The Daily Worker Newspaper, February 25, 1931, Page 4

; 1 { Published by the Comprodaily New York City. N. ¥ 1 all checks to the Daily Worker, 60 East 13th Street, New York, N. ¥. 13th § ess rage Four Publishing Co., Inc Telephone Algonquin E THE LENIN RECRUITING DRIVE—A TEST By KARL REEVE r for the (com- ‘HE dues §F test for the P: when or dropped when the Pa ompletely wrecked i with fev appara into the ade, drive. Only the Party in ained in the Party. for the sections and attention to retaining and necessary stions to pay ig new members and distributing Party ong them. Also a basic weakness of the last recruiting ‘e which must be overcome in this one is the failure to build the Party in the three basic industrial centers, St. Paul, Minnea- polis i Duluth, where in the last recruiting drive these centers were neglected and a major- ity of the new Party members Jost. It is necessary for the section committees and units to connect the recruiting drive with the plans of work made up by each section. The concentration s and campaigns of the Party (unemployed, foreign born, etc.) must receive the main attention in the ematie recruiting of new membe ting vians, Pi since the majorit We must especial. gaunee, Mesaba in Cros! the Party workers, and Jur ton (Duluth Section) in buiiding building the miners union In Duluth we must c nd dock and rail- centrate c s road workers, in on pack house : and railroad workers. A vital st uclei in the the Twin Cities, where as yet no shop nuclei e: While some progress has been made in increasing the hip in the Twin Cities, the Party is still in these two important centers. nts in St. Paul show—Oct. 15, Noy. 30, es paying members; for Minneapol: 30, Dec. 49 dues paying members. mn inc ae but by no means suff re by far the sm to get Negro pockets into the Party in Cities and women worke! s no room for self-satisfa ing on our ears because of the increase in dues paying members. The Party is still lagging be- hind the mood of the masses to struggle. The Lenin Recruiting Drive is the most important test of how the Party strengthens itself organi- y in its unemployment and other cam- We must combat energetically all ten- es to feel that the quotas set are the limit beyond which Party members should not be taken in. We must fight against the feeling that we can handle only so many Party mem- bers a week. The application card system must ‘be “deflated” in the present drive, but this does not mean that we should “go slow” and adopt a sectarian attitude. The best elements which folfow the Party m campaigns should be imme- diately brought into the Party and given train- ing. The dues payments should reach 1,200 average by the end of the Lenin Recruiting Drive. ‘We must systematically and energetically go out to achieve all quotas. A quota which equals the usual average monthly’ applications which and | the metal miners and lumber | The | ‘ion or rest- | come in month by month means a refusal to carry on a recruiting drive at all, to meet the test now placed upon the ty. A certain passivity, a certain failure so far to begin energetical sh the recruiting of new units inust combat these secta: Especially certain forr to. be neted. The section committees it true, have plans of work which are good. of work are merely aids which on MASS WORK systematic- and regu These plans cannot be sub- stituted for mass work. The Party is just learn- ing to walk as far as its connections with the masses is concerned. Good beginnings have been made f example with regard to contacts in the A, F. of L. unions. But these are only be- ginnings and must be energetically pushed to ext stage of organizational strengthening if But these plans enable us to ca y which pours out plans as a substitute for mass work. We must fight any tendency toward self-satisfaction that every section and unit has a three-months plan of work. The plans | of work must not take the place of the old lengthy resolutions as paper records, as buro- tic, narrow substitutes for mass work. The ns must not be drawn up and then forgot- ten. Our Party, thru all its campaigns and contacts must be the living organism of class struggle. We must thru our mass work breathe | life and blood into our plans, carrying them out in action. An example of this narrow burocratic method of carrying out’ plans, which should be a real danger signal to the whole Party occurred in Minneapolis. The Minneapolis section commit- tee has a model plan of work. An important part of this work is the struggle against social- fascism, the FLP-AFL machine and Trotzkyism. And yet, the Trotzkyists in a special election held in the first ward, in Minneapolis, ran a candi- date in this election, posing as “Communists” and in the name of the Communist International, while the Minneapolis section committee did not even know that an election was held in this ward until four days before the election took place, when it was too late to put up a Com- munist candidate and we were forced to write in the Party candidate's name. Four days be- fore the election, the district office learned of the election from the St. Paul section committee members, even the Party has members living in the first ward in Minneapolis and has a unit “concentrating” in this section of the city. This method of “fighting” social-fascism must be taken to heart as a lesson by the entire dis- trict buro as well as the Minneapolis section com- means a failure | daily except Sunday. at 50 Fast DAIWORK.” must be noted in the | to be even held. Our Party is not | | mittee. It serves to show the lack of political alertn and connection with the masses, in spite model plans. The results of the Lenin | Ree ve, which has not yet really | whe! its plans into the life of the working class. We ure still only beginning to center our strug- gle around the local, concrete issues and every day demands and needs of the workers. In the present recruiting drive, work thru the fractions assumes importance, since it is the fractions that are in closest touch with the non- Party masses. The cooperative fraction of dis- trict nine has set itself a quota of 200 new members among the left wing cooperatives. To achieve this quota would undoubtedly strike a serious political blow to the Halonen-Love- stoneites. The getting into the Party of those Finnish proletarian and poor farming elements who support the left wing cooperative movement is particularly important. The work among the | Finnish workers and poor farmers must not be underestimated. At the same time, the section committees and units must give foremost at- tention to the concentration points, which look toward bettering the composition of the Party by the addition of non-Finnish workers . The un- employed council fractions of the Twin Cities have already begun the work of recruiting new members. | The Lenin Recruiting Drive, the achievement of 1,200 dues paying members-by the end of the drive, will be a test for the Party in plunging deeper into the mass work. The District Buro, | District 9, challenges Detroit District and guar- antees to have a higher dues payment at the | end of the recruiting drive than the Detroit district. Jobless Workers Get 3 Months Jail for Refusal to Walk wet should a worker do if he is unemployed, hungry, tired and is a long ‘distance from home, with no carfare in his pockét? Without any hesitation, Judge J. F. McCarthy, of the. Municipal Court of Chicago, a democrat and faithful servant of the Chicago bosses, gave his answer. The worker must walk. Suppose the worker is ten miles from home? It doesn’t matter, says the honorable judge. The worker mst walk, Is he too hungry and tired? What concern is that to the well-fad, well-rested judge? ‘The worker must walk. But it so happened that some workers thought otherwise. These workers figured, and figured co~ ~ctly, that the Chicago City Railway Co. le millions of dollars, first by exploiting ers in its employ, and second by over- ehe~cing the werkers riding in the street cars. They thought that since they were tired and hungry and far from home, they were perfectly justified in getting on a street car and demand- ing a free ride. But the forces of the law intervened. Natur- ally they would. The law wasn’t made to protect the workers, but to guard the interests of such millionaires as Blake and Insull, who own the street cars and all means of transportation. The workers who demanded a free ride soon found out that to violate the sacred rights of private property is a very serious matter. Four of them were arrested and came up for trial before the very honorable judge, McCarthy. The judge listened attentively to the attorney for the Chicago City Railway Co. The attorney explained that it was a very serious matter, that if workers were to be permitted to get on a street car and demand free rides, then they would go into warehouses and take food. That was a ieaae ero piate. one oe tional Labor Defense tqed to explain that the workers were tired, that they had no money, that they had been unemployed for a long period of time, that there was nothing for them to do except to get on a street car and try to get home | without paying fare. ‘The workers on trial plainly stated that they believed that unemployed workers should or- ganize to demand relief from the government of the bosses and that if relief was not given the organized unemployed should help themselves. ‘That was enough for the judge. To think that unemployed workers would not follow the law end go hungry! The charge was disorderly conduct. The maximum fine was $200. The judee was extremely sorry that he could not make the fine any larger. Every one of the four workers on trial was fined the maximum, which means three and a half months in the workhouse, ‘The street car company would have lost 28 cents if the four workers had been permitted to ride free, but as the attorney for the street car company said: “It {s not so much the 28 cents, but the principle involved.” If the uunemployed workers will take free rides on the street cars, then they will take food without paying for it. They will clothe them- selves at the expense of the owners, they will re- fuse to be evicted. Where will law and order be? There will be Bolshevism, Communism, But the unemployed workers are not at all scared of the conclusion drawn by the street car company’s attorney, and the street car com- pany’s judge. They will take free rides, secure food for themselves, prevent evictions, the shut- ting off of gas and electricity—by organizing and fighting for the demands of the Unemployed- | Counctis of the 7: ict Nine, will serve as a test of | : or not the Party is seriously carrying Dail orker Berty USA : SUBSCRIPTION RATES: By mail everywhere: One yéar, $6; six months $3; two months, $1; excepting Boroughs of Manhattan and Bronx, New York Ctiy, Foreign; one year, $8- six months, $4.50. NO SLOP! V By BURCK American Workers In Soviet Union Refute Capitalist Lies Stalingrad, U. S. S. R., Jan, 10, 1931, EAR COMRADES! Reading the sheets of the bosses that come | to us from the States full of lies and slanders against the Soviet Union, the American workers here in Stalingrad are getting wise to the propa- | ganda that is being continually forced in the | minds of the American workers through the press in the United States. On the walls in the American colony are posted daily lies of these sheets, “That Stalin is murdered,” etc., so the American workers will long remember the metfod used by the bosses in moulding public opinion in the States. With proletarian greetings, F, C. HONEY. We, a group of American technicians em- ployed at the Stalingrad Tractor Plant at Stalin- grad, U. S. S. R., take exception to the mislead- ing propaganda that is aiming to influence the minds of the peoples of the foreign countries to- ward the Soviet Union, and at a meeting in the American Colony here on Dec. 24 have passed a resolution to the effect that a committee be elected to draft a letter to the foreign publica- tions denying the accusations. The letter drafted follows: Having been afforded the opportunity of liv- ing and working in the U. S. S. R. during this epoch-making period in the history of the coun- try, we have witnessed the initial efforts of the people in their industrial program, which, minus the prevailing enthusiasm of the masses, would be impossible of accomplishment. The fantastic reports in foreign publications and periodicals in regard to dumping, foreed la- bor, religious persecution, murders and arrests of high public officials, revolts, etc., must be con- sidered an insult to the intelligence of the read- ers. Wherever sinister influences are at work the people will have to use their own judgement; perhaps the recent trial in Moscow may provide speculative thought to the workers of the world; why intervention should be considered or even given a lowly thought would demand an ex- planation, especially when you consider the un- qualified support given this regime by all sec- tions of Russian workers at this period which demands their sacrifices and deprivation. Daily we witness their ever-gathering force, their sur- mounting of obstacles that bar their path to the building of a system that will be beneficial to the majority of humanity. Here in the Soviet Union are many nations with various languages and traditions striving under their duly elected | and dry-laws, leaders to build a workers’ republic from the debris of a land torn by revolution and civil strife. Workers free from the oppression of past generations now glimpse for the first time a true democracy upon the horizon of the new world that is aborning. Therefore, we ask the people of foreign countries to ponder over these. ever-increasing rumors and falsehoods propa- gated to defame the attempt of a nation of workers who choose their own destiny and in fairness stand for the immediate suppression of any interventionist policy fostered by any nation against this nation. f ‘The Committee, F. C, HONEY, H. M. HALSEY, E. HOFFMAN, A. SHERIFF, A. L. RASKIN, Organize Unemployed Councils! Every Mining Camp, Steel and Textile Town, Every Large and Small Indus- trial Center Should Be eegnetiny od bigs me ‘lawyers, all helped to bleed any By I. AMDUR MERICA has long gone into history with her skyscrapers and automobiles and gangsters Recently she has added yet an- other chapter to it with her Fish Committee. | But America is far from contented with being | merely a partner in history-making. She wishes | to possess it entirely, to monopolize it; to own | it as her millionaire sons own everything to | which is attached @ prive-label. In a word; she | wishes to say: “just as America is for Americans and the whole world for America, so too must the Book of History belong to the Land of the Almighty Dollar.” And, indeed, does there exist one country which can boast, as can Ametica, of being per- petually in the limelight of the world’s glare, of being the star turn of the two hemispheres. Whether it be the machine-gunning of one gang by another on the broad streets of Chicago, or playing their beloved game of “unofficial ob- server” in Europe, America always has her say and, like the circus clown, never bores but al- | ways after each acrobatic turn comes up with @ new grin, a new joke. But surely nothing in the universe past or present, not even the America a hundred years hence (which will surely be a wonder country) ean ‘bring anything forward to vie or compare with that bright jewel of the American State Machine—the New York Police Force. Corruption, Bribery, Vice. This is the great age of science, the age of miracles. Thanks to its discoveries we can speed through the air faster than the largest bird, or dive deep under the waves and learn the secrets of the green depths; powerful steel hor- ses propel us, swift as the wind, from city to city. Science has opened before our wondering gaze the secrets of past life and si steadily revealing those of the future. But nothing that science has unveiled can compare with that crea- tion of which Mr. Whalen (of Amtorg forged documents fame) was until a year ago the high- ly respected Commissioner—The Police Force of New York. At various periods in the history of the New York police there have been murmurs. of cor- ruption, bribery and vice. These, however, usu- ally arose at election time, or during some par- ticularly open violation of the law they were sup- posed to see observed, as for example, the dis- closure some time ago of a number of police officers who had bought houses in various parts of the city and installed prostitutes in them, receiving a princely percentage, thereby. Or, another case where it was discovered that the police of an entire district in New York were on the pay-roll of a bootlegger whose agents sold alcohol almost openly, being insured against arrest. These muriiurs always quickly died awdy; no doubt the influence brought to bear by those interested was far stronger than the few voices that dared to expostulate. Corrupted From Top To Bottom. Be that as it may there have recently been disclosed such revelations that could not be back by threats or bribes and that reveal proud police force of New York as an organiza- tion foul to the core, corrupted from top bottom, ready to commit any crime for a f dollars and stinking from its own rottenness. The tale opens. Place: New York. “Beene of Action—Attorney General's Office. On the stand is one Mapocha Acuna, Acuna has been chiefly instrumental in this “grand ex- posure.” Around him are members of the Spe- cial Investigating Committee, Acuna’s story a lurid one involving a number of the police vice squad on charges of preying under the guise of immorality. as he relates, had been to visit women and place situations, after which besa arrest both and force the sums to avoid a scandal. Well Organized Vice Ring. The story told by Acuna is one of a well- organized vice ring in which informers, police, victim they could find and share the booty. The eg 2s The Eighth Wonder ot the World “Each morning I would wait in front of the police station where a detective would meet me and give me a list of addresses. Then he would give me $5, or $10, in marked bills, and we would set our watches together. We would arrange it so I would have just enough time to give the marked bills to a girl and watch where she put them, so the detectives could “ get this evidence. When the police entered they would go through their little comedy with me. “They would insult me and accuse me, and I would deny it all, insisting that the woman was my wife and that I had been living there for weeks. Finally, I would give them a fic- titious name and address and hurry back to the'station. The girls would either pay a sum of money at once to avoid being arrested or, they would be brought to the station. When the case came before court the officer would testify that the man was unknown as he had given a fictitious name and address. I was always the unknown man, in any case the police either got money from the woman or credit for their zeal from the authorities. Evidence Fabricated by Bosses Acuna testified that he knew between 30 and 40 cases in which women were arrested and convicted on immorality charges with all the evidence fabricated by the police temselves. A number of these women unable to pay the graft demanded were held in prison for as much as six months. He himself received $5, and $10 for each address he visited. Sometimes he made as much as $250 a week. Acuna, who called him- self a novice at the game, gave the names of 17 others who were working for the police in a like manner. ‘The New York correspondent of the “Chicago Tribune” writes that one of the men working as a police decoy, called “The Doye” (what a suitable name) is said to haye amassed half- a-million dollars in 15 years by luring women into compromising situations. “The Dove” when brought before the Committee stafed that he had been serving the police for 15 years. “The whole thing worked very simply,” he explained: “I, or one of my agents would inyite a woman to an apartment or hotel room. A little later’ the police would arrive. The woman is arrested, the man disappears. Then a lawyer appears. A document is drawn up giving the whole transaction a legal appearance and, fin- ally, a sum is handed to the police. The sum would be anything from $50 to $1,000.” Such is the inner soul of the police force of the world’s greatest city How nobly, how un- selfishly has it fulfilled its role as an organ of law and order, as a weapon of protection... for legal sharks and bootleggers! ‘The Investigation Committee has thus far piled up a mass of evidence which is said hardiy to sereteh the surface. Already there have been @ number of confessions not only from the rank .¢ of the police but also from the “upper Colonel John Weston, Acting District Attorney, assigned to the Women’s Court ad- mitted that during the last few years he had accepted $20,000 in bribes from twenty-one law- whose clients, mostly women held on vice charges were dismissed. “Sometimes,” he said, “the money was handed to me direct in the court room.” The Police Commissioner has taken fright at these disclosures and without waiting the con- clusions has begun to draw up plans to create @ sort of “super-vice squad” to spy upon and control the activities of his own police and de- tectives, The Commissioner evidently believes in that well-tried maxim—get a thief to catch a thief. What, our reader will ask himself, will be the outcome, Of course, America, is so original, so novel, so out-of-the-ordinary, that it is rather difficult to prophesy. Between you and me, how- ever, nothing much will happen. A few arrests (of the smaller fish), some suspensions and... hey presto! our eyes hungrily turn to await the next sensation, A wise man once said that there were only seven wonders in the world. But he spoke of course of ancient times. Modern history has ‘créated a phenomena that is well worthy to take its place in this highly exclusive lst as the Highth World's Wonder—the New. York Police “i os | country” in that? By JORGE More Benes; Less Bonus! Well, vets, Hoover is pulling a fast one, While you can depend on i: t'uat whether the Congress or Hoover wins in the sham battle over the bonus, you vets will lose, still there is 1932 to consider and Hoover is a great engineer. It’s like this: With the job of protecting cor- porations and capitalists generally from taxes right now, Hoover is bound to fight tooth and nail against any appropriation that might give a worker, vet or non-vet a nickel, though he would like to keep the veterans loyal to capital- ism 4 t shock troops against thé workers, and he nts also to be re-elected in 1932. So, though he and all his cohorts fought, bled and died to prevent even the Bacharach Bill from sing; now that it's passed, he is going to pass it back with a veto that tells Congress it ought to be ashamed of itself for giving so darned little to “our brave boys,” “our gallant heroe and “also, they don’t need even this much. Believe it or not, this is his game. He has set the Veterans’ Bureau (Oh, how you love it!) and the Red (Double) Cross, to making a “sur- vey.” If you never heard of a “survey,” we'll Jet you in on it. A “survey,” when ordered by & capitalist politician, is bound to result in “facts,” but only such “facts” as agree with the prior opinion of the capitalist politician. Such a method, in philosophical lingo, is called “eclectic.” No, not “electric,” though the results are shocking. Just see! When the bill was being argued, old Aluminum Mellon & Co. were on the job weeping and wailing that if it were passed something like $1,750,000,000 or more would have to be paid by the “overburdened taxpayers” who are nearly dying of starvation down at Miami. But now what happens? Hoover has begun ® “survey”—a bit late—yet before it is finished the N. Y. Post of Monday announces White House sources as saying that: “There are 210,000 veterans who would be en- titled to draw only about $70 or $80. There are 200,000 more who could draw less than $250 and there are 500,000 who could draw between $250 and $500,” Let's stop right there and’ do some figuring. Let’s suppose each would draw the highest pos- sible amount: That 210,000 drew $80 each, that would make $16,800,000. Then 200,000 drew a full $250 each, making $50,000,000 more. Then 500,000 drew $500 each, making $250,000,000 more. Yet. | the whole lot would, at most, draw $316,800,000 ‘Where the devil is the “peril to the Hoover makes a tax refund altogether! | present to destitute millionaires every dey or 60 bigger than that! So the fight against it as “extortionate” is changed into a fight against it as “shamefully insufficient!” Pretty clever, what! To top it off, Herbie’s “survey” is getting | fine- haired reports from the Veterans’ Bureau (No, Junior, the bureau doesn’t belong to the veter- ans, the veterans belong to the bureau) about the amazing prosperity among the vets. We quote from the N, Y. Telegram of Feb. 23: “Reports have reached the President that.in one large city, unnamed, which has 20,000 veter- ans in its population, there are only 159. known to be in distress, Another city having more than 140,000 veterans, reported only 1,700 in. distress, according to White House figures.” Ah! “According to White House figures” the moon is made of Swiss cheese! You see, vets, that it is very necessary that you teach Hoover arithmetic! And teach Con- gress a lesson in working-class fighting spirit! Every vet, whether he is A. L, or V. F. .W. or just S. O. L., should foliow the Workers’ Ex- Servicemen’s League into the demonstrations to- day, uniting the demand for the cash payment in full of the bonus-with the general working- class demand for unemployment insurance. And we advise you to make contact with the Workers’ Ex-Servicemen’s League, address 79 E. Tenth St., New York City, which invites you, if in the city, to its Friday night meetings. You can’t beat the bonus steal with x L. or Vv. F. W. blank cartridges! New York Social Notes Betty Compton has obtained a license to marry something or other, and “Broadway,” says the N. Y. Telegram, “is cocking its eye bi Sreonia ment over the news.” Mayor James J. Walker, is going away for a rest, said to be a sea voyage to avoid interview- ers. He is reported “organically sound,” but “seems to tire easily.” Mrs. James J. Walker has been spending the winter in Miami, Florida. Seventeen new city marshals are now over-| worked evicting the unemployed of New York City. ‘Some tens of thousands of jobless men and| women spending the winter in New York lines are tired and sick of being fed stew. Judge Jean Norris has a spiffy ‘new Jade bracelet and refuses to answer questions. ‘There is no “forced labor” in New York, ‘Th rich don’t have to, and the poor can’t ‘find any Had Her Reward One of the respectable dames who, it turns 0 in the vice squad graft investigations in New York, had her door “crashed” by cops, Ww: beaten up, called vile names, pinched, swindled by bondsmen in cahoots with the ‘judge, and railroaded to the hoosegow as a prostitute, a member of the “Patriotic Order of Amepicape: We're almost fren eh That’s Just the Trouble They grow ’em in many cities, but she was Seattle. She was fat (no, not “stout” and curious. Also hung with jewelry ‘viously of the “upper clawses.” ‘ Being short, she couldn’t see over the crowe watching the Hunger Marchers on Fourth Ave So she asked questions, and being informed tha’ the unemployed were marching, asked in Mart Antoinette style: “Why don’t they get jobs instead of persist Yeah, old girl, and why don’t they they're hungry? A Tammany Amendment. “The right of the people to keep and be arms shall not be infringed.”—Second Amend ment to the U. 8. Constitution. ‘7