The Daily Worker Newspaper, February 20, 1932, Page 6

Page views left: 0

You have reached the hourly page view limit. Unlock higher limit to our entire archive!

Subscribers enjoy higher page view limit, downloads, and exclusive features.

Text content (automatically generated)

Published by the Comprodaily. Publishing Co., New York City. N. Y and mat! all checks to the Daily Worker, 50 East 18th Street, New York, N. Y. | Party Recruiting Drive January 11 - March 18, 1932 | ine., Telephone ALgonquin 4-7956. daily except Sunday, at 60 East Cable »~ ‘DAIWORK.” SUBSCRIPTION RATES: and Bronx, New York City. Foreign: one year, By mail everywhere: One year, $6; six months, $3; two months, $1; excepting Boroughs of Manhattan wiz months, “$4.50, — THE PARTY IN THE DRESS STRIKE By I. AMTER. The leader of all the struggles | of the This s not only in form- ulating the policy for the workers, not only in giving direc ke ship at the top, but particularly in the work that the rank and file of the Party carries on among the rank and file‘ of the strikers. The Party fo es the policy for the strike not in the offices of consult will t the The F formul the Party, but in direct on with the workers. Only in this way policy—the general policy and of the strike, be correct. nistakes in the past in demands of strikes, outstand- ing the last dress strike. ty directly consulted the demands with them and nds were correct not in that they would rally at the workers feeling an? were the necessary de~--nds mn, would be willing to fight “or strike and ta mad work 1S! e then k in t the ~ehin at the top not only lopment of the strike. The il past strike experiences, eriences in other coun- and interpreted on ary strike strategy by the is the Party is able to nee the militancy and move to post. This is essential he strike, >» ~ that is why the is the only safe guide in any by far not all in strike leadership. file of the strikers are the body must be convinced; they t be developed into lead- man yphases, many r which the rank and This does not take place 1 the direct participa- of the rank and file Party that the Party members i—in the com- line; 3—in tireless mulating, encouraging; union; 5—in helping to strike and the union; 6— int elements for re- and YCL. devotion and energy rs, but for that they are not Communist only be- nd Lenin better than “hey are not Com- talk more militantly. because they recognize must be intensified and nd only the Communists ses forward towards it thru tion and members. It vy elements that have come he Spanish, Italian and Negro r belonged to unions and have before. Therefore they need on. The Jewish workers are , and do not need so much Party comrades therefore must on their work particularly ats, to win them for the union, and for the Party and 8 be organiz among the the Party members in the ORGANIZED for their work. ‘They participate in the strike not only as strik- ers, but as COMMUNISTS. They must organize jons) in the blocks, the streets, with a fraction secretary at each place. ‘taries must meet to coordinate ‘the activ of the Party members in the strike ‘There must be regular meetings of secretaries. ‘There must be regular meetings of the general fraction and more frequent meetings of the leading fraction. This is esssential for the con- duct of the strike, if the strike is to be reviewed, fits weaknesses be examined and corrections be the halls, discuss the directives for the strike with the workers, but must also use the directives to | check up on the activtities dyring the strike. For only thus will we be able to control from day to day whether the objective is being | reached and the proper strike methods are being applied. One of the most important objectives of the strike, in addition to winning conditions for the workers, is the building of the union. This is usually neglected and the workers finish the strike without their organization being strength~- ened. This must positively not happen in this strike, and the union must come out of the strike vastly strengthened. This strengtherting must be not only in numbers, but in new forces that will be trained into leadership for the union. The new elements in the union can and must ‘be trained for leadership, They come out of this period of fight, ready to struggle, not tainted with any pessimism. They will provide new blood for the union that will help to make it @ mass union, The core and life of the union is the Com- munist fraction. The Communist fraction in the the Needle Trades Workers Industrial Union is our largest fraction—and yet it must be enlarged. New blood must be brought into it out of the new elements in the present struggle. Out of the new recruits that are brought into the union —the young Italian, Spanish, Negro, American and Jewish workers—must be won recruits for the Party and YCL, If the Party fraction performs these tasks under the guidance of the District, it will have carried on real Communist work, But this is not all. The Party sections and units have their | definite tasks. This is a strike not of the dress- makers alone. It is a strike for which the broad- est masses of the workers must be rallied, for this strike will be a rallying call for the other trades of the needle industry, for the building and printing trades workers whose conditions face a sharp lowering under the attacks of the bosses. Therefore the Party must rally the mass organizations. The Party fraction in the TUUL must call to the support of the dressmakers the other revolutionary unions of the TUUL, and through the revolutionary oppositions in the reactionary unions, also the rank and file of these unions. But even here our task does not end. The Party as such must plunge into the strike. Party units and sections must assign forces for the so that the workers will see that the Party ts not party of phrases but actually, as a Party, gives militant support to the strike. Only in this way will the workers gain faith in the Party and join the Party. The Party and YCL mem- bers who are assigned for duty in the strike, must be attached to the Party fraction and be checked up not only in the fraction but also in their units. ‘The District expelled a charter member of the Party for refusal to go into the strike full time. This is setting the pace, and the District ex- pects that the units and sections will check up systematically and rigidly, so that intense Bol- shevik discipline will be established in and through the strike. The section committee and unit buro members must set the example to the other Party members. It is not sufficient for a section committee member to be able to explain the demands and the character of the strike, and its significance at this period of the crisis. It is their duty, by example, to show the Party members how to participate in the strike. Party members failing to carry out their duty must be | mentioned by name. Only thus will individual responsibility be established, and Party disci- pline become a fact. ‘This strike is of extreme importance—and by | Proper activity, check up and correction, many of the mistakes and shortcomings of the past | strikes will be avoided—and the union and the | Party come out of the strike immensely streng- | thened and invigorated. In addition to winning better conditions for the workers, this will be the made. The Party fractions must not only | best indication as to the success of the strike. CLARINA MICHAELSON in the Glendon, Cary and Liberty mines of The few miners who were able to get into the | Straight Creek, at first suave and smooth, trying Pineville court room when the hearing took place to give the impression this would be a “fair” of the nine organizers of the National Miners | hearing, became increasingly vicious as the Union, the International Labor Defense and the Workers International Relief, charged with cri- minal syn sm, got a clear and undiluted example of class justice. The decision to hold them over for the Grand Jury under heavy bail ‘was made before court opened. On January ist thousands of miners of Bel] and Harlan County, Kentucky, and from Tenne- ssee, went on strike under the leadership of the National Miners Union. On January 4 nine organizers who came into Pineville to help in the strike activities were arrested. The hearing ‘was postponed three times because of the protest Meetings and the picketing of the Pineville jail By from five to ten thousand miners on three different days. The coal operators court preferred to hold court when so many miners were not in town. ® On the two days of the hearing every effort Was made to keep all miners and their wives Out of the court room. The miners got there as goon as the doors opened and took their seats. They were told they would have to go into an @ther room to be searched; they went out and then were not allowed back in. ‘The coal operators, American Legion members and gunmen were allowed in, but miners in over- alls and poorly dressed women were kept out. A few managed to slip by the guard at the door; Hundreds waited in the corridors outside and other hundreds leaned over the stair railing, getting as near the window as possipie, and on the. grass below. Prosecutor Nervous, County Attorney Walter B, Smith, thin and nervous, his hand shaking, conducted the pro- Secution. His law partner, Reid Patterson, at- torney for most of the coal operators in Bell and Harlan counties, and with large interest hearing continued. Judge Van Beber, formerly with interests in the Wagon Mine, near Straight Creek, and who also worked for the Log Mountain Coal Co., sat stolid and bored. He made no move, and made no statement that was not first dictated to him by the coal operators’ attorneys, Patterson or Smith. Several times when lawyers for the defense made objections, Mr. Smith, without waiting for the judge, announced #overruled by the judge.” When Prosecuting Attorney Smith called the Sefendants “yellow curs,” and called the Inter- national Labor Defense lawyers Bentall and Taub, “cattle,” when prosecuting attorney: for the coal operators, Smith, said “The electric chair is too good for these defendants, They should be lined up against the wall and shot,” the coal operators’ judge Van Beber, said no- thing to Smith, but bawled out Bentall and Taub for protesting. The close link-up between the judge, the county attorney, the law, the coal operators and the United Mine Workers of America was so clear, that no miner in the court room missed it. Bosses Like UMWA, Patterson, coal operators’ lawyer, admitted in open court that the coal operators would like the miners to join the United Mine Workers of America. On a surprise question by International Labor Defense attorney Bentall who asked him if he didn’t think the miners should have better conditions and a union, Mr. Patterson answered: “Yes. We would like them to have a union—the United Mine Workers of America.” Part of the time the hearing of the organ- izers was taking place, Mr. Patterson was at- torney in another room in the same building picket line and the other duties of the strike, | By BURCK For Political Decisiveness and Clarity in Our Anti-War Activities By SAM DON. PART II (Conclusion.) | | disarm ideologically and dissipate the revo- lutionary forces, the bourgeoisie brings into | play and makes use of “Trotskyism—the van- | guard of the counter-revolutionary bourgeoisie.” | (Stalin.) The thesis of American Trotskyism, printed in The Militant of July 25, 1931, states: “No coun- try that moves actively within the orbit of the world economy is immune from the convulsions of the crisis . . . and the Soviet. Union,. too, which has not been and cannot be liberated from the pressure of world economy.” What is the class meaning of the above state- ment? To carry ont the main aim of our class enemies, the armed intervention against the Soviet Union. The toiling masses in the capitalist countries of hunger, war, and terror, look towards the Soviet Union as the only country which ‘has liquidated unemployment, where’ the material and cultural level is steadily improving, where the successful carrying-out of the Five Year | Plan has demonstrated beyond a shadow of a doubt that Socialism can be built in one country. The bourgeoisie, in its desperate attempt. for war against the Soviet Union, is frantic in its lying campaigns about the successes of the So- cialist construction under the Five Year Plan. Could a better counter-revolutionary ideological weapon be supplied to the bourgeoisie than the Trotsky thesis that the Soviet Union, just like the capitalist countries, is involved in the capi- talist crisis, that Socialism is not being built in for the Southern Mining Co. which owns the Insull mine in Harlan County. The only witnesses the prosecutidén had were coal operators’ law officers. They did not dare call a single miner or miner’s wife against the three men and six women organizers who had gone to Pineville to help win the strike. And when the defense put witnesses on the stand, attorney Smith did everything possible to prevent their testifying and did not dare cross question the men and women eager to speak for the National Miners Union, the Workers International Relief and the International Labor Defense, One National Miners Union member, the first man witness, he did cross question and immedia- tely had him arrested, saying: ‘You are probably wanted by the law.” Judge Van Beber hardly listened to the three defendants who took the stand, Vern Smith, Norma Martin and Ann Barton, who exposed the arrests of the organizers as attempts of the coal operators to hurt the strike. He quickly shut up the miners’ wives who testified, saying: “I'm tired of all this foolishness.” But he smiled and listened attentively to his masters’ voice, when Attorney Smith denounced the union, denounced the Workers International Relief and the International Labor Defense and denounced the literature found as filthy, slimy and insidious. He smiled at the vicious attacks made on the defendants and their lawyers by Smith, Coal operators’ Attorney Smith in his con- cluding remarks read from the International La- bor Defense pamphlet “Workers Self Defense in Court; What to Do When Arrested.” He read that workers by mass protest should demand the release of class war prisoners, “This is just what has been done here,” he shouted, and he read further that the court room should be used by workers to expose the courts and law as a part of the capitalist offensive against the working class. This seemed to make Mr. Smith’ very angry. “This is what these defendants tried to do here,” he shouted. And for once, Mr. Smith, coal operators’ lawyer, was right. ‘The whole procedure of the hearing of the nine defendants charged with criminal syndi- calism was heard, was a perfect example of class justice. It was a clash of the two classes; on the one hand, the capitalist class—the coal, operators, the judge, the county attorney, the law and the officials of the United Mine Workers of America; and on the other, the working class —the miners, i y the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics? Any wonder then that Trotsky today is the best paid capitalist journalist, the star writer of the Sat- urday Evening Post, and the Liberty magazine, subsidiary of the greatest Soviet-baiting daily, the Chicago Tribune? ‘The above mentioned Trotzkyist thesis in “The Militant” states further: “Europe versus Amer- ica, the central problem of capitalist. world poli- tics.” You see world imp “‘alism is not wor- ried in the least by the fact that the first Five Year Plan has already completed the building of the foundation of Socialism. And by speak- ing only of the contradictions between the im- perialist powers, Trotsky is covering up the main antagonism between dying capitalism and the world which is building Socialism. The January 2nd, 1932, issue of The. Militant again repeats the old slogan of Trotsky, a “So- viet United States of Europe” against capitalist America. We will not at this time go into a discussion regarding the fallacy and worn-out brilliancy of the above-mentioned slogan, but evidently Trotsky lost sight of the fact... . that the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics as against the whole capitalist world, European, as well as capitalist America, is the central prob- leb of world politics today. Trotzky and the Militant, do not see at all the existence of Soviet China, the heroic struggles of the Chinese Red Army. Trotsky is against a Soviet China. As against the slogan of the Com- munist International for a Soviet China, Trotsky advanced the slogan of a Constituent Assembly— @ counter revolutionary political thesis to dis- ~~ the workers in t'.e struggle for the defense of Soviet China. ‘The February 13th issue of the Lovestone sheet also places first the contradictions between the imperialist pwoers, then, in the same issue, all of a sudden, they noitce that only in the last week there took place “a distinct swing of Jap- anese imperialism under the direction of an at- tack against the Soviet Union.” Marvelous in- deed! All this time Japan and U. S. imper- ialism “forgot” about the need of a united at- tack against the Soviet Union-and the Chinese masses, Thus we see how the counter-revolutionary vanguard of the bourgeoisie from the “left” is in complete accord with the counter-revolution- ary flank from the right. And the counter- revolutionary front is “rich” in a variety of colors and shadings. Take the Labor Age, the official organ of Muste, the organ of left social fascism, Its recent February issue carries a leading editorial on the war with China, It has a high sound- ing headline: “A Warning to Workers of the United States.” Muste has no scruples in using left phrases. The editorial is full of them, but not one single word, not a hint, not a whisper about the Japanese guns which are at the pres- ent time roaring close to the Soviet border, about the role of American imperialism and the war moves against the Soviet Union. Left phrases about the war on the Chinese masses as a cover for the complete silence regarding Soviet China and the imperialist united front against the Chinese Red Army. So down the line to the socialist party and the saintly Norman Thomas. The recent statement of the socialist party repeats its role of the last world war. It calls upon American imperialism to become the leader and arbiter of peace ip the Far East. It praises the Japanese socialists for their “brave resistance” to Japanese imperialism. What does this “brave resistance” consist of? In declaring that the “war in Manchuria is not car- ried on in the interest of capitaliem, is not a capitalist war.” (Statement by the leader of the Japanese socialist party). The talk of the “brave resistance” is to blind the workers to the treachery of the Japanese socialists, to cover up their own treachery in the United States, to blind the workers to the heroic role of the Japanese Communist Party, of the American Communist Party, as the only anti-war party of the working class, What is the most significant characteristic of the socialist statement? The complete silence about the open acts of provocation against the Soviet Union, the war on the Chinese Soviets, The editorial of Norman Thomas in the New Leader of February 13 reveals his support for the main foreign policy of American imperialism by his complete silence on the attempts to seize the Chinese Eastern Railway, the occupation of Harbin by Japan, the “complete blindness” about the united imperialist front against the Soviet Union. ‘To sum up: Trotskyism, Lovestoneism, left so- cial fascism, social fascism, all are united on the platform of lulling the watchfulness of the workers to the main strategy of American im- perialism—of world imperialism, “the building under its leadership of a united imperialist front against the Soviet Union and Soviet China, This is done ynder the cover of only or mainly “seeing” the present danger of war as confined to the antagonisms between the imperialist powers, OF eke We will now deal with some of the serious mistakes committed recently in the Party on the estimate of the present war events. The chief mistake and the one most prevalent consists of estimating the present war in China as bringing forward as the main and "mediate danger a war between the imperialist powers, and rele- gating to the background the danger of war against the Soviet Union and the war against Soviet China. The other mistake is to present the danger of war against the Soviet Union as separated from the growing rivalries between the. imperialist powers. Common to both mistakes is the me- chanical separation of the growing conflicts be- tween the imperialist powers and the growing imperialist united front against the Soviet Union, instead of seeing them in their dialecti- cal unity, What were some of the concrete expressions of these mistakes? 1, At the time of the first Japanese offensive on Shanghai. In fact, at the very beginning of the Japanese drive in Manchuria; some com- rades in the various editorial staffs spoke of the main immediate danger of war as that of be- tween the United States and Japan. A member of the staff of one of the Party. papers’at the begi-uing of the Shanghai events, proposed as the nain and only slogan for the “present,” “Dewn with imperialist war between United States and Japan” instead of subordinating it to the defense of the Soviet Union and “Hands Off Soviet China.” 2. The Southern Worker of February 6 made | a very serious mistake in its war story. The main headline was as follows: “World war looms as bandit powers clash in Far East. Demand U. 8. Withdraw Arms.” What was missing here? Obviously the main slogans. The mentioning of the slogans, “Defend the Soviet Union,” “Hands Off the Chinese Revolution” is made only the very end of the story. This is linked up with the.wrong analysis that crept into the war story. For instance: “even while the imperialist powers are all united in a desire to crush the Chinese Revolution and try to smash the Soviet Union, their antagonisms becomé so sharp that at any moment open warfare may break out (My emphasis.—S, D.) The analysis should have been just the reverse. It should have * placed in the forefront the danger of war against the Soviet Union and not as it does in relegating to a secondary position the danger of a united at- tack on the imperialist powers. (The Southern Worker corrected its mistake in its next issue in an editorial), How does the Communist International place the relationship between the growing conflicts among the imperialist powers and the. danger of war against the Soviet Union? The 11th Plenum resolution on war stated: “The growing world economic crisis and the struggle among the imperialist powers for markets intensify all imperialist antagonisms and cause them to he- come exceptionally acute. The danger of armed conflicts between the imperialist powers is growing, but the growing antagonisms of in- terests between the imperialists does not dimin- ish but on the contrary increases the danger of war of intervention against the U.S.S.R.” (My emphasis.—S. D,) We must therefore be on guard against an over-emphasis of the contradictions between the imperialist powers. ; ‘The fundamental its between Japan and the United States of Lenin spoke a num- \ | ‘Hours Are Long and Wages Are Low in Silk and Rayon Plants By LABOR RESEARCH ASSN. A recent study by the U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows the full-time hours for workers in rayon, silk, and mixed silk and rayon goods to be 50.7 hours a week in 1931. And average full-time ‘earnings werefound to be $20.58 among the workers investigater.” But what worker had full time work ni 1931? The Labor Research Assn. study in Paterson showei workers actually receiving during the course of the year less than one-half these full time wages. In fact the weavers were found to average, over the year, about $11.50 a week and dyers about $10, ber or times are undoubtedly today sharper than ever before, But precisely this very ma~ turing of the conflicts. between the two tradi- tional rivals over the Pacific area, the rapid fna- turing of the main imperialist antagonism be- tween Great Britain and the United States, raises before all of them the cestruction of the Soviet Union which is the main obstacle to im- per‘alist- capitalist solution of the crisis and their antagonisms. (We refer the comrades again to Stalin’s statement at the 16th Party Congress.) What does this over-emphasis of the contra- dictions between the imperialists lead to? To voy the least, to a mere academic abstract ac- ceptance of the main contradictions in the world today, to rob of concrete and practical meaning the analysis‘of the ©. I. that “this growing conflict between the two systems (an- tagonisms between the system which is build- ing up socialism and the system of decaying capitalism) which is the kernel of contemporary international relations affects the further de- velopment of the contradictions within the im- perialist wor!, which have become particularly intensified as a result of the crisis.” Failure to see what. today is the “kernel of contemporary international relations” objectively amounts to the Trotskyist —~lysis that “Europe versus America js the central problem of capi- talist world politics.” (My emphasis—S, D.) 3. The “journalistic” mistakes reflected them- selves very seriously..im the political organiza- tional activities. .A-characteristic example of it is the following fact.. The Jew York Young Communist League a@.couple of weeks ago took the initaitive in arranging a united front anti- war youth conference. In order to make the conference really broad . . . the leader of the New York ¥. C. EL. and others proposed that the question of the defense of the Soviet Union should not be taken up at the conference, This is certainly the crassest_ and most dangerous ex- Pression of the wrong tendencies in connection with the estimate of the present war in China. The comrade could only-.see the acuteness of the danger of war between the imperialists, but the danger of war against the Soviet Union, the war on Soviet China, is not quite acute enough, s0 that the “question could be dropped” to make room for a broad united front, . . . Instead of seeing that the slogan of defense of the Soviet Union is one that can rally the broadest masses, he conceived of it as ‘one that would narrow the united front. ‘The National Commitiee of the Y. ©. L. im- mediately corrected the mistake of the New York comrades. 4. The outline of the National Agit-Prop De- partment of the Y. C. L. contained the error of not clearly bringing out the conflicts between the imperialist powers themselves and somewhat mechanically separated the danger of war be- tween the imperialist powers “-om the danger of & united attack against the Sov’ ' Union. Some comrade in correcting an earlier e: “or of over- emphasizing the contradictions betw 2n the im- perialist powers “corrected” it by com; 2tely for= getting the conflicts. between the i nperialist powers. .For instance, the Freiheit carried a leading headline: “Hoover sends i. rines .to Shanghai to Help Japan,” 5. To speak’ merely in general phrases and formulas that the miain danger of war is that of a united attack against the Soviet world is by: far not sufficient: Th2 growing antagonisms between the two worlds which is the kernel of the present international relationships must be concretized to thé masses on the basis of con- tiasting to the minutest-detail the conditions of the workers in the, capitalist countries with the conditoins in the Sovict Union. The smallest struggle of the workers against the*miserable conditions here must be linked up with ‘the struggle against the war program of American capitalism,. Qnly in this manner will the toiling masses se and understand that the danger of war against the Soviet Union, war onthe Chinese Soviets’ is really the greatest danger confronting them today. Only then will the slogan, “Defend-the Soviet Union,” “Hands Off.the Chinese Revolution,” “To Turn the Im- pertalist War into Civil War” assume a living meaning and become” Ae of their daily strug- gles. As yet our acitation and propaganda does not fulfill this tas. While the Daily Worker was given facts to prove the line of the Central Committee line. Every printed line and word must breathe and speak in concrete living-terms which will con- vince the masses ot 4 the seriousness of the war situation, The Western Worker’ in its February 15 issue Presents its war story generally in a correct way. But is too general. Why American im- perialism is - mainly. ‘concerned at the present time with war at the Soviet Union, to crush the Chinese ‘Soviets, is not even hinted at, We cannot take too much for granted in our agitation. We must»be:anxious to convince the masses. And a@ mere reference to the Soviet Union as “the Workers’ J’atherlnad” will not solve the problem. +. Lenin said that the Struggle against war must be conducted daily, hourly. And v~ particular~ ly suffer in our struggle. against war from the lack of continuity and sustained activities. Our press m also give the lead in this respect, Here we might mehtion the following fact: The February 13 issue of the Southern Worker, with the exception of an editorial, does not carry single news item-or story on the war. More clarity in the ranks of the Party on the nature of the war ~*uation. Sharper strv-zle against opportunistic’ manifestations. Contin- uous organizationab-and agitational activity against war. Thevstruggle against war must b-~ placed in the very center of all our Party ac- tivity, oe vay acca 1

Other pages from this issue: