The Daily Worker Newspaper, October 15, 1931, Page 4

Pu lished by the C Page Four New York City, N.Y. ‘Telep nd mail all ehecke t > the Da st 13th Street, On the Carrying Out of the 13th Plenum Decisions PACIFISM— (From the Resolution of the 11th Plenum of the Communist International.) ecutive Committee of em- HE XI P national most arties in capitalist coun st the war danger, the activity of every single Communist, will determine whe ne broad sants and nations oppressed om ger of a war of intervention J.S.S.R. The duty of ev Cor Communist, is to expose the social democrats as the agents of the imperialist bourgeoisie in the prepara- tions for military intervention against the work- ing class of the U. S. S. R.; to expose their false pacifism as an organic and integral part of these war preparations, and to win the masses away from them. It is the duf the fact that the slogar social pacifists about “Disarmament,” “Recon- ciliation of Nations,” reconciling ex-enemy na- tions are not slogans for reconciling nations and securing peace, but a screen to conceal the front being organized against the U.S.S.R. The XI Plenum of the E.C.C.I. calls the at- tention of ell Sections of the Communist In- ternational to the insufficient popularization of the teachings of Lenin on war, and particularly to the decisions of the VI Congress of the Com- munist International on the methods of struggle against the war danger and the danger of mili- tary intervention against the USS.R. The slogan of converting imperialist war into civil war against the bourgeoisie at home must~ be popularized by means of oral and written propa- ganda among the broad masses of the people. The slogan of converting the war against the toilers of the U.S.S.R. into a war against the bourgeoisie at home must become the most popu- lar slogan among the vast masses of the work- ers in the capitalist countries. ‘The XI Plenum of the E. C. C, I. emphasizes the imperative necessity for a determined change in the direction of intensifying the anti-militar- ist work of the Communist Parties, and especially of the Communist League, as an integral part of the struggle against the danger of war and he menace of intervention. preparations f of every Communist to expose of the bourgeoisie and TRAINING N By GERTRUDE HAESSLER of over a thousand new members into rty in District Five, as a result of the mine struggle, raises the question of devel- oping new forces for local leaders*ip. Can we solve this question of local leadership—the ques- tion of section and unit functionaries—by de- pending on the “importation” of outside forces? Certainly not. Our outlook must be toward the development of the tremendous latent forces which have been tested in- the struggle and shown abilities for leadership. ‘The dependance solely on outside forces is one evidence of the lack of faith in the masses which the Thirteenth Plenum of the Party so sharply denounced. District Five, confronted with the problem of providing leadership for building the Party from the new material, has established a one- month full. e training school as one of the means of solving this problem. Although at the time of writing this article, the school had been in process only ten days, it was already appar- ent that functionaries of a very responsible level were in the process of development there. Composition of the Student Body In many ways this training school is unique in the history of the Party. The composition of the student body alone gives it an outstand- ing character. Of the 27 students, 21 are Am- erican-born, and of the remaining six, three are citizens. Eight, Negroes. years of age, and or nearly one-third of the students are | Fifteen of the students are under 25 20 of them are under thirty. | The proportion of women is not good—only two women in the school Twenty of the students are miners, five are steel workers, one laborer, one seaman, and two (the women) with no p r trade. All but three are members of the T.U.U.L. unions. that The length of time the students have been in the Party or League (four of the stud- ents are Y.C.L. members), is also exceptional. | Twenty of them. have been in the Party less than six months, four of them from six months to one year, two from one to two years, and one of the students ue in the course of for nine years. T came into the Par this summer's struggle in the mine fields. Three basic courses are being given — Party Organization, Fundamentais of Communism, and the Trade Union Course. Besides this there is a special \short courses on Negro Problems, and certain periods set aside for talks on spe- cial subjects. Study Groups—Method of Teaching The students are divided into five study groups of abou five in each group. These study groups are of the utmost importance as they give the Students an opportunity to continue the study of the subject just discussed in a more informal Theory Is Not Invented The world’s greatest movement of the op- pressed class, of the most revolutionary class in ry, is impossible without a revolutionary | | theory. It cannot be invented. It grows out of ithe sum total of the revolutionary experience land the revolutionary thought of all the coun- ‘tries in the world. Such theory did grow, be- fentur with the second half of the nineteenth ee a entury. It is called Marxism, One cannot be Socialist, one cannot be a revolutionary So- | | cial-Democrat, without participating, according | | to one’s powers, in developing this theory and adapting it to changed conditions, without in | pur day wazing A merciless struggle against the | bnutilation of this theory by the Plekhanovs, | Sautskys, ete. autskys, ¢'.. (Lenin—written in 1915.) x BNE AGRO RE HR SAE AVON | A SCREEN TO CONCEAL WAR PREPAR: ATIONS 5 | War” EW FORCES IN THE PITTSBURGH DISTRICT) The XI Plenum of the E. C. C. I. reminds all ts of the i ictions of the II Con- id down by Le! reading Communist ideas in- cludes the special necessity of persistent system- atic propaganda among the troops. Wherever this agitation is prohibited by exceptional.laws, it must be carried on illegally. Refusal to carry, out such work is tantamount to the betrayal of revolutionary duty and is incompatible with membership of the III International.” (Thesis on the conditions of admittance into the C. I, | adopted at the II Congress of the C. 1) | | gress 1 n The Guty of The XI Plenum of the E.C.C.I. calls upon all , upon all the workers and toilers to fight against the danger of ght against the menace of military to defend the land of the first dic- the proletariat, the Fatherland of of all war and to fi intervention tatorship of the proletariat of all countries. count “Remember Lenin’s Teachings 0 on ai | ‘The enlightened advance-guard of the | | proletariat, the revolutionary social-democrats, | | attentively watch the sentiments of the masses, | | j utilizing their growing tendency towards peace, | | not in order to support the vulgar Utopias of | | a “democratic’* peace under capitalism, not in | | order to encourage hopes for tlie intervention | }of the philanthropists, the authorities, the | bourgeoisie, but in order to make the vague | revolutionary sentiments clefr, to enlighten the ; Masses by a thousand facts of pre-war politics, | to enlighten them consistently, unflinchingly. | Basing themselves onthe experience of the | |masses and on their sentiments, they proceed ; to show the necessity of mass revolutionary actions against the bourgeoisie and the gov- ernments of their country as the only road to- | wards democracy and Socialism. (Lenin—writ- } ten May 1, 1915.) | . . There is another practical question: | | | whether we should perish-in a war between | slaveholders, ourselves blind and helpless slaves, | or whether we should perish for the “attempts | at fraternization” between the workers, with | the aim of casting off slavery? | Such’ is, in reality, the “practical” question. | | Genin—written March 29, 1915.) | manner, and to digest it thoroughly. It also | accustoms the students to methods of self- study and stimulates their initiative. For nearly two hours after each class, the groups read aloud from the assignment made, and discuss the sub- ject, exchanging experiences from their own lives to illustrate the points made. Should any question come up in the groups which the stud- ents are unable to solve, or a disagreement arises, the comrade in charge of the school, who is always present, is called in to settle the dif- ficulty. This comrade also goes from group to group, stimulating discussion, guiding the study, and at the same time, getting personally acquaintéd with all the students individually. The method of teaching which all the instruc- tors use, is the question and aiscussion method, linking up the lesson as closely as possible with the lives and struggles of the students them- selves, and drawing them into taking part in the class. The method of giving a lengthy lecture and having a formal discussion afterward, is absolutely out of the question. We can best make the students understand trade union strategy, the role of the Party, and the cap- italist system of exploitation, if we base their study on their own experiences, and if we can make the students contritute as much to the class as the teacher does. Thus the two-hour class is 2 general discussion of a concrete nature, guided by the instructor to cover certain sub- jects and to avoid an abstract handling of the subject-matter, The Students Run The School Another important factor in the school is the system of self-government by the students, A students council of sever’ is the guiding body, and submits its recommendations to the general assembly of all the students, which is held tw- ice a week. Here also the method of teaching, the subject-matter of the courses, and other questions of an academic nature are also dis- cussed. A number of student committees take care of the student needs. The studenis run the school themselves. This has had a very héalthy effect on the school. It stimulated in the students a spirit of self-discipline and res- ponsibility to’ ‘d the school. It eliminated the need of discipline from above, Reading And Literature The lack of simple elementary literature on any of the three subjects given, is a tremendous handicap. The literature available is too dif- ficult for elementary study. In connection with giving assignments for practical activity, we must remember that the students come for a limited period of time. Therefore, it should be an iron-bound rule that assignments should be given only from the point of view of the education the student gets. The tendency of using the students as pinch-hitters in emergencies in the District work, must be rigidly curbed. The students must be systematically stimul- ated to read. Therefore provision must be made at home and in the school curriculum, for op- portunity for individual reading. We must be careful not to overtax the students, They must be ia a position to digest what they study and what they are taught. Written assignments are important because they train the students to express their thoughts in an organized manner, and develops habits and methods of self-study. Selection of Students Decisive One of the important lessons, however, to be drawn from this school, {¥ on the method of choosing the students. Due to circumstances prevailing in the District at the time the school was organized, the preparations were insuffi- WIPE “THE ‘TABLE! ! The Strike in Lawrence and the Profits of the Amer. Woolen Co. (Twenty-five thousand textile workers are at present on strike in Lawrence, the largest textile center in the country. The strike is against a general wage cut, The American Woolen Company, which is the largest tex- tile company in Lawrence, has initiated the wage cuts, Its excuse for the wage cuts is that it is losing money, The facts compiled by the Labor Research Association answer the lies and wage cutting propaganda of the bosses — Ed.) oe ee | | apeeesea WOOLEN CO. controls nearly 15 per cent of all the woolen and worsted looms in the United States and about 30 per cent of the spindles. It has by far the’ largest output of any corporation in its field. It sells approximately $100,000,000 worth of fabrics each year. It owns 51 mills, at least 21 of which are now closed down completely while others have been leased. In 1929 alone the company closed down 14 plants and leased two as a part of its pro- gram of rationalization. As a result the oper- ations of the company have not been much above 50 per cent of capacity since 1926. Other steps in its rationalization program in recent years has been the concentration of oper- ations in the larger mills, the handling of prac- tically all of its scouring, carding and combing | work in Lawrence mills, the installation of thou- sands of new automatic and magazine looms ip its worsted mills, the application of a rigor- ous speed-up system putting more machines on the workers, and the recent wage cutting at- | tack on the workers, Largest Banks Control the American Woolen Co. This program has been enforced partly as the result of the big New York banking houses that have come into control of the company in recent. months. These include the Chase National Bank (Albert H. Wiggin), Brown Brothers, Har- riman & Co. (Ray Morris and F. 8. Connett), Hayden Stone & Co. (Charles Hayden and Lester Watson); in addition to the leading Bos- ton banks such as Old Colony Trust (Charles F. Ayer) and First National of Boston that have always had a powerful grip on the company’s policies and have profited greatiy from its oper- ations, Concealing Profits. Concealing profits has been one of the fine arts of the company, and its annual reports have been anything but frank statements of its real financial position. For example, in 1917 a government investigation showed that it rolled up a net income of $28,560,342 or nearly 48 per cent even on its grossly inflated capitalization. But this amount was nearly $15,000,000 more than it had shown in its annual financial state- ment for that year. This hiding of profits was advocated by Wil- liam M. Wood, the former president, who is quoted by the former owner of the Wall Street Journal in “They Told Barron.” Wood said to Barron in a confidential talk: “American Woolen Co, showed $9,000,000 net last year, but really made $14,000,000. Our policy this year will be to show as little profits as pos- sible. If you show big earnings you will never get them: your employees will insist upon an advance in wages.” A review of the dividend payments of the Ny Ps Visit the homes of the unemployed workers. List all cases of starvation, undernourishment, inade- quate relief. Carry on a sustained and steady struggle for unemployment relief for the starving families from the city government, the large corporations and employers. Have large delegations of unemployed workers present at every meetine of the elty council to fight for adequate re« lief for all cases of starving and undernourished workers’ families, cient and the method of choosing the students was fax from satisfactor?. The day before school opened, the students were still being selected. The candidates should be chosen from among the most active and promising workers in the field. In some cases the section organizers no~ minated those he could “spare” better than others. Sincé the success of the school depends to a great degree on the composition of the students, every care must be taken in the selec- tion of the students. ‘The reaction of the students toward the school is splendid. They are, with very few exceptions, eager to learn, and take the school very seri- ously. They try hard, and are intensely inter- ested in the subjects taught. In spite of the defective preparations for the school, and in spite of the shortcomings still existing, as pointed out above, the high hopes placed in the school are being justified. The Pittsburgh School is just one more proof of the fact that the continual clamoring by the Dis- tricts for outside forces will not solve the pro- blem, and that the only solution is the training. and development of forces right at home. company over a period of years shows what the stockholders were getting in addition to the large amounts going to the bankers and the of- ficers of the company. (Wood himself pulled about $1,000,000 a year out of the company be- sides large amounts extracted from the treasury to pay his personal income tax and other sums paid directly to him or through his associates, many of them connected with the selling end of the business.) Piling Up of Huge Profits, Here are the dividend rates over a period of years on common stock: 1916, 5 per cent; 1917, 5 per cent; 1918, 5 per cent; 1919, 20 per cent (regular plus extras of 5 per cent and 10 per cent; 1920, 7 per cent; 1921, 7 per cent; 1922, 1 per cent; 1923, 7 per cent; 1924, 7 per cent). At the same time during all these years and up to 1927 the regular 7 per cent was paid on the preferred stock. If we consider only certain recent periods we find that the capitalist class drew off from the value created by the workers of American Woolen, the following amounts: To holders of bonds and mortgages—approxi- mately $5,800,000 from 1921 to 1939. ‘To preferred stockholders—$20,242,000, 1921, to April, 1927. To common stockholders—$9,916,000, 1921, July, 1924. This makes a total of nearly $36,000,000 drawn off by the capitalist class since the depression to | of 1921, not including the millions that went to ‘Wood and other officers of the company in huge salaries, rake-offs, commissions and stock rig- ging operations. The capital stock of the comany ts greatly inflated and by no means represents true values even in the capitalist sense, And the real estate and plants of the company are carried on the books at the inflated figure of over $100,000,000, on the basis of which the company has been set- ting aside heavy reserves for depreciation until it has already over half this inflated investment covered. The depreciation reserve increased from $28,300,000 in 1920 to $52,000,000 in 1930. The financial statement of the company at the end of 1930 showed a large amount of cash and government securities in its treasury, these liqui@ assets alone amounting to $25,672,000. The cor®- pany then had total current assets of nearly $54,947,000 as against current liabilities of only $745,000, leaving a net working capital of $54,- 202,000. The surplus at the end of the year, although it had been falling in recent years was still $4,787,000. Swindling the Workers. In 1925 the company took a reserve fund of $2,500,000 which had been set up for employee pensions and put it in ‘with its regular surplus, promising thereafter to pay the pensions out of operating expenses, but thereby wiping out the slight security the workers thought they had when the fund was set up and large promises made to them, In the same manner the com- pany encouraged its workers to buy stock on which dividends haye not been paid in recent years. An advertisemnet that has appeared for years in the Textile Worker, official organ of the United Textile Workers of America, reads as fol- lows: “Economy in Production. More than 25,000 skilled employees, ably and tactfully directed, working under pleasant conditions and: receiving consistently fair treatment; forty mills equipped. with every labor-saving, time-saving device known and unlimited facilities for securing the best of raw material—all are perfectly co- ordinated to secure greater economy in produc- tion so that the ultimate clothing wearer may benefit. American Woolen Company, Inc.” This ad in the strikebreaking paper speaks for itself. Workers! Join the Party of. , Your Class! P. O. Box 87 Station D. New York City. Please send me more information on the Cum- munist Party. NAME ...ccccccccceccsccccvscscccesscccccsocsces ACAIOSS sececseeessresessvesnerccnsscseetesevecs NY s.cccccccreccccceceencess StAt® ssceescenes Occupanon -Mail this to the Central Office, Communist ceeeneeeseeeesesesececers ABC seeees Communist Party U. 8. A. Party, P, O, Box 87 Station D, New York Clty, Agitators’ and Propagandists’ Column This column will appear regularly in the Daily Worker. Its purpose is two-fold: First, in the Agitators’ Column will appear simple, easily-understood facts, which come to light from time to time and which can be utilized in agitation speeches and in personal talks with workers in convincing them of the cor- rectness of the Party line and policy. Second, in the Propagandists’ Column will appear selections from. Marx, Engels, Lenin and from important Party and Comintern documents which will give the comrades who follow the column a more basic understanding of the problems they face in their every-day work. Some Facts on Soviet American Trade S everyone knows, the economic crisis has brought a sharp decline in the exports of the United States to foreign countries. Total exports from the United States to all countries showed a 27 per cent drop in value in 1930 as compared with 1929. The exports of the United States to Europe dropped 21 per cent in 1930. To non-European countries the drop was 31 per cent, reflecting in part the tremendous drop in purchasing power of the colonial and semi-colonial countries dependent largely on the sales of raw material and foodstuffs. But while this drop was noticed in the ex- ports of the United States to all countries, there was one exception. The exports to the Soviet Union (that part of it which lies in Europe) increased 37 per cent over 1929, ‘This was last year before the National Civil Federation, headed by Matthew Woll, the Fish Committee, the American Manganese Producers’ Association, the mysterious “Joint Conference on Unfair Russian Competition,” and similar war- hungry capitalist bodies, assistet by the Russian monarchist emigrees in the United States, be- gan their campaign to embargo Soviet goods, and to spread their wild lies about conditions of labor in the Soviet Union. What has been the result of the hysterical shouts of these anti-Soviet Black Hundreds? The figures for exports from the United States for the first seven months of 1931 begin to show it. U. S. exports to the Soviet Union dropped 9 per cent below the same period of the previous year. But the drop in orders, which will be reflected in next year’s trade, is the most significant point. Purchases by the Amtorg Trading Corporatioz, the sole buying agency of the Soviet industries in the United States, fell from $88,400,000 during the first eight months of 1930 to $48,500,000 during the first eight months of 1931—a decline of 45 per cent, Although the United States has been sending té the Soviet Union a much larger proportion | of its "exports than before the’ war, and buying & smaller percentage of its exports from the Soviet Union, the: American government, repre- senting the “larger interests” of American cap- italism, seems willing to sacrifice this trade if it can strike a blow at the Five-Year Plan, which is now on the way. to being achieved in four years. “But the Soviet industriés have answered the “American propaganda of lies by directing their orders to a country which gives full diplomatic recognition. As a result the orders placed in “Germany during the first six months of 1931 were 95 per cent above those for the same period last year. As P. A. Bogdanov, Chairman of the the current Economic Review of the Soviet Union, “this development is a dircct result of the favorable credit terms extended by German industrialists on orders for the Soviet Union.” Credit terms and facilities for trade, of course, depend much upon recognition. But at present the Soviets are simply demanding of the United States the removal of all discriminatory re- strictions on Soviet products. Unless these restrictions are removed and the whole “dumping” and “forced labor” lies, cir- culated by the A. F. of L. and the capitalists, are stopped, we may expect to see a steady drop in United States exports to the Soviet Union. ‘This, as every American machinist and electrical worker knows, means more unemployment and way Seen) Board of Directors of the Amtorg, points out in- at 50 East & SUBSCRIPTION RATES: “DAIWORK al vor ePr ly mall everywhere: One year, $6; six months, $3; two months, $1: excepting Boroughs New York, N. ¥Y. of Manhattan and Bronx, New York City. Foreign: one yei $8; six months, $4.50. Central Ongon Porty U.S.A. . oe = at eae By BURCK we see aca) Hardships of Pioneers That is the right title for complaint of one of the leaders being trained (we hope) in the Pio- neer Leaders School, It’s too easy on the in- structors and hard on the study. A hike was voted on the grand excuse that they would both hike and study. They only hiked. The most of the instructors were left behind in bed. Then the next Sunday and no hike. But the first instructor “comes rolling in half an hour after official starting time, looking as if he hadn't been to sleep the night before” and calls classes off on the claim that not enough stud- ents were present—though most were present, If we hear any more of. this, we'll have to tell the crocodile. 6a ame An Over-Worked Prince Now we are going to have a talkie devoted exclusively to the Prince of Wales. It is made by a British film company, of course, and is to be entitled “I serve.” And as the company’s publicity man is also English, he adds with wholly unconscious humor, that: “It will first be shown to the prince's tenants and servants.” The name “I serve” is taken from the prih- ce’s coat-of-arms, which (again the publicity man pulls a boner) bears the motto “Ich dien”; a right good German phrase for the royal pup of German blood to whom all 100% Britishers are loyal. Then we learn that the film: “... Will take the onlooker through typical days in the prince’s busy life from the time he rises—long before many business men are thinking of their shaving water—until he re- tires at night, long after most people have sought their rest.” Really, this is too much! We ought to sic the Hoover-Green “stagger” plan on him and give somebody else a chance at the job. There's only one worse example of an over-worked dude —Jimmy Walker ot aay, Hall. Negro Papere Diedsa Copy Some inventive scoundrel, signing himself L. E. Carragin, secretary of a wholly fraudulent “Russian Representative Company” with the ad= dress of P. O. Box 317, Jackson, Mississippi, is sending letters to Negroes all over the country trying to swindle them out of a dollar each in supposed exchange for information of how they can get a job “in Russia.” “Kor the small fee of one dollar currency or stamps we will send you the places to apply and the names of companies which have fac- tories or firms in Russia. Also send you val- uable information of which will help you to obtain the job or position.” The “letter head” of this scoundrel is a rub- ber stamp, the latter being written in pen and ink, and it bears a list of the kind cf workers supposedly wanted. It can well be understood that, suffering from unemployment and barbarous national oppres- sion in the United States, great numbers of American Negroes are anxious to get to the Soviet Union, where there is no crisis, no unem- ployment and no white chauvinism. Negro work- ers of the South, however, should be warned against this Jackson, Miss., racketeer and fraud. Pale igar Great Success! Food Destroyed! “Brazil goes quietly about her program of. destroying excess coffee,” says the N. Y. Times of Oct. 11. “Dumping the coffee into the ocean was tried and abandoned as too slow. Burning then was resorted to, and for several months Rio de Janeiry has been overcast by smoke from smoldering piles of coffee. “Up to Oct. 3, 1,680,000 bags (of about 250 Tbs. each) had gone up in smoke, while 5,387,000 bags have been purchased for destruction. It is hoped that funds to purchase 9,720,000 bags additional for destruction will be available in the coming season. “The Brazilian destruction plan is self-sup- porting. An export tax of $2.43 a bag is charged. All the money realized from this tax goes to the purchase of coffee intended for destruction. The present internal loan will start destruction operations in Sao Paulo, to supplement the regu- Jar destruction program at Rio. to destroy about 400,000 bags of coffee in the near future in Sao Paulo province.” Capitalism means destruction. Destruction means hunger for workers. But it is all “self- supporting” for capitalists! Workers, there is one thing that must be destroyed, and that is—— CAPITALISM! N * * A Nice “Brotherhood” A more loathsome nest of snakes could scarcely be found than that calling itself the “Brother- hood of Russian Truth,” which Is widely spread ing its bulletin in English and Russian langue ages, decorated with its emblem—a hand la- beled “B.R.T.” stabbing with a dagger a star labeled “Communism” and “U.S.S.R.” a The front page is devoted wholly to a threat’ against American specialists who are working in the Soviet Union, to wom this “Brotherhood” speaks as follows: “We tell you clearly and briefly: If you wish to be safe and sound, leave our Russia...The Russian nation hates you. We ask you to leave Russia of your own free-will. Otherwise blame yourself, and remember that you joined your destiny to the Soviet power. The Russian na-.. tional revolution is unavoidable. If it finds you in Russia—its crushing blow will certain-_ ly fall on you!” This is a nice package put up by ® lot of secret assassins whom the U. S. Government ins... vites and shelters—a threat to murder Amerf- cans. The bulletin lists addresses in nine countries, that in the Far East being the Peking address of that old mass-murderer, General Horvat... The one for America is a “covor” address, some White Guardist in Thomrson, Conn. Their real headquarters for business is Hartford, Conn. and their political and military headquarters. are in New York City, though they are, of course, not openly published, because, like the scouns drels they are, they fear that American workers. ‘would put them out of business even though the American Government protects them in their threats against American workers in the USSR. sy ee 2 “Red Emma” Goldman-Colton, who isn’t red at all and never was, is writing (Lord help us!). two, big books of memoirs. As an anarchist she found her natural level as a bourgeois property holder in imperialist France, having found the political climate of Moscow too harsh for though she claims Bolshevism 1g “tao tama? 44 It is planned © \