The Daily Worker Newspaper, February 18, 1931, Page 4

Page Four & Ri 18th Street, New York City Address and mall all checks to the Daily Worker, 60 East 13th Street, New York, N. ¥. “ Published by the Comprodaily Publishing Co., Ine., daily except Sunday, at 50 East “DAIWORK.” y, N. ¥. Telephone Algonquin 7956-7. Cable: Daily; orker Posty USAS ¥ By mail everyw SUBSCRIPTION RATES! here: One year, $6; six montlis, $3; two months, $1; ef Manhattan and Bronx, New York Ctiy. Foreign; one year, $8: six months, $4.50. excepting Borougn® c- oe co THE AMERICANIZATION OF THE PARTY By WM. Z. FOSTER. { | ave talked of Americaniz- winning the native- organization and as always loomed nd; to some, an almost hope- i ctors we have so often | The American-born workers, be- i to cling to bourgeois illusions with reakable tenacity. But now the Americanization of our Party is I am sure, than | is, of to its gigantic a cause of the v less problem. taking pl: More rapidly, : mast of us realize. The Americans are joining | the Party and TUUL movement, in ever in- | creasing numbers. Communism is sinking its roots into the basic sections of the American proletaria It s that much as we have pondered ads over this problem in the y being solved without our it. We must become more + to what is going on and give real attention basically important development. | I am writing this article during a speaking tour throt the West, and many facts bear witness to the influx of Americans into our nd its general struggles. For example, yesterday picking up a stray copy of the “Literary Digest” on a train, I read a wisecrack by some local editor, to the effect that the capi- talists need have no fear of the Red movement, until its leading workers bear American names. This statement piqued my curiosity and I lool2d at my list of TUUL secretaries in the citics where I am speaking on this tour, to learn wh->t percentage of “American” names might be am: them. I was more than surprised at the result. Here are the names and the cities: ‘Youngstown, Karson; St. Louis, A. Milman; | Kansas City, R. T. Pierce; Omaha, John Daw- | | | son; Denver, Colo., Charles Guynn; Salt Lake | Ci J. D, Graham; Los Angeles, Fred Fire- stone; San Francisco, M. Raport; Seattle, J. Laurie; Butte, Willis L. Wright; Duluth, Ben Gardner; Minneapolis, George Powers; Mil- | waukee, W. Clark; Gary, Joe Dallet; Johnstone, | Naum Costoff. This list of names speaks eloquently of the influx of Americans into our movement. The crisis, with its mass unemployment, wage cuts, speed-up, and terrorism, together with the healthy internal situation in our Party, is doing the job. Yes, and a very vital factor is the in- spiring influence of the Soviet Union, with its tremendous victories in building Socialism. The meaning of it all is that the American workers, following the sense of our basic slogan, yefuse | to starve and will fight. | | | Perhaps our greatest advance into the ranks of the native-born workers is now taking place in Oklahoma, though the process is more or Jess general throughout the country, with vary- | movement. | unemployment demonstrations are the most | iastically his support of the TUUL. | into a militant building of our Party and the ing tempo. In that state we have a real mass The workers, the great majority of whom are native born, are in almost a state of revolt against the growing starvation. Their militant of any held any place in the country. It’s the old Gastonia fighting spirit again, but upon a broader and deeper scale. There are 5,000 members enrolled in the unemployed coun- | cils in Oklahoma. They look enthusiastically to our Party as their leader. Hundreds of splendid young militants are coming forward in this struggle, ripe for recruitment into the revolu- tionary unions and our Party. So far, I have been speaking of white Amer- icans. But when we want to see the most basic flow of American born workers into our Party, we must Iook at the real progress we have made in the past year among the Negroes. But this is no longer news. Nevertheless, in the several cities that I have already spoken in on this tour (Youngstown, St. Louis and Kansas City), | I have been astounded afresh at the large num~- bers of Negroes present, and at their great en- thusiasm for and activities in our movement. Never fear, our Party, despite its mistakes and weaknesses, is now laying the basis for becoming the party of the toiling Negro masses in this country. American born youth of Mexican parentage are also joining the Party. These are strategic elements among the agricultural workers in Col- orado. In the Denver unit of the Young Com- munist League, there are 20 of these valuable workers, newly joined. And speaking of Americans joining our move- ment—why in Oklahoma even many Indians are | taking an active part in the local TUUL strug- gles and are distinguishing themselves for their militancy. Yes, and not long since, at one of my meetings, noticing full-blooded Indian present, I asked him the name of his tribe. He said he was a Comanche and declared enthus- Ever since the birth of our Party, the main struggle has been carried through by the foreign- born workers. And bravely they have made the fight. But now they are being gradually rein- forced by the native-born workers. All of which bodes no good for American capitalism. This influx of Americans, black and white, into our movement, which is of basic significance politically, raises many important problems for our Party, and especially the Young Communist. League. How to develop ideologically these new and promising young elements; how to trans- form their fiery enthusiasm and fighting spirit revolutionary unions of the TUUL; how to make Communists of them—are urgent questions that we must become immediately conscious of and for which we must find quick and cdérréct solu- tions. Election Circus in Chicago By JAMES O’GRADY, : i Election Campaign of the capitalist parties in Chicago assumes the character of an Elec- tion Circus. Mayor, “Big Bully’ Thompson, opened his campaign declaring “war” on the king of England who is responsible for pro- hibition and everything that goes with it in Chi- cago. In his speech he also charged that “Judge Lyle is running a vaudeville show to get a lot of cheap publicity.” It is true that Judge Lyle runs his court as a vaudeville but behind this vaudeville show is the ugly mug of the fascist and vicious enemy of the working class. “Big Bully” Thompson, decided, however, to improve the vaudeville show of Judge Lyle and have his own show on the streets of Chicago. No more or less than at the main streets in the loop there is a parade of republican party fac- tions running for nomination of the republican party on February 24, which is represented in the following manner: Thompson-cowboy—on a@ horse; a small boy on a burro represents Arthur Albert—and the donkey is ridden by the “respectable” and “honorable” Judge Lyle. This show is arranged by Thompson. That is his idea of representing the characteristic of the candidates of the different factions inside of the republican party. Thompson appearing on public mass meetings usually carries with him a halter. All these things might look funny, but be- hind these comedies in the election campaign, there is a consolidation of the different capitalist interests behind the candidates, and all these stunts pulled is to distract the attention of the masses, as to the real issue behind the can- didates. It is worth while to enumerate them: Q) “Big Bully” Thompson—is candidate of In- sull, multi-millionaire of the public utilities, sup- ported openly by the strike-breaking fascist lead- ers of the Chicago Federation of Labor, and by Al Capone and other respectable gentlemen of Chicago and by the yellow jingo Hearst “Herald and Examiner.” (2) Arthur Albert is candidate of the rich real estate sharks, and a number of industrial capitalists, and his program is fur- ther fascization of the city apparatus and the fight against the working class. He proposes the strengthening of the police department, especially the “department of criminal investi- gation,” on the model of the famous Scotland Yard. He demands more police on the streets, etc. He is supported by the “Chicago Daily News,” owned by the millionare Strong. (3) Fascist Judge Lyle is the pet of the millionaire family McCormack and the outstanding organ of American imperialism “The Chicago Tribune.” All these three candidates have been before in one faction of the republican party, Today they charge each other of being supported by gang- sters, racketeers, etc. It must be true, as they know each other quite well. All these candidates have an unlimited amount of finances to carry on their election campaign. Albert R. Brunker, head of the Civic Service Commission ot Chicago, in his speech delivered in Boston, as quoted before the “Boston Post:” “Eighty per cent of the Chicago judges are un- der criminal influence. Al Capone has 6,000 city, state and federal officials on his pay roll.” When. in Chicago Brunker declared that this quotation from his speech is not exactly true. In other words he is not willing to state in Chicago what he stated in Boston. But everybody knows that the government of the city of Chicago is a gov- ernment controlled by the capitalist class, it is @ government of strike-breaking, terror sgainst the working class, and it is a honey comb for politicians, As to the democratic candidate, Anton Cor- mack, who 1s also the boss of the democratic Party in Cook County is candidate for Mayor. It can be stated that much, that the candidacy of Cormack is endorsed and supported by such capitalists as Melvin A. Traylor, president of the First National Bank, millionaire Stanley Field, Fred Sargent, president of the Chicago Northwestern R.R., Oscar ©. Foreman, pres- ident of the Foreman National Bank, Rufus Dawes, a millionaire, Colonel Albert Sprague, and about 30 other leading bankers and capi- talists in the city. These four gentlemen are the major capital- ist candidates for mayor in the city of Chicago. There is not even any pretense on the part of any of these candidates to make liberal gestures, although Cormak will use demagogy, as is cus- tomary of the democratic party. But this dem- agogy is just an attempt to fool the workers. No worker, however, should be fooled—as no worker should be fooled by Thompson, Lyle, Al- berts, and the numerous other candidates run- ning. All four candidates are representing four different capitalist groups fighting for the con- trol of the city of Chicago. | Mr, John Collins of the socialist party fits | in the situation by making his attacks against | the Communists, the Soviet Union, and by these methods covering up the misery, starvation, un- | employment and wage cuts in the city of Chi- | cago. Mr. Collins opens the war cry against the Soviet Union, as Thompson speaks of war against England. All these candidates and the other smalled candidetes.of the capitalists are war candidates of capitalism. There is no dif- ference between them. All of them are suppor*- ing American imperialism in preparation for war against the Soviet Union. On February 24, no worker shall vote in the mayoralty primaries. Boycott the primaries! must be the slogan of the masses of workers in Chicago. On February 24 vote for the Com- munist Party candidates for alderman. They are as follows: Ward 2; David R. Poindexter; Ward 3, Robert L, Ware; Ward 11, John J, Casiunas; Ward 13, Harry Piantkowski; Ward 23, Libby Corngold; Ward 24, Morris Beckall; Ward 25, Guido Gal- lassi; Ward 26, Wella Clinton; Ward 28, Whale Muse; Ward 30, Philip Frankfeld; Ward 32, Samuel Hammersmark; Ward 34, Harry Brot- man; Ward 35, Eric Thomas; Ward 46, C. Arthur Johnson, CHARMED By S. WISEMAN. i Food and Packing House Workers Indus- trial League is the only organization that can be depended upon to organize the workers in thé stock yards, packing houses, large bakeries, food factories, hotels, restaurants and chain stores. Toward Large Shops How well fitted is our organization to carry out this tremendous task? At present, although We have at last recognized the correctness that ‘we must first and mainly approach the workers in the stock yards and large factories and chains, we have done very little in this direction. It must be recognized that the trend of our ac- tivities is turning towards the larger enterprises. In Detroit our local is concentrating on the Park and Webb Packing House, the Consolidated Baking Co., and the Gordon Bakeries (commit- tees have been established in these plants). In Seattle, Washington, on the Fryes Packing Co.; in Philadelphia on the Penn Sugar Refining Co., and the National Biscuit Co.; in Buffalo on the Dold Packing House, and in Chicago our food workers group, after sharp pressure, is begin- ning to concentrate more definitely on the stock yards, besides some large hotels. In Minne- apolis we reach the Gold Medal Flour Mills. In New York, the largest base of our union, the concentration points are the National Biscuit Co., Gottfrieds Bakeries, German Bakery, Hotel Manger chain, Silver’s Cafeteria chain and Fol- tis-Fisher’s Cafeteria chain. Lagging Behind In most cities our locals are not yet con- centrating on some specific point, besides in most cities where we are supposed to be actively con- centrating on) the large places, the work is ridic- uously weak, and almost without definite results. ‘The shortcomings in this work must be exposed if we want to accomplish the proper results. Our approach to this work of setting up griev- ance or shop committees, getting contacts, etc., 4s very mechanical. First, there is not the con- viction that this is the only way to build a solid base for our union, especially 1s this so amongst ‘the leading comrades. In those cities where we are not yet definitely concentrating for the setting up of committees in the larger fac- tories, this 1s quite clear, but our shortcomings are more easily exposed when we sit ourselves down to these tasks after admitting that we must follow this line. The best forces in our union and of the Com- munist Party fractions are necessary for this work. Have we followed this proceedure? Un- doubtedly no! The shock groups around these points of concentration are in most cases a col- laboration of workers not functioning on any other activity. Often no concrete plan of work, understanding perspective of \ ~k is given to these groups, and many times they disintegrate as in Chicago, and by doing so become dis- couraged, losing the spirit and energy to con- tinue this difficult work. What contacts have been made are not guarded and taken care of in the proper way, developed or given the proper attention. This is a serious shortcoming, because the forces inside the factory are the most im- portant for us in this work. One of the main reasons why such a situation can exist is because the Party fractions and the If in any of these wards the name of the candidate’ will not ‘appear on the ‘ballot, write his name on the ballot. In all other wards ask for the ballot and write on the’ ballot “I Vote Communist,” The Communist Party in this election cam- paign calls on the workers to Vote Communist, as every vote for the Communist Party is a vote for immediate unemployment relief, against wage cuts, against speed up, for the Workers’ Social Insurance Bill, against capitalist war, and war against the Soviet Union, for the Defense of the Soviet Union, for a workers and farmers government in the United States, The candidates of the Communist Party in the April 7th elections aret Party have not given the proper attention to these problems, nor discussed the weaknesses in the work, and on a whole does not realize how necessary and important this is for the build- ing of a revolutionary union on a mass scale. In New York our main activity {1s still the small shops. While we cannot neglect,the work- should have: (1) ideologically developed a greater part of the membership to understand the im- portance of this work; (2) and directed our main activities and energy in this campaign; (3) and should be able to have shown better results by this time. True, our field of concentration may be too broad. For instance, we may throw all our forces into concentrating on the large Immediate Tasks in Building the Food Workers’ Union Towards a National Union We are far behind in the forming of a National Union of the TUUL in the food industry. The workers in our industry are éver more feeling the effects of the crisis through. wagé cuts, unem- ployment, and. the; _ general Worsening of their conditions, afd. aré looking ‘for leadership to organize them ih‘ théir resistance. against’ the attacks of the bosses, ‘This we also have serl- ously underestimated and thust speed up our tempo in this direction. for the date, where a April 25 hag been national conférétics of géiieral Food arti Pack- ing House Workers is to be held in the city of Detroit, following & national conference of stock yard workers on April 23 in Chicago. All our activities must be directed towards this point. We must lay the basis for the setting up of a revolutionary union on a national scale. We must create & solid base for this. At present we have not got a solid enough base for a na- tional union. ‘The largest section of our union, New York, is very weak in itself, and the proper base for our union must be in the stock yards of Chicago, Kansas, Omaha, etc., and the large enterprise throughout the country. In 15 cities. we. have leagues or locals, besides contacts in other cities. Every local or league must intensify on their concentration points, linking up this work with the building of a national union and a struggle for the every-day needs or partial demands of the workers that they are in contact with. Through this activity it will be possible to lay a base for the setting up of a union. The Party forces throughout the country must be the driving force in this campaign. Every day, without a let-up is the only way to conduct such a campaign. The whole membership must-be drawn into an un- derstanding of the problems we face and must be given definite tasks of work. Statement of the District Board of the National Textile Work- ers Union on the Betrayal of the Danville Strike T most shameful betrayal in the history of the A. F. of L. officialdom has just been completed in Danville, Virginia. A deal which can only be compared with well trained and long experienced underworld gangs of crooks and racketeers. The newspapers report that “the big A F. of L, fakers such as Gorman and others have deserted the strike area.” These A. F. of L. mis- leaders fully realize that the revolt of the 4,000 mill workers would make it too hot fer them to remain in Danville if the workers fully realize the meaning of this dirty and disgraceful sell- out. Mr. Bolick, a second-hand tool of the A. F. of L. machine, was left to inform the strikers that “Gorman was ‘unavoidably’. detained” and that ‘H. M. Morgan, president of a Virginia coal cor- Poration, has decided the fate of the four thou- sand mill workers, their wives and children. It is now more clear than ever that the strike was forced upon the A. F. of L. misleaders by the rank and file of the mill workers. That the reason these “leaders” undertook to lead the strike was to mislead the strike and sell it out in the first place. eae a ne NE the following: picketing they were sent to chop; wood. 3. Everything was done to prevent the rank 4. No attempt for mass violation of injunc- tions. 5, The strikers were kept in ignorance and under terrorism of the gangster like tactics of the Gormans, Bolicks, ete. 6, No educational or social work was carried on amongst the strikers. It is now also clear that the A. F. of L. GANDHI Mr. Fish and Present Day Negro Slavery By CYRIL BRIGGS. TLL Fish and his fellow fascists advocate a boycott on Southern cotton, tobacco, rice, etc.? Will they favor a proposal to investigate | Negro slavery, through peonage, share cropping, | tenant farming, etc., in the South? To the lies peddled by these gentlemen on imaginary “forced and convict labor” in the Soviet’ Union is added the disgusting spectacle of a gang of murderous slave-drivers evoking a vision of slavery where none exists and pre- tending to be shocked by the vision while sup- ported and unmoved by the actual existence of slavery at home. Under the system of land monopoly by the heirs of the former slave owners, several million Negroes are today held against their wills on the plantations of the rich landowners of the South and Southwest. These Negro workers may not leave their landlord while in debt to him. And under the system of landlord supervision of crops, landlord cheating on accounts, denial of the rights to market crops, the Negro farm workers—share croppers, tenant farmers and farm laborers—are constantly forced deener and deeper into debt to their landlord or employer. Many of these victims are furnished the bosses by the courts and sheriffs. “Negroes may be arrested for slight offenses and farmed out to employers.” “On such agreement the contract labor law allows the planter to hold the convict until the debt is paid.” (Reuter: The American Race Problem.”) In the meantime the Negro victim of present- day chattel slavery in the United States is charged for food, clothing and money advanced by the employer, and gets deeper and deeper into debt. “Because of poor judgment, crop failure, or other reason he may be unable to discharge his obligation and virtually ceases to be a free per- son,” admits E. B. Reuter, Professor of Sociology in the University of Iowa, in’ his book “The American Race lem.” “If the offender runs away, refuses to work, or disobeys the commands of the master he may be returned to jail and this results in the imposition of a new sentence.” “Prison labor is sold to private persons who work the convicts for labor.” “Peonage and debt slavery are means of secur- Ing cheap and steady labor.” ‘These admissions are reluctantly made by Reu- ter in his book. Emmet J. Scott, Negro reform- ist and another apologist for the capitalist sys- tem, cited the convict leasing system as one of the greatest causes of the mass migration which reached its peak in 1919: The convict system by which the courts are permitted to inflict heavy fines for trivial of- fenses and the sheriffs to hire the convicts to planters on the basis of peonage. .. .” ‘These conditions exist today in the South and Southwest. The bosses’ press has recently admitted this. The New York Times two weeks ‘ago published a dispatch from Arkansas in which it ‘was admitted that: “The share cropper can’t move to another Plantation unless‘his debts are assumed by the new planter.” And again: “What the share cropper, tenant and small farmer have been living under for years, is nothing less than slavery.” ‘This applies to both Negro and white farm labor, but especially to the Negroes. ‘The white planter may at any time sell or transfer his claim in the Negro worker—which ‘amounts: to- ‘selling the Negro worker. In many states, this slavery has been legalized the bossesSlaws. These Jaws willbe dealt with other articles. ap a so-called leader’of the strike was ever arrested or interfered with during the strixe. But, Bill Murdoch, the National Secretary of the N. T. ‘W. U., was jailed and kept behind the bars for almost four months because in a leaflet. which he distributed he told the workers just, what ‘was going to happen and it happened. The Danville strikers, as well as the workers all over the South, must learn that the A. F. of L. is the strike breaking agency of the mill By JORGE eee Not A Want Ad Some time &go, to. fill a long felt. want, we asked in this column for some kindhcarted friend who was long on radios, to donate one to the Daily Worker, so that we might hear the pope talking Latin and Secretary Hyde talking pig- Latin about “ympathysa orfa etha armerfa” (which if you've passed the Pioneer age should be translated into “sympathy for the farmer”), Anyhow, a comrade finally lugged us in one, But while we know about socialist construc- tion, we're darned shy on radio construction, And somebody who gave it the once over says it needs something done to its insides, in addi- tion to the complete rest it has had for some time. So anyone in New York who can qualify as a radio doctor, and who can donate the time to diagnosing and prescribing for the outfit, is cor- dially invited to come in and give us a lift. Don’t be bashful. While we are on the subject, we might men- tion that our British Communist “Daily Worker” is going in heavy for radio. It has a radio expert to answer questions. But the biggest thing he’s done is to tell workers there how to get Moscow broadcasts. Every day now the British “Daily Worker” runs something like this: “Today's Soviet Broadcast.” “MOSCOW (Trade Unions, 1,304m.)—7:30 Greenwich time; Talk in Dutch ‘How Czarist Russia organized intervention against Republican France,’ 8:30—Similar talk in English.” The Moscow station “Experimental, 720m.” gives concerts and opera, too. But it must make British bosses hopping mad to have the air full of Moscow. Some industrious doctor is likely working on a scheme to vaccinate Brit- ish workers cee the cunt eoeh, ° Marblehead Rattlesnakes “Emerging from the recent Hamilton Fish Committee hearings,” said a Scripps-Howard news dispatch of Jan. 31, “is a vivid blue circular, widely distributed among house and senate mem- bers by the American defenders—the Blue Shirts. The Chief Defender is National Commander Major Pease, of Marblehead, Mass., “birthplace of the American Navy.” Its chief platform plank, we are told, is “Loy- alty to industry is also loyalty to country.” And its emblem is the American Flag with the slogan, borrowed from the “Rattlesnake Flag” of 1776— “Don't tread on me!” It would have been awkward, no doubt, to use the whole 1776 flag of the colonial revolution against England, because the flag, the first flag generally used by the American colonists in the opening year of the war, a regular Bolshevik red flag, decorated with a coiled rattlesnake and the motto quoted: “Don’t tread on me!” The rattlesnake, of course, is perfectly adapt- able to Major Split Pease of Marblehead, as, indeed, is Marblehead itself. Only we caution the Chief Defender of the Blue Shirts, that if they proceed far on the line of “Loyalty to in- dustry is loyalty to country,” the tail of their blue shorts may turn color. ees th Not Alike, Not At All It is a favorite piece of capitalist hokum, re- ligiously peddled by the supposed-to-be-but-ain't “socialists,” to put fascist Italy and the Soviet Union in one pigeon-hole. “They are both dictatorships,” is the regula- tion assertion, and whether they are both con- demned as “bad” because they step on the toes of the sacred cow “individualism;” or whether we are asked to admire them as examples of “efficiency,” or’“organization” of what not, still they are held up as identical. Being charitable, we suppose that to “liberals,” whose astonishing ignorance somehow entitles them to be called “intellectuals,” it never occurs that there may be a different class basis to dic- tatorships. Nor do they see the dictatorship of the capitalist class when, as in America, it wears @ rather gossamer gown of “democracy” and “republican forms.” The supposed “socialist” leaders know better, and it is pure cussedness on their part, cussed- ness based on their assistance to capitalist dic- tatorship disguised as “ours” is, to gabble about the “identity of Bolshevism and Fascism” merely because both are frankly and openly dictator- ships. Bolshevism freely concedes that it stands for a dictatorship and boasts that such is a dictator- ship of the proletariat, the wage working class. But with the historic aim of abolishing classes, therefore abolishing class contradictions and con- flict, and therefore ultimately the necessity of @ repressive force of this dictatorship. Because it advances the interests of the great majority, it has no need to conceal the real class basis of the proletarian dictatorship. Fascism, however, pretends to uphold the in- terest of “the nation” or “the general public’ and to have no class basis or special class inter- est to advance, though its dictatorship is that of the minority big capitalists. To get popula’ support, however, it not only pretends to be “above classes,” but uses the rankest demagog) in order to seize power, it even uses furious lang:’ uage against the big capitalists and demand’ that the workers be given better conditions. But things happen differently once fascism ha established its dictatorship. It does not, lik Bolshevism, use its dictatorship to abolish classe: and class property relations, but to maintail them, while suppressing the struggles of th working class. The workers find out eyentuall that they are the class which must suffer an against which the respective force is directec One great glaring fact proves the vast Cla: difference between Bolshevism and_ fascisn Construction, really socialist. construction in tl Soviet Union has wiped out unemployment; whi in Monday’s papers a dispatch from Italy admi| unemployment is on the increase, with the 1 gistered unemployed now numbering 721,976, { which only 180,494 are given unemployme’| insurance, ® committees; mass picketing and militant stru gle against the mill companies is the immedias task of the Danville strikers. The NTWU w do everythiig in its power to ‘aid the worke and assist them, and with the help and so darity of all the workers, North and South, th can still win. a aie Ta sae es lice tack stri Edn «M well who righ cont tion worl Man tion: —Wws to cr Se