The Daily Worker Newspaper, January 13, 1932, Page 4

| | { i hing €e, hone ALgonquin 4-7956, Gefly excep? Sunday, at 80 East Cable Worker, 60 East 13th Street, New York, N. ¥. “DAIWORK.® | Party Recruiting Drive January 11 - March 18, 1932 \ NON-PARTY WORKER CRITICIZES THE PARTY FOR NOT SUFFICIENTLY EXPOSING FATHER COX 4A LETTER FROM A SY PATHIZER) | January 9, tg. Dept. Central Committee Dear Comrades:—A few days ago I saw in our daily Worker requests for suggestions from workers on improving the work of the Party. I would like to write of the work among the un- mployed in Pittsburgh. I attended several of Father Cox’s meetings. | Every worker has heard of Cox and many think | 1e is doing “good” work. Yet very little seems | | to be done by the Party to show how Cox is fooling the workers. All the newspap e giving Cox lots of pub- | Het speaks, too, over the radio and every: king about him, ie Daily Worker thai w Party . arrested giving out leaflets at I have attended every meeting and I one of the members were x's meetings. of Cox lately Party leaflets yet E don't think the Party organize of the leaflets. You know s has police and di s or around his church. distributed by many workers. Gir sed for this work, too. I have not come ac’ any worker yet at Father Cox's meetings aw one of the Party leaflets. Then again the Party should do something about this Cox march to Washington that took | piace. I have several neighbors who went on [ he march. Some have come back and some are yet back, though Cox came back Thursday ht to Pittsburgh. I guess the rest are stil m the road somewhere. The ones who came back and sure froze and starved plenty. & good dis- | comrades, So leaflets should can be who had a hard time Why don’t SHOPS—CENTRAL POINT FOR RECRUTINIG , its cartels and its fighting fascist gani es? struggle for the factories will be the most dramatic page in the history of the struggle between Communism on the one hand and the bourgevis distatorship, with its parties of The further sharpening of the class struggle, e imminent threat of imperialist war and military intervention against the U.S.8.R., raise il ist Parties the question of the best organizational defense and also the victorious attack of the fascism and social democracy, on the other. tinue to raise before the Commun can guarantee both succes S. This best and most Pi ies on the basis of the factories. t in view of unemployment only 25 ties remain in the factories is a ties have frequently carried on war against uilsky's speech at the XI Plenum of the E. | Carnegie Steel. at can the proletariat put up in opposition ‘0 30 per difficulty of must declare war on organizational opportunism just as mercilessly as the Communist Par- political c.c. 1 the Party get lots of unemployed te march down to Cox’s church and show him up at a demon- stration? Comrades, it is a shame to leave & man like Father Cox fool so many workers as he is doing. The Party may be doing a lot for all I know. But this much I do know. That I have attended Cox meetings that were packed with unemployed and have seen no signs of the Party showing him up. I also know that many of my friends attend Cox meetings and have not seen any sign of the Party. I sure would like to see the unemployed get on to Cox. I think as long as they follow | Cox and believe in him, the workers will never get nowhere. I'll end this letter now. Sorry to have it so | Jong, as I know you are busy. I work yet, though only two days @ week, in A SYMPATHIZER. * 6 os Pittsburgh District has carried on- some ac- tivities in connection with Cox’s hunger march. The remark of the sympathizer must be taken seriously. More everyday activities must be car- ried on to expose this demagogue, who is an | agent of the Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce. The ruling class is trying now all kinds of schemes to fool the unemployed. The develop- ment of the struggles of the unemployed will primarily depend upon our ability to react daily to fake schemes of the bosses. i ae (Note to the Sympathizer:—You work in the Carnegie Steel, you state. Would you write to us your opinion how to organize a group of the Metal Workers’ Industrial League in your mill, the methods to be used and what is the reaction of the workers to our activities in that mill? ‘e expect to hear from you.) to the power of finance capital with its Only organization in the factories. The n is the reorganization of the Communist ilties in the way are very great. The fact cent of the members of the Communist no small importance. But this Plenum opportunism.—From Comrade Man- THE UNIT TO BECOME A POLITICAL CENTER FOR THE MOBILIZATION OF THE MEMBERSHIP FOR MASS WORK (MPROVEMENT of the inner lift of the units, | raising the political level of the units must be based on & political mobilization of the mem- bership for mass work. Political discussions of che tasks of the units and the various general campaigns of the Party must be organized and developed within the unit. ‘The unit is to become the leader in developing struggles among the workers in the shops and territories in which it functions and must mob- ilize its membership politically. The unit must become more and more the center of the ele- mentary, theoretical training of the Party mem- bership. Political training at the membership meetings must be primarily based on the mass activities of the unit and the general of the Party. The anit meetings, however, not be turned into classes or lecture forums. ORGANIZATIONAL STEPS AND METHODS i a the should be e basis of mobilizing the membership £ tivities and eral campaigns sion to be org mass activities of the uni general campaigns of the Part; Wrong political tendencies manifested and ex- pre: in the District in connection with vari- ous phases of Party work, especially with shop ition in the gen- Periodical disc’ work, to be taken up in the units. The units | and sections also to arrange special discussions dealing with wrong political tendencies expressed LENIN CORNER ATTITUDE OF SOCIALISTS TOWARD WAR. HE Socialists have always condemned between peoples as barbarous and be 4 Our attitude towards war, however, differs in principle from that of the bourgeois pacifists and anarchists. We differ from the first in that we understand the inseparable connection be- sween wars on the one hand and class struggles inside of a country on the other; we understand the impossibility of eliminating wars without | eliminating classes and creating Socialism, and in that we fully recognize the justice, the pro- | gressivism and the necessity of civil wars, i. e., wars of an oppressed class against the oppressor, of slaves against the slave-holders, of serfs against the landlowners, of wage-workers against the bourgeoisie. We Marxists differ both from pacifists and anarchists in that we recognize the necessity of an historical study of each war individually, from the point of view-of Marx's dialectical materialism. There have been many wars in history which, notwithstanding all the horrors, cruelties, miseries and tortures, in- evitably connected with every war, had a pro- gressive character, 1. e., they served the develop- ment of mankind, aiding in the destruction of extremely pernicious and reactionary institutions (as, for instance, absolutism. or serfdom), or helping to remove the most barbarous despot- isms in Europe (that of Turkey and Russia). It is therefore necessary to examine the historic characteristics of the present war taken by Itself, (Excerpt from the chapter “Socialism and War” from “The Imperialist War,” by Lenin, published bed Losi Tnfernationel Publishers, new wont, wars | activities | shop concentration, work in the mass organiza- | tions.) tive assistance and guidance from the District in connection with their specific tasks or mani- fested in the work of some individual comrades. 2. Wherever the system prevails of political discussions based exclusively on the outlines pre- pared by the district Agitprop Departments, it should be discontinued. Also, the method of twice & month political discussions exclusively ar ranged by the District Agitprop Department, should be discontinued. 3. Every campaign of the Party must be taken up politically at the unit. At the conclusion of @ campaign it should be reviewed in the unit. ‘The basis for such discussions in the units shall be & prepared, political statement by the Dis- trict Buro and District Agitprop Department. The general district statements should be briefly supplemented by the section or unit buro ap- plied to their local tasks and problems, The Dis- trict Buro should bring into the sections and units its important political discussions which have an immediate bearing on the work of the Party. The District Agitprop and Org. Depts. to decide on the general topics for discussion in sections and units. 4. Section and unit buros to decide on polit- icai discussions based on their section and unit (Activities of unemployed branch, ‘These discussions should receive the ac- Agitprop and Org. Depts. 5. City-wide ar section functionaries’ confer- ences should be developed in preparation for the mobilization of the membership for important eampaigns, review of important campaigns, or discussion of some serious wrong political ten- dencies which reveal themselves in the prac- tical work. of the district or section, The dis- cussions at the functionaries’ conference to be followed up at unit meetings. 6. Special steps must be taken to improve the political life of those umits located outside of the district headquarters. %. In connection with the recruiting drive, the training of new members assumes particular im- portance. The 6-week training course for new members as suggested by the Agitprop Dept. should be organized without delay. The state- ment of the Agitprop Dept., which explains the purpose of the 6-week training course and the methods of organizing the course was printed | im the Daily Worker, Dec. 22 issue. The title of the statement is “The Political Initiation of New Members.” 8. The elementary political theoretical train- ing of the membership is essential for enabling it to grasp and understand the basis for the practical tasks, to develop confidence and en- thusiasm in the growing practical activities. ‘Thr ¥ system of classes in fundamentals of Com- munism must become the basis for the elemen- tary political theoretical training of the mem- bership. Such classes must be at once estab- lished on a unit scale (in exceptional cases on a section scale). It would not be advisable to hold classes on the same night as the unit meet- ing, a8 this will make it impossible to develop Political discussions on the unit mass work, nor will it allow the carrying through of the regular classes. 8. Propaganda Mterature is of the greatest importance in the raising of the political level of the membership and in the political mob- ilization for mass work. The discussion in the units and classes to be linked up with reference to definite reading material. In the center of our reading material most stand THE COM- MUNIST. ORG, AMD AGITPROP DETS. OF THE O.8. at. ange BT hh. By mail everywhere: One year, $6; siz months, §3; two months, $1; of Manhattan and Bronx, New York City. Foreign: one year, $8; six months, 84.50. By BURCK. By HERBERT BENJAMIN. NE month after 1,670 delegates from all parts of the United States carried thru | a militant demonstration at} the very doors of the Hunger | Congress, the U. S. Capitol} plaza was the scene of another | demonstration. On Dec. 7th, the National Hunger March appeared on the Capitol plaza. The army of! police, plain clothesmen and| soldiers that surrounded the militant delegates of the job- less millions gave ample proof | of the terror which they struck into the hearts of the multi- billionaire rulers and their gov- ernment representatives. Be-| hind blue walls of uniformed police, the members of the Ex-| ecutive Committee of the rul- ing class which is starving mil- lions of American toilers, quaked with fear. The doors of the Capitol and White House were guarded by killers armed with every kind of lethal weapon. ‘The National Hunger March ex- pressed the bitterness of twelve mil- lions of unemployed, of millions of part time workers and of all of the | toiling masses .who find themselves dying of slow starvation or being ra- Pidly reduced to absolute pauperism as a result of capitalist crisis and greed. As a direct result of the Hunger March and the campaign connected with its organization and return, the various so-called relief agnecies and institutions in all parts of the country bestirred themselves. Fearful of the bitter resentment and of the fighting mood of the masses which the Hun- ger March expressed, senators, con- gressmen, state politicians everywhere |came forward’ with all manner of demagogic proposals for federal and state relief. At the same time, the National Hunger March roused addi- tional fighting spirit among the broad masses and strengthened them in the struggle for unemployment in- surance and for more adequate im- mediate relief. Exactly one month later, on Jan- uary 7th, another “Jobless Army” ap- peared in Washington. The capital- ist press which sought in every pos- | sible way to minimize and belittle | the National Hunger March, exhaust- ed fis reporters, typesetters, vocabu- lary, imagination and arithmetic in | the effort to glorify this “Jobless Army” and especially its leader, Fath- er Cox. Figures on the numbers in- volved in “Cox's Jobless Army” varied some 5,000 men (no women) came into Washington with Cox. But, the City of Washington and the Capitol grounds presented an altogether different picture on Jan. ‘ith than on Dee, 7th. The streets were not crowded with hundreds of thousands of workers as on the day shouts. No unusual numbers of police were in evidence, The reactionary Washington Star describing the scene stated “In sharp contrast to the tension and atmos- phere of concern that envolved Wash- from 45,000 down to 10,000. Actually |" ington during the first unemployment | merch in Devember, there was no evidence of uneasiness ss the 12,000 Cythera ogy orsyed aroha oxog Capitol. . No tear gas bombs nor ; Special arms were held in readiness. - + » Neither were there guards on the parapets of the Capitol steps armed with tea: gas rifles....” Cer- tainly a different atmosphere and scene than that produced by the historical National Hunger March. Hoover, who shivered in his well- filled pants behind a veritable atmy of thugs and even refused to permit the representatives of the Hunger March entrance to the White House grounds, received the fascist dema- gogue Cox and welcomed him as a “representative of the unemployed of Pennsylvania.” The strike-breaker, former secretary of labor and now senator, Davis, received Cox on the Capitol steps and personally read his “resolution” into the senate minutes. How is the difference in the at- titude of official Washington and | of the masses of Negro and white residents of that city) to be explain- ed? Why did the National Hunger March cause so much “uneasiness,” such a display of armed force on the part of the Wall Street government while the numerically much larger “Cox's Jobless Army” left them en- tirely undisturbed? And conversely, why did hundreds of thousands of Washington workers pour out to greet the National Hunger March and yet ignored entirely the events of Jan- uary 7th? ‘The explanation is not to be found only in an analysis of the composi- tion of the two unemployed armies. While it is true that “Cox’s Jobless Army” included large number of small business men, small fry poli- ticians, priests and students of paro- chial high schools and the common variety of underworld thugs, it can safely be said that at least 60 per cent were genuine jobless workers. These workers, miners and steel workers as well as some formely em- ployed in other industries that abound in Western Pennsylvania, were certainly as sincere in their de- sire to get relief from their miserable plight as were the delegates in the National Hunger March and the masses whom they represented. But the masters of this country and their agents in: government are not concerned with or frightened by the desires of the workers. They know full well that the masses are destitute. They also know that these masses do not desire to starve and Nat'l Hunger March and Father Cox’s Belly Crawl freeze. They are quite well aware of the urgent need for relief and of the desire of the masses to secure such relief. They also know that they can continue to sit comfortably on their ill-gotten fortunes and per- mit millions to starve as long as the poverty-stricken masses only wish, plead, beg and pray for relief. They aré terror-stricken, they become ap- préhénsivé, théy are enveloped by an “atmosphere of concern,” when the masses demonstrate that they not only desite, but that they are able and determined to fight for relief. This is what the National Hunger March proved. The National Hun- ger March was composed of delegates who represented and were themselves militant fighters in the war of the masses against hunger. In thousands of street battles against evictions, against the charity racketeers, for immediate relief and for unemploy- ment insurance, these workers had demonstrated their courage and fight- ing ability. By the very march It- self, they proved their ability to or- ganize( their discipline, their capa- city to overcome ‘hardships and dif- ficulties. ‘The program which they adopted in the National Conference proved that they were conscious of their needs, of the forces against whom they fight and of the methods by which they must conduct their strug- gles. The complete unity and soli- darity of men and women, of Negro and white, of native and foreign-born, of young and old in their ranks and the close ties between themselves and their own selected leaders, all proved that they represented a force to. be respected and feared. Grudgingly but none the less surely, the au- thorities were forced to make one concession after another as. their, ef- forts to terrorize and intimidate this splendid army of fighters failed. “Fether Cox's Jobless Army” on the contrary, was an army which the bosses not only do not fear,, but, one which gladdens their hearts and makes them feel more secure. The very fact that it was an individuals’ army, that it allowed itself to be named and Jed by one man, and that man a priest of the church which for centuries supported and joined in the enslavement and robbery, in the be- trayal and murder of millions upon millions of tollers, was in itself a LENIN ISSUE OF “THE COM- MUNIST” NOW READY ¥ PRICE REDUCED TO 20 CENTS. Contents ‘To the Study of Lenin and Our Party—by Alex. © Bittleman. ‘The United Front Tactics in the Lawrence Strike—by William Weinstone. ‘The Struggle Against Unemployment and the Communist Way Out of ‘the Crisis—by Bill A Dunne, Some Lessons of the Last Miners’ hapit-temae 8. ‘Willner, Leadership at the Bench—by John Steuben. On the Theoretical Foundations of Marxism- bie Some Questions Relating to the History of Bole shevism—by J. Stalin. ! ‘The Irish Rebellion in 1916—by V. I. Lenin. Hegel—Hundredth Anniversary of the Death of Hegel—by K. A. Wittfogel. ‘The Increased Danger of War Against the U. 8. 8, R. and the Tasks of the Communiste— , 4 Sorina Not reat, eee 4 ie | guarantee that it would not endan- ger the security, comfort and priv-| ilege of the robbers and murderers | in whose behalf the government rules. | ‘The fact that this priest of the) church of darkness had a record as} a strike-breaker and announced open-| ly that he intended to offset the ef-| fect. of the great National Hunger March, made the bosses feel doubly secure, This army, they knew, was their army. ‘The masters have never felt fear of the slave who came to kneel at their feet. They never felt for that slave who wes willing to kiss the rod and whip which flogged him. This is precisely what the fascist demagogue Cox led the unemployed who followed him to do. Cox led the unemployed in his army to pledge their loyalty to the very government and institutions which are responsible for their mis- ery. Whereas, ti:2 National Hunger March expressed the growing deter- mination of the masses to smash all institutions that are'based upon and serve as instruments for the explott- ation, robbery, impoverishment and murder of the masses. Cox led the unemployed ‘to a cemetary, and in fact caused’the death of at least three workers, thus proving that he is at one with the policy of the ruling class which drives the workers to prema- ture death. Cox led the workers to pay homage to the symbol of the last imperialist war. At the tomb of the “Unknown Soldier” he pledged his misled followers to again sacrifice their blood and their lives for the preservation and profit of the sys- tem and rulers who force misery, starvation and wholesale death upon the masses. “Father Cox’s Jobless Army” pro- vides a classical example of the man- ner in which demagogues mislead, disorganize and defeat the masses. The workers will never be able to win their demands and advance their aims unless we learn how to fight against these, the most treacherous and dangerous of our enemies. Fa- ther Cox 4s not alone. In every city and town, in every state and in every capitalist country, his kind are to be found. Pittsburgh has its Cox. Detroit has its Murphy. Boston has ‘its Curley. Wisconsin, La ‘Folletie. Milwaukee, Hoan and his whole treacherous socialist party. Norman Thomas, A. J. Muste, the Lovestoneites and ‘Tvotskyites, the “Farmer-Laborites” of Minnesota and all their Meutenants and agents, these are all, each in his own way, agents of the bosses whose role and aim is to devitalize the struggles of the working class and leave us help- less in the face of the growing at- tacks of the ruling class. Certainly, our movement has failed to conduct a sufficiently effective and sustained struggle against these most dangerous enemies of the masses. We must assume responsibility when workers are betrayed and misled by these demagogic fakers. We must in- tensify our struggle, we must mani- fold our efforts to provide leadership and organization for the millions who are eager to enter the struggle against starvation. We must rally millions in mass demonstration on February 4th—National Unemploy- ment Insurance Day to offset and defeat the treachery of the Father Cox and his like and to advance our struggle for the right to live. (In further articles, the writer will deal with the program of Fath- Cor and with the mistakes of the hone Akeremannane i i By JORGE Why Not Grow Up, L.S.U.? Comrade Anne W., who lives up in the Bronx and, we gather, is sound of body and mind, writes us that she is nevertheless peeved at the Labor Sports Union for its indifference at get- ting right down to organizing workers for ath- letics. “Being well under sixty and still in usable condition, I was the target for many an ex- haustive lecture on why I should join the L.S.U. Long, long ago (during the month of August), I finally yielded and filled out an application. It was promised me that within a week or two I should be a full-fledged member. Tammany promises, alas. Months have passed; I am still full-fledged, but not yet a member. “It must be that the L.S.U. is afraid of shows | ing hairy chests to blushing working-class maid- ens. Surely, someone should inform it that blushing is an old bourgeois custom no longer indulged in, and that hairy chesis are quite per- missible even among workers. We can ever tolerate knobby knees when a good ball game is at stake.” We agree with Comrade Anne that the L.8.U. ought to grow up, if it hasn’t, and if the N. Y. office can energize itself enough to get to the telephone, we will impart the secret of the ade dress of the victim of this absurd neglect, and let the organizer take his own chances of life or limb in attempting to get this spunky rebel girl into active sport work, If she tosses as mean a ball as she does a typewriter, she ough¥ to go to the head of the team Black Bread Versus Blackguards The Sacramento, Calif, “Bee” of Jan, 8, mag- nifying the yarns told about the Soviet Union by a “native son,” one I. B. Williamson, who has returned from an 18 months job with the Soviet as “an instructor in driving tractors,” makes black blacker in its interpretation of the “sor- rows” of Russians who live on “black bread.” We are getting a bit tired of this sort of slan< | der, and after consulting authorities we take up cudgels against this peculiar but persistent form of anti-Soviet propaganda. The black bread of the Russians is made of the whole grain of the rye, which contains ali the organic minerals, such as lime and iron, es- sential to physical health. It is, indeed, like the real whole wheat bread (as distinct from much fake “whole” wheat sold in America) that American dietetic experts recommend for people who have become ill from lack of these mineral elements. Alfred W. McCann, junior, the nutritional specialist, is authority for the statement that in the ordinary loaf of whole wheat bread there are seventy grains of these organic minerals, whereas in the white bread loaf there are only eighteen. Further, a great number of ills result from the weakening of resistance by deficiency in these minerals precisely because of a diet lacking them. The pellagra of the South is a notorious ex- ample. Thus it is clear that no tears need be shed over the Russians because they eat black bread. Indeed, according to a doctor, well known as a medical authority, they are better off than the Americans who think they’re smart because they eat a lot of junk that’s bad for them. This doc~ tor, who is a warm friend of the Soviet Union, told us that he, when reading some Soviet short stories, ran across a passage where a peasant ‘was saying: “Now we will be able to eat white bread, like the nobles did.” “And I thought,” said the doctor, “You darned fools; you'll be getting a lot of fancy diseases you never had before, like the nobles did.” One of the dangers of the Soviet importing American experts, added this doctor, was that these ex- perts would put up mills to manufacture white flour, and the workers, who desire white bread “like the nobles,” and who, because of habitu- ally eating so much bread, would suffer the ills of de-mineralization on a wide scale. So let those who think that they are saying something against the Soviet Union because of its present black bread, realize they are only ignorant. And by the way, the worker who sent. us the clipping from the Sacramento “Bee” that bewails the “black bread” of Russia, tells us that right in Saracmento there are hundreds of work- ers who would be glad to get that black bread, because they are now living on green grass and what they can find in garbage cans. Sp a “It’s Against the Constitution* We're not speaking of the U. S. Constitution, but the constitution of the American Legion. ‘You see, down where the buckaroos are building the Hoover Dam, at Boulder City, Nevada, near Las Vegas, the Legion is putting up a building for its “post.” It seems that someone around there has raised. the quesiion of the Legion’s reactionary policies, and the Las Vegas “Review-Journal” publishes the Legion reply, as an effort to put over the scheme for getting contributions locally for tha building. The paper says: “In view of questions that have come up re« cently, members of the publicity committee have asked that mention be made here of the fact that the Legion is obligated to strict new- trality on all questions concerning religion, po-~ litics and industrial strife, This is a part of the national constitution. Furthermore, the state convention of Nevada has amended the constitution of this department to specify that any post in Nevada which may enter into = labor dispute in any way shall lose its charter.” This is the usual stuff about “the constitu- tion.” But the fact remains that the Legion has actively led in scabbing and strike-breaking in countless strikes, that it leads the lynching and clubbing gangs against workers everywhere, and —of course—covers its violation of its own con- stitution with gabble about “upholding law and order.” It will do the same in Nevada, and if taken to task for it, will use the alibi that those Legion members who scab and break strikes and - beat up union organizers, “acted as individuals” and the “post” was not “officially involved”—so the constitution 1s upheld, the strikes are broken, and the Legion's reputation is spotless. But let some Legion post composed of workers, work for the election of a Communist candidate; oh, then, of course, it would be “violating the constitution” and would have to be expelled. Weil, there is the Workers’ Ex-Servicemen’s League for such posts to affiliate with. In face that’s what they should do, without wasting Sex emery eS,