The Daily Worker Newspaper, July 27, 1931, Page 4

Page Four Are the Decisions Plenum to Remain on Paper? By 0. W. KUUSINEN of own, the CI genuine The Cor can on letting 2 on paper e decisions of a ¢ object. These decis! ves f the r and intended to tionary pra Therefore licatis of is absolute whole s And 3 cisions of been up till Plenum, of CI Sections, ures This is natu tional Party discipline in the mechar by most to further question of interna~ 1 sense not a of the term. Only the enemies of Comm represent the ne of the tern as blind sup lism, according to which the N ow Executive of the Comintern dictates everything that the Communists of the various countries have to do or leave undone. This is a mendacious caricature of Comintern discipline. By international development of our Sections we mean something quite different, as shown by the following An international session of the Comintern, such as the recent Plenums of the ECCI, per- forms important political work. The members of the Executive Committee, elected by the World Congress, and in addition, a considerable number of other representatives of other Sections from many countries, come together, in order to study once more collectively in the course of a fort- night, the old fighting experiences, analyze the economic and political situation and lay down the immediate main ta: of the Comintern. The result of this collective work, laid down in care- fully considered resolutions, and theses of the Plenum, constitutes a result of great political importance for the Communist movement of the world. But this result can be lost to a. great extent, if the Sections of the individual coun- tries do not know HOW TO UTILIZE IT. What does this utilization mean? An international session makes chiefly only TENERAL decisions, appropriated to all the im- grtant countries, it gives the characteristics of ?xe INTERNATIONAL situation and lays down dn its-directives the GENERAL COURSE of the Communist Parties for the immediate future. This is practically its task. It cannot analyze in detail the conditions of all the individual countties, and still less work out whole CON. CRETE directives for the individual countries and situations which are rapidly changing. This should be the work of the individual Sections, which they are to carry out on the basis of the decisions of the international ion. But it is precisely regarding this point that we encounter one of the most characteristic de- fects in the work of our Sections, to the removal ef which the Executive of the Comintern has paid considerable attention lately, and will have to continue to do so. The XI Plenum of the ECCI, also called special attention to it by giv- ing prominence among the serious weakness and defects noticeable in the work of most sec- tions and “Indicating as special danger in the conditions of the present, higher stage of the s struggle,” also to the following defect ‘A mechanical application of GENERAL di- rectives without their CONCRETIZATION, with regard to the respective country and the respective and concrete case of the class struggle.” But there seems to be now the danger of the general directives given by the XI ECCI Plenum being also mechanically carried out by many Comintern Sections. The CP of Germany alone went immediately and seriously to work regard- ing the conctetization of the decisions of the XT Plenum in accord with conditions in Germany A WAR VETERAN’S CALL AGAINST WAR ARTICLE Itt. On the other hand, for instance, the CP of France, Great Britain, USA dnd many other Sections of the Comintern have hitherto, if we informed these decisions ly, have so to speak, “taken cog- them,” which means that for the e substance of the Plenum decisions the subject of.a couple of short news- les, and that otherwise questions off till the Plenum of the CC; then at the Plenum of the CC, a report on the ECCI Plenums was listened to, a quate discussion an equally ins was adopted, in order to he agenda.” gee emctly treated ave bee e been put ' | However, it is just possible that one or other of these parties has after all done a LITTLE MORE, in order to m results of the ECCI Plenum its own, but if so, we are not of it. Anyhow, one thing is certain, that the to the MOST IMPORTANT tasks arising of the ECCI Plenum, namely, (1) ion of these decisions in accord with cial conditions in their respective coun- tries; and (2) dra’ of the Party out into the discussion and concrete elaboration of the ECCI decisions. The first of these asks demands a thorough {| re-examination of and a reply to a whole series of very important pressing questions by every one of the Communist Parties, cn the basis of the new general resolutions of the ECCI. The XI Plenum of the ECCI has above called attention to the development of the crisis of the capitalist system, to the accentuation of the class struggle, to the development of the revolutionary upsurge, and to the fact that most of the masses. What are the concrete forms which these phenomena take in the given in- dividual country? cated. The 38 Plenum has given special em- phasis to the’ fact that the growth of the revo- lutionary upsurge is developing unevenly, “in accord with the degree and tempo of the devel- opment of the crisis and of the accentuation of the internal and external contradictions of capi- talism in the given country.” In countries such as Germany, Poland, Spain, the Plenum has es- tablished an upward development of the premises of the revolutionary crisis. But what about France, Britain, or America, etc. in this report? What is the tempo and degree of the develop- ment of the crisis and of the accontuation of the internal and external contradictions of capi- talism in these countries? The executive of the respective Communist Party should have clear- ly worked out this immediately after the ECCI Plenum, beginning hereby a real popularization of the ECCI decisions in the ranks of the Party. The XI Plenum gave a general chatacteristic, but not separately for every country, of the ruth- less capitalist offensive against the standard of living of the workers (mass dismissals and un- employment, wage cuts, higher tax maintained high retail prices, reduction of so- cial insurance, etc.), and recorded at the same time the growing discontent of the wide masses, a further sharpening of the strike and un- employment movement, the growth of the oppo- sition of the petty-bourgeois urban masses, etc. “What form does this take in our country?” Every Communist Party should have asked itself this question. Why? Above all for this reason: because the ECCI Plenum had to establish the fact that there were serious defects in most of the CI Secctions, which took the following form A policy of Kvostism with regard to a series of great revolutionary movements; unemploy- ment demonstrations, strikes and peasant movements. Lagging béhind with regard to the mobilization of the masses fer the defense of the daily needs of the workers, inadequate linking up of the struggle for these demands with the struggle for proletarian dictatorship. In how far does this weakness exist in our Section? This is what every Communist Party should have asked itself. It should also serious- ly consider the measures to be taken, in order to completely remedy this weakness. The popu- larization of the decisions of the ECCI at the Plenum should have been utilized precisely for the purpose of mobilizing all Party organizations and members for the struggle against our chief weaknesses, and final victory over them, In of the E.C.C.I. “proceed after | of the CI Sections have not yet done jus- | he whole membership | all | of the: CI Sections lag behind the radicalization | This must be clearly indi- | artificially | Jay, at 50 Hast “And they’re telling us to go to war with Soviet Russia to keep up the standard of living.” rker Party U.S.A. By mail everywhere of Manhattan SUBSCRIPTION RATES One year, $6; six months, $3; two months, onx York City. » For one and B New $1; excepting Boroughs $8; six months, $4.50. PARTY: 2:15 8 Some New Methods of Building the Party By BEATRICE SISKIND | "THE lack of method with which to dig down and get the workers is a great shortcoming | in our work. It keeps our Party isolated from | th? macses in many Sections of the country | We have some experiences in District No. 9 | (Minnesota) in our effort to overcome this shorteomirig, especially in the metal mining areas. The greatest complaint of the outlying sec- tions especially was isolation from, the masses, no roots among the miners and farmers, and little organization among them. The District Buro discussed this, issued instructions, the or- ganization department worked out a plan of work with a view of focusing the attention of the Party members by giving them definite quotas and tasks to obtain for the Miners Union, and the United Farmers League, but things proceeded slowly and not at all in some units. There was not enough incentive to begin. Prior to the 3rd Annual Convention of the Metal Miners Union in District No. 9, the Buro had the prospective of moving the Union head- quarters to Ironwood, and comrade Irma Martin | was sent into that section to strengthen the which domains above all? In the struggle against mass unemployment which has assumed enormous proportio! in most capitalist countri and is bound to grow still more. The majority of the CI Sections have not yet displayed much activity in regard to the organizations of the unemployed movement which has rather developed quite spontaneously. One of the first conclusions which every indi- vidual Communist Party should draw,from the | political resolutions of the ECCI Plenum is, that it must work out immediately concrete meas- ures capable of strengthening its work in this domain (TO BE CONCLUDED.) Conducted by the Organization Department of the Central Committee, Communist Party, U.S.A. Party. The Party needed to be yanked out of the Finnish hall, to be orientated to the needs of the miners and farmers, to the constant shutting dewn of the mines and the resultant increasing unemployment and desperation among the miners. In her effort to turn the Party in the direc- tion of organizing and working among the min- ers, comrade Martin has taught the Party many valuable lessons. Shé has taught the Party how to utilize contacts, how to aproachp and work among the miners who are under the vigilant eye of the steel spy system. The first thing she did was to investigate if any of the South Slav and Italian workers were readers of the Party -press. A list secured of the language papers disclosed some readers of the Radnick, etc. TheSe workérs were imme- diately visited. After several meetings to which the readers of the press brought other reliable workers, a good number joined the Miners Union, The comrades tell how the delighted workers were to have organizers come te them. Also they took special note of the fact that the organizers were ever cautious not to expose the miners; they came in the evenings and made themselves as inconspicuous @s possible. The miners in order to keep their jobs must outwit the spy system. With the information secured from these workers, the Party unit in Ironwood issued, for the first time in its history, a mine bulletin ‘The bulletin was so rich with experiences of the workers in the mines and their conditions, that it helped bring both the Party and the Union before the workers in sharper and clearer form than even the house meetings did This work started in the early part of March continued steadily. With the help of the bul- letin further contacts were gotten thru the workers already in the Union. \."> have suc- eseded in forming two groups inside the mines which will develop into Mine committees with consistent work. Let us see what this method of work did to the Party: The Party in the Ironwood Sec- tion was a sectarian Party, composed exclusively of Finnish comrades, who devoted their major activity to the Finnish club and Cooperatives. This work although valuable and a necessary form of mass work, was not utilized sufficiently to bring the workers of the clubs into the Trade Union Unity League and to lead the unem- ployed Workers into struggle. The Party unit in Ironwood was not a political body working among the workers of all nationalities but a fraction of the Finnish mass organizations. The method of going to the homes of the miners of all nationalities and bringing them into the movement proved to the Finnish com- rades better than a thousand resolutions could have, that their alibi that “Finns cannot work among other nationalities” is all wrong. It made a tremendous step forward in breaking the iso- lation of the Party and in putting the Party forward in the steel town cf Ironwood 23 the leader of the struggle of the i'*-7- The culmir.ation point of this correct method of approach was the successful May Day de- monstration in Ironwood, which saw 1,000 work- ers of four different nationalities on the streets demonstrating under the banner of the Party. Prior to the demonstration two more shop bul- letins were issued and eight new South Slav miners joined the Party during the demonstra- tion, The Union was considerably strengthened. A note ~rthy lesson can be drawn from the May Firs’ Demonstration in Ironwood and that is that (.e campaign was not only linked up with the foreign born campaign against the “Alien Registration Bill” in Michigan and the s of the miners, but the visiting of ;, the distribution of leaflets, the house meetings With miners, were all preliminary to the May Day demonstration, while building the Party and the Union. The turnout on May Day was a culmination and a result rather than an accidental beginning, as is the case with many of our demonstrations, when the com- rades are surprised to see the turnout and allow them to disperse without organizational results. One way of defending the Soviet Union is to spread among the workers “Soviet ‘Forced Labor,’” by Max Bedacht, 10 cents per copy. War veterans from all countries, you have still fresh in your memory on this 17th anniversary of the World War, the long years of horrors and hell at the front. The destroyed regions. the millions and millions of dead, the millions of mutilated in the battles, the hundreds of thousands of dead from hunger. the suf- ferings in the prison camps, the thousands of dead in the military prisons, the thousands shot behind the front whose names are unknown and the many and many classified as lost, the thousands who died of starvation in the towns and villages, of all the beliger- ent countries, the millions of undernourished children who are today the new generation and are slated in the army camps of today as the new cannon fodder for the impending imperialist war. You remember this all and you know that it was for the fatherland of the profiteers. You know also that thousands and thousands of those poisoned by gas are still having daily convulsions, the mutilated of the last imperialist war are still confined to hospitals far from the eyes of the public, hidden to prevent their mutilated bod: their monstrous faces from showing the real face of war, to prevent their appearance in public from spoiling the patriotic carnivals on the @taves of those who perished. Thousands and thousands of you who are physically ruined, crippled by the last slaughter, who still carry bullets in your bodies, but no longer regarded as in- valids by the governmental medical commissions, you who are no longer able to work, who are slowly dying, remember all this. You ask together with us, with the millions of veterans: “What was it that we went through this hell for?” What was it that all these millions were sacrificed for that were killed in the great wer, either by the slow process of starvation or by the quick route of a bullet? We were told that we were fighting to make the world safe for democracy. That is what we were told: but what we got was different. We got a bloody dictatorship in Yugoslavia which, during the last years has murdered cold- bloodedly thousands of workers and peasants. We got fascism in ftaly which is torturing and murdering the This is the lest of three articles written by a worker who spent five years on differ- ent battle fronts in the last war. the writer, The articles narrate some of the personal experiences of by the command of Mussolini. We got torial police rule in Germany which suspends the constitution in the name of the constitution and organi political murder of the militant workers. We got the beastial Horthy regime in Hungary. And last but not least, we got the liquidation of the rights of the workers in America to organize, to speak, to as- semble; we got deportation as punishment for partici- pation in strikes; we got a dictatorship of capitalism with its Ku Klux Klan, its American Legion, and its organized underworld used as extra governmental in- struments of terrorism ageinst the masses. We were told that we were fighting for the self- determination of the peoples. That is what we were told; but what we got was different. We got Southern Tyrol under the iron heel of the Italian fascist dictatorship; we got oppressed ninorities in Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia; we got Bessarabia under the bloody control of the Roumanian landlords; we got Ukrainian peasants expropriated and exploited by a dictatorship in Poland. We got the Philippines calling in vain for the realization of a prom- ise for their independence. We were told that we were fighting to end all wars. That is what we were told. But what we got is war in permanency. We have now the burden of more ermaments than ever. The desire for peace and the struggle against armaments is punished by all capi- talist governments as a capital crime. We were told that we weré fighting to establish equal rights for American citizens. The black workers of the United States were led to the slaughter on the battle fields of Europe with the promise tha: the dis- crimination against them shall cease. That is what we were told; but what we got was different. We got more lynchings than ever; these lynchtpgs are augmented by dastardly frame-ups against black workers; Jim Crowism reigns as supreme in the South as ever it did before the war. The Negro Masses are as oppressed and as exploited as they ever were before the war. The World War taughi us something. It taught us to die, unflinchingly. But it also taught us that when the capitalists call upon us t@ die for high- sounding ideals, they really want us to die for their profits We are not against sacrifices. We are not afraid to fight; we have learned to fight. We were face to face with death long enough not to be frightened bv ite But the experiences of the last war taught us that if we are to sacrifice, if we are to fight, if we are to meet death, we shall do it defending our own interests, the interests of the masses and not th> pocketbooks of the few capitalists. That is why the masses of veterans look with con- temp’ upon those few who allow themselves to be par- aded and used to whip up a new war spirit. The of- ficers and capitalists who organize and lead these parades know the war only through field glasses. We have suffered in it; we have given our blood in it; we do not want another war except it be a war defending our own interests. On this 17th anniversary of the World War, on the coming August First, the millions of war veterans and especially the cripples and victims of that war must re- member! But also the gentlemen of the bourgeoisie must remember. They must remember that millions of men have been steeled for struggle in the suffering and in the horrors in the last war; they must remem- ber that these men are not afraid of anything; they must remember that these men have used arms for years and, know how to use them. They must remem- ber that they have learned the true worth of their so-called fatherland in the last war and are no longer’ willing to sacrifice their lives and limbs for the pocket- books and profits of their rulers. The years of suf- fering in the war, the dissillusionment after the war, the hungering of the “war heroes” on the bread lines while the war profiteers are enjoying the fruits of their war business have transformed millions of vet- erans into revolutionists. If they take up arms again, they will no longer direct them against their brothers on the other side of the capitalist frontier. They will make common cause with these brothers against the capitalists. Millions of veterans have learned from their experience that to defeat war one cannot use the weapons of pacifism. To defeat war the weapons of war must be used. These weapons must be used to make an end of the many capitalist fatherlands and establish in their places a world union of workers’ republics, All the war veterans must organize to fight against the approaching new imperialist war. On August First they must join the marching battalions of the work- ers’ anti-war demonstration. They must help fighting against a contemplated war against the Soviet Union. They must resist the efforts of the patriotic profiteers and their army officers to whip up a new war spirit in the parades of legions with agosses and medals. All of these veterans must demonst=®t@ to tell the new generation about the horrors of the war, about the de- ception of the war makers and about the duty of the worker in uniform. All must come out to throw into the face of the bourgeois the challenge of their determination to fight against any new imperialist war. These veterans must march at the head of the demonstrating battalions of workers and farmers on the First of August. Together with them they will form some day the detachments of a workers’ army in the capitalist countries. This workers’ army will defeat the imperialist war by trans- forming it into a struggle against capitalism for the overthrow of the capitalist system and for the establish- ment of the proletarian dictatorship. That alone is guarantee for world peace, That alone is guarantee for the world’s freedom. That alone will establish the base for the building of socialism, a society without war, without exploitation, and without oppression, Bsefouts | By JORGE He “Does Not Choose” to Write Do you recall, gentle reader, how the world, especially the well-known “heart of the world,” turned over on its back and moaned with sor- row when, late in June, it was announced that Calvin Coolidge would no longer contribute a “column” every day to tell the waiting universe that which he thought was good for its soul? You surely recall his column, assinine from the opening letter to the last period. Alas, that amusement is no longer with us. Cal told us that “Brains need a vacation.” But whose brains?” < Ah, there’s the little difficulty. Because, lo and behold! It turns out that Coolidge never wrote “his” column at all! The fellow who did write them is named Herman Beaty, who was a former capitalist newspaper correspondent in Washington, to whom Coolidge took a fancy. Just tell that to any of the Goof brothers who ate up Calvin's stuff. And tell them that not. we Comrhunists, but the capitalist paper, the N. Y. Mirror of July 22, says so. How did the “vacation for brains happen? Why did the “Coolidge” articles stop? We'll tell you that also. And also from the same authority, which says: “The reason why they were #topped is not that Mr. Coolidge needed a holiday, but that Mr. Beaty and Mr. Coolidge’s stenographer were too romantic to please Cal.” So! The sinners were “carryin’ on” right un- der Cal's Vermont nosef{ The nation’s morals were at stake, somebody's morals, anyhow. Thus Mr. Beaty had to go, and Coolidge has to look around for a safe guy like the sultans of Turkey used to keep around to wash the windows. But we'll bet that he'll look far and wide be- fore he can find any other guy that can break all records by writing stuff that is so dumb that nobody knows that Cooldige don’t write it him- self. 5 ele Wanted: Young Cannon Fodder But for “peace”, Oh, yes! We read about it in the London “Daily Herald”, known as the organ of the British “labor” party headed by the “so- cialist” MacDonald. In one page we see a long article by Harold Laski, telling how MacDonald, Lloyd George and Baldwin, leaders of the three capitalist parties of England, met on the same platform and spouted guff about “no more war”. But on another page of the same paper we read: “WANTED FOR THE ROYAL NAVY"—in the headline, and below it: “Boys, bright, intelligent and weéll educated boys for training. Age 15 years to 16 years and 6 months. Excellent chances of promotion for sharp boys. NOTE: The lower limit of age for entry of boys has now been reduced to 15 years.” So the “pacifist” Ramsay MacDonald, leader of the Second “Socialist” International, ha “lowered the age limit” to get 15 year old boys into the British Royal Navy! Do you think it is for peace? Do you see the lie in the “peace” talk? Then out onto the street. August First to protest at the coming impe- rialist war! Ae 8, More “Socialist” Economics When we commented the other day on Ram- say MacDonald's speech at the opening of the Seven Power Conference, where they “adopted” something that nobody can identify, we, didn't tell half. Now we have before us a copy of the London “Daily FE ld” of July 14, the organ of the sc- called “labor” party and semi-official organ of the “labor” government, both headed by the “so- cialist”, MacDonald. From it we learn one of the reaséns why the British pound sterling has been falling in inter- national exchange. It cquldn’t help doing so, when world bankers learn that the British pre- mier puts out such rotten economics, some sam- ples of which we give below. Some handpicked committee, such as Hoover appoints and never takes off the payroll, called the MacMillan Committee, has agreed with MacDonald that: “The rapid fall in prices is one of the prime causes of unemployment and bad trade.” It gces on to razz the devil out of the Bank of England, so we learn that the“labor” government is at outs with the Bank. Further along the Daily Herald editorial says that: “It would be disastrous to bring wages and salaries down to harmony with present price levels, that it is absolutely essential to raise a Jong way above the present levels.” This “socialist” swindler tries to make out that,. first, wages have not already been “brought: down”; seoendly, he talks as if a raise of prices is not, of itself,.a reduction of wages. So MacDonald wants the Bank of England to do something, it being evident that the crisis is tearing at the economic base of MacDonald's political prestige. So he says: © “Inflation—and it is folly to be frightened by a word—is the only possible remedy. Not a mad, but a sensible inflation.” Don’t go entirely crazy and jump from the top of a sky-scraper to the street; but it’s all right to be a little off your nut and jump from the top to down about half way. That's “sensible” isn’t 1t? No! Well that's “so- cialist” economics. District, Section and Unit Literature Agents Do you have your supply of AUGUST FIRST PAMPHLETS? Only a few days left! See that you are supplied with the following pamphlets at your August First Demonstrations Anti-Soviet Lies and the Five Year Plan 10¢ by Max Bedacht “Soviet Dumping” Fable, by M. Litvinov 2 Revolutionary Struggle Against War vs. Pacifism, by Alex Bittelman Se Life in the U, 8. Army, by Walter Trumbull 10¢ Don’t fail to act at once to get your literature! CENTRAL AGITPROP DEPT.