The Daily Worker Newspaper, April 21, 1932, Page 4

SUBSCRIPTION RATES: MASS CIVILIAN POPULATION IN THE WORLD WAR he East front and in Russia, Poland, Aus- @ Balkans. In Indo-China, in in India, there: was a olera. Influenza, which ions, arose as a direct During the war in- Ilion lives, of these 10 s in Europe and 15 jon became preva- | e increase in the the armament fac- 1913, the cases of reulosis in the year 1918 in- 1 the various countries as follows: in creased i France by 25 per cent; in England, Denmark by 34 per cent; in Czechoslovakia by 44 per o by 50 per cent, and in Germany and Austria by 60 to 67 per cent. In Germa: lone the total number of deaths as a result tuberculosis, exceeded the pre-war and of mortality by 160,000, of whom 140,000 were civil persons, of which last three-fifths were women. Not only the belligerent but also the so-called countries suffered greatly on account world . Nearly 600,000 more persons the “neutral” countries during the war pre-war time. In Sweden, for in- ce, the umber of deaths since 150 ears was recorded in 1918. According to the calculations of the Swiss statistician Professor L. Hersch, the world war, according to incomplete figures, cost the lives f If we put the num- ber of soldiers who fell at 13,050,000, we see that the number of lives destroyed during the war amounted to 41,435,000. In Europe alone 25 mil- lion people died—a number exceediny the come bined population of Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Holland and Switzerland. It is not yet gener- ally known that the world war took toll of just as many victims from among tne civil popula- tion as-from among the armies of all the im- perialist robbers. But what will it be in the coming war, when the towns and villages of Eu- rope will be bombarded with air bombs and gas shells? The working masses of the whole world must oppose with all their might the im- perialist war which has been going on already for months in the Far East, and which is direct- > | ed not only against China,-not only against the Soviet Union, but also against the toilers of all countries. The Dictatorship ot the United Fruit Company By 0. RODRIGUEZ axibbean the United hip over prac- ru Be- corpo: ica, the United the chief repre- And as such, mense tracts shipping, railroads, mines, ly robs these natural resources nercilessly the workers and toiling the aggrandizement of Yankee im- t only owns and controls the | ments of many of the Caribbean | ; but it itself exercises the functions nt directly, especially when it comes the struggles of the workers and nts that are employed by the Uni- es. ses of the United Fruit Co, in particularly the banana planta- practically armed camps. The Uni- there numerous armed les of the masses for the ir conditions, these armed the puppet governments of these coun- g so, the United Fruit Co. knows ways close at hand Yankee ‘ines “to protect” its life and | | ways with the support of the armed | d Fruit Co. in some of the s has been given to us in the | es of the workers and small | banana zone of Honduras. | is almost completely dominated by | | | @ 20% wage cut. The small poquiteros e to fight against a 25% cut | nas that they are selling to | was joined by | backed up by all | mbuk, general man- | t Co. in Honduras, took | under his command | dertook to crush | 1 law, invading the ne same time “ap- to accept the wage cut The anana zone on Janu- t of them recruited in to fraternize with order of the United ithdrawn from the liable” ones sent in- Co. did not confine it- | Collindres to crush the e Collindres was unwilling to of the United Fruit Co. but fficient” enough in crush- the troops from La Ceiba and which had the ac- or non-working class pop- in the banana zone. Hence, ‘pped forward to handle tly. On January 15, the ited Fruit Co. began to of arrests, picking out be more militant, placing n one of its ships— to Puerto Barrios. ed permission to ited Fruit Co. brought them to the id at San Pedro Su Placed them on one of its own airplanes and sent them out to Salvador, from where they have not yet been heard of. There is great danger that these | strikers, that were kidnapped by the United Fruit Co. and deported to Salvador, may have been murdered. This is how Yankee imperial- ism is exercising its dictatorship in the Carib- bean countries. At the present time, the United Fruit Co. and | its servant, the Collindres government, are mak- ing the most desperate effort to wipe out the | revolutionary organizations from the banana | gone, especially the revolutionary unions and | y i | tions of the “left” opportunists. the Communist Party. The leading working class and peasant militants are being hounded and persecuted with the utmost violence and brutality. Yankee imperialism and its puppet government in Honduras are carrying on this wild white terror against the struggling masses in order to forestall and check the coming new struggles of the workers and toiling peasants against the robbery and exploitation of the Uni- ted Fruit Co. But the brave and courageous workers of the banana zone will not be cowed by this terror. They will continue to build their revolutionary unions into powerful mass organizations, rooting them on the plantations and in the ports, as | well as the organization of the Committees of Unemployed. Learning from the shortcomings and errors of the January strike, especially the lack of preparation and failure to build up wide rank and file strike committees on each planta- tion, the revolutionary workers will more than ever before concentrate on the banana zone as | the most important field of their actfvity, pre- paring the coming struggles of the workers | against the wage cuts, lay-offs, unemployment, etc., combating mercilessly the legalism and sur- render to compulsory arbitration of the right opportunists and the sectarian putchist distor- The organiza- | tion of the small poquiteros and toiling peasants generally into Peasant Leagues, struggling joint- ly with the workers against the United Fruit Co. and its native supporters, remains one of. our chief tasks in Honduras, Against the dictatorship of the United Fruit Co, and the rule of Yankee imperialism in Hon- duras we must arouse the widest mass anti- imperialist movement of the workers, peasants and poor petty-bourgecisie of the cities. The situation now is highly favorable for the devel- opment and organization of such movements, also because of the sharpening danger of a new world war and especially the immediate danger of war against the Soviet Union for which the Collindres government is preparing under the direction of Yankee imperialism. We must | place on the order of the day the organization of a League Against Imperialism in Honduras, based upon the workers and peasants and in- cluding all militant anti-imperialist elements, to unify and intensify the struggle against Yankee imperialism and the United Fruit Co. and for the defense of the Chinese people and the Soviet Union. By Labor Research Association A pega and more machines per worker are the way to fight for foreign markets in tex- tiles says the American Wool and Cotton Re- porter: “Today on box looms, woolen and wors- ted weavers tend one or two looms each, on automatic magazine looms on fancy woolens and worsted four and six looms each, and on auto- matic looms making serges and other staples 24 looms each. If machine improvements could double or triple the number of looms per weaver —and double and triple the number of machines per operative throughout the mill, we could actually develop new world markets.” This is the answer of the textile capitalists of the United States to the competition of the British, the Japanese, and all the other fabric exporting countries. The same journal reports that one woolen and worsted mill already “saved” $1,179,527 in a year by “scientific” cutting of payrolls, layoffs, and rationalization. “In respooling yarn previously 46 employes were engaged—now the work is done by 28 employes with an actual saving in that one department of $34,323 a year. In an- other department where the work was previously acomplished by 124 operatives, it is now carried on by 42 less people with a saving of $55,524 a | year. In the weaving division 25 less operatives 25 less operatives are employed with a saving of $30,050 a year.” The same methods of rationalization and speed-up are used in this country as in Britain, Japan, and all the other imperialist countries fighting for trade in world markets, JO 'Rationalization inTextiles MU RD E R OF THE | THE FRONT AND REVERSE. THE ARMY TO SIiUROER APIERICAW WORKERS FIGHTING WAGE-CUIS AN fA HOUNEET? ' So lCAW EAP BIGGER PRotTs! TRENT ARM Te SHOOT Bown CHINESE ND RUSSIAN WorKrERs ANTS VGIPA IS THER LAND / Go Wiig Tee He te ble “DAIW( Sy mall everywhere: One year, $6; six months, $3; two months, $1; epting Boroughs New York, of Manhattan and Bronx, New York City. Foreign: one year, $8: siz montha, $4.50. By BURCK By MIN TIN (Letter from Peiping) Tr veil over the mechanism of the “bandit” movement, which Japanese imperialism makes generous use of in order to increase the number of its troops in Manchuria and to concentrate them in definite directions is being more and more drawn aside. This “mechanism” is exceedingly simple and consists in the follow- ing: this or that Manchurian general, as the Japanese determine, begins at the necessary moment to play the role of “enemy”; he stages | | @ “rebellion” and is then pursued by the Jap- | anese troops. The.General quickly retreats in | the agreed direction. Having arrived at the place agreed upon (it is a rule that all “rebels” no matter in what direction they may have to move, in most cases retreat in the direction of the Soviet frontier) the “rebel general” ceases “resistance” and declares his submission to the “Manchurian government”, ie., to the ‘Japanese |,command, Here, in most cases, the Japanese | cease their “pursuit” (the point they are aiming at has been reached) and begin to bring up further reinforcements “in case bandits should | appear again.” The advance of the Japanese | on the track of the “rebels” is accompanied by | a real drive, with the employment of all cate- | gories of troops, against the working population | of Manchuria, who “incidentally” submit to the new “Manchurian government,” in other words, to the Japanese conquerors. The least resistance | on the part of the outraged population is crushed with the most indescribable cruelty by the oc- cupation troops. At the same time, the Japanese threaten .to increase their forces. Thus, for instance, num- erous sensational reports have appeared in the | Japanese prss recently regarding a partisan movement in the Nunan region. The Japanese are beginning to fling their troops into this dis- trict, and Japanese papers have already reported that numerous partisans are holding possession of Nunan. As has now transpired, however, the Japanese command is using the situation in this district in order to convert Hunan into an important military base where great bodies of troops are to be concentrated. Nunan is a very important point for Japanese imperialism, lying north of Chanchun on the new railway line planned to be built by the Japanese from Chan- chun to Dalai and running paralell with the Chinese-Eastern railway. When the Japanese troops began to advance north of Harbin, the Japanese press gave as a reason for this the outbreak of “revolts,” and excesses on the part of the so-called Binsjan troops (Chinese). There were continual reports of alleged fights between the Japanese and th Binsjan troops; it was also reported that the latter were retreating and that the Japanese were in pursuit. Now, after the Japanese troops have taken possssion of Tunbin and Fandcheng (northeast of Harbin) and are advancing still further towards San-Sing (nearer to the Chinese-Soviet frontier), the commander of the military mission in Harbin, Doichara, has declared in an interview to representatives of the press that there have been no actual coll- sions between the Japanese and insjan troops; that it was only “bandits detachments”, who had no knowledge of the negotiations and the conclu- sion of this agreement between the commander of the Japanese and the Binsjan troops, which opposed the Japanese ,and that “in the near future this district will be purged of all unreli- able elements.” In plain language, this means that the generals, who have been bought by the Japanese, have fulfilled their task, they have enabled the Japanese troops to reach the desired points, It is now a question of fortifying the district, and concentrating troops for the further advance tn the desired direction. The “cause” has already been ascertained beforehand. Doichara pointed out at his inter- view that “with the coming of spring the move- ment of the bandits will increase.” Reports from Harbin confirm that the Binsjan generals | have already declared their submission to the new Manchurian government. From well- informed American and English sources we learn particularly interesting details regarding the recent bargaining between the Japanese and th commanders of the Binsjan troops, Din and Li Du. The Japanese command agreed with them that the rebellion should cease tor the The Fights with the “Bandits” in Manchuria period of <. month until the departure of the League of Nations Commission which is ex- pected here. Aafter the expiration of this period, the “rebel” movement is to he resumed by Din | Chou in the district adjoining the Soviet-Chi- nese frontier. This arrangement, of course, coincides with the period in which the Japanese command expects the “revival of the bandit movement.” By this time the fortification of the militaryg bases at the places already occupied, will be completed, and then it will be possible to con- tinue the advance nearer to the frontiers. The “bandits” Will be there all right. In this way Japanese imperialism is creating a jumping-off ground for the attack on the Soviet Union. pee et Editoral Note:—According to reports from Japanese sources, the Japanese command has already decided to concentrate “defence” troops on the following frontier points: Manchouli station, Pogranichnaya and Shanchainhuang. The reason given ‘is: the possibility of an “in- creased influx of soldiers in civil clothing seeking to overthrow the Manchurian government.” Tammany’s Bloody Attack at the ‘Home Relief Buro (By a Worker Correspondent) IDAY the writer witnessed an affair in front of the school housing the Home Helief Bureau on East ist Street which was enough to make any red-blooded human literally burn up with indignation. ~ The writer is a mechanical engineer, and for the past three months has been unemployed. While he is not destitute, he can count ‘his financial resources in terms of months when he, too, may be in the position of the brave men and women workers who gathered before the closed doors of this Home Relief Bureau, and can understand and fully sympathize with them. ‘ Here were nearly two hundred people, workers, for the most part American born workers like myself, who at least seemed to realize that great and vital secret of mass action, 1 mingled with them, read their meaningful placards, listened to their straight-to-the-point speeches, and heard them, not pray or petition but demand, like true men, their right to immediate cash relief. They demanded a part of the substance which they helped to create. They demanded that which was rightfully theirs but which, because ‘of the antiquated principle of private property and all its attending evils of selfish- ness, greed, and grasping individualism, is kept in the hands of a small rich class, while they who toiled hard and faithfully to create it are expected to silently suffer deprivation and desti- tution. Actual Starvation As I talked with a few of the intelligent but wan-faced women in the crowd, I realized that here were actua} cases of starvation before my eyes. Here on the honest faces of toilers priva- tion has written its story. Here in the emaciated bodies of their children, who deserve the best but are getting the worst, that great beast of capitalism, malnutrition, was doing its work. And here stood the guards of this beast, . big, well-fed, blue uniformed guards with clubs and blackjacks that were soon to be put into action. The story is not long. Orderly, well worded speeches.- Enthusiastic responses and lusty cheers of working men and wornen. The very atmosphere was’ charged. The writer witnessed at least fifty passers-by. who stopped, listened from the other side of the street, and then walked over in a, body at the first invitation from a speaker to join the assemblage. Cops Arrive During the last speech the entire squad of our New York's “Finest” grouped themselves inside the door of the now Relief-less Bureau. As the speaker finished, the assemblage began an orderly march into the Byveau—into the school building which they themselves paid for with their taxes, which t’zy themselves built with their labor. And th.a—with one concerted move the doors flew open, and these blue-uni- formed guards of this rich man’s democracy charged. Clubs flew. Heads were cracked open. Honest workers’ blood flowed freely. Children cried, women screamed and fought as their men went down, only to rise again and fight, bare- fisted, those armed betrayers of human justice. A worker, beaten, blood-smeared face, wrested free, jumped on the stand and with head up, eyes blazing, began to speak. What a sight! What a speech! Clubs may + -ak heads but they seem only to harden the spirit of workers like that speaker. ‘The same money that pays a squad of cops to do what this squad did also pays for reinforcements. It wasn’t long before they arrived, This brave speaker was taken, together with seven others. Two were badly beaten, five others were hurt, but the marvelous militant spirit of that crowd never relented, even after they were dispersed. Your correspondent happens to know that at last two police left the secne, immediately and were replaced by others. He has good reason to believe that they were badly shaken up if not a bit “broken.” This demonstration was by no means a failure. It was ‘a signal victory for these workers. One cannot help feeling hopeful for this country when he realizes that this same militant spirit combined 4,-sh this same type of properly guided mass action, utilized by this nations’ army of unemployed would give to all what this fine, militant group fought for themselves. W. P. Anti-War Week in France Successful Paris, April 1, 1932 Anti-war. week which took place in France from ‘the 24th to the 31st or March under the leadership of the Communist Party wag very, successful, On the last day a big demonstration took place in front of the prispn St. Lazarus and the “Internatinale’ was sung: At the same time anti-war demonstrations took place on the boulevards in front of the offices of the big bourgeois dailies which are conducting the war campaign against the Soviet Union ,and in particular in front of the head office of “le Journal” which is leading the campaign. Anti-war meetings were held in: front of the big factories, including Renault, Citroen, Seguin, Hotchkiss, Pleyel,’ Wulzer, the Internationale Compagne de Wagons Lit Delaunay. Chantiers de la Loire, Christophe, Amiclar, Gallet and Geyelo. The meetings were addressed by the representatives of the Communist Party. Five thousand workers demonstrated in the textile, centre Roubaix against imperialist war and in defence of the Soviet Union. A proces- sion through the streets of the town was headed by Andre Marty and the chief editor of “I'Hu- inanite,” the central organ of the French Com- munist Party, Florimond Bonte, Similar dem- onstrations and meetings took place in num- erous other big towns. A satisfactory feature of the campaign was that many new members were won for the Communist Party and a number of new branches formed. by JORGE ‘ The “Entire” Class Struggle Comrade M. K., of Cleveland, once a member of the so-called “Proletarjan Party” but—as he says—‘“fortunately now. a member of the Com- munist Party,” writes us an approval of our Spark about the said P, P., published on March 29. In part he adds: “They claim to be ‘more revolutionary’ than the Communist Party, on the grounds that they don’t tell the workers to fight against the worsening of their conditions and for imme- diate demands such as unemployment insur- ance. Neither do they have any such slogans as ‘Defend the Soviet Union, ‘Down with police brutality,’ ete. They say: ‘We point oyt the entire class struggle” But what I have been unable to get them to explain, is what they mean by the class struggle. To me, as a worker, the objective reality of the class struggles is manifested, of course, in the every day conflict of interests between the capitalists and the workers. For us to deny these con- flicts and merely shout ‘Revolution,’ would be utopian and practically equivalent to denying | the class struggle.” Very correct, comrade. Any worker should be able to see through the goofy chatter that talks about standing for the “entire” class struggle, but. which opposes strikes, demonstrations and struggles for partial demands. “The whole is greater than its parts,” but does not exclude its parts; and by denying its parts, the self-styled “Marxists” of the so-called “Pro- letarian Party” deny the whole, piece by piece, and in practice thus deny and oppose the re~ volutionary aim of the working-class, no matter how they roll their “Rs” and beat their chests in ‘assertion that they are “revolutionary.” All workers who want to help bring about a revolution ang put an end to the miseries cap- italism inflicts on their class, should join the Communist Party and fight under its guidance, “The” Duty Every worke: who is a Communist, no doubt understands thoroughly that the duty of any Communist Party is to lead the toiling masses of its country in struggle against that country's capitalist class with the aim of finally over- throwing “its own” capitalist class from power and establishing a Workers’ and Farmers’ Soviet government, But if they know that, why is it that, some- times, some one gets all tangled up if that simple question is complicated by so much as mention of the fact that there are other countries, other capitalist classes, and—though this seems fore gotten—other Communist parties We do not accuse Comrade D. S. of New York, who writes us the following letter, of having been tangled up that way, but his (or her) letter certainly does indicate that there is danger of confusion around that neighborhood. The letter says, or asks: “I will ask you to answer the following quese tion in the columns of the Daily Worker. If the present capitalistic government of Ger many should repidiate the Versailles Treaty; and thereby France takes the opportunity of sending an army of invasion, the German government, desiring to prevent the occupation of its territory, resists with all its power the invasion by France; what would-be the duty of the Communist Party of Germany under such conditions?” f 3 Our answer is: The Communist Party of Ger- many, under ‘such conditions, would doubtless 4 have many duties; but “the” quty, the foremost j task, would be the, duty it would have even if France didn’t, exist—to overthrow the ruling power of the capitalistic class of Germany! Why? Well, look at what has already happened over the same question! Did not France invade Germany? Certainly! But did Germany's cap- italist. government “resist with all its powers’? NO! Bei 228 And why? Because, to resist effectively, it would have to.depend upon. the ,masses, to arm the masses which it has been exploiting, op- pressing, and murdering And any capitalist government, in this case that of Germany, fear- ing the revolt. of its own workers more than the invasion of a foreign army, capitulated before the army of imperialist France in the Ruhr invasion of 1923, and agreed with the Versailles victors to every demand fhey .made, loading the burden: upon the toiling masses, Incidentally, the so-called “socialists” of Germany headed that capitalist government of betrayal, eae A Good Letter Concentrating our recent comment on the I. W. W., a comrade (J. L.) writes: “In reference to your article of April, 5th, “Unity, Yes—For Siruggle,” allow me to quote Marx, where he emphasizes that the economi¢ } (unionist) and political struggle should be fought shouldsr to shoulder if the workingman is to gain anything. He says in his ‘Value, Price and Profit,’ Chap XIV. Part 2: “‘As to the limitation of the working day in England, as in all other countries ,it has never been settled except by legislative interference, Without the workingmen’s continuous pressure from without, that interference would never have taken place. But at all events, the result’ was not to be attained by private settlement between the workingmen and the capitalists. ‘This very necessity of general political action affords the proof that in its’ merely economic action, capital is the stronger side? “Because,” adds our comrade, “if labor uses economic (unionist) struggle only, capital will use both economic and political struggle. A good example is the economic—at present—struggle of Copenhagen, April Sth 1932. ‘The Danish Communist Party held an anti- war week which ended on the third of April with a Red Day against Imperialist War. Anti-war towns out among the sailors and demonstrations took place in almost all the big towns and in a number of rural areas. A special action was carried out amongst the sailors and marines stationed in Copenhagen, The pay ot these men has been cut whilst the pay of the officers has not been touched, At this there has been considerable indignation and the party action was received very sympathetically by the men, A special leaflet was issued calling on hte men to strike against the cuts in their pay and reminding them of the example of the Inver- gordon sailors. There is great discontent amongst the sailors and a number of arrests have been made, On the third of April a big anti-war demon- stration was held in Copenhagen, The workers fhe miners in Kentucky against the united economic and political action of the operators and their government. This points to the grave mistake of the I. W. W., the A. F .of L or the so-called Industrial Union League, in leaving out political struggle from economic struggle, or | separating one from the other” . ' Of course, the A. F. of L.’s supposed “political | neutrality” is pretty clearly a falsehood, and in reality the A. F. of L, leaders openly support the - political siruggle of the capitalist: against ~ the workers. With the others, the support of cap- italist polities is more disguised but just as real. One of the most absurd things we can think of is to see ari I. W. W. loaded with handcuffs and locked up in jail by the capitalist govern- ment, protesting that political power “don’t exist,” is “nothing but a reflection,” or “imaginary,” —_— marched from ten points to a central meeting place. Three thousand workers demonstrated in front of the French embassy, fag moe : " i j » *