The Daily Worker Newspaper, February 6, 1931, Page 4

Published by the @gmprodatly Publishing Co., Inc., daily except Sunday, at 50 Hast 13th Street. New Yot& City, N, Y.Telepzone Algonquin 1956-7. Cable: Address and mail all checks to the Daily Worker, 60 East 13th Street, New York, N.Y. ALWORK."" Dail orker mints By mail ever ef Manhatt: FIGHT AGAINST C ALIFORNI A| “WENE STARVED LONG ENOUGH, EH, BOYS?” WHITE TERROR! By EVA LEDER. WE terror in California, especially in ‘the Southern part. is at its height, and only that of the south can perhaps be compared with it. Not‘a demonstration passes by, not a meeting passes -by, without violent clashes with the po- lice and the “Red Squad.” Especially since last Spring, after the Imper- ial Valley “affair” the white terror in Southern California has increased tremendously. The bdsses have absolutely decided to wipe our Party out of existence. Not only the Party, but the whole of the revolutionary working Class move- ~ ment, in the city. Hynes has faithfully tried his best to live up to his promise of last April “no more ‘red’ demonstrations,” although the work- crs of Los Angeles have heroically, on many oc- castong, fought this attack of the bosses. The boss class of Southern California has re- sorted not only to “legal” means in combating the workers in their struggle—the police, the ‘Red” Squad. the newspapers, the courts, the radio, etc. but now is resorting to extra-legal means in its onslaught against the masses. It is using Machado’s methods—physical attacks, planned. for assassinations, if successful. For the last six or seven months we have had three such attacks, the last one being on Com- rade Bonehi Freedman, Party organizer of , Southern California Section of District No. 13. { ‘Attempt to Kill Freedman. ¢ Comrade Freedman walked home 8 o'clock in the evening on Saturday, Jan. 17. At 9 o'clock he was due back at the same place where he was:at 8, to a committee meeting. About 3 I rainutes after entering the house, he was con- | fronted with two men carrying shot-guns. They looked straight into his face, quickly threw salt ‘im his eyes in order to blind him, so that he would: not be able to recognize them and with a “this is for your disciplined Party” started to give him the “works.” Comrade Freedman was seriously beaten up, was unconscious for many hours, and delirious for a few days. “Dicks,” were the words he would shout from time ‘to time, for like dicks looked the men that beat him up. Although the attack on Comrade Freedman was meant to kill him, as in the other cases, still there are good hopes that Comrade Freedman will recover, and be able to again serve the working class, serve. our movement. However, this'will take some time- Attack on Movement Must Be Fought Firstly it must be understood that these Ma- chado-Hynes attacks are attacks against our movement: It is not enough for the bosses to break up oyr meetings, our demonstrations, to fill the’ filthy rotten California jails with us, to hand out savage sentences of 3 to 42 years, all this is not sufficient; they see that our move- ment is not being wiped out, no matter: how strong their oppressive methods are, they think individual terror will do the job. They thirk they will rob the Party of its best forces loeélly, will scare away the others, thus demoralizing our ranks and crush our movement. Of course they are morons to think that. They can never stop the struggle of the workers, and therefore our movement, by putting us into jail, by beating us up, by killing many of us. Said ‘Lenin: “There are enemies who can be temporarily beaten by a few defeats, but who cannot be annihilated by any forces, not even when re- the ——— | | demands and such are here, enough of them. | | action is completely: victorious; ‘these are the millions. of the; working class:and the pear peasantry.” And this is a thing that the ruling. class can’t understand (because. it is so deadly determined to it), and this is a thing that is being sustained every day—beginning with the proletarian revo- lution in Russia, the events#jn China,” Indis, ete. If we understand that such attacks are po- litical, are attacks on the Party and the entire working class, there can be no question of the necessity for a militant fight against them. We must also add right here that. the “we can’t do much” talk,.Jjs passive resistance, towards the fight. against the white terror. That the argu- ment “we'll seqare prople away” is the worst | kind of opportunism which amounts to open { | abandonment of the struggleiagainst the white terror of the “bosses, the struggle for. the inter- | ests of the working class. | ‘We must now develop a wide campaign against | the Machado methods of white terror and gen- | eral “Red Squad” suppression upon the fight of | the working class in Southern California, in Los | Angeles. Workers Militant ‘The last few demonstrations here have-shown that the workers-are not going to stand for this suppression; the workers are ready to fight; they have begun actively to. defend themselves. And this was done by the workers: themselves, who have come to the demonstrations, on their own. initiative. What does this show, if not a‘ tremendous growth of militancy of the workers and of their readiness to fight? We must utilize thise mili- tancy, crystalize it, put it into an. organized form—to the advantage of the working class, of ours movement. Organize Our Struggle There are many things that can and should be done—above all: We must not-give up, but intensify our struggle. We must. intensify our work among’ the un- employed and put on a well organized militant, fighting basis; we must organize (and this can be done) a committee against white-terror, con- sisting of representatives of various working class organizations and outstanding {ndividuals willing to:fight this battle; we must develop our strug- gles on the basis of concrete local needs and | In this. campaign against white ‘terror; the right of the workers to demonstrate, to hold meetings in-spite of the “all powerfulness” of the “Red Squad” etc., must be demanded We shall not forget the opportunity and necessity for | uncovering the hypocrisy, lies, and poison of the “liberal” Governor Rolph. Here too our fight can become con¢rete and bring much yalue to our, movement. The worst thing that ‘could ‘happen to our movement in Californie, and would have its | (very bad) reflections upon-our entire move- ment, would be—ratreat, passivity, tapring or slowing down our fight. Our struggle agaitist police. persecution, white terror and bosses oppression must now become a hundred fold intensified. The necessities. for that struggle are great, the workers are militant, the Party as a whole must help the California district to carry on this hard, but inevitably suc- cessful struggle. The L.S.N.R. and the Role ot the Youth By L. PATTERSON. r was pointed out’ at the St. Louis convention that the League of Struggle for Negro Rights riust become a broad liberation‘movement among the Negroes of this country. ‘The LSNR is based on affiliated organizations, and the main task of these organizations is the building of the Liberstor into a mass organ. -The LSNR must become a movement fighting for the freedom of the Negroes from lynching, race discrimination, jim-crowism, and all other forms of Negro op- pression, and must unreservedly carry on its struggle for equal rights for the Negroes and for their right of self-determination in the black belt. It was also made very clear that in order to fight Negro oppression effectively, the LSNR must win to its banner all sections of the work- ing masses (white workers, Negro workers, wom- en, youth and children). By doing this, we will te uniting all our forces for the struggle and this, will deliver a great blow against the system ef slavery and oppression. Youth Is an Important Part of the LSNR. When we speak of mobilizing all sections of the working class, we mean the organization of the white and Negro youth to fight with us. ‘We recognize that the youth can and will play a very important role in the struggle for equal rights for the Negroes. It is necessary to em- phasize that if we expect to win the youth, we must have a special approach and youth meth- ods of activities. The youth can be approached on the basis of sports, socials, and educational activities. At the same time they can carry on the struggle against discrimination in these fields ‘and can be brought into the general struggles of the LSNR for its demands. Groups of the youth clubs affiliated with the LSNR are youth ‘ranches‘of the LSNR. These youth branches have the right on a local scale to set up youth commuttees in order to carry on specific activ- ities. It is necessary to stress here that the ‘Young Liberators that sprang up in the various ~arts of the country are not affiliated to the ‘Young Liberators as a special youth organiza- tion, but must affiliate to the LSNR. Methods of Youth Work Youth groups of the LSNR can carry on many forms of activity in order to attract the youth and keep them. For example, a Young Liberator club can be divided into three or four different forms of activity. For instance, we may have a club of 50. Out of this number a certain per- centage will like baseball. These can organize a baseball team. Another group kes boxing. They can organize a boxing team; and the re- mainder may lke running, These can form a tack toam. Each one of these teams can carry on a struggle against discrimination in their png fields. For reesei the’ ‘baseball team should ‘be composed of both team should put. up: ‘ tain baseball groinds. The track team can carry on a’ similar’ struggle. The same can be ap- plied to the’ boxing tem. These teams, in march- ing ‘on the playgrounds can wear certain slogans, | such as “Down With’ Race Discrimination,” “For ‘he Unity of the Negro and White Youth,” “Down With Bosses’ Control of Sports,” etc. This club can also carry on some educational ac- tivities, can be used for the selling of the. Lib- erator to the club"members and to the members of other clubs’ they come in contact with,-and can also be taught: self-defense work. Other methods can be used in reaching the youth, such as the building of youth centers, with reading rooms, libraries, swiming pools, ete. ‘This will help us to win many of the youth from the boss controlled organizations (YMCA, ,YWCA, ete.). Our immediate task must be to work in the existing clubs and win their affiliation to the LSNR. It is necessary. to stress that in doing this we must have a correct policy. ‘The’ first thing we ought to do when we go to a club for the purpose of winning ‘it over is to explain our program and develop a discussion around it by the membership. It will be our task to try to get them to agree with our program’and then ask them for affiliation. This should be decided by a majority vote of the members. If we go once, and some agree, others don't, and we think that the sentiment at thet time is not ripe to take the vote, we must be a little flexible, come a second time and discuss specific instances of discrimination that the club comes in contact with tying it up; with our program. This will help win ‘the other members be} On the other hand, if we have @ group club members agreeing with us, cosine others are not clear om our program, club has a reactionary leadership, then form a group of the Young Liberators inside of that club for the purpose of winning the to our program and to carry on a le against the reactionary leadership. This can be applied to the YMCA’s, ete. If we had a of the LSNR in the YMCA, we would be able to We Ag have the ‘task of b ah LaNR oppression, and their ngs velop si for the gy bet We Mie very careful in forming groups. We must: not a group of the Young Liberators when these young workers already belong to a youth club. SUBSCRIPTION RATES: One year, $6; six months, $3; and Bronx, New York Ctiy. Foreign; one year, PARTY LIFE | workers come to mass meetings or con- | ferences, they expect to see, besjdes enthusi- | asm, discipline. They know the importance of | such meetings, understanding that matters of | great struggles are to be discussed. “Tt does not require much thinking to see what demoralization our undisciplined meetings have “upon these workers, whether they come | to a simple mass meeting or as delegates to | a conference.. We must understand. and take | Serfously the fact that workers are watching and considering the discipline and enthusiasm. “the Pule'and not the exception at these meet— ings (and‘I have in mind particularly the recent Needle Conference although practically all are affected), is that the leading comrades present | are the ‘first to be uridisciplined, to ‘hold little | conferences on the side, the first to demoralize a meeting. “Workers ‘wonder why the leading comrades, especially when they are Communists, set such a bad example—and the workers get the impres- sion that. these undisciplined leading comrades | are acting’ as though they are privileged to do as they please. In any event, the disturbance | and confusion on the floor create a chaos in the minds of the rset of thé workers and de- | feat the purpose of the meetings. | “Tt is time that something be done about this | continual. wrecking of our meetings by a few | | undisciplined leading comrades, and they be stop- ped from.catrying on like this in the future. “Therefore, I propose that,at our future meet- | ings the following program” be carried out: “Committees to keep order and keep all seated | throughout the whole meeting. | “Literature and so on to be sold only before the meeting opens and after it adjourns. “Collection committees, large enough and ready | to finish this task quickly, not to prolong mat- ters and try the patience of the audience, “Delegates, at a conference, who register, to be given a special delegate card and only those who are delegates should be seated together—others to sit among non-delegates. Many non-delegates are always discussing and holding little confer- | ences among themselves and with the delegates | when seated with them, They should be made to order. “Volunteers for committees on order should tbe ready and-also arm-bands for them,.to deter- mine their authority—J. G.” LENIN SAID: Socialists have never been and can never be opposed to revolutionary wars. The bourgeoisie of the “great” imperialist powers has become thoroughly reactionary and the war now con- ducted by that bourgeoisie 1s in our opinion a reatcionary and criminal war for the perpetua- tion of slavery. But how about a war against the bourgeoisie? For instance. how about a war of col- onal and dependent countries, oppressed by the bourgeoisie, for their emancipation? In article 5 of the thesis of the group of internationalists we read: “There can be no national wars in the present, era of uncontrolled imperialism,” Ob- viously this statement is wrong. —(Lenin: The Military Programme of the Froletarian Revolution.) ¥ who are also suffering from the misery of the bosses, can be won to aid the liberation move- ment in its struggle for freedom of the Negroes. | ‘The Negro children, in particular, are faced with oppression—Jim Crow schools, discriminated from playgrounds, etc. The bosses, on ‘the other hand, are mobilizing the children for their sup- port. For example, in the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, kindergartens, etc. Then if the bosses see in the children an important fattor in help- “to suppress the working class, we must also see'in the children a very important fac- tor to help us free the workers. LSNR youth } groups should pay special attention to, the chil- dren in their respective neighborhoods, and help these children to organize their baseball. foot — ball teams, etc. They should assign some of the members to read with the children, assign others to coaeh the children in their basket ball teams, ete, By this we will be able. to bring the children. to our program, and they’ will be with Our Last Plenum and Org- Agit- . prop Conferences By SAM DON. EFORE the last Plenum of our Party frequent- ly, the following question cropped up: “How come that after March 6th in the face of grow- igg unemployment, the numbers attending our demonstrations and oui influence amongst the uemployed is decreasing?” The last Puenum of our Party clearly answered the question: First our general influence did not decrease. How- ever, we did not organizationally strengthen, con- solidate and appreciably increase our influence in face of the steady growth of unemployment. Furthermore, had this situation continued, we would have been confronted with the actual dan- ger of ceasing to be a deciding influential fac- tor among the unemployed as we are becoming | today. Why were we confronted with this dan- ger? The bourgeoisie, fearing our growing in- | fluence as gpown on March ‘éth, did not only in- crease its fascist terror against us as its main weapon but also developed a very conscious pol- icy of social demagogy. Our inability to suf-: | ficiently recognize the basis for and the danger of the growing fascist and social-fascist dema- gogy, how to maneuver 4nd fight against it, plus our very great organizational looseness, combined with the practicing of antiquated “prosperity” methods of work, explains the danger that con- fronted us of neither increasing appreciably our influence, nor of ‘consolidating it organization- ally. The last Plenum of the Party took up the struggle against social demagogy in a very con- crete manner. the question of partial demands. The Plenum also in the sharpest form, raised the question. of consolidating our influence organizationally, which means ‘first of all,. the organizational tightening of the Party apparatus and the com- plete elimination of the old methods of work. The proof of the correctness of the line of the Plenum can be seen in our recent unemploy- ment demonstrations. Allowing for the serious shortcomings and mistakes (which must not be glossed over) that appear in our unemployment activities and demonstrations, we see that the recent demonstrations in spite of their smaller numbers, are on a higher level than March 6th. Our recent demonstrations have shown greater militancy and more direct political clashes with the various city governments. Why this growing militancy on the part of the workers? This is not merely due to the fact that the workers are now more starved than before, but also because the raising of partial demands gave the workers more con- sciousness and willingness to struggle. The great- er militancy and purposefulness of our recent demonstrations is also due to the first beginnings of an organized base and better political direc- tion on the part of the Party. ‘To emphasize the point of the importance of the consolidation of our influence, we will give the following international experience. Com- rade Piatnitsky in his recent pamphlet, “World Communists in Action,” relates the following significant fact which will also help us to un- derstand the events after March 6th: The trade union opposition received in the elections to factory councils of the niue biggest Berlin works, 30,066 votes in 1929, and 18,467 votes in 1930. It therefore lost 11,599 votes. The reformists re- ceived in 1929, 22,043 votes and in 1930, 24,762 votes, thus gaining 2,719 votes. The explana- tion given by Comrade Piatnitsky for the loss of influence applies with equal force to the United States: “If there had been understa.ding, a change in the methods of. work, a better and more systematic organization of the campaign of exposure of the social democrats adapted to their maneuvers, the Berlin-Brandenburg party organization could certainly have carried it out successfully.” The value of our last Plenum lies precisely in the fact that with the eid of the Communist International, we are learning how to adopt ourselves to the maneuvers of the bourgeoisie and social ‘fascists, how to develop system in our organizations and to bring about a change in our methods of work. Prop Conferences er aft eat ey This expressed itself in raising | | | ter qualified functionaries. bility and Leninist maneuvering can only suc- | action understands and mobilizes for carrying through the line of the Plenum. It is not sufficient merely to have a plan The success of the carrying out of the plan ; s lies in a consistent and continuous check up | and ‘he adoption of special organizational meas- ures to carry through the check up, to exchange experiences and the drawing of lessons from them, in order to perfect and increase the tasks of the plan of work. The success in mobiliz- ing the Party for the mass campaign depends largely how well we mobilize the bottom of the | The mobilization | Party—the units of the Party. of the lower Party units, depends on the guid- | ance that they will receive from the higher units. In taking up therefore, the question of organizational consolidation, we must look into the bottom and examine the foundation. The Central Committee therefore decided that at our coming Org-Agit Prop Conferences, the-main point for discussion shall be the life and ac- tivities of the units. Just as the best agitational and propaganda methods will be useless without the proper or- ganizational measures, so the organizational measures will be “frozen and lifeless,” if it is not permeated with a proper understanding and clarity of the outlying tasks. There must be a Bolshevik merger of both elements, of organ- ization and agitation propaganda. There- fore we cannot successfully mobilize the Party for the- various campaigns if the membership does not understand the line and tasks of the Party. The, Party resolutions and decisions would only then have value as a guide to action | when they are digested and understood by the | entire membership and not merely by a hand- ful of top functionaries. We k of unit in- itiative. Can there ‘be unit initiative without political alertness and sensitivenes: We must help the Party membership to acquire it, and that means increased systematic political train- ing. It is therefore quite obvious that the organ- | izational and agit prop tasks must be unified. The organizational consolidation is linked up with the increased ideological activities of the Party. The recent mid-European Agit-Prop con- ference points out this relationship when it | “The turn of all of the Communist | Parties towards the masses and the placing of | states: the question of organizational consolidation of the political influence of the Communist Party as a central issue, are indissolubly connected with increased ideological organization of the Parties.” The present situation demands more and bet- cessfully be acquired if it has a theoretical foun- dation, knowledge. It states in its résolution: “Because of the great complications and the present in- | ternational situation, with the existing possibil- | ities of sharp historical turns, all measures must | Py be taken to raise the general theoretical level of the Party and its cadres.” Workers! Join the Party of Your Class! Communist Party U. 8. A. P. O. Box 87 Station D. New York City. Please send me more information on the Cum- | munist Party. Name Address o months, $1; $8: Organizational mo- | The Sixth World Congress in its po- | litical resolution told all Parties that the sharp- | ened class battles demand: greater theoretical | except Boroughs s, $4.50. six mor By JORGE cece Bread and Milk Out in California there is something called the ‘California Housewives’ League,” whose presi- nt, a Mrs. Cleverdon, has announced a “war” on high prices for milk and bread. It seems for which the dairy farmers get four f to five and one-half cents, sells at ‘o for 14 and 15 cents; large loaves for 14 to 15 cents. ruled by capitalist policies and tactics, she has done something wonderful by ¢ to the government of the state to “in- ery kind to the robbers, suggest- milk be reduced only to 12 cents also..to 12 cents, which would sure 2 a lot of profit for the robbers. A letter eb fr North Dakota says that farmers are ven cents a dozen eggs—while : not old enough to 5 cents a dozen. on high prices led 30 far as we've ob- housewives don’t seem ry activ ve in n fighting high prices on food. think the masses are not interested. they are. eS opie 9 bi Maybe t But we tr y The Answer Is Easy “One hundred thousand Cubans, in a delirious human wave, carried me into the National Cap- itol, says Machado, the so-called “president” of Cuba. Then he goes on to cry about what's happened: In fact, he says: “Why is it that the President of your coun- try today should seem so unpopular and be so persecuted—the same man who, only a short co, was so extraordinarily honored?” bloody old murderer seems to have for- that he himself said that Cubans were “delirious” when they put him in the capi- They have simply recovered their senses, all. | He even gives proof of this by speaking of “the hold that Bolshevism has taken ov tim: The Did You Notice It? The downright cynical cussedness of the self- styled “progre es” in the A, F. of L., headed the Rev. Muste, is almost past belief. This ang has been running the United Textile Work- Union of the A F. of L. in the Danville trike. About two weeks ago, in reading a San Fran- cisco paper, we noted that a dispatch which we had not seen in the eastern press, said that the U.T.W. had taken a committee of strikers to Washington to see Mr. Fish, one of the com- plaints being that the open shop companies at Danville, were giying jobs to “imported Reds.” That, of course, was absurd. But now, so t a time afterward, the U.T.W. calls off the ¢ on the grounds that, in taking employees thout raising the question of union | membership, that this principle of labor is being respected.” One might ask, if one really believed that the companies were hiring “reds” so short a time before, to the exclusion of “honest workmen,” action is so soon figured out as “re- specting labor principle” by the treacherous anti- Communist and anti-worker leadership of the U.T.W., But the U.T.W. is too hardboiled in betrayal to be bothered with pretending to be consistent. | It said that the companies are now all right, and aren’t discriminating against workers for belonging to the union, but they ask at the same ime, that all who get their jobs back should fork over one dollar a week apiece “to ald those who might be refused employment because of their strike conduct.” 3 This, of course, might be all right if the black- listed workers really get the money. But if such characters as the U.T.W., who say that there is no discrimination in the same breath that they ask the workers to contribute to aid hose discriminated against, are to do the hand- ling of the cash—then we feel sorry for those who are supposed to be “aided.” pa ea | The Big Obstacle There is something about Harvard graduates besides the drawl that marks them for its own. But we fear that Heywood Broun and Albert Weisbord are slipping behind on the last Har- Yard wrinkle. We fear, in fact, that they don’t know how to “Stabilize their center of gravity.” ‘That art or science, is being propagandized by another Harvard graduate, although, so it is said, it comes from Okada Torojiro, who, if you don't know, is noted as “the Einstein of Japan.” And we think it fits. The way to “stabilize your center of gravity,” is, ‘according to the great master mind, whose leading disciple is some fellow escaped from | Harvard;—to “sit on the floor, spine perfectly straight, legs drawn up, hands on the knees, » thumbs crossed, eyes and mouth shut, and the mind in a complete vacuum.” We fear that there is one serious obstacle to Albert Weisbord. They might cross their thumbs, draw up their legs, and certainly keep their minds “in a complete vacuum’—but they | cannot keep their mouths shut. ew No Sunday Closing Maybe we are mistaken, but the last we heard of Billy Sunday, the jumping bean evangelist, was a long time ago, and had something to do with a lot of whiskey he was supposed to have surrounded in a spirit of playfulness perhaps. | Like Christ and Riaboushinsky, Billy Sunday, | too, has come to life again. From the Los An- geles “Times” of Jan. 26, we see that the old bird has again been dancing around the pulpit and tearing his shirt, but ae time about the “Reds.” Here. is what this disciple te the gentle Jesus Sa) No man has the right to wave a red flag in the United States! Boats are sailing every day and the sooner these agitators leave our shores the better! No man has a right to follow his own opinion unless his opinion coincides with the laws of the land!” Seems like this hellfire and brimstone screechet prepa ricotta am tried out a bottle of Aimee Semple the recipe going far with Heywood Broun and’, ste ol Ma So way m nit anc sO) he vin onl bcon a E2235