The Daily Worker Newspaper, January 28, 1932, Page 4

Published by the Comprodatly Publishing Co., Inc. daily except Sunday, at 60 Fast t 18th 8t, New York City. N. ¥. Address and mail all checks to the Daily Worker, 50 Hast 18th Street, New York, N. Y. Telephone ALgonquin 4-7956. Party Recruiting Drive January 11 - March 18, 1932 Cable “DAIWORK.” By matl everywhere: One year, of Manhatian and Bronx, “a SUBSCRIPTION RATES: New York City. Foreign: one $6; six months, $3; two months, $1; excepting Boroughs year, $8; six months, $4.50. WHAT DO THE NEW MEMBERS THINK ABOUT OUR PARTY? N. ¥. District Org. Dept. called in about 15 new members from different sections of city. The new comrades were ask is : opinion of the work of their n ng suggestions were F he opinio Section 5 ppealed stem ‘e work done time what- first in unit 26. This en I came to to see pened to be hing terrible. W is assigned. The o! is not balanced. In few comr words, on the try to posed to dis- a nyself showed up.” comrade is correct. Proper distribu- f work is one of the most burning problems ts. The leading comrades in the mn work, regardless of the comrades’ ity to carry through tas] The not to show ty. Espe- e older Party members must show an le of Bolshevik determination and discip- ; to be friendly with the new members, to I in the c ying thro’ of the s to suggest what to read, and above all to make the unit a fit place for new mem- bers. This is a part of the recruiting drive. as- Comrade W, Unit 1, Section 5—One Month in Party. ays been interested but have lived of Maine where we don’t hear so ut Communism. One day, two men our house and wanted to know if id sign a petition for votes. I invited n and we had a long talk. them It just seems as if we were not getting very To be real frank, I felt like drop- It is probably my mistake and I prob- y don’t understand. It seems if you ask ques- tions, nobody can inform you. Someone refers eone else and they in turn can’t inform much The new members are willing to learn about STUD Hettos rie | with all the questions we asked her. | calmly. our Party, but here is a concrete fact, the new member asked questions—‘‘nobody can inform you.” Such a wrong approach must be changed in order to keep the new members, It is the task of the old Party members to pay special attention to the the Party. new members who come into months until I could break into the Pa Comrade G. Tasks are assigned mechanically. “I wanted to join the Party. I sent a letter to the Dist Office saying that I was interested in the Pa and wanted to join. It wasn’t until two months later that I heard from them. I noticed that when assignments are given out in the unit every week, many of the assignments conflict with the other meetings of the comrades, “It too | like union meetings, etc. and there is lots of | confusion because of that. It is very hard to get someone who can appear at a very important meeting because comrades have other things to . How should a member of the Party con- duct himself when approaching a class-con- scious worker to join the Party? I found sev- stances where comrades in the unit act- created a very antagonistic attitude to- wards new comrades and more or less scare hem into a shell. One specific example. At the last unit meeting, we had a girl up claimed that she was an S.L.P. member. She explained to us that she was in name only. She agreed Are you a worker? Do you agree with having your wages cut? To all these questions she answered very sincerely which showed she was a class-conscious yorker. But when asked why don’t you organize a union in your department store, she said noth- ing would be accomplished by that, which the comrades should have explained quietly and Instead she was spoken to in a tone of voice that immediately antagonized her and in- stead of conducting the discussion just between the two comrades, the rest of the comrades came in and started throwing questions at her and she didn’t know where she was. I think this was very poor tactics and very poor conduct on the part-of our comrades. We should learn how to | get workers in the proper manner.” New Members! Write to us your opinions and suggestions about your unit— Old Members! Let us know how you carry on the Recruiting | Drive. TS OF THE MIDDLE WESTERN REGIONAL SCHOOL PLEDGE TO UTILIZE THEORY TO BUILD THE PARTY To Central Committee of the Communist Party, U.S. A. Cc des:—We, the student body of the Regional School, composed of 27 students, from five districts in the U. S. A. and one from Can- ada, wish to make the following statement: The school has helped us to fortify ourselves | in our everyday activity by clarifying to us the political line of our Party and the important role our Party plays as the vanguard of our class. In our study of “Fundamentals of Com- munism,” “Trade Union Movement” and “Party Structure and Work” in the light of Marxism- Leninism, we see the importance of maintaining schools such as this. We consider it one of the most important tasks of the Party today. Throughout the entire period of the school we have clearly seen all the effort put in by the instructors from the Central Committee and various districts, who composed the faculty. We wish to extend to all these comrades and vari- ous districts who helped to maintain this school, our comradely gratitude. We ple@ge our best efforts in all the work placed upon us by our respective districts. (Signatures of 24 students follow.) The Historical Experiences of Bolshevism and the International Proletariat (For the Lenin-Liebknecht-Luxemburg Campaign) PART 3. (Conclusion) The most immediate task is the fight against the centrist tendencies against “Left” social de- mocratic theories and manoeuvers, which aim at retaining in the ranks of the II Interna- tional those social democratic workers who are beginning to join the ranks of the revolution. It is all the more necessary to increase the fight against the “Left” manoeuvers, as one of the “Left” manoeuvers consists in playing with the slogan of unity and attempting to take advantage of the tempestuous movement of the masses. The consistent and irreconcilable fight waged by Lenin and his Party against the Russian centrists (Trotzky) and against international centrsim (Kautsky) as one of the prerequisites of the successes of Bolshevism and of the con- version of the Leninist C.P.S.U. into the greatest factor of world politics and into the leading force of the revolutionary movement of the world, is generally known. All attempts to belittle or to deny the fact of the unrelenting fight of Bolshevism war of 1914 and during and after the war em- anate from the camp of Trotzkyism. The paths of Communism and centrism can- not be reconciled. Between them there lies an unbrdigeable chasm. In the chief decisive ques- tions of the Labor Movement—dictatorship of the proletariat, overthrow of the rule of the bourgeoisie (reform or revolution) Parliament- arism and extraparliamentary forms of strug- gle (strikes, demonstrations and revolts), policy | of the proletariat in regard to war, fight against national and colonial oppression—Bolshevism has ruthlessly combated centrism and adopted its own special attitude. Right from its incep- tion Bolshevism subordinated both its theory and practice, its program, its tactics and its organ- izational forms to the main task—the estab- lishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat. “The main problem of Leninism, its point of departure is the question of the dictatorship of the prolet: t, the conditions for establish- ing and consolidating it.” (Stalin). Bolshevism has fulfilled this task under the most difficult circumstances and not only achieved the victory of the dictatorship of the proletariat in an enormous country, but also ac- complished successful socialist construction. The II International, on the other hand, which not only in the shape of its extreme right oppor- tunist wing buf ‘also in the shape of centrism has abandoned the most important historical task of the proletariat, indicated by Marx, (the setting up of the dictatorship of the proletariat) and for decades has considered it its chief task to hold back the masses from revolution, has become the chief buttress of the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie, the chief obstacle in the path | development in the last thirty years. against centrism both before the | | declared that in any event they would not leave to the victory of the proletarian revolution. Leninism (Bolshevism) was and is the only consistent revolutionary doctrine whose scien- tifie and tactical views have been brilliantly confirmed through the whole course of the world The sole mission of centrism on the other hand was to come forward in the historical arena at the most critical moment for the rule of the bourgeoisie and to supply a cloak to conceal from the | masses the monstrous crimes of the “comrades” of the Right in order, after having fulfilled its | shameful mission, to merge again with them. “The Bolsheviki constitute the only revolu- tionary organization in the world which has finally crushed the opportunists and centrists and thrown them out of the Party.” (Stalin). Centrism inevitably leads into the camp of the counter-revolution. ‘Trotskyism which was the typical expression of Russian centrism, be- came the advance guard of the counter-revo- lutionary bourgeoisie. Kautsky became the most eloquent embodiment of the strivings of the world counter-revolution. The present “Lefts” (Socialist Labour Party cf Seydevitz in Germany) who already at the moment they broke away from the parent body The II. International and would fight against Communism, follow the same path. The Com- munists direct their main attack against them as well as against all kindred tendencies (op- position in the Labor Party in Great Britain, Austro-Marxists, etc.) as the most dangerous deceivers of the masses. In the January days the y-cletariat honors the memory of the great fighters and martyrs of the proletarian revolution, Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht. The attempt to make use of their names in the fight against Communism is now being repeated more frequently. The great merits of Rosa and Karl, these great revo- | lutionaries, the leaders of the German prole- tarlat, the organizers of the Spartacus League and the founders of the C. P. of Germany, are appreciated by the whole of the world prole- tariat. But the class conscious workers do not close their eyes to the fact that for many years Rosa and Karl were separated from Bolshevism by views which prevented them almost up to the time of their death from recognizing completely and consistently the main basis of Leninism and which for a long time kept them in a position half way between centrism and Bolshevism. Before the war the Lefts in the II. Interna- tional dissociated themselves from the Russian | Bolsheviki in the main questions of differences of opinion with the Mensheviki (questions of Party membership, character of the Russian revolution, the national question, question of splitting away from the Mensheviki). Even dur- ing the war the Lefts already differed from Lenin in regard to the decisive question of breaking completely with the leaders of the IL By BURCK Snternational and founding the III. Interna- tional. The fear of the Lefts of a split and the belated creation of the independent Communist Party have rendered exceedingly difficult the path of the German proletariat in the fight for power during the revolution in Germany (1918- 19). It is now clear to everybody that Lenin was right in his criticism of the centrist mistakes of the Lefts in the II International. All attempts now to represent Leninism as a weapon suitable only for “backward” oriental countries and Lux- emburgism as consistent Bolshevism which is alone worthy of the advanced proletarians of the “civilized” west, appear ridiculous. In the January days the world important role of Bolshevism which right from the first days of its existence submitted the chief problems of the proletarian world revolution (dictatorship of the proletariat, hegemony of the proletariat in the revolutionary fight, the allies of the prole- tariat, colonial and national problems, the teachings regarding the role of the Party) to the Labor Movement of the whole world, will become still more known. Nobody will be able to cloak over the Bolshevist path of struggle against op- portunism not only on a national but also on an international scale. Already before the war Lenin placed on the order of the day the fight against centrism as well as the question of unit- ing the Lefts in the II. International. Lenin prepared the splitting of the II, International as the only way out of the opportunist blind alley into which the Labor Movement had been pushed by reformism. The world historical role of Lenin as the or- ganizer of the C. P. S. U. and of the Comintern is so universally known that nobody will succeed in falsifying it. The falsification of the history of the Comintern pursues a deliberate task of uniting the vacillating Communists, weakening the influence of the Comintern and in this way diminishing the power of the proletarian revolu- tion. The names of Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht will be ever dear to the Comintern and the broad proletarian masses as the names of great revolutionaries, for in spite of their mistakes they finally, although belatedly, aban- doned the path of the II. International, firmly proceedcd on the path of the proletarian revo- lution and fell at the hands of the social demo- cratic murderers, a fact which once and for all identified them with the proletariat and with Communism, “ ‘Those, however, who under present-day condi- tions make use of their names in their fight against Communism cannot be separated from the whole social fascist counter-revolutionary camp. The January campaign will be used by the Communist Parties for, the purpose, by means of Bolshevist self-criticism, of exposing a whole number of mistakes and incorrect views of in- dividual comrades, the roots of which are to be sought before all in the remnants of Luxem- burgism. Among such mistakes are for example the incorrect estimate of the present crisis and in connection with this the incorrect tactical at- titude. Under the blows of the crisis a com- mencement has been made to substitute the right-opportunist over-estimation of the capt- talist “stabilization” and the under-estimation of the present crisis (especially the theory of the exceptional position of the U. S. A.) by the Left theory of the impossibility of the bourgeoisie finding a way out of the présent crisis. This theory which is especially elaborated by the “Left” social democrats is cropping up here and there in Communist literature. The theory of there being “absolutely no way out of the crisis” is connected with the incor- rect Luxemburgian estimate of imperialism, of the Luxemburgian worshipping of spontaneity and its underestimation of the role of the sub- jective factor. This theory which gives rise to fatalist moods, by weakening the vigilance and fighting capa- city of the revolutionary advance guard, on the one hand, furthers opportunist passivity and the tactic of ‘‘spontaneity” and on the other hand serves as a justification of Left and anarchistic exaggerations. Against these exaggerations there stands an exact Leninist analysis of the epoch of dying capitalism—the standpoint that - though the capitalist system is doomed to de- cline that for hte bourgeoisie “there are no ab- solutely hopeless situations” (Icnin); that the task of the proletariat consists in making this situation finally hopeless. These theories are also opposed by the decisions of the XI. Plenum of the E. C. C. I, which i addition to stressing the intensification of the crisis, pointed to the decisive role of the subjective factor for the final victory over the bourgeoisie. In the fight against these and other mistakes (some of which are mentioned by Comrade ‘Thalmann in his article) every effort must be made for a real serious elaboration of ajl im- mediate political problems, crisis has seriously affected the industry, The Coming Dressmakers’ Strike Will Be Won! (Statement of Communist Party, District Committee) ‘ IRTY THOUSAND dressmakers of New York, Italian, Jewish, Negro and Latin-American workers, and the thousands working ovtside the city are suffering the worst forms of exploita- tion. Their wages are starvation wages—reach- ing down as low as $6 a week. They have to work long hours under the worst speed-up. The the periods of unemployment are long—and there- fore tens of thousands of dressmakers are tramping the streets, looking in vain for work— and starving. Most of these workers, women and girls, have been forced into the dress shops be- cause of the rapidly worsening conditions of the families—and now they work for hunger wages. Year by year, their wages have been cut—till now they are determined to call a halt Ly strik- ing. The drive among the dressmakers is already on, and thousands have gone on strike. The poorest, underpaid workers, earning no more than hunger wages, have gone on strike—and have won wage increases. These workers not experienced in strike struggle, have shown a wonderful willingness to strike. They know there is little to lose—and much to be gained. The Negro workers, the Latin-American and Italian workers, have fought, and recognizing the lead- ership of the Needle Trades Workers’ Industrial Union and the United Front, have joined the Industrial Union. The new, powerful weapon in this drive has been the United Front. This is the most effec- tive weapon of the working class in the struggle for organization. Having been betrayed by the American Federation of Labor so many times, the members of the company union are begin- ning to recognize that the United Front is their bridge to real conditions in the shops, to an ef- fective fight to maintain the conditions secured through the struggle. The unorganized work- ers seeing the unity of the workers in the shops, learn the value of organization, and become the best fighters fro industrial unionism. None fears the United Front more than the reactionary and socialist leaders of the company union. They know that the United Front of the workers is not only effective against the manu- facturers, contractors and jobbers, but is the sharpest weapon to expose the treachery of the company union officials. These reactionary of- ficials know that once the workers unite in the shops, then the day of the control of A. F. of L, leadership over the 1,500,000 workers in the A. F. of L. will have ended. They know that the winning of the coming strike of the dressmak- ers will be a signal to hte workers of other industries to struggle. The unemployed workers, too, look forward to this strike. They have been betrayed by the reactionary officials, who are gled to be rid of them by expelling them when they do not pay dues. The unemployed look to the Unemployed Councils supported by the Needle Trades Indus- trial Union for struggle for unemployment relief and insurance, It is the policy only of the Com- munist Party, the Trade Union Unity League and the revolutionary unions to fight for the unemployed. They will be staunch forces in the coming strike, for they will recognize the unity of interests, as represented in the demands of the strike. The building of the revolutionary opposition in the company union has shown that the work- ers in that union are willing to fight against the fearful conditions, Is it not a fact that the bet- ter paid, skilled workers, who belong to the In- ternational Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union have had their conditions rapidly lowered? The socialist leaders of the union, working together with the bosses, have systematically reduced their wages, lengthened their hours and sub- mitted to speed-up. Thousands of workers have left this reactionary union, knowing that all they get out of the union is the privilege of pay- inc dues and assessments, and allowing the of- ficials to collect graft from the manufacturers. The votes for the revolutionary opposition in the elections in the locals of the company union show clearly that the workers will fight. They are recognizing the need of unity, and all in- trigues and maneuvers of the company union officials cannot stop them, The dressmakers have learned from the strike of the furr‘ers of but a few months ago. Here too the conditions had rapidly become worse; unemployment was rampant, The Needle Trades Workers’ Industrial Union conducted a splendid drive and not Only recruited several thousands of militant furriers into the union, but raised , their wages and lowered their hours. This had its effect on the furriers in the company union so that rebellion broke out. Today Kaufman is routed, being supported only by gangsters and the police. Knowing that the workers are beginning to rebel against the conditions in the shops, the leaders of the reactionary dressmakers’ union are moving to bring in agents of the bosses to prevent the workers from striking. To this end, they have also brought in the politician, Dudley Field Malone, to assist them in negotiating with the bosses to prevent a strike or to maneuver a fake strike. The purpose of this move is clear: the manufacturers, con- tractors and jobbers are determined to lower the wages of the workers still more. They are determined that the cost and burden of the crisis shall be borne by the workers. They know that the workers are in a rebellious mood and therefore have called into open collaboration the socialist officials of the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union. Allied in this move and leading in the fight against an improvement of the conditions of the workers are the Lovestoncites, with Zimmer- man at their head. This fellow who boasts of his activities in Paterson, in breaking the silk strike is now at the front in trying to prevent the dressmakers from conducting a successful strike. His function is to use radical phrases, while opposing the most powerful weapon that the workers have in their struggles against the bosses—the United Front of the workers against the bosses and their labor official tools. But the workers are showing him that his demagogy will not help. The workers are showing the contractors and jobbers that all their maneuvers will not help. They are turning to the Needle ‘Trades Workers’ Industrial Union and the United Front to lead them in the coming strug- gle. Nothing can beat this United Front under the leadership of the revolutionary union. The strike must be won—and the company union must be destroyed, by the workers leaving its reactionary ranks and joining the only usion of the needle industry—the Needle Trades Work- ers’ Industrial Union. This strike will be a determined strike. It is a strike that must be well prepared. The de- mands put forward by the Needle Trades Work- ers’ Industrial Union and the United Front must be thoroughly discussed in every shop. The de- mends must be brought forward in the com- pany unions by the revolutionary opposition. The workers in the company union are in as desperate a condition as the other workers. They are sealizing the need of struggle on the basis of the United Front. Discussion in every shop, in the markets—and then organization in the shops on the basis of the United Front, to pre- pare for the strike are basic. This United Front must embrace all the workers in the sho) whether they belong to the Needle Trades Workers’ Industrial Union, the company union cr are unorganized workers. It must take in all workers—especially the newer elements in the trades, which have had little or no experience in organization. Special efforts must be made to win over the Negro workers, who are still suspicious of the white workers, and justly so, because of the treachery practiced against them by the company union and the leadership of the A. F. of L. The young American, Italian and Latin-American women and girls, who know nothing about organization, must be vrought into the United Front, and all of them be rapid- jy recruited into the Needle Trades Industrial Union, the only union that defends and fights for their interests. With proper preparatino, with the election of a good rank and file United Front Strike Com- mittee, made up of the most militant workers, to lead the strike, with the support of the Needle Trades Workers Industrial Union, this strike will be won despite the treachery, and the terror which the company union under the leadership of the Lovestonites are already using, in the form of gorillas and gangsters against the work- ers. ‘ When the strike begins, the manufacturers and the company union officials will bring in the police and gangsters to terrorize the striking dressmakers. They hope that through the state machinery, with the use of policc, detectives, injunctions and jail, they will be able to break the strike of the dressmakers. They tried to in the miners and textile workers’ strike—and they failed. They tried it in the food and shoe work- ers strikes and they failed again. And they will fail in the dressmakers’ strike, for the mili- ‘ <= Working Women! Support the Daily Worker! By ANNA DAMON. (Editor of the Working Woman) In the many strikes and struggles against wage cuts and unemployment in the last few years, tens of thousands of women were involved. In Lawrence and Paterson textile strikes, in the New York dressmakers’ and Pittsburgh miners strike, in the recent National Hunger March, in all of these fights against capitalist exploitation, the Daily Worker helped to organize the work~ ing women. It helped bring about solidarity of the Negro and white, young and adult worke ers. It helped beat off the attacks of the joint black reactionary forces of the government, the bosses and their tools—the officialdom of the A. F. of L. The importance of the Daily Worker in the present heroic Kentucky miners’ strike against starvation cannot be overstressed. The Dally Worker is the only true source of information in the English language which reaches the workers daily. It tells the truth of the misery and star- vation imposed upon the Kentucky miners and their families by the coal barons. It tells of the murder, kidnapping, terror committed daily by the Kentucky coal barons, state machine and company thugs. It tells the workers of the splendid militant fight that the miners and their wives are carrying on under the leadership of the N.M.U, Champion Workers Cause Without the Daily Worker the miners would be lost. It is their daily voice, appelaing to the working masses for funds to help them win the strike. The Daily Worker is the official organ of the Communist Pariy of the U.S.A. and as such is the champion, not only of the Kentucky miners’ strike but of all the struggles of the en- tire working class. In the rapidly insreasing struggles of the American working class, the Daily Worker is becoming more and more ime portant. We cannot think of any strike er un-= employment struggle without the Daily Worker. ‘The women of the working class must rece ognize in the Daily Worker an instrument for carrying through their struggles—against {n- creased misery !mposed upon them by the cap- italist class. The Daily Worker fights against dismissals and discrimination of women workers, for equal pay for equal work. It champions the fight of the Negro masses, fof the imme- diate release of the Scottsboro boys. Against deportations, for the release of Edith Berkman, ‘Tom Mooney, and all other class war prisoners. Working women! Members and supporters of the Communist Party! The Daily Worker is your paper. The Working Woman, official or- gan of the Communist Party, Women’s Depart- ment (monthly paper) is only able to reach a small section of women. It does not cover the daily needs of the women. We must recognize the Daily Worker as the daily organizer and mobilizer of all struggles. At the present time, the Daily Worker is fac- ing ® most serious financial situation. The Daily Worker is not yet self-supporting. It can be- comé so by getting five thousand regular sub- scribers and raising a $50,000 fighting fund! Rally behind the Daily Worker drive for 5,000 subscribers, and $50,000 fighting fund! Become a subscriber of the Daily Worker! Get your fel- low shop workers to subscribe! Make a contrib- uation—get your shop workers, organizations and friends to do likewise! Make the Daily Worker drive part of the International Women’s Day Campaign! Do your share—assure the regular appearance of the Daily Worker! Uncover Starvation and Misery Visit the homes of the unemployed workers. Lis® 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 mretin~ of the city council to fight for adequate re- lief for all cases of starving and undernourished workers’ families. nto tant Negro, Italian, Jewish and Latin-American workers will fight back, the Communist Party and the Trade Union Unity Council wili rally the militant labor movement and mas sorganisa~ tions of the workers for support—and the strike will be won. For nothing can defeat the unity of the working class. The tasks incumbent on the Communists are great and imperative. Communists distinguish themselves not only in giving policy, but also in carrying out policy. One without the other is a sign of opportunism. The Communists have a great obligation that they must fulfill. They must show not only that they can formulate plans, but lead in carrying them out. Each Communist working in a shop must organize the shop for the strike. The unemployed Com- munists must be foremost in the figh tfor relief and insurance for the unemployed. Each and every Communist must understand that much more is demanded of a member of the Party and Young Communist League than of any other worker. Each and every Communist must prove him- self in the struggle. The struggle of the dress- makers will be the test of Communist leadership and devotion. The Party, which is giving full support to the dressmakers’ strike, will see to it that its membership in the dress trade, and its membership generally, participates in the strike. The Communist Party will rally the unions and fraternal organizations to support: the strike. This strike is the forerunner of many other strikes in the clothing industry. Fur, cloak, millinery will follow in rapid succession. The situation in the men’s clothing industry, under the gangster leadership of the socialist Hillman machine, is fearful. Wage slashes and unem- ployment are rife. The workers want to struggle. ‘They demand organization and leadership. The Communist Party and the revolutionray unions are the only organizations to give them this or- ganization and leadership. Decisiveness and precision are demanded of Communists. The plans of work must be clear— and the Communists must be in the front in carrying them out and in checking them up, thus setting an example to the workers. In this way, the workers will learn and understand the role of the Communist Party and will join the Communist ranks. Forward to the fight! Fight to win! COMMUNIST PARTY, DISTRICT COMM. | A ‘ fi i chit velit .-nnmmmmnsenistannee nese ete eneteneneenmeanenaemnatc