The Daily Worker Newspaper, January 12, 1932, Page 4

New vage Four n 4-7956. Cab). . deily except Sunday, at 60 Base Worker, 60 Bast 18th Street, New Yor 9 “DAIWORK.” of By mail everywhere: One y: Manbattan and SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Bronz. York City. Foreign: $€; siz months, $3; twe months, 81; excepting Boreughe one year, $8; siz months, $4.60. Party Recruiting Drive | January 11 - March 18, 1932 | THE DAILY WORK ER AND THE RECRUIT DRIVE IN DISTRICT EIGHT By J. SPIEGEL. Te smash the desperate resistan: capitalism manifested in the reviv: Syndicalism laws, lynching 2 rising Negroes, deportations and police as well as to further the revo he Party, makes it necessary ¢ it new Party members but to ctuiting drive a means of greater of the A F. of L, the RR Brotherhoods and the stockyards. With @ million workers unemployed Chicago area and the miners of Southern Illin- ois facing actual starvation, we should consider the 1,000 members set as & goal for Distric as very low. The object of the recruiting drive is in no sense 2 mere means of securing just an increase in numerical strength; but of securing the most militant and active workers. Many such ne members secured during c e should be those who wield their influence in other bodies, whions, etc. That this may result, more atten- tion should be given to individual organizations by members and to the selection of the best material from the mass organizations At the same time the Party in this recruiting drive will find no more valuable aid in thi work than forwarding the campaign 5,00€ wew subscribers for the Daily Worker. The Daily Worker has sought steadily to im- prove itself as the'voice of the workers; to in- terror THE PARTY AS A REVOLUTION ARY ORGANIZER. The Party is the vanguard of the working~- class and consists of the best, most class con~ scious, most active and most courageous members of that class. It incorporates the whole body of experience of the proletarian struggle. Basing itself upon the revolutionary theory of Marxism | and representing the general and lasting in- terests of the whole of the working-class, the Party personifies the unity of proletarian prin- ciples, of proletarian will and of proletarian revolutionary action. It is a revolutionary or- ganization, bound by iron discipline and strict revolutionary rules of democratic centralism. which can be carried out thanks to the class consciousness of the proletarian vanguard, to its loyalty to the revolution, its ability to maintain inseparable ties with the proletarian masses and to its correst political leadership. which is constantly verified and clarified by the experiences of the masses themselves. (From the Program of the Communist International. ON RECRUITING PARTY MEMBERS FROM AMONG THE UNEMPLOYED AND PART-TIME WORKERS By LENA RAY, Section 5, District 2 At the present time all our efforts must be centered around getting into the Party the best elements from the unemployed and part-time workers who are members of the Unemployed Councils and Block Committee. While the lower Bronx Council js still 2 baby in organization, still we have many good ele- ments. The reasons we are not recruiting into the Party as fast as we should are 1) The comrades of the units sre not participating in the work but come as visitors to the Unemployed Council meetings, as they say, “to look around.” 3) Very uncommunistic approach, for instance, a Party member assigned fro ma unit to help in the work will walk in and go up to a non- perty worker and say, “I am assigned here from Unit—. What shall I do?” 3) Negro workers come to our meetings and become members, and what happens? ‘They sit in a corner di- vided from the white workers and our Party comrades do not make them feel that they also e its as an organ of agitation and e is no other medium that can equal it as an aid to the member who attempts on individual organization work. The eading of leaf . holding meetings, and lead- f struggles, are only partly successful if hey are not accompanied and followed by an e of exposure; th i ement of the movement. There are mass organizations to be developed and furnished leadership; the Criminal Syndi- c law to be fought; the barrier between white and Negro workers must be torn down; t barrier or wall has been erected by the bosses to confuse the workers and they must now, under our leadership, tear it down. They must learn to take up the fight for equal rights. This means that new recruited members must e part in seeing that the L. S. N. R. becomes | @ factor in sections where no Negroes live, as well as in such places as where there is a large | Negro population. These new members must get their direction largely from the Daily Worker; in fact many | | older Party members would profit much by a | closer reading of it. Each member will find a | file of the Worker very valuable as a means of | solving many difficult problems if—when con- fronted by such problems they will look up the file they will usually find plenty of material re- lating to similar problems. The Daily Worker is worthy of the movement. Realize this and make use of it. aders of the Daily Worker, which A COMMUNIST PARTY INDISPEN- SIBLE FOR THE OVERTHROW OF CAPITALISM. The first attempts at revolutionary overthrow, which sprang from the acute crisis of capitalism (1918-1921) ended in the victory and consolida- | tion of the dictatorship of the proletariat in the | USSR and in the defeat of the proletariat in @ number of other countries. These defeats | were primarily due to the treacherous tactics |of the social-democratic and reformist trade | union leaders, but they were also due to the |fact that the majority of the working-class had not yet accepted the lead of the Com- |municts and that in a number of important counties Communist Parties had not yet been established at all. As a result of these defeats, which created the opportunity for intensifying | the exploitation of the mass of the proletariat and the colonial peoples, and for severely de- pressing their standard of living, the bourgeoisie was able to achieve a partial stabilization of vapitalist relations. | shall be leaders of the Unemployed movement. | In spite of all these bad mistakes, we have | recruited four members into the Party. How? | Two workers came up to me and said if the | Communist Party is leading the Hunger March- | ers, is fighting for bread and against war, they | want to know more about the Party. I invited | them to my home that evening for supper and | after explaining in detail the role of the Party, they signed application cards. The other two joined in the same way. They asked us about the Party and were willing to join. How can we recruit more Party members from the Block Committees and Unemployed Councils. | Not by being visitors to the Branches, but ac- tually participating and becoming a leader in the work. Also to adopt a good element for a week or two and actually go out with him on assign- ments, and to find time to go out with him Socially. If this will be carried out, our Party will become stronger and will have real fighters in its ranks. Kentucky Miners Fight for the Release ot Their Leaders | By ANN BARTON (Tis article describes the demonstration of $008 striking Kentucky miners at the Pine- ‘tile courthouse om January 5.—EDITOR). eo ms Kye PINEVILLE, Ky. (Written in jail)—From pick- et-lines all through the strike fields, the miners, ‘their wives and children marched to Pineville the first day our hearing was set to stage the largest and best organized demonstration that has ever been seen here. Five thousand, Negro and white, men, women and children stormed into town to protest the | Strest of the nine taken in the raid on the Na~ tional Miners Union office yesterday. They formed an organized picket line, two by two, around the jail and into the courthouse square ‘dnging “Solidarity Forever” and songs made up 6n the spur of the moment about the strike, the arrests were taken up by the crowd. Inside the jail, the prisoners awaiting trial ‘&t one o'clock could clearly hear the singing and | shouting. The line took s half hour in passing. Rumors spread that the miners would attempt to take the prisoners from the jail and John Henry ‘Blair, sheriff of Harlan County himself with his gun thugs carrying full regalia, sub machine guns and high powered rif were Posted on the steps of the Continental Hote! overlooking the court house. Thugs were im- ported from Middlesboro and surrounding parts. The nervous authorities called court off for the day and postponed the trial until Thursday morning at ten o'clock. The thugs could not get at the speakers for the density of the mas- ses of miners, Miners and their women took the speaker's stand om the court house steps, one after the other exposing starvation and denouncing the @rrests as an attempt to break the strike and demanding the release of the nine. ‘The Mayor himself came out to tell the min- re to go away. But heedless of pleas and pro- iaises, the picketing of ths jal] continued and WORKERS! JOIN THE COMMUNIST PARTY! —By GROPPER. tional Trade Union Committee By G. P. ‘HE international imperialists, frightened at the growing revolt of their colonial slaves are intensifying thélt régitfie of terror in order to | crush the Soviet movertent in China and the developing revolutionary struggles of the toiling masses in India, Africa and the other colonies. In order to carry out their bloody policy, the colonial enslavers and hangmen of Versailles have issued ofders to Bruening and his social- democrati¢ lackeys, to co-operate with them in suppressing the fevolutionary activities of the colonial peoples. It is in this light that we must view the recent action of the police in raiding the International Secretariat of the League against imperialism in Berlin which has been openly carrying on its activities for the last six years On Dec. 23, the day following the raid upon the League's office, the German police occupied the headquarters of the International Trade Union Committee of Negro Workers in Ham~- burg. After making a complete search of the premises, they confiscated 10,000 copies of vari- ous editions of popular pamphlets, including the magazine, the “Negro Worker,” the official or- gan of the Committee, and an anti-military pamphlet calling upon the Negro workers, to fight against the imperialist war danger and to defend the Chinese Revolution and the Soviet Union against intervention. ‘The action of the police made it clear that they were carrying out the instructions of their foreign masters. The German bourgeoisie, hav- ing lost their African and other colonies in the last imperialist war, have now become the will-~ ing tribute collectors, out of the sweat and blood of the German proletariat, for the Versailles tobbers, who have also constituted them their colonial watchdogs. Therefore it is no accident | that the raids have taken place just at the same time, when the colonial enslavers and war mon- gers of the League of Nations and America have the meeting grew in numbers as picket lines con- tinued marching in from as far as Tennessee and camps far off and isolated. ‘The news of the arrests and charge of criminal syndicalism spread like wildfire. The miners | sent @ telegram to Governor Ruby Laffoon de- manding the release of the nine representatives of the National Miners Union, the International Labor Defense and the Workers International Relief and the Daily Worker. | A miner representative to the nine in jail was | sent by the miners. He sald, giving the greet- ings of the miners, “We want you all to know we are with you 100 per cent. They only did thus to hurt the strike, to take the relief from | the mouths of our little starving babies. But | we know what to do. We'll be here Thursday and we’ keep our picket lines. We'll send a | committes to the Mayor demanding your re- lease. And we ordered the Jailers not to let you be taken from here to Harlan jail.” i | | te was late im the afternoon until the miners | would leave, saying they would continue eom- i] | | | | ing back until all were released, ‘The arrested are Vern Smith, John Harvey, Vincent Kemenovich, Clarina Michelson, Dor- othy Ross Weber, Norma Martin, Margaret Fon- taine, Julia Parker and Ann Barton. They are charged with criminal syndicalism. Warrants are out for two others. Reports continue to come in that picket lines are being held solid, that relief distributions continue. That these miners will hold on until they win, that they will not let these maneuvers break the strike against starvation is shown in part by the demonstration organized by them- selves last Tuesday. To back such militancy with relief is the un- questionable burning duty of the American working class. Strike the blow against starva- tion and terror! Support the strike of the Ken- tucky, ‘Tennessee miners! Send relief immedi- ately. Send food and clothing to the Workers International Relief, 145 Pine St. Pineville, Ky. EE accepted Dr. Schnee, the former Governor of East Africa, and President of the German Co- lonial Society, as a member of the Manchurian Commission, In this way the German imperial- ists hope to be rewarded by the return of some of their former colonies. As the industrial and agrarian crisis deepens in Africa, the colonial oppressors, especially Eng- land, France, Belgium and America, are getting more and more frightened by the tremendous upward swing of the revolutionary movement among the black tolling masses in South and West Africa, the Congo as well as in the U.S.A. ‘Within recent months, these imperialist pow- ers have let loose a reign of terror against the Negro workers, This has assumed the form of open massacres in the Congo, police brutality in South Africa, and daily lynchings in America. Negro workers suspected of the least revolution- ary activities are being arrested and thrown into prison, without even the usual farcical trial. The police and military officials are searching the homes of the workers and opening their mail in order to spy upon their activities. All ships with native crews calling in African ports are imme- diately raided by the C.LD. sd searched for lit- erature. ‘Through these methods they hope to crush the revolutionary movement of the African workers and to drive the International Negro Trade Un- fon Committee into illegality. But the imperial-~ ists and their German capitalist and social~ democratic watchdogs will never be able to achieve their aims; for the Committee which was organized ‘at an international conference of Ne- gro workers held in Hamburg in July 1930 has already won the world-wide response and sup~ port of the Negro toiling masses. ‘The Interna- tional Committee expresses the growing revo- lutionary consciousness of the black masses in Africa, America and the West Indies, who, under the slogan of “Class Against Class,” are deter- mined to struggle for national freedom and so- celal emancipation together with the workers in the metropolitan countries and the other op- pressed toilers of the colonies and semi-colonies. ‘The International Trade Union Committee or Negro Workers appeais to all revolutionary workers and sincere fighters against imperialism to support the struggles of the Negro masses and to defend their international organization against the attacks of the imperialists, 4 Flop Houses of Chicago By BEN GRAY PART I Gee EMMERSON’S fake Unempioy- ment Relief Commission has concluded the drive for $10,000,000 for relief for Chicago's un- employed. The greatest portion of this has been filched out of the starvation wages of the work- ers in the shops, Of the 650,000 unemployed in Chicago the family men have received a crumb while the hundreds of thousands of youth and single men have been refused any relief what- sSoever or sent to the dreaded flophouses. Need- less to say, the immense and unnecessary bu- reaucratic machine set up to “distribute” the funds has eaten into millions of dollars of the fund through the payment of high salaries and plenty of graf. Approximately 16 flophouses have been set up in Chicago by the Emmerson Relief Commission to “provide tor the needs” of the tens of thou- sands of homeless youth and single men. Each flophouse houses between 500 and 2,000 men. | There are also flophouses. for women and girls. The spacing between the beds is barely three inches apart. The most unsanitary and disease- spreading conditions prevail. Inadequate wash- ing and toilet’ facilities, etc, young and old workers are herded into these places like cattle | and treated as though they were in a peniten- tiary—even worse. The food dished out is not fit for pigs to eat. Slop is a mild name for it. Two “meals” a day are served day in and day out in a monotonous prison-like fashion. In the morning—half- cooked oatmeal, soured and stale; dirty-water “coffee” and stale (moldy) bread. This must suffice until 4 pm. This meal consists invari- ably of a so-called stew—thickened with flous— if you find meat in it through a stroke of luck— don’t eat it—it’s stale! This is how the boss class hirelings “provide” for starving youth and single men. THROUGH SLOW STARVATION. ‘Today there are a great number of Negro and white youth in these flophouses. There are many skilled workers of all industries, workers whose savings went with the avalanche of bank crashes. Workers whose families have been broken up by the United Charities, the Catholic Charities and The Emmerson Relief! (There are also hun- dreds of thousands of these, of ex-servicemen and war veterans). Workers have scoured the country far and wide in search of jobs—whom fear of hunger and ‘cold has forced into the flophouses. These workers have become bitter against the system—they are ready to fight for the right to live. When properly approached (on the basis of their most immediate demands) they will become a tremendous factor for our movement in the struggle for Unemployment Insurance. They have nothing to lose—and cer- tainly much to gain through the struggle. ‘The Unemployed Council has been carrying on agitation around the flophouses for quite some time. But tt is no accident that the struggle for food has begun at 222 8. Morgan St. where there are mostly youth. After gaining some con- cessions, such as sleeping an hour later (till 6 a.m., instead of 5)—the use of the place during the daytime for recreation—the youth commit- tee of the unemployed council) began the fight for three meals » day and better food. On Mon- day, Dec. 14, over 200 young workers threw their SLOP down in disgust, turned over tables and walked out in protest, Though it was led by the youth in the unemployed council, the demonstration was spontaneous in character and fully represented the indignation of the work~ ers. Immediately following the demonstration the drive of terror against the men was stopped. The right to meet in the flophouse and voice grievances was granted—and recognition of com- mittees elected by the workers. Committees were sent to the Emmerson Relief Commission at 10 S. LasSalle with the following demands. ‘The committees represented two flophouses and the unemployed couricil: 1, Three meals a day—to all men. Clean, nourishing food, to include fresh vegetables, fresh bread, fresh milk and fruii. Complete change of menu dally. 2. No less than 18 inches of sapce betwee! each bed. . 3. Chewing and smoking tobacco twice » week for all men. | workers and the right to present grievances. themselves in each flophouse. The answer of Mr. Mullenbach of the Emmerson Relief to these demands was that if was impossible to give three meals a day, that their funds were don’t need more than two meals a day; that the food is good enough, and the conditions the best possible. The commission had appropriated proximately $180,000 will be spent in six months on food for the homeless men. The rest goes for “overhead”—a nice name for graft. The committee pointed these things out to Mr. Mul- Jenbach—and direct answer on the above de- mands. Although he answered in a roundabout way, the committee saw that the commission would do nothing. The committee returned to the flophouse more determined to carry on the fight than ever. Demagogy the Main Weapon of the Basses. As a result of this struggle the bosses’ hire- lings in the flophouses and in the main office of the Emmerson Relief have been using all kinds of soft phrases afd promises in order to pacify the workers. The small concessions granted are a part of their demagogy. They fear the militancy of the workers—hence their flood of demagogy. We must be in a position to counteract this demagogy with mass action, through popularizing each concession as a Vice~ tory and through raising the struggle to a higher plane. From the above demands must flow the demand for cash-appropriations for the flop- houses—to be turned over to committees of the workers in the flophouses who shal! have full jurisdiction over their disbursement. Oust the high-salaried officials and grafters—(they get $50 per week—besides graft)—for workers’ con- trol of all appropriations of money, food and clothing. (The Salvation Army—and Emmer- son's Relief—collect clothing from workers—and then they SELL the clothing to the homeless men.) (Yo be Conciaded) LENIN CORNER In connection with the Lenin Anniversary, we are establishing s Lenin Corner. We will reprint various statements from Comrade Lenin's writ- ’ WOW THE WAR CAN BE ENDED H ite war cannot be ended “at will.” It t be ended by the decision on one side. It can- not be ended by “sticking the bayonet into the ground,” to use the expression of a soldier~ defencist. : The war cannot be ended by an “agreement” between the socialists of various countries, by “demonstrations” of the proletarians of various countries, by the “will” of the peoples, etc. All such phrases, filling the articles of the defencist, semi-defencist and semi-internationalist papers, as well as the numerous’ resolutions, appeals, manifestos, declarations of the Soviet of Work- ers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies, all these phrases are 4. Recognition of committees elected by the | nothing but empty, harmless, goody-goody 4 a running low, ‘and, anyway, unemployed men j | $800,000 for the homeless men. Of this ap- Bfota | A Lesson In Brutality |) Maybe some of you will recall the occasion several months back, wher there was a big hul- labaloo in the capitalist papers about some mise sionery in China, who had been held for ransom by “bandits,” so-called, and to make the demand for ransom emphatic, the “bandits” has sent o human finger down to Shanghai. The finger was supposed to have been cut from the thieving hand of the missionary, but really nobody was sure of it. In fact the wholé tale was later questioned, as we recall. Between “bandits,” yes, the sure enough bane dits, and missionary fingers, we rather favor thé bandits. No bandits that China ever saw could do the Chinese more damage than the mission- aries. But as this is to be a lesson in brutality, we want to point out something real in that line not merely a finger or two. In the N.Y. Times of January 8, under a headline: “Wider Bandit Drive Is Planned By Japan; Slaughter of Irre- gulars In Manchuria Is Expected,” a story ts told of the capture of forty supposed ‘‘bandits.” They | had been brought into Mukden. | Defend the Interna-‘The Fight for Better Food in the | treatment of Chinese ‘These demands were drawn up by the workers | “These captives were being interrogated singly,” by the Japanese officers, the Times cor= respondent says. Now it is clear that when bane dits are really bandits, no third degree is needed; and therefore the questioning of these captives, one by one, by the Japanese, shows that the Japanese recognize their captives as Chinese fighters for independence, and wished to worm out of them the secrets, if any,, of the organized independence movement of which they are a part. These captives, ‘says the correspondent, “will probably be turned over to the Chinese (sic!) authorities for punishment, which will probably be execu _ And to further up the Mukden cerrespondent write: mes dispatch, the “The Japanese have decided to fling all availabie forces into the bandit roundup, which is likened here to the rabbit drives formerly held in the American northwest to rid agrie culture of furred pests.” learn that the imperialist fighters for independence is regarded by them as the same as ‘shooting rabbits. And let us not be moved by a lot of imperialist propaganda when, ultimately, these Chinese heroes now called “bandits” drive the imperialists into the sea and cut the fingers or So, children, let. us {heads of any who get in the way of the Red Army | i} of Soviet China. More power to those Chinese “bandits”! Oe OSS, That “Ninth Power” NoW that Secretary Stimson has sent ma “nine power” treaty note to both China and Japan, we might call your attention to the fact that Chia was the “ninth power.” Yessiree, China, be it known, signed the “nine power treaty,” which, you should know, if you don't, opened up as follows: “The contracting powers, OTHER THAN CHINA, agree: L. To respect the sovereignity the independence and the territorial and ad- ministrative integrity of China.” ‘We are responsible for the emphasis placed on that “other than China.” But the eight other powers are responsible for putting it in the treaty. For China to sign ® treaty promising to respect its own independence, etc., would have been ridiculous. But we ask you, isn’t it more ridiculous for the United States, after it and other impe- rialist powers having put in that clause “other than China” and, none the less, making China sign it, to send a note to China DEMANDING that China live up to the darned thing? China was the goat in that “Nine Power Treaty”; and now, for being the goat, it is de- manded of her that she carry out the “agree- ment,” the agreement under which the chops, shoulders, loin, and other parts of her anatomy, was to be divided up “fairly,” taken through the “open door” and. marketed for “Spring lamb.” ‘The gall of imperialism knows no limit. But you folks should know that what Stimson is driving at is, not only a warning to Japan to keep to the North (toward the Soviet Union), but to lay & basis in that note to China, for direct U. 8. intervention by American armed forces. That is, that under the treaty which is supposed to guarantee the “independence of China,” the independence of China is to be tramped under the heels of American troops. wishes of the petty-bourgeois. There is nothing more harmful than phrases like the “manifesta tion of the peoples’ will to eace,” “the sequence Russian proletariat comes the erman),” é¢tc. Al Russian proletariat comes the German), ete. All this is in the spirit of Louis Blanc, it is sweet dreams, a game of “political campaigning,” reality a repetition of the fable about Vaska, cat. ‘The war was not born out of the ill-will the capitalist robbers, although it undoubtedly fought solely in their interests and they get rich from it. The war was born out of 2 century of development of international cap- ital, its billions of threads and connectoins. One cannot jump out of an imperialist war, one can- not attain 2 democratic, unoppressive peace without overthrowing the power of capital, with- out the state power passing to a different clam, the proletariat, ‘The Russian Revolution of March, 1917, was the beginning of the transformation of the tme Fits g @ certainty, namely, the passing of state power to the proletariat. This will be the beginning of a “breach in the front” on a world scale, s breach in the front of the interests of and only aftér making this gap can the tariat save mankind from the horrors of war and give it the blessings of a durable To such a “breach in the front” the Russian Revolution has already Russian proletariat by creating the Soviets of Workers’ Deputies. (From “The Tasks of the Proletariat in Our .” which appears in “The Revolu- thom of 1917,” by Lenin, published by the termetional Publishers, New York), ye ans wate %