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

Bea Page Four th s GORKY By M FEW towr DAYS AG and that the explana- with regard to higher education? de- e that 1 over- states the he have no use for It. is precisely year agé several impo for this reason that ant German nev struggle of thi dle class, ag: Intellectuals i struggle w of mediae the famous instance, in some states on the teach schools. Still more, icative of this which in its fr ruggle against the working cla: suppresses all hereby to ret: lectual power. its aspirat rd the develop to culture, nt of i Caitalism is afraid that the intellectual power which it is no longer able to absorb and exploit for its own benefit, might go over to the side of the w class (its enemy) and that it will serv great aim as “conscientiously” as the intellectuals who contributed to the con- struction of the iron cage of the capitalist state. Having got entangled in its own snares, capi- talism has become monstrously conservative, and all its aspirations are being more and more nar- rowed down to the protection of its st{ll com- manding, but already shaky positions. It no longer requires creative intellectuals, inventors, if they do not invent cannon and machine guns of a new pattern, poison gases and all the par- aphernalia for the future war against the prole- tariat, for any slaughter—regardless by which of the capitalist states it is started—will in- evitably be a mass extermination of the prole- tariat. The working class and’ peasantry of the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics stand in great need of intellegtual power. For the fulfillment of its great hictorical task it requires an immeasur- able quantity of such power. A year ago the XVI Congress of the C.C. of the Party made the decision to introduce compulgory elementary education. Here is an excerpt from the report of the People’s Commissar for Public Instruc- tion, A. S. Bubnow, dated July 26, 1931, to the C. C. of the Party and to its General Secretary, I. V. Stalin: “In connection with the introduction of com- pulsory education, 60,000 new teachers wére trained and sent to work, mainly in the rural districts “The teachers of the mass schools have taken @ very active part in the introduction of com- pulsory education. Thousands of them have shown creative initiative and enormous energy in the struggle for the fulfillment of the de- cisions of the Party and government, though they had frequently to work in difficult condi- tions, having to overcome the resistance of the class enemies to the energetic Socialist offensive. “The plan to introduce compulsory education for children by the anniversary of the decision of the C.C. of June 25, 1930, has been more than fully carried out. The total number of children attending the first grade schools in the R.S. F. S. R. (without the autonomous republics) has reached 8,709,937—105.7 per cent of the plan of the People’s Education Commissariat. There has been a 28.4 per cent increase in the num- ber of pupils in the primary school alone, com- pared with 1929-30. In the autonomous repub- lics the number of pupils in the elementary schools has reached 1,506,013—101.3 per cent of the plan of the Republic “While in the school year of 1929-30 the aver- age percentage of children attending school was 71, and 68.2 per cent in the rural districts, this percentage rose to 97.1 per cent in the R. S. F. 8S. R. (without the autonomous republics), and to 87.9 per cent in the autonomous republics. “The number of youngsters between the age of 11 and 15 attending school went up to 1,392,146 compared with $0,000 in the past year. The number of new schools in the R.S.F.S.R. (without the autonomous republics) is 45,335, or 131.1 per cent of the plan, and in the autono- mous republics the plan for the opening of new schools has been exceeded by 21 per cent.” And here is the report of the People’s Com- missar of the Ukraine, Comrade N. Skrypnik “On the anniversary of the decision of the C.C. C.P.8.U. re: introduction of compulsory elemen- tary education, the People’s Education Com- missar of the Ukrainian S.S.R. reports to the Cc. C. C. P. S, U. and to the C. C. C. P. of Ukraine that the directive of the Party re: introduction of compulsory education on the territory of the Ukrainian S.S.R. has been in the main carried out: the school attendance of children between the age of 8 and 10 reaches 98.2 per cent com- pared with 76.2 per cent last year, including: in the cities—99.8 er cent, in the Donbas—99.4 per cent, the number of children who have gone ses of the 7-year school constitutes h 55.4 per cent last 93.9 cent in in the districts r cent, 85 per age of 11 and compa r. including: in the cities s—93.4 per cent, ar ct collectivization: youngsters between the per cent of 15 attend school “The children are now fe, and the number n of the national considerably increased. taught in their of schools for the minorities has been 98 per cent of the chil- own dren of the Russian population of the Ukrainian S.S.R. between the age of 8 and 10, 96.3 per cent of the Jewi: 97.4 per cent of the German, cel of the Polish, 96.3 per cent of the and 96 per cent of the Greek popula- school. “Side by side w the development of hitherto unknown scale, we have ble attainments with regard to the of the schools on tue ba: on. Over 75 per cent of the schools are hed factories, Soviet and collective farms, and are reorganized into ‘yoca- tional and young peasant schools.” pols on a poly-techni These reports speak for themselves. They show very vividly the difference between the state system of the Union of Socialist Soviet Re- publics and that of the capitalist states. On Jv 25, 1931, it was said in the ‘I: tia n the workers’ districts of the Soviet Union, compulsory education has taken this year the form of the 7-year’s school. In the preparations for the new school year (1931-32) the problem | of compulsory 7-years edu will be one of the maih t struction. By form of the 7-year school, by placing the yoca- tional schools on the sound foundation of a 7- years education, we will make a big stride to- wards the full realization of the program of our Party regarding the poly-technical education of children and youngsters up to the age of 17.” Capitalism does not require intellectual forces, it can neither absorb them, nor make full use of them. Moreover, capitalism is afraid of in- tellect, because it begins to feel vaguely that its existence is already historically unnecessary and unreasonable. By restraining the aspiration of its youth towards a higher intellectual qualifi- cation, capitalism, so to speak, withholds from the youth the right to develop its intellect be- yond the limits required for the jurtification of the power of capitalism. This is infamous, but it shows foresight. An unemployed intellectual on for all children s of cultural con- is a proletarian, and in the struggle for exis- | tence, -he must march hand in hand with the proletariat, and the more clever he is, the more dangerous. The Soviet power hes taken an important | step, essential in the interests of revolution, which is to lead to the intellectual armament of the millions of strong youth of the Soviet Union. “The 7-year school for all” means equal opportunities for the whole youth to develop its intellect. Making the 7-year school a reality is creating one of the premises for the attainment of a high aim which the obedient servants of the capitalists call a “social utopia,” an illusion, a fib, for the attainment of a state of affairs when “everyone works according to his ability, when everyone receives according to his need,” when all are sufficiently reasonable socially not to require compulsion. Then the state as a constraining organization disappears entirely. “The 7-year school for all” is a matter of enor- mous historical importance. It is self-evident that we cannot stop at the “T-year school.” of thousands of highly qualified workers in the domains of science, technique and art. We have everything to learn, we are only beginning to know our country, to discover its wealth of raw material and to study it. While in our country every hard won rouble is spent for the construction of factories and schools, for the re- lease of the peasantry from the hard labor to which it was accustomed, for the abolition of every distinction between town and country—the capitalists are robbing their workers and peas- ants for armament against us. The military expenditure of the capitalist countries is grow- ing enormously. Capitalism is an organization of robbers who are openly and shamelessly pre- paring for another monstrous crime against the proletariat of all countries, for, every war of the Capitalists is a war against the toilers. Will the gapitalists succeed in organizing once more the extermination of millions of proletar- ians? This question can be answered only by the proletariat of Europe and America, by the proletariat of the barracks, factories and fields. It is time to make up one's mind for this an- swer, and this simple and clear answer is rec- ommended to the workers of the world by the Communist Party. The workers of the world must realize that by working for the capitalists they are committing suicide. that the only admissible, and even historically inevitable war—is the war of the working class of the whole world against the capitalists of the whole world, against a small group of people which leads the toilers’ world to degeneration and perdition. They must realize that the work- ing class of the Soviet Union, the full master of its country, shows them the way to the regen- eration of toiling mankind. The capitalist world is on the brink of an abyss, the historical duty of the proletariat is to push this rotting world which has outlived itself, into the abyss. Starvation and Terror Stalk in the South ‘ By DAVE DORAN agrarian crisis hits with particular severity the masses of white and Negro farm toilers of the South. Never in the history of the South has there been such wide spread misery and suffer- ing, growth of pellagra (starvation disease), mi- gration and desertion of farms. The plantation owners and landlores frenziedly attempt to place t'2 full burden of the crisis upon the backs of ti? share croppers, tenant farmers and farm hands. The over production of cotton, flooding the market has slashed the value of this money crop in half, and results in an intensification of the landowners offensive upon the living condi- tions of the farming masses. By demanding a greater portion of the crop, by cutting the advances of food and clothes, by charging ever higher prices for advances of food, cidthes and fertilizer, and increasing to an amaz- 3 ing degree the interest charged for these ad- vances, particularly for fertilizer, the landowners hope to recompense themselves in whatever loss- es they may incur from the stagnant condition of the market. A letter received recently from a share cropper in the Black Belt of South Caro- lina tells how share croppers have been given no- tice by the landlords of a raise in interests charged and demands that all share croppers “pay up”. To “pay up” means to give over the full crop to the landowners and leave nothing for the share cropper andl his family. The unbearable economic conditions of the Negro farm toilers in the Black Belt resulting from the effects of the agrarian crisis aggra- vates to an intense degree the National oppres- sion of the Negro majorities slaving under the white plantation owners there. Recently news from the agricultural areas of the South has J LEE agg Ne the | is of | giving compulsory education the | Our country which has a popu- | lation of 160,000,000, stands in need, of hundreds | They must realize | at 50 Task JBSUHirriON RATKS: me By mail everywhere: One year, $6; six months, $3; twc months, $1; excepting Boroughs New York, N of Manhattan and Bronx, New York City. Foreign: one year, $8; six months, $4.50. By BURCK been profuse with individual struggles of share | croppers and landowners, small fights in which | the landowner usually received the worst share. These battles, expressions of revolt against the | oppressive conditions, are usually one between a | Negro share-cropper, the most exploited of the farm labor, and the white landowner. Each fight presents in bold relief the background of furi- ous robbery of the Negro farm toilers and in the foreground is presented sharply the organized lyneh ferces of the despotic landlords, the wea- pon that holds in slavery an entire nation. To show how well the Southern Bourbons have learned the art of despotism, it is well here to quote a news clipping from the Charlotte News of September 15, 1931. No clearer idea c@M be paign of Negrophobia handed out by the white ruling class of the South. Tne clipping starts: “National guardsmen, state constables and county officers combed Union County today for Wade Moore, negro farm hand, charged with slaying Aubry Wilburn, cotton plantation over- seer.” Then continuing, “Moore, barefooted, fled,” and, “as news of the slaying spread, a mob of angry men, at one time numbering 1,000, gath- ered.” Then to make sure the job is done right, “Governor Blackwood ordered out the Union Na- | tional Guard company to maintain order and aid in the search for the alleged slayer.” The | parasitic landowners making sure no Negro would escape being terrorized secured “blood- hounds from Asheville” and then gave orders out to their lynchers to “search every nook in the county for Moore.” Here clearly, is a large part of the lynch ma- chinery. The mob of 1,000 brought together by the ideological campaign conducted through newspapers; the National guardsmen; blood- hounds; sherrifs and deputies; the chase over miles and miles of plantation land where thou- sands of Negroes are bound to the soil; all these are natural factors in the terrorization and grinding down of the share croppers under the bicody heel of American Imperialism, Cases like the one above happeng on an aver- age of almost one a week. No doubt such an oc- casion is deliberately utilized by the-landowner: that is, the man-hunt, to spread terror over as wide an area as possible in order to assure the terrifying of huge numbers of Negro croppers and the whipping up of race hatred in all or most of the white share croppers on the route of chase. Only recently in the case of Wilson Autry, | Negro farm hand, was chased for almost 100 miles across plantation country of North and | South Carolina. Without doubt such a hunt has | a disastrous effect upon the horrible conditions |of the white and Negro farm toilers giving them | the impression of the futility of resistance to- wards their oppressors, The landowners are feverishly trying every means possible to prevent a unity in the ranks of the white and Negro share croppers and no wonder, with the horrible conditions existing, the workers are in desperate need of organization against the robbing landlords. Everywhere in the farming areas, the demands of Sharecroppers Union is enthusiastically re- ceived. It is a way out from under the clutch of the landowners, a way to better living conditions, Each demand forwarded by the Croppers Union is a step towards National liberation for the terribly exploited Negro masses. As the misery and suffering of the croppers deepens and the need for organization grows greater, the white master class are brewing up more repressive measures to be used against their slaves. More Scottsboros are springing up every- where. More than ever are the Negro reformists rallying to the defense of the starvation system of peonage and terror. » ‘The Croppers Union must spread. Only a unit- ed, fighting front of white and Negro workers and farmers can secure better conditions for the farm toilers. Demand the right of the share croppers to organize! Demand the right of self determination for the Negro majorities of the South, with the confiscation of the land of the rich landowners for the Negro. and white workers who work the tand! Demand the withdrawal of all armed forces from the Black Belt! Build the Share Croppers Union! given of the effectiveness of the poisonous cam-" By WILLIAM SCHNEIDERMAN, Te supply of raw material for the manufacture of munitions in the United States depends to @ great extent on thé metal mining industry (iron, copper, and manganese ore) concentrated in Northern Minnesota and the upper Michigan peninsula It is not an accident, therefore, that while huge stacks of iron ore are piling up at the mines, due to the sharp drop in steel pro- duction, the mines are being kept in running order, and even new shafts are constantly be- This in spite of the fact that it is estimated the supply of ore on hand would normally last from five to’ ten years. At this moment the Newport mine, near Ironwood, is sinking a new shaft at record-breaking speed, subjecting the men at work to such a terrific pace that they are driven to exhaustion, A short time ago, the manganese mines at Crosby and Ironton were practically shut down, only 3 out of 54 working. Today it is reported that the manganese mines at Crosby have been working full-time for more than a month, The War Department has its experts working on a new process,to more economically reduce high- grade manganese, essential for the manufacture of steel, so that the United States would not have to depend on imports of manganese “in case of emergency.” At the same time the government is spending $7,500,000 this year for the improve- ment of inland waterways in the st-te of Minne- sota, and additional millions on the ic‘:e harbors of northern Wisconsin and Michigan, to facili- tate the transportation of war material. The conditions of the metal miners have been steadily getting worse. More than half of them are unemployed, and most of the rest are work- ing part-time, averaging only about 8 days a month. The highest wage the copper miner re- ceives today is $3.25 a day, and usually less. The iron miners average less than $4 a day. Work- ing only two days a week, therefore, literally means starvation for even those miners who still have jobs. Working 11 hours a day, a miner can make as “high” as $13 a week. The speed-up is so intense, that many of the older mine, are forced to quit working, as they cannot stand the pace. Wage-cuts are the order of the day. In the Newport mine, near Ironwood, the men received @ cut of $1.50 on their day’s pay which resulted in Spontaneous walk-out of three of the four shifts in the mine, and part of the fourth shift as well. As a result of the men’s protest, the company was forced to reduce the wage-cut to only 50 cents, On the Mesaba and Vermillion Range, rumors are going around of a coming wage-cut in the steel trust iron mines (Oliver Mining Company). The National Miners Union and the Party have greatly increased their influence and following in recent months in important mining towns like Ely, Virginia, and Hibbing. The mine-parers of the Party, the Ely Miners Voice and the Agnew Ore Digger, are very popular among the miners. The possibility of strikes against wage-cuts on the Mesaba Range exists, and it remains for us to prepare for these coming struggles and give them correct leadership, The same favorable situation exists in Michi- gan. The capitalist press, for instance, reports that the mining companies around Iron River are opening up their mines on October 1 to fur- nish two days a week work to 1,100 unemployed. miners. Jones & McLaughlin have not suddenly become philanthropic. They frankly state that they are doing this to forestall “Communist ac- tivities,” that is, the struggle of the unemployed miners for winter relief. What they fail to re- port is that they intend to put over a wage-cut on the miners under the guise of “relief.” Their “acts of charity” can further be understood from the reports in the capitalist press that the Coun- ty is buying machine-guns, tear-gas bombs, and other riot equipment, “in order to deal with in- furlated mobs.” The mine operators are having nightmares of “infuriated mobs”, that is, thou- sands of miners demanding relief this coming AMERICAN The Metal Miners and War Preparations ing sunk. The. War Department sees to that. ‘ winter. In spite of threats of the American Le- gion against all “red meetings”, the Communist Party has held successful meetings 4nd demofi- Strations in Iron River and elsewhere in upper Michigan, weil-organized Workers Defense Corps preyenting attacks. In Sault Ste. Marie, where chemical plants and other important war industries are lo- | cated, a huge anti-war demonstration was held on August Ist, despite the threats of the Amer- ican Legion, and two hundred young workers from the Citizen's Military Training Camps at- | tended the demonstration; but on International Youth Day, the Américan Legion mobilized all their forces and succeeded in smashing the dem- onstration. The Legion is preparing open fas- cist attacl’= against the miners. Many Legion- maires who are miners, however, are repudiating this fascis outfit, as can be seen from the large number of miners belonging to the Legion who came to the August 1st demonstrations, espe- cially in Ironwood and Iron River. The Michigan Alien Registration Law is a part of the bosses’ war preparations, aimed to terrorize the foreign born workers. It is sig- nificant that the campaign against the Alien Registration Law in upper Michigan has met with an excellent response among the miners. Some of the largest demonstrations and mass meetings ever held in these mining towns were those called by the Council for the Protection of the Foreign Born. There is no doubt that @™ the past few months the Party and the National Miners’ Union has greatly increased their influence among the metal miners. The tremendous turn-out of min- ers to the anti-war demonstrations can testify to that. But in view of the perspectives of com- ing struggles in the.immediate future, our lag- ging behind becomes especially dangerous. Our most immediate task is the strengthening of the National Miners’ Union by the establishment, of functioning mine committees (based on shaft and pit committees). The N. M. U, has made some progress in the establishment of shaft and pit committees, but there still exists a lack of understanding as to their role. The importance of the organization: of Grievance Committees is also insufficiently understood. Another serious shortcoming has been our failure to build Un- employed Councils, to lead the jobless miners in the fight for immediate relief. The organ- ization of the unemployed miners is also a vital task due to the possibility of strikes, and the necessity of linking up the struggles of the un- employed and the employed metal miners. This lesson has already become clear during the coal miners’ strike in Pennsylvania and Ohio. ‘The Party in District 9 has as one of its main tasks the strengthening of the Party organiza- tion in the mining territory, and turning its main attention to the building of mine units of the Party and mine committees of the NMU. The organization of the metal miners in this basic war industry to struggle against wage cuts and for unemployment relief is an important part of the campaign against war preparations of American imperialism. ez By JORGE <x Lost, Strayed or Stolen! Sometimes, readers will note, strikes and other events are reported in the Daily Worker, but later on they just disappear—“sunk without a trace”. Maybe you think that the Daily edi- torial staff is just plain careless—and some of us are, that’s true, but nine times out of eight when strikes “disappear” it’s because the bright boys in the field just quit sending any news. Now, it is a fixed policy of the Communist Party that, when a strike is ended—and even during the strike—a critical analysis of it should be made. Certainly after a strike is over, whether it is won or lost, the Daily should have @ summary of what was what. Do we get ‘em? We do not, gentle reader! And while we're on the subject we'll mention a few strikes that have been mislaid by the comrades outside this of- fice: 1, Two strikes in textiles at Putnam, Conn., disappeared. Anybody knowing of their where- abouts, lets us know. We've even wired Jim Reid—but no answer. 2. The cannery workers’ strike at San Jose, California. Somebody did tell us that the strike was “over”. Over what, we don’t know yet. May- be it’s over the dignity of the organizers there to let us know, 3. We had the impression that there was a whale of a strike at Allentown, Pa., in the silk mills, What's become cf that? Is it a secret? 4. There was a shingle mill strike at Clear Lake, Washington. Always glad to hear from the woods; but what happened to that strike, anyhow? Did it get killed by some “blunt in- strument” that silenced its organizers forever? 5, Nice little strike in the Anaconda Cable Co, at Hastings-on-Hudson, just out of this burg. Bourgeois papers said one, day that it was ended. Some kind soul called us up and told us that was horseradish, that the strike was spreading to still another shift. Then—blooey!—Not a word more! . 6. Strike of workers who make leather handles for suitcases and such reported from Newark, N. J., just a little ways across the river from here. Got news on it two or three days. Then, it did the vanishing stunt! Why? Are the or- ganizérs too modest to say? 7. Right here in New York City, couple of weeks ago—a strike in Anderson's Jewelry Co. Quite a stir. Organizer Abe Rubin even got pinched. Maybe he is being held incommunicado, because the last we heard he was still in jail and the strike was still on. A reward of a course in self-criticism will be offered to the union or Party organizers detected leaving such foundlings on our doorstep. These were perfectly healthy strikes when last heard from, Where are the strikes of yesterday? . 8 Ah, Ha! A Clew! “An outlaw radio station located in Manhat- tan and believed to be operated by Soviet agents has been communicating in code with Moscow for nearly a year,” we learn from an outburst of anti-Soviet liars in the capitalist press. As usual, Grover Whalen knows all about it. And the newspaper detectives finally forced “a high official” of the Police Department to “ad- mit” that the cops know all about it. Or at least did know, as the story is that “an under- cover police squad man reported that the station was located in a building at 1 West Thirtieth.” It appears that if the villians were cornered thus, and spotted, the logical thing would have been to capture them “red”-handed. But it also appears that the cops graduated from the Tom Sawyer school of detecting, and wouldn't spoil the story by such crude methods. So the “Soviet agents” were allowed to “move” to un- known quarters. Thus the story is lots better when it comes out in the papers when the newspaper sleuths “uncover” a radio station that can’t be found. “ Sapitalist press Teporters are détvealy “clever guys. Last Friday the N, Y. Journal of William Randolph Hearst dug up a reporter “from Mos- cow, who stood within the shadows of the Krem- some “blonde ballerina” who was, so the re- porter “in the shadows” figured out, visiting none other than Stalin! Ho, hum! The nose of @ capitalist reporter is unlimited for scandal, But the Collings murder- rape case is getting rather thin, so the N. Y. Journal had to do something, we suppose. But we suggest that if Hearst reporters want some real dirt, they might try prowling around old man Hearst himself. i j As far as Grover Whalen having “known about” that “outlaw radio station,” we thought that he was through “knowing things” since he knowing too much about the Mayor’s favorite sweetie. A Wanamaker official is supposed to limit his knowledge of pajamas to styles, cost and sales prices. Paw and Junior : What is the Coast Artillery doing in Arkansas, paw? Coast Artillery, how come in Arkansas? you're not dreaming, Junior? Nope! Here’s a United Press report of Sept. Sure -Workers! Join the Party of. Your Class! P. O. Box 87 Station D. New York City. Please send me more information on the Com- munist Party. Name HY -cececeetceeseccesenees BtAt® -sescesseee OCCUPAHION eeseeeeesesseecerseesess ABC seveee -Mail this to the Central Office, Communist Communist Party U. 8. A : Party, P. O, Box 87 Station D, New York City. t 11, saying that the Governor called out the Coast Artillery to “suppress fist fights between followers of the Rev. Joe Jeffers, young evan- gelist, and supporters of the Rev. Dow Heard, Baptist Church pastor, at Jonesboro, when Mayor Herbert Bouler tried to break up a prayer meeting on the city hall steps.” Break up @ prayer meeting! What is this country coming to? I thought that happened only in the Soviet Union! Maybe, paw, it was because the Baptist preacher was seditious. A Baptist preacher “seditious?” Impossible! ‘Well, paw, ain't sedition or criminal syndical- ism or something, the “advocating of assassina- tion of public officials?” "Cause the paper says: that “The Rey. Jeffers’ prayer contained a plea that ‘God would strike the Mayor dead.’” Oh, shucks, no! That is only a “religious con- troversy,” Junior, lin” and “observed the nocturnal excursions” of - got bumped out of Police Commissionership for _ —— melt