The Daily Worker Newspaper, April 14, 1932, Page 4

e WHY THE W AR WILL NOT |“@WAn, CAN'T YOU SEE WE GOT A CRISIS? hing Ce. hone ALgonquin 4-7956. Worker, 60 East Cable ine, dally @xcept Sunday, at 60 Basi “DAIWORK.” 18th Street, New York, N. ¥. Dail Yorker: iD dads USA “BRING BACK PROSPERITY” By N. SPARKS r The boys of 6th and Lombard Streets are -eady for the next war if will bring back srosperit Anything wor be better than his. We intend te form two squads, and as an added attraction our girl friends are going to join as nurses.” (A letter to the Readers Column of the Philadelphia Daily News SITTERS of the e been appearing in the press above type Party of t arly the w 1e misery of u who have not ‘or un relief and other articularly open to the cap- that the war will insurance, for lays them opaganda activity and prosperity e war wil 1g back pros- gerous arguments ument apitalist ¥ st be ans’ ul red and exposed eve that we mobilize the workers to struggle against he war. To accept the theory that the war will bring back prosperity means to accept the capitalist way out of the crisis instead of the re- volutionary way out of the crisis. Despite this, we find that this theory has received uncritical acceptance as a matter of course among wide strata of the Party itself. So much so, that we even find the following si @ recent article in our press: “The ‘high American standard of living’ is gone forever, barring a brief period of war prosperity in which the plentitude of bread will be exceeded by the rivers of workers’ blood.” War “Prosperity’—For The Bosses The period of the last war, as described.by | the bourgeois propagandists, seems, in compari- son with the realities of today, to have been a period of employment for all and of high wages —of typical “prosperity.” And in truth it was a period of unexampled prosperity for the bosses. While thousands of workers and farmers had their lives and limbs torn out of them at the | front, the bosses piled up millions upon millions But what did this typical bloody mean for the workers? Was Did every worker have a job? everybody bus: Was unemploy bring back | where | atement creeping into | eyen temporarily abolished? | y no means. At no time during the war years the number of unemployed drop below one million in the U.S. And in 1919 the demobilized again elled the numbers of those z for jol Low Wages And High Prices es’ propagandists paint the war pe- iod of high wages. As & matter of E from 1914 to 1920 were a period of: the most terrific increase in prices, while the work fought tooth and nail thru dozens of s e threats and strikes in a frantic attempt to have their wages catch up with the tremend- ous increasing rise in prices. As a matter of , the res show that the “real wages” is, the amount of goods that could be ht with the wages) of the mass of the Am- an working class were below the cost of living even in 1918 and 1919; that in 1918 and i were no higher than in 1906! sed high wages of certain very led categories of workers, a, smoke-screen to conceal the fact t the masses of workers and farmers were still living on the border-line of starvation. 1917—And Now Yet even the war period of “boom” produc- ion—production having its source in millions of workers’ corpses, was based upon the fact that the United States, by staying out of the war for two and a half years, had obtained the most tremendous advantages in the foreign markets of the world. While the Allies and the Central owers were already settling their political con- flicts by means of war, Wall Street was able to still carry on its political struggles thru loans and “peaceful” penetration, coining money by selling munitions to the warring powers and taking over the foreign markets, which the com- batants, due to their complete inmersion in the war, were unable to supply. When Wall Street found it necessary to enter the war in order to safeguard and still further magnify its tre- mendous war investments and profits, it had already acquired a dominating position which it was able to strengthen still further in 1917 and 1918 at the cost of some 70,000 American work- ers and farmers killed and 200,000 wounded. But today the situation of American imperial- ism is vastly different. Far from sitting on top of the world, the United States is today in the third year of the deepest crisis—a crisis world- wide in scope and unexampled in intensity. It is from the depths of this crisis, and in an at- tempt to solve this crisis, that the U. S. is today driving for an attack on the Soviet Union, driv- ing for a new world war. The United States has today no exceptional position. Just as in the European countries from 1914 on, the war meant an increase of all the contradictions of capital- ism and the utmost poverty, misery and suf- fering to the workers, the same will be evident from the start this time in America also, (To be concluded) soldiers Reaching Wider Masses in the Election Campaign By L. SISELMAN. coming Presidential Election Campaign of- fers our Party great opoprtunities of building the Party and all other mass organizations. We have the best chance to make inroads in virgin territories and reach workers who were never Spproached before, but are ready to listen to us at present because of the starvation condi- tions that they are going through. Here are a few facts: In New York State the election campaign has been started. Committees were sent out to the remotest places of the state of New York to collect signatures, so that the Party can be placed on the ballot in as many counties as pos- sible. The comrades who are on the road have shown great determination in their effort to veach the workers, and the response was very good and encouraging. A few extracts from their letters prove how we can build our Party while carrying on the election campaign and show thet this work can be successful only by determined effort made by our comrades and all revolu- tionary workers. “We have started to collect signatures in Aubarn, N. Y. We picked a territory around the International Harvester Works, Most of those workers were Polish—the majority of them religious, We approached them on the basis of supporting the struggle for unemploy- ment insurance, funds to be supplied by the bosses and the government. These words were new to them and they listened very atten- tively. We have succeeded in establishing contacts and got signatures, This holds true for the Italian Section of the International Harvester Works—misery, unemployment and starvation is widespread.” “We met an unemployed worker, native born, in Auburn, who is a potential Party or- ganizer in that county. He was enthused for the Party program after reading it and prom- ised te do everything he could to place the Party on the ballot.” ‘The same encouraging reports came from the counties and from the other towns which they visited places like Batavia, Ithaca, LeRoy, Ovin, etc. All these towns were considered 100 per cent Yankee towns. The committee reports they found workers sympathetic to the Soviet Union and to the Party. They were ready ot follow the leadership of the Party in the fight for unemployment insurance and relief. In Batavia, the committee writes, they witnessed a parade of the American Legion. Signs and placards were carried by these war mongers stating, “the de- pression is all over.” But when we reached the workers in their quarters, we found starvation and misery is as widespread as all over, and only a few miles away in Ovin we found that the only bank of the town was closed di the Erie Railroad shop was also shut, how “the depression is all over.” In LeRoy the committee got in touch with a Social club of young workers and without much effort, the club subscribed to the Young Worker. The Rochester comrades were informed to this effect and there are possibilities that the young workers of this club will be won over for our movement. However, not only are the city work- ers ready to follow the Party, but among the farmers, you hear words such as “By God, some- thing will have to be done,”—for the situation is getting worse from day to day. ‘True that these contacts were established thru hhard labor. These comrades who were on the have gone through snow storms, welking That is and | for carfare. The results obtained through these determined efforts, however, will be of great value of furthering the work of the Party in these territories where we have not had contacts be- fore and only established recently through these election campaign committees. Through the organizational scouts of the elec- tion campaign were we able to reach these work- ers and win them over for the class struggle while collecting signatures to place the Party on the ballot. ‘These results prove that our election campaign must and will widen our scope of influence, and must break the prejudice that still prevails in the minds of many of our comrades and many revolutionary workers against participating in parliamentary elections, These facts, as well as many other in the course of the campaign, will prove to every mem- ber and sympathizer the importance of develop- day struggle for relief. insurance, against wage ing @ gigantic campaign and to link up our every cuts, against shutting off of water, electricity and gas, with the organizational problems of the campaign and getting the workers to vote for our Party as the only Party that takes up the fight for these demands. May Day, Soviet China, ‘and Class War Prisoners HISTORY OF MAY DAY, by A. Trachtenberg, 10 cents. SOVIET CHINA, by M. James and R. Doon- ping, 10 cents. | FREE THE IMPERIAL VALLEY PRISONERS, issued by International Labor Defense, 5 cents. mae 1D you know that May Day, international day of solidarity of the working class, or- iginated in America? Did you know it started around the struggle for the eight-hour day? ‘The ten-cent pamphlet, by A. Trachtenberg, en- titled “History of May Day,” gives many more interesting facts, and also gives the historical significance of May Day. In connection with the day of international solidarity, we must begin to learn more about what our heroic comrades and fellow workers in China are doing in establishing their pro- letarian dictatorship. The new pamphlet “Sov- iet China,” written by two Chinese comrades who are familiar with what is going on now in China, gives extensive information for the first time of where the Soviets are in power, the dangers that beset them, the heroic struggle against the imperialists both within and outside of China who are trying to destroy these Soviets, and gives an illuminating picture of what the Soviets are accomplishing in raising the stands. ard of living of the Chinese masses in the Sov- iet territory. “Free the Imperial Valley Prisoners,” the lat~ est pamphlet issued by the International Labor Defense, is a pamphlet very much needed now. ‘The prisoners may be paroled some time around May First. But that only means that new dangers beset them, and some of them face deportation to fascist countries. Our campaign must be intensified for their unconditional re- lease. This pamphlet gives the facts in the case and will rouse any class-conscious worker to action in behalf of these framed-up workers, All three of these pamphlets can be obtained | from Workers Library Publishers, P. O. Box 148, Sts. D., New York City. Discounts on quantity i mallee, Lepping og freights withous any money, © orders ng \ ALL RELIER UN TIL WILL SHUT DOWN FURTHER NotL@ MINERS — SLAVE By MYRA PAGE Foreign Correspondent of the Daily Worker “Brother miners, across the ocean we extend you our hand. Take courage! What you must now struggle against, we also had to go through, in the past. You, like us, will win freedom, and for your children a life far dif- ferent from the one you've had to endure. Let us come closer together, wniting our strength against the common enemy.” These words come straight from Soviet coal- diggers, their wives and children, to the 18,000 miners battling for bread and the right of organization in Kentucky and Tennessee. It is their message to the seventy-five thousand miners on strike last year in Penn- sylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia, and to all coal-diggers im the industry who sometime in the near future will join their forces in @ general move against the coal barons in a gigantic “Strike against Starvation.” “WHAT WE HAVE DONE YOU CAN DO!” “Tell them our hearts are with them,” Soviet | miners said to us. We had come to the mining town of Gorlovka, in the coal region of Don Bas. The men, their eyes rimmed with fine coal dust, which sticks in spite of daily scrub- bing under hot showers, pressed around our delegation of workers from six foreign coun- tries. Their voices grew thick with emotion; their sturdy wives, blinking rapidly, hugged their children. How different these tots, with their plump bodies, warm clothes and shining faces, from those thin little bodies I had seen a few months earlier in Pennsylvania, searching for coal on the slate dumps so that their fam- ilies could have a bit of fuel for the stove. “How well we know what they’re suffering,” they continued. “For many long years for us it was the same. See, here are bullet wounds Mark got in the fight for freedom from our masters. And many a man and woman from Gorlovka never came back from the front at all, Well, that’s over now. For fourteen years the workers have been the rulers of this coun- try. You’ve seen for yourself what changes it has made, ... Tell the American miners that we are humans like they are. We also go down into the bowels of the earth, to dig and sweat, but we dig gladly—for the coal we mine is for our own—Soviet—factories and engines. “Tell your American miners to fight on, ‘for ahead lies freedom. What we have done, they, also, can do.” LABOR SOLIDARITY THAT SPANS OCEAN AND CONTINENTS. Gorlovka and Don Bas are many thousands of miles from Kentucky. Probably many miners’ families in the States know little about the Soviet Union. But the Soviet miners know a lot aout you. They know your conditions, your struggles. In their papers, movies and study circles they learn about their brothers in other countries, They know how the labor fakers are be- traying you. They rejoice to see you organizing your own National Miners’ Union, led by men whom you can trust. They hurrahed at the news of five hundred miners recently joining the Communist Party. They feel your fight is their fight. When they read how you're starving they say, 28 some did to me, “If only we could do more to help them! Here, food is plentiful. If we could get it to them. Of course, there are boats, But we know, from experience, the damn capitalists who run the United States wouldn’t let us help you. They'd holler ‘convict labor’ and ‘Soviet dumping. Any lie serves them to keep their workers starving and to prevent American workers from learning the truth about us.” FROM HOVELS TO MODERN APARTMENTS. As we went through the old part of Gorvolka, where the miners had been forced to live, under the czar, I thought: “How like the mining camps in America!” Small houses crouching close to the ground ,a few rambling shacks or barracks. Behind, the smoking tipple besmirching the air. No water in the houses, toilets, light or heat except from the stove. Dirt streets, no trees or grass. Once there had been the company store and saloon, where many miners, deadened from eleven hours’ earnings in an attempt to “get away from it all.” Sov Samilies axe mi ving in the beat of AND FREE these older houses, which have. been re-condi- tioned. With the rapid growth of Gorlovka in the last years, from a small village to a town of 40,000 and with the great shortage of labor to meet all the construction progrdms which every industrial center in the Soviet Union has embarked upon, there has not been a chance to build new apartment houses fast enough to house everybody. I mention this, because Soviet workers always say: “Don’t hide our difficul- ties. Explain our problems. Say what we're doing to meet and overcome them. Then the workers in your country can better understand how we build up our socialist world.” About four-fifths of the population are al- ready living in the new apartment houses and it is planned to build enough for the rest in the next one or two years. These houses are constructed along modern lines, similar to those in which the middle-class live in America, with shower baths, hot and cold water, electricity, steam heat and central reading rooms. There are free day nurseries for the small children, and new restaurants in the new town. Asphalt sidewalks, lined with grass and young trees, run from one apartment to another, and to the mine, and the new mine machine-building fac- tory which is supplying a good part of the ma- chinery to mechanize Don Bas mines, WHEN MINERS AND THEIR CLASS OWN AND RUN ALL. Soviet miners are anxious to have the mines fully mechanized, as it makes their work easier and they can earn higher wages, also, They do not have the problem that American miners have, where the machines, as well as the mines, are owned by another class, the capitalists. ‘There is a six-hour day in all Soviet mines, cal- culated from bank to bank. The average wages, based on a progressive piece-work system, aver- age around 300 rubles or $156. a month, while many of the best diggers earn four and five hundred and even up to six hundred. Since work is steady; rent, food and clothing are labor, would waste their small ff Manbettan and Bronz, New York City. SUBSCRIPTION RATRO! oe satin toon mail everywhere: One year, $6; six months, $3; two months, $1; excepting Borougta Foreign: one year, §8; cix months, $4.56, vty. ‘By BURCK cheap; and all medical atention is free, the miners find their wages well able to meet all their wants. While accident and death rates in American mines are climbing fast, in Soviet mines the rates are falling even more rapidly. In the Gor- lovka Mine, for instance, the accident rate has been reduced by twenty-five times what it was under the czar, This has been accomplished by. the Soviet Government’s introduction of all the safety devices and precautions which science hhas developed. The cable to the cage, for ex- ample, is carefully tested night and morning, while all timber work must meet strict require- ments and is constantly checked up. ‘We went down the Gorlovka mine and saw for ourselves what improvements have been made. Coming up we got out of the clothes, furnished to the miners free of charge for their work, and had hot showers in their new bathhouses. MINERS’ PALACE OF CULTURE. In New Gorlovka there are also public schools for their children, several food and clothing co-operative stores, and a large “Palace of Cul- ture.” This clubhouse, similar to others I have described before, has a well-equipped library, an auditorium seating several thousand, with stage, movie apparatus and broadcaster; many study and work-rooms, where miners, their wives and youth can join in study circles to improve themselves technically and in general. There are groups taking up political questions, dra- matics, music and painting. One class of men and women are learning to read and write. I talked with a young mtiner of twenty-one who is studying journalism and writes for the papers in his free time. There was an exhibit of local miners’ art when we were there. The John Reed Club could feel proud to have many of these as members. So, American miners, this is what happens when your class takes over the whole works— mines, government and all, Everybody here in the Soviet Union is watch- ing your heroic struggle. They hope to see you win. And they know that you will carry on until the time will come when you say, too, “Once we were slaves, but now we are free.” Kentucky Coal Five Cents a Ton A New Method of Wage Cuts! The Red Cross and the Associated Charities Help the Coal Operators to Increase Starvation! Y Vie Cary Mine in the Straight Creek section was shut down a few weeks ago. The bosses claimed they had no orders for the coal at any price. Over 100 miners were thrown out of work. Since the miners worked, previous to the closing of the mine, only one or two days a week at starvation wages, the first day of the clos- ing of the mine they had to go to the Associated Charities in Pineville for relief. The Associated Charities is a combination of the Red Cross (the wonder is that anything “Red” can exist in Bell County), the American Legion, Kiwanis, Chamber of Commerce, etc. Also it has full support of Mayor Books, Judge Van Beeber, Walter B. Smith and all the other coal operators, their agents and stool pigeons. ‘Through all these organizations during the period of over 14 months a sum of about $3,000 was raised for the relief of the hundreds of miners’ families with thousands of depend- ents. The Associated Charities, through the local fascist sheet, the Pineville Sun, have repeatedly Stated that their funds are exhausted. Also the few cents given to the families of the most needy is given only after they have worked 8 hours a day for $1.00. Since this has proven to be a good business for the local “good samaritans” who, while “sav- ing” the poor by a $1 donation, turn right around and get these poor to do from $3 to $10 work, as they must work at any job. A good car- penter or painter, etc., who would otherwise re- ceive $10 for the 8 hours work now does it for $1. When the miners came for relief the charity heads and their masters, the coal operators, de- cided to turn this into profit. The miners were told that in order to receive they have to work. ‘The charity made an arrangement with the own- ers of the Carey Mine to “permit” those who re- ceive relief to work in the mine and about twenty men were working daily. However, the wages paid to these men are down to less than five cents a ton. The cars in the Carey Mine weigh about one ton ae 200 to 900 pounda 4 miner loading up to fim of these cars a day, receives 25 cents. If he loads up to nine cars, he receives 50 cents and for ten cars or over, he will receive $1 in relief from the Associated Charities. There are rumors, based on statements of those who are close to the owners that he will take over the mine again and run it on the same “scale” as the charities. Evidently there was conspiracy on the part of the mine owners and the Associated Charities to use this under- handed method to fool the miners to accept the lowest wages anywhere in the United States for .the loading of coal. We wonder why the zealous Officers of Bell County do not ‘investigate this conspiracy to defraud and starve the red-blooded Kentuckians? Or is it that the zealous officers are coal operators or controlled by the coal op- erators? Their inactivity in the defense of the miners is the best proof whom they serve. If one “Red” attempted to expose this bare faced robbery, the whole damn county government with its sher- iffs, thugs, warrants galore, etc., would be or- ganized to suppress the Reds, but nothing is done to the bosses. The Glendon Mine also has been closed down for “lack of orders.” Now it is to re-open with @ wage cut of 11 cents or from 35 cents to 24 cents) a ton. Other mines in the Bell-Harlan field that cut the wages twice since the new year are preparing for the third cut. ‘The miners, both employed and unemployed, must see through all these schemes of the coal companies and their government. They must organize branches of the National Miners Union in every mine, and Unemployed Councils in every town or closed mine. The employed and unemployed must fight all the attempts to lower the wages or worsen the conditions. The unemployed must, demand a soup kitchen in all the unemployed centers. The place and food for these kitchens to be furnished by the government and the bosses and the kitchens to be run by committees elected by the unemployed, All the unemployed who cannot eat at the kit- How We Deprive Workers of a Chance to Read (EXPERIENCES WITH THE PARIS COMMUNE ANNIVERSARY MEETINGS) b Gpaiete as it is for workers in large cities to get hold of Party and other working class litere ature, the workers in the smaller towns, where no bookshops exist, and where there is no lite erature distribution in action, have a million more difficulties. Not only can they not buy the literature they want, but they also have no way of knowing what literature is actually available. What more direct way have we of telling the workers what there is to buy, and what easier way is there of having it on hand when they want to buy it, than our large agitational meete ings in connection with our campaigns? A very superficial examination of the role Played by literature in the Paris Commune! meetings on March 18 gives a rather dark pic= ture of the stagnancy of our literature activities, | The literature which was to have been pushed ' at the Paris Commune meetings was first of all the two available pamphlets on the subject —one highly agitational, “The Paris Commune —A Story in Pictures,” by Wm. Siegel, with an introduction by A. Trachtenberg drawing the lessons of this historic event, and the other , classic—Lenin on the Paris Commune. Besides | { that the current I. L. D. pamphlets on our pre sent cases—Imperial Valley, Mooney, Scottsboro, etc—and, most certainly, the “Labor Defender.” We have a few reports of very successful literature sales at some meetings, notably at the Manhattan Lyceum in New York City. But District 2 in general ignored literature at its other meetings to a really serious extent. The literature was actually available in the District office, but was returned to the publishers prace tically as it was sent out. The various meete ings in New York City itself had little litere ature, but the smaller towns fared still worse. At Newark, where Siegel himself spoke, not one copy of his pamphlet was available. At Pater-° son, the only literature that was sold was the organ of the Friends of the Soviet Union, “Sove iet Russia Today.” No announcement was made from the platform on available literature, and if there was a literaiure display on a table, it cer- | tainly was not apparent. In Hartford, Connec.'cut, the situation was a little better. Here 25 or 35 copies of Siegel's “Paris Commune” was available. But that was all. Lenin’s “Paris Commune” was not there, none of the I. L. D. pamphlets on present cases, not even the Labor Defender. Here the speaker himself announced the “Paris Commune” from the platform. He would have announced others had they been available. There was no table, no whir of selling activity by a systematically organized literature committee before and after the meeting. But the comrade succeeded in selling the 35 copies he had and would have sold more and other pamphlets as well, had they | been there, i At the request of the national organization, bundles of the Paris Commune literature were sent out to certain of the larger cities. Los! Angeles, Buffalo, Cleveland, and Chicago re! fused to take the bundles out and sent them back unopened. Chicago sent a letter which showed plainly that the comrades in charge of the meeting did not consider literatute as part and parcel of a campaign and of a meeting. ‘The pamphlets arrived in plenty of time. The letter stated simply that they had no money. Yet, the comrades most probably did secure money to pay out in advance for other expenses in connection with the meeting—a de- posit on the hall, money for printing tickets, for leaflets, for other expenses in connection with making the meeting a success, Not only was literature overlooked as a chance to make a little profit, but it was also not considered =| i @ necessity for the meeting, This betrays an attitude toward literature which amounts to sectarianism. Is not literature an organic part! of our activities? Is not the presence of lifer ature at a meeting a vital necessity? Facts speak louder than words. No need to et draw long lessons from this experience. Let May First see a turn in our attitude tow ward literature selling. Speakers at meetings are already getting into’ the habit of popularizing our literature. Now let the Districts and Sec- tions and Units see to it that when a speaker wishes to popularize the campaign literature at meetings from the platform, that the liter- ature itself is actually being displayed and sold there. d | “The Soviet Union Stands for Peace,” the. great speech made by Comrade Litvinov, rep- resentative of the Soviet Union at Geneva, shows the peace policy of the Soviet Union and the war plans of the capitalist nations, One cent pamphlet, anaes eee scale in that trade. Free medical attention for all unemployed and their families. School books, clothes, busses, etc. to be furnished free to th school children of the unemployed workers. The employed miners must resist all wage cuts To do it succensfully they must immediately get’ all of the former members of the National Min- ers Union into the mine branch. At the mine branch the membership must discuss the meth- ods and the posibilities of forming the broadest united front with the miners who are not as yet members of the NMU, also those who belong to the UMWA. Our branches can best develop the united front by forming demands based on the conditions in the mines. Through chalking up the cars, trap doors, ribs, black boards with our demands for the check weighmen, pay for dead work, etc, we will raise these demands to the point where the miners will discuss them and naturally the sentiment and the support for our demands and our union will be crystalized, In the mines where the grievances have reached higher stages, and the resentment of the miners is voiced openly, the NMU branches must call for a mass meeting of all miners, draft the grieve ances in form of demands, elect a grievance come mittee from among the miners, present the de- mands to the boss and strike if he will not accede to our demands. Only by answering the bosses’ starvation pol- icies with the mass resistance of the employed and the unemployed, and answering the bosses’ terror with a well knit disciplined and led ors ganization of ‘\e workers will we halt this mass starvation of the real red blooded Kentuckians, “Poverty Midst Riches—Why?”—a pamphle¢ issued by the National Unemployed Councils, will convince any worker that his path is struge gle. Five cent a anh ae Sietithea. tha’ siicbsey 6 Hiche tie weak