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

Page Four eee = The Socialist Party “Revival” in Connecticut | By MAX SALZMAN. TH feverish efforts, the Socialist Party is W tr to rev 1 icut A few weeks ago i i a state convention, its delegates coming c y from the Workmen's ranches the. small remnants re- bran In a few cities e been working for some e policy of the S. P. the chief rs is to draw teachers ‘iness elements first rt of any possible g there. In fact, a man in working clothes who came to the con- vention was frowned upon and ignored as all the features of a Billy With the blare of trumpets, marched fo Ided of the capitalist pre: came to save the world. From whom? the g class of course. s of 1930 in the city of st saviours, told the work~ he same thing as the Com jialists have a sane way about Not for nothing did the S. P. adopt It was fulfiing its task. It was anity” from the fear of Commu- g this in order to deceive the a awakening to the call for order to steer the determinaticn for channels. cialists Deceive Workers. be deceived. This is the socialists. And every effort ained in this direction. And for this pur- e the petty bourgeois elements are being mob- ilized, money being collected, and special or- ganizers utilized. The capitalist press opens up its columns to them. Editorials are written praising them. They need help in the form of publicity—and they get it. The capitalist press knows to whom to give space. In a recent issue of the Stamford Advocate a long letter was printed by a “special organ- gentleman is named Joseph Miller. He is a graduate of Muste’s anti-working class poison shop Brookwood. Fresh from his laurels in completing his course on how to com- bat Communism, he came to Stamford a few weeks ago. And he finds it easy to work there. Let the Communists struggle with the police. He, on contrary, finds the police quite friendly 2nd willing to help. He works with the pectable people of the community. In his ecial organizer shows he knows the of Stamford. He knows of the tremendous sentiment among the work- ers in suyvort of the Soviet Union. So this gentleman dares not attack the Soviet Union that come later. Now one must be “clever.” So he writes, “Russia has shown that a govern- ment can run industry and run it more effi- ciently than a priyate organization.” Then From this method saving “r ‘0 “safe” izer. the worker: New York, N, , at 50 East DAIWORK." { By mai: ° Porty U.S.A. MELpty SUBSCRIPTION RATES: “ everywhere: One year, $6; six months, $3; two months, $1; excepting Boroughs Manhattan and Bronx, New York City, Foreign: one year, $8; six months, $4.50. a | “In Russia the government has all sorts ance to the worker. If a man is out of he draws unemployment insurance; if sick, he gets sickness insurance; if too old to work there old age pen: “Socialism is the only way that povert me and other evils of capitalism will be abolished.” Socialists Use Demagogy. | Here is a classical example of demagogy. Mr. Miller has a job to do. He wants to show he | can do it well. His job is to make workers think that the successes of the working class in the Soviet Union are the successes of the S. P. He does not mention that his big boss, Mr. Hill- quit, was the chief attorney for a group of former owners of oil wells in the Soviet Union, demanding compensation for these exploiters. He does not mention that his socialist party sup- ported morally and financially the efforts of the Menshevik party to overthrow the Soviet Republic and destroy those things which he claims socialists establish. He does not tell the workers that the working class in the Soviet Union achieved their successes only after defeat- ing on the barricades the fake “socialists” in Russia who were fighting for capitalism, just as he is ag for it here. Mr. Miller resorts to this cheap trickery be- cause he is not in Stamford to organize workers for struggle. His job is to win workers away from the influence of the Communist Party. And it is with little wonder that he is given so much space in the bosses’ press. But Mr. Miller does not feel too sure of him- self, He fears his masters will think he went too far in praise of the achievements of the Soviet workers. So he goes on to say, “True, there is a certain amount of despotism, but haven't we got that here, too?” So everything is all right after all. Mr. Miller is not a red agent. Heavens no! He goes just far enough to deceive workers, but injects his bit of poison. Despotism exists in the land of the Soviets, he GERMAN SOCIALISTS ON THE JOB—EVERYTHING TO SAVE CAPITALISM ** GROPPER says. Naturally, one who receives training in Mr. Muste’s Brookwood college, can see no dif- | ference in a dictatorship where a small group of capitalists exploit and oppress the entire population, as exists in the U. 8, and a dicta- torship of the proletariat where exploitation has been abolished and where the working class with the full support of the peasantry dictates that capitalism can no longer return to the land of the Soviets and he who works to bring it back will have to face the wrath of the working class, He conveniently shuts his eyes to his great socialist, MacDonald, oppressing millions of colonial people; of the support given the capi- talist dictatorship by the German socialist party, or, that the socialist party makes up the largest part of the ruling block in Spain, fully sup- porting the government, which is trying to drown in blood the efforts of the masses to im- prove their conditions. It is by no means an accident that the Nor- walk Hour, with its leading editorial in the issue of ‘July 21 demands the deportation of what they call red strike leaders. On the same page appears a letter asking for donations to Norman Thomas’ strikebreaking relief com- mittee. Another proof of the respectability of the S. P. is seen in the opening of the Workmen's Circle Center in Hartford. After using trickery to de- prive the left wing shareholders of their shares, the old Labor Lyceum was opened up with its new name. For a few days previous to its opening it was decorated with large American flags and red, white and blue bunting. Among the speakers at the opening were some leading capitalist politicians. The capitalist papers had nothing but praise in welcoming this new cen- ter of community life, |PARTY LIFE How to Organize Mass Picket Lines (From the Organization Bulletin of the Cen- tral Rank and File Strike Committee, Pitts- burg.) a | hee adey understands that in order to win our strike, in order to defeat the attempt of the government, the coal operators, their strike- breaking agents, the UMWA, we must draw ev- ery miner and his family into some form of strike activity. This means organization. The basis of all activity is mass picketing; without Conducted by the Organization Department of the Central Committee, Communist Party, U.S.A. this basic form of organization, that is, without niass picket lines, all other strike activities mean very little. With a strong well(organized picket line, it is more difficult to bring in strike break- ers, the morale of all strikers becomes stronger. All other activities, such as relief, defense, build- ing of the union, women’s auxiliaries are more will be carried out at a much more rapid Pace, ‘Therefore, when we all know that mass picket- ing is the very life of our strike, then it becomes necessary that we put our mass picketing on a more substantial organizational base. It 1s not enough to simply call everybody to come out on | | rapidly developed and the spreading of the strike the picket line; the strikers of every mine should be organized into groups with an elected cap tain, so that they can be quickly mobilized, either for picket duty at their own mine, sent to Picket another mine, assigned to collect relief, of other necessary work in the strike. What we must do is the following: 1) Organize the strikers and their families at every mine into groups of ten; each gtoup of ten to elect a captain. The captains of all the groups should meet and elect one or more who shall direct the picket line. 2) The captain of each group of ten shall keep a registration of his group and shall call the roll each morning on the picket line. 3) That strike relief cards be issued to each striker. This card to be punched by the cap- fain each morning on the picket line, which will show when presented to the relief station that they were active on the picket line. )4 That any striker not active on picket duty shall be visited by members of the group. If sick, of course they are excused. If not sick, they should be urged to come on the picket line. If they constantly refuse they should not be given relief. Just imagine how quickly we would be able te move if we had such a form of organization on all our picket lines. First, of course, every picket line would be stronger, and then, in places where we were weak, groups could be sent immediately in to strengthen these weak spots not as we do now by depending only upon a mass meeting; the section strike committee could quickly get in touch with the captains, instruct them to get their groups and go on picket duty at the mine that requires assistance. Of course, the groups of ten should be organ- ized so that those living near one another shall be in one group. In company towns this is more easily done. However, in places where strikers from various mines live, that are miles away from their mine, they should also be organized into groups of ten, either for picketing at their own mine, or at any mine that the strike com- mittee may assign them to. The organizing of the strikers and their fami- lies into groups of ten, will not only strengthen the picket line, but will strengthen relief, work. The relief committee which has generally from three to five members cannot collect relief themselves. Thousands of strikers and their fam- ilies must be drawn into this work. How can this be done, or rather how SHOULD it be done, Of course, it has to be done through the strike committee, and it can be done best if we or- ganize everybody into groups of ten. Then the strike committee decides how many groups shall go on the picket line, how many groups shall go out and collect relief, changing off, so that every- one do s picket duty and shares in the work of relief. Just as organizing ourselves into groups of ten will strengthen the picket line, strengthen relief work, so will it more quickly build our union, the Nationgl Miners Union and the Women’s Auxili- aries. Each group captain not only registers his group of ten, checks up their activity on picket duty or whatever task the group has been as- signed to do, but sees that every man becomes &@ member of the union, and every woman a member of the Women’s Auxiliary. ACUTE PR IN a speech delivered on the 23d of June before economic experts and industrial leaders in the Soviet Union, comrade Stalin dealt with the most important problems of the present stage of the socialist constructive work. This speech was exploited by the whole of the bourgeois and social-democratic press in a violent cam- paign against the socialist constructive work in the Soviet Union The capitalist and social-democratic press re- acted in a lar fashion to another famous speech of comrade Stalin, “Our successes are going to our heads!” in which he dealt with the errors which had been made in the work for the collectivization of agriculture. This speech wes also exploited as a basis for the joyful pro- clamation that “Communism has suffered bank- ruptcy in agriculture. The Communists are com- pelied to return to the old and effective methods of capitalist agriculture!” It was not long, how- ever, before the capitalist world was made to realize that the bolshevist struggle against er- rors and exaggerations as accompanying phe- nomena of the constructive work, was nothing but a means of pursuing that same constructive work on a still higher plane to its logical con- clusion. And in the meantime the capitalist world has been compelled to admit that the organization of 13.5 million private poor and middle-peasant farms in the collective agricul- tural undertakings represents a decisive victory for the socialist constructive, work on the agri- cultural field. In just the same fashion the bourgeois and social-democratic press will soon be brought to e that Stalin’s recent criti- cism of the errors and exaggerations which have occurred in Soviet industrial construction repre- séhts nothing but a basis for a further drive forward on the part of socialism in the Soviet economic system in general and in Soviet in- dustry in particular. "The significance of the capitalist and social democratic campaign in connection with Staliti’s latest speech is very transparent. The Hoover plan for a moratorium has, as can already be geen, not resulted in any considerable relief for capitalism. Not only do broad masses of the working class and of the petty-bourgeoisie fee) insecure and regard the capitalist system with growing mistrust, but even in leading economic circles of the ruling classes confidence in the Capitalist system has been roughly shaken and the hope of overcoming the world economic erisis has suffered a heavy blow. This can be seen nowhere more clearly than in the reaction of the Stock Exchange to the economic hap- penings since the announcement of the Hoover plan. On the othr hand, nothing has been able to prevent the growth of the confidence of the broad masses of the tollers in all countries in the socialist constructive work being carried out in the Soviet Union, and at the safe time the consequent growth of the confidence of the mas- ses in their own powers. This situation makes it urgently necessary for the ruling classes that this confidence in the work of socialist con- struction should be undermined, and that in- stead confidence should be whipped up in the future prospects of the capitalist system. This is the significance of the campaign inspired by the capitalist ministries in the capitalist and social-democratic press in connection with the recent speech of comrade Stalin, ‘The conclusions drawn by the capite’ social-democratic press, which of cours> publish the text of Stalin’s speech, or ¢ Py the most-important passages from it, but in- = ond OBLEMS 0 stead committed positive falsifications in the versions they published, are roughly the follow- | ing 1, The Five Day Week is to be abolished. 2. Capitalist economic methods are tobe re- introduced; piece-work rates are to be paid; wage tariffs are to be graded, the principle of personal responsibili is to be introduced for managers and work the principle of col- lective administration to be abolished; and all undertakings are to be based on the prin- ciple of capita business accountancy. What did comrade Stalin actually say? What is the real significance of his speech? At the beginning of his speech Comrade Stalin pointed out that the development of the various branches of soviet industry was very uneven, In the first six months of 1931 some industries had succeeded in increasing production by from 40 to 50 per cent as compared with the same period in the previous year. Other industries had in; creased their production in the same period by from 20 to 30 per cent. There were, however, industries (including the coal mining and foun- dry industries) which had increased production only by from about 6 to 10 per cent, and even | less, Stalin then analyzed the reasons for this inequality of development and declared that they were to be sought for mainly in the follow- ing points: 1, The Problem of the Supply of Labour Power. In this connection a fundamental change had occurred in the Sovic®@ Union as compared with capitalist countries. Under capitalism the sup- ply of labour power to the factories and other undertakings was automatic. There was a stream cf fresh labour power from the petty-bourgeoisie end from the villages into the towns. Poverty nd the reduction of the possibility of securing a living in other ways caused these elements to | migrate to the towns in the hope of securing paid employment. Further, by increasing the ca- pacity of its productive apparatus and in con- | sequence of the fundamental contradictions in- | herent in its system (socialization of production, | but not of distribution), capitalism has created an industrial reserve army of unemployed work- ers which today in the period of world economic crisis totals about thirty-five million, upon which it can fall back at any time in case of need. | In the Soviet Union unemployment has ceased to exist (naturally, the bourgeois and social | democratic newspapers fail to mention this fun- damental fact in their comments on Séalin’s | speech), and therefore soviet industry is not in a position to make calls upon an industrial re- serve army, and it has no automatic supply of labour power. Further, as a result of the col- lectivsation of agriculture the automatic supply of labour power from the rural districts has practically ceased. In his speech Comrade Stalin sketches this situation and points out that fail- ing an automatic labour supply, soviet industry must. provide itself with labour power in an or- ganized fashion (by concluding agreements with the collective and soviet farms, by drawing the women out of the household and into industry, ete.). It is characteristic of the attitude of the capl- talist and social democratic newspapers that they male no mention of this tremendously im- stones, because any mention of it 9 the exploited and impoverished cs in the capitalist countries the tage for them of a socialist sys- rs porten 1a enorm tem oi 1 e Problem of Labour Fluctuation. 2 ‘The shortage of labour power as the result of the abo!!'ion of unemployment and as the result of the victory of collectivization in agriculture, used an extremely great fluctuation’ of labour SOCIALIST CONSTRUCTION IN THE US.S.R. _ The speech of Comrade Stalin on “The New Situation ind the New Tasks of the Socialist Constructive Work,” and its echo in the capitalist world. power in soviet industry, and particularly in those industries and undertakings where the con- ditions are still severe and where the demands on the workers are still heavy (for instance, in the coal mining and foundry industries). This fluctuation led to a replacement of labour power in some factories to the extent of 40 and 50 per cent within a comparatively short space of time. This fluctuation is readily understandable. It is clear that workers who have no need to fear unemployment are desirous of doing light work rather than heavy work, or of leaving districts where the living conditions are severe in favor of such where the conditions are better. This tendency was encouraged to some extent by unsuitable wage tariffs. There were tendencies to level up wages for heavy and light work, and for qualified and unqualified work, or at all events to take insufficient notice of the differ- ences between these kinds of work. However, these were nothing more than tendencies. It is not true that the principle of “wage equality” existed in the Soviet Union, as contended by the bourgeois and social democratic press. On the contrary, up to a little while ago this -press ac- cused the soviet economic system of making too great wage differentiation’. Wage differ-, ences always existed in the Soviet Union, but they did not pay sufficient attention to the dif- ferences between light and heavy work, and be- tween qualified and unqualified labour power. ‘The consequence of this unsuitable wage tariff system was that unqualified workers failed to show the necessary desire to qualify themselves and that they changed their work frequently. Is the principle of wage differentiation ac- cording to the nature of the work performed in contradiction to the interests of the building up of socialism? By no means. Socialist industry needs highly qualified labour power. The only way of securing this highly qualified labour power is by giving the masses of the unqualified workers. and above all those who come from the ranks of the peasantry, the possibility of re- maining permanently in their respective fac- tories and qualifying themselves there for higher tasks. It is abundantly clear that in a country where the working class is in power and where profit-hunting has been abolished, the results of giving the workers a material interest in increas- ing their qualifications must be fundamentally different from the results of any such action under capitalism, and that such a proceeding in the Soviet Union can only benefit the interests of socialism. Another very important means of combating this labour fluctuation is to improve the ma- terial and cultural standards of the workers in those factories which demand heavy work. Na- turally, the bourgeois and social democratic press makes no mention of this method. Comrade Sta- lin also deals with this necessity in his speech and showed what must be done in practice dur- ing the coming months. A further means of combating the fluctuation mentioned by Comrade Stalin was the increasing mechanization of the heavy work of industry, 3, The Problem of the Organization of Labour Power. Comrade Stalin also pointed out in his speech that’ in the development of soviet industry the personal responsibility of the factory or depart- ment manager, of the groups of workers, and of individual workers for their factories, for their departments, for their machines, etc., had de- clined. He declared that this decline of personal responsibility for the work undertaken and for the material used, was the result in many cases of an overzealous introduction of the uninter- rupted labour process (the Five Day Week) in certain industries and factories. Another cause was the numerical growth of the working class, and in particular the large labour contingents from the villages. Everyone knows that in the old-established capitalist countries labour power, particularly for those industries which demand high labour qualifications, was recruited chiefly from the old reservoir of workers who had been engaged in the industrial process for generations. As a result of the tremendous extension of the industrial system in the Soviet Union the situa- tion there is quite different. For instance, an investigation into the causes for the slow de- velopment of production in the new Stalingrad tractor works revealed the fact that only 50 per cent of the total staff had been engaged for more than six montHis in the industrial process) Comrade Stalin dealt with this situation in his speech and declared that greater attention must be paid to the problem of the organization and distribution of labor power, and that the prin- ciple of personal responsibility must be intro- duced for the individual worker and for all pro- ductive groups with regard to the work per- formed and for the tools of production, etc. He also proposed that where the preliminary condi- tions for the introduction and maintenance of the uninterrupted labour process were not given, the five day week should be temporarily aban- doned ‘in favour of the normal working week of six deys until such time as the conditions neces- sary for the effective functioning of the five day week should have been established. The capitalist and social democratic press ex- aggerates these suggestions of Comrade Stalin into the total abandonment of the five day week. That is of course nothing more than a new lie intended to abolish the deep impression created everywhere by the introduction of the five day week in the Soviet Union. Is the introduction of the principle of per- sonal responsibility and the correct organiza~- tion and distribution of labor power in any way in contradiction to the tenets of socialism? The question alone shows how absurd are the com- ments of the bourgeois and social democratic press, 4. The Problem of the Technical Intelligenzia. A further cause of the irregular development of Soviet industry mentioned by Comrade Stalin was the insufficient growth of a working class technical intelligenzia, Since the November Revolution the Soviet power has opened tech- nftal high schools fot workers in all branches of particularly in the foundry and coal mining in- | industry and these schools have sent: hunr ranks of the technical intelligenzia, but the supply is still not in accordance with the gigan- tic growth of Soviet industry and of industrial- ized agriculture during the course of the first two and a half years of the Five Year Plan. | Comrade Stalin pointed out that there could be no technical intelligenzia of the working class | Purely from the technical high schools, but that intensified efforts must be made in the fac- cadres of practical technicians, engineers, fore- men, etc., whereby he stressed the fact that the working class, like all other ruling classes, could not get along without its own technical intelli- genzia. Particular attention, he declared, must be paid to taking the best and most capable ele- ments from amongst the ranks of the non-Party workers. Comrade Stalin declared: “On the contrary, such workers (non-Party workers) must receive special attention; they must be. placed in leading positions and be convinced thereby that our Party is well able to appreciate talented workers, Some comrades think that we should appoint only Party members to re- sponsible positions. As a result of this belief they place hindrances in the way of talented and capable non-Party workers, and very often appoint Party members to leading positions who are less capable and have less initiative. There is no doubt that such a policy, if it may be termed a policy’ at all, is stupid and reac- tionary.” 4 It is characteristic that the capitalist and so- cial democratic press makes no mention at all of this very important part of Comrade Stalin’s speech, In this connection Comrade Stalin then dealt with the relations of the working class to the old bourgeois technical intelligenzia, and pointed cut that since tHe great sabotage trials and since the collapse of the hopes of this section for the overthrow of the Soviet power or for a speedy intervention, a very noticeable change had taken place in its ranks in favor of the Soviet power. This new situation demanded a changed policy towards the old bourgeois tech- nical intelligenzia, whereby it should not be for-, gotten that the Soviet power had always pur- sued a policy of cooperation with this section, despite the open sabotage of certain of its most prominent representatives, The fact that Com- rade Stalin declares that this latter policy must now be carried out still more decidedly in view of the change in the ranks of the old bour- geois technica] intelligenzia, has absolutely nothing to do with the demagogic contentions of the bourgeois and social democratic press to the effect that “Stalin now admits that there never was any sabotage in the Soviet Union,” etc. What did Comrade Stalin actually say on the subject of sabotage? He: declared: “Of course, this does not mean that there are no longer any sabotagers in the Soviet Union. . . . There are still sabotagers at work, and there will be sabotagers so long as sthe classes continue to exist, so long as the So- viet Union exists in a capitalist environment. However, it does mean that an important sec- tion of the old technical intelligenzia which formerly sympathized with the sabotagers now no longer does so, but is making a wheel to- wards the Soviet power.” It is clear that an increased cooperation be- tween the working class and the old technical intelligenzia on the basis of the ideological tories themselves to train and qualify new | change in the ranks of this intelligenzia, is ab- solutely in accordance with the interests of the socialist constructive work. - 5. The Principle of Business Accountancy. \ ject introduce no new principle. The fact that Soviet industries must work on a margin of return is not in violation to the tenets of sow cialism, What is the significance of this prob- Jem? The Soviet Union has to build up its in- dustries without the assistance of foreign capi- tal. Everyone knows that the construction of industries in capitalist countries was never carried out without loans. A typical example is offered by the building up of the German coal mining industry in the Ruhr district during the last century which took place with the assis- tance of British capital or the reconstruction of German industry in the post-war period with the assistance of American capital. During the course of the development of Soviet industry whose capital accrued mainly from the light in- dustries, from agriculture and from budgetary accumulation ,tendencies arose to ignore the principle of showing a return tn the heavy in- dustries. In this connection Comrade Stalin declared that the Soviet economic system as a whole and in particular the heavy industries, must be conducted on paying lines and that the costs of production must be lowered in order to open up new sources of capital accumulation to serve exclusively the work of socialist construc- tion and the improvement of the standards of the population. It is clear that this also has nothing to do with any return to capitalism. 6. The Possibilities of an Armed Intervention. Comrade Stalin pointed out in his speech that one of the chief reasons for the ideological change in the ranks of the old bourgeois tech- nical intelligenzia was the fact that its hepes for an intervention on the part of the imper- ialist powers had ‘not been realized. The offi- cial organ of the German Social Democrati¢ Party turns this statement of Comrade Stalin into an “admission that the fears of an inter- vention were unfounded.” This falsification of the social democratic “Vorwaerts” is of course in complete accordance with the line of the Second (Labor and Socialist) International which seeks to convince the masses of the workers that the capitalist countries harbour no hostile intentions of any sort against the Soe viet Union. It is clear that there can he no question of any diminution of the danger of in- tervention; on the cortrary, at the moment this danger ois become more acute as a result of American interventicn in Europe (the Hoover plan). + 7. Concluding Remarks. To sum up: Stalin’s speech contains nothing which can truthfully be interpreted as an aban donment of’ Communism or a return to caple talist methods. What the speech actually does is to place certain tasks in the foreground of the socialist constructive work, tasks which were ale ways present for discussion and realization in one form or another, such as, the organization of the industrial labor supply, the mechantza- tion of the labor process and particularly of heavy work (coal mining, foundry work and lume bering), the abolition of labor fluctuation by a correct wage tariff (not by the abolition of a non-existent wag? equality) and by the im. provement of th2 material and cultural condi- tions of the werking masses, the creation of @ working class technical intelligenzia including the appointment of non-Party workers to ree sponsible positions, the creation of personal and collective responsibility, the opening up of new sources of acclmulation, etc. It is clear that the carrying out of all these tasks is absolutely in accordance with the ine re