanooga celebrating the so-called pation Proclamation,” which it rightly “Celebrating a Piece of Paper While Negroes Remain Slaves.” This article alone is worth any worker's time. The “Southern Worker” is the voice of the Communist Party in the South, and it deserves ing. The issue we have, printed before the nsas outbreak, shows it was “felt” in ada vance. An editorial opens: °* | “Armed warfare for very existence smoulders on the countryside. The rock bottom prices of cotton and tobacco, the taking of the whole preceeds of crops by landowners, the refusal of landlords and merchants to advance any more credit for food, severe unemployment, the drouth, winter, bank failures—is why warfare smolders on the countryside. People do not starve peacefully, no matter how the bosses would like it so.” Here, workers, is something vital, something alive! Not the Holy Ghost Revival of the Fun- damentalists, nor the immoral “morality” of “Brotherhood Eyes,” but the voice of the Negro toilers, of mill hand and hill Billy rising to the dignity of social revolution! Here is a paper that means something! 2 aoe Hungry? Chew on Sunshine! ‘ Spanish things seem all the rage now. And since the Spanish bourgeoisie has been trying the difficult stunt of overthrowing the monarchy without getting off the neck of the proletariat, no end of nonsense has been flowing from’ the pens of bourgeois journalists. A case in point {s an article by one Jules Sauerwein (correctly and fittingly pronounced “Sour Wine”) who occupies the exalted position as Foreign Editor of the Paris paper “Le Matin.” Sauerwein writes in the N. Y. Times of Jan. 4, telling all about it, gives us the following bril- liant “reasons” why the working class in Spain have nothing to complain about: “There is not nearly so much misery as there used (o be. Where the workers are poorly paid they at Ieast enjoy a wonderful climate. Where the climate is not so good, wages are better” Would the worker of Barcelona wish for & plate of beans, let him take the trolley car and view the scenery of Montserrat! Does the work- er of Madrid pine for huevos revueltos, or in plain English scrambled eggs, let him. stroll arsund the Puerta del Sol and soak up the sun- shine! Cheered by the prospect of such a settlement of our own situation after reading Sauerwine’s article, we came to work on a miserably cold day, when, alas, the Business Manager came in with five dollars for the week's pay. Somehow, Sauerwine’s Spanish apple sauce don’t work here. i ones Oe Charming? No End! From a London dispatch to the N. Y. Times of January 4, we extract the news that: “A charming glimpse of King George’s home life was given by J. 1. Thomas, Laborite Dom- inion Secretary, in a speech in South Wales last night.” We Interrupt here to mention that the South Wales miners are starving and striking and doubtless the “socialist,” Mr. Thomas, thought it wise to cheer them with ‘charming” stories about their beloved King. But the story goes on to quote him: “I was in audience with the King «m State matters around six in the evening.” he said, “when the Queen entered with little Princess Elizabeth, saying: ‘Would you mind? We want the Princess to wish grandpa good night.’ “Thus.” added Mr. Thorns, “when little grandchild comes, the King is no longer King.” This, we believe, is rich, though not rare or racy. It seems to express the point of view of all fake “socialists” toward monarchy. The King ‘is not longer king” when his granchild comes in, But-when such “socialists” come into power, | the king remains, and remains a king, too. So the story is not only a “charming glimpse”