The Daily Worker Newspaper, April 28, 1931, Page 4

Published by the Comprodafly Publishing Co., Inc., Gefty exespt Sut few York City, N. Y. Telephone Algonquin 7956-7, Cable: “DATWORK.” i mail al] checks to tne Daily Worker, 60 East 15th Street, New York, N. ¥. ath Stree Page Four iin y. at 50 Bast SUBSCRIPTION RATES: By mail everywhere: One year, $6; six months, $3; two months, $1; excepting Boroughs of Manhattan and Bronx. New York Ctly, Foreign: one year, $8- six months. $4.50. PLOT WAR AGAINST THE SOVIET UNION! By EARL BROWDER ist world is feve ly preparing for by its own antagonisms powe: under economic cr in war Stabilization above all with the mil- ing before their eyes ion with its unpre- of economic life upon a so- em. by very existence ir own life as the only s of capitalism—under , world capitalism is making @ HE capital! war. Torn a perialist lions of the exam cedented cialist bas France Leads ce stands at the head as or- Imperialist Frar ganizer and director of the ci the present moment, a demonstrated in hi s Comrade Cachin so ably report to the eleventh Plen- Wall Street Has e intervention- the sinister alism, America, step, in the same direction. And it would be a great mistake to suppose that France is “leading” America in this, the supreme question of world politics. The U. S. A. has its own entirely independent line, designed to subordinate the anti-Soviet front to its own hegemony, and to make the attack upreme effort to establish a common front for | war against the Soviet Union, to destroy this | menace to its existence and then more fiercely to proceed to the armed redistribution of the world which it so desperately demands, and to carve up the rich territories of the Soviet Union, as the solution of its crisis. Intervention um of the E. C. C. I, TI wish to concentrate, however, upon the role of American imperialism, the government of Wall Street, of Hoover, Dawes and Young—the United States. Its Own Line against the Soviet Union also serve to promote its special struggle against its imperialist rivals. The ripeness of the capitalist world for war was recently expressed by a spokesman of Amer- ican capitalism, Senator David A. Reed, in the following words: “{ believe that if it were not for the appre- hension of Bolshevism, the countries of Europe would be at each other's throats this very minute.” Talk Peace, But Prepare War Hypocritical peace talk, of course, masks the active preparations for war. Each measure of war preparation is carefully hidden behind a new ‘guarantee of peace,” or behind some “humani- tarian” measure for the starving population of America. Thus, the millions of bankrupted farmers ruined by the agrarian crisis, were told that the Farm Board was set up to relieve their distress, which is so acute that Senator Caraway declared in the Senate that “one thousand per- sons are dying of starvation in America every day we talk.” The Farm Board spent five hun- dred million dollars, largely buying 275,000,000 bushels of wheat. Farm Board Serves Intervention Then the farmers, worse off than ever, were told that the Farm Board was a failure and must discontinue its operations. But we know the real object of the Farm Board, which was ex- posed in “Pravda” of April 9th. The Farm Board really had the object, approved by Presi- dent Hoover, to establish a military reserve of wheat, for the intervention against the Soviet Union and it achieved its object very success- fully. The Farm Board was headed by Mr. Legge, a big capitalist connected with the agri- cultural implement trust, the International Har- vester Co., which is demanding the return of its former factories in Russia, and who has been, like Hoover, an international organizer of food and military supplies for counter-revolution. Now that the Board has finished its real work, Mr. Legge has resigned. His activities were timed to correspond with the original calendar- plan of intervention. Behind the Hypocrisy—War Other war moves are accompanied with similar disgusting hypocrisy. Stimson’s notorious intervention in aid to the Chinese militarists in 1929, in the Chinese Eastern Railway affair was declared to be “to preserve peace” under the Kellogg Pact, masking the real intention to seize the railway for American imperialism, not only from the Soviet Union and from China, but also from Japan. The church campaign in 1930 was “in behalf of the persecuted priests”; the “anti- dumping” campaign is “in the interests of pre- serving the standards of the American wage worker”; the slanders of “forced labor in the Soviet Union” are “in behalf of the oppressed Russian toilers.” But behind the hypocrisy, the real purpose stands out sharp and clear, It is openly stated by such leading capitalist newspapers as the “Chicago Tribune,” which brazenly propagan- dizes for war against the Soviet Union. A typi- cal example is the following from the “New Bed- ford Times,” organ of the textile interests: “We would point out emphatically that the United States must not delay or hesitate in such matters. It is a case of fight now against the Soviet or to be devoured by the Soviet after we have been reduced so to be unable to fight. And with proper economic campaigns against the USSR let us not forget plenty of armaments.” Or the following, from a speech of a member of Mr. Hoover's cabinet, Mr. Wilbur, Secretary of Interior: “One of the great people of the earth is de- liberately trying to work out large social and economic programs for the mastery of its vast terrain along new and untried lines. Our eco- nomic, social and political philosophy inevita- bly must wage a gigantic and fundamental struggle with theirs.” When the recent embargo was placed by the U. S. against Soviet pulpwood, Président Hoover made a public declaration that this measure was “not aimed at Russian trade.” But one of his own chief supporters, the “New York Herald- Tribune,” immediately exposed this hypocrisy, saying: “President Hoover has added his own as- surance, ,.that the new regulations... are not aimed at Russian trade. . . . The official assurances must be regarded as more ‘diplo- matic’ than real.” Or consider these words of Admiral Pratt, Chief of Naval Operations of the U. S. Navy, who said: “The world in which they (the USSR) live and the one in which we live are so totally different that the two cannot exist side by side indefinitely without great compromise on one side or the other or war ultimately may result.” When we add that for over 13 years the U. S. Government has refused all normal international relationships with the Soviet Union, that in all this time it has officially had an embargo against: the sale of airplanes or anything which could be used for war purposes, and an embargo on all Jong-term credits (which some American banks were anxious to give), it becomes clear that the fundamental policy of American imperialism points directly and undeviatingly towards war against the Soviet Union. The only question at issue is when -will American imperialism decide that the moment most favorable for its own particular aims has arrived. Plan To Repeat “Glorious” Achievements of 1918 Let us never for 2 moment forget that Amer- ican troops participated in the interventions of 1918-1919, in Murmansk, Archangel and the Far East. American money and military and medi- cal supplies backed Kolchak, Yudenich and other white guard bandit attacks upon the So- viet Union. And American imperialism counts these pages of its history among the “glorious” achievements of its armed forces, placing the name of “Murmansk” alongside of “Verdun” on the “Victory Arch” built in New York City (with the approval of “Socialist” Assemblymen) to greet the returning troops. What American im- perialism did in 1918-1919, it is now preparing to repeat on a larger scale. Preparations for intervention have been the subject for constant conversations between the U, S. and European Powers. When the late London Naval Conference was in its difficult moments, Harold Price Bell, London correspon- dent of the Chicago Daily News, forecasting an agreement in spite of all difficulties, argued thus: “Hovering over the London Conference is the shadow of the Soviet Union, driving the representatives of the different countries to agreement, at least on common measures to meet this common danger. This is doubtiess one of the principal subjects of discussion be- hind the scenes.” Mobilizing For War By Demagogy and Lies Thus the United States drives toward war. is spending 90 per cent of its enormous budget for war purposes, for the army, navy, air forces, war pensions, and interest on war debts. Mcan- while it refuses the slightest aid to the starving ten millions of unemployed and the several mil- lion starving farmers. “Billions for war, but not one cent for social insurance,” is the slogan of American imperialism. Mobilizing the masses for war, the capitalist press is engaged for the past year in a gigantic campaign of lies, slander and demagogy. The masses are told that the Five Year Plan is fail- It ing, but at the same time that it is the cause of the crisis in the capitalist countries. The farm- ers are told that Soviet wheat caused the agrarian crisis, and Soviet operations on the grain ex- changes caused the recent drop in the price of wheat. The millions of unemployed are told that their misery is the result of a diabolical plot by the “dictator” Stalin. The religious masses are told that in Soviet Union hundreds of thousands of priests are murdered in cold blood every year by the GPU. Free use is made of the most shameless forgeries to bolster up this campaign, The Fish Committee Is Organized Thus the notorious forged “Whalen Docue ments,” produced by the czarist “General” Djam- garoff, became the occasion for the U. S. Con- gress to set up the Fish Committee to Investi- gate Communist Activities in the U. S. Behind the actions of this committee, which were the most vulgar farce considered in themselves, was the sinister and serious purpose of preparing “public opinion” for the war of intervention against the USSR. “General” Djamgaroff, act- ing as the confidential advisor of the Fish Com- mittee, sufficiently indicates its political com- plexion, and exposes the close liaison between the U. S. and the white guard monarchist coun- ter-revolutionist organizations of Europe. This same close relationship is expressed in the fact that the sister of Secretary of State Stimson is a financial supporter and active work- er on behalf of Monarchist emigre organizations, is a patroness of Djamgaroff, and travels ex- tensively in Europe on their behalf. White Guards Prepare In the New York State military forces, there is a special company composed of Monarchist, emigres, receiving military training not only for use against striking American workers, but also for prospective future service against the Soviet Union. The capitalist press lovingly describes how many ex-princes, ex-counts, ex-dukes, and ex-generals there are serving as private soldiers in this company, The capitalists do not have an easy task in rousing the masses against the Soviet Unjon. The American workers en masse have always had an instinctive sympathy for the U.S. S. R. They also have an instinctive distrust of the A. F.L, Aids ‘The American Federation of Labor boasts that it is the most consistent and stubborn enemy of the Soviet Union. It rebukes some capitalist circles for their treason to capitalism in doing business with the Soviet Union. It repeats in its press every lie and slander printed anywhere in the world. It speaks from the same platform with the patriotic societies, American Legion, and other chauvinist and fascist organizations. It endorsed the Pope's attack, the Fish Committee, the Whalen forgeries, the anti-dumping cam- paign, the “forced labor” slander, and every preparation for war. William Green, president of the A. F. of L. declared: “The A. F. of L. is in harmony with the policy recently reaffirmed by the State De- partment. . . . Russia was charged with dump- ing pulpwood in our markets produced by poli- tical prisoners forced to labor in lumber camps.” Matthew Woll, vice president and anti-Soviet expert, speaking before the American Coalition of Patriotic Societies, said of the Soviet Union: “There is in that regime something which makes it impossible for our nation to hold with it the relations common to friendly govern- ments. She is seeking to destroy our institu- tions, break down our industries... .She is . constantly sending revolutionary experts into out country illegally in the guise of trade ex- perts, students... each oné a courier, each & prof agitator in the cause of Commu- nism and world-wide revolution, It must be capitalist press. Particularly now, when they are experiencing the full glory of capitalist “prosper- ity” are their eyes turning more and more to- wards the Soviet Union and its inspiring progress. ‘The left social-fascist, Muste, returning re- cently from a trip across the country, reported that ‘the only subject which really arouses en- thusiasm among the workers of the U, S. is the Soviet Union and its Five Year Plan.” It is therefore necessary for the capitalists to find other instruments for turning the masses against the Soviet Union. These they find in the Amer- ican Federation of Labor, the “socialist” party and the renegades from Communism. Intervention obvious that the gold credits resulting from the dumping of goods produced by convict, forced, underpaid and under-nourished labor | in the USSR, contribute an additional supply of funds readily available for the purpose of conducting Communist propaganda and sub- versive activities in this as well as other coun- tries to the detriment of our democratic ideals and free institutions.” These are the same William Green and Mat- thew Woll who, on behalf of the three million workers in the A. F. of L. promised there would be no strikes during the economic crisis, who have accepted a twelve billion dollar wage re- duction for the American workers during 1930, who actively break all strikes that occur in spite of them, who give their approval to the mon- | strous system of prison labor in America, to the cold-blooded shooting of prisoners as occurred a few weeks ago in the Illinois State Prison, who approve the chain gangs in the Southern U. S. where thousands of worker-prisoners are rented out by the state to private capitalists, who keep silent on the horrible lynchings of Negroes in America, who fight against all proposals for unemployment insurance for the ten million jobless, | | | | These gentlemen have the brazen effrontery to speak of “forced labor” in the USSR and of the “free” institutions of the government that executed Sacco and Vanzetti, has kept Tom Mooney in prison for 15 years, and which is | ruled by the famous “59” billionaires. Socialists Serve Capitalism Ss The A. F. of L. has lost most of its moral in- fluence among the workers, so far as the Soviet Union is concerned, because it is even more re- actionary than most of the capitalist press. All the more valuable for capitalism, therefore, are the services of the “socialist” party of America. Small and weak as this party is, it is able to fill the columns of the capitalist’ press (not to speak of the small circulation of their own papers) with anti-Soviet slanders under the label of “socialism.” It is of great interest to us to know that the “socialist” party of America also participated actively in the anti-Soviet campaign of the Sec- ond International and the Russian Mensheviki, in the sabotage work against the Five Year Plan and the preparations for intervention, Mr. Abramovitch, plenipotentiary of the Mensheviki and executive member of the Second Interna- tional, was a welcome visitor to the “socialist” party of America in 1925, 1928 and in 1930. When he arrived in New York in January last year, he immediately wrote an article for the New York Times, declaring that capitalist America was a wonderful land but that in the Soviet Union there were ten million workers unemployed. Then he appeared at a reception given by the ‘“‘so- cialist” leaders, and delivered a feaeanek in which he used these significant words: “THE NEXT YEAR OR SO WILL BRING GREAT SURPRISES TO THOSE PEOPLE WHO HAVE BECOME PERSUADED THAT THE BOLSHEVIKS WILL REMAIN IN POW- ER FOREVER.” Socialists Financed Anti-Soviet Sabotage If the “great surprises” promised by Abramo- vitch have been, on the contrary, for the capi- talists and their “socialist” agents, this is not the fault of the socialist party of America, They did their best to speed the intervention plans and finance Mr, Abranovitch’s sabotage work. Although the indignant workers broke up most of his meetings in America, he took a great deal The Socialist Leaders Knew There is not the slightest doubt that the lead- ers of the socialist party in America knew of the sabotage work and intervention plans, including the date set by the French General Staff, They carried on an agitation even stronger than that of Kautsky. And when last November, the lead- ers of the Industrial Party were placed on trial before the proletarian court in Moscow, the so- cialist party leaders held a meeting of protest in New York, They openly declared their sup- of money away from New York. Perhaps some of it came from the same source as that testified to by Sitnin, in the “Industrial Party” trial, who arranged while in America for “commissions” on Soviet cotton purchases amounting to $400,000 per year, to finance the Industrial Party. At any rate, we know that the Jewish Socialist Verband raised $10,000 for him, because they boasted of it in their report to the socialist party congress. of Intervention Plans port of Ramzin and Co. At this very interest- ing meeting held in the palatial Hotel Pennsyl- vania, November 24, Mr. Algernon Lee presided, the Rev. Norman Thomas sent a letter of en- dorsement, Mr. O'Neal participated, and Mr. Morris Hillquit was the main speaker. Partici- pating were Mr. Ingerman, representing the Rus- sian Mensheyiki, and representatives of various socialist, fascist and reactionary groups of Rus- sian emigres. . Hillquit Attacks USSR And what did Mr. Hillquit, “international sec- retary” of the socialist party, find it necessary to say when Ramzin and company were on trial? He declared: “Soviet Russia is today guilty of acts of despotism as terrible as those in the days of Czarism, and is gradually moving away from, rather than approaching the ideal of a free democratic country. . . . Russia today is a gov- ernment of a small minority which has taken advantage of special conditions to gain and hold power. It enjoys power through force and terrorism. Its reign of blood is almost as abhorrent as war among nations.” There spoke the bold interventionist, true dis- ciple of Karl Kautsky, and equally true repre- sentative of his own class, that of the American millionaires, to which Mr. Hillquit belongs in his own right. \ The “New Leader” Develops the Campaign Is this an exceptional quotation? Not at all! ‘The official socialist party paper, ‘New Leader,” has developed a constantly sharpening campaign in this direction, Examine for instance the ar- ticle, “The Making of Fascists,” by Mr. James O'Neal, in the issue of August 2. This is so characteristic that a long quotation is justified. He says: “Bolshevism lives on the idea of a ‘permanent state of war’ and so does fascism. The Com- munist who regards Russia as a proletarian nation will be surprised to learn that Fascists regard Italy as a ‘proletarian nation waging a class struggle.’ The Fascist ‘combat squads’ have their counterpart in Communists who have similar squads which are employed to American Imperialism in the Preparation of Intervention. Workers! Defend the Soviet Union! Demonstrate May 1! bieak ap meetings. The Corporative State is largely based upon occupational groupings and so is the Sovlet State. If Communists appeal to Lenin as the last word in knowledge, Fas- cists make the same appeal to Mussolini. The catechisms, creeds, and guides issued by the Fascist Party remind one of the endless ‘theses’ issued by the Communist Parties. If one is required to render blind homage to Stalin, similar homage must be rendered to Mussolini. Banishment and imprisonment as punishment for Party dissent is the same in both Russia and Italy.” The Socialist Party leaders, while openly pre+ paring for the imperialist intervention, and even speaking of an international war as being not worse than the proletarian dictatorship, at the same time. declare that there is not the slightest danger of war against the Soviet Union, that this is merely an invention of Stalin to bolster up a tottering regime. The Reverend Norman Thomas It is no marvel, therefore, when we review the “heroic work” of the socialist party and of the American Federation of Labor, that Mr. Hamil- ton Fish, chairman of the notorious Fish Com- mittee of the U. S. Congress, declared that the socialist party was a legitimate, respectable poli- tical party which should not be harmed in any way, and gave a warm testimonial to the Amer- ican Federation of Labor as the principal sup- We must declare, however, that all this tre- mendous barrage of slanders and lies has not been sufficient to break down the instinctive sympathy for the Soviet Union held by the American working class. The workers in the “socialist” party have, in fact, begun to react sharply against this campaign of their leaders. The “Left Wing’ A special role is therefore found for a “left wing” in the socialist party and the A. F. of L. This role is played by the Muste group, or Con- ference for Progressive Labor Action, as it calls itself. It protests mildly against “the present increase in the vigor of the anti-Russian attitude of some socialists” (New Leader, Jan. 31) and Into this united front of war preparations against the Soviet Union, an honored place is reserved by the capitalist press for the renegades from the Communist Party. Lovestone became one of their heroes when in 1929, it was an- nounced upon returning from Moscow that he had “escaped” from the dungeons of Stalin and the GPU. The renegades are, for their brief moment, specially valued by the capitalists, because they carry forward the same policy under the very label of “Communism.” ‘They attempt in prac- ! Workers Oppose W. In spite of their united efforts, the capitalists and their “socialist” servants have failed to whip up any war spirit among the masses. The work- ers fear war, and especially are they opposed to a war against the Soviet Union. Every lie and But it will be the most serious mistake if we rely upon this process taking place automatically. Almost as serious a mistake would be to rely only upon the “exposure” in words of the crimes of the social-fascists. We must find those con- crete slogans and forms of struggle which will link up the struggle against war with the strug- gle for the everyday demands of the workers, In the U. S. we have used for this end the slogan, “Not one cent for war, all for unemployment insurance.” This ‘has proved very popular. We must explain constantly to the workers, in a popular, easily-understood language of the workers themselves, in terms of their own life, why it is that they suffer under capitalism, and why it is that in the Soviet Union there is no writes on November 29, during the Industria] Party trial: “Soviet Russia's charge of a European plot against her has not been supported by evidence. It seems improbable on the face of it in view of Franco-Italian controversies and other quarrels between capitalist nations.” On December 13, the “New Leader” gives its columns to an American engineer for the defense of Ramzin. It says: “On the day when the commutation of the sentences was reported, H. W. Brooks, a con- sulting engineer in New York, who was with Professor Ramzin in Europe when the latter was supposed to have arranged the plot, de- clares that he knew nothing of such a plot. Brooks is of the opinion that the confessions were arranged by the OGPU, the soviet secret police, as a ‘farce’ to strengthen the Stalin dictatorship.” The Reverend Norman arenas in the name of socialism, assures his readers in the issue of Jan, 17, 1931, that the Soviet trade unions are mererly organs of dictatorship over the workers, that “today their unions are scarcely more than company unions in relation to the state.” Fish Praises the Social-Fascists port of American capitalism. He said: “If it were not for the fact that the Amer- ican Federation of Labor, under the patriotic leadership of William Green and his prede- cessor, Samuel Gompers, has refused to com- promise with the Communists in the U. S. who have been trying to bore from within in order to gain control of the labor unions, Communism would be a serious threat to American in- dustry.” The American Workers Reject the Lies Resolutions of protest and letters from readers of their press have been pouring in, creating a critical situation within the socialist party. As the social-fascist, Muste, declared: ‘The Soviet Union and its Five Year Plan, is the only sub- ject which arouses enthusiasm among the work~- ers today in the United States.” > To The Rescue declares that it “maintains an open mind to- wards the Russian experiment,” proceeding therefrom to repeat all the old slanders in a more masked form. Its usefulness to capitalism is publicly recognized by the capitalist press, which opens its columns to their spokesmen day after day. Renegades Join Anti-Soviet Front tice to carry out the advice given in the liberal weekly “New Republic” to “take Communism away from the Communists” in order to save capitalism. Lovestone issued the slogan: “De- fend the Soviet Union by overthrowing the Stalin regime.” The very slogan of defense of the Socialist Fatherland is thus to be turned into an instrument for preparing the interven- tionist war. And that little group of oppor- tunists which operates under the banner of Trotsky, joins in with the cry: “The Soviet Union is under the despotism of the murderer, Stalin.” ar on Soviet Union slander repeated by the socialist and A. F. of L. Jeaders is cutting another of the ties binding the masses to them. The working class in Amer- ica is a very favorable field for our struggle against war preparations and for defense of the Soviet Union. Why the American Workers Must Defend the USSR standard of’ living, full social insurane. must explain how the workers of the ais Union gained their victory,-what are the pre- requisites for the building of socialism. We must connect the Russian October Revolu- tion up with the experiences of the workers in our own countries. In America, we must explain to the masses that we also, in the U. S., helped to found the Soviet State, when American work-- ers in the interventionist army in Murmansk, fraternized with the Red. Army and went over to their side. We must show how we in America have a share in the Soviet victory, through the strike of the Seattle longshoremen’ against lead- ing munitions for Kolchak, through our “Hands Off Russia” committees, through our great cam- economic crisis, no unemployment, a rising We must explain the role of the mass political strike in the preparation of the revolution, and show the workers how, already in the past, .in our own experiences we have the beginnings of such struggles, as in the Seattle General Strike of 1919, which placed the strike committee in charge of the efty for several days, and the simi- lar experience of the same year in Winnipeg, Canada, We must make all the problems of the develop- paign of the Friends of Soviet Russia organiza- tion during the days of the famine. The Role of the Mass Political Strike ment of the struggle against war, for the trans- formation of the imperialist war into civil war, seem intimate parts of every workers’ own ex- perience, as natural next steps in his own de- velopment and the development of the American working class. We must gather the workers into the broadest committees and groups, for discus- sions of achievements of the Soviet Union, the building of socialist industry, the collectivization of agriculture, the socialist organization of every phase of workers’ life. The USSR—The Workers’ Fatherland We must in all its phases contrast capitalist America with Soviet Russia and show the masses that the USSR is their Fatherland. We must rouse their class consciousness, the understand- ing of the historical mission ofthe working class, the confidence in the power of the working class to achieve this mission, and fighting energy and enthusiasm which will finally bring them into battle with the class enemy. We must fill every worker with the conscious i ' On To a Mass “om the struggle against imperialist interven- | ‘ion, in the mobilization of the masses for this struggle, we will build our Parties into mass Parties, we will steel them in the battle, we will understanding that with the approach of the revolutionary crisis that will be precipitated by the interventionist war, he must be a working, fighting unit in the army of the proletariat, which will deliver blow after blow to the rotten structure of capitalism and over its ruins will raise up, in the countries now ruled by capi- talism at the cost of the starvation of millions, those next Soviet Republics which will unite fraternal solidarity with the existing Union Socialist Soviet Republics. . Party! imbue them with the teachings of our leaders and teachers, Marx, Lenin and Stalin, and fit them to carry out these gigantic tasks which history is preparing for us in the near future, in of ai (