The Daily Worker Newspaper, April 2, 1932, Page 4

Published by the Comprodaily Publishing Co, inc. daily except Sunday, at 60 Hast New York City Adéress and mail all checks to the Daily Worker, 60 Hast 13th Street, New York, N. ¥. Page Four sth St, N. Telephone ALgonquin 4-7956. Cable “DAIWORK.” SUBSCRIPTION RATES: By mail everywhere: One year, $6; six months, $3; two months, 62; of Manhattan and Bronz, New York City. Foreign: one year, $% zcepting Boroughs siz montha, $4.50. The Mutiny of the 310th United States Infantry at Archangel By HARRY RAYMO! ber 28, 1918, exactly 17 days after e was signed, the 310th infantry hen ioned in France, was told to The officers informed the men they nd at once there was great 2 e ranks. oldiers busied themselves putting their order, cleaning their mess kits and ning out their packs. Everybody wash- went cootie hunting. Every- For they were going home, home “No more war for me,” he said, as he sw- ung his feet over the edge of the bunk and stood up. “I’ve been in it from the beginning. Enlisted in the Jewish Legion of the Canadian Army to protect Palestine, transferred into the American army with the rest of the Yanks in 1917. Believe me, four and a half years of hell and murder is more than enough for me. I'll never fight another war.” listened to the corporal with an ation, For the corporal was an , and the new recruits and draftees always stood in awe when veterans of many battles spoke. These veterans were wells of wisdom for the new soldiers. And there were many old timers in the 310th. The regiment was composed of 4,500 men and officers who fought with the Canadian Jewish Legion and were later transferred to the U. S. forces. They fought on the Marne, at St. Mihiel and wove their way through the Argonne Forest un- der shrieking avalanches of steel and over dead and wounded bodies with arms and legs and heads torn oif. Yes, they all had enough of the war and were glad they were going home. Mr. Wilson Has Other Plans Woodrow Wilson, who was then act- or for the Wall Street bankers and of big industries, had other plans h Infantry. and peasants in Russia under p of Lenin and the Bolshevik Party out the czar and Kerensky and had et up their own government, the Union of So- ¢ Soviet Republics. Mr. Wilson said that this new budding Socialist state must be crush- Se America, along with British imperial- n, French imperialism and Japanese imperial- declared war (unofficially, of course) inst the Soviet Union. r to end all wars and to make the world safe for democracy was ended. A new war to make Russia safe for the czar and Mr. Ke- rerskv end the bankers and industrialists and fe for the workers was started. orning of November 29 the soldiers Infantry were awakened from their ree o’clock. They were herded aboard sport in the harbor at Brest and sailed 0 th morning. still permeated the ranks of the soldiers, for were they not on the last leg of their journey The rooki Off To Siberia soon the troops were disillusioned. Word was passed around that the government had changed its mind. The 310th was not going home to America. It was on its way to Vladi- vostok, Siberia! “Why to Siberia?” This question arose in the minds of every soldier in the regiment. “What we done to be sent up to that cold coun- i they asked one another, “We thought Bu id most c® them were American Jews | Joy and laughter | the war was over. Who in hell | are we going to fight anyhow?” grumbled a tall | Jean youth from Detroit. on learned who they were to fight. being sent to fight the Bolsheviki, ect American lives and property” in It was the old story all over again about American lives and property. The soldiers didn’t like the idea. They wanted to go home. In Vladivostok The ship carrying the 310th landed in Vladi- vostok January 4, 1919. and cramped from their long voyage in close quarters. Their legs ayd backs ached. They were disgusted with the way the government had treated them and they talked more and More about going home. In the sub-zero weather the soldiers were put to work unloading guns and ammunition. There was much grumbling, much cursing about the cold and the aching backs and bones. But still they continued to unload the heavy crates, the field kitchens, the machine guns. The unload- ing, spurred by the cold, was completed in rec- ord time. In two hours the regiment was on tts way to a camp 15 miles distant. A Barrage of Leaflets After 35 minutes marching aeroplanes were sighted high up in the clear sky. There were about four or five planes circling above the marching troops. The officers, acting on in- formation given them by a white guard officer accompanying them, shouted to the soldiers that enemy planes were overhead. Orders were given to mount all guns. The line of march was broken. Soldiers scat- tered along the road, some looking for cover, others preparing to shoot. Terror was in every heart, |for the men remembered the bombing raids in France. ‘They waited. But no bombs fell. Not a shot was fired from the planes. Hardly 2 man moved. It seemed that they had waited hours, Finally thousands of white specks were seen floating in the air. The Red aviators were bombing the American soldiers with leaflets. The 310th Infantry was to learn for the first time the truth about the American interven- tion into Siberia. Naturally the soldiers scrambled for the lea- flets as they reached the ground. They were printed in English and, as the soldiers began co. read them the officers ordered that they be arown away. Most of the men, however, put the leaflets in their pockets and read and dis- cussed them before they went to sleep in the camp that night. The leaflet said: To the American and British Soldiers: Did you ever stop to think why they don’t send you home? The war is over. Armistice is concluded. Peace negotiations are already beng con- ducted. Months have already elapsed since the great slaughter has stopped. Millions of soldiers—French, British, Amer- fean, are returning home from the battlefields. Millions of prisoners are returning from pri- son. This is the time of joy and happiness for thousands of humble homes—the boys are soming back! Hundreds of ships are carry- fing American boys in khaki from the Western The men were tired | front back to the shores of Columbia. Why, then, don’t they let you go home? “Sweet Home” is waiting for you. Those whom you love are waiting for you. Your gray, old dear mothers are waiting for you. Are they waiting in vain? Your mother is asking every newcomer from the front: “Where is my boy?” “Don’t know! Somewhere in the steppes of Siberia.” What are you doing here, “somewhere in Russia?” What do they want you here for? The war is over because there is nothing left to fight for, and nothing to fight against. They have been telling you that this was a war against German autocracy, against Ger- man imperialism, against kaiserism. But now there is no more kaiserism, there is no more autocracy. The German workers have risen im revolt—and they have themselves defeated kaiserism. Themselves!—without the help of British and American troops. .. Is it true that you were fighting for free- dom and democracy? If this was true you would have been sent home when the German revolution broke out. But instead of home they sent you to the steppes of Russia. Why? Because this is not a war for Freedom. This is not a war for democracy, but against democracy. Do you know that Russia is the freest and most democratic country in the world? Do you know that all the wealth in Russia now belongs, not to a small group of greedy capit- alists, but to the vast majority of the people, the workers and poor peasants? Do you know that the land, the mines, the shops, the fac- tories of Russia are now owned by the people and operated for the benefit of the people. Do you know that the present government of Russia—the government of the Soviets (coun- cils of workmen’s and peasant’s deputies) is the only real democratic government in the world? Of course you don’t know this. Because your masters are afraid to tell you the truth about revolutionary Kussia, They are telling you lies about the atrocities of the Bolsheviks. Don’t believe them! There is no disruption, no disorder, no anarchy in Russia. Revolution- ary Russia is, indeed, as one of your American journalists has said, the paradise of the work- ers and the poor... We don’t want war. We want peace with you American and British fellow workers. Don’t you want peace with us? Don’t you want te go home?... Demand to go home. Hold meetings in your regiments, form soldiers councils and force your demands on your governments and your officers. If you are convinced in the justness of the cause of labor then come over to our side and we wilil give you a hearty wel- come into the ranks of those who are fighting for the emancipation of labor. Things moved fast after the aeroplane and leaflet incident. The Bolsheviki fraternized with the officers and men of the 310th. During the seven weeks the 310tth was in Vladivostok many of the soldiers and officers became staunch friends with the revolutionists who were work- ing in their midst. A small group of soldiers held meetings with the revolutionary workers. Plans were discussed to force the U. S. govern- mer to send the 310th home from Russia. In Archangel The regiment was then moved to Archangel. Here the soldiers met more of their Bolshevik friends. More meetings were held. More soldiers were drawn into the meetings. After three and a half months it was calculated that over 85 per cent of the officers and men in the regi- ment would back up the errs to be sent back to the states, A general meeting was called by a rank and file committee of soldiers and officers to dis- cuss the demands and grievances of the regi- ment. The meeting was held in a church in a village near the garrison. All those who spoke spoke against the intervention and demanded that the 310th should be returned home the same as the rest of the soldiers who served in France. The meeting lasted eight and a half hours. The soldiers voted unanimously not to fight the | Russians and demanded to be returned at once to the United States. It was also decided that all information coming from Wrangel, the Rus- sian white guard general should be relayed to the Red forces in the vicinity of Archangel. 310th Refuses to Fight In the meantime the American general head- quarters was working out plans to attack a sec- tion of the Red forces which numbered around 9,000, The attack, however, never developed. The 310th U. S. Infantry refused to fight. Not one shot was fired by the 310th at their Russian brothers. The 310th mutinied jin face of the workers’ revolution. This was a very serious military offense. But Mr. Woodrow Wilson and General Graves (who conveniently overlooked the mutiny in his book | on Siberia) could not shoot the whole regiment. They placed the regiment under open arrest, however, but the soldiers kept their arms. The 310th Infantry was recalled at once. They arrived at the Hoboken docks February 14, 1920, and were transferred to the detention camp at Tenafly, N. J. Mr, Wilson and his banker friends thought it would be a good policy to put the soft peddle on the mutiny. It would be dangerous, they thought, to deal harshly with these 4,500 soldiers even though they had committed one of the highest military offenses against the capitalist system. So they discharged the soldiers and quietly gave them $2 a day extra pay for each day they spent in Siberia. The news was kept out of the press and the soldiers went home, Although the soldiers at the time did not un- derstand the political significance of their ac- tion in Siberia, the mutiny of the 310th Infan- try will go down in history as an important contribution of the American workingclass to the victorious Russian Revolution. -Workers! Join the Party of. Your Class! P. O. Box 87 Station D. New York City. Please send me more information on the Com- munist Party. NAMO .....scccccccsscccevsecceccsecescccceceves AdAress ...ec00 CHY ..cce cues, Occupation Cent Office, Communist Communist Party 0. 8 A. P. ©. Box 87 Station D. New York City Me eo a mee ae ~ ee we we oe By WILLIAM SIMONS © K view of. the tremendous forces and resources which a’sttuggle against the Soviet. Union im- plies, American Imperialsim’ is: busily engaged in mobilizing for support of her war plans not only the governments in her colonial possessions, as in Porto Rico and hte Philippine Islands, | but also in the semi-colonies, in Latin America. In January, 1932, the fascist government of Ortiz Rubio-Calles granted permission to Amer- ican warships and airplanes which were on their way to Shanghai through the Panama Canal, to stop off at Mexican ports and airfields, in Man- zanillo and Acapulco.-. In.February, the-Mexican Government cancluded a secret pact. with the Hoover-Wall Street Government which included | the following provisions: 2. ‘Placing at:the’ dis- position of the Yankee army all :of ‘the strategic points of Mexico; b. Placing. of tens.of thou- | sands of Mexican soldiers under American or- | ders; and c¢. Putting the entire resources of | Mexico, especially oi] and metals, at the feet of American Imperialism. In Cuba, the press reports plans for the formation of a militia of 300,000 to supplement the army of 13,500 soldiers, as @ force to serve the interests of Yankee Im- perialism in war. The resources of Cuba, es- pecially sugar (which has not only food value, but also enters into the manufacture of ex- plosives) will be plaeed at the command of Wall Street. Men and resources are this being re- cruited by American Imperialism for war, not- only in Mexico and Cuba, but in all other colo- nies and ‘semi-colonieés under American influ- ence, April 6, 1917 Let us first consider Porto’ Rico, a. possession of the United States. When the United ‘States declared war on Germany in’ 1917, the Porto Rican Regiment was ordered recruited to war strength and was transferred to-service in the | Canal Zone. A training camp for. officers, was opened, before the draft law began to operate. When the armistice was signed in 1918, there were at Camp Las Casas, three war strength regiments of infantry (two of them white and one colored), comprising 15,000 men, waiting to be sent across. Inthe present. situation,- the masses of Porto Rico will be drawn more’ closely into the war plans of the United’ States. ~ Cuba will serve as an example of Yankee mob- ilization of — semi-colonial masses. When the United States declared war on» Germany on_ April 6, 1917, this.so-called “independent” re-~ public also ‘declared war.on Germany on the following day, April’7, 19177 A.draft law. was.. adopted on August: 3, 1918, although its propo- nents asgued that it. would not be necessaey to send Cuban. soldiers to Europe, but merely for defense should a foreign force invane American territory or: waters,. The law provided-ior the sending of a Cuban contingent to: Europe im- mediately, provided it was trained and sent over. | by the Yankee Government. And if the Cuban Government’ in 1917 went. so far in backing up Wall Street, it is:clear that now, the Machado butcher Government, with a greater percentage of Cuban property in the hands of Wall Street, will place all of Cuba’s resources at the disposal of the Yenkee Govern- ment, Intensified Terror a The terror in the colonies and semi-colonies of American Imperialism against |the toiling masses of workers and peasants has been re- cently intensified, because of the war.on the Chinese masses and the provocations against the Soviet Union. The actual war sitoation ac- counts for the ferocity with which thé, recent uprising in El Salvador. was suppressed, with with the continued execution of about 25 each week. It accounts for the wholesale arrests of revolutionary workers in Guatemala, where the Communist leader Juan Pablo Wainwright was executed for “military treason,” for the sentence of seven other leaders to 20 years each in jail, for the continued imprisonment of about 100 others, awaiting trial and sentence. It accounts for the recent murder in Havana, Cuba, of the left wing sturent Jose Linares Fernandez by the police, his body being found on the highway to Managua with his face smashed in; the holding of 400 working class prisoners in the “Modle” Prison on the Isle of Pines and in the Principe Fort; the many arrests of the tobacco strikers and the continued efforts of the Cuban govern- ment to smas& the revoluitonary National Work- ers Confederation of Cuba, The increased ter- ror against the workers and peagants of the Colonies is @ definite and inseparable part of | and against the war on the Chinese masses and | forms an indivisible part of the proletarian re- the killing of 7,000 workers and peasants, and | the war preparations of the native governments , acting as tools of American Imperialism, Pro- per mobilization for war necessitates more rigid control of the toiling masses and the trade un- ions by the government, and suppression of any efforts by the toiling masses to struggle against increased exploitation, against wage cuts, for un- employed relief and unemployment insurance, the provocations against the Soviet Union. And this is what American Imperialism is doing. The terror against the colonial masses is being in- creased. For a Unified Campaign of Struggle The strtiggle of the masses in the colonies for national independence, and for the other aims of the agrarian, anti-imperialist revolution volution. Their blows at American Imperialism supplement our blows against the same enemy. ‘The recent strikes in Cuba (the strike of 15,000 tobacco workers in Havana and Pinar del Rio provinces, now going on against a wage cut); the street carmen in Santiago de Cuba, which they won; and the beginnings of a strike among the sugar mill workers in the “Providencia” Mill at Guines, Havana Province; the recent demon- stration in Havana, Cuba, against the Detroit murders, where they smashed the windows of the Ford Agency; the demonstration in Mexico City aganist the proposed murder of the 10 Com- ‘munist leaders in Guatemala; the National Un- employed Days’ in the Caribbean countries—all these indicate the increasing militancy of the tollnig masses in the colonies. Strengthennig By BURCK American Imperialism Mobilizes Colonies for War their struggles means stronger blows against American imperialism. ; The fight against mobilization of the colonies for war by American imperialism must. be car- ried on in the’ United States as well. We must | constantly bring before the masses of American workers just how American imperialism does this. We should expose these measures when- ever we carry on the struggle against imperial- ist war. And in addition we should support the revolutionary movement in the. colonial countries in every possible way. We should support their strikes, their catnpaigns of or- ganization of the agricultural workers in par- tciular, their unemployed hunger marches, their demonstrations afainst American imperialism, We need a Vast campaign of agitation right here in the home country of American im- perialism about the situation. in the colonies. We should include news of colonial struggles in our press, in our mass meetings, in our dem- onstrations. We should adopt resolutions of pro+ test against the specific acts of terror against the masses in the colonies (there are so many of these, and occurring in so many countries, yet our protest is still so small and insignifi- cant, that it has little, if any effect). April 6ht, the fifteenth anniversary of the entrance. of American imperialism into the World War of 1914-1918, should carry with it closer ties between the revolutionary .organiza~ tions of the United States with the. anti-im- Perialist movements in the colonies and semi- colonies, particularly those in countries under the heel of American imperialism. Kentucky Miner’s Song Written and sung by the Kentucky Strike Execu- * tive Committee in Tazewell Jai. (To be sung to the,tune of the Holiness Hymn) Come along, | boys, and TU tell you what I'll do; “And it just suits me. Come. along, boys, and ‘TM tell’ you what I'll do; “And, it. just suits me, Come along, boys, and Ti tell you what I'll do; - Pil.sign you up in the NMU, And it just suits me. You Gan call me a Red | (Chorus after each verse) You can cal] me a Red If you want to, | And it just suits me. | ‘You can call me a Red If you want to, | And it just, suits me. You can call me a Red 7 If you want to, 3 For I belong to the NMU, And it just suits me. If this ain’t a Union, I don’t know, And it just suits me, If this ain't a Union, | I don't know, And it just suits me. I? this ain't a Union, I don’t know, T never saw such a Union before And it just suits me. ‘The coal operator, he Don’t know what to do; And it just suits me, ‘The coal operator, he Don’t know what to do; And it just suits me. ‘The coal operator, he Don’t know what to do; Cause I belong to the NMU, And it just suits me, You can throw me in jail If you want to, And it just suits me. You can throw me in jal) If you want to, . And it just suits me. ‘You can throw me in jail If you want to, ‘But you can’t break me, From the NMU- You can turn ‘down my bond If you want to, And it just suits me. You can turn down my. bond Ifyou want to, . « And it just suits me. You can turn down fy. bond If you want to, But we'll make it with the NMU, "Cause it Just suits me. & Wake-up, children, and I'll tell you ‘something new; And it-just suits me: Wake up, children, and Vil tell you ‘something ‘new; And it just’ suits me. Wake up, children, and T'll tell you. something new; Your daddy's gone to aa For the NMU, And: it just suits me. The German Diplomat’s Would-Be Assassin Was a Terrorist Moscow, March, 1932. ‘The result of the investigations of the O. G. P. U. into the attempt made on the life of the German diplomat von Tvardovsky in Moscow by the Soviet citizen Stern show that in fact the motive’ of the would-be assassin was’ highly political, The would-be assassin Stern was caught red-handed by a party of Red soldiers passing in a motor lorry. He has made a state- ment in which he admits that he is a member of a terrorist group operating in the Soviet Union under the instructions of a foreign centre. The aim’ of his attempt on the life of von Tvardovsky was to cause a rupture between the Soviet Union and Germany, thus weakening the inter- national situation of the former. The O. P. P. U. expresses the hope that the investigations will be concluded during the next few days end that revelations concerning the wirepullers be- hind Stern will be possible. In the meantime great precautions are being taken to prevent any similar attacks on other foreign representatives in the Soviet Union WhoAre the Defenders of the Sovict Union? By WILLIAM SCHNEIDERMAN ih! Is this’ time when the struggle against ime perialist war is the central task of the Party,’ it is necessary to have a clear understanding of the role played by the social-fascist allies of ime perialism. This: is particularly important be- cause the “left” variety of the social-fascists put up a pretense of “opposition” to war and loudly declaim their “friendship” for the Soviet Union, and in this way attempt to cover up their track s and to deceive their working-class fol~ lowers. We have a few examples of this in Mine nesota, where the Farmer-Labor Party and the the A. F, of L. misleaders are especially skillful in. the use of demagogy in order to maintain their influence among workers and farmers. Farmer-Labor Demagogs ‘The rapidly-increasing popularity of the Soviet Union among the masses has been seized by some of these demagogs to mend their own political fences. It might be added that their fences are very badly in need of mending, as it is becoming increasingly clear to the masses that the Farmer-Labor administration is just nother edition of capitalist rule under a dif erent label, and there is widespread disillusion- ment among the workers and farmers following the lection of Governor Olson and of Mayor Anderson in Minneapolis. It is precisely at this time that new “left” maneuvers are required of the Farmer-Laborites in order to bolster up their dwindling influence. Such a maneuver is their attitude to the war in the Far East and the question of the Soviet Union. “The Organized Farmer,” one of the many Farmer-Labor organs in Minnesota, issued a special Anti-War edition of their weekly paper, containing a confused mixture of radical phrases and “militant” pacifism. American Federation of Labor sheets such as the “Minneapolis Labor Review” and the “Minneapolis Union Advocate” of St. Paul carry pacifist editorials in a milder tone, but all of them ignore all mention of the revolutionary implications of a genuine struggle against imperialist war. All of these treacherous “lefts” stand ready to drop their fake opposition to-war and rush to the support of the (bosses) “fatherland,” as did the social-democratic lack- eys of capitalism in the last war and as they are doing in the Far Eastern situation. We also find new and strange “friends” of the Soviet Union cropping up. Emil Youngdahl., Farmer-Labor member of the State Legislature, and Ernest Lundeen, another Farmer-Labor faker who runs for office at every election, have become ardent “defenders” of the Soviet Union, and have made application to join the Friends of the Soviet Union. To be deceived by their professions of friendship for the Workers’ Fatherland is to completely overlook the role that social-fascism plays in supporting the war aims of imperialism, and in rallying the sup- port of the working-class by means of masking the war preparations with a smoke-screen of pacifist talk. The. more cleverly the “left” social-fascists hide behind radical phrases, the more dangerous they are because of their ability to deceive the workers, The Yongdahls and the Lundeens, © when they make speeches praising the Soviet Union, admit no more than do many other cap- italist representatives who are forced to admit some of the tremendous achievements in the building of Socialism. At the same time the Farmer-Laboritees capitalize on the enthusiasm of the workers for the Soviet Union, and do everything possible to sidetrack the struggles of the American workers and farmers from revolu- tionary channels into the treacherous swamp of social-reformism. . Youngdahl and Lundeen The Youngdahls and the Lundeens belong to the Party of Shipstead, that loyal supporter of the Hoover administration and its policy of hunger and war for the masses. Shipstead is an ardent supporter with mill reservations, of the foreign policy of Hoover and Stimson, in crushing the struggle of the Latin-American workers” against American imperialism, in the drive to drown in blood the Chinese workers and peasants revolution, and to establish the heg- emony of the United States in the anti-Soviet bloc which is actively’ preparing war against the Soviet Union. The Youngdahls and Lundeens are a part of the political machine at the head of which stand Olson and Anderson, who have proved to the capitalist class that they can efficiently side+ track the. struggles of the unemployed workers for immediate relief. and unemployment insur- ance and if necessary to use the full force of the police, against the jobless, and against, strikes. ‘This is the same platform that the “lefts” stand for only less openly, which is used by the bour- gegisie. in their offensive against the workers and exploited..farmers. The same instrument of power and exploication of the American workers which is supported by the Farmer-Labor Party, is.the driving force against the Soviet Union, It. is ‘no wonder that workers are skeptical about the Farmer-Laborites claim of “friendship” for the Soviet Union. The Borahs, the LaFollettes, th. Shipstads and th Socialists us morn( $t xzkff the Shipsteads and the Socialists use more subtie methods to fool the workers, but they are doing valiant service for the bourgeoisie in their anti- Soviet. war plans. Lundeen and Youngdahl, though lesser lights are no less valuable for the bosses. Lesser Evil Theory “Unfortunately, there are some comrades who have fallen victim to the “left” phraseology of the Farmer-Leborites, and do not clearly see the role of social-fascism against the revolution- ary movement. Many illusions of the “lesser evil” have not yet been completely wiped out everi gmong revolutionary workers. Especially on the question of the struggle against war and for the defense of the Soviet Union, is clarity necessary. A sharp struggle against opportunist illusions in the ranks of the Party is absolutely necessary, if we are to mobilize the working- class for anti-war struggles. The mobilization of the workers against war preparations must take place in the shops and among the unem- ployed millions, Not pacifism, not “left” re~ formism, but revolutionary struggle against hun- gey and war under the leadership of the Com- munist Party is the ONLY WAY OUT for the masses... The defense of the Soviet Union is in the hands of. the working-class of the entire world. Daily Worker Fund Growing too slowly. Suspension danger advances by leaps and bounds. Rush every possible penny to save the Daily Worker. * ' ——>