The Daily Worker Newspaper, May 13, 1931, Page 4

ao f ti “4 ny st “y re at au plished Page Four 1ath Street, New York Cit by the Comprodaily Publishing Co., Ine. @atly except Sueday, at 50 East N. Y. Telephone Algonquin 7956-7. Cable: “DAIWORK.” Address and mail all checks to the Daily Worker, 50 East 13th Street, New York, N. ¥. : Dail a orker y “wr ‘mall everywhere: ona’ ce irae meus se ae 6 year, $6; six months. $3; two months, $1; eacepting Boroughs of Manhattan and Bronx. New York Ctiy, Foreign: one year, 38+ six months. $4.50. Barty USA rd TPR gay la orci National Youth Day--Day ot Work- ing Class Youth Demonstration By L. AMTER. s of the revo- jer the leadership of forth comments s. May Day was ast. the intended elec- egro working boys of a oading to the electric chair of the five textile workers of Paterson. as the marshalling of all the forces gro, in the struggle rom the crisis and for the pitalist tem, which has id misery the Scottsbor for w York, was to be the police of “bad h their hine guns to tear h the streets to fill the se of security, not against arly against the revolu- emen’s parade was s organization not inci- t, class knows that there is 2ess the discussion ress of the International Cha nerce, which closed on May 9 and could not ree upon any solution, but talked much about war In the May Day parades throughout the coun- try were many working class youth—boys and girls, who cannot find any work, who, if they are employed, know what low w and miser- able conditions are. In the parades, the young workers took a noteworthy part—for the youth of the United States is beginning to line up, as in far greater numbers they are lining up in volutionary movement of the European countries, particularly Germany. The capitalist class knows the meaning of youth for running industry at costs that will en- sure far higher profits for the capitalists. They know the importance of youth for war. And since war has become the foremost question of discussion—and since the danger of it grows everyday, the capitalists are doing everything in their power to hold youth under the glamor of romantic war. But war is not romantic—it has become. the most horrible thing imaginable. It means today wreckage, desolation, misery. It mears not personal prowess, but facing death rays, gases, chemicals dropped from airplanes, It means the destruction of entire populations men, women and children. It means a return to barbarism with the aid of the most highly developed and improved methods of destruction. The capitalists, however, know that war will result in their own destruction—but they have no other way out and therefore they are taking the risk. War against whom? The conflicts: be- tween the United States and British imperialism grows from day to day: foreign markets, tariff and debts are the big factors, and the statements by British ‘delegates at the International Cham- ber of Commerce are most important. The con- flicts between Italy and France, Italy and Jugo- slavia, Great Britain and France, the German- Austrian Union—all of these are sharpening causes for imperialist war. But more outstanding than all of these is the growing movement for unity of the capitalist etiring president of the International Chamber of Commerce, stated in an article in the New York Times of May 10 that: “A great many people, like myself, cannot help thinking it is unfortunate that the leaders of world business could not agree to condemn Soviet methods in themselves and call the at- tention of the world to the menace, both eco- nomic and moral, that they constitute.” “World business” is interested in this unity of force against the Soviet Union, for Theunis knows very well that the workers are interested in the protection of the Soviet Union. This state- ment of Theunis together with the preparations of all countries for war—including the United States, which has the highest war budget in the world ($2,600,000,000 despite Hoover's hypo- critical appeal for world “disarmament”) shows clearly which way the world is moving very fast. Therefore, the capitalists, knowing that war is coming, are preparing. And the youth being ssential for the prosecution of war is being drawn into the circle of the influence of the capitalist class more and more. Never before did the capitalists spend so much time and money for war propaganda except during or im- | mediately before war. Now with their propa- ganda for and “against” war in the press, movie and church, their organization of clubs, social and athletic, for the purpose of keeping the working youth under their influence, they are taking the steps necessary to provide willing cannon fodder. National Youth Day, the day of the working class youth, under the leadership of the reyo- lutionary youth organization, the Young Com- munist League, must be a mobilization of the youth against the plans of the capitalist class. The youth organizations in the country—num- bering thousands, including the YMCA, YWCA, YMHA, sport, social and athletic clubs, the masses of unorganized youth in the country, must be drawn into this National Youth Day. This must be a day when the working class conscious of the growing role of youth in industry, of the leading part it plays in the army of the unem- ployed, of the leadership which it is giving to all struggles, makes the most conscious effort to mobilize both the youth and adult workers for mobilization against the crisis and the war danger. It is a coincidence that war maneuvers will be held a few days before National Youth Day, beginning at Dayton, Ohio. These air maneuvers involving 682 airplanes, will scour the country, giving the workers an idea of what war in the air and from the air will mean, when it rains gases, bombs and chemicals from the skies. The maneuvers will extend from Los Angeles to New York, where they will take place on May 27. National Youth Day in the east beginning on May 30 (capitalist memorial day) at Passaic, and terminating in New York on May 31, in sport events, must be a rallying of all working class forces. The sport meet will select the delega- tion to the International Spartakiad in Berlin— as against the capitalist olympics. The Sparta- kiade will be the occasion in Germany for mob- ilizing the revolutionary youth against the fas- cists, the social-fascist social democratic party leaders and against the capitalists. Make National Youth Day a day not only of the revolutionary youth but of the entire revo- lutionary American working class against the deepening effects of the crisis, against imper- ialist war and for defense of the Soviet Union! The Meaning ot the Imperial Valley Case We find in the Imperial Valley case three as- pects. (1) An attack upo nthe agricultural workers of the Imperial Valley. (2) The case has a special and direct appeal to the Filipino and Latin American workers and can be used as a link of solidarity between them and the American workers. (3) The Imperial Valley convictions represent an attack upon the Party and all revolutionary organizations in So. Calif- ornia. Let us illustrate the first and the second aspects of the Imperial Valley case. Among those imprisoned, for example, we find a Filipino worker. He is firstly an agricultural worker who got 3 to 42 years in prison for de- manding a union, But he is also a representa- tive of an oppressed colonial people, with tens of thousands like him in the U. S. and, therefore, a valuable link between victims of American imperialism in the Philippines and the workers here. ‘The same can be said of the two Latin Amer- ican workers, also convicted in the Imperial Valley case. The severity of the attacks mani- fested in the Imperial Valley case can be ex- plained in large part by this very composition of the working class in this territory. In addi- tion to highly exploited native workers, we find here hundreds of thousands of Mexicans, Filipino and other workers who represent the toilers of semi-colonia] and colonia] countries. There can be no doubt, however, that one of the principal objectives in ie Imperial Valley ease, as far as the highest officials of the state and the Chamber of Commerce were concerned, was the outlawing of the Communist Party in order to,cripple the fighting ability of the work- ers. As Yar back as March 6, 1930, Mr. Dalgarcia, agent for the Immigration Oepartment, said to me in the city jail in Los Angeles, “There again? Pretty soon we will put you fellows where you won't come out in a hurry.” About three months later titis threat was realized in the Imperial Valley convictions, and the resulting savage sen- tences. The Imperial Valley case represents the prac- tical application of the program of the Fish Committee—the outlawing and the crushing of all of its leadership particularly the Commu- nist Party. Among th Imperial Valley prisoners you will find: the organizer of the Southern California section of the Communist Party; the organizer of the Party in the Imperial Valley; the organ- izer of the Southern California district of the ILD; the Secretary of the Agricultural Workers Industrial League;the Representative of the ‘TUUL in the Imperial Valley. The plans of the authorities were even more ambitious. ‘They issued “John Doe” warrants for a number of other leading members of the California Dis- trict of the Party, in San Francisco ax mal es Imperial Valley was only a beginning. For this reason the fight for the Imperial Valley prisoners is not only a fight for the re- lease of “eight agricultural workers,” but also a fight for the legality of the Communist Party in Southern California as well as throughout the country. In the Imperial Valley case the two struggles blend in a manner which is most un- derstandabl eto every worker. What has been happening in Southern Calif- ornia, has been taking place in a greater or lesser degree all over the country. Similar sit- uations develop throughout the U. S. Unem- ployment is growing, so are the bread lines and the eviction cases. Wages are being slashed right and left. The speed-up is becoming unbearable. Hundreds of thousands of farmers and their families are facing actual starvation. The work- ers are fighting back for their very lives. The Communist Party is in the forefront of these struggles. The influence of the Commu- nist Party is becoming a powerful mass factor. Even now thousands are responding and going into action under the banner of the Party. This explains the nation-wide attempt of repression against the workers and their leader, the Com- munist Party; this explains the fascist proposals o fthe Fish Committee. 3 But these very conditions in turn furnish the firmest foundation enabling our Party to unify the working class for a fight against the at- tempts to drive the Party underground. The resistance against local attacks such as took place in the Imperial Valley, in the Seattle Dis- trict, in Los Angeles, and elsewhere, must be unified into a nation-wide resistance of the greatest number of workers against the Fish proposals, for “Fishism” is Fascism translated into plain English. The Imperial Valley pris- oners do nto want the workers to fight simply for their release, We want the kind of a fight around our case that will signify the defeat not only of the Criminal Syndicalist Law of Calif- ornia, but of “Fishism” nationally, and which will beat off the attack of the ruling class upon the right of open existance of the Communist Party and the revolutionary unions. Guides to Mass Work {hay problem of winning the masses is treated by ©. A, Hathaway in an article in the May Communist, “On the use of ‘Transmission Belts’ in our struggle for the Masses.” He presents specific organizational experiences, as in New York City and Reading, Pa., and declares that, we must develop plans for Party work in such a way that it will be carried on “chiefly through the mass organizations of the workers.” A good discussion, detailed and concrete, of “The Party Nucleus” is presented by John Wile es against the Soviet Union. Georges Theunis, | = “THE REDS ARE AT THE Poor Farmers Starv- ing in South By LOUIS HINDES. \T thousands upon thousands of farmers, | both white and Negro in the sunny south find themselves in an impossible position and are rap- | idly approaching complete ruination, and that | “something is going to happen” if the govern- ment does not come to their assistance, ‘is the general view expressed by several farmers I | talked to during my recent travel through the state of South Carolina. One farmer, about 45, who said he served as a lieutenant in the U. S. army during the World War and until recently quite prosperous, spoke very pessimistically of the future of the farmers | in Dixie, while waiting for a bus in the small | town of Edgefield, S.C. “We are up in the air,” he said seriously. “We do not know what to do. The bankers tell us to plant only cotton— the money crop—but when you bring the cotton to them the brokers and buyers want it for nothing—they offer us a price much less than | it cost. to produce it, and you cannot take it back to the farm or storage it in the ware- houses, because the creditors demand their money they advanced us on the crop; so you must take the price offered with a good loss.” Diversification a Failure “The newspapers and the city merchants, in turn, tell us that we would be better off if we curtail the cotton acreage and diversify the crop. We tried it and we failed because there is no | market around here for corn, barley, potatoes and other crop.” He paused a while,removed his broad-brimmed black felt hat, mopped his forehead and re- sumed: “I have a farm of three hundre acres and I cultivate only 38; the rest of the land is idle. And right now I am in danger of losing my farm altogether as I do not see where the money to pay the mortgage and taxes will come from. I fought in theWorld War as a lieutenant in the U. S. army, and was wounded and what have I got? Nothing! I now realize I fought for the Main Street crowd (Bankers, Brokers and Landlords, —L.H.), who are robbing us poor farmers right and left.” In the waiting room, poorly dressed and unshaved, another farmer predicted that unless the government relieves the situation, “Something is going to happen.” I do not know what that “something” will be, he said, “but sure as daylight the starving farm- ers will not stand it much longer.” Other farmers present in the bus station, who later joined the conversation, spoke of the plight of their fellow farmers in the neighboring counties. How the 92 per cent of the farmers in Lee County are mortgaged to the full value, and how they are being sold per auction for non-payment of interest and taxes. About the farmers in Camden County who are so poor that they live on one meal a day, and about the ragged, barefooted and hungry workers seen on the streets of the city of Camden, the famous winter resort, where the “tired” Northern capi- talists spend the big profits and the extra money made from wage cuts, and speeding up their workers, ‘i Unfortunately, like most farmers in the South, these farmers know little of the conditions in the Soviet Union and regret the fact that, ow- ing to their strained circumstances, they can not afford to purchase any books dealing with agricultural, industrial and political conditions in the first workers and farmers republic, or to subscribe for the “Daily Worker.” They were overjoyed, however, when the writer took their addresses and promised to send them occasion- ally the Daily Worker, the United Farmer and pamphlets, free of charge. | | | matters as what should be the role of a Party nucleus, the role nuclei actually play today, and the Party nucleus in building the Trade Union Unity League. Not generalizations but specific recommendations that will prove very helpful in improving the functioning of the Party nucleus is each of its chief activities, Further valuable guides for the concrete im- mediate work of the Party, the Party press, and the mass organizations are the “Comintern a” in the We | without making the turn. We es aegis pe ey ei ee } BOTTOM OF THIS!” one By BURCK | 1 PARTY LIFE The Problem of Social-Democratic Hangovers UR entire Party is making the turn to mass work, away from social democratic forms and methods, but some sections still cling per- sistently to social-democratic forms and methods and resist the turn. It is very noticeable that the American workers coming into the Party through the day to day struggles, conform to and welcome a disciplined Bolshevik Party. The older comrades, however, mainly organized into language organizations, resist the new turn in the Party and hold on to the social democratic methods of work. This persistent hang-over is a serious handicap in the development of the | mass work of the Party, especially the establish- ment of the revolutionary unions. Let us look into the situation in the Minne- sota District. Out of a membership of over 800, over 500 are Finnish comrades organized into the organizations of the Finnish Federation and the Cooperatives. These left wing organizations under the leadership of the Party have con- ducted brilliant struggles against the right wing renegade Halonen and his crew, and have thru persistent activity developed a mass campaign to win away masses of workers from their in- fluence. However in spite of the fact that the Party has conducted the battle and has established its influence among upward of 15,000 workers and farmers in the northern part of the district, we haye failed to build the economic organizations of the workers and farmers. The lack of will- ingness and the resistence to the building of the Miners’ Union, in spite of the increasing worsen- ing conditions of the miners in both the copper and iron mining country, is the key to the entire problem facing the future work of the northern and largest portion of District 9. During the 1930 election campaign, through all our general propaganda campaigns, mass meet- ings and demonstrations, the Party was able to call out thousands of workers and farmers in every town and at every cross road. The Miners’ Union, however, did not grow and has today only 160 members, while the United Farmers League is just beginning to penetrate. The comrades do not seem to understand the role of the Party. The current and widespread ideology exists that the cooperatives and the Finnish Workers Clubs are the leaders of the workers and farmers. The Cooperatives and the clubs cannot lead the workers into struggle against the capitalist system, they cannot or- ganize the workers in strike ‘struggles against the rotten conditions. We must understand that even in the cooperative fight, without the Party no consistent class struggle program is possible. Only in the measure in which the Party has taken a hand to lead the fight, have we led a successful struggle against the right wing. We can see from the report of Walter Harju to the Fraction of the Cooperatives, that in those cooperatives where the Communist Fraction did active and systematic work did we score definite victories, such as Mass, Michigan; Cook, Minn.; Eben Junction, etc. This misunderstanding of the role of the Party as the political leader of the working class, as the builder of revolution- ary unions, leads the comrades to mechanical isolation of the workers in the cooperatives and the clubs, from the basic economic class strug- gle organizations: the National Miners’ Union, the United Farmers League and to a lesser de- gree from the Party. The nead for Bolshevik fractions, consisting of the Communists in the mass organizations, in order to centralize, to bind and to give or- ganized strength to our program is felt on all sides, The thousands of workers and farmers, hard hit by the crisis are clamoring for organiza tion, for militant action, and the Communists or- ganized with them in the’ cooperatives and the clubs must see to it that those workers and farmers are drawn into the basic organizations of the workers and farmers. Our fraction must exert every effort to draw the workers into the struggle for unemployment insurance, and into the daily struggle for immediate relief. ‘The ruined farmers must be organized into the United Farmers League and are ready for mill- tant action now more than ever. We cannot accomplish these elementary tasks must throw overs Conducted by the Organization Department of the Central Committee, Communist Party, U.S.A. hall meetings, to play-acting entertainments and speech making. Some yery definite and persistent steps have been taken both by the Finnish National Buro and the District Buro to guide the comrades and lead them to make the turn. We can definitely record that within the last year great headway has been made in the direc- tion of building the fractions in our mass or- ganizations. The idea is still prevalent among the membership that the fraction is a sort of executive power of the mass organization that meets before conferences, to decide the policy and the agenda. The comrades have not yet Jearned how to bring into the mass organizations the campaigns of the Party, how to draw into the Miners’ Union the members of the mass organizations. In recent weeks, through the in- sistance of the Finnish Kuro and the istrict Buro, tne campaigns of the Farty vegan to get honorable meniiot: in the Fraction letters, but no effort as yet to draw the co-operators and club members into the basic struggles of the working class. No attempt was made to link these campaigns with the local issues, with the work of the Section and District Committees. Fractions have failed to report to Section Com- mittees, although they report more or less regu- larly to the District. Now let us take the Units of the Party in Mesaba Range, Ironwood, Hancock, Negaunee Sections. In spite of the constant hammering and insistence of the District Buro to form Unit Buros, to develop local campaigns, to build the Unit into political center in the locality or the mine in which the Unit is concentrating, the Unit still remains merely a collection agency of dues and other fees, and the political discus- sions are left to the clubs and cooperatives. The comrades definitely resist the building of the Units and Unit Buros. Some of the members, although they cannot be equalled for their de- votion to the Party, for their devotion to the work, lack the proper understanding of the role of the Party and therefore unwittingly hamper its growth. For the organization of the Miners’ Union much headway has been’ made lately. The Sec- tion Committees of the Party have taken the leading role in the mobilization for the conven- tion by giving attention and guidance to the Miners’ Union and have succeeded to a com- paratively greater degree to draw the member- ship into activity to build the convention. Also efforts are being made to draw the mass or- ganizations closer to the union. A call for fra- ternal delegates, financial assistance for the union has been issued to them. The task of the Party in this District is to create a stronger link between the District Buro and the mass organizations, to carry on a con- sistent campaign for the building of Bolshevik fractions; a systematic propaganda campaign among the Party members as to the role of our Party in mass organizations, The need for mak- ing the turn quickly and definitely away from loose social democratic forms. For the organ- ization of mine committees, shop eommittees, basic locals of the Miners’ Union and the United Farmers League, based upon the every day strug- gles of the workers and farmers. This turn will build a fortress for the working class in this District and will guard against social democratic influence which leads to social fascist control , of the workers organizations, Workers! Join the Party of Your Class! Communist Party 0. 6. A. P. O. Box 87 Station D. New York City. Please send me more information on the Com- munist Party. NAME ...scsererscecsovscaresecenesesacsenessees Address CMY -scsseevereenvceeseveeres State .. By JORGE ites? A Part of Workers’ Education “Dear Jorge:—Suppose you belong to a Work- ers’ Educational Club, and some day a petty thief enters and steals $3 worth of goods. Would you go to the police and report that, so they come to the place and investigate, or will you watch out next time? Is it permissible for a Communist to call police detective attention to it?—A, V. K,, Detroit.” Well, it’s just hell to have to live in a capital- ist country, isn’t it? What the big thieves don’t steal the little ones do. And, in our opinion, comrade (shaping policy strictly from prospec- tive results), the cops might take anything the petty thief overlooked—also mark you down as one of the places to be raided in the next round- up of “reds.” It is a mistake to ask the capitalist police to “investigate,” both practically and ethically—or rather ethically because practically. What would you do if the petty thief was caught? Ask the capitalist courts to send him to jail? Some poor victim of capitalist society! No, com- rade, the workers must rely on their own power and, if they haven't any, they must organize to take power. If you had caught the petty thief in the ac yourselves, what would you do—turn him over to the cops? Of course you would not. You might kick him in the pants, but that weuld not, stop the production of thieves by capitalism. You might teach him something about the sys- tem and shame him from ever again stealing from workers. But calling in the enemies of the workers to protect workers is bad any way you look at it. REN cent Mistaken Identity There seems to be a case of mistaken iden- tity revealed in the Chicago Tribune of April 27, clippings of which have been sent us. One article, headed “Red Agitator Held to Grand Jury In $15,000 Bail,” told of the arrest of a worker, about whom the Tribune say: “Assistant State’s Attorney Robert Donigan said the authorities had information that the defendant was responsible for the spreading of many of the rumors about various banks.” So the old fair tale about the “reds whisper- ing” and “causing” the supposedly “fundamen- tally sound” banks to go bust, is still alive! But in the same issue of the Tribune, under a head- ing, “Bank Loses $271,000 Suit for Collection on Note,” a rather complicated bit of inside bank robbery was revealed. The Central Trust Company sted to collect $271,000 from one Otto E. Schmidt, former vice- ( president of the former—and now bankrupt— Laramie State Bank, because, so the Trust Co, claims, Schmidt, as vice-president, had guaran~ teed a note for the president of the bank, Carl A. Mueller, who was indicted in conngction with the bank's failure—but was later released by the kindly capitalist courts. The Trust Co. lost the suit, because Schmidt said his signature endorsing the note was forged —apparently by the fellow who profited by it— Mr. Mueller. But Mr. Mueller has already been whitewashed! So the net result of capitalist class justice against the real bankrupters and robbers of banks, is—two bankers acquitted with $271,000 to divvy up between them, and one “red agitator” held in $15,000 bail for “rumoring” that bankers are not the personification of honesty! noe om The Temptations of St. Anthony Some of them were brunettes, and some were blondes, as we remember; and perhaps some were just plain brindles. But the old Saint has a “national shrine,” or one is going to be butlt rather, at Graymoor, Garrison, New York, and the Franciscan Friars who are bossing the job offer more tempting temptations to prospective contributors than old Anthony himself ever re- sisted. In a letter sent out to suckers, the “Spiritual Director” becomes very material indeed, offer- ing to swap good luck, to find “lost things” such as employment, for cash donations to buy build- ing material for the shrine—supposedly. Some of the testimonials are: “M. F., New York City: ‘On the 9th of last month I wrote you asking that you plead with St. Anthony to find work for me. In less than a week I had obtained a position’”"—Then an- other: “I had promised a donation if through St. Anthony's intercession I received a steady po- sition. So I am enclosing the amount promised. After praying to St. Anthony for a couple of days, I seemed to have walked into my present Position.” So you see St. Anthony's employment agericy sends you jobs C.0.D. Perhaps you can get one on the installment plan. Anyhow, the “Spiritual Director” writes: “Yes, multitudes have received steady positions; many have been assisted fin- ancially; thousands have been restored to health; and others have recovered lost articles by having recourse to cur Great Wonder-Worker.” Then, proceeding, after noting that: “It is more blessed to give than to receive,” (these jolly old friars assume the sorrow and burden of “receiving”), the letter says: “Whether you make an offering for sand, gravel, steel, lime or other material, it will be more than appreciated.” Well, it ought to be. But we fail to see the necessity of sending these swindlers any sand. They seem to have too much as it is! Yet Uncle Sam’s post office lets this stuff use the mail, but denies it, among others, to the Young Worker, to the United Farmer, and is snooping around the Daily to see if some excuse can't be found to bar that, too. What Do You Say, NT W? It might pay to dig up the small towns, which seem to be virgin soil. For example, we get the following: “Buena Vista, Virginia:—Daily Worker: Just seen & copy of your paper. You talk apout tne National Textile Union. Why don’t they come down here and organize? We are having the boss fining hell out of us. All the workers are het up about this, They will line up in the Union if you come and ask them, When they send an organizer down here, 1 will lead them | oe