The Daily Worker Newspaper, September 30, 1931, Page 4

n> blished by the Comprodally Publi . daily except Sunday, at 50 East D met mpey Sone Address and m checke to the I Bast 13th Street, New York, N. ¥. e ast & “ bs = a ne 2 TS entral. Orger. — ———$—— — = — es Act ss On the Carrying Out of the 13th Plenum Decisions “THE LINK THAT GUARANTEE THE WHOLE CHAI BY EARL BROWDER (Excerpts from the report by Comrade Browder, made at the 13th Plenum of eur Party. The report appears in full in the October issue of the “Communist.”) HIS situation of organizational lagging, espe- cially in the shops, so extremely serious that it requires a sharp turn by the entire Party methods of mass work and organization in our What do we mean by a sharp turn? We have used this expression—‘sharp turn”—so many times in the past year that I am afraid it be- gins to lose a little of its mteaning for the com- des. Let us make very concrete what we mean by “sharp turn.” We mean that the task of this Plenum is such a serious and funda- mental tr a cha whole approach to our ¥ hour and day-to-' a change in our organizational so complete and #0 deep- methods of wo: practice, a Es going that the entire Party from top to bottom will around our Party shake with the realization that this che going on. T is what we mean bj turn.” We mean a drastic period of transfor- mation of the entire life of our movement. That mean and that is what we want to in this Plenum sk of this Plenum is to mobilize tire Party for this fundamental change class and the workin; | Fundamental Conditions for Leninist Tactics “It is not enough to be a revolutionist and a follower of socialism, or generally a Communist; we must learn to know how to find at each moment that particular link in the chain which | we must grasp with all our might in order to hold on to the entire chain, in order to prepare a firm transition to the next link. At the same time we must remember that the order of the links, their formation, their connection, | | their distinction one from the ot as histori- | cal chains of events, are not as simple as the | usual ghain made by a smith. | —(From Lenin in | Tasks of the Soviets.” “The Current written in 1918.) “The whole art of politics Iles in finding the link that can be least drawn out of our hands, the one that is most important at a given the one thet guarantees the whole | chain, agd, haying found it, to cling to that link as tightly as possible.” —(‘What Is To Be Done? Published in 1902. English Edition just appeared | and has been published by the Inter- | national Publishers, price 50 cents.) | moment The Canadian Gov't Seeks to Out- law the Communist Party By BEC URING the years, the Canadian bourgeoisie has gone through a great im- perialist development. The Bennett Conserva- tive Government, since its advent to power, has adopted drastic fiscal pol 's and shown that it is an active agent in the war front’ against the U.S. S. R. by imposing a complete embargo on all Soviet products. In the face of the grow- ing economic crisis, it has put into operation a Budget that places heavy taxes on the necessi- ties of life, while lowering all forms of taxation on the rich. With the tremendous growth of unemployment in Canada, which now, according to figures given out by the Minister of Labor, amounts to nearly 600,000 (this out of a total population of less than 10 million people), the Canadian bour- geoisie, refusing to grant any effective relief through social insurance has inaugurated forced labor camps on the basis of the most in- tolerable conditions. This move the bourgeoisie heralded as a solution of the unemployment KIE BUHAY. few last Only a very small percentage of the hundreds of thousands of unemployed can be placed i these camps, but the ruling class of Canada sce! through this means to smash the Unemployed Workers’ Association and the militant spirit of the hungry masses. The crisis has also hit hundreds of thousands of poor and middle farmers. Both workers and farmers under the leadership of the Communist Party and the Workers’ Unity League have shown great fighting spirit. The Unemployed Assoc, now numbers nearly 20,000, The cam- paign of the Workers’ Unity League for non- contributory unemployment insurance met with tremendous response throughout the country, over 100,000 signing the bill for signatures and # series of huge mass demonstrations befng held from coast to coast whi in many instances, were veritable battles with the police. The answer of the Bennett Government to the growing militancy of the workers and poor farmers and their demands for relief has been increasing terrorism against the masses. At the close of the last Session of Parliament legisla- tion was passed authorizing Government by “Order in Council” and giving Bennett a “blank cheque” for “relief, peace, order and good gov- ernment.” Government Plans Raids. Closely following this legislation, the Attorney General of Ontario, in close collaboration with the Federal Government, staged an attack,upon the center of the Communist Party and the revolutionary mess organizations, On August lith, the nations! effices of the Commu 7 Parity, Young Communist Leazue, Workers’ Unity League, “The ker” and the Friends of the Soviet Union, as well as the homes of leading Communists were raided by the Federal, Provincial and City police. Carloads of mater- jals and documents, including personal belong- ings. were taken away. The offices and homes of the leaders of the Communist Party presented fr picture of the pogrom times of Czarist Russia. Wades Buck, Ewen, Carr, Bruce, Boychuk and 3, members of the Political Bureau of the | | } Communis 450 arre: ! THE COMMAND OF | 1” (Lenin) Wh: 's the nature of this change? Is it merely a repetition of slogans that we emphasized so much at the 12th Plenum? No. At the 12th Plenum we said that the immediate link that we must grasp in order to control the whole chain of developments was—immediate demands, less high-falutin’ phrases, more simple every- day work. ' ‘This is no longer sufficient, com- rades. We have developed, still inadequately, still only in its beginning, but we have certain positive experiences in the application of the maingslogz the 12th Plenum, But these experiences also bring us face to face with the problem that these slogans are go longer suf- ficient to solve the questions that" are before us, that must be solved before we can take the next steps forward; penetration of shops, building of the Party, building of the revolutionary unions We have got to find now what is the link at the 13th Plenum that we must seize upon and put in the forefront at link which must be ped at this nt_in order to move the ire chain, to moye the-wagon the next mile along the road. ns of as t I think before finding t we have to say, as the resolution says, that this ain link new the proper methods of mass work and organization, that the main obstacle to this is lack of faith in the masses. Within our move- ment in our methods of work this expresses it~ self in the form of a tendency to bureaucracy, to bureaucratic methods, bureaucratic practices and relationships in the mass organizations espe- cially—all of them flowing out of a lack of faith in the masses and reliance upon spon- taneity. ‘This fear of the masses is opportu- nism, poisonous opportunism .no matter what form it may assume. In some cases it tries to show itself as very “left,” hoping thereby to cover its opportunism. You can hear quite often in our movement the expression—“We have no forces, all of our comrades are backward, un- educated, they don’t know Lenin, they can’t quote from the decisions of the 11th Plenum— we mustn’t give them any responsible work.” | | | you is Is this an exceptional attitude in our Party? Our experiences in the national office indicate to us that this is a disease that penetrates the Party from top to bottom. In the Central Com- mittee and in the Polburo and in our depart- | ments in the national office we constantly find ourselves hampered and hemmed in by ‘the limi- tations of our own methods of work and our own approach to the problem, which the leading work of the Party—a tendency have no faith in the forces of the Party except those, that have been tried and tested over long | years, the fear to draw in new forces. This fear | has existed in the Central Committee; it has existed in every district committee, in every sec- tion committee and in every unit. And in the units it takes the form of resistance to recruit- ment to the Party. Party. were arrested (Carr and | Bruce were brought to Toronto from Vancouver) and charged with being members of an “un- lawful association,” while three other -comrades, Popovich, a functionary of the Canadian Labor Defense League and one of the leaders of the Ukrainian mass organization, Golinsky of the Political Bureau of the Y. C. L., and Casic, were | subsequently charged. These comrades were finally allowed out on bail to the amount of THE W< HeS’ SHIELD By RALPH SIMONS This is the sixth in a series of articles on this important subject, of vital necessity for revolutionary workers—Editor * . DEVELOP A BROAD RECRUITING CAMPAIGN "HE miners’ and textile workers’ strikes dem- i onstrated to the workers, and underlined once more that the Trade Union Unity League and its revolufionary unions are the only real economic class fighting organizations of the pro- letariat. The influx of new members into the revolu- tionary miners’ union and the revolutionary tex tile union on a mass scale, demonstrates that the confidence in the revolutionary trade union movement has grown among the workers. In organizing further resisiance of the masses to the new wave of wage cuts, wholesale firing of workers, etc., which‘are ‘carried on by the capi- tolists with the aid of Hoover's government and the A. F, of L., the Muste group and the rene- gade Lovestone group, it is necessary to tie up the new struggles with the broad mass cam- paign for the recruiting of new members into the revolutionary trade unions. Such broad recruiting campaign must be opened immediately first by the revolutionary miners’ union, the textile union and also metal 4nd railroad in connection with the wage cuts and worsening of the conditions taking place in the steel and railroad industries. Having opened the doors of the revolutionary workers, carrying on an energetic recruiting campaign from the ranks of the. unorganized workers and members of the reactionary unions, =e Oh a x SUBSCRIPTION RATES: So) ke te Be \ By mail everywhere: One year, 36; six months, $3; two months, $1; excepting Boroughs oe / of Manhattan and Bronx, New York City, Foreign: one year, $8; six months, $4.50. By BURCK |For a Decisive Turn in Our R | | | ft | for the elected organs and also for leading posts, Union Movement f creating factory groups in the factories and shops and developing the work energetically, the revolutionary trade unions will be in a po- sition to better prepare and lead the coming new economic struggles, It is necessary to draw in workers of differ- ent political tendencies and broad strata of non-partisan workers. But it is not enough to recruit new members, we must know how to keep them with us. It is therefore necessary to stim- ulate and encourage the initiative and activity of the new strata of workers, to nominate them | to insure a sufficient number of non-partisan | proletarians in the various organs elected by the | workers. | At the same time {t is necessary to carry on — among the new members systematic work of | enlightenment by means of reports, the organ- ization of group and individual discussions, to attaoh new members to the old and more experi- enced members for .the purpose of cultivating the new members, and the assignment of con- crete tasks to the new members, tasks, first of all, dealing with the work in the shop. The new members as well as the old must report regu- larly to the respective organs regarding the work assigned to them. It is advisable to carry on the recruiting campaign on the basis of an established quota for each union and the application of revolu- tionary competition among the various organ- izations of the given union, to publish the pro- $115,000. Yellow Press Calls For Suppression. ‘The raids and arrests took place amidst a sea of yellow journalism and sensationalism, Tho ‘Yoronto “Mail % Lrpire,’ official organ of the Conservative party of Ontario, made clear the purpose of the attack. “Massing his forces on three fronts, Attor- ney General Price last night launched an of- | fensive designed to wipe out of existence the Communist Party of Canada. Assisted by the Hon. Hugh Guthrie, Minister of Justice at Ot- tawa, Col. Price struck at the very roots of the organization. Nine raids, all timed simul- taneously for 7 o'clock, began a campaign that may last for weeks or months, in which the government will seek to prove in the courts that the Communist Party is an unlawful as- sociation.” (“Mail & Empire,” Aug. 12, 1931.) The Attorney General himself made a state- ment clearly outlining the purpose and the yel- low journals throughout the country have since written sava hysterical articles calling. the Communists “slavering rats” and demanding the Party to be declared illegal. This has been followed by speeches in the same vein and what practically amounts to inciting to lynchings by the leaders of the Canadian Legion and other fascist. organizations. Terror Grows. Prior to this mass attack upon the Commu- nist Party, the terror against, the workers had | been growing throughout the country, Wiszca: in the year 1930, 209 arrests had taken place, since this January there have already been over Ss. Technical charges have given way to charges of “sedition,” “unlawful assembly,” and “inciting to mutiny” and a number of workers are serving jail sentences from one year down for various charges, , In the city of Toronto, the home of Canadian industrialism, for the last three years freedom of speech has been completely destroyed. By police edict, open air and indoor meetings have ~ been banned and a reign of terror been insti- tuted. During 1930 over 4,000 workers ve been deported from Canada more than half of whom were deported to the British Isles’ The mai>r- | ity of these workers were deported simply be- cause they unenployed. , Since Janucry of this year the deportations have been enor- mous, hundreds of militant workers have b: deported to fascist countries and the bourgesi: have instituted a system in the various locali- ties whereby immediately upon a worker receiv- ing relief, he is subject’ to deportation, and where, furthermore, foreign born workers (Bri- tish included) are forced to sign voluntary de- portation slips before they can receive any re- | lief or work. Closely following the arrests of the leaders of wer? | bers and 15,000 collective members. } is being ati the Communist Party, fascists of the city of Winnipeg, very likely with the help of the police, bombed and badly damaged the headquarters of the Communist Party in their hope to smash the great mass influence of the Communist 4 Party and the revolutionary movement in that | city. The law under which the nine leaders of the Communist Party are charged was enacted in 1919 in the time of the famous Winnipeg Gen- eral Strike. The workers of Winnipeg prdc- tically had the city in their own hands for six weeks. The strike movement was spreading all over the country; the bourgeoisie were panic stricken. Prime Minister Melghan of that time ordered the arrest of the strike leaders. When the social fascist Minister of Labor Giddeon Robertson wired him, raising the question as to whether there were any legal grounds for the arrests, Meighan telegraphed him that he should carry out the arrests and steps would be taken to legalize his actions later. Following this, within forty minutes in the Houses of Parlia- ment the present drastic anti-working class legislation was put on the Statute Books, Threaten 20 Years’ Imprisonment. Section 98 of the Criminal Code, under which the comrades are charged, is so broad in its scope that it can crush by law not only the Communist Party of Canada, but any organiza- | tion that defends or sympathizes with the mem- bers of the Communist Pari The penalty in- volved has a sentence of 20 years. The Cagadian Labor Deferse League, the Canadian Section of the International Red Aid, has been in existence a number of years, carry- ing on the struggle for the release of the class- war’ prisoners, but during the course of the last two years it has grown considerably in membership and influence, At the last Plenum, which took place in July in Toronto, it wag re- ported that the membership had more than doubled, ‘There are now 5,000 individual mem- During the last year it has intensified its activities, par- t arly in the Vancouver and Montreal “sedi- mess arrests in Calgary, in the against deportation, ete. The mobiliza- protests from Coast to’ coast has C.L.D.L. among the gieate end poor farmers: n Defense Levgue Fights, ‘The Canadian Labor Defense League is con- ducting the defense in the present attack, It is mobilizing tens of thousands of workers in united front conferences and mass demonstra- tions throughout the country, It is making it clear to the masses that the Communist Party Sed and subject’ to iliegality be cause it has led the masses in their strtiggle against hunger, war and exploitati-1 and that if the powers that be are successful, any work- ing-class organization can be dealt with like- wise. . Linked up with this campaign, the Canadian Labor Defense League has inaugurated a Bill of workers’ rights and anti-deportation and is col- lecting hundreds of thousands of signatures. The campaign calls for a fund of $50,000, 10,000 new members and 5,000 new readers of the | “Canadian Labor Defender,” its monthly illus- | trated magazine. On Sept. 30 national mass demonstrations will be held and on the day of | the trials (the date of which has not yet been set) national mass demonstrations, accompanied | in many places by 24-hour strikes, are being planned. Workers Demonstrate. That the working class of Canada will ener- getically fight against this attack is shown by the mass response that the Communist Party and G, L. D. L. are receiving in this campaign. When Comrades Bruce and Carr were bronght from Vancouver to Toronto by the police, large masses of workers demonstrated in the Calgary and Winnipeg railroad stations. Since ‘then, many mass demonstrations have taken place, hundreds of resolutions of protest have been sent, money for defense is coming in daily. The miners have responded splendidly and many of the reformist union locals have expressed their nrotest and solidarity. Mass meetings of in- dignation have been held by seamen, lumber workers and many other industrial workers, - Farmers Resent Attack, : In the farming districts the feeling of Tes, sentment against the government and its poli- cies is growing rapidly. In one small farming area (Edmonton cistrict), during the last few ‘weeks, over 40 protest resolutions. have poured in. All this is indicative of the broad mass movemént that is developing as a result of the government attack. As was to be expected, the social fascists of _Canada are playing their usual despicable role ‘| in this struggle. Tom Moore, the president of | the Canadian Trades Congress, and A. R. | Mosher of the All-Canadian Congress of Labor have already contributed their rabid diatribe azainst Communism to show the authorities that they stand with them, But the rank and file of the trades unions and a number of Trades and Labor Councils have already expressed their indignation, not only with the actions of the authorities, but with their own leadership. - ‘The forthcoming trial of the leaders of the Communist Party will be the greatest historical political trial in Canda yet held and will have: reat influence in the develovment of the revo- Jutionary movement in this country. neato 4 a A ‘ a4 cea ne Oa ONL ROLES EE MON LILI LEN IR evolutionary Trade gress and results of the revolutionary compe- tion, The broad mass recruiting campaign could be opened by a special “recruiting campaign week.” For the successful conduct of the campaign it is necessary to activize each individual member of the revolutionary union. It is desirable to organ- ize special agitator groups. Such groups of 3-5 memicers including representatives of women, youth and Negroes have to be instructed in the political and organizational methods of recruit- ing, they must be provided with agitatione] ma- terial, registration blanks, trade u-‘on stamps, etc. The district and section where these agitator groups are to be sent must be established defi- nitely beforehand. The members of these groups are to visit workers’ homés, there to carry on conversations with workers and their wives, re- cruiting into the ranks of the respective union. The newly recruited members must be invited to the next meeting of the union, to draw them into the factory group, to give them a chance to becon’: active by assigning definite tasks, The new recruits must receive comradely at- tention and support, and we must help them in carrying out the assigned tasks. The -recruit- ing musi be carried on not only among the em- ployed workers, but also among the unemployed, exempting them from the payment of initiation fees and membership dues. ‘The new members from the ranks of the un- employed must be first of all utilized for work in the auxiliary organs such as functionaries in the councils of the unemployed and thus strengthen the nucleus in the unemployed move- ment, through which the revolutionary trade union movement must carry through its line. To Creaté a Solid Financial Base. The financial base of the revolutionary trade unions is extremely weats The membership dues are not paid regularly. The financial relation ship between the lower and the higher organs of the union fs not carried through. There are no real financial plans in the work of the unions, there is no system which would establish the part of the membership dues that must go for the expense of that apparatus, administrative expenses, traveling, etc. and which part must | 80 directly for other expenses, and also what part is to go to the strike fund. ‘We must in the shortest possible time regu- late all these questions and establish a solid financial base. We must instil into the minds of the membership the necessity of fulfilling their financial obligations, of the uninterrupted reg- ular payment of dues. We must immediately establish in all sections of the revolutionary trade union organizations, from top to bottom, special permanently functioning finance ¢ommissions. These finance commissions, consisting of from three to seven workers and headed by one of the elected leading workers of the given trade union organ, must also attract active proleta- rian elements. The duties of these finance commissions are as follows. To develop plans for the improve- ment of the dues collections, to develop prac- tical measures in order to strengthen the finan- cial means of the union—voluntary collections and donations, the organization of parties, af- fairs, concerts, theatrical productions, etc.; they ‘ust receive reports on the financial situation and financial plans of the lower organs of the union; they must also work up a form of finan- cial accounting, to systematically train workers for collection of dues, etc. Each trade union organization must have a budget which should c:-r the many expenses and specify what part of the income would go to the strike fund, what part to the higher trade the trade union apparatus and itive expenses. All unions must immediately begin to consider and develop @ financial system at the next conventions or conferénces. The re- spective decisions must be carried out strictly by all the sections of the trade union organiza- tion. The execution of these decisions to be controlled by the Control Commission. The Control Commission, consisting of from five to seven members must be elected at the general membership meetings of the union of a given local organization ;or if this Control Com- mission is one of the higher organs of the union, it should be elected at the congresses or con- ferences @f the trade union. ‘The @uties of the Control Commission con- sist Qf the auditing of the income and expenses Hospital Graft We see as how in Mexico the federal govern- ment has removed a state governor because he spent $7,000 on a monument that fell to pieces in three days, New ‘York City has a better tnonument than that to the Great God Graft. And here’s how: Were you ever confined, refined, cut to pieces, mistreated and starved in the N. Y.. City hos- pitals? Do you think that the treatment you got cost the City $4.56 for each day you were being banged around there? Well, that’s what the hospitals say it costs them. Our idea is that a swarm of Mayor Walker’s rélatives will be found on the payroll, ete., ete, z ° Why Fight for Socialism? “Not matter whether {t fs a republican, mon- archical, socialist or fascist form of goyernment, it 1s a boss government.”—Communist Election Program of New York, page 24, and its report is to be signed by all the mem- bers of the commission. The commission must see whether the expenses have been made in a rational manner, examine and check up on the accounting between the various unions, between the lower organs and the higher organs, and also as to the inner distribution of the budget, that is, how much is spent for the apparatus, how much for other expenses, ete. The Strike Fund and Aid to the Strikers. ‘The strikes of the miners and textile workers showed the underestimation of the organization of material help by the unions themselves and particularly in the preparation for the strikes, and of the broad mass campaign of solidarity. Of course, we cannot allow the question of the declaration of a strike under favorable circum- stances to depend on whether the union is in Possession of a strike fund and whether this strike fund is large or small. But the duty of every revolutionary trade union organization is the creation of a strike fund. Material help, even the most insignificant, raises the spirit of the strikers, strengthens the authority of the union among the masses, and shows that the union is not only able to mobil- ize masses for struggle but also carts for the strikers. The organization of strike funds dé- mands the most stubborn efforts. When a strike tekes place it is imperative to organize special committees of solidarity from among the work- ers of other industries. The strike funds must be made up from reg- ular collections, by means of Solidarity stamps, from velunteer contritutions, from incomes of specially organized affairs, like concerts, movies, lectures, parties, etc. In addition to this, between 15 and 25 or even 30 per cent of the membership dues which come into the union should be regu- larly set asidé for a Militant Solidarity Fund. We must draw in the crganization of workers rélief to render. aid to the strikers, the repr sentatives of these organizations to be drc-m into special organs of relief in connection with strike committees; the revolutionary trade union or- ganizations must establish permanent contect and comradely cooperation with the organiza- tions for workers’ relief. The Trade Union Press Must Be of a Militant Mass’ Character. Our trade union press, and in the first piace, the Labor Unity, have no identity of their own. It is hard to judge, according to the contents, character, whom they really have in view: leading cadres, the broad trade union “act: or whether they have as their aim the rank end file membership, Our press is not yet of a militant mass char- acter. The circulation is very small. As a wos- pon of mass agitation they are poor. They show! and could become real instrumeiNs of the tra union as far as agitation and propaganda anc the masses of the aims and tasks of the r lutionary trade union movement. must be the real organizing link in the geneval system of our revolutionary and trade union movement. We must adjust the Labor Unity and other or- gans of the trade union movement accordingly. Editorials must be short, digestible to the read- ers, written in a simple popular language. Or- ganizational questions must have a prominent place on the pages of our press, especially at the present moment, when the revolutionary trade union movement must make an important turn, when questions of organizational forms and also of the daily work of our trade unions, the problem of new mass methods of work are assuming special importance. In order to lead the trade union press cor- rectly if is necessary to establish, under the guidance of responsible editors, editorial com- mittees and workers’ editorial committees, draw- ing into them reliable workers’ correspondents and active workers. Special attention must be paid to the formation of’ a broad workers’ correspondent movement, the drawing in of the workers’, correspondents into the general work of the trade union press, also attention must be given to their systematic 3 Simultaneously with the changing of the ex- isting papers, we must provide immediately for the issuing of a regular newspaper of the min- ers. In the Labor Unity, as well as in all other trade union papers we must devote a section to the international labor movement, where the experiences of the international labor movement. should be interpreted. We must not, however, limit ourselves to this. We must see to it that the whole press should have systematic articles on the trade union movement. This applies, first of all to the Daily Worker, and then to all lang- uage papers. In order to carry this out it is advisable to establish a trade union press buro in the T.U.U.L. The task of this Buro should be to supply all reyolutionary organs with articles and materials on all questions dealing with the political side and everyday practical tasks and work of the revolutionary trade union movement. At the same time we must immediately pro- vide for the regular appearance of shop pay ‘These shop papers will be of unestimable se: in our task of penetrating the basic industries, We must pick out in certain industries a num- ber of factorics, large ones preferably, where we must immediately begin to issue shop papers regularly, Our local trade unions and opposition groups must give their fullest assistance and coopcra- tion to this work. The trade union pay as well as the shop papers must be distributed through our shop delegates. It must be the task of the agit-prop (culture) committee to see that, the papers pre properly distributed, that they de not renisin’on the shelves in the offices of the union, etc. te ‘ A te