The Daily Worker Newspaper, February 24, 1931, Page 4

Page Four e Comprodaily Publishing Co., Ine., daily excépt Sunday. at 50 Fast w York City, N. Y. Telephone Algonquin 7956-7, nail all checks to the Daily Worker, 60 East 18th Street, New York, N. Y. Cabl; ‘DAIWORK.” ker Paty USA) ‘CRISIS IN 1931 By HARRY GANNES. ion or by can the e that there situation worse and eriods since ident of declared ched in m reece f development of ig a worsening of on with the same parison with the rash. How- i the talk of deliberate ion. The rate February of 1930. During ade of the United States since 1 During id .economi y capitalist coun- the base of possible wot 's little prediction that of Busine: dropped to a lowe r point than had ever an economic his- dex stood at 76.1 for y point), The ” « Wall Street maga- 788 on January 2 week before, Jan. 17. . t available data supplied by the (and their entire method of com- the busine index is open to serious no doubt that the crisis is 1 result for the v eyen a worse state the | yment throughout the United | States, according to the Department of Labor, | dropped over 4 per cent in January; while pay- rolls in the same month dropped over 8 per cent. So much for the general estimation of the crisis. But an examination of the various basic industries would show matters in a worse light. The steel industry has been sadly disappointing to the capitalists. Despite all the attempts to shove up steel production it has not gone over 50 per cent of capacity, while the United States Steel Corporation is actually cutting down its production. In the worst crisis year so far, 1930, they had a better record, production going up to nearly 80 per cent of capacity. So we see that in Mr, Farrell's own company he cannot make his prediction hold good. But from other magnates in the steel indus- try we get a black, gloomy picture. A special dispatch to the New York Evening Post (Feb. 7, 1931) gives us this angle: “While there are few outright expressions of opinion in the steel trade, it is clear that there is a widespread feeling of disappointment. . . . The steel trade had hopes that purely seasonal improvement would help, while now it realizes that this is not enough to do much good, and so eyes must be turned on the longer pull.” Now how about this “longer pull?” We have some bad news on that point. The Standard Statistics Co., one of the leading business statis- tical agencies in the United States, predicts that after March “a sagging tendency seems likely to develop. The first half of 1931 proba- bly will be more disappointing than otherwise. business profits will be low. “The beginning of strong and sustained im- | provement in general does not seem probable before the closing months of 1931.” ¢ ‘Thus we see the little game of shoving “im- provement” over into the future becoming a regular practice. No worker will have much con- fidence in the prediction of “improvement” in the closing months of 1931. We've heard that_ story before from the Standard Statistics Co. as well as every capitalist spokesman who let himself be heard. In another field, 1931 opened with a heavy blow to American capitalism, Bank failures for January, 1931, were greater than in 1930. In the month of January 197 banks crashed, in- volving $91,350,000. The sum involved in the faijures for January 1931, is greater than for | most of the years before 1929. There were bank crashes in nearly every leading industry center in the country. We have enough proof already to show that the crisis in 1931 will be worse than in 1930, and | there are indications yet to indicate there has been any upward turn in the general crisis sach | as the capitalisis would Have the workers bé- lieve. Reply to An Arrogant Yankee By B. D. AMIS. are in receipt of an anonymous letter writ- ten by a backward 100 per cent arrogant ankee. This true disciple of “white superior. ended our forums in Kansas City to question has been discussed at He takes issue with our fight for equal for the Negro, raising in a barbarous and lerous manner two questions. (1) What have roes contributed to civilization; they have kept p: with the white people, they are (2) that tt “present social system, capital playing the nigger off against the white v er, but that could be changed under the social system.” not inferior; iL This viewpoint is part of the boss poison that has permeated large sections of the working class. It has only a single purpose: to take away the minds of the toiling masses from their wretched economic conditions and enslavement, and in this way to-keep them from struggling Qgainst them. The natural differences between people are magnified, distorted and emphasized beyond all measure by the white ruling class in order to cover up the really fundamental, im- portant and decisive differences between those who labor and those who live on the surplus labor of the toiling masses. The boss ruling class has nothing in common. With the toiling masses, except to reap more and larger profits from their labor. This can only be accomplished with the working class divided and fighting among themselves instead of unit- ing and fighting against their common enemy, the capitalist class. The latter class lives on the surplus labor of ‘all toilers regardless of natural differences. This is best illustrated by chattel slavery in the United States prior to the Civil War. The plantation owners lived on the surplus labor of the slaves, built large fortunes, and a mere few kept millions under subjection. “I, the slave o er, am of a superior race. You, the slave, are of an inferior race.” Thus the slave owner maintained. In fact, labor was beneath the dignity of the slave owner and worthy only of the slave. Even today, in the South, certain jobs are known as jobs for blacks: the whites refuse to accept such work, (Because of severe suffering during the present hard times, many whites have willingly ac- cepted the jobs of black workers. They have forgotten about their dignity.) Thus we see that the idea of race superiority and inferiority has its roots in and expresses the economic class relations of slave and slaveowner, whether it be chattel or wage slavery. Such narrow-minded conception is crass ig- morance. It is feudal arrogance. It prevents the growth of conscioysness of the common and im~- mediate interests of the toiling people. It is not so-called racial characteristics but primarily the material conditions of his life that determine the development of man. “It is not the absolute fertility of the soil but the multifariousness of its natural products which constitutes the natural foundation of the social division of labor, and by changing the natural conditions of his environment, spurs man on to Amuitiply his own need’, capacities, means of labor, and methods of labor.” (Capital, p. 557, Marx.) IL The capitalist class does not only pit the Negro workers against the white workers, but the native Americans against the foreign born, the Jew against the Gentile, the Catholic against the Protestant, the Irish against the Italian, po. | entire working class, to create huge profits, and maintain the power of the minority class over the toiling majority. The toiling class has a historical task to per- form. The bosses have increased their offensive against all workers and poor farmers. Economic misery, mass unemployment, and wage cuts are on the order of the day. Negro workers are lynched; foreign born workers are deported; and native American workers are clubbed, shot and given long prison sentences (Mooney and Bill- ings) if they dare to protest against the vicious boss rule, When workers organize and fight against starvation conditions, the bosses increase their attacks against all workers. The bosses place the burden of the crisis on the laboring class: millions are jobless and starving; other millions are working part-time, barely able to make a living for their families. ‘The workers, Negro and white, must unite and fight against the system that breeds poverty, misery, and starvation. To abolish the division of people into classes; to render it impossible for a minority class to amass riches which are squeezed out of the sweat and blood of Negro and white workers; to unmask national prejudices which separate the workers, making organization difficult; to destroy every hindrance which preyents a united struggle of the entire working class against. the oppressors, is the cardinal task of every revolu- tionary worker and the Communist Party. The masses of white workers cannot be lib- erated from the terrible scourge of wage slav- ery, they cannot break. the fetters of American imperialist oppression, without forming an al- liance with the super-exploited and subjected Negroes. “Labor in the white skin cannot free itself where labor in the black skin is branded.” (Marx.) ‘The special yoke of ecm to which the Negroes are subjected serves as a basis to keep them down and at the same time drives the living standards of the white workers to the low- est level. To give economic and political free- dom to all workers; to destroy the idea of race theoreticians of master and slave; to stop, the ruling class from organizing wholesale slaugh- ters that drive millions of workers to slay one another in wars that strengthen the position and power of the imperialist rulers over the workers, it is necessary to build united fronts of all workers, to mobilize black and white toll- ers to give stubborn resistance to unemployment, wage cuts and speed-up; to fight against lynch- ing and all forms of capitalist oppression; to rally the broad masses of workers to fight for immediate relief and unemployment insurance; to wage a relentless fight against the special forms of persecution against the Negroes, which keep the workers divided and perpetuates slav- ery and the rule of the minority class. White superiority and race prejudices play directly into the hands of the bosses. American chauvinism, Yankee arogance is aggressive na- tionalism of American imperialists. It 1s the superstructure of the present social system and part of the special apparatus of extra exploita- tion of the Negroes. The origin of this bour- geois mentality has its roots in the former slav- ery of the Negro. It is downright barbarism in a country at the zenith of capitalist culture. It must, be destroyed as it forms the main hin- ‘drance to organizing a united struggle against the white ruling class for better economigand political conditions, “Then “not alone ‘the rich ‘and ‘the’ educated, but the real | rma tt a daien aes DEMAND' HEAT AND WAG E Tome FREE “RENT The Growing Wave ot Struggles in Philadelphia | H eee fear of hunger riots ky Mayor Mackey was not without foundation. The number of ufémployed already reached 300,000. The mili- tant struggle of the unemployed under the lead- ership of the unemployed councils has thrown | a fear into the hearts of the City Council and. | the rich parasites. Graft and corruption swal- lowed millioné of dollars from the 90-million dollar ¢ity budget. Because of unemployment the worker home-owners cannot pay their taxes and the amoitht of delinquent taxes now reached 12 million. .For the month of February 1,300~ workers homes were sold by the sheriff. ‘These conditions increased the tension of the already starving unemployed. To prevent the unemployed from direct action the city admin- istration and all capitalist agencies are feverish- ly engaged in the collection of funds. The mon¢y collected as the mayor nimself had to admit comes mostly from the working class. At the same time the money collected is used directly against the workers. The city racket, and scab agency, the mayor’s Unemployment Relief Com- mittee that collects money from the working people, is using the jobless on various city jobs and even on jobs provided by private individuals and institutions. The unemployed, however, are not paid by the city nor are they paid by the private individuals and concerns, They are paid no more than $12 a week from the funds col- lected by the Mayor's Unemployment Relief Committee. In other words, the city saves money on the unemployment and so do private capital- ists. They made the unemployed work, pay them from the funds collected from the workers and themselves keép the funds appropriated for these jobs. The Unemployed Will Not Scab ‘The bosses, particularly of the textile and needle trades industries'are now taking advan- tage of the existing unemployment to cut’ the wages of those still employed. In the textile industry the upholstery weavers are now fight- ing against a 14 pér cent wage cut. In the needle trades, workers are now striking against. the rotton conditions in the sweatshop. Despite of the officials of the Hosiery Workers Union the workers turned out in mass on the picket lines. In the needle trades the workers put up a militant fight to keep scabs out of the shops. The police has clearly demonstrated its’ role. Director of Public Safety, Schefielf, issued state- ments prohibiting all picketing and resorted to wholesale arrests. “There can be no strikes and picketing in a period of unemployment,” said Schefielf. Conclusions from this must be drawn that the workers must accept any kind of wages because of the fact that there is unemployment. The February 25 demonstration will be the an- swer to the bosses and the police department. That first of all the unemployed will not scab and neither will all the workers permit the bos- ses to use unemployment as a means of reducing the standard of living of all workers. Baldwin and Gandhi By ALBERT MOREAU. (Secretary Anti-Impcrialist League of the United " States.) 'HROUGHOUT the world in the colonial coun- tries there has been an intensification of the revolutionary struggles of the masses of peas- ants and workers against imperialism. We see this most clearly expressed in China, India and the Philippines. In this situation it is impor- tant that the Anti-Imperialist League follow a line of exposing the petty-bourgeois reformist elements who obstruct the revolutionary masses in their struggle against imperialism. In this respect there is a situation in the Anti- Imperialist League of the United States which requires immediate clarification. Roger Bald- win, who is a member of the National Executive Committee of the Anti-Imperialist League, as well as being on the Executive Committee of the International League Against Imperialism, has been carrying out a policy of compromise with British imperialism under a thin disguise of “op- position” to it. “Baldwin has always been a firm friend and supporter of Gandhi and the Indian National Congress. Gandhi at this moment is working out plans with Lord Irwin, British Viceroy of India, to throttle the rising tide of revolution in\India. He has just said: “Better British rule than. civil strife.” Furthermore, Baldwin ac- tively supports the Lovestoneites and the rene- gade M. N. Roy, who have united with every counter-revolutionary force in the United States to support Gandhi in his horse trading maneuver of bartering the revolution to British imperial- ism for whatever concessions MacDonald will grant the Indian bourgeoisie. A recent resolution published by the All-India Anti-Imperialist League, with the endorsement of the International League Against Imperial- ism, states: . cide the ‘most difficult questions of sogial or- ganization.” (Lenin.) a it. The Negroes’ contributions are »multifarious. The discovery of iron, the keystone to modern civilization ;the arch; the bp eepeties ituals, poetry and thousands of other “An essential condition for the successful working out of this revolutionary united front program (based on the struggle of the workers and peasants for the complete overthrow of Bri- tish imperialism in India) is a ruthless fight against all treacherous attempts to confuse the issues and to create counter-revolutionary illu- sions among the masses, especially those carried on by the Congress, and more particularly by its “left wing” (Jawaharal Nehru, Subash Bose). The latest slogan of Jawaharal Nehru ‘to elect a Constituent Assembly (following the lead given by the Indian ‘Communist’ Renegade, M. N. Roy) is fresh proof of such. attempts and emphasizes the necessity for exposing and coun- teracting' them without mercy.” Roger Baldwin'is the leading representative among the so-called “liberals”. in the United States who carries on “‘treacherous attempts. to confuse the iSsues and to create counter-revolu- tionary illusions among the masses.” Baldwin’s policy is in full accord with that of the Maxton group in the BHitish labor party who were originally affiliated with the “International Donald government, aiding it under cover of a demagogic “protest” in murdering ‘and failing tens of thousands of Indian workers peas- ants." Maxton was expelled from the Interna- tional League Against Imperialism. In the struggle against Wall Street domination struct the fight against the American imperial-* ist massacres of the revolting peasants in the Philippine Islands. The Baldwin policy of col- laboration with such forces as Gandhi in India pesuit him to follow the path of aiding Ame: ican imperialism in the Yankee colonies. by giv- ing aid and support to the counter-revolutionary petty bourgeoisie, While ace lip-service to. ‘the. general prin- ciples of the last International Conferetce of ws Aceinst Imperialism in. Frankfort, » hes consistently followed the line of defeating these principles in action. He has hindered the development of the Anti-Imperial- iat Aeros Ie the Ute eae ene: saddle it with Gandhiist and other imperialist- collaborating elementa,, He has sabotaged the poi of ‘the bresacrh in every respect,” going to threaten the establishment | i DONT STARV E SST Y SUBSCRIPTION RATES: & T By mail everywhere: One year, $6; six months $3; two months, $1; excepting Boroughs { ef Manhattan and Bronx, New York Ctiy. Foreign; one year, $8+ six months, $4.50. ae emmmeniaaie & Se en es primecqeemayee Conducted. by the Organization Department of the Central Committee, Communist Party, U.S.A. Discipline of the Tongue By R. B. LREADY at the present time all Party Com- mittees must assume the firmest course to- wards short sessions well prepared beforehand— half an hour, an hour, as a rule. In accordance with this, we must begin to work up’a firm dis- cipline of the tongue, to learn and learn over again to talk as little as possible, not, to waste time in long speeches, “It is also important to aim firmly at short resolutions as in this respect a real scandal is to be observed in our Parties.” (From Vassiliev’s Pamplet.) The “art” of talking without saying anything fs widely developed in our Party. This is espe- cially true among ‘our older members and it ranges from the unit to the leading committees, In nearly every Party Committ¢e we have some comrades who feel it is their duty to speak on every subject even tho they make no contribu- tion. We also have another type of comrade, who fortunately is being eliminated, who waits until everybody has spoken and then repeats someone else’s thoughts. ‘The best rule to observe in speakirg is to think first and talk after, Make sure you are going to “say” something, to actually contribute to the ' solution of the problem under consideration. “Discipline of the tongue” is particularly im- portant today when all our Party Committees hhaye so many problems and so little time. Discipline of the tongue must be accompanied with discipline of the head. When we discuss one problem many of our comrades insist on speaking about matters and subjects that have no relation to the problem and that may steal @ lot of time from the Party. It would be well if our comrades read the above quotation many times and memorize it. fs ai petty-bourgeoisie and renegades from the Com- | munist Party, such as the Lovestoncites. The main purpose of the organization pro- posed by Baldwin, counter to the League Against Imperialism, would be to strengthen the hand of Gandhi, against the Indian workers and peas- ants; to lend support to the reactionary Quezon, Roxas, Osmena misleaders in the , Philippines; to.support the Kuomintang executions in China, and mislead the American workers as to the real function of an Anti-Imperialist League. Baldwin's policy is not the expression of an individual. It is a class policy representing the phrase-mongering of the petty-bourgeoisie and “socialists” throughout the world. It is the policy of the Mosley-Maxton group in Britain, One of Baldwin’s closest supporters in the 'Anti-Imperialist League, the late Carl DeBekker, expressed this counter-revolutionary’ view with regard to the Philippines in a recent visit to the Islands. The Philippine Herald (Nov. 10, 1930) reports DeBekker as saying: of the American liberal Philippine Independence pro- vided that we (1) are given full assurance that ve support to the Hoover tmper- the Philippines, Tt 1s the logical é ee fe | : No real Anti-Imperialist L@ague can be built, basing itself on the leadership of the workers and peasants in the anti-imperialist struggle, on such clements, The Anti-Imperialist League has made vhe serious mistake of not clarifying this issue heretofore. The necessity at this time By JORGE A National “Hook Up” Well, boys, there seems to be right smart of a shin-dig on new about a “city-wide investiga- tion” of this little town, New York. When Sam Nessin called Jimmy Walker a grafter last Oct. 16, he said a mouthful. We remind you of-this in order to show that it is the Communists who put the ginger into things like that. And just as the unemployed demonstration and demands which caused Nessin’s exposure of Tammany was caused by the crisis, so in an- other way it is causing still more. The capital- ist crisis reduces the pickings in graft and sets one gang against another gang of crooks and even opens war within. the gangs over division. of the reduced loot. A guy named Macy, new chairman of the re- publican pi in New York state, went to Wash- ington about two weeks ago, and things began to happen fast. He saw Hoover. And shortly afterward announced that New York republicans would support Hoover for re-election in 1932. It was no accident that shortly the Federal Bureau of Internal Revenue said it was going to investigate the imcome tax statements of all these Tammany cops whose bank accounts have been climbing into six figures. Nor it a coincident that something heavy began weighing on those New York City repub- licans who are tied up tight with Tammany. s; old boss Koenig, for example, one of the n lads who was a cheese in the bonding, in which that Judge Jean Norris, “Our Lady of Tammany Hall,” invested a lot of kale, thereby cleaning up on bonds of the victims she sent to prison for the Vice Squad. me through under pressure and lined city-wide investigation.” You see from Washington is powerful strong. The Hoover chance in 1932 would be helped by a good old camp-meetin’ revival exposure of Tammany crookedness to pour over-the demo~ crats—that’s what Maey showed to Hoover.when he went to Washington. But other trains are running to Washington besides the one y took. So Boss Ward of Westchester, ist whom the pressure was getting too he: also went to Washington, where, the N. Y. Times assures us with every sign of since! he visited Hoover merely as “an old friend” d that Hoover would never, | never monkey with state affairs in New York, | and so forth. So Ward’s two manakins at Albany, Mastick and Westall, first look dumb, then vote against the “dnvetigation,” then vote to keep the ques- tion alive while Ward fixes things in Washing- ton so they know which way to vote. In the meantime, while some “discontented” democrats like Kresel and Seabury are wrang- ling cops, and Jimmy Walker's “Dear Max Steuer is getting even by slapping some indictments around Kresel, a republican “comrade” of Fish, named McFadden, gets up in congress and says that Hoover, through Ward, through Mastick and Westall, is protecting Tammany from in- vestigation, because Hoover wants an “expert” findncial republican, named Eugene Meyer, who lives in Ward’s county, appointed head of the Federal Reserve Board, and that Tammany. got. two democratic U.S. senators, Wagner and Copeland, to support Meyer as payment in kind. Now we hear that @ duck called Machold, "who was chairman of the N. ¥. state republicans *be+ fore Macy, who is “long identified with water power aS an associate of Niagara-Hudson Power Corporation,” but though Machold was repub- lican chief, he was bosom friend of a “powerful democrat” named Floyd Leslie Carlisle, who is chairman of the N. Y. Edison Co, and “is also chairman of the Niagara*Hudson.” So it’s all mixed up, with your electric light bill, vice squad bank rolls and Hoover for presi- dent again in 1932. Oh, yes; remember that Mastick, on of Ward's monkeys on a stick, is offering a bills at Albany to make the theatres of New York “moral!” And clean! Well, if you see anything moral or clean about either the rapublican or democratic parties, put it in a glass jar full of hootch or farmaldehyde, ‘| they're both the same. eee eee | Bank Directors The directors of the Bank of United States, | as som? 400,000 New York depositors now know, met occasionally to O.K. the rake off gathered | in through the bank loaning millions to dummy, compani Some of them trying to get out of a pickle now, say that about all they did at meet- ings was to draw $50 in gold each and vote for, anything the main squeezes proposed without ese| amination. This is already fully proveh in the inyestiga- tion now going on. Thus we have the amusing spectacle of some of these guys whose possession of money is al. ways explained to workers as “They're big be-| cause they're eget Mein hi questions like} the following: Question—*“What did you hota directors’ mect: ings at all for?” Answer: “Well, to tell the truth, that has. oc curred to me very often.” Now, y>u—you, the worker who is reading just think back a couple of months, to when al the capitalist papers were running headling about the “Red Rumors Ruin Banks”—and the get your fightin’ clothes on and go out and plain to somebody, sorhe worker, this concre' case of how the capitalist papers lie about Communists. And why! «8 Einsteinisms : “Einstein Theory Gets New Proofs,” says headline. The proof being that some, photo graphs show that “stars’ rayS bend in p: the sun.” Now any superstitious bunk pi can “prove” that science is not opposed t ligion by asking defiantly, “Who bent "ein, ‘! God didn’t?” The N. ¥. Times last month got off a varia, tion in relativity, one of its editorials on 15 saying: “After all, luxury is but a relattv Sarin” It said this in defense of capitalist luxury ang ainst what it calls “all the foolish and dem gogic talk on this, subject now current.” its prize remarks is this: * “The poor, if they are not to east them: entirely upon public charity, they mus! someene to give them employment and pay, be wages. Even luxukious expenditure is 01 ne, ¥ of making “jobs for wage-earners.” No more vulgar apology for capitalisn possibly be put forth—than that abo to quote Marx, is synonymous to say! “The bourgeois is mf bourgeois the working es