The Daily Worker Newspaper, July 30, 1931, Page 6

mea by the Comprodaily Publishing Co. Page (= r N.Y. Telephone A. ks to the Daily Worker ee = c ion that the . wrongfully, unlawfully ssion of all suit is “of ance” and that it is one of s involving disputes over prop- thing and Norman Thomas Iquit ought to know ‘Morris Hiliquit’s standing as a lawyer,—says reverend Thomas,—his great intelligence and long devotion to the party make one hesitate isagree with him in a case of this sor e so, Hillquit When he says th unlawfu what he is talking t the Soviet govern- y and by force | of arms seized j of ezarist oil-robbers’ properties, he ery word of it He means to say t proletarian revolution i unlawwful and that capitalists whom he has the re “lawfully entitled to ndustry. We the posses: " of the Soviet are not exaggerating the least bit Hillquit Plainly asserts the “lawful title” of his clients to have oil lands of the Soviet Union. Article XXVI of his affidavit reads as follows “KXVI. In and after November, 1917, a revo- Intion occurred in Russia and the supporters of the said revolution, acting together under the name or designation of the Federated So- cialist Soviet republics of Russia or Soviet Government of Russia, thereafter wrongfully, unlawfully and by force of arms seized pos- session of all of the plaintiffs’ oil lands, wells, buildings, fixtures, machinery, plants, cisterns, and pipe lines above described by virtue of an alleged decree of nationalization or con- fiscation of all oil lands and of the whole oil producing business in Russia, and have there- after WRONGFULLY, UNLAWFULLY AND FORCIBLY RETAINED AND MAINTAINED POSSESSION of the said lands, wells, build- Ings, fixtures, machinery, plants, cisterns and pipe lines WITHOUT THE CONSENT OF THE OWNERS THEREOF and of the PERSONS LAWFULLY ENTITLED TO THE POSSES- SION OF THE SAME, INCLUDING THE PLAINTIFFS.” ‘We have underscored the telling phrases in Hillquit’s affidavit, his main arguments upon which he builds his case against the workers’ revolution. If these contentions “are of no political signinficance,” then all the counter-re yolutionary activities of the czarist emigres, of. the Mensheviks, the imperialist bankers, and the General Staffs of the anti-Soviet intervention are also “of no political significance’, Hill- quit’s complaint constitutes the POLITICAL PROGRAM of all the cotmter-revolutionary anti-Soviet bands the world over, as well as ithe program of the Second International, of ‘which Hillquit is an outstanding leader. When their imperialist powers in 1919 invaded (Russia in order to strangle the workers’ revolu- tion they were actuated by exactly the same “principles” as those expressed in Hillquit’s af- fidavit. Kolchak, Denikine, Yudenich, Wrangel, Semyonoy,—all the leaders of the white bands who. drenched the Russian soil with the blood of the workers and the peasants, did so in the name of the very “principles” solemnly pro- | Claimed and sworn to by Morris Hillquit. They, | too, maintained that the Bolsheviks seized the | | | Properties of the capitalists and the landown- | ers “wrongfully, unlawfully and by force of arms” and they proceeded to regain these prop- erties with the kind aid of the imperialist armies | of intervention. This was their political pro- gram and it remains the political program of the anti-Soviet counter-revolution to this very day. In fact, there is no other program back of all the intervention plots and imperialist anti-Sov- | let drives. Morris Hillquit chooses his words with care. He uses the word “wrongfully” with calculated intent. He means to say that the workers’ revo- lution is not only unlawful by the legal tenets of capitalism, but it is wrong as well,—that the rule of the workers and the peasants constitutes & moral wrong. He means to say that even if most of the capitalist governments are forced to recognize the Soviet Union and hence—the “legality” of the revolution, the rule of the work- ers and peasants still is “wrongfully” because it violates the most “sacred” capitalist institn- tion of private property In his statement defending his suit on behalf of the czarist oil-bandits Hillquit says that “the actions do not involve any question of socialist principle’. Again Norman Thomas is right in his assurance that Hillquit knows what he is talking about. Who is better qualified to Judge of “socialist” principles than Morris Hill- quit, chairman of the American “Socialist” Par- ty, its International Secretary and member of the Executive Committee of the Second “Socialist” International? Who knows better than Hillquit that the attempt of the former Russian capital- ists to regain their possessions by means of mil- “Wrongfully, Unlawfully, Forcibly” | ica’s Way Out,” saying that, “There is much itary intervention is fully in accord with the so- les of the Second International? It is wrong to think that Morris Hillquit’s in- terventionist program differs in any way from the anti-Soviet program of Norman Thomas, of the American “Socialist” Party or of the Sec- ond International. Perhaps, Hillquit put it a bit too awkwardly; perhaps his open interven- tionist palicy is causing some embarrassment to some of the more practical “socialist” interven- tionists who find it necessary to cover up their intervention activities by a lot of hypocritical assertions of “friendship” for the Soviet masses. Norman Thomas himself is somewhat embarras- sed by Hillquit’s frankness in the matter. . He knows that an open interventionist program ts a poor snare for “soul-catching” among the work- ers who are in sympathy with the Soviet Union and its socialist up-building. For this reason Thomas is forced to concede that Hillquit’s in- terventionist oil-suit “seems to me to have a ‘political significance’ contrary to the well estab- lished socialist position on the right of na- tionalization.” It may seem at first glance that Thomas grudgingly recognizes the “right” of the Russian working class to nationalize the plunder possessions of the Czarist capitalists. But this is not so. Thomas’ “well-established socialist position” is based on a still better established “socialist” position that the capital- ists must be “compensated,” and compensated well, for their nationalized properties. He makes quite a point of it in his book, “Amer- to be said for compensating those who first are singled out for the socialization of their property,” for... “after all, a great many owners are guilty of no worse crime than play- ing the game by the established rules.” In other words, Norman Thomas fully sup- ports the position of Morris Hillquit, which is also the position of the British arch-interven- tionist, the oil-magnate, Deterding, the position of the imperialists of all countries—that the Bolshevik revolution has committed a wrong by depriving the capitalists of their possessions | without compensation, and that the wrong must be righted by military intervention. Hillquit makes it quite clear in his affidavit that he does not recognize the workers’ revo- lution. Again, it is not his personal position. The Second International does not recognize the revolution either, just as it is not recognized by American capitalism, just as it has not the recognition of the White emigres or the French General Staff. There is no difference between Hillquit’s rot recognizing the workers’ revolu- tion and Deterding’s. ‘Jeterding says the revo- |* lution has s‘olen his oi! properties; Hillquit says exactly the some tuning. Deterding maintains that the former owners of the Russian oil lands are still legally and morally entitled to their “stolen” properties; Hillquit emphatically agrees with him. Deterding insists on getting back his “stolen” oil-properties or at least part of them; Hillquit sets out to achieve the same end on behalf of his Czarist clients. There is no difference between the “social- ists’” intervention program and that of the im- perialists. The difference is only in the strategy employed. The imperialists proceed more or less openly with their intervention plans and their drives against the Soviet Union, while the “socialists” seek to deceive the working masses by a show of “friendship” for the Soviet work- ers, doing their utmos\ at the same time to dis- credit the achievements of the workers’ revolu- tion, to lie about it, to mobilize the workers on the side of imperialism in the coming inter- vention against the Soviet Union. This, in- | deed, is one of the specific tasks of the “so- cialists” in the joint plan of intervention or- | ganized by the imperialists in close and willing cooperation with the Second International. The Second International and its parties throughout the world are the “Agitprop Department” of the intervention, doing their utmost to propagan- dize the workers against the Soviet regime and for the support of a capitalist war upon the Soviet Union. The Second International has already earned the name of “war international” by its cooperation with the imperialists of every country in the world war of 1914-1918. It is now entitled to yet another name—the interven- tion international, for in all truth and in all fact, the Second International and its various parties, including the American “Socialist” Party, is an imperialist intervention agency, and its leaders are active agents of imperialist in- tervention against the Soviet Union. The American workers will not be misled by some of the intervention agents, like Norman Thomas, who profess not to support Hillquit’s intervention policy. The American workers know that Hoover, Mellon and Stimson are forging a united imperialist front against the Soviet Union. They must also realize that Hillquit and his ilk are all too willing aides of the imper- ialist interventionists. Fight against imperialist war! Fight against anti-Soviet intervention! Fight against imper- ialist war-makers! Fight against their “Social- ist” helpers! In the land of Hoover and Stim- son, in the land of Hillquit and Thomas the First of August must be made a day of stormy mass demonstrations against imperialist war and for the defense of the Soviet Union! Children’s Lives ' to the Coal By CAROLINE DREW. 'VER™ since John L. Lewis sold out the Ken- tucky miners for four hundred and sixty thousand dollars in 1922, conditions in the camps have been going from bad to worse, and have becorié’so bad that starvation is evident every- where. Bill Duncan, who worked for the Kentucky Utility Coal Corp, at their Kentucky King mine, has the following to tell about the treat- ment he received from the company. ‘Three days after he took his 6-year-old son home from the hospital where he had been op- erated on for tonsils and adenoids, the child deyeloped a nose bleed, which his father stopped. ‘The next day Duncan went to the mine to work | as usual. He was driving an entry. About nine in the morning his son’s nose be- gan to bleed again! His wife took the child to the company doctor in the camp. They were not living in the camp themselves. The doctor could not stop the bleeding and phoned into the ine for Duncan Neither the mine foreman on- Mean Nothing to Companies anyone else would give him the message and it was not until after quitting time that he heard that his son was very ill and had been bleeding all day. The motors were just coming out of the mine and he asked the cut boss if he could ride the motor out. He. finally got permission from: the third boss he asked. It would have taken him an hour to walk out. When he got to the hos- pital with his son the doctor told him that the child would have been dead if he had waited much longer. Because he rode the motor out of the mine he was laid off for 15 days. The cut boss who had given him permission was also laid off for 15 days. Later the company reconsidered and let the cut boss go back to work. When the 15 days were up Duncan went back to the same entry to work. At all the entries the miner has to load two cars at a time. The first car is easily loaded, but to load the sec- ond he has to first throw the coal at least 15 fest (0 the bata we thes wid toa ec By mail everywhere: One year, of Manhattan and Bronx, SUBSCRIPTION RATES: $6; six months, $3 York City. New Foreign two months, $1: excepting Boroughs one year, $8; six-months, $4.50. BURCK PARTY LIFE Condueted by the Org. Dept. Central Com- mittee, Communist Party, U. S. A. The Unemployed Councils at. Work in South Carolina By CLARA HOLDEN, ‘HE Unemployed Councils are, of necessity, or~ ganizations out in the open. They should be loud-mouthed giants, making demands and making themselves felt by many. demonstrations, hunger marches and open meetings. When, be- cause of police or K. K. K. terror, the Unem- ployed Council branches are forced to be partly underground, it is a very unhealthy situation. New strategies have to be worked out. In- stead of open, publicly announced meetings, meetings have to be held on the quiet, in dif- ferent workers’ homes. Not having open, mass activity, there is a danger that all real activity will stop and that the Unemployed Councils will be mostly a matter of speeches. The branches become demoralized unless definite, concrete jobs are undertaken. Ebre various activities have developed. In oné case, a woman who owed $10 on her rent was told by the landlord that her $100 worth of furniture would be taken in five days. A group of neighbors, organized by the Unemployed Council, went to the land- lord and told him to leave her alone. No at- tempt was made to take the furniture; which otherwise would undoubtedly have. been seized. Another landlord came down 50 cents on rent, when Unemployed Council members in one neighborhood refused to pay it. Groceries can be brought down the same way. When certain families are especially badly off, committees of neighbors go with them to the Red Cross and Phyllis Wheatley Settlement, to ask for relief. Groups go to stores and ask for food. None of this activity, on the face of it, is done if the name of the Unemployed Council; to all outer appearances, the committees are just interested groups of neighbors. Their relation to the Un- employed Council is like that of the mill com- mittees to the National Textile Workers’ Union. The Unemployed Council branches here are active in the Scottsboro case. When one of the Scottsboro boy's mothers was in town for two weeks different branches and members donated food and money for her upkeep. Collection lists and collection boxes are handled by the branches, and literature is sold, to raise money. Members of the Unemployed Council were the leaders in the Scottsboro Defense Committee. Thirteen churches and one association of teach- ers were visited, when Mrs. Montgomery was here, and $47.23 collected. The organizational machinery of the Unem- ployed Council has been worked out this way. Branches meet every week; at most, every two weeks. Minutes of each meeting should be taken. Each branch, as it is formed, elects an executive committee of three—branch secretary- treasurer, literature agent and one delegate to the Central Executive Committee. The Branch Executive Committee signs up new members, sells literature and handles any situation that comes up between meetings. For instance, I have just been told that a “pounding” is going on in one neighborhood—a house-to-house collection of food—a cup of sugar here, a cup of flour there— for a family in immediate need of help. The into the car. This means he has to handle the coal twice and is only paid for working once. If there is any rock it has to be thrown about 25 feet to the other side of the coal, then the rock has to be loaded on to the car. On this particu- lar entry there was over a foot of rock. The miner is not paid for working hard throwing rock a distance of 25 feet, but Duncan thought he should at least be paid for loading the rock into the cars. When the boss came along he asked him how much he would be paid per car for the rock. The boss answered the company did not pay by the car but estimated the amount of rock. When Duncan received his statement he found the boss had estimated the rock at nothing. Such stories of forced labor for nothing are told by almost every miner in the Kentucky mountains.| These conditions have led them to militant struggle against some of the most powerful coal interests (Mellon, Insull), to re- fuse and denounce the U.M.W. of A. sell out, ‘Nedicn2) Manors Woe By JOHN SCHMIES ‘HE following notice was sent to all wel- fare families: “NOTICE TO ALL WELFARE. FAMILIES “City of Detroit, “Dept. of Public Welfare, July 9, 1931 “The City of Detroit must reduce the money spent on unemployed families because of lack of funds. “After August 1, 1931, many of the families now receiving help will be dropped from our list. This will first affect the families with no small children. The larger families will be asked to eat at the public dining rooms. We cannot promise clothing, rent, coal, gas or light. “The Welfare Department deeply regrets this necessity and offers its services in helging the unemployed famvlies carry out their plans. “THE PUBLIC WELFARE COMMISSION.” The above notice was only sent to families. ‘The single workers, both male and female, have been dropped and wiped off the list completely three weeks ago. According to Mayor Murphy's Welfare Commission, a tota of 10,800 families have been dropped in the past three weeks. The program of the City Council and endorsed by Mayor Frank Murphy calls for the elimina- tion of 25,000 families by the end of August, 1931. ‘This starvation program of the city govern- ment will actually mean that large numbers of working-class families will starve from hunger. Here we want to cite two examples quoted in an editorial of the “Detroit Times” (July 10, 1931), a paper which endorses the starvation pro- gram: “A mother of four children died of starvation in the Receiving Hospital Wednesday afier sleeping in a car for a week.” “A young man turned out of the Fisher Lodge on Councilman George Walters’ motion made in behalf of the flophouse ring was picked up unconscious in the street and taken to the Receiving Hospital. He was near death as a result of eating from garbage cans.” ‘The present conditions in Detroit have de- veloped to such an extent that hundreds of similar cases as the two mentioned above are reported daily. Increased numbers of men, women and children are applying for relief, but all of them are ruthlessly turned down. In addition to all this, workers are being literature agent is in charge of the Southern Worker, Labor Unity, pamphlets and also any leaflets that are to be distributed. Each branch gets 10 papers to sell between meetings. The literature agent is also responsible for Workers’ Correspondence. The secretary-treasurer is the “leader” of the branch and is in charge of the treasury. After the necessary amount is de- ducted to pay for the literature sold, the rest is put in the branch treasury, and the members vote how to spend it—send it to the Scottsboro defense or anything they want. Ice cream is sometimes sold at the meetings to increase the treasury. The delegate to the Central Execu~ tive Committee reports at the meetings on the activities in her branch, takes up all problems with the other members and reports back to her branch. The Central Executive Committee meets once a week. There is a permanent recording sec- retary, also a treasurer. A different chairman is elected at each meeting. Each member of the Central Executive.Committee is assigned to, and is responsible, for a branch. This is especially good where new branches are formed and the Branch Executive Committee is not yet used to the work. Where possible, one worker should have general direction of the work; he should have a paid job, if possible, so he can give his full time, as Unemployed Council organizer. To get to new territory, and to keep track of the work, if done right, takes all the time there is. While working underground, even though get- ting some results, the Unemployed Council must. work to ¢ome out in the open as soon as pos- sible. The Unemployed Council must work to come out in the open #8 soon as possible. The | Unemployed Council, of necessity,, must e | Ope, Liebling, ; aemanizadiay, 44) pees ‘A Large Section of Detroit Work- ingclass Faces Starvation! evicted on an ever larger scale. Practically all day long and every day in the week the branches of our Unemployed Council are called to eviction scenes. Demonstrations and strug- gles against evictions are taking place daily in Detroit. Only the other day a demonstration of 3,000 workers was organized, and this dem- onstration lasted until two o'clock in the morn- ing. The entire Police Department in the par- ticular section of the city was called out. Ma- chine guns were put up and a real atmosphere of warfare was actually created. Maily arrests are taking place, as many as 35 workers at a time. Mayor Frank Murphy is showing his real color 4 and his social-fascist methods more and more. This starvation program of the bankers and automobile manufacturers, which is being loy- ally carried out by the city government, is ap- plied at a time when not less than 50,000 addi- tional workers are being kicked out of the auto- mobile industry in the city of Detroit. Besides the wholesale lay-offs wages are being slashed to the amount of 30 per cent, The speed-up system is intensified to such an extent as never heard of in the past.. The Hoover “stagger plan” is being carried out to its fullest extent in the automobile shops. Recently the ‘T. U. U. L. office received a let- ter from the wife of a Ford worker. The letter reads as follows: “We have received your address from a friend who said that you would be able to help us. My husband has been killed or rather died from the heat in the Ford Plant. He expired last Thursday at 2:30 pm. We in- quired about help from the Ford Plant, but. they said they could do nothing about that. “If you could be able to help us or recom- mend any good person we shall appreciate it very much. We are not very sure whether she died from the heat or not. Please answer as soon as possible whether you could help us or not. Cc. K.” This letter gives a pretty good picture of the conditions inside of the automobile shops and the conditions as well as the wages under which the workers are compelled to work. In summing up the present conditions in De- troit and vicinity the workers, both the em- ployed and unemployed, face increased mass misery and hunger. The demonstrations for the last two months, and especially since the Michi- gan State Hunger March, have demonstrated the increased militancy and readiness among the decisive sections of the working class, the automobile workers, to follow the leadership of the Trade Union Unity League and the Unem- ployed Council in the struggles against our com- mon enemy. at Our immediate task must be to sharply in- crease our activities and to take a practical lés- son from the striking miners and textile work- ers who are leading a struggle against the con- ditions which are developing in all decisive in- dustrial centers. Besides developing local demonstrations, be- sides fighting for relief and against evittions, we must link up the struggle against unemploy- ment with the building up of a powerful anti- war demonstration on August First, the center of which must be the struggle against unem- ployment and to bring out all the practieal slo- gans such as “not a dollar for imperialist war preparations, but every cent to the unemployed.” The individual members of the Trade Union Unity League and its affiliated unions, espe- cially the members of the Auto Workers’ Union, must become ever more active in all of our branches of the Unemployed Council in Detroit and vicinity. = The demonstrations which were staged during’ the last two weeks must be incréased and above all the building up of the block committees and much more activity among the workers in the shops and employment offices. The Branches of the Unemployed Council are developing very rapidly in the last six weeks. Hundreds of workers are signing up every week. But in addition to this the building up of our Auto Workers’ Union and the Building Trades Industrial League must be much more concen- trated upon in order to bring about the unity action By JORGS Another “Socialist” Triumph The Milwaukee “Leader” ts a “socialist” papen in case you don't know about it, and in bold face type in a box on the middle of the front page in its edition of July 23, it boasts of a victory for the “socialist” party, even if it has to go te London to get it. What ts this victory, this great attainment? you will be asking. Did the “socialists” of Eng- land stop a wage cut for the Yorkshire woolen workers? Not at all! Let us spring the head- Une on yolt first, and go on easy lest your heart can’t stand it. Here’s the headline: “SOCIALIST IS WALES’ DANCE IN- STRUCTOR.” Then the first. paragraph: “London.—The Prince of Wales’ dancing teacher was 2 Socialist candidate for parlia- ment in 1929, it was disclosed in a court case yesterday.” SO! There you have it! Something for Amer- jean “socialists” to feel all puffed up about, isn’t it! But what was Henry Cooper, the “socialist” hero of this case, in court about? Defending the downtrodden British workers? Not on your life! He is suing a certain Miss Audrey Hodson, claiming that he hired her to work for him two years ago, but that when he went on a vacation “owing to domestic troubles” (which also sounds interetting) this mere hireling “elbowed him out of his business” and now contends that Cooper ceased being the proprietor when he quit paying the rent. In some angles, this case seems to parallel that of Morris Hillquit, demanding that the Rus- sian workers give back to Russian capitalists the oil wells nationalized by the Revolution. On the other hand, the cases are different: Cooper taught the Prince of Wales to dance, but the Russian capitalists taught Hillquit te jump through a hoop, stand up and bark and play possum, besides instructing him to dance. Chile Sauce Last week, the Republic (with certain mod- ifications) of Chile, had a president. Even on Sunday the N. Y .Times (July 26) informed us that: “The fact that the police have been sufficient. to keep the situation under conrol appears to indicate that the opposition is not finding the strength it probably expected.” Alas for capitalist papers’ reputation, the next day the Times had to run a headline: “Revolt Wins in Chile as President Flees!” We must again remind you that when the capialist papers tell how their big shots are “enthusiastically supported” or “deeply reverenced” by the pop- ulance, that 99 per cent of it is pure hokum. In the case of Chile, the effort to keep up ap- pearances of vctuntary action, gave us some choice laughs when we read the papers of July 27. The fascist dictator, General Ibanez, issued a statement, said the N. Y. Times, out of consideration for the dear public, no doubt: “Grave reasons forbid me to continue exer- cising the duties of President, and Pedro Opazo, President of the Senate, will succeeé me with the title of Vice President, in ac: cordance with Artile 66 of the Constitution of the Republic.” Just keep your eye on those “grave reasons” and read further along something else by the commanding general of the Chilean army: “His Excellency the President, in demon- strating a love of his country and expressing a desire to see peace and a cordial under- standing come.once more to the citizens, has decided to abandon the Presidency.” Such a fine old gentleman, this Ibanez! (As Curtius of Germany said of old skinflint Mel- Jon before the moratorium bubble busted.) The President of Chile quits the job for “grave rea- sons” and a general tells us it is because he “loved his country.” But over on the inside pages we read: “The renunciation of power by President Ibanez sent the capital into a celebration which quickly changed to a popular demand for the death of the President. There was constant parading, shooting of guns into the air and organized cheering, with shouts of ‘kill Ibanez!” Each one of those guns and shouts was one of those “grave reasons” mentioned by the guy who so “loved ‘his country” that he got out of it between two.days and in a hurry to escape being made-into mincemeat by his “admiring” fellow citizens. We note that Wall Street is sorta worried about ‘the $700,000,000 it invested in Chile and in keéping Ibanez in pork chops. We won't lose any sleep over that, but what troubles us is the weakness of the Communist Party in Chile, bled white by fascist terror, although sure to gtow strohger-with the mass upheavel. From up here it looks like Great Britain is getting..even in Chile for America’s upsetting of its friend, Irigoyen, in Argentina, a year ago. The two big impérialisms have a long finger in every Latin American pie. District, Section and Unit Literature Agents Do you have your supply of AUGUST FIRST PAMPHLETS? 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 —2e Revolutionary Struggle Against War vs. Pacifis, by Alex Bittleman Be Life in the U. 8; Army, by Walter Trumbull 10¢ Socialism and War, by Zinoviev and Lenin 150 The War and the 2nd Int., by Lenin 200 Chemical Warfare, by Donald Cameron 10¢ War in the Far East, by Henry Hall 10c Don’t fai} to act at once to get your literature! _ CENTRAL AGITPROP