The Daily Worker Newspaper, May 22, 1931, Page 4

aan Page Four * prodaily Publishing Co., Inc, daily except Sutday, at 50 East Telephone Algonquin 7956-7, Cable: y Worker, 50 East 13th Street, New York, N. ¥. DAIWORK.” THE IMPERIALIST CHICKENS i SUBSCRIPTION RATES: ~~ By mail everywhere! One year, $6; six months, $3; two months, $1: excepting Horoughe of Manhattan and Bronx, New York Ctly, Foreign: one year, $8+ six months. $4.50. lila HOME TO “DUMP” By HARRISON G EORGE. speec Conferer the dove- been y European the American capitalist isters consternation! The N. Y. Post marting under the annoyance of i Knickerbocker ser dumping” upset the first day flies into a rage, calls Litvinoff Old Medicine Man,” and ends its the following snarl “Never has there been ‘nerve’! such cool Commissar Litvinoff gets away with his im- pudent propositions through that character- We devoutedly trust that Geneva the istic alone. will shake itself free from ghost dancing.” ndoubtedly the worried Ya Washington likewise “devoutedly t something can be done to conjure spectacle of peril to American impe: Europe, even imperialist Europe, move, even a gesture, against the pri fender in “dumping’—the United America! The best that the “unofficial spokesman” of the administration at Washington could think up, when confronted with the Litvinoff speech and its apparently sympathetic response at Geneva, was to sneer about the Soviet “bar- gaining for credits.” What of it? Since when has that been forbidden? spell of his the ism in away making a But what American imperialism really fears is a campaign against American dumping. This is one reason why its Fish, Woll and all other reactionaries have been splitting our ears with cries about “Soviet dumping.” It turned atten- tion away from the fact that America is the f “dumper” of the world! y, please observe how ridiculous it is for the United States to point at Soviet exports as the “menace” to world trade, when a compari- son of the share of these two countries in world export trade reveals the following: Share of World Exports. Uv. & A Soviet Union 12.3% 41% 15.8% 1.4% (in 1930) that correspondents at Geneva realistic diplomats of Western saying that Sovi ex- “menace” but that Amer- n,| America doors locked with a tariff, charges es at home with the aid of that tariff, and really dumps goods abroad. It has done this most noticeably in wheat, for example, and Hyde boasts of it. , the refusal of McKelvie, at the London Wheat Conference to enter into any interna- tional agreement, is a warning that American capitalists are determined to continue to dump wheat abroad at half the price it sells for be- hind the tariff wall in America—thus gouging the bread-eaters of America—and not “help- ing” the American farmers, either, because they had to seli at a far lower price the moment they harvested their crop. No wonder that the rival imperialists of Europe—without for a moment forgetting that ultimately they must clash with the socialist system of the Soviet—refuse to be misled by Yankee humbug from turning their attacks 1911-13 1929 No wonder hint that the ‘ope are privately no special upon their most immediate trade rival, the U. 8. A. It makes no difference that they, these capi- talist nations of Europe, are themselves engaged in dumping—as Litvinoff proved conclusively. They have previously cried out against Amer- Methods By LLOYD BROWN, 0X of the problems that we must deal with is the question of work in small towns. When we attempt to carry on this work we find that it is indeed a hard nut to crack. We find that we must work out entirely new and dif- ferent methods of carrying on activity. For instance we know that in a small town the bosses’ terror (black-listing, etc.) is a much more effective weapon against the workers than fm a large center. main problem we are faced with here is to conduct mass activity and at the same time protect our comrades from victimization, We know that in small towns “everybody knows everybody else.” It is very easy to have our comrades exposed and lose their jobs. However, young workers whom we succeeded in winning for the League have a wide contact with other young workers, youth organizations, ete, in their particular town. They have not only the contact with their young shop-mates while at work, but in their every-day life as well. For example: In the city of Norwalk where we are attempting to organize a unit of the YCL I held a meeting of seven young workers who agplied for membership in the League. We were discussing the problems of organizing a group of young workers in that town to go to the National Youth Day meet in Passaic. After we figured it out we found that these seven had actual contact with about 200 other young workers in various clubs, etc. And al- though they did not know what a “confer- ence” was, the bringing together of representa- tives from these groups of young workers to a meeting to plan for National Youth Day did not seem a difficult problem to them. Thus we can see that “everybody knowing everybody else” can be a real asset as well. In our work we must make a great effort to see to it that this valuable connection with masses of young workers is not lost, that we do not isolate our League comrades. How can this be done? How can we draw the young workers away from the influence of the boss- controlled organizations? How can we build our organization in the shops? Firstly regarding the work in the opponents tt PRE-CONVENTION DISCUSSION YOUNG COMMUNIST LEAGUE, U. S. A. of Work in Small Towns ping, and they may find it convenient Litvinoff's proposals for a time, in ack American rival dumpers over ns the “sympathetic” reception of jet proposals by such an old imperialist Briand, who—be it noted—is so cynical dicate privately that he accepts the ~ proposals only hypocritically. That is the meaning of the following lines, taken the Geneva dispatch to the N. Y. Times only ‘Those close to M. Briand represent him as not attaching much practical importance to M. Litvinoff’s economic non-aggression pact, but is willing to enter it if Moscow sets store by it.” a revelation of imperialist hypocrisy! French have no monopoly in that! It astounding that American imper- alism di to raise a whisper against Lit- vinoff’s proposals. Yet the N. Y. Herald Trib- une, M: |, one of the leading voices of Amer- ican equals the Post in its venomous attack “The proposals which Maxim Litvinoff, Sov- iet Commissar for Foreign Affairs, made at Ge- neva on Monday, are about the most naive and revealing thoughts that have yet come out of Russia. In a sense they are also the most impertinent.” Yet what are these “impertinent” proposals? In essence they are that all nations should pledge to sell goods in foreign countries at the some price as these goods are sold at in their own that they should not be sold at lower But is absolutely coun’ prises abroad than at home, namely, not dumped. Well, if Litvinoff is “impertinent” in asking that, he is only asking that the United States obey its own law! For that is exactly what is provided for in the “Anti-Dumping Act” of 1921, passed by the U. S. Congress and in effect in the United States today! The U. 8S. law, of course, is against goods being dumped into the United States, at a price less “or likely to be less, than the foreign market value”, this foreign market value to be determined by:— “The price, at the time of exportation of such merchandise to the United States, at which such or similar merchandise is sold or freely offered for sale fo all purchasers in the principal markets of the country from which exported, in the usual wholesale quan- tities and in the ordinary course of trade for home consumption.” This is the U. S. law! But it is “impertinent” for the Soviet to propose that it be obeyed by the United States! Obviously, the United States wants other nations to be barred from dumping, while it demands the right to dump wherever it wishes! And Litvinoff is “an impudent old man” for suggesting that America obey its own laws! Litvinoff, speaking in the name of the Soviet, demands this because it is to the benefit of the toiling masses of all nations that goods be sold in their home countries at prices no higher oe a those exported to foreign lands. If there is any “impudence” in this pater it does not belong to Litvinoff, but to such tricksters as Briand, who, for their imperialist purposes of making war against America’s high tariff and wholesale dumping of goods, pretends for a time to enter such a non-aggression pact as the Soviet proposes (how suddenly amiable is the old fox!) “if Moscow sets store by it.” It is clear, then, why American imperialism has flown into such towering rage at Soviet “impudence.” It is also clear why imperialist Europe can offer a smile, for the moment, to Litvinoff. But Litvinoff, as both cgmps of im- st robbers will find out—also addressed the toiling masses of the world. He showed them that only the Soviet has the solution of hunger they suffer and the cure for the war looming over them. And when the imperialists, be they in America or Europe, continue their plunder and robbery and once again launch the peoples into world war—then they will find that the masses will turn against them, and to the Soviet Union! sectarian approach, if we merely contented our- selves with calling upon the young workers to leave the ranks of these opponents. The young workers are in the organizations not primarily because of the program of these organizations, but because they find in these clubs, etc., recre- ation, sports, social life, etc, Rather our policy must be of breaking within the ranks of these organizations, putting forth our demands, and organizing a group around these demands. For instance, to demand in a YMCA club that the center should be open free at all times for the use of the young unemployed workers, or that’ the religious lectures: should be discontinued, etc. Working in this manner we will be able to develop struggles around the program of the League and at the same time maintain our contact with the young workers, Through Work in these organizations it is also possible for us to make valuable contacts within the shops. For we often find that groups of young workers who work in the same shops are also members of these same organizations and clubs. What are some of the methods of work that we can work out in a small town for a campaign like National Youth Day? Notional Youth Day can be popularized in a small town much bet- ter then in a larger city. We can have our comrades introduce resolutions in their organ- izations endorsing N.Y.D. as a holiday of all young workers, and around the issue and strug- gle which this will create, to organize the young workers for a local youth conference for N.Y.D. ‘To organize squads of young workers to paint the town red, chalk the side-walks, etc. To have a wide distribution of throwaways calling upon all of the workers in the town, especially the relatives and friends of the young workers who are leaving for the N.Y.D, celebration, to meet at the point of departure to give a send- off to the group going. This is very necessary as well as effective, because if the N.Y.D. cam- paign is only felt by those young workers who will directly participate in it then, of course, National Youth Day will not have been a success. The basic line in our work, especially be- cause of the peculiar features of work in small towns, is to at all times maintain and strengthen our contact with the young workers. Any meth- od of work that does not have this i By BURCK Party Life Resolution on the Workers School, District 13 ‘HE organization and the successful conclusion of the four weeks full time District School is one of the major achievements of the Party in the California District. With the help of the school, we were able to train 30 more new func- tionaries for the Party. This was the first school of its kind in California. In spite of the pes- simistic attitude expressed by certain leading comrades regarding the organization of this school, we were able to pull it through financially and otherwise. Especially great was the under- estimation of the school in Los Angeles. Of the 11 students allowed to them, only 7 were sent. Of these 4 were from the League and 2 from the I. L. D. (one was a Spanish comrade, who could hardly understand English and couldn't get much out of the school.) As a result of this underestimation and negligence on the part of the Los Angeles Section, the question of devel- oping new leading cadres remained in a not much improved position as prior to the school. In other sections, the selection of the students was left until the last minute, with the result that very little initiative was given to the units in the selection of students. The chief charac- teristic in the selection of the students was their relatively short period in the Party or Y. C. L. (about 75 percent of the students less than a year in the movement) and the absolute lack of previous political training of the majority of the students. This situation came as a result of the lack of elementary classes in the units and sections, which must be immediately corrected. Financially the school was a success. We were able to collect over $900 in a period of 6 weeks which was more than enough to put it through. About $93 was donated to the Weekly West Coast paper. ‘The social and national composition was very representative. Among the 30 students there were 16 different occupations represented, 23 were American born and 7 foreign-born. There were also representatives of all the races and by par- entage there were students from 12 nationalities. ‘The age of the students was very young, 18 were 25 years or younger and no one over 34 years. ‘The average age being 22 years. ‘The main shortcoming of the school was in- sufficient instructors and lack of the necessary books and material. The Party organization class for the second and third weeks was very poor. This was mainly on account of the fact that we tried to use various lecturers for various subjects every day. There was almost no direct training in trade union work, (even though it was taken up partly in the org, class and also in the class on the “History of the Communist movement”). Lack of books did not allow the students to concentrate on individual study of the assignments, But in spite of all these difficulties and short- comings the school was a success. Every student, no matter how backward he may have peen politically before, has acquired the basic princ~ iples of Communism and mainly how to apply these principles in his every day work. All of the students were eager to go out to the various fields for Party or YCL work. On the question of the special committee, that took up the as- signment of the students for various functions: “where do you prefer to go?”, almost all of them answered: “wherever the Party sees fit”. All the students accepted fullheartedly the Party assignment, and we are confident that they will prove worthy of the responsibility the Party has entrusted them with. All the 30 graduates have been given definite responsible jobs, all the way “from district organizer secretary down to unit organizers, As a result of the district school, we” now have YCL and Party new unit organizers, 3 section organizers, 3 TUUL section organizers, 3 district heads of departments and the rest field and organizers and functionaries in various departments. ‘The obvious success of the school proved once more the great possibility of recruiting new lead- ing proletarian cadres if only a systematic at- tempt is made in this direction. ° The success of the first full-time school in California must serve as an incentive to our dis- trict to widen the net of periodical full-time dis- trict schools from time to time. We must im- mediately begin working for another school only with more forces and more systematic prepara- tion so as to be able to get the maximum re- sults of our efforts to build a new The Allentown Broad Silk Strike and the U. T. W. Traitors By LENA ROSENBERG. EVEN THOUSAND broad silk workers have been out on strike for two weeks, closing al- most completely about 30 miils in Allentown and vicinity. This strike came as a result of many wage-cuts which brought the pay of weavers down to as low as $14 to $20 a week on 4 to 6 looms in 54 hours and more. For warpers and twisters, as well as other crafts, the conditions are even worse. The strike started in the Majestic mill, where a number of wage-cuts took place during last year as well as an increase in hours from eight to nine a day about six months ago. At that time an attempt was. made to sell the Daily Worker in front of the Majestic and the work- ers bought it gladly for the first few days. How- ever, the stool-pigeons got on the job and dur- ing the lunch period would follow groups of workers, no matter where they went, and in this way terrorized them. About four weeks ago another wage-cut was announced and the entire mill walked out, and took along two more mills working for the Ma- jestic. This later developed into a general strike. For months before this strike the United Tex- tile Workers’ officials have been carrying on negotiations with some manufacturers in Allen- town, trying to convince them that they could “stabilize the industry” for them. Of course this means that they would force the workers to ac- cept wage-cuts under the union cloak, as they did in the upholstery and other locals. Some manufacturers, no doubt, were convinced, be- cause a number of them actually sent their workers on strike before the strike became gen- eral. Nevertheless, all workers on strike mean busi- ness. They do want to stop wage-cuts and want at least a portion back of what they have al- ready lost. In spite of lamentation by all U. T. W. leaders, and orders to “be peaceful,” the workers have beaten up scabs in front of the Moggie mill, and, when the police arrested one striker,, the workers took him out of the car twice and the cop did not try it a third time. Some Militancy. At the Pyramid mill, also, a very militant mass picket line was established and rotten eggs, as well as blows, flew freely, and two workers were arrested. As a result of this militant mass pick- eting both mills are now completely shut down. At the evening meeting, after these events took place, when Kelly in all seriousness appealed to the strikers to be peaceful for fear that the au- thorities, whom he was very friendly with, would call the state police or issue an injunction, the hall rocked with laughter, From the very outset of the general strike the leaders of the U. T. W. dodged the question of setting up demands. Though they talked about “unfair employers” and “vicious type of em- ployer” they made the main issue of the strike 100 per cent organization into their union and stabilization and then ‘there would be no more strikes, like in the anthracite” (Kelly). The other fakers made the same kind of speeches, but not a word about demands, until the work-_ ers got sick of the speeches and began to ask what they were striking for. In answer to this the National Textile Workers’ Union made pro- posals for a price list which was adopted by the strike committee, and by the rest of the strikers. This fact gave Kelly and his gang a very un- pleasant feeling. Signs of Sellout. When the strike was on for a week he pre- posed that the General Strike Committee send a committee to the manufacturers, which would mean crawling back. ‘The answer he got was enough to convince him that the sell-out will not be so easy. Then he began a vicious attack against the Communists, meaning, of course, the N. T. W. U. as well, call- ing them agents of the bosses, etc. In every phase of the strike could be seen the influence of the N. 'T. W. U, On one occasion, when pressure was brought by U. T. W. local agents for joining their union, some workers raised objections to craft union*sm. Tt must have been pretty strong, since Kelly made an official statement to the effect that he per- sonally was in favor of it, but... However, we must admit that our influence, though it will for a time prevent the sell-out, ee ee a ris eas place. The reason is that, in spite of the fact that we have a few hundred strikers who have either read the Communist press regularly, read N. T. W. leaflets or attended meetings of the T. U. U. L., we have completely failed to or- ganize. As soon as these traitors started their slanderous attack ginst us, these sympathizers became terrorized, and already, according to the report of the strike chairmen’s meeting, a com- mittee was sent ‘to the mayor, which can mean only one thing—and that is sell-out. Had we succeeded in organizing those sympathizers into factory groups we might have had the leader- ship of this strike and won it. Build Groups. Our sympathizers are militant in the strike, on the picket line, and some of them are even all excited about getting their mills organized 100 per cent into the U. T. W. They, of course, do not realize that by doing this they are simply helping to build up one of the worst scab agen- cies and strengthening it financially, since every striker must pay $2 initiation fee. As to these fellow workers who think that it will be aesier to get the workers into the N. T. W. U. after they have been organized into the U. T. W. and been betrayed, they, too, are wrong. Because, for a worker who has never been in any union, our form of organization is more com- prehensive and appeals more to him. Every worker can see the advantages of belonging to a union that he himself controls through the factory committee over the craft form. And, once they are in the U. T. W., which has a machine as hard to penetrate as the capitalist government. machines, and especially when they are betrayed, they lose faith in all organization.. In view of these facts, it is more urgent than ever that right now. every class-conscious worker in this strike should be gotten to form groups, so that no matter what the outcome of the strike will be we will have a basis for building a real fighting union here. Only one thing can save this present strike, and that is to give the leadership to a large general strike committee, which would continue militant mass picketing and drawing in thou- sands of other employed and unemployed work- ers. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Question—Will you explain the difference between the collective farms and the govern- ment farms in the Soviet Union?—V. H. L. ‘The Soviet state farms, or “Sovkhoz,” as they are called, are huge farms run under the direc- tion of the state on an industrial basis, with latest machinery and the best methods of large scale farming. They are really agricultural fac- tories managed like an industry and operated by agricultural workers. The workers get a regular rate of wages, work definite hours and receive social insurance and other benefits like all Soviet workers, The collective farms, or “Kolkhoz,” are formed differently by a number of peasants voluntarily pooling the land and their means of production, such as machinery, livestock, etc., for collective operation. By doing this they can plan their work, use the more efficient methods and ma- chinery of large-scale farming and eliminate the arduous hand labor which used to be re- quired, ‘There is a great deal of variation in the “Kolkhozes,” according to the rules the peasants composing them wish to agree upon. The in- dividual peasant, however, is usually allowed to keep small tools for his individual garden, a cow, and small stock, like pigs and chickens, for his own use. Of course, if raising small stock is the main business of the collective, then these would be pooled for collective raising. Houses are not communalized as a rule as yet, although this is foreseen, and the peasants are allotted, if necessary, work animals for the time required to work their garden plots. ‘The members receive payment according to the amount and the quality of work done by each. ced os baker lites bevegs col- By JORGE ae What Does a Doak mL. Think? If Any? ? In view of the exposure that kids “educated in Tammany schools know several things less than nothing, what do you suppose will happen to them when, as in Seattle, one of Mr. Doak’a inamigration officials corners them and demands to kno’ “Who was the first president of the United States?” Or, again: “How many stars in the American flag?” The worker who tells us of this amusing cate- chism perhaps failed to realize that Mr. Doak believes that the first president of the United States is Mr. Hoover, who appointed him Sec- retary of Deportation, and whose praise he sings both in season and out with the regularity, and touching soulfulness, of a cuckoo clock or a self= winding phonograph. Our correspondent, however, brings in a prize specimen of the Doak species, a certain Mr. Bonham, District Immigration Director of Port- land, Oregon, who was put on the witness stand to testify in the trial of Fred Walker. 4 This Oregon-bred Doak was asked: the material conception of history?” To which he replied: “I know what these words mean separately, but I don’t know what they mean when they are put together.” “What is A Private Letter, But Excuse Us... . “Dear Mr. “Just now Russia is engaged in a sustainea effort to demonstrate that Christianity is the enemy of the working man, This propaganda for atheism is powerful and is making an im- pression. “Labor Temple, at 14th St. and Second Ave., is making a valiant fight to offset that propa- ganda. For two decades it has been battling— and with substantial success—the atheism and materialism that have made such headway among our foreign-born industrial workers, “Its method has been unique and simple: to provide a place where both sides can air their views, with no limit except the limit of the law, It has been the Hyde Park corner of New York. It has shared in dissipating the false view that labor and religion are, and must be, enemies. . . . “Do you not feel that now of all times such work ought to be carried on with increased vigor? Will you share in the cost? Checks should be made payable to ‘Labor Temple’ and mailed to me.... “Very sincerely yours, “Honorary members :— . William Adams Brown, D.D. . Henry Sloane Coffin, D.D. . William P. Merrill, D.D. . Thomas Guthrie Speers.” er an es Railway Workers Have Unions? ‘The following answer appeared in the finar. cial section of the N. Y. Times on May 14, among a dozen others about steel stocks, ship- ping company management, Standard Oil's an- nual report and other strictly business items. ‘The whole department is headed: “Topics in ‘Wall Street,” and the particular item says: ad “Unions Aiding Railroads” “Railroad labor unions now are co-operating with the executives of the roads to a greater extent than at any time in the history of rail- way development in this country, an executive said yesterday. He explained that the unions were using all influence possible in getting. legis- lation passed by the various states restricting the operations of trucks and buses; also that they were soliciting the movement of freight by rail instead of by competing agencies.” Yes, it is all true—but why call them “labor” unions? The Post Versus the Post ‘Well, well! After a great deal of drum- thumping about the “Red Trade Menace” and how to fight it, the N. Y. Post trotted its best, horse, Mr. Knockerbocker, out to the starting post on Monday only to be matched and over- matched at the crack of the pistol by a dispatch from Geneva. Hence we, who were all keyed up waiting for Mr. Knockerbocker’s first article on “Fighting the Red Trade Menace,” were thrown into guf- faws of laughter at the dilemma of the editor of the Post, who had to run—right alongside Mr. Knockerbocker’s hair-raising cry of Soviet, “dumping,” Comrade Litvinoff's eharacteriza- tion of that charge as “inconceivably silly.” More, as against the nursery-tale of “Soviet. trade war” conjured up in the imagination mf Knockerbocker, who appeals for a counter-war under the name of an “Economic Cordo) this in one column of the “inconceivably silly” George H. Richards. Ny N. Y. Post, in another column the Post is com- \ pelled—by the force of the fact that what Lit- vinoff says is news of high order, to tell that Litvinoff suggests a “pact of economic non- aggression” and adds: “Let the states. represented here adopt a general convention providing for compulsory sale of commodities in home markets at the same low prices which prevail in foreign mar- kets.” Oh, such a wallop! Just think of the U.S. A. selling wheat at 41 cents in Europe, and keeping up the price here so that you can pay twice the price for bread that is necessary—without help- ing the farmers, either! Or think about Singer sewing machines that cost half the price in Czecho-Slovakia that they do in America where they are made! Or Douglas shoes which can be bought cheaper in Uruguay thanin Chicago! ‘The gall of American capitalist papers which” yowl about “dumping!” We hereby endorse the old saw: “As dumb as a Post!” with especial reference to the N. Y. Post, ing the best land, tractors, autos, thoroughbred cattle and many other advantages, ‘The way the Kolkhoz raises the standard of living of the peasant is seen, for instance, in the North Caucasus, where the average income of a middle peasant used to be 250 rubles per year, and after the first collective harvest the average income was not less than 590 per year. In the Deymon Bedno collective, on the Volga, the in= come amounted to 1,200 rubles per member, In addition, the clubs, theatres, dining rooms, etc., which are being built by the collectives, sive, YBa esa ee ene ot ua,