The Daily Worker Newspaper, January 23, 1931, Page 4

Page Four ' i Published by the Comprodaily Publishing Co., 13th Street, New York City, Address and mail all checks to the Daily Worker, 60 East 13th Street, New York, N. Ine, Gatly, ‘except Sunday. Cadi N. Y. Telephone Algonquin 1956-7. at 80 East “DAIWORK, Daily; orker ~~." Derg USA By mail everywhere: One year, of Manhattan and Bronz, New York City. ’ SUBSCRIPTION RATES! ~ $6; siz montbe $3: foreign: One year, two montha $1 me excepting Boroughe $8; aiz months $4.50. ——— WORKING CLASS LEADERS By I. AMTER. N January 15, 1919, the social democrats of Germany brutally murdered Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg, two revolutionary leaders of the German working class. Karl Liebknecht fought against the world war, spoke and voted against the war budget. Drafted into the army, he issued a manifesto to the German workers telling them that their enemy was at home— the bosses. On May Day, 1916, Liebknecht ap- peared in civilian clothes and rallied the workers of Berlin, particularly the young workers, at open mass demonstrations against the imper- jalist war. For this he was arrested by the kaiser's officials, and sentenced to four and a half years imprisonment. The revolution— that ig the driving out of the kaiser and the estab- lishment of a capitalist republican government with social democrats at its head, freed Lieb- knecht. But he was to lead a peaceful life. Liebknecht fought and exposed the social democracy, its treachery through the four years of war, its treachery in forming a republican government, its treachery to the Councils of Workers and | Soldiers, formed after the pattern but not with the content of the Russian Soviets. Liebknecht fought and incurred the bitter hatred of the social democrats. who seized him and murdered him in cold blood. Rosa Luxemburg, leader of the Polish workers, had to leave Poland to escape banishment td Siberia where the, czar’s court wished to send | her. - With a period of bitter fight against the pet=-vals of the socialists behind her, she fought agc’>st the world war, issuing document after docu:aent, and together with Liebknecht estab- | lished the periodical of revolutionary Marxism— the International. Hunted and finally seized by officers in the employ of the social demo- cratic government, together with Liebknecht she was murdered by the enemies of the working class. Thest two leaders—together with the great leader of, the working class revolution—Lenin— | are. the embodiment of the revolutionary insight and fithting spirit of the working class. Lenin, | the man who, after Marx, laid down the line and ‘strategy for the Proletarian Revolution, amplifying and ‘elaborating Marx's theories in their application to the period of imperialism; Liebknecht, the working class leader, who bold and unafraid, faced the entire mob of his (at that hime) social democratic colleagues in the Reichstag, denounced them nd their imperialist masters, went into the streets, after release from prison. and rallied the youth against the blood, war; Luxemburg, the writer and speaker, who, not being in touch with the Russian comrades. made some serious errors, and yet helped to lay down the line for the separation of the Ger- man Working class revolutionists from the re- formists. Today. the significance of the work of Lieb- knecht and Lusemburg in. the. revolutionary movement of Germany come’ itioré to the fore. With social democracy in the pfogress of 11 years having turned openly social fascist, and in Germany being the sole prop of the semi- | fascist Bruening government, the role of Lieb- | knecht apd Luxemburg, together with that of | Klara Zetkin and Mehring, in laying the basis for the now powerful Communist Party of Ger- many cannot be overestimated. Today, the social democrats and socialists the | world over are conducting a vicious fight against | the revolutionary workers, just as they did in Germany after the ‘world war, when they de- | yided the workers who organized into Councils | of Workers and Soldiers (there was not yet a | Communist Party), and then disbanded the coun- cils when the Weimar republican constitution was adopted. Today, the social democrats sup- . port capitalist “democracy” against the rising rebellion of the workers, who are suffering from | mass unemployment, hunger, wage slashes— witness Germany, England, Poland, Jugoslavia, etc. They support and in many cases direct the operations of the imperialist governments, as, for instance, the British Labor government, massacring the workers and peasants of India, Egypt, Palestine, etc. They support the imper- ialist government of Holland (in relation to Java); France (leading in imperialist prepara- tions generally, and in expeditions against Mor- rocco, Indo-China); in attacks on the revolu- tionary workers of the United States, Poland, Jugoslavia, Bulgaria, Belgium, Scandinavia. They support the imperialist actions in the colonies, and above all are the front-line fighters against the Soviet Union. No lie, no slander is too low for the social democrats. The revelations at the trial of the leaders of the so-called “Indus- trial Party” in Moscow, showed the connections | of the social democrats with the imperialists in preparation for armed intervention in the So- viet Union. No press attempted to redicule the trial more than the socialist press. And let us not forget that it was the: second international which, in its manifesto of May 1 and one of more recent date, called for war against the Soviet Government. Liebknecht and Luxemburg, in taking up the fight. against the traitors of the working class in 1914, together with Lenin, who long before than time began and led the fight against the reformists, impress upon us with great emphasis our tasks today, now that the imperialist world is preparing for’ war to get out fo the crisis, and for armed attack on the Soviet Union. This task becomes all the more necessary, in view of the war preparations of the U. S. govern- | ment—federal budget $1,127,000,000 for 6 months, or more than any time in the history of the country, the report of the Fish Committee, which is directly in preparation for war—the united front which is forming in China of the im- perialist powers for open support of the warlords against the advancing Chinese Red Armies, etc. Lenin, Liebknecht and Luxemburg—and above all the Communist International—have shown us that in our fight aaginst imperialism we must also fight against the traitors of the working class. Not one fight taking place after the other, but a single fight on two fronts. Just as the struggle of the workers against the bosses and their government. in strikes, etc., cannot be separated from the struggle against the fascist and social fascist trade union leaders, who are tools in the ranks of the workers, carrying out the wishes of the bosses to smash the ranks of the workers, reduce their conditions, ete. So in the struggle against imperialist war, our guns must be drilled at the enemies on the two fronts. Lenin, Liebknecht, Luxemburg—three heroes of the working class—are dead but that for which they lived and died, is livelier today than ever before. The struggle against the traitors, the imperialists and all their lackeys, the struggle for the revolutienary uniffeation of tlic working class are the demand of the day. Not individual leadérs will léad the wofking class. Liebknecht and Luxemburg did not live to participate in the organization and activities of the Communist International, although they and a few other German reyolutionists were | the heart of the Spartacus movement of Ger- many. out of which developed the German Com- munist Party. But their lives were the person- ification of that which will lead the working class to victory: devotion to the working class, unending courage, and, with the aid of the Com- munist International, the correct line and policy. Not individual leaders, but the Communist Party furnishes the leadership for the struggle—the unified revolutionary struggles of the masses in the capitalist and colonial countries against world imperialism, and its tools and allies, the socialist parties and the reactionary, fascist trade union leaders. “A Criticism of the Revolutionary : _ Press By HARRY GANNES. . wt one exception, there has been a district improvement in the revolutionary working | class press and trade union organs published in | the English language. The exception is the | United Farmer, official organ of the United | States Farmers’ League, affiliated with the Farmers’ International. Thé best of the papers considered in the present article is undoubtedly Labor Unity, official organ of the Trade Union Unity League. From an examination of recent issues of the Young Worker, Working Woman, Labor Unity and the Southern Worker, it is clear that the problem of reaching the workers im language understandable to them, by getting down to concrete problems of the daily struggles instead of phrascsiongering and mechanical répetition of resolutions is being realized. By no means, should this be understood as signify- ing there are no shortcomings. A talk with the editors cf nearly all of these papers brings the “frank admission of such shortcomings. But the \ problem is being hammered out. * a ‘The great lack of all of these papers is the ability to act as effective organizers. There is too great a similarity in the articles published in all these papers. They seem to follow a stilted form. They copy from one another. The work- f "er correspondents are encouraged to follow a routine style instead of giving free expression to what they think, what they see and what they . question. With the exception of Labor Unity “title of the paper would be very confusing. The "articles are interchangable. This does not that the problems touched are not fit for - ‘ation in each of them. but they must be treated especially in, for instance, the Young Worker, the United Farmer, the Southérn Worker, etc, |The United Farmer, which comes out irregular- tries to make up by printing long articles. ey are written in a very dry manner, For in- , the story on’ the trial of the Moscow is not connected with the conditions of American farmers so that it is made a part i It is something froeign to the farm- ers, Negro and white, is barely touched- upon. The December issue would not give you an inkling that what occurred ‘m England, Arkan- sas, when armed Negro and white farmers, on the verge of starvation, demanded food and got it, could happen. The paper is badly gotten up. There is a good deal of farmers’ correspondence, but it is not handled to advantage, and there are no editorial notes directing organization of the farmers. The Working Woma: The two issues, De- eember and Januar; have improved in content, but they are badly gotten up and are difficult to read. There are not cnough articles on spe- cific industries in which tens of thousands of women are employed. While there is general propagenda against hunger and unemployment in the January issue, it does not do sufficient to mobilize the working women for the hunger marches and the struggle for relief undertaken Tact “by the Trade Union Unity League and the un- employed councils. A graye fault is the fact that the worker correspondents have discovered that by thé use of carbon paper a large number of copies of their letters can be made and the same letter gets into several of the revolution- ary papers. It is the duty of the editors to build up special corps of worker correspondents among the women workers who feel that the Working , Woman is the proper weapon in their struggle to organize the toiling women. Just by adding the word “women” in a story that appeared in the Daily Worker or Labor Unity does not make it of special interest to working women. There should be more fresh material written by work- ing women, Labor Unity: This is the best gotten-up and most attractive sheet of the lot. Its cartoons by Quirt are splendid and of a good agitational character. The paper is easy to read and ap- peals to the workers. It has a big variety of articles from the shops, from the breadlines, from the revolutionary unions in the struggle, and Wag especially effective in organizing for the hunger-marches, Labor Unity has been most Successful in getting away from the stilted phrases of the other papers. The greatest short- coming is in guiding the way for organization. The column, “We Want To Organize,” is too general and does not devote sufficient space to organization. There is also a tendency to the R Saeed worker correspon- Site ‘on the Réd Inter- could be LIEBK NECHT,-LUXEMBURG-~ HELP US! THE PR PEALANTS ARE Taking OUR LAND Ann, Dawing Sig ae By RYAN WALKER. Lessons of the B.&D- sections of the R. I. L. U. Southern Worker: In spite of the fact that this is a four-page paper in small form it bubbles with the life and struggle of. the workers and farmers in the South. The articles are short and breathe the conditions of the southern masses. They are easy to read. There is plenty of workers’ correspondence. The editorials some- times are too“long and there are not enough of them, though Jim Allen's column makes up for them and is good. The best criticism of the shortcomings of the Southern Worker was made by the editor himself, Jim Allen, when he said it is not sufficiently an organizer for the Com- munist Party. It does not take up concrete questions of organization often enough. There is a lack of educational material and reference to pamphlets and books for those of its readers who want to learn more about Communism and Marxism and Leninism. There should be a col- umn on Party life, telling the readers, from week to week, what the Communist Party is doing elsewhere; what its world task is—not in thesis fashion, but in a simple way so that the reader feels the international struggle. There should be a column dealing with theory in a simple way, with references to pamphlets and books and where they can be obtained. Young Worker: Though the Young Worker has improved in dealing with the problems of the working youth, it is woefully lacking in unem- ployment mobilization for the fight for unem- ployment insurance. With the war danger find- ing its way into the capitalist press nearly every day, outside of the usual phrases that have ap- peared in the Young Worker from time immem- orial, you would never suspect it from just read- ing the Youse Worker. Lenin's outstanding ad- vice to the Communist youth was to “Learn!” Learn! Learn!” The Young Worker overlooks this lesson. ‘There is no consistent theoretical study-material, no reference and discussion of the great Marxist-Leninist classics. This does not have to fill the paper. It can be in the form of short articles written so that young workers can understana it, but the material is icking. A question and answer column would be valuable. ‘There is a good sport page. The workers core respondence is lively and good. ' ‘When the mailing privileges were taken away the appeal to “Defend the Young Worker” failed to stress the necessity of mobilizing the youth to distribute the paper in the shops and factories, to insure its circulation’among the widest strata of working youth. Gathering Signatures for Our Unemployment Insurance Bill Lays the Basis for a Mass Movement Against Capi- talists and Their Gov- ernment. It’s An Im- portant Task ; Workers! Join the Party of 4 Your Class! Communist Party U.S A. 43 East 125th Street, New York City. Please send me more information on the Cum- munist Party. . Nanie Address » & OMY, ssuscccconsseseonessores GUO «es cosessee Occupation ....s+000» seeces ABO ceovee~ .Mail this to. the Central OMce, Communist Party, 43 East 125th St, New York, N. ¥. The Program of the Indian Revolution The “Lefts” in the National Congress '4E Indian National Congress as a whole was organized by the Indian capitalists. It be- came the greatest brake 6n the organization of the Indian masses for the révolutionary struggle. As awhole itfrankly defends the interests of the capitalists and landlords, and seeks by every meahs to come to an agreement with British imperialism, satisfactory to the rich classes in India. There is, however, in the fold of the Na- tional Congress a special brand of bourgeois nationalists, whe pose as “lefts,” and are there- fore the most dangerous enemies of the rising Indian masses. This is the group headed by Jawaharlal Nehru, Bose and others. The dif- ference between this group and Gandhi's is this: Whereas Gandhi wants the revolution to com- mit harakari, the young Mehru wants to kill | it with poison, The “left” nationalists penetrate into the trade unions where they hamper the workers’ struggle against the bosses. They promise the peasants land (of course, with due regard to the intter- ests of the landlords) AFTER the revolution. They support Gandhi's teaching of non-violence ‘mot on principal, but as a policy.” As if it matters to the Indian workers and peasants whether they are betrayed “on principle” or on grounds of “high policy!” One of these phrase+ mongers, a well known “left” nationalist poli- ticlan, Jamnadas Mehta, in the name of the Trade Union of Railway Employees of which he is president,.recently declared against the general strike, resolved upon by the All-India “Trade Union Congress. What are his reasons? Of course the mest plausible: trade unionism in India is weak, says he, and stands in need of. “constructive, sober work, and not ultra-mili- tant activity.” This worthy was immediately canonized by the imperialist press, im®spite of his alleged “anti-imperialist” activities, for his soberly treacherous attitude towards the gen- eral strike. All this shows how right are the Indian Com- munists when they declare in their Platform of Action: “Ruthless war on the “left” national re- formists is an essential condition if we are to isolate them from th eworkers and from the mass of the peasantry and mobilize the latter under the’ banner of the Communist Party and of the anti-imperialist agrarian revolution in India.” Hatred of British rule now permeates the whole Indian people through and through. A United States government official, who last year toured Eastern countries, states in his book: “People of twenty years residence there (i.e. in India, Ed.) told me they had never seen India so stirred up.” Under these conditions anybody who wants to win the ear of the Indian masses must talk against British peasants ous role of the “left” nationalists. ‘These day to day struggles will arouse the class consciousness of the Indian workers and peas- ants, organize them and steel them for the com- ing onslaught on imperialism and its Indian allies. For without persistent day ‘to day work of organizing the masses into trade unions, peasant leagues, etc., there can ge, no victorious revolution, This is what the supporters of in dian National Congress condemns these terrorist acts as “dastardly outrages,” thus only confirming Its class affinity to British imperialism. so the Indian Communist Party. The Indian Communists do not question the sincerity, the devotion, the self-sacrifice of the Indian terror- ists, But they do question whether theirs is the right way to the victory of the revolution. No, answers the Platform of Action: “This emancipation of India cannot be achieved by a terrorist movement.’ The sup- porters of the terrorist movement of our coun- try do not see and do not believe in the strug- gle of the broad masses of the people, and do not understand the connection between the agrarian revolution, the struggle of the work- ing class and the overthrowal of British dom- ination. # They try by brave and single-handed terrorist acts to achieve victory over British imperialism. A “While recognizing the devotion and self- sacrifice of the terrorists in the cause of na- tional emancipation of India, the Communist Party declares that the road to victory is not the method of individual terror but the strug- gle and the revolutionary armed insurrection of the widest possible masses of the working Class, the peasantry, the poor of the towns and the” Indian soldiers, around the banner and under the leadership of the Communist Party of India.” y The Indian Communist Party—The Fighter for Socialism From what has been said before, it is clear that the Indian Communists show the Indian masses the only possible path they must tra- verse in order to achieve their freedom from British imperialism. Without a strong political party, as organizer and leader of the masses, it is impossible to defeat the powerful imperialist robber. There is not other group or party in India which is capable of understanding the conditions. of the struggle and which will really organize for it the workers and peasants. But thé Indian Communist Party is something even more than that. Above all the Communist Party is the Party of the working class. And because it is the Party of this most consistently revolu- tionary class, the Communist Party fights not only for the abolition of imperialist and land- lord domination, but for the abolition of all Kinds of exploitation including CAPITALIST ex- Plitation. The Indian Communist Party is thus a part of the international proletariat, which, under the banner of the Communist Interna- tional fights for the WORLD SOCIALIST REV- OLUTION. + 4 ‘The dogs of British imperialism strain every effort in order to isolate the Indian workers from the international struggle of the proletar- fat. In spite of that, the Indian workers al- by Alaagie had occasions to feel the solidarity cof | brethren in other countries with their struggles. Right here in this blessed country of American imperialism, where the Indian work- ers suffer from triple exploitation—as workers, @8. foreign born, as subject of: an oppressed colonial country—they know that it is only the American Communist Party that fights for their interests just as for the interests fo the Amer- iean and Negro werkers. % The Indian workers in America wil ldo well to study carefully the Platform of Action of the Indian Communist Party. It will help them to understand the struggle of the working clsas both here and in India. And when some of them will return to their home country, it will be a power- ful instrument in their hands for the mobiliza- tion of the masses under the leadership of the Indian Communist ‘Party. to fight for national liberation and the establishment of an Indian It 1s also the duty of the membership of\our Party in the U.S.A. to famillarize themselves ‘with and particularly to help the Indian workers tounderstand the Platform of Action of the In- Communist Party — PAG, SOcabe anal ‘ Not | , the shop. Fur ‘Strike ~ By JUNE CROLL. AVING been forced to give into the demands of the fur workers who went on strike Jan. 3 against a 20 percent wage cut, the D. & B. fur manufacturers have been trying ever since the day fhe strikers returned’to their jobs, last Fri- day to demoralize them and prepare the ground fr a return of the cut. The D. & B. workers came out on strike Jan. 2 together with the work- ers of the National and Eastern Fur against the common attack of the bosses on their already miserable wages. The cut would bring the wages down to $13 for women workers who do diffrent work from that of the men, although it is ter- ribly fatiguing, and dangerous to their health. ‘The men would be receiving $20 per week if there were a full weeks work which there isn’t. This was the first real strike in Danbury in years. The fur workers were not only complete- ly unorganized but had for the most part never heard of a unior, Then there were the langu- age and national differences. The bulk of the ‘workers came of four nationalities, Syrian, Por- tugese, French and Slavish. In spite of these difficulties their inexperience in Strikes and the bitter cold the wage cut so enraged the workers whose conditions were already so unbearable that they put a most militant struggle particu- larly at the D. & B. Shop. Picketing commenced | at 6 a. m. and earlier with almost every striker on the job. Throughout the day 5 different strikers took their turn at picketing the shop every hour. Twice the boss sent for the com- mittee offering a compromise of a 10 percent wage cut but the committee in the name of all’ the strikers stood firm. Finally last Thursday at the third conference the boss agreed to the withdrawal of the cut and no discrimination against any of the strikers. The fur strike settlement committee as well as the, organizer June Croll warned the D. & B. the cut back by first firing the workers who had shop however that the boss would try to bring been the best fighters against the wage cut rid- ding the shop of its leaders and that it was netes- - ers’ job in order to prevent another cut. This sary therefore to protect each and every work- was agreed to and a shop committee elected, representing all departments to act on behalf of The workers had learned one lesson, how to strike and win. They learned the need of a union. 75 percent of the shop joined. the Needle Trades Workers Industrial Union before they returned to work, and the whole shop voted to contribute almost a hundred dollars per week to the relief fund for strikers of the Eastern and the National for as long as they remain on strike. They understood that their interests could be protected only if they united with workers in other fur shops but they still had faith in the bosses’ word and his “explanations” and had not’ yet learned that firing the best strikers after a their native satellites fill the Indian papers. The | BRE Se uubien Meu Be callawhat Bs ea eta of the wage cut. The boss therefore able to get away with firing three workers. who had been employed some three months ago The first selected for persecution was a worker to replace another cutter who was doing some carpentry work in the shop temporarily. This “carpenter” had also been out on strike and active, It was therefore difficult for the workers of the D. & B. in spite of all the efforts of the- union and the more awakened workers in the shop, to realize that this was just a trick to get the workers used to the idea that the boss can fire whom he wants out of the shop for their activities in the strike. Although some workers proposed ? ? ? 2 ? ? ? of work between. The workers having taken no action on this case the boss proceeded toNerrorize them by firing two others and stated that they were only temp- orarily laid off. The workers of the shop feel that these two day workers really did not have any work and since the piece workers are divid- ing what work there is among themselves, for the time being, they cannot, due to their lack of experience and misplaced faith in the bosses’ word see that the boss,is preparing to fire the most active ones also and that he is doing this in.co-operation with the other fur manufacturers who are determined to prevent the establishment. of a union through terrorizing those still on strike against peing active for fear of what will follow. More and more workers are however rapidly learning not to trust the bosses and there is a strong healthy backbone of workers in the D. & B. carrying on the work of the union. The strik- ers’ of the National and the Eastern, far from being discouraged by ‘the laxness of the D. & B. workers are learning from their mistakes and have tripled the strength of the picket line in the last few days’so as to make impossible for “the boss to pick any as being most active for he would have to cripple his production entirely. There would be so many’ to fire. And were they fire a few many statinch fighters still remain in the shop ready to take up the strike again to protect anyone from losing their jobs. The D, & B. had been out only a few days when the settlement came. \ The Eastern and the National in the 10 days of their strike have Jearned how to stick to- gether and fight for each other. They have had more training in unity and it is having its effect in spite of the fact that the two shops still on strike are controlled by the Lee Hat Co., famous for having spent tens of thousands of dollars several years ago to prevent the establishment of a union in his shop. Whereas during the first week of the strike the bosses of the Eastern and the National “proudly” ignored the strikers entirely thinking that it would be an easy mat- ter to starve the workers back forement are now beginning to visit some of the workers in an ate tempt to bribe them back to work. All like one they, have given one answer: ‘We will return’ only after you agree with our settlementicommit- tee to withdraw the wage cut and not to fire anyone for being active in the strike.” Not one has returned to work. As far as the Needle Trades Workers Indus- form the bulk of the strikers are the best lot trial Union is concerned the Syrian workers, who of fighting workers it has ever led in The lies spread around by the American Federa- tion of Labor officials according to the local be organized because they don’t stick together are an attempt on the part of the A. F. of L. to workers, concerning the Syrians that they cannot cover up their services to the vety manufacturer who bycke up the hatters union in the Lee Hat shop severat years ago in sabotaging the organi - astion of the fur workers, si : In spite of the combined efforts of all reac- tionary forces, the bosses, the government, the officials of the American Federation of Labor, the National Citizen Clubs and the Y. M. ©. Ay the ‘strike continues in high spirits. With wor' ers contributing relief the strikers will, Soke pongo, ck togtier Ug wim ae + Se i] an wa pic Zoi