The Daily Worker Newspaper, January 30, 1932, Page 4

18th St, Pablished by the Comproéaily Publishing Co., Ine. New York C' Address and mat! all check N Telephone ALgonauin 4-7956. Cable the Daily ity. daily exeept Sundey, 2¢ orker, 50 East 13th Street, New York, N. “DA Gontrel Ongen ily, <Worker vu. 5. A. Ev mai! everywhere: ten and Bronx, SURSCRIPTION RATES: One year, $6: six months, $3; New York City. ° two months, $1; Foreign: une year, $38; sir months, $4.56. \ cepting Boroughe Party Recruiting Drive January it - March 18, 1932 concentrat- 1 mill de- rs, 5 of whom The unit already | ide the mill and uni talso decided to it that the bg! Pipe new members from the | to organize a mill + unit decided to re- 1d to establish another | Avenue which is the heart | of the South Side. ntrating on the | unit in of the N is c L.. mill decided to recrult m women and 6 of them a mill unit in r 2, which is concentrat- the Negro section, has de- | members, 6 of whom shall Negro workers. The two | 1d 20 functioning block ch of the LSNR. ‘EAST OHIO. ection } c ior hill units tot committee: Menged the Al- e Library section nuary 14th a con tsburgh of two repre- gheny Valley section tives of the East- ee together with the the District where the points ere agreed upon. The chal- Ohio section to the Allegheny s as follows volutionary competition the challenges the Allegheny the recruiting drive, that, veloping local struggles for of the miners and steel of developing a strong d relief and unemploy- and ive. On J Pi All of the Soviet Union, for Scottsboro boys, the East thieve the following it our quota of 125 new mem- bers before its quota of new members. We will establish 6 shop nuclei, 3 steel and 3 mine the Allegheny Valley section established its quota of 7 nucle. 3. We will recruit more Negro workers into the Party than the Allegheny Valley section. 4. We will establish 3 YCL nuclei.” before ¢ DRIVE IN DIST. 5, PITTSBURGH | all of them white workers, and has made a de~ | YCL. The miners in the Pittsburgh Terminal | twice before been threatened with wage cuts, | cided to challenge the Benld mine. unit at basis of developing a | upport of the Kentucky | legheny Valley section achieves | ; active again, The section committee has ser- | rades have already been assigned for special con- | weeks, they have begun the recruiting work and The Allegheny Valley accepted this challenge | after a thorough discussion of ways and means of achieving the quotas set. ‘The East Ohio section has decided to recruit 125 new members of whom 75 shall be miners and 50 steel workers, 35 Negro workers and 25 women, and also to issue two shop papers. The Ohio sec’ has decided to concentrate on Pow- hattan, Elm Grove, Bellaire and Blaine for mine nuclei; Steubenville, Weirton, Martins Ferry, Wheeling for steel nuclei; Tridelphia, Dillonvale, and Bel! for YCL nuclei TH, ALLEGHENY VALLEY. ‘The Allegheny Valley section held a section conference at which the representative of the Chicago District presented the Chicago chal- lenge. The section committee has worked out for each unit # special concentration point, and | has assigned members of the section committee to be responsible. well as the American Aluminum Works, the Universal Cement, the Allegheny Steel, the American Window Giass. With intense activity , it is possible to establish quite » number of new nuclei in the section. The section has been A Sick Capitalist Industry Gets Sicker By LABOR RESEARCH ASSOCIATION REPORT on the world cotton industry by a “special and well-informed correspondent” of the “Commercial and Financial Chronicle,” shows the acute depression existing in all capi- talist countries in contrast to the steady upward course in the Soviet Union. The position of this indu: in Europe at the end of 1930 “was more unsatisfactory than has been the case within living memory. In Britain production in the weaving industry has been between 50 and 60 per cent of capacity. The Indian boycott had been so extensive that export trade was cut down drastically and “busi- ness between Lancashire and India during the past 12 months has been on @ scale which a year ago would have been unbelievable.” India, formerly took $400,000,000 worth of Lan- ashire cotton goods annually, now takes little more t half that amount. And Britain meets with ere competition from Japan in the Chi- market. (See Chapter 1 of “Labor and Textiles.) Tl British capitalists try to improve their profits by urging the workers to operate more looms, by more scrapping of old machinery and rationalization, by larger mergers, and by wage cuts. On the continent conditions are no better, declines in production being shown in such tex- tile countries as France, Holland, Germany, Bel- gium, Poland, Austria and Czechoslovakia. In all countries the depression grows worse, unem- ployment and short-time work increases, and the cotton workers face increasing misery. A survey by the International Federation of Cotton Spinners and’ Manufacturers Association shows that of the. 3,000,000 cotton looms in the world at the end of last year, more than 20 per cent were entirely stopped at_that time. Of the British looms in operation, only 57 per cent were working normal full time; 74 per cent in the U. S.; 66 per cent in Italy; 64 per cent in Czecho- Slovakia; 65 per cent in Poland; and 77 per cent in Germany. | this section. The Washington section commit- ‘They are concentrating on | & number of important mines in the section, as | weak in recruiting Negro workers and is plan- ning to take serious steps to develop activity among the Negro masses and carry on system- atic recruiting work. Tv. LIBRARY SECTION. ‘The Library section has decided to recruit 120 new members of which 50 shall be Negro work- ers. A good section conference was held where the representative from the Chicago District pre- | sented Chicago’s challenge and a thorough dis- | cussion on the recruiting possibilities took place. The section is concentrating on establishing mine units in three mines of the Pittsburgh ‘Terminal Coal Co., as well as two steel mill nuclei and one mine unit in the Pittsburgh Coal Co. The existing mine nuclei in Terminal No. 8 mine is very enthusiastic about the recruiting drive and is determined to get 10 new members from the mines. The unit has now 11 members, cision that they must recruit some Negro work- ers. They expect to be able to divide the nuclei into several mine nuclei before the drive is over. The section conference decided to recruit not less than 15 women, to establish 4 nuclei of the Mines are now confronted with a 10 per cent wage cut on February Ist. They have already and both times the activity of the Party and NMU prevented the wage cuts from being car- ried through. Now the comrades realize the necessity of establishing strong mine units in all of these mines so as to be able to lead the strug- gles of the miners against the coal operators’ attacks. Th> prestige of the NMU and the Party has been growing because of our activity against the wage cut and there are good possibilities for establishing several strong mine units. The section conference also decided to pay special attention to the upper Monongahela part of the section which has heretofore been somewhat neglected, and establish a number of new units. | Vv. AVELLA SECTION. Work is beginning. The Atlasburg unit had | a meeting at which a district representative was present toy ther ~ith the comrade from Chi- cago, where a good discussion took place in the { recruiting drive. 22 comrades were present. | This unit has several working in the Atlasburg | Mine and plans to establish a mine unit. Its task is also.to get.connections with the workers | in the American Zinc Company. The unit de- southern Illinois, that the Atlasburg unit would get 10 new members, 5 of whom are to be work- ing in the Atlasburg mine, before the Benld unit could achieve the same quota. VI. WASHINGTON SECTION. The Washington Section, which has had many difficulties resulting in 2 certain weakness of the organization, is now beginning to become jously discussed the recruiting drive and com- centration. For the first time in a number of are already sending in new applications. They plan special concentration to organize a unit in the Westland Mine, the most important mine in COMMUNIST PARTY, U. 8. A. DISTRICT NO. 15 \ i17 Middle St. Bridgeport, Conn. Jan. 19, 1932. | District Committee, | District. No. 4 |CP.U.S.A., Buffalo, N. ¥. | | Dear Comrades: | | We received your letter informing us of the acceptance by the Plenum of the District Com- mittee of your district of the challenge which | | was issued to you by our District Plenum. Our comrades have already begun to work | |and the first results shows success in winning workers from the large shops. || Our aim is to entrench the Party in the | |munition shops, metal shops and textile indus- try. We have set ourselves the task of estab- lishing five new shop nuclel and five shop papers in our District. ‘We suggest that in view of the small number of Negroes in our District, the percentage to be recruited in the Party should be set at 15 | per cent for our District. We are inclosing a | copy of the plan worked out for the drive. ¥ would like to get the plan that you have worked out. Please inform us when you are arranging 2 functionaries meeting which a representative of our District will attend (with the permission, of course, of*the Central Committee). It is ad- visable to arrange this meeting for a week end. Upon hearing from you we will set the date of our functionaries meeting for a representative | of your District Committee to attend. With Communist greetings, DISTRICT COMMITTEE, CONNECTICUT DIST. tee has decided to send representatives to the Avella section to challenge them’on the recruit- ing drive. Vi. CENTRAL PA. SECTION. The Central Pennsylvania section is now ac- tively moving forward again. The units are taking up the recruiting drive and application cards are already beginning to come in to the By BURCK A CRITICAL AMONG By H. PURO PART 2 (Conclusion) One nop-Party comrade sent us @ clipping | from the capitalist press, which describes the serious situation among the dairy farmers in New Hampshire because of the break in the wholesale price of milk. According to the news item the governor has been compelled to show some “interest” in the situation and has called a “jury” in which the State Commissioner of Agriculture is a leading member, which indi- cates already that there is nothing to be hoped for by the tolling farmers who are being robbed by the milk trust. But nevertheless our Party should be represented either directly, or in the name of the United Farmers’ League, explain- ing the real situation to the toiling farmers, ex- posing the robbery of the milk trust and the fake “relief” proposals, demanding a better price for farmers, and protesting against the proposal to raise the price for consumers. We have a Party section in New Hampshire which is supposed to be active in organizing toil- ing farmers into the United Farmers’ League, although we have not heard much of its activi- ties. We do not know whether our Party has taken an interest in this matter. Certainly this would be a very good opportunity to mobilize toiling farmers around 2 real issue which would interst them and at the same time put forth the United Farmers’ League. From this same non-Party comrade we re- ceived the following clipping: “FLEMINGTON, N. J.—The dairy section of the Hunterdon County agricultural agent’s report indicates that the market situation for REVIEW OF OUR WORK AGRARIAN MASSES fluid milk in the county has been unsettled and that a crisis is at hand with the price of milk below the cost of production.” Even this county agent is compelled to admit that the “crisis is at hand,” which would easily Jead to a sponianeous movement of these dairy farmers, because the price is below the cost of Production, which means that farmers are un- able to exist. At any rate, this situation is very | favorable for work among these dairy farmers. The same non-Party comrade who sent us these | clippings has written several articles about the situation among the dairy farmers in New Jer- sey, describing how they are robbed by such powerful milk trusts as Borden and Sheffield, which are almost one and the same, ‘The New Jersey farmers belong to the New York Party District, but only now the New York District begins to pay attention to the work among these dairy farmers. We have pointed out these examples in order to show in practice we neglect to follow the | Leninist policy in regard to the peasant question. It is true that also in theoretical knowledge we are lacking very much, Therefore ws must study hard and acquaint ourselves thoroughly with the Leninist theory in agriculture. But studying the theoretical side of the question can be best done in conjunction with practical work, and the Len- inist theory on the peasant question can be un- derstoed only in connection with practical work, | in making contacts with the agrarian masses, | in studying their situation, their demands, their | class composition, etc. Both of these should go together. We must study and work. We must train comrades for our agrarian work both the- District Office after a period of no recruiting at all. The units in Johnstown are setting quotas. With the appointment of a section organizer we expect that Johnstown will succeed in develop- ing mass activity through the recruiting drive, vit. The District Buro has sent representatives to all the section committees and 1s covering im- portant unit meetings in the district on the re- cruiting drive. Individual letters are being sent by the District Buro to each unit based on the particular points of concentration of that unit. The Women’s Department has worked out @ plan of recruiting women in the coal fields, de- ciding on a quota of 70, distributing them amongst the various localities in the District. oes Notes For the Organization Dept. C. C. These reports of the preparation for the Re- cruiting Drive were written some time ago. We expect to hear from Pittsburgh some results in getting in new members. We would also like to know what methods Pittsburgh is using to concentrate on the shops mentioned in the. re port. The plans are all right—let’s hear results, . 4 ~ “No Honest American Should Be Allowed to Starve!” By HARRY GANNES re days after the National Hunger March reached Washington, the United States Sen- ator from the state where the bosses are trying to burn the nine Scottsboro boys in the electric chair made a speech on unemployment. Huddleston of Alabama on Dec. 9 declared that “the principles both of humanitarianism and of sound public policy” require that the Senate should adopt a new slogan, which the lynch-state Senator declares should be: “No honest American should be allowed to starve!” Elected by the rich land owners of the peon- age-ridden state of Alabama, Senator Huddle- ston represents one of the most reactionary sec~ tions of the American ruling class. Hardly any- where in the United States are the Negro prole- tarlans and poor farmers suffering as bitterly as under the domination of Mr. Huddleston’s sup- Porters. Yet listen to the Alabama Senator speak just two days: after the hunger march! Sounds like LaFollette, the more glib and pol- ished demagogue from Wisconsin. Even Hill- quit can learn how to flip phrases from this Southern capitalist representative. “& year has gone,” said Huddleston, “Mil- Hons of our fellow citizens continue to walk the streets of our industrial cities without em- Ployment, In millions of American homes the shadow of starvation and despair looms darker than even a year ago. .”. . Hoover would aid the railroads. He would give a dole to the holders of real estate securities. He would come to the rescue of the banks having frozen credit. . . . He has granted a moratorium to Germany, an action which will inevitably lead eventually to the cancellation of our Evropean debts of some twelve billions. . . . “The poor have been patient, Oh, amazing has been thelr patience in the hour of their suffering. Men have walked the streets naked to the elements and hungry and knowing that thetr families were at home suffering for food. +o There has been little disorder, practically no pillaging, and small expression of political discontent. .. . “We had demonstration here the other day by a few misguided radicals, the hunger marchers, ... America will not go Communist. America will not be driven, even by starva- ton, to go Communist.” But, then, Huddleston isn’t so sure. So he ' proposes @ bill for $100,000,000 “to feed the hon~ est Americans.” : His bill is one of a wholé series introduced mainly by the representatives of the pétty- bourgeoisie. They usually fall into two classes: @) Bills for a public works program, and (2) bills providing a stated sum supposedly for relief of the unemployed. Senator Costigan has introduced s bill pro- viding for $125,000,000 in 1932 and $250,000,000 in 1933. Besjges, he provides for the distribu- tion of wheat by the Federal Farm Board. Sen- ator LaFollette has introduced one bill for $250,000,000 to be turned over to the states for “yelief,” and another for a “public works pro- gram.” Senator Wagner of Tammany Hall pro- Posed a bill providing for a $2,000,000,000 build- ing program. The public works program is the most vicious type of misleading promise by the fakers such as LaFollette, Wagner and Muste. This pro- gram was originally proposed by none other than Hoover himself, who in 1928 declared that if a crisis dared to come along he would let lodse an $8,000,000,000 public works building program that would wipe out any depression in- the “twinkle of an eye” (speech of Governor Brew~ ster in the name of Herbert Hoover). | Hence the $5,000,000,000 programs of Hearst, LaFollette and Wagner are really a come-down from Hoover's fancy project. The only failing with these programs {s that in times of crisis they break down completely. A glance at the fate of the federal, state and city programs completely exposes this type of demagogy. With a $4,000,000,000 deficit the fed- eral government first cuts out public building projects. In the leading cities where bank~ ruptcy threatens the bankers demand that pub- lic works be cut down first, because of the heavy sums involyed, and that relief for the unem- ployed be cut. Even assuming that a serious effort be made to put over a public works program, under the present function of the capitalist state, it takes from one to four years to begin a project. The Hoover dam project is a good example—15 years before work begins! Public works, yes! An immediate program of building, first, homes in the place of slums. Homes, schools, gymnasiums for the workers instead of battleships. But this cannot be gained through LaFollette or Wagner. It can. be won only by ® militant working class, fighting for oretically and practically in every day contact with the agricultural masses, And when we, after the foregoing criticism, put before ourselves the question “What should | be done?” we can relate positive examples as to what our Party has been able to do in those districts where it has taken up the work among the toiling farmers. In Minnesota District, in one of the Upper Michigan Sections, our Party, by organizing Farmers’ Action Committees, has been able to mobilize masses of toiling farmers to prevent sheriff sales on more than one occa- sion, and in connection with these struggles has been able to build the United Farmers’ League on a mass basis, In Northern Minnesota our Party was able to achieve partial victory in the road strike last fall, where agricultural workers and small farmers were working. In the same struggle our Left Wing Co-operatives and United Farmers’ League were put before these village poor as organizations of struggle, and, as a re- sult, these organizations were able to secure a mass basis. After this road strike our Party, through the United Farmers’ League, was able to organize a Successful St. Louis County farmers’ hunger march, consisting of several thousands of toiling farmers, who in addition were greeted in Duluth by several thousand of unemployed city workers. A joint mass meeting of about 5,000 workers and toiling farmers was held and County Commis- | sioners were compelled to listen to the delega- tion of these farmers and to make some prom- ises regarding their demands for tax relief and immediate relief from the county. In North and South Dakota our Party has also been able to mobilize destitute farmers in many localities in thousands to demand immediate relief, and in many cases this mags pressure has compelled local authorities to give relief in some other form or other. In connection with unemployed hunger marches, in almost every farm locality through which our various hunger marches have passed, toiling farmers have shown their deep solidarity with the unemployed and with their struggles and demands. A few days ago we noticed from the Daily Worker that in connection with the Kentucky mine strike preparations, in Robbins, Tennessee, not only railroad “workers and section hands but farmers wanted to join the National Miners’ Union and promised relief and support for the striking miners. ‘This is very significant, because it shows the | readiness of the toiling farmers to join into any ofganization that they think is a fighting or- ganization. It also skows the very powerful spirit of solidarity of the toiling cones toward the struggling workers. These examples, no matter how insufficient and small they are, show very definitely that there are possibilities for work if only our Party is alert and will take up the concrete problems of the rural masses, and assist them to organize themselves and lead them to struggle for their immediate demands. We must acquaint our Party organs and mem- bership with Lenin’s teachings regarding the at~ titude towards the peasant question, and, in edch district, section and locality take up’ coneretely everyday work among the agricultural workers and toiling farmers. relief and unemployment insurance. As to the generous program for reltef of Messrs, Huddleston, Costigan, Wagner and La- Folletie, the highest sum is $250,000,000 a year, which, after $50,000,000 1s used for “administra- tion,” would leave about $18 a year for each of the 12,000,000 unemployed. The unemployed would virtually have to crawl on their knees to get it. They would be finger-printed and black- listed. At most it is a bone thrown by the petty- bourgeois, but the big capitajists propose to take their time even in permitting these bones to be thrown, unless they fear the growing struggles of the workers. As against these futile measures and maneu- verings of the petity-bourgebisie, the Workers’ Unemployment Insurarice Bill, behirid which millions of workers are being rallied, provides for adequate unemployment insurance, is a revo- lutionary measure strengthening the position of the workers in their fight against the capitalist efforts to unload the crisis on the workers’ backs, and can be forced through by a mobilization of working . class, anit £6 dade (pene I | By JORGE | “The Courage that | Makes Great” | Under a headline like that above thé Chicago Daily News is publishing daily stories of the “heroism”, as it calls the resignation of selected workers, enduring—in a fashion—poverty. Thus @ recent one opens up: “A French war bride in a strange land—six little children—the soldier father in a hospital for the insane—four loaves of bread, and two quarts of milk a day to live on—and home in a stable! Such are the elements of an epic of heroism, 11 is such a thrilling tale ef the ‘cour- age that makes great’ that the very facts of it swee! one along on a wave of tumultuous’ emotion.” Later on in the story we learn how the “sol- | dier father”, who went to France to “get the i Kaiser’—which Kaiser is doing very well, thank | you—was “swept along on a wave of tumultuous | emotion” so completely that he went insane from worry over the loss of his job and home and fur- niture, and the responsibilities facing him with six small children. The Daily News editor asks his readers to send any such pitiful tale they may know, in for pub- lication. Not that either the editor or the capi- talist government authorities even promise to do anything for those heroes. Not at all. Thé ‘edito? boldly states that such a story of abject resignar tion “will be a ‘bracer’ for thousands.” The heroes are to get no other reward than bp be admired—by the capitalists—for suffering te- signedly the tortures inflicted—by the capitalist, Such heroes are, of course, to the capitalists, liké) the “purple cow” of the rhymster who “would rather see than be one”. The Daily News editor certainly éStimiates tite intelligence of the workers at a low rate if he thinks this blah about “a thrilling tale” and “waves of tumultuous emotion” will be a “bracer”, or anything else but something that might cause them to vomit what little they have eaten. We trust that Chicago workers will be heard from on February 4, not in passive acceptance of starva= tion, but in militant mass fight against it. Let the Daily News editor know that what he calls an “epic of heroism” is nothing more than an epic of capitalism, oc 6 Oh, “Liberty”! America’s worst weekly, “Liberty”, has, mm ita January 30 issue, just had a spasm over the rail road men. It makes unsparing use ofsuch terms as “harshness”, “oppression”, “cruelty” arid “tyre anny” as regards the treatment meted out to | railroad workers. 4 Now, dont jump at conclusions. Becausé “Lib- erty” is not concerned at all over the fate of the several hundred thousand railroad workers and their still more numerous wives and children thrown out of employment and into starvation by the railroad companies of the United States in the last few years. No, “Liberty” isn’t Ss with that. Neither is “Liberty’concerned over the way the 2,000,000 or so workers left on the job have had double and treble the work piled on them,by the speed-up “efficiency” systems of the companies in the United States; nor is “Liberty” disturbed by the fact that this extra work has been done at wage rates already reduced below the 1920 scale. Thirdly, “Liberty” has not a word to say in consideration of the new, additional wage cut which has just been agreed upon for American railway workers, 2,000,000 of them, by the com- panies and their brass-faced agents whose pose as “union leaders” of the 21 different craft unions. No, “Liberty” did not use the word “harshness”* to refer to the attitude of the American railway executives toward the workers. It did not use the word “cruelty” in connection with the fact that hundreds of thousands of American railway workers whose wage is already Jess than two dole lars a day are being handed another wage cut, thereby the bellies of their children will be robbed of some $215,000,000 a year—to pay more divi- dends to bankers on steck that is 80 per cent “water”, No, indeed, “Liberty” batted. not an eye at all this. What it gets real mad about is thé report » that four railway employes in the Soviet Union | have been sentenced to death for criminal neglio gence that resulted in a terrible train wreek, : This, says “Liberty”, shows how “oppressive”, “cruel” and so on, are the “Red Rus ‘ans”. An@ it sheds bitter tears at the sentence of the Work= ers’ Court, because, so it says, such 2 sentence te contrary to “security to the individual.” Is goes on and—careless of truth—says: “The Red Ruse slans were to bring release to the individual from | the grip of an iron hand stretched out from an | ancient throne.” This, says “Liberty”—"the rebels promised.” Quite on the contrary, the Bolsheviks: prom- ised security to the masses, not to the “individ~ ual’—from the individualism of capitalism and landlordism. It is precisely because a few workers here and there, remaining backward and indt- vidualistic when all the rest have advanted to @ high level of social consciousness, have’ endan~ gered the lives and security of the masses by pleasing themselves and getting drunk, that lives wore lost and their own death sentences prom- teed. They acted as agents of the enemies of the Soviet power—and “Liberty's” defense of them proves it. Mi “Liberty” does not mention thai Soviet rattway workers are getting a nice wage raise while American railway workers ere getting @ wage cut. No, it weeps for “individual” liberty, defend ing any crime against society so long as {t is nob against’ the capitalist power to rule. “Oh, Liberty, can man resign thee?” Wel say we cap! The Workers’ Unemployment gInsuranee cs demands: 1, Federal unemployment insurance equal te full wages to all workers, without discrimination as to ¥ace, color, age or sex. 2, Instead of the small and inadequate: sums in the bills discussed above, the Workers’ Une employment Insurance Bill demands that all war funds (amounting to well over $1,000,000,000 in the present budget) be turned over | l- ately; that heavy taxes be imposed on the big capitalists and on all incomes over $8,000, 3. That the unemployment insurance fund ‘be adrhinistered and controlled by the’ workers, through committees selected by the workers themselves, . \ Wien, 4, That cocial insurance be paid to. workers to the amount of full wages to compensate we loss of wages through sickness, ‘seei@amh, Od agi + maternity, eta i\ yl: Tt Halal Mc ate heal ‘