The Daily Worker Newspaper, January 29, 1931, Page 4

¥ 4 f t he \ Page Four ij a & Pubishedty-the Comprodaily Publishing Co. Inc, daily, except Sunday, at 60 Hast 18th Street. New York City. Address amd mail all checks to the Daily Worker. Telephone Algonquin 7956-7. Cabl 60 Hast 13th Street, New NY. “DATWORK.* York, N. f. Dail Central ~ Spree orker _ Us.A! - THE HUNGER GOVERNMENT AND ITS BOSSES By HARRISON GEORGE. (HE government is an instrument of the capi- class to insure that the robbers will not be overthrown by the robbed. If you, workers, doubt this, then read what one of the biggest journals published by and for the biggest capita y It is “The Com- mercial and Financial Chronicle,” which you never see and about which your tabloid daily papers, with their daily dish of scandals never tell you. “Commercial and Financial Chronicle’ ses things as among capitalists. It talk: what capitalists and their capitalist gov- ernment should do or should not do. But al- ways from the viewpoint as to whether this or that policy will help the capitalists. talist There i: any bunk in it about the capital- ists being interested in helping the working class. That kind of hokum is left for the the regular daily magazines. papers you papers, the t The “Commercial and Financial Chronicle,” refore, ii § editorial of Jan. 24, speaks very ankly about the capitalist government. You, ‘orkers, are supposed to be “lo; to the gov- err But do the capitalists who control the government figure that you workers should egt anything in return? Not at all! Millions of jobless workers ‘are slowly starv- ing. Well, then what doeg*the “Commercial and Financial Chronicle” advise that the gov- ernment should do about it? The answer is “Nothing! - Just let them starve!” The actual worc3 it uses are « little more polite, but that ad every day, bloids, the “popular” ment is y at it means when it says: “Ye Federal Government is not empowered to olish poverty if it could. There is no- whc.2 in the theory or structure of a repre- sentative government an instruction to ‘feed the people.’ Even the Red Cross does not undertake to ‘feed’ the people. If it finds a condition of famine likely to produce disease, it does what is necessary to forestall the suf- fering that attends disease.” So, workers, thority, ers starve. to the government. only to the interests of the capitalist class! Even the Red Cross does not exist in order to save the lives of the starving toilers from death by starvation. Not at all! to see that when the workers and poor farmers die of starvation, the diseases created by their dead bodies does not spoil the air for the capi- talist class! To see that the diseases created by the starvation of the poor do not spread out and make the capitalists sick! The “Commercial and Financial Chronicle” ends its editorial by giving instructions to the capitalist government: “In no wise should the government, or that ~ part of it denominated the Legislative Branch, accept an assumed power or an implied duty to abolish or alleviate poverty!” Workers! The capitalists and their govern- ment are preparing to resist your demand for unemployment insurance! Farmers! The capi- talists and their government will fight against giving you any real relief from starvation and | disease! All the chatter of capitalist politicians to the contrary are only words to fool you! Unless millions of workers and farmers want to starve, they must fight! Fight for Unemploy- ment Insurance on February 10 and after! Fight for substantial relief for the starving poor farm- ers! Organize in Unemployed Councils; in Farmers’ Relief Councils! And unite your strug- gles into such a powerful mass force that the capitalists and their government grant your de- mand! There is no other way! In with the Signature Lists with the Mass Demonstrations! ‘HIS is addrcssed to workers, workers’ izati T. U. U. L. secretaries, every dividual a organization that is co-operating in unemployment activities. 1. All filled signature lists must be -senf. to the National Campaign Committee for Unem- ployment Insurance, 2 W. 15th St., New York City, at once. 2. Carry on the drive. for signatures. Inten- it. However, remember that all signatures t be in the hands of the national committec York City not later than Feb. 5. organizations everywhere—send in e endorseméiits of the Unemploy- ment Insurance Bill immé¥iately. Langucg> or- ganizations, mutual aid bratiehes and lodges, sports clubs. Negro organizations, women’s clubs, Cc. L- and Communist Party district organiza- tions, I. L. D., W. I. R. and F. S. U. branches, T. U. U. L. affiliations and district organizations, and the national offices of these organizations, should forward their collective endorsements today. 4. Every hunger march that has been held demonstrated for our Unemployment Insurance Bill. The collective endorsement, in the name of all workers who participated in these hunger marches, should be sent to the national cam- paign committee today. 5. Immense hall mass meetings have been held at which our Bill was endorsed by the workers present. The Foster meetings, the Lenin meet- ings, hundreds of smaller hall and street meet- ings, bread line meetings, job agency meetings— mu collect all these meetings must register their collective endorsement. The chairman or the committee in chargé of thece meetings should send in the endorsement of our Bill in the name of all work- ers who aitended. 6. Every large city, small city? ter, factory town, mining camp should today pre- pare for its Feb, 10 mass demonstration. Issue your leaflets. Hold your preliminary neighbor- hood, shop, bread line meetings. Make your aim the mobilization of every unemployed worker in your city, aud as many employed workers as can me to your open-air demonstration during the te special leaflets calling upon the and chil all the families of the em- and wnemployed to turn out in the mightiest and largest demonstration your city ever had. a Only by the determined action and power of great masses of workers can immediate relief for the unemployed workers and Unemployment Insurance be won. On Feb. 10, when our Work- ers’ Unemployment Insurance Delegation makes its demand for passage of our Bill by Congress, it must firstly have in hand the signatures and collective endorsements of at least a million workers, Secondly, it must be militantly sup- ported by gigantic masses of workers which fill the streets, shouting their demands, demonstrat- ing for immediate relief and passage of our Un- employment Insurance Bill by Congress. National Campaign Committee for Unemployment Insurance, 2 West 15th. St, New York, N. Y. Railroad Men Indorse J obless Insurance I Bill ORGANIZE FOR 6-HOUR DAY WITH 8 HOURS PAY By 0. H. WANGERIN. 'TH 260.000 men laid cff during the past 12 months and an equal number put on short- time, unemployment has hit. the railroad work- ers with terrific force. The merging of 27 Bast- ern roads into four trunk lines now taking place, which is the first step in a national plan to con- solidate the 180 railroads in the United States into a dozen’ gigantic systems, with the unifica- tion of terminals, shops, yards and division points, means that tens of thousands more rail- road workers will be sentenced.to permanent unemployment. By the introduction of new rationalization processes and speed-up methods one train crew today does the work that was formerly done by two or three crews. Likewise in other branches of the service the productivity of the average railroad worker has doubled, comparéd with 10 or 15 years ago. All roads are now rapidly in- stituting the stagger system. This is taking on variows forms, such as periodical layoffs, the 3-day week, two weeks on. and twg weeks off, “equal division of work,” which is resulting in vast numbers of railroad workers being put on part time. Another variation of the railroad stagger system is to compel the employed to maintain the unemployed by contributing one -day’s wages per month to the com ’ fake relief plans. This vicious wage-cutting scheme iudorsed and supported by the officialdom of the A. F. of L. and Brotherhood organizations, in fact, they have become the’ chief instruments by wl the stagger system is being forced upon the men. Against this organized hunger system the Na- tional Railroad Industrial League has launched a nation-wide campaign for the Unemployment Insurance Bill and for the establishment on the railroads of the 6-hour day with full pay. The basis of this campaign was laid at the Chicago Rank and File Conference, held on Nov. 16, which went on record for the following organiza- tion program: “1, The establishment of the 6-hour day and 5-day week, with no reduction in present 8-hour weekly earnings. 2. Endorsement of the Unemployment Insur- 3. The bgaticc tion of railroad unemployed councils in all railroad centers and the beginning of a campaign for a quarter of a million signa- tures of railroad men for the bill. 4. Pending the passage of the bill, that im- mediate emergency relief be granted the unem- ployed, and that the burden of providing this relief be taken entirely off the shoulders of the working class and be placed upon industry, the capitalist class and the government, where it rightfully belongs. 5. That a national movement be launched on the railroads, a unite’ front of all railroad work- ers, to organize and fight for the 6-hour d&y and for unemployment insurance, and at the same time to combat the present program of the companies and union officials to reduce hours of work and reduce wages accordingly. 6. That the preparation be immediately begun for the calling of a National Rank and File 6-Hour Day Conference, to be held in Chicago at the earliest possible date, for the purpose of uniting the railroad workers throughout the United States into one solid front, and to lay further plans to enforce the above demands. 7. To this end, that local, system and district conferences be called in order to acquaint the rank and file with this movement, for 6-hour day committees, establish joint railroad councils of all trades, and organize the unemployed and part time railroad workers in support of this movement.” Nothing short of the universal establishment on the railroads of the 6-hour day, with no re-' duction @n wages and the payment of unemploy- ment insurance to the men laid off will tome anywhere near meeting the unemployment situa- tion confronting railroad labor. Thousands of railroad workers’ families are in dire need of immediate it relief. Let every rail- road man, employed and unemployed, Negro and white, who is alive to the situation, rally to this movement. The distribution of the Unemploy- ment Insurance Bill leaflet, the organization of Yailroad unemployed councils, the election of delegates to the City Campaign Committees for Unemployment Insurance, and the drive for sig- natures, must be pushed with all possible speed. Copies of the leaflet, with endorsement blank and outline for the building of local unemployed councils can be had by writing to the National Office of the NR, LL, Room 8, 702 E 63rd St., Chicago. according to this capitalist au- the government should let the unem- | ployed workers and the poverty-stricken farm- |/ The toiling masses must be “loyal” But the government is loyal It exists only On industrial cen- ; of Manhattan and Bronx, BUbSUHIFLIUN RAibiS SO My mall everywhere: One year, $6; six montha & New York City. Foretgn: By BURCK Fc lina ‘ nO RENT Fon somes) Weaeront oa ‘ AineeLoNneNT ; Lamsurance | stanve NEWS ITEM: Bill Green warns the bosses of the dangers of unemployment in a speech at Columbia University. By A. LANDY. 1 HAT else can you ask a person who proposes to take Communism away from the Commu- S? Nevertheless, this is actually what Ed- mund Wilson urges as the chief task of the liberal today. Mr. Wilson made his proposal | in opening a discussion on the position of the | contemporary “progressive” in a recent issue of the New Republic. Even a person with the insight of an ostrich will appreciate that these are times that try imen’s souls. Old ways, old habits are proving useless and inadequate. Old positions no longer meet the requirements of swiftly changing situa- | tions. Capitalism has entered an impasse and | | is heading straight for the abyss. Literally mil- lions are finding it impossible to continue liv- ing in the old way. | Naturally, when anything so far-reaching oc- curs, even a handful of liberals are bound to be | affected. These gentlemen, it is true, are not exactly involved in any material way. They are not really hungry or destitute or driven to des- | peration from sheer physical necessity. But spir- itually, intellectually, their unwillingness to con- tinue in their old position is equalled by nothing | less than the unwillingness of the masses to die | of hunger. Economic crises have been known to produce various social and political abnormalities. But | when an avowed liberal suddenly begins plan- | .ning to capture Communism from the Commu- nists, then even the blind must see that we are in the midst of an extraordinary crisis indeed. | We do not say that Wilson proposes to organize | liberal hunger marches, or to duplicate the food | raids of England, Arkansas or Oklahoma City; ~—as' far as we know, Mr. Wilson merely proposes to take Communism away from the Communists. But we'do say that nothing short of the present crisis could have produced Wilson's admission that liberalism is only a shameless apology for capitalism. Nor does Wilson's “confession” stop at this. In his opinion, the present crisis is not a crisis of growth, but an unmistakable crisis of decay. He is actually convinced that American capital- ism is on the brink of destruction and that the American masses are ready to turn to a new way of life. Under such circumstances, what else can an honest liberal propose but the capture of Communism from the Communists? It is characteristic of crises that they lay bare what hitherto has been totally hidden; they mature and develop what formerly existed in embryo only; they accelerate all the forces of development and achiev> in a few short years | what otherwise would take decades to accom- | plish. And what a crisis does on a social scale, in the relation between classes, it does also in the life of a single individual. We do not know exactly what happened tn Edmund Wilson's liberal soul. But we do Ww what happened outside of it. The same omic crisis that is forcing the masses to turn to Communism, is forcing the liberals to change their methods of saving the masses for capital- ism. In terms of his own personal experience, this change may have been very painful to Wilson; it may even have convinced him that he has now ceased to be an apologist for capi- talist exploitation. But, in terms of the ob- jective contents of his article, it 1s not Wilson's class character that has changed, but merely the vocabulary in which it is clothed. In point of contents, the call to take Communism away from the Communists is merely a continuation of his glass line, only this time, in dif- ferent Now, as before, it is reactionary to the bone. It‘; true that both the liberals and the mass- es are beginning to feel the need for new ways { of life; but their reasons for this are as different as their interests*and aims’ are opposed. The -liberals are forced to change precisely because | the masses are looking for'a new path; but while the only way out for the masses is the destruc- tion of capitalism, the only concern of the lib- | erals is its preservation. In spite of all of Wilson’s terribly revolution- ary admissions about the end of capitalism and the necessity of looking for a new path; in spite, of any illusions he may harbor about his own revolutionary conversion, Wilson's article reveals Really, Mr. Wilson, Are You Serious? only one thing: a liberal talking “Communism,” but heading straight towards fascism. It is not Communism that Wilson wishes to | take away from Communists; on the contrary, it is the masses that he wants to take away from the only path that can lead them out of the morass of capitalism. Tl. Let us look into the details of Wilson's article. In Wilson's opinion, the time has come for lib- erals to reconsider their position. “The truth is,” he says, “that we liberals and progressives have been betting on capitalism.” They recognized all its evils, but they believed that these could be re- formed by means of the established machinery of government. In the past, Wilson says, the liberals refused | to believe “in the Marxian doctrine that capital- ism must eventually give rise to class warfare;” nor did they take “sufficiently seriously Marx's prediction that . . a wreck.” The developments of the last few _years, however, have confirmed the correctness of Marx's contention. Benevolent and intelli- gent capitalism not only has not developed peacefully into socialism, but it has even brought a national disaster in its wake. In fact, Wilson is actually afraid that what “this year has broken down is not simply the machinery of representative government, but the capitalist system itself.” “May we not fear,” he inquires pathetically, “lest our American so- ciety, in spite of its apparently greater homo- geneity, may not eventually collapse through sheer inefficiency and corruption as ignominous- ly as the feudal regime in Russia or France?” In spite of Wilson’s liberal use of such non- committal phrases as “May we not” and ‘Does it not seem,” it is quite obvious that he trembles for the rule of the capitalist Americans of the twentieth cenury who, Wilson thinks, “are cer- tainly more kindly and democratic people than the landlords of the feudal age.” in Wilson’s liberal opinion, all the evidence seems to point to the single conclusion ‘that American capitalism has entered its period of decline, Not only has he lost faith in it, but he believes that the Americans as a whole have begun to lose faith in the capitalist system. The present crisis, he feels, really marks a turning point in American history. “The Amer- icans at the present time seem to be experienc- ing not merely an economic breakdown but a distinct psychological change.” ‘The country has fallen into an abyss of*bank- ruptey and starvation. And in the midst of this national calamity, Wilson maintains, it is impossible to see a single sign of political lead- ership capable of saving the country. Liberalism, he admits, has little to“offer. And as far as the present government is concerned, it is hardly different, in his opinion, from the racketeers who aré breaking the country’s laws. As a matter of fact, “it may be true that with “the present breakdown we have come to the end of something, and that we are ready to start on a different tack.” Previous crises still left room for growth. Today, it may be that the Amer- ican people “would be willing now for the time*to put their idealism and their genius for organization behind a radical social experiment. ‘The future is as blank in America today as the situation is desperate. . . The very blindness of the present outlook may mean that things are going to break in a new quarter.” ‘The people and the conditions are ready for it. People have been affected “by the example of Russia far more than the professional intel- lectuals,” who think that they alone understand the Soviets. “The apparent success of the Five Year Plan has affected the morale of all the rest of the world—and of the Americans surely In fact, the Russian “experi- ment,” in Wilson's is not so far away from the temper and experience of the American people. In this desperate situation, the old” program of the liberals is inadequate. The time has come, Wilson contends, when liberals must come out openly for collective ownership of the means of production and a planned society. “I may be objected,” ‘Wilson says, “that at the present . Capitalism would never be | able to drive itself with enough forsight to avoid | however reasonable or modest, seem utopian?” The Communist idea that when capitalism breaks down, they will step in, “a small, trained, compact minority,” and “man the works” has seemed absurd to the liberals, Wilson says. in the present situation, this idea is not entirely fantastio—unless the American radicals and. pro- gressives step in and prevent it. With this in view, Wilson formulates a liberal | program of action. The liberals must “organ- ize a genuine opposition in the country, which will prove that the Marxian Communists are | wrong’ and that there is still some virtue in American democracy. They must “openly confess that the Declaration of Independence Constitution are due to be supplanted new manifesto and some new bill of rights. They must confute the Marxian cynicism and dis- belief in the inherent soundness of the present system, the catastrophic outcome of whose “econ- omic laws” is predicted, after all, only on the assumption of the incurable swinishness and inertia of human nature. (It is absurd, it, to believe that Wilson’s twentieth century capitalists who are more kindly and democratic than the landlords of the feudal ages are really incurably swinish!) The liberals must confine themselves to dy- namiting old ideas and conceptions for which | | possible.” other than the Communists, that is, the Marxian Communists. The liberals must capture the Communist ideas, but they must reject their dogmatic conception of class struggle, revolution, dictatorship of the proletariat, in short, Marxism itself. ‘ “I believe,” Wilson declares, “that if the Amer- ican radicals and progressives, who repudiate the Marxian dogma and the strategy of the Commu- nist Party, hope to accomplish anything valu- able (that is, if they hope to save the capitalist system from revolution—A.L.), they must take Communism away from the Communists, and take it without ambiguities or reservations, as- serting emphatically that their ultimate goal is the ownership of the means of production by the government and an industrial rather than a regional representation.” We shall analyse Wilson's arguments in detail in another afticle. Meanwhile this much is certain: Like the rest of the “lower strata” of the population, the petty-bourgeoisie also is unable to continue in the old way; it is forced to look for a new. way of life. Never- theless, it cligfes pathetically to the system which is.crushing the very life out of it, but which it nonetheless worships and idealizes. Wilson is not only typical of the vacillating petty-bourgeoisie, but he reflects and reproduces all of its illusions, its pitiful and helpless worship of the capitalist robber system, which it con- siders as the highest incarnation of civilization and culture. His talk about, capturing Commu- nism from the Communists is as much ex- pression of the need of the petty-bourgeoisie’ to find a new path, as it is an expression of its in- ability to find this path for itself. Instead of following the only path out, the revolutionary path, he typically serves the interests of the capitalists, by calling for a fight against the only party able. to lead the masses out of the morass of capitalism. The logic of history today is such, however, that unless the petty bourgeois masses take the same revolutionary path as. the prole- tarlan masses, they must inevitably lead down the path of reaction and fascism. (To Be Concluded.) Workers! Join the Party of Your Class! Communist Party 0. S. A. P. O, Box 87 Station D. i New York City. Please send me more information on the Cum- munist Party. ‘ Name Address Pena eee weeewenerereeeeeessseeeeareneee CIHY ...sscceevevescorcessees, State OCCUPBHON oecescescsssecsseceseress ABO sevens -Mail this to the Central Office, Communist Party, P. O. Box 87 Station D. New York City. n't | they must “substitute new ones as shocking as | These ideas are to come from none | But | six months, $4.60. —— nr eee By JORGE <eee Abstractions in Stone In downtown New York there is a monument to “Civig/Virtue,” erected by the Tammany ad- mi tion. There it stands, out in the rain, with its marble posterior. turned significantly toward Mayor Walker's office in the City Hall, and with fixed stare glowering toward the U. S. Post Office. ‘@ were reminded of it when we read that in Detroit, at a meeting of the Civil Liberties Union, where that astonishing organization of “liberals” broached the plan to erect @ monu- ment in concrete of Civil Liberty in the public square, none other than the demagogic mayor, Mr. Murphy, being overcome with emotion, swore that by all the gods at once he would pay for haying it done in marble! Really, this is too much! As a famous visitor to America once said when gazing on the Statue of Liberty: “Ah, I see that you, too, erect monu- ments to the dead!” The further away from reality capitalism takes “Civic Virtue’ and “Civil Liberty,” the more enthusiastic do all the demagogs of de- veloping fascism become in~ building marble monuments to these abstractions. That the Civil Liberties Union should celebrate the occasion adds, perhaps, only a sauce of hilarious’ laughter at the antics of these choice specimens of fetish worshipers. 8 « Another Gila Monster “About 200 employees of the New Mexico divi- sion of the Santa Fe Railroad were in at- tendance at a maintenance of way meeting at the Santa Fe shops here Saturday. Mayor Clyde Tingley made a 20-minute talk, stressing ‘loy- alty to the employer.’”—From the New Mexico State Tribune, Albequerque, New Mexico, Jan. 10. In case some of our readers never met the varmint known as a Gila Monster, we specify that it is a kind of lizard, ugly as sin and with a bite so poisonous that one nip will sure send you gathering asphodels beyond the Styx. The critter is so darned lazy, however, that a fellow has almost to stick a finger in its mouth befeore it gets up energy enough to bite. We never tried that, of course, preferring to bat the beast over the head with a monkey wrench, It seems,/that the Santa Fe Railroad insisted that 200 of its workers try the finger treatment, But we'll bet the $5 wages we got last week that some of the 200 boys itched to try the monkey | wrench application. Soldiers and Housemaids “Ruffians in the uniform of the U, S. Army,” according to the claims of an unnamed “adver- tising man,” published in the San Frantisco press, are “terrorizing women” around the Army post known as Presidio. Since the said “advertising man” is undoubt- edly a 100 per cent upholder of capitalism, it ill becomes him to complain at the logical actions of armed forces capitalism keeps to repress the working class at home and colonial slaves abroad. Nevertheless, this advertising man is sore. He says that two soldiers attempted to seize” his ife; that. soldiers have entered his basement many times and that recently a soldier tried to drag one of his housemaids into a vacant lot— surely a trespass on privileges with housemaids | which respectable capitalists reserve for them- selves. The answer of the Presidio commandant is that the soldiers would be perfect gentlemen if they were not corrupted by a “fringe of joints” around the post. So he passes the buck to the police. The “joints” have been there for 25 years, rain, shine or prohibition. All of which, along with the at- tacks on wandering housemaids, will keep up as Jong as capitalism lasts, because it requires “joints” as well as army posts. The best.we can think of is to advise the advertising man to get his housemaid’s “honor” insured by Lloyds. * 8 * Who Wants Your Garbage? Out in Oklahoma, the new governor of that state of Gyp water and white mule, goes under the moniker of “Alfalfa Bill” Murray, “Alfalfa Bill” got a sudden rush of charity to the hat-rack the other day, after the unemployed workers cleaned out a grocery store, a little ac- tion which, like that of the minute men of Lex- ington, was “heard round the world.” After properly treating the unemployed to a tear gas bath and a club sandwich, “Alfalfa Bill” or “Bull,” you may take your choice, “ap- proved” a wonderful plan. The N. ¥. Times of Jan. 23 tells about it thus: “A planto feed the destitute throughout Okla- homa by means of rolling kitchens, manned vol- untarily by ex-service men, using food discarded by restaurants and hotels, was approved today by Governor W. H. (Alfalfa Bill) Murray.” Well, we'won’t blame the starving for eating anything in sight, but we wouldn't be at all sur- prised if, when those “rolling kitchens” roll around with a mess of garbage that is too rotten to feed to hogs, that the unemployed tells Al- falfa Bill to roll ‘em away again while they roll over a few more grocery stores, a rd Now that Police Cofnmissioner Mulrooney is demanding a. law to close night clubs at 1 a. m., it being seid. that he does this because of *the shooting effray in the Club Abbey, all gang- sters will understand that they have to commit tag before 1 a, m. or let it go till the next Maybe Mr. Fish ought to investigate this: At the Miami races on day, the winning horse was named “Traitor,” “India now has. self-government: British po- lice kill five,” is a nice headline opening the “new era” Ramsay MacDonald has given to India. * 8 6 The N. Y. ‘Telegram, which poses as a “severe critic” of the unmentionable pol nt, is a fraud. Last Monday it up and bragged about a testimonial which ran as follows: “I sold seven Police Dogs from one ad in the ibaa I consider the results from your paper remark- able.” Love me, love my dog!