The Daily Worker Newspaper, March 31, 1932, Page 4

Page Foug he ¥, Telephone ALgonquin 4-795¢. Cable to the Dally Worker, 50 Bast 18th Street, New York, , Ot 80 n “DAIWOR! mh BEN GERJOY ation of thé signif a ical in the answered is ¥ vention,” or, ortant were Cleare: effect upon points, pertain- up, which the coming Three Strikes Conver of th hree importan’ and he Hock: y the U. M. W S not f and the U. >, PC ared, no {. W. A. officials ith Governor White's national ‘within the law.” In giving the coal operators a free e government forces to protect the the strike. In this strike there nothing new. While this is written, reports eached us that the U. M. W. A. gave up the rike. The second is the strike in the Anthracite, already embracing between fifteen and twenty ousand miners, led by the Maloney-Shuster ‘orces, the so-called insurgents to the Lewis- Boylan reactionary machine. Here, again, the strike was not prepared, and while some demands put forward, these are of a nature which do not aim to improve the immediate conditions of ne miners, especially the miners inside the mines. The fact that the main demand is “equalization of work” shows that the leadership based itself primarily upon the unemployed and did not aim to shut off production. The third is the Kentucky strike, conducted by the National Miners Union. This strike, despite the mistakes committed, has three outstanding res which characterizes the new unionism. , the demands; secondly, initiative of the ik and file ant action, he above de: be addec another important strike 1 broke out a jays ago as a result of an announced wage the na Coal Co., of East Ohio. So far no single union is leading this strike. It was spontaneous walk-out on the part of the The Miners Are Fighting All this teaches us very important lessons. It “shows first of hat the miners are in a fighting mood. lear aiso that the N. M. U. must provide I ‘ship. It shows, flrthermore, that unless the N. M. U. is in the field to provide this leadership the miners will fall prey to the leadership of their betrayers. While the miners are striiggling without leadership the coal oper- ators are reducing them inte deeper misery. And wherever the N. M. U. is absent from the field the U. M. W. A. and its progressive agents-are on the job to lead the miners into the hands of the coal operators. Convention Must Lead the Way s, briefly, is the atmosphere in which the National Miners Union held its Third National Convention. The Convention had to answer why our Union does not provide the miners with leadership. The Convention, of course, recorded & number of important struggles under the in- dependent leadership of the N. M. U., but these are quite insufficient in the face of widespread discontent of the miners, and in the face of the many struggles which take piace either spon- taneously or under enemy leadership. The Convention set itself the task to answer the above question. In our opinion it did this very well. From the very beginning till the very end the Convention was marked by a thorough- going and searching self-criticism. This was true on the part of the leadership of the Union, as well as ihe two hundred-odd rank and file dele- gates wito attended the Convention. The weak- nesses of the Union were, so to say, laid bare before the eyes of the Convention. This was a proper approach, as only by completely recogniz- ing our mistakes and shortcomings will we be able to correct them and make of our Union an organization capable of and deserving the lead- ership of the miners. THIRD NATIONAL CONVEN. TION OF THE NATIONAL MINERS | of the importance of organization; our weak | came in for considerable criticism. Also other UNION Facé to the Field ‘The Convention went into detail as to the basic errors and weaknesses of the Union. The mistakes committed in the last strike of forty thousand miners, and repeated in Ky--Tenn. were discussed. Our weaknesses in conducting local struggles for immediate demands of the working miners, part-time and the unemployed, was gone into extensively. The underestimation activities for the needs of the Colored miners, shortcomings, such as the looseness of the Union, | lack of discipline, poor dues “payments, ‘weak defense activities, etc. But all the above weaknesses can be traced to one main weakness, namely, insufficient contact with the field. Though the Union has about 40 per cent of its membership .working in’ the mines, as was shown by the credential report, nevertheless, this membership: has not been given the proper organizational forms, and is not conscious that its main task is the develop- ing of sttuggles inside the mines on the basis of the immediate needs of the miners in each mine. This weakness found its reflection at the top, namely, in the fact that the national and district leadership often lacks the knowledge of the con- crete situation in the field. It is also shown by the nature of our demands which we adopt. Quite often our demands are too general and do not correspond to the concrete situation, at least they are not the demands for the removal of the grievances which caused the immdiate dis- content, but demands conceived by the national and district leadership in advance. Instead of asking the miners to state their demands we give them their demands. In other words, instead of being a union of the miners, it is a union for the miners, Many other weaknesses spring from our in- sufficient contact with the field—narrow leader- | ship, Jack of rank and file organizers, bureauc- | Tacy, etc. But the worst of all is that it results ; This membership organized in the mine branches | system. The members will pay their dues on | the basis of their earnings, beginning with five in spontaneous struggles, as well as struggles not undef our leadership. ‘The Convention, therefore, in making its’ keynote “face to the field,” made a real start in the proper direction. Entrench the Union in the Mines _ The Convention adopted a new Constitution. In this Constitution the mine branch replaces the local as the basic union organ. We make the mine our starting point, and give organiza- tional form to our membership inside the mines. will be able to take up the concrete problems of each mine, work out the demands and develop action around these demands. The permanently unemployed members and blacklisted will be or- ganized into the unemployed group of the local union. The main tasks of the unemployed group ate to assist the employed in their struggles, and to develop a united front with the masses of unemployed miners outside our union for inten+ sive struggle for the immediate needs of the un- employed and unemployment insurance, at the expense of the coal operators and the govern- ment. ‘The Constitution also provides for a new dues cents each two weeks. Some will pay ten, fifteen, twenty and twenty-five cents. Thus, instead of the bureaucratic method we had until now, | namely fifty cents a month or nothing, every member will now have the chance to pay dues. | Must Follow Up Convention | The Convention adopted many other impor- tant documents and many other important deci- | sions were made. The N. M. U. relation to the | opposition movements, especially in the An- thracite and Illinois, was discussed. ‘There was | @ special report and a resolution adopted on our work amongst the colored miners, A resolution on defense, and a resolution against war and the defense of the Soviet Union, as well as others. But good resolutions were adopted in the past also. Resolutions in themselves mean _ little unless they are promptly followed up with action. ‘This, therefore, is our most important immediate task—follow wp the work of the Convention. This Convention must make turn in the life of our Union. This will be accomplished pro- vided we proceed energetically to pue every reso- lution and every decision made into effect in the quickest possible manner. The Behaviour of an Intervention _ Army i 1918 in January one general of the German imperialist army on the eastern front, while rattling his sabre at the peace conference of Brest-Litovsk, said to Comrade Lenin: “You've got to take what we'll give you, We are the victors.” ‘This was the prattle of General Hoffman, who dictated the peace treaty of Brest-Litovsk. It was too bad that he was not allowed to wit- ness the end of his sabre rattling. He was killed by his own soldiers in Kiev only a few mont later. His trunks containing eighty mi! inarks were emptied by his soldiers and money used for Boilshevist teachings in the ranks of his army. And as for the army Graf Czernin, the foreign minister of Austria-Hungary of which { was @ part, it worked something like this: At the beginning of February of 1918 the order came that we are to clear tthe Ukraine of the Czechoslovak troops. They were supposed to be @ menace to the German and Austrian em- vires. I for one was not so sure of the menace, although I knew very little if anything of Lenin or Marx at that time, but as a wireless operator I was able to diagnose politics to w certain ex- tent while receiving all of the different general staffs’ daily reports. I learned to understand the French and to some extent also the | English languages. Germai and Russian I knew al- ready, and I knew the tricks better than some of the generals, who were coming to see me in™ regard to these reports. ‘There was one general of the 10th Bavarian division who liked me too well and I was re. spected by him to @ very compromising point. What Are We Going to Do? The soldiers began to ask each other: “What are we going to do?” Everybody seemed to be moving so slow in comparison to the fulfillment of the orders in the army in dsys gone by. The State of things in the hinterlanii was such that Mere was not one of us that cowld say, “Things’ 4 are all right.” Our folks were hungry, driven | to produce ammunition in order that we may kill each other, and we were fed on cabbage soup three times per day since the winter of | of 1916 on the front. Even if the soldiers did not: ask oraly, they looked into each others eyes in s questioning manner. We knew that the Russian soldiers refused to fight us a long time ago. In fact since the war began, and resolutely so since the fourth of April, 1917, the day that I heard the transmitting station of St. Petersburg calling for the transmitting station of Budapest, Hungary, demanding peace negotiations, only to be be- trayed by Kerensky, who was urging, like a true “socialist” to continue the war to fight us. I said to my comrades that Y am fight the revolting workers of Russia. that I was going to be shot. ¥ said ¥ am not ing to fight and t prove that Y meant what I said I took my carabine (rifle): and told’ thert: to go with me to the next plum ‘tree and there’t have carried. out what T thought ‘was best to | do: I broke my carabine in’ three ‘pieces -atid said, now’ my conscience is clear as daylight. | I'll go, but empty handed (and here 1 wish to. | point out that 1 did not know: anything about Lenin or Marx). The other soldiers were members of the ex- isting political parties. They kept their w ns, 1 dug a hole in the ground, which was oft at that time, and buried’ the remnants of my weapon. I had no idea then that by having a rifle in my hands, I had 90 per cent of author- ity incmy hands. I had thrown it away, thus relinquishing all I should have desired to keep. I crossed the border together with the wite- less ouliit at Podvolocsisk, east. of Tarnopol and the “town We entered first was Proskufov. We needed semething to eat and had. plenty of money, simce out there our pay was raised from tour kronen per day: to fem kxopen: pr daa D @y mail evéryWhsre: One year, $6; six months, 9 ef Manhattea and Bronz, New York City. Woreign: one year, $8; six montha, 6450, wo months, excepting Boroagte By BURCK The Growth of the Soviet Power in China By CYRIL BRIGGS TN China, there are already elements of both Athe new Soviet world and the old, dying cap- italist- worlé. ‘The Sovtet world of social and national eman- cipation ‘* rapidly growing at the expense of the dying world of capitalist exploitation and oppression. Already, the Soviet districts com- prise together an area one-sixth of China and larger than France, In these districts where the revolutionary workers and peasants have overthrown the robber rule of the imperailists and their native landowner and banker allies, live over 90,000,000 people. (that was one point on which the imperialists relied to have us fight the Bolsheviks). ‘To Our surprise, when we got to a pig stable we found five former Policemen and one army | officer housed there by a kulak and his ex- | cellency, the pig himself. This gave me another shock and made me to think. We were not to clear the Ukraine of some troops but we were | there to drive out the revolutionary workers and to plunder the country. The kulak was glad to see us and gave us the pig free of charge. The policemen wanted us to give them our uniforms, they were afraid of staying in their outfit. Smashed Wireless Outfit. I then noticed that the motorman who was assigned to duty with me as the operator was slow in doing things. I took him into confidence and we talked things over. The result was that the transmitter went out of commission and we had to leave for Zmerinka in order that the 12th Austrian army had some communication with the other armies. I nZmerinka we proceeded in the same manner. This was the town of Gen- eral Brussilow’s headquarters. The transmitter was @ permanent outfit and that was also not so hard to wreck. The condensers were soon put out of commission and the army had no way of communication because spare parts were not at hand, In Odessa. From here we proceeded to Odessa. It was terribly cold by this time and we were moving slowly on open cars. With our outfit was also moved bombing planes. We did not like that either, that bombing stuff, so we made a joke out of it by emptying the barrels containing benzine for this flying outfit. And’ as soon as we arrived at Odessa we celebrated that big ex- plosion that took place outside of that city. Whole piles of ammunition were learning how to fly. ‘Then the city of Cherson was to be destroyed, according to the commandant of the Austrian general of the 59th Division, if the inhabitants did not deliver their hidden weapons within 48 hours time. He was going to bomb that city, but his fliers discovered that the gasoline tanks were dry and drilled so that they would not hold ‘sny gasoline even if they had any. Yes, the cities were taken, occupied, but each step deeper meant the end of the “glory” of the German-Austrian empires. The orders from of- ficers were scarcer and scarcer, there was no co-operation but on the contrary spite work grew and grew. ‘The Plundering Captain. ‘The Austrian army had the Linienschiffs cap- tain, Malinarich, who collected everything from rags to train loads of wheat and grains and was shipping it’ to Austria. ‘This plunderer constantly laid the stress on good communication and when we moved as far as Marlupol on the Azov sea. The Germans took & step farther in order to be closer to the gran- ary of Europe and took Taganrog. I gave them all the communication that they needed. Then our filed transmifter was put up. Forthwith it was put out ‘of commission. They put us to do our communicative work on that passenger steamer “Russlan”, which was located in the port at that time, and it only took a few hours time to have that destroyed and put out of com- mission. ‘Then we. were moved to the passenger steamer “Jerusalem”. An officer was placed on duty with each operator, but such officers do not amount to very much since they are ignorant. regarding the care of such apparatus, The com- munication was again broken off. A new field outfit had to be brought to Mariupol and that was the last’ one that had to be destroyed, be- cause by this time everybody was doing as he pleased. ‘The officers’ gold and silver colors were ripped oft their conis end we rig teal with i a ee » a In subsequent articles, we will give detailed facts of the tremendous improvements in the living conditions of the masses in the Soviet districts as compared to the miserable condi- tions forced upon the masses in that part of China still under Kuomintnag militarist con- trol, For the present, it is sufficient to quote the admissions of the enemy: “Communism, because it is giving the Chin- ese masses better living conditions than any of their “(!) governments, is spreading like wild-fire in China. “In a little while, Communism was rooted. People could buy food for one-third what it cost them when bought from their war lord governors. The masseS wére allowed to govern themselves.” The above quotation is from an interview in the Hartford Daily Couraitt of February 21, 1932, with “Father” Ranagan, a missionary agent in China of United States imperialism. Growth of Chinese Soviet Power “The Soviet philosophy has permeated all of Central Asia,” shriek the Japanese imperialists. And this dying wail of imperialism is further borne out by the conclusions of the “emergency conference” held in Shanghai on March 27 by diploratic agents of the imperialist powers with their Kuomintang running dogs. The confer- ence was called for “the purpose of surveying China's intrenal conditions.” A Shanghai dis- patch to the New York Times sadly admits that “the results of the survey arouse the gravest misgivings” among the imperialist brigands and their Kuomintang tools. The conference was forced to admit the fail- ure of the murderous attempts of the impe- rialists and their Kuomintang butchers to drown the revolutionary movement in blood. In spite of the joint attacks by imperialist gunboats and Kuomintang troops on the Chinese Soviet dis- trists, the Chinese Soviets are admittedly grow- ing in power and influence: “Communists in the Yangtze Valley Basin ad- mittedly are gaining strength despite regional military reverses.” ‘The \ cerong Workers Correspondence of Feb- Tuary 19, 1932, reports the enlargement and con- Solidation of the Soviet District of the Hupeh Honan-Anhwei borders, following the defeat last November of the reactionary plots of the Third Party, the Reorganizationists and the Auti-Bol- shevik clique. Several groups of the Chinese Red Army in this district are now opefating near the important, industrial and strategic city of Hankow. On. December 21 last, they cap- tured the town of Huang-an, in North Hupeh, disarming the whole Kuomintang 69th Division. ‘They were reported to have captured on Jan. 5, the town of Huangpei, 20 miles from Hankow. On Jan. 16, a part of the Kuomintang 30th Division which was sent to fight the Red Army mutinied. The Shanghai Eastern Times admit- ted on Feb. 14 that on that date the Red Army had an advance guard at Gushaohsu, only 7 miles from Hankow. The South segment of the Peiping-Hankow. Railway has also become the partisan zone fro the Red Army, with pea- sant partisan troops aiding the Red Army. ~ The 2d Army Corps of the Red Army under the command of Gen. Ho Lung, ofiginally oper- ating on the western borders of Hupeh Province, has moved eastward to join the 4th Army Corps from the Hupeh-Honan-Anhwel Soviet district. This Red Army group recently crushed the joint forces of the militia of Tienmen, Yingchen and Hanchuen (the forces of the local landlords and gentry). It theu proceeded to the suburbs of Yingchen. The Kuomintang authorities in Hupeh sent the Kuomintang 4th Division, with bombing planes, against the advancing worker- peasant army, but a few days later the Shang- hai Sinwenpao was forced to report that the Kuomintang troops were badly defeated, with one of the brigade commanders killed and over 1,000 rifles lost. The Shanghai. Eastern Times also reported on Feb. 14 that Huanglinggi on the north bank of the Yangtze River, 15 miles west of the Wuhan cities, was captured by Gen. Ho Lung’s Red Army group. Kinkow, on the. opposite bank of the Yangtze River, was reported “endangered.” ‘Imperialist press dis- | patches have since admitted that the Kuomin- tang hold on the three cities of Wu-han is now menaced from all directions by the Red Army. - On January 20, a United Press dispatch was forced to admit the existence of a powerful Central Chinese Soviet Government and its threat to the imperialist looters and.their Kuo- mintang tools: “It seems that the Chinese Soviet Govern- ment is planning to capture Wu-han in 1932 and to make itsher capital. Independent ob- serves are inclined to agree, that such a dev- elopment is possible. In fact, some go as far as to say that the Communist armies could capture Hankow at any time now without seri- ous opposition, Whether they could hold the elty indefinitely is another matter.” As the Chinese Workers Correspondence points out, the dispatch “means to say that the Kuo- mintang government is already not. powerful enough to resist the capture of Wu-han by the Red troops, but that the |imperialists would themselves attempt to wrest the city from the Red Army and, revolutionary workers.” The imperialists, and notably the Japanese, have recently strengthened their fleets of gun- boats and destroyers on the Yangtze River, and have poured fresh troops into the Wu-han cities. (To be continued) An Account of the Ford Massacre By One of By HARRY CRUDEN Being one of those who were shot at the recent Ford Hunger March demonstration, I would like to give my impression of the affair, which ended in the brutal murder of four class-conscious workers and the wounding of many others. As the marchers turned into Miller Road, Comrade Goetz, secretary of the Unemployed Council, told them that the march would be orderly, that they were going to present their demands at the Ford employment office. He was given enthusiastic applause by the jubilant work- ers, who were anxious to start. After proceeding about fifty yards we observed that the road was blockaded by the police, who were fully armed with clubs, tear gas and guns, As we approached they began shooting tear gas, which demoralized the marchers momentarily. A strong wind was blowing at the time, and as a result the gas mostly affected those in front, while those in back kept pressing forward, pick- ing up whatever they could lay their hands on. ‘Then the workers laid down a consistent bar- rage of stones, which put the “brave” police on the run, At this time I noticed that a cop had attacked a lone worker on the railroad track. Several comrades went to his ald, and the next off, & very I saw of the cop he was being carried “ b shits the Victims of capitalist law and order, Further down the road the police made an- other stand, their numbers increased by addi- tional police. Tear-gas was again used, but the workers had already found out that bricks, when they landed, had miraculous effects on the courage of the cops, and again they were being chased like a bunch’ of scared rabbits. The dignity of the officers of the law was certainly being upset! } Two fire wagons appeared on the scene, but | before they could connect the hose the marchers | were upon them. They were forced to turn and flee amid a hail of stones. The police had reached the Ford gates and locked themselves in as the workers came on. ‘There was now no possibility of them bejng injured in any way, but before I knew what was happening, # hail of bullets filled the air. Men. were dropping all around. Cops were shooting from the bridge down upon the marchers, ‘The wounded were taken to automobiles by comrades in the face of gun-fire and their courage has to be commended.’ Fiendish, legalized murder in its most brutal form was the answer of Ford, but we shall answer him by building the organization he is most afraid of, the Auto Workers Union, into a power- 1h callie “ala eiafaehig epcapel oes t9 | ment of the imagination of the Knoxville Jour- “Communism in Kentucky and Tennessee” By FRED VIGMAN aaa | L ‘ H prrory inciting for the disruption and supe pression of the relief of the striking and blacklisted miners in the southeastern Ken- tucky and Tennessee coalfields, organized through the Workers International Relief, the Knoxville Journal has concluded a series of are ticles entitled, “Communism in Kentuck an@ Tennessee”, | Coming, as it does, hard upon the heels of the murder of Harry Simms, this represents @ further link in the coal operators eampaign te! attempt to crush the relief weapon of the mine’ ers. In this immediate period when the miners are consolidating their union organization and strike struggle to win immediate concessions and settlements and to establish the local unions at individual mines, this organized campaign of the coal operators is primarily designed to un- dermine the W.LR. mass relief campaign and te snatch victory from the miners in given sece tions, i ' Highly significant is the fact that the Knoxe ville Journal articles followed immediately after @ meeting of the police heads of Knoxville, to= gether with Harlan and Bell County officials, the committee of 100 of reactionary businessmen, the gun thugs and the American Legion, at Pines ville. Knoxville was selected by the coal oper- ators for the point of attack in this new terror drive because it is now the centre for the or= ganization and distribution of relief that {s such an important factor in the strengthening of the strikes at mines where victories may he won, Attack the W. I. R. In all six articles in the Knoxville Journal, the most vicious attacks are reserved for the mass relief campaign organized by the Workers International Relief, which the coal operators recognized as au important weapon of the min- ers in their stri struggles. Alfred Wagen- knecht, national secvetary of the Workers In- ternational Relief, is u:-de the centre of attack ~ in most of the articles, eloquent testimony of the role of the Workers. International Relief in the miners struggle. ‘The coal operators’ articles resort to the old lies, somewhat revamped, to play. upon the pre- judices and fears of many elements, concoct fabrications with no basis in fact and brazenly incite for the immediate suppression of the Workers International Relief offices and ware- house in Knoxville and the forcible repression of the National Miners Union, the Unemployed Councils and the Communist Party. The Knoxville Journal opened the coal oper ators’ latest campaign written anonymously, in the following manner: “For the first time in the history of Knox- ville an alien army is quartered in the city.” “Under the red banner of Moscow, owing allegiance only to the Soviet government and receiving orders direct from Stalin of Russia, more than 150 Commmnists are here plotting destruction of property and the overthrow of homes, churches and all constituted authority. Immediately, they are seeking to call a strike in the textile mills and other industries.” The last sentence is meant for those Knoxe ville textile bosses who have not as yet joined the coal operators’ terror drive with the enthu- siasm that the latter demand. The flag waving patriotic appeal is taken out of stock: “In Knoxville where the Union Jack and the stars and bars of the Confederacy were not permitted to fly the red flag of Communism has been unfurled unmolested. Patriotic descendants of heroes of Kings Mountain, who proudly boast they are sons of the “Volunteer” state, stand by while Stalin of Russia directs a peerlessly or- ganized warfare in ttheir midst.” The second of the series of coal operators’ ar- ticles starts with a pure fabrication against the Workers International Relief. “Led by the experienced Alfred Wagen- knecht, alias, Meek, alias Price, alias Wagner, and directed by 3 committee in Moscow, of which Stalin dictator of Russia, is head, = great mass meeting of these strikers together with 10,000 from the mine area of Tennessee and Kentucky may be held on May Day in Knoxville (the figures are Mr. Wagene knecht’s).” Incite Against Wagenknecht, By trying to attach a row of inexhaustible aliases to Wagenknecht, the known leader of the Workers International Relief, the Journal sought to give the activities of the WIR. a sinister tinge. The crudity of this method may be seen from the fact that Meek is a local miner and. member of the N.M.U. Board; Price, a speaker from Pittsburgh, and Wagner a fig- nal. Moreover Wagenknecht never made a state ment in regards to May Day, and the whole thing is an unadulterated lie. The second article follows the line of the first in trying to incite Knoxville factory workers, small shopkeepers and other elements that would be sympathetic or neutral towards the miners’ struggle, by raising the spectre of an immediate general strike to be called.in the city by the Communists, The fears of the Knoxville bosses that their workers may organize and the recent movement to organize Unemployed Councils which has the city officials panicky is skillfully played upon by the coal operators to line up the Knox- ville employers and other elements in the pres~ ent terror drive, of ) (Tomorrow—The Coal Operators Call the Min- ers Struggle “The Communist-Led Daily Worker Fund Growing too slowly. Suspension danger advances by leaps and bounds. Rush every possible penny to save the Daily Worker, come to terms, In the face of tear-gas, clubbing and bullets the workers showed more militancy, more deter- mination and cevrese then ever before, From now on the working class of the United States are going to hear a lot more fromthe auto workers of Detroit, who now realize that the only effective means of fighting their exploiters fm» ty , doting the revolutionary ergententions, ) f I ~—