The Daily Worker Newspaper, July 14, 1931, Page 4

¢ aiaiane oe CS ATES Putrsned oy the Gomprodaily Publishing Co 18th Street, New York City. N. Y. Address and mail all checks to tne Daily Worker, 50 East 13th Street, Page Four Telephone Algonquin 79) Ine «ary excep! Sunday. at 60 Mast “DALWORK." York. N. ¥, Dail orker’ Party U.S.A SUBSCRIPTION RATES: By mail everywhere: One year, $6; six months, $3; two months, $1: excepting Borough® of Manhattan and Bronx, New York Ctly, Foreign; one year, $8- six months. $4.5, SPREADING LIES FOR WAR | This is the last of a series of three arti- eles, showing how the capitalist propaganda machines manufacture and spread lies to poi- son the minds of the masses, and herd them into the siaughter of imperialist war, whipping up the fury of hate against the enemy nation. The war propaganda machine is already work- ing, spreading lies for war against the Soviet Union, All out on August 1! Demonstrate against imperialist war! Defend the Soviet Union!—Ed. j N, SPARKS. Article 3. URING the last war, the propaganda ma- chine of the U. S. government masqueraded under the name of the “Committee of Public Information.” It did not spread capitalist war propaganda—Oh, No! It only “gave out infor- mation.” It gave out 75,000,000 booklets and pamphlets, not only in the U. .S. but in the neutral countries well. It filled the press with syndicated stories. It mobilized artists to draw war cartoons, It doctored up photographs from before the war and distributed them as authentic proof of Ger- man atrocities. It created such a hysteria that almost every person ¥ a beard or a foreign accent was looked on as a possible German spy It organized the “Four-Minute Men’ ”—75,000 Chamber of Commerce Men, Babbits and pro- fessional and amateur patriots, whose business it was to interrupt all shows in the theatres and deliver a 4-minute flood of hate against Ger- pro-Germans,” “slackers” and Reds and bully the audeince into subscribing for the vari- ous “Liberty” Loans. Seven hundred and fifty- five thousand such speeches were inflicted upon the suffering public. Millions of billboards throughout the U. S. and the neutral countries were plastered with Wilson’s hypocritical phrases about the “War to End War.” In Soviet Russia, the Commit- tee began the mobilization of all “decent ele- ments” against the “pro-German Bolsheviks” until’ the Soviet Government kicked them out, and they found their way to “the great demo- ¢rat.” Kolchak. It forged and distributed the infamous “Sisson Documents,” which pretended to show that Lenin and all the Bolsheviks were merely German spies. Professors were drawn out of the colleges on every hand into the service of the Committee. The church mobilized under the slogan of the Rev. Henry Van Dyke “I'd hang every man who lifts his voice against America entering the Ww The A. F. of L., under Gompers, had a special committee to co-operate with the Com- tee of “Public Information.” John Duncan, -president of the A. F. of L., was sent with Root Commission to Russia, where he ad- dressed the Petrograd Soviet on the virtues of American democracy and the Union Label Howat of the United Mine Workers and Spargo ef the Socialist Party were sent to Italy ly was the mind of the masses poisoned, but tl tims were made to pay for the poison. The newspapers raised their prices from one cent to two cents (and the evening papers to By mit hree cents) The Committee made nearly $200,000 profit on its four feature films “Per- shing’s Crusaders,” “.America’s Answer,” étc., not to mention its short subjects. In addition, the Committee became the dictator to the en- tire movie industry. Not a single reel could be purchased by any exhibitor who refused to show the war films of the Committee. This system of dictatorship was then extended to neutral countries, succeeding finally in completely driving out the German films. Such was the picture of the American le- spreading machine at work. Today the war lies of both sides are revealed and discussed in cynical, scientific detail by bourgeois writers under the heading of “propaganda technique in war-time.” But not a single word is spoken about the even greater and more poisonous tis- sue of lies that was spread against Soviet Rus- sia from the October Revolution through all the years of civil war. The reason for this is clear. The war with Germany is over. But the war between the capitalists and the Soviet Union is not, and has never been over. It has merely passed through a period of armistice for the pest ten years, and is now being prepared by the capitalists to burst again into flame Many workers think that an attack against the Soviet Union is not close. Because they do not feel prepared to make the mistake of think- ing that the capitalists are not prepared either. This is a most dangerous, fatal error. Despite all the evidences of preparedness in industry and in the army (as well drecribed fn Comrade Bittleman’s a les), a long time to work up the necessary war spirit. But listen to the words of Sir William Wiseman, head of the British Secret Service and propa- ganda machine in the U. S., during the last war: “Give me something to hate and I guarantee to organize a powerful propaganda campaign any- where within 24 hours.” There is no limit or conscience in the deviltry of capitalism, particularly when preparing war. German propagandists have revealed that in 1916, German imperialism had a full-fledged plan to sow hatred and prepare war in America against Mexico and Japan in order to divert American attention from Germany. Anti-Jap- anese films were prepared and outrages against women by Japanese were to be arranged in Cal- ifornia, prostitutes being imported into the State to be “assaulted.” The lie-makers have learned from their ex- periences in the last war and have improved | their technique. In addition they have a new | and most powerful instrument—the radio. Every | night the radio carries propaganda for the army, propaganda that modern methods of warfare with tanks and poison-gas are “after all more humane” than the old “uncivilized” methods, and above all, propaganda against Bolshevism— against the Soviet Union. The propaganda in the last war is as nothing compared to the hurricane of lies that the capi- talists are preparing for the war against the Soviet Union. The lines are already clear. It will be a war of “self-defense”—self-defense against Soviet “dumping,” self-defense against the advance of the American workers and farm- ers under the banner of Communism. It will be a holy war—a war blessed by the pope and the churches against the “persecutors of religion.” It wili be a w r “humanity a war to lib- erate the “poor,” “oppressed” kulaks. It will be a w for “liberty” and “freedom’”—a war against “forced labor”and for free starvation under the blessing of Matthew Woll. It will be a war for “civilization” against ‘‘So- viet barbarism.” Ambassador Gerard has al- ready said it, “We are already at war with a na- tion of murderers! The old story of “national- ization of women” will be revived, will again see service and will again be believed, despite the fact that no one believes it now. Cartoons and posters will again blossom forth on the bill- boards, on the.sereen and in the press, showing Bolshevism as a huge monster dragging a rav- ished woman, its hands dripping with the blood of babies. Lies and fake pictures of atrocities will again be spread by the million. Against the flood of capitalist lies, the workers must develop and keep alive a steady river of Communist propaganda. Communist propagan- da has only one aim—to expose the truth, to free the mind of the toilers from the poison of capitalist lies, to expose to him the true nat- ure of capitalism, to explain to him the real reason why he starves while the exploiters roll in wealth, to explain to him the real reason why he and millions of others are sent to indescrib- tell him the true facts about the Soviet Union, and why it is the Workers’ Fatherland, and to show him why he must support the Communist Party as the leader of the proletarian Revolu- tion—the only road to the emancipation of the workers and farmers. The workers and farmers must be prepared to meet,, to reject. and to expose the capitalist war lies against the Soviet Union. Despite the power of the capitalist propaganda machine, they will fail in reaping the intended harvest of hate against the Soviet Union. For the toil- ers are learning that means themselves, that the Soviet Union is not their enemy but their fatherland. The workers will rally in greater and greater masses for defense of the Soviet Union and for Civil War against capitalism. On this August Ist, workers throughout the world are demon- strating on International Red Day against im- perialist’ war. All out on August Ist! Against imperialist ; war! Defend the Soviet Union! they feel that it would take* able torture and death in imperialist war, to* Bolshevism, Communism. Wildwood Miners to Carry On By CAROLINE DREW Wildwood, Pa., will go down in workingclass history as one of the most bitter battlefields of the miners struggle. Masses of striking miners marched to smash an injunction handed down by the bosses, and were shot down in cold blood by yellow bellied deputies, who have long prison records. ‘The Butler Consolidated Coal Co., at Wild- wood, is one of the most mechanized mines in the world. It has been in operation only for the past two and a half years, and the most modern Old Roy loading machines. Joy loading machines, motors, cutting machines, are in use. Special skill is needed to work on these machines. The operators of the mine secured the injunction on the basis that the workers were not miners, but operators of machines. And, the courts which, are owned and controlled, by and for the bosses did not call in the workers, miners with years of experience, men, who have gone into the bowels of the earth year after year, and dug black dia- nonds, to ask them if they were miners. There is no company patch at Wildwood. The miners*are scattered all around, within a radius of thirty miles. Many of these miners live in the company patch of closed down mines. The house bosses of these shut down mines tell the miners not to go picketing and warn them that if they do they will be evicted. These miners struck against the sliding wage scale, According to the company, coal in this mine, could not cost more than one dollar a ton. ‘The company added up all the costs, and if the coal cost more than a dollar to produce, then the company reduced the miners wages. If the com- sany decided that the coal had cost $1.25 a ton, then the miners would get a 25 cents wage cut on each dollar. If they decided the coal cost $1.15 a ton, then the miners would get a 15 cents cut 6n each dollar. Only the operators, had the vitht to know and decide how much the coal had cost to produce. The miners knew their figures were “phoney” because before the sliding scale had been put into operation in January, coal had fost 68 cents a ton to produce. The sliding scale, was another way to out the workers wages any time the operators felt like it. ‘This was the first strike at Wildwood, the workers came out 100 per cent strong. They were a fighting bunch, determined in their mass picketing, and strike activities, to keep the scabs out .of the mine, and to smash every effort at the operators to break their strike. When the bosses court handed down the injunction, they began immediate preparations for the mass picket line to smash the injunction. The entire Allegheny Valley section, was rallied tor the picket line on Monday morning at the picnic held on Sunday. Men and women, stayed up all night making preparations and sending the trucks on. In the early morning hours the strikers mossed over half a mile from the mine. Everyone knew of the march w smash the in- junction, and yet on Monday morning, not a state policeman was in sight. Twenty deputies were hidden in ambush with shot guns, machine guns, revolvers drawn and ready. The plan was care- fully prepared by the operators together with Governor Pinchot’s state police, who were told to keep out of the way. They fired with intent to kill, upon the command of one Reel, who has been one of the most savage deputies, who gave the order to “kill every bastard black and white, men, women and children.” They singled out cer- tain of the active strikers and filled them full of lead. They were particularly vicious against the women, Reel, himself, fired the first shot. Zig- aric, was killed and 12 wounded, After the shoot- ing the yellow dog deputies, state police, went into eyery house, searched it, took whatever they liked and arrested all the men. They were on a man hunt, and the booze they had in them, and the abuse they showered on the men, women, and children, showed to what lengths the coal oper- ators will go, in an attempt to terrorize the strik- ers, to drive them back to starve at work. When another march was announced on Wild- wood, the operators and “law” stationed 75 de- puties, 40 state police, and 2 ambulances for about a half mile around the camp. Pete Zigaric, who was murdered by the oper- ators and Governor Pinchot’s deputized thugs, will long be remembered and honored by the workingclass. His death adds more determina- tion to the miners, their wives and children, to continue the struggle, and fight all their enemics. His death puts fire into the blood of every worker and makes them resolye to help the miners win | | ing examples when the “call of nature” greatly in Chemical Wartare PARTY LIFE | Conducted by the Org. Dept. Central Com- mittee, Communist Party, U. S. A. Does the Party Go on Ice in the Summer! By T. YAKOVLEV (New York) | UR Party press devoted sufficient space to the justified criticism of the Party mem- bers who become active after 6 p.m. But our Party press has neglected completely another quite numerous group of Party members who consider that summer is not the appropriate time for doing Party work. I do not have in view those who are leaving the city to work in the country during the summer. Nor do I have in mind the women who, under the pretext that their more or less aged children need the air of the seashore or mountains and take a leave of absence for two or three months. Some of them take transfers, which, in the end, is nothing more but a summer rest from Party work. I have in view those who remain in the city but lay down on the job, especially on week- ends. Then the lure of the country is so great that nothing can compel them to resist the temptation, While such an attitude is im- permissible on the part of the so-called rank and file members, more severe condemnation is deserved by those members who are in the leadership. Of late, in our Section 5, we had two glar- interfered with our Party work. In accordance with instructions from the district, we called a conference to discuss the achievements and shortcomings (mostly of the latter) of the last three months’ plan, As our section has 30 units and we could expect an attendance of 150 func- tionaries, the Section Committee decided to call the Plenum for Sunday, June 21. We fig- ured that if we would call the meeting for an evening there would hot be sufficient time left for discussion, To our great surprise, regardless of the fact that the conference was well announced, less than half of the functionaries showed up. One unit (No. 23) did not. have a single buro mem- | ber present. Six organizers @id not show up. Less than half of the organization secretaries, agitprops and T. U. U. L. directors of the units attended. This was in the morning. After the recess, the attendance dropped considerably and out of the 150 functionaries that should have attended only 40 were present. The other example is the meeting of organ- ization. secretaries which is held once a month and where at the last meeting half of the Or- ganization. Secretaries did not show up. This demonstrates that the Organization Sec- tetaries do not understsand their functions. They are the ones that are to check up on the activities of the members of their respéctive units, attendance at meetings of such a nature included. How can they present chargés against mémbers of their units for non- attendance when they themselves are guilty on the same charges? Besides, by their failure to show up, they miss an opportunity to adjust all the minor shortcomings the unitsaresuffering from, and thére até plenty of them. With the advance of summer the attendance dropped. It is remarkable that the attendance of the units dropped to a lesser extent than the attendance of the different meetings of unit functionaries called by the respective heads of the section departments: agitprop, T.U.ULL., women, etc. The call of nature is so great that it suppresses the call of the Party. It seems this is an acquired habit. And no matter what good plans the Section Committee works out, what excellent weekly letters we send out, without, the personal contact with the unit func- tionaries these plans will remain on paper. For this reason the Party press should start a cam- paign for carrying on Party work all year long, 12 months during the year, and not lie down all activities for May-September. Latest Preparations “According to plans which are now fairly well completed, at the very hour, or possibly a few hours before, America next declares war, tersely worded official telegrams will automatically go forward from: Washington to several hundred chemical plants scattered throughout the East and Middle West. In substance, the message will say: ‘Go ahead,’ and the innumerable war contracts which are being signed in these quiet times of peace will immediately become effective. This is only one of the startling statements in “Chemical Warfare,” one of the 10-cents pamph- lets prepared by Labor Research Assn. and is- sued by International Pamphlets. With the war clouds coming nearer and hanging lower every day these words take on all the more signifi- cance and make this pamphlet still more val- uable to workers. The pamphlet contains a clear Leninist anal- ysis of the imperialist rivalries making for war. Then it describes in concise, readable, and non- technical language just what the chemical in- dustry is as a mass employer of labor, and how many related industries can be used to provide the materials for chemical warfare. ‘The author {s one of the leading chemical ex- perts’of the United States and the authority of his words cannot be questioned. The pamphlet has already been translated into several lang- uages and has, of course, received wide circu- lation in the Soviet Union. Besides giving a true picture of the actual conduct of chemical warfate and the effects of the various gasses used against armies as well as against the civil population, the author shows how the struggle for nitrogen, the essential raw material for chemical warfare, is in itself lead- ing to the most dangerous rivalries between capitalist powers, In conclusion Cameron shows how “in the their strike through solidarity and relief. The last ten miners and miners’ wives released on Wednesday, June 8th, went to the meeting of the-Central Strike Committee, in Pittsburgh, and Stated their willingness to go to Wildwood again, since the injunction hed not yet been smashed. They will fight for the freedom of Tom Myer- scough, National Miners’ Union organizor, who is The Struggle Against the Right and “Lett” Deviations (The following are extracts from the report of Comrade Earl Browder, on behalf of the Central Committee, C. P., U. S. A., to the Sixth Convention of the Young Communist League, July 11) ae aA By EARL BROWDER. (HAT are the main characteristics of the situ- ation in the United States today? We wit- ness a most vicious offensive of the capitalist class against the working class. The capitalist class is attempting to solve its crisis by throwing all the burdens upon the shoulders of the work- ers, It closes down the factories and throws onto the streets more than ten millions of work- ers, while more millions are working only a few days per week. Wages are slashed by more than 40 per cent since the beginning of the crisis. Machinery is speeded up to an unheard of ex- tent, throwing more workers onto the streets, and ruining the health of those at work. And whenever the workers resist, when they demand unemployment relief and insurance or strike against wage-cuts and speed-up, the capitalist class and its lackeys reply with the sharpest suppressive measures, with police clubs, gas bombs, jailings, shootings and killings. That is, concretely, what we mean when we speak of the offensive of the capitalist class. The working class is beginning to resist the capitalist offensive. The widespread and deep- going radicalization is beginning to overcome all hindrances and develop into mass struggles, despite the strengthening terror and intensified demagogy of fascists and social-fascists. These defensive struggles are more and’more taking on @rganized form. They are moreand more put- ting forward concrete demands, They are broad- ening their mass base and deepening their class character, developing to a higher stage. The working class is beginning to pass overto the development of a counter-offensive. It is the task of the Communist Party and the Young Communist League to arouse and strengthen this resistance of the workers and develop the broad counter-offensive, It is only jin the process of carrying out this task that, the Communists can win the majority of the work- ing class. It is only in. the very heat of this struggle that we can build the Party and League. The political line of the Communist Inter- national must penetrate and guide every strug- gle of the workers. This line can be established only by the most decisive and uncompromising struggle against all deviations. The struggle against deviations is the most practical aspect of the practical work of a Marxist-Leninist. There ts nothing abstract about it. There is nothing mysterious or artificial about it. We can only develop the clear revolutionary line in the strug- gles of the workers for immediate demands and for our principal slogans, provided we havé a clear understanding of the deviations from that line which we must fight against. Let us review the work of the past year of our Party in the light of the struggle for thé cor- rect line against deviatiotts. Consider our strug gle for unemployment-relief and insurance. The greatest danger to this fight, as generally in our Party, is the right danger, the underestima- tion of the radicalization of the working masses, of their readiness to struggle, and, as a result, the neglect of the detailed needs of the masses and an incapacity to formulate these needs in concrete partial demands of struggle. Only through the most resolute fight within our movement against all tendencies towards passivity, against all lack of faith in the masses, were we able fo develop the mass struggle for unemployment relief and insurance. Every com- rade who has had any contact with the unem- ployed work will be able to give hundreds of examples of this lagging behind the masses, which we had to overcome. When we began to organize street demonstrations we always found some comrades who felt that the masses are not yet ready. When we began the state hunger- marches, the first task was to batter down a veritable wall of lack of faith in the support of the workers and disbelief in our wn capacity. In the building of the unemployed councils, the entire work has been choked by a paralyzing lack of faith in the readiness and ability of the workers to build these organizations, not to speak of the general lack of confidence in the creative capacity of the revolutionary masses—a confi- dence which is an integral part of Leninism, ‘These are examples of what we mean by the right danger. It is quite clear that never could we have developed the unemployed movement, even to the degree we have at present, if we had hesitated for one moment in fighting with all our power against this right danger. What was the “left” danger in the unemployed movement? This expressed itself in the attempt to run ahead of the masses, in neglecting as “unimportant” the necessary small struggles and organizational details of the bolshevik method of mobilizing the masses, in the attempts to overcome and cover up our organizational weak- nesses and incapacity to mobilize the masses, by slogans which ignored the concrete situation and therefore become mere phrases. The comrades afflicted with the left deviation thought it nec- essary to run #head even of the Central Com- mittee directives. They thought that the task was, not so much realization in life of the al- ready made plans, but rather by rushing ahead to more “radical” slogans and activities to make unnecessary the hard work of realizing plans. This tendency developed, at one time, very defi- nitely toward abandoning mass work in favor of small secretly-organized food-raiding expedi- tions, which it was thought would avouse the masses by “heroic” examples of “brave” indi- viduals. The right danger, lagging behind the masses, lack of faith in the masses, is the main danger. The “left” danger, equally opportunist in con- Soviet Union the chemical industry serves the will of all the workers of the country and is hailed as a potent force for industrial progress under the Five Year Plan. It is regarded as an essential weapon for the protection of the work- ers’ government against the war offensives of the capitalist states.” No worker who is fighting against imperialist war can afford to be without this valuable pamphlet. And the nearer the approach to war the more useful it becomes as a mass agitator among the workers. Get a copy today and if you own one already see that another worker held on the charge of manslaughter, and on a charge of ‘‘nciting to riot.” This last action of the bosses courts attempts to frame-up an or- ganizer of the N. M. U., for a murder committed by coal operators and thelr government, reads it. ‘Those who cannot buy it through local worker book stores or at meetings should send in ten cents for one to the Workers Library Publishers, 35 Bast 12th Street. New York City. tent and result, is the shadow of the right dan- ger and its cover, making the fight against it more difficult. Our Party is hammering out a correct line for the mass struggle of the unem- ployed, correcting errors and strengthening the work, only by means of relentless struggles against all deviations, against all forms of op- portunism, both right and “left”. In our trade union work we have not less ex- treme examples of deviations. The trade union field remains our weakest point. Although we have, in past months made some improvement, weakness is still the main characteristic. This is because, first of all, of a lack of sufficient un- compromising struggle against deviations in policy. The right danger is especially great here. In this field we have still so little experience in revolutionary mass work, so little concrete, detailed knowledge of the problems, that even the best-intentioned comrades who in general understand the Party line, oftentimes find them- selves involved in the most serious right or “left” errors, remnants of old trade-unionist theories. A general but vague knowledge of the Party line is no guarantee against concrete mistakes. The most open expression of the right danger is the theory that, in times of economic crisis, strike struggles cannot be successfully conducted, that they are doomed to defeat... The right danger is not confined, however, to such gen- eral theories. It expresses itself in manifold ways, and in the most practical questions. In the present miners’ strike, for example, we have had to struggle against innumerable deviations, both right and “left.” -Throughout the Party we saw an opportunist underestimation of the strike, reflected in slow- ness in swinging into action on relief work. This was a right-wing disbelief in the fighting ability of the miners, which caused. many comrades to think that the strike will be short, will soon be over. In the strike field we have had to combat pessimistic tendencies..among some of our or- ganizers, who, because. of underestimation of the forces of the strike, were.ready to begin to speak of and consequently call a retreat when the min- ers themselves were organizing an advance. We will undoubtedly have to guard very carefully against these tendencies toward the premature ending of the strike, which indeed means break- ing the strike. Such tendencies can be more clearly understood, if considered in relation to the Muste program. which they put forward for the southern West Virginia miners who are un- der their leadership (see “Labor Age,” July, p. 5): “That the Union, will agree to sign up friendly operators, thus playing off the compa- nies against each other.” This Muste program, trying to base the strike struggle against some operators upon the support of others, supposed~ ly “friendly,” is the typical conscious trade- unionist theory, carried over from the days of the small-scale competitive industry, typified by Samuel Gompers, 2 theory which still cxerts a pressure, unconscious within 64 @wn ranks. The “left” deviation in thé trade union work, usually expresses itself in some variation of the theory of the offensive. This is to the effect that strike struggles, while of a defensive char- acter in the pre-war period, turns in genera! into an offensive under the conditions of the post-war crisis of capitalism, because, it is ar- gued, a successful struggle today against wage cuts is @ufficient to bring capitalism to its knees. (See a analysis of this theory in RILU Mag- azine, 9, p. 20). In a more primitive form we oftd@ meet it in our trade union work in the United States. It is opportunist in essence, al- though covered up with a, great deal of radical shouti’g about taking the offensive. It is necessary that our comrades, especially the youth, should have more definite under- standing of these terms, “defensive,” “offensive,” and “counter-offensive.” In the United States the capitallst class is conducting a vicious. eco- nomic and political offensive against the work- ing class. Within the working class there is wide-spread radicalization and upsurge of ac- tivity and beginning: of struggle. .The main body ‘of the working class is, however, as yet only beginning to overcome the hindrances and to resist wage cuts, speed-up, the starvation of unemployment. The beginning of the mass actions has primarily a defensive character, ‘Wherever this defensive movement begins to in- yolve broad masses and sharpens the struesle, it simultanesusly begins to devélop the elements of @ counter-offensive against the offensive of the capitalists. ‘The general -character of the smal) strikes that sprang up during the past per- jod all over the country is, tn the main, that of the defensive. In the miners’ strike we already see this defensive in the process of passing over into a counter-offensive. This is true especially insofar as the movement broadens to include also the unemployed and puts forth joint de- mands against the state for maintenance and relief, and develops the political struggle against the suppressive measures of police and courts, the spirit of struggle and sacrifice of the mas- ses on the picket line, the growth of class-con- sciousness and organization of the movement. In the unemployment movement also we see the counter-offensive developing in the hunger marches and in the militant mass struggles that are being made in various cities for adequate relief at the expense of the capitdlists and state administered by the unemployed councils. It is therefore clear that it is absolutely wrong to speak of the “offensive of the working class and the counter-offensive of the capitalists.” An example of this wrong use of these terms, which can create an entirely erroneous political atmosphere around our struggles, may be found in a recent issue of the Daily Worker, which says: “increased mass picketing at Piney Fork and other mines Saturday morning checked the counter-offensive of the coal operators.” (To be Continued). Murdered and Maimed for Bosses’ Profits Perma: Wounded ently Dis: abled France 3,100,000 800,000 Great Britain 725,000 2,050,000 380,000 Germany 4,215,000 665,000 Rusia 2,750,000 410,000 Approximate total losses of all be- li gerents ...... 9,000,000 19,000,000 3,500,000 DEFEAT THE WAR PLANS OF HOOVER, MELLON, AND STIMSON! ‘ RALLY TO THE DEFENSE OF THE SOVIET UNION ON AUGUST FIRST 4 a By JORGE <e Compare These Two ‘The Houston, Texas, “Press” of July 2 carries a@ dispatch from Cuero, Texas, where Alvin Mae bray, a Negro boy, admitting his “guilt” but pleading that he stole a chicken because he was starving, found “his heart-breaking tale of hun- ger and poverty unavailing.” This poor Negro lad was sent to the hell of a@ Texas prison for two years. In the same paper there appeared a news item relating how. Albert. Fall, ex-secretary of the interior in President Harding’s cabinet, sen- tenced long ago to just one year in jail for loot- ing the nation, was going to appear before # government medical board to be examined te see if his $100,000-bribed carcass could stand @ few months in jail. No wonder that the Texas worker who- —_— us the clippings cries out: “Workers, white and colored!- We cart’ smash this capitalist justice only. by smashing the capitalist system!” . * Daniel In The Lion’s hia: “On a visit to the jail today,” writes. Vic. B. from Seattle, “Dan Lonn, our Unemployed Council secretary, filled out the admittance slip wrong by putting his own name in place.of the name of the prisoner, and the prisoner’s name as visitor. * “He found that mistake in time and filled out another slip. But when he presented it to the Jailor, this worthy began looking up all kinds of records and fin-lly said that there was no Dan Lonn stopping at that hotel. “Tt seems that Dan was so cockeyed used to being inside that he just couldn't ‘be ‘deprived of the pleasure of putting his name down as a prisoner the second time, just as he did at first. “Anyhow, the prisoners he went to sée are in good shape; and say, they couldn”t change their views on the class struggle if they were held there for forty years. And, they mean it.” We don't like to have any of our folks in jail But, if they do get there, well, that’s the kind of spirit they out to have. Sees Dumping Convict Goods at Home “Dear Red Sparks:—Talking about forced and convict labor, read this and get a shock:—In a broadcast from the A. F. of L. radio station in Chicago, a guy, whose name I failed to get, in boosting the union label of the scabby ‘Boot and Shoe (so calléd) Union,’ among other things said: “The shoe ahd needle workers are suffering very keen competition from the shoe and needie work being put out by the prisoners in the various state prisons, All efforts by the A. F. of L. to convince the prison authorities to stop the manu- facturing of leather and clothing goods have so far failed.” Priceless ems of Babbitry Vern Smith, who is scouting for news in Minérs’ Striké—and getting it, found a letter in the readers’ column of Pittsburgh “Press” of July ‘ith, signed by a superb jackass by the name of W. J. Bassett, with recomendations and comments that should not be missed. We omit the bulk, but give, the following gems: “History bears witness that all who added in the march of progress haye been rich men. “It is the capitalists who provide the working- men with employement. This statement is easily demonstrated.” (We'll have to butt if, here! ‘This is really too much!—Jorge): : “The capitalists, by hard persevering endeavor (and numerous well-laced bribes!—Jorge), have obtained conirol of all natural resources,” “The workingmen instead of resorting te strikes and other forms of violerice, should ene gage in prayer and meditation and even fasting.” Quick, James, pe bed-l lend powder! ately for “The Coveted Wago In zon that all may know how Americay capitalism has rewarded its pioneers of the Old Oregon Trail, we are compelled to reprint the following item from the San Francisco “xam- iner” of June 14th: i “Seattle, June 13, (AP)—Two elderly Washing- ton pioneers, Mr, and Mrs. W, J. Lewis, without money to my food or to pay their rent, ended their lives by gas in a suicide pact. ing house, with a note that read: “We have tried our best to obtain employ= ment, We have no. money to buy provisions or to pay our rent. Now we are going to turn on the gas. “Lewis was 72 and his wife 71. They were said to have been among the first settlers in Whatcom, now a part.of the city of Bellingham.” Oh, yes, we recall that by order of the.U. 8. army military district commander, the Statue of Liberty “enlightening the world” (that seems to be looking across the Atlantic, probably toward the Soviet Tnion), is to be all cleaned up from tip to toe! But the pioneers of the Old Oregon Trail, are past caring about that now. ‘The lest dine of the note left by the old coliple in Seattle, read: “We request our bodies be cremated-and> our ashes be scattered on the flowers.” ‘They were too old to wait’ fr How en year plan.” re a A Texas Puzzle . “Tf a million men buy a million, —a thousand men will go to work says a hopeful page ad editorial of the ‘Texas, “Chronicle.’ the editor addst And after that proposal, “Think it over.” And we did think it over. 1 And from this we figure out that, fn order te put the 10,000,000 unemployed in the Unite@. States alone, to work, ten billion men woul®, have to buy ten ten billion shirts (include: shirt-tails). But there we struck a knot. For there are only two billion people in the whole world, and some of them are ace ah iat animals, like women, for example. s Some way or another, the Houston’ ‘Chronicle editor will have to think up a_new one. Shirt buying won't help. Maybe he could start some- one to buying pants. After all, the existing two billion people that do live on this earth would have to wear five shirts each and no pants, Bring on your pants scheme, Mr. Editer! 4nd put an unemployed apple in each pocket >