The Daily Worker Newspaper, April 29, 1932, Page 4

Published | id 18th St. New Address and York N. mall all checks to N. guin 4-7956.. Cable sunday, “DAIWORK.” 50 Bast 13th Street, New York, N. ¥. at 60 Bast SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Foreign: one year, By mail everywhere: Une year, $6; six months, $2; two months, $1; excepting Boroushs of Manhattan and Bronx, New York City. =x montha, $4.50. with in the so- April “Crisis” on William H. Kelley, leading Negro This article is of the theoretical ‘he gentleman speaks m the question of Com- btedly, to convey the s readers that he is thoroughly deal the Mr ts to make an analogy be- r to the ef- the “distribution had need.” He hat there is nothing t the idea back of the s by no means a new sroving his conten- complete ignorance of Sommunism and Christ- fact was expres: “Religion (of the opium of elley's comparison can 000 years of Christ- in the poverty and misery e on the other hand, Com~- of the revolutionary work- uggle against the bourgeoisie Marx and Engels), has led to f th Union, the eman- t opulation of one-sixth of the ion, the liberation of one- ation of China from the yoke lavery and in the development movement in every important oJ MMUNISM AND THE NEGRO Proposed Candidate of the Communist Party for Vice-President against oppression. Mr. Kelley undoubtedly conceives of Commu- nism as a system of ideas invented or discovered by some would-be universal reformer, whereas the theory of Communism “merely expresses in general terms actua] relations springing from ting class struggles going on before our eyes.” (Communism Manifesto.) The understanding of Communist theory by a section (Negro and white) of the working class fits this section for | the task of organizing and leading the working class struggles against the bourgeoisie. It is no wonder that Mr. Kelley, failing to presses surprise that “America’s twelve million Negro population, so largely identified with the working class . . . oppressed on every hand... did not embrace the doctrine en masse long ago.” What is surprising is that Mr. Kelley, who pro- fesses acquaintance with the Communist Mani- festo, fails to understand the elementary fact that the growth of Communism, as the theory of the international working class, could only take place in proportion to the development of the working class. The Negro masses did not embrace Communism, say fifty years ago, for. the simple reason that the American working class in general and the Negro workers in par- ticular, had not, in the struggle against the re 00 Delegates a 4 | ~ 1,000 Workers! ELIZABETH LAWSON political conventions of three this summer. All three will 2 All three will present inate candidates. ¢ conventions of the Republican ties, and the national no- nition called by the Communist 8th, there will be a guf of me- , that is as wide as the gulf of the bosses and inerests ct 9° the Republican and De- be conventions devoted tion of the system of wage-slav- of continued wage-cutting, of sal to grant unemployment in- Whatever flowery phras- ors of the Republican and Democra- os may use, thessence of the matter wo conventions will be dedicated ery, continued lynching, and to profits for the bosses, out of the working class. > contrast with the flood of de- flow from the lips of the cam- the bosses’ parties, the Com- ises in unmistakable language e working class. class unity in the election cam- t hunger and war offensive candidates of the Com- candidates of the sit in the conventions of alists Grafters As Delegates s that attend the conventions of bk nand Democratic parties are eir faithfulness to the boss class. i ward heelers and grafters; i strike-berakers; the most the jobless and haf-starving 1e men most devoted to the in- bos: these are the men who entions of the Republican this year as every other Worker—Delegates n 1,000 delegates gather in the Peoples m in Chicago, on May 28th, to draft.a nd nominate candidates for the Com- ty, there will be among them no slave- labor, no grafters, no Every one of the thousand can- convention will be a working-man woman. The delegates will be maneouvers of the grafters, he workers in the factories, ad pantations. They will be sent . from workers’ frathernal groups, s' aid societies, from orgainzations of y-five per cent of them will not the Communist Party at all. delegates to the nominating con- 1¢ Communist Party will be a large egroes. Already the arrangements the Republican and Democratic een to the Jim-Crowing of the With the lily-white movement dway in the South, it may be that extremely few Negro delegates will sent at these two conventions. orkrs Convention to Welcome Negroes ne convention arrangements of the Com- ‘ Party call for the presense, among the s, of @ Jarge number of Negro workers dedicated—along with the white rs and farmers—to a determined struggle against Jim-Crow, lynching, and national op- ¥ression. Special measures are being taken in the conyention city to see to it that the- Negro delegates, are NOT Jim-Crowed; that, on the , they play an extremely important. part in the deliberations. One of the main jobs before the political eon- ventions of the Republican and Democratic par- ies is to obscure the issues before the majority of the people—the workers, It is for this reason that the matters closest to the daily life of the workers are ‘slffrred over. It is for this reason, among others, that the boss parties make much of prohibition, and attempt to drown in whiskey and beer any discussion of the things most fun- damental to the welfare of the workers, It is in bold contrast to this practice of the capitalist parties, that the Communist Party, in its pro- posed election platform, raises sharply the fun- damental issues that face the workers today: ‘ ! | the looming menace of imperialist war; unem- ployment and secial insurance; police terror and the suppression of civil rights; the bitter persecution of the Negroes. ‘The platform of the capitalist parties is flung out from their conventions, in take-it-or-leave it fashion. But the Communist Party haf print- ed its draft patform prior to the convention, in Order that the workers and farmers in every section of the country may freely criticize and may propose additions. At the Chicago nomina- ting convention, many hours will be set aside for discussion from the floor—in irder to permit | the workers from the Chicago stock-yeards, the workers from Oklahoma oil-fields, the farmers and tenants from the Alabama plantations, to say their say on the Party’s platform, demands, and candidates, 4 FROM FEBRUARY TO OCTOBER— A BOLSHEVIK ACCOUNT FROM THE FEBRUARY REVOLUTION TO THE OCTOBER REVOLUTION, 1917,” by A. F. Tlyin-Geneysky. Workers Library Publish- ers, 1931; 122 pp., 25 Cents. Reviewed By A. C. Bosse. HIS vivid story of the democratic and Bol- shevik revolutions in Russia is to be recom- mended, as has been done all too often with less important books, as worthy to be read by every worker. Those who haven't the time or the price to read Tarasoy-Radionov’s more am- bitious story of the February overthrow will find here an account that covers more ground, is sim- pler in sequence, and far more mature politically. It is a story that can be read with advantage by a worker who has just come to the movement as well as by the experienced Party worker. The gentlemen of our press particularly would do well to read it, a few times. The author, Ilyin (brother of the better-known Raskolnikov, marine officer and revolutionary military organizer) was editor of a number of Party military newspapers. There he learned to write in the simple and direct style needed for the masses of soldiers who were just coming over to the Bolsheviks. He had been a revolutionary student since 1912, an exile in Genega, a con- script officer and then a reserve officer. He organized the Bolshevik committee in Helsing- fors, although without a contact he founded a mass sailors’ paper. The Petrograd Committee thought the job was too difficult, especially for a group of youngsters, but their reaction was, “You may frighten Bol- sheviks with some things, but not by describing work as difficult.” Later he was one of the editors of the Petro- grad “Soldier's Pravda,” which for a time was also the central organ of the Party when “Prav- da” was suppressed. He was a member of the Petrograd Soviet and helped organize the mili- tary work of the Party and carry through the seizure of power. A difference between this book and Tarasov’s is that here we see the revo- lution being made, with the Bolshevik organ- ization as the headquarters from which events | are viewed, whereas in the other book the scene of action is mainly the Provisional Government and Soviet headquarters. Also the latter story is a work of literature, written to a certain ex- tent subjectively—better literature but not such good history. Speaker, writer, organizer, even newsbey on occasion, -Ilyin gives a fine picture of the organ- ization of the military side of the revolution. At the “Soldier's Pravda,” almost every article was rewritten to simplify it “for an ill-prepared and little educated reading public” and “to give our artices; a form best suited to soldiers.” All soldiers’ correspondence was answered personally or in the paper and the response of the soldiers was: “Try to send us the paper because our own comrades write in. it about the lives of the soldiers.” The success of the paper was great. Regarding the period when it appeared legally for “Pravda” also, Ilyin writes, “We never for- get for a minute that... although out paper was fulfilling the functions of the central organ of the Party (it was) a mass soldiers’ and peas- ants’ paper ... Thus, we continued to cut out of the articles any word or phrase which would not be understood by the soldiers. . . This gave rise to occasional friction with individual meme bers of the Central Committee.” Some of these points have a bearing on our Daily Worker, which must fullfil the double role of a Party central organ and 4 mass workers’ paper, / capitalists, accumulated sufficient experience; had not at that time reached the stage of devel- | opment in which it was able to throw up from its midst an advanced detachment, capable of understanding the aims of that struggle and lead- ing the masses of toilers, Negro and white, in struggle against the ruling class oppressors What is the explanation for the growing re- sponse of the Negro masses to the Communist | | movement at the present time? This explana- tion is to be found, on the one hand, in the growth of the revolutionary labor movement in the United States, and, on the other hand, in the maturing of a Negro working class as a siti ——————++ “THAT’S THE WAY TO DO IT, HERB.” Historical March Days for the Proletariat 1848-1871-1917. By KARL MERTENS (Berlin) FTER the “July monarchy” had been over- thrown in Paris on February 24, 1848 and the Republic proclaimed, the revolutionary, fire ‘also seized Viena and Berlin. The insurrection and barricade fights took place itt Vienna on March 13 and in Berlin on March 18, 1848. Meanwhile, the workers in Berlin were ex- cluded from the newly established civil guard. The Paris workers, who were partly armed, were no less feared in Berlin than in Paris, and al- though the Berlin proletarians cannot point to a June insurrection in repply to the counter-re- volutionary challenge of the new baked bourgeois Ministers—there were still the storming of the arsenal in repply to the actual disarming by their exclusion from the civil guard. This was sufficient for the bourgeois and the Junkers, who were terribly frightened right from the first day of the revolution. For the undeveloped and unripe German bour- geoisie, headed by Camphausen were even less prepared than the French bourgeoisie, headed by | | Lamartine, to set up the Republic in place of the monarchy. It only wished to obtain “free- dom,” i. e., freedom of trade, and it was imme- diately prepared, on March 17, to sell the work- ers, who’ fought for them against the junkers, at a not very high price. The German bour- geoisie displayed a peculiar capability to make full use of the victory of counter-revolution in the other countries. The June defeat of the Paris workers ,the vicory of Cavaignac, was at he Same time a defeat of the Berlin proletarians and a victory for Camphausen, or more cor- rectly said, of Bradenburg. It was not to be wondered at if teh so-called Prussian parliament was transferred o Bradenburg, in order to be able to devoe itself “in all quietness” to its great tasks, The first act of the March revolution of 1848 in Germany concluded thus: “Brandenburg in the Parliament and Parliament in Brandenburg.” With this short dialectical sentence Kérl Marx, in the Neue Rheinische Zeitung, summed up the results of the March revolution of 1848, . Swe March 18, 1871, Again revolution. But with qillie another content. The extremely nébulous “social Republic” demanded already in February, 1848, by the Paris workers had received its con- crete conetnt and a concrete form—the form of the Paris Commune. Bonapartism, rotetn to the core, was not able to conduct a war against strong Prussia, And this second French Empire ended as Marx pre- dicted: in a parody. Emperor and army were made prisoners and the nephew of Napoleon conveyed to Wilhelmshohe. The vacant throne in Paris could not be occupied’ by a royal off- spring,—the “season” was oo unfavorable for this transaction. Thus the Republic was pro- clainged out of necessity. But it soon became evident that the most important task which the bourgeois Republic had to fulfill, i. e., to defend Paris and France against the Prussian armies, this most important national task could not be fulfilled by the so-called “national defense” be- cause it did not even atetmpt it. The armed Paris proletariat, organized in the v National Guard, appears on the scene. Origin- | ally it only had the intention to control the ac- | tivity of the government in regard to the de- fense of Paris and to secure the supplies of the working population of Paris. These were the original tasks of the district councils elected in the twenty Paris districts and of the elected’ Central Committee of the Na- tional Guard. This however sufficed. Thiers and the gov- ernment of the so-called “National Defense” immediately realized the danger of this double government, The Paris workers were to be dis- armed, the real defenders of Paris and France were to deliver up their weapons. The Paris workers did not hand over their arms, but in- stead won the victory over the counter-reyolu- tionary Versailles army. The nebulous “social Republic” of February-Mrach, 1848, thus ob- tained its historical form by proving that a social Republic must be won in open fight against the “national government.” The next revolutions, on a higher stage, were to draw the lessons from February-March, 1848, and March- May, 1871. March, 1917, The imperialist chain broke at its weakest link. Tsarist rule was swept away in a few days by the revolutionary storm. The Russian proletariat, under the leadership of the Bolshevist Party, appropriated the lessons of the European revolutions. Lenin and the Bolsheviki realized the teachings of Marxism on the bour- geois revolution, which “is only the immediate prelude to the proletarian revolution” (Commu- nist Manifesto). They applied the experiences not only of the revolution of 1905 ‘in Russia but also of the Paris Commune in 1871 to the revo-, lution in Russia, i. e., its development into the | proletarian revolution. | 1848, 1871, 1917—ihree revolutions in March, which are of tremendous importance for the his- tory of the Labor Movement and the emancipa- tion of he proletariat. } The March revolution of 1848 in Germany took | place under much more developed conditions | than, for instance, the English revolution in the ith century and even the French revolution, 1789-1792. The forms of the class struggle were already more advanced, there exisied to some extent a class consciousness. of the proietariat. Hence, one of the most important demands of the Conimunist Maniiesto was—the constitution of the proletariat as an independent class, as a “class as such.” Hitherto the proletariat has only fought against the enemies of its own ene- mies, only ogainst the feudal lords and the landowners in the interest of the bourgeoisie; every victory has exclusively become a victory of the bourgeoisie, wilst after the victory the bour- gecisie proceeded, hand in hand with the junk- ; ers, agains! iis allies of yesverday, The establishment of tae bourgeois Republic is only a short ep'scde on ihe way to the einau- cipation of teh proletariat, Nay more! ‘The actual yight of the proletariat against is imme- t diae oppressor—the bourgeoisie—only starts with the overthrow of the monarchy, for the bour- geois Republic is the best form for the exploita- tion of the working class by the ruling bour- geoisie. ‘This was one of the most important lessons | Was acompanied by joshing and sighs of relief | that a way out had been found for the-poor city ponent part of that movement. Precisely this growth of a Negro working class is a most im- portant phenomenon of recent years. This work- ing class, in the crucible of sharpening class struggles, is rapidly liberating itself from the re- actionary influences of the Negro misleaders as represented by Mr. Kelley, and, together with the white workers, is embracing Communism as its weapon in the struggle against American imperialism. Thus, there has at last appeared among Negroes that class which, as an organic part of the whole working class, is the only force capable of rallying and leadin gthe oppressed Negro masses in the struggle*for national libera- tion—a struggle which, inspired largely by the example of the freedom won by the oppressed people in the Soviet Union, has gained a power-, ful impetus in recent years. All of these developments are being rapidly “\ hastened at the preset time by the sharpening crisis of dying world capitalism the growth of terror against the Negro masses, the increase in lynchings, ete. It is this fact that Mr. Kelley and other misleaders cannot, or do not wish, to understand. But it is this very fact that forces Mr. Kelley and other editors of bourgeois Negra papers to write about Communism, to misrepree sent it, because it is a challenge to the traitors ous leadership of the Negro bourgeoisie, { (To Be Continued Tomorrow) } $$ CARRY THE PLENUM RESO. LUTION INTO THE MEM. BESHIP OF THE PARTY By SAM DON T= 14th Plenum Resolution places the Party before a practical test. The very opening paragraph of the resolution gives the key note of the line and decisions of the last Plenum. It states “...our: Party has not yet made the essential change in its work necessary for the carrying out of its chief immediate task. This task is to overcome the isolation of the Party from the decisive masses of the American Pro- letariat as their vanguard in the struggle against the offensive of the bourgeoisie and against the imperialist war, and to firmly root itself in the decisive industries by means of solid personal contacts with the workers.” ’ What is one of the first conditions for “over- coming the isolation of the Party from, the de- cisive masses ofsthe American proletariat”? The entire Party, every individual member, must un- derstand the reasons for the serious situation facing the Party, the possibilities that exist for overcoming the weaknesses and shortcomings and the methods for bringing about the essen- tial change in the mass work of the Party. Thus the Party can be mobilized for carrying out the Resolution. The Party must not merely read but study the resolution of the Plenum. What do we mean when we say the Party must study the reso- lutions, how shall they be studied? Self-criti- cism is the method for the study and under- standing of the Resolutions. Every phase of Party work, particularly “the radical improvement of the situation in the re- volutionary unions is the key task of the Party” (from the resolution) must be taken up and dis- cussed in light of the present experiences and apply concretely the resolution of the Plenum as the guide for coming. closer to the decisive sections of the working class. The great majority of our membership is new. The resolution will only then be understood by the membership if we, in addition to the gene eral discussions also use the method of “solid personal contacts” with the new members (also » as a means of establishing solid personal con- tacts with non Party workers), in explaining the meaning of the resolution. But not only mere explaining. The new members, every mem- ber who is in contact with workers, can and must become the source of learning to-know how the workers. think and how we must improve our methods of coming in contact with them, This means that the broadest, ‘discussion must be developed in the Party. nd In the past, we followed the practice of sete ting a certain time limit for the. discussion of the Plenum resolutions. This is. absolutely wrong. The discussion must be continuous. In the sense, that we must consult the resolution for every phase of important mass activities, Only such a method is the best guaranty, against formal absivact discussions. The ideological struggle against opportunism in practice has been neglected. As against the old factional. habit of deviation. hunting, we went to the other extreme, of rotten-liberalism, Both are wrong. The struggle against opportun- ism must be taken up as means of mobilization for mass activities. Such a struggle raises the political level of the membership; It creates the interests for theoretical problems, lays a prac- tical basis for theoretical studies and is a guar- anty against a scholastic approach. The Resolution of the Plenum must do away with every trace of self satisfaction. A real practical discussion combined with @ political understanding of the period we live in wil eliminate self satisfaction. The Party is at a turning point. Hard work combined with revolutionary zeal, should be the spirit in which we will carry throlgh the dis- cussion of the Plenum Resolutions. - They Discuss Diets — By JAMES LERNER 'WO diets have become famous in the United States within the last two months. One— an egg every day, fresh vegetables, quart of milk daily, orange Juice, viosteral (to take the place of sunshine in winter), ete—-was acompanied by sob stories that a life was in danger unless the diet was applied. The other—salt pork, one egg a week, butter substitute, evaporated milk— governments with millions of unemployed to take care of. The first, of course, was the Lind- bergh baby diet, the second the one popularized by the “martyr” mayor of Syracuse who for one whole week is undergoing hardship, foregoing chicken dinners, to prove that it is possible to starve scientifically, About a year ago 32.244cent and similar diets were popular. Gradually they have been which Marx and Engels drew from the February Revolution in France and the March revolution in Germany. Renae oe aS The June of 1848 announced the March of 1871 —The Commune . The tasks for this first workers’ revolution were set up by Marx and Engels in their clas- sical, historical and other works and letters soon after he revolutions of 1848. The mcst i portant tasks are: the shatetring of the bo geois state apparatus (the “executive power”), establishment of the revolutionary dictatorship of the proletariat. The prerequisite for the vic- tory of the proletariat is its alliance with the poor peasantry, without w 2 choir the prole- tarian revolution and its sc\o song becomes its death song. (18th Brumaire.) The Paris Commune of 1871, the first .work- ers’ revolution, was the realigation of this pro- grem. In addition, this revolution discovered the forms of the proletarian state {n the transition pesiod to the Communist society. After the Paris Commune the proletariat knew which form staie would assume in the transition period: “% state aceurding to the patiern of the Paris Com- mune,” was Lenin's teaching, by which it is im- piied tha! the Paris Commune discovered the type, the form of the proletarian state, but that this pvoleturian state must be developed sill further. ‘vhe March revolution of 1917 showed that the Russian proletariat has learned from the experi- ences of the former revolutions, of February and March, 1848, March, 1871, and the Russian revo- lution of 1905; that it has appropriated the les- sons of these revolutions. For after Engel’s death in 1295, Lenin took over the banner of revolu- tionary Marxism; he applied the teachings of Marx and Engeis to eh period of imperialism and the proletarian revolutions, The “Letters from Afer” and the “April Theses,” “Marxism and Revolt,” “The Bolsheviki Must Seize Power” all writetn in the period trom March to Septem- ber, 1917, contain the most important teachings of revolutionary Mavxism-Leninism, in pariicu- jer on the quesiion of the transiorimation of the bowgeois revolution into the proie‘arian revoluton, ‘Three times March; 1848, 1871, 1917. Bolshe- vism-Leninism Lenin's Party, rendered it possible that March, 1917 ,was followed by October—the establishment of the dictatorship of the prole- tariat over a sixth of the world. ‘The German March, 1848, and November, 1918, will also be followed by the German October. wheedled and shaved down. Besides the mare tyrizing news stories, the New York Times de- votes an editorial weighing the possibilities of the diet. In Syracuse it is applied only to relief given by the city. The Times ponders over the problem of supplying every housewife (of the working class, of course) with the scheme. And the Times, realizing that_the idea-is-too ridic- ulous to hit home, admits that the “normal man finds himself going away hungry from the mere act of reading over the menus.” But there is a balm. The diet of Syracuse mentioned above is “obviously a much better diet than the one prevailing for nearly every- body in Soviet Russia.” Two days before this appeared the Times reported the Moscow congress of the trade unions. Comrade Molotov said that wages had risen by 26 per cent. Molotov said that public dining halls serve _ 32,000,000 meals daily. (And no 9-cent meals). The vacations, social insurance, nurseries and all which the Soviet workers have gained compared with the 9-cent diet of Syra- cuse! We know why the Times drags.the Soviet Union in. ‘To the housewife the scheme is also of doubt- ful value. For to live at 9 cents a day she must buy in wholesale quantities, says the Times. In the Syracuse diet a person gets three pounds of food a day, But there are only.two foods that sell for 3 cents a pound, flour and potatces, An admission that there can’t bea 9-cent diet for the housewife, except if the purchases are made in lots of 100 tons and 1,000 gross. Now, Mr. Ochs of the Times, you say that the housewife could live on a 9-cent diet if.she were | to buy in large lots, and-you say that a “normal aman is hungry when he reads the diet,” which is bought in large lots, so, which is correct? Not_to be beaten by Syracuse,-the patriotic mayor of Tulsa, Okla., rushes forward to serve notice that a city which spends 9 cents a day om its unemovloyed is just plain extravagant. Why, since Nov. J, Tulsa has fed about 10,000 worsers at a daily cost of less=than "6% cents. And, whet is more, they are much healthier than the rest of the city. The only comment is that the rest of the city must bé.living on air and are on the verge of death. 2 ‘The race of starvation relief schemes in the United States is flashed on a screen of League of Nation statistics of world-wide misery. The League announces thafone out of every twenty= eight in the world, or 70,000,000, are, diplomat ically speaking, “deprived of their means of sub- sistence.” “(They call it starvation in private.) Albert. Thomas, the socialist who released the figure, is rather forgetful (also diplomatically speaking). On Christmas the International La- bor Office, of which he is director, announced that 100 million are starving all over the world except in Soviet Russia. sad that the greatest number starving was in the United States. That figure was based on a world unemployment fig ure of 25 million, a great under-estimation. ‘The growth of unemployment is accompanied by a systematic, “scientific” slashing of relief for the unemployed in Tulsa, Syracuse, New York and every city of the courttry. The unem- ployment relief has be?n on the theory of “taking care of ycur own.” In reality,.“‘starving your own.” No single city has taken care of a tenth part of the unemployed and already they are cutting down to 9 cents and 6 cents, Let the mayors experiment if they want to~ the workers will fight in ever larger masses foe unemployment insurance, '