The Daily Worker Newspaper, May 7, 1932, Page 6

Abit Page Six 13th St. ed by the Comprogaily Publishing Co. ine, dally except Sanéay, at 50 Bast New York C e Address and mail sll checks to the Daily Worker, 50 Tele Leong Cable 47956, Wast isth Street, New York, N. ¥. “DAIWORK“~ Dail Yorker’ Party US.A. woseCRIPTION RATE! ‘Sy mail everywhere: One year, $6; six monthe, $3; two months, ef Manhsttas and Bronz, New York City. Foreign: one yea: 5 extepting Boroughs siz months, $4.60. Betowe the Conventions of Our Enemies i] | | | Thomas’ refer- the Soviet Year Plan, ng masses ies. To re- he Soviet Union, the abvious proletariat, use radical some of the slogans dictatorship and at rem of their revolu- to lan as being the estab- iety is of h his- great effect that, elled to parade around is letter says that tressing its vision of a 2w does he propose to By “stressing the a transitional so- The liberty which apitalist America, as e (the liberty he D.) in a country like the as some traditions of lib- To a classless society, dictatorship of the proletariat, iemocracy, through capi- mbolized m the Mooney case, tsboro case and the whole sham and stion of the good frame-up traditions of ican liberty. Thomes claims to want socialist assless. § yas suc By SAM DON planing, for a classless society. But not through @ revolution, not through the dictatorship of the proletariat, which is the only method througn which the workers can destroy the bourgeois state as the prerequisite for seizing the means of production as the basis for the development of socialism and the establishment of a classless society. This is the lesson, from the Soviet Union, applicable fully to the U. S. It is very significant that In the entire letter Thomas has nothing to say about the govern- ment, the role of the state. The state, the gov- ernment, is implied by Thomas as a body which is above classes and that the capitalist state can be utilized for the introduction of socialism. And it is preeisely in this, in the picturing of the state which today becomes more and more the naked instrument of putting the burdens of the crisis on the shoulders of the working class, that the socialists picture as a classless instrument in order to more effectively help the capitalist ate carry through its capitalist offensive and carry out its imperialist war aims, Finally, it is worth while mentioning the fact that Thomas resorts to the use of Lenin’s name in order to give a revolutionary fig leaf to his counter-revolutionary preachings. He tries to picture the acts of betrayal and treachery of the socialists as Merely compromises. He says: “One of the many evidences of Lenin’s greatness was his skill in compromising when compromise was in order.” Lenin, the uncomprimising fighter for the dictatorship of the proletariat, the merci- less fighter against social ehauvinism, against the Sécond International, is being pictured here as a harmless saint. Yes, Lenin did compromise, but compromised in order to gather revolution- Negro Soldiers and Imperialist War the Daily Worker prints the last ies of three articles, compiled by the editorial beard of the Liberator, exposing the ne’ shameful discrimination practiced +o soldiers during the last impe- discrimination that ranged from t-reoms and mess-halls to brazen 1 brutai lynchinigs and massacres of the Ne- and toilers in uniform. Worker asks ex-servicemen, both and white, and all workers, to send us additional facts, which we shall print. Today Artiele TNE (Conclusion) cle we saw how Negroes were, mand of troops and ming officers. Today we will n-Crow practices were applied during the war, with the x Department. e First Dose ef Discrimination thousand Negroes served in the ne selective draft law operated in e for straight-out dis- groes furnished considerably to the army. While they y 10.7 per cent of the population, ced to furnish 13.8 per cent of the army. Negro married men forced into the service, were single and without pted. (These white men workers, but as a rule rich pull.”) pops were assigned to the dirtiest ad this was done in the Only 20 per cent of ed, were trained for com- The enormous majority were placed ments as stevedores, labor battalions, mp Lee, Virginia, hundreds of Negro y of them college graduates were very one of them—to steve- labor battalions. The men forced to take the assigned— dore mi in and hese la place of $30 a month and were in additi aft to the white of- ficers in tk 1 of company allotment funds, etc. Thousa of Negroes who were trained in the Unit tes for combat service, were e- duced in France and placed in labor battalfons. Jim-Crow Practices in the Army® r ule in the army—Jim-Crow equipment, social life. Jim-Crow was open and ed or backed up by orders e jim-crowed from the It is an unwritten n rs to the camps This, however, would have jon of Negro soldiers in lent protests came from governors from the South, local Chambers of Commerce, There- ed troops were sent North, with t, to suffer a severe winter; Trible toll among the Negro In one camp it was a custom gro soldie: frozen to death, out of and from fore man North. their bed: for @ hasty burial. Whenever there was a shortage of food and clothing in the camps, 2 Negroes € the ones to suffer, Every effort was made to prevent Negro and white officers from mingling phrey, In Camp Hum- Virginia, thfough which 48,000 Negro passed, they were not allowed to use the and méss halls until after the armis- n the white soldiers had been discharged. le, they had to use leaky tents. Special provisions were made so that the Negro and ewhite officers would mot eat together. At Brest, ®@ memorandum isstied by the commanding of- ficer of Zone 5 proclaimed mess hours for col- ored officers to be one hour earlier for break- fast, one hur later for noon meal and one hour &ter for supper, The Negroes got tents where the white got barracks. The Military Police were especially brutal to the Negro soldiers. The Negroes were generally refused passes even for the m serious emergenc! ‘Teere was a gen- era) system of Jim-Crow in the Y. M;C. A.’s, Red Cross huts, rest rooms and mess halls. In France, ord Were issued in many places to prevent Negroes from entering French homes. General Ervin of the 92nd Division, issued Order No. 40, that Negroes should not speak to French women; under cover of this order, the M. P.'s made countless arrests, | desired.” The notorious Bulletin No. 35, which was issued to crush protest against discrimination, was given out by General C. C. Ballou of the 92nd Division. The manager of a theater at Manhattan, Kansas, had refused to admit a Negro soldier of tke 92nd. Ballou’s Bulletin appealed to the Negroes to stay “in their place.” To quote: “No useful purpose will be served by such acts as will cause the ‘color question’ to’ be raised.” “All colored Members should refrain from going where their presence will be resented.” Referring to the ser~ geant who tried to enter a theater, the Bulletin stated: “The sergeant is guilty of the greater wrong in doing anything, no matter how legally correct, that will provoke race animosity.” “The success of the division depends upon the good will of the public. That public is nine-tenths white.” “Don’t go where your presence is not This bulletin was issued after con- sultation with Mr. Moton, the famous Negro mis- leader, Moton came to Fort Des Moines at the time to plead with the Negroes to “stay in their places.” ‘The white army officers did everything possible to stir up race hatred against the Negroes on the part of the French. Besides diligently spread- ing lies about “rape propensities,” of the Negroes, the U. S. army officials urged the French not to “seem to mix socially with the Negroes, not to eat with them, and not to praise them in the presence of white Americans.” On August 7, 1918, the following secret information went out from Pershing’s headquarters: “It-is important for the French officers-in command’ of black American troops ‘to: have an idea as to the position occupied by the race:in the United States.” The document-then- re- ferred to Negroes as a “menace of degeneracy,” @ menace which had to be combatted “by the cleavage between the races because of the fact that they were given to the loathsome vice-of criminally assaulting white women.” The French were called on “not to treat the Negroes with familiarity and indulgence, which are matters of grievance concern to Americans and an affront to their national policy.” Attitude of the War Department The War Department announced openly that it “did not seek through its program to break. down the color line in any tnstitution where it was observed.” The Secretary of War stated that “there is no intention on the part of the War Department to undertake at this time to settle the so-called race question.” Murdered as Shock Troops The Negro troops were sent where the fighting was thickest and the odds worst. ‘The 92nd | Division was sent into the Vosges sector without Proper equipment. They were sent into the Argonne forest without training in the offen- sive, with no artillery, no rifle grenades, no wire- cutters, no horses. None of their equipment was issued in full quota. Labor battalions and pioneer regiments without arms were shoved up to the front during the entire fighting. The 15th National Guard at the front was mowed down in the thick of the fight, while its white of- ficers stayed in the rear and later claimed the glory. The 368th Infantry, Negro officers and one battalion, were cut off and hemmed in by short-range artillery fire and these officers were threatened with execution to cover up this dis- tardly slaughter of Negroes, At Pont de Musson, the commander of the 92nd Division got word that the armistice would be signed at 11 o'clock that same day. For the sake of a little more glory, he ordered the ad- vance of the 348th and 350th Field Artilery, the 365th Infantry and other Negro troops into open fire in the Moselle River. The men were mowed down by the machine guns of the German ad- vance, more than 500 Negro soldiers falling in one hour. The facts in these articles—which are only a few of the many examples of Jim-Crow and brutality to Negro soldiers in the World War— are taken from conversations with Negro workers who served in the World War, from the books “Offical History of the Negroes in ~ the World War,” by Emmett J. Scott and “Sidetights on Négro- Soldiers,” by C. H. Will ‘ jams; and from the files of Negro newspapers and magazines of the war and post-war period. The Daily Worker urges Negro and white ex-servicemen and all Negro and white workers to send further facts, so that this phase of national oppression and discrimination may be exposed before the working-clas« BE YOURSELF, MR. THOMAS ary forces for more decisive and effective ‘blows against capifslism and. pattitularly their agents, the socialists. The compromises of .Lenin were based ‘on strict revolutionary principles... The re- | sort to the use of Lenin is’an indication ‘that in this period of growing sympathy of the masses for the Soviet Union, for the appreciation of Lenin’s leadership. in the establishment-of the dictatorship of the. proletariat, the. name of Lenin is used in order.to. make the. treacherous deeds of the socialists appear less foul. What Lenin said of Marx applies with equal force to himself as:if he foresaw the attempts to “emasculating, and vulgarizing-the real es- sence of their revolutionary. theories and blunt- ing their revolutionary edge.” | Now as we are swinging into the presidential | elections, Norman ‘Thomas, the presidential can- | didate of the socialist party, will. tnereasingly | use radical and even revolutionary phrases to make the socialist. party appear as a Party of toiling masses. “We must. therefore in: this elec- tion campaign, concentrate our fire on the so cialist party as the most dangerous enemy within the ranks of the working class. «We wifl there- fore close with. a statement’ from the Plenum resolution of the Communist Party, in’ the sec- tion on the election. campaign, which states: | ' “The sharpest struggle against social. fascism during the elections is of the greatest impor- | tance. Without detracting the attention to the | slightest degree from the struggle aga‘ast the | republicans and democrats as*pointed out. above, | the chief attention must be ditected to’ unmask~ | ing’ and combatting the socialists ahd the ‘Muste crowd. This also includes a’ consistent, unmask= ing of their demagogic theory about state capi- talism, gradual ‘transition into ‘socialism’ through ‘nationalization’ projetts of. the mines, railroads, “eto.” : Some Lessons | ; By M LOUIS .(Paris) representatives of the Central ‘Committees of the Communist Parties of Germany, | France, Poland, Czechoslovakia, England, Hol- land, Sweden the representatives of the revolu- tionary trade union movements of the European Bureau of the Red International of Labor Unions, of the European Bureau of the Young Comunist International held a Conference’ on March 31, in order to discuss the results and experiences of the fight against the imperialist war in the Far East, against the immediately threatening” intervention against the Soviet Union, for the defense of China, of the Chihese tévolution, ‘for the defense ‘of thé Soviet Union, as*well as the tasks of the Communist’ Parties and of the revolutionary trade union movement for enhancing this fight. ‘The Coriference could record ‘that only, the Communist Parties, only the red trade unions @hd the revolutionary Trade Union Opposition are conducting the revolutionary fight against the imperialist war, against the threatening’ inter- vention against thé Soviet ‘Union. ‘In this fight certain, although modest; suctessés were achieved | ih regard to rousing and mobilizing- the broad masses, But>the: achievernentsof the struggle | are not: satisfactory by far. The diplomatic, | military, ideologic-political preparations for ‘inter- vention are being made at full speed. In face of these preparations we have to-record a dangerous lagging behind in‘ many: countriés in regard to rousing and’ mobilizing ‘the masses for the real revolutionary fight against imperialist ‘war’ Even in the sphere of propaganda, agitation and préss we ‘notice this dangerous lagging behind, this unpardonable loss of tempo, In order to be-able to fight. against Amperialist.. war, against the immediately threatening inter- vention against the, Soviet..Union.in.a.reyolu-. tionary manner, 1. €., not only by wordsb but also by deeds, we must win the masses. At the same time, the question of the fight against the imperialist ‘war-must be raised among ‘the broad masses of non-proletarian toiling strata. of the population.’ It must be particularly. emphasized that the Bolshevist struggle in this sphere offers the greatest possibilities for winning the majority of the working class, for winning broad non- proletarian toiling masses, In’ order to be able to solve these tasks, in order to catry out a revo- lutionary mass mobilization, ‘to“launch revolu- tionary mass actions, the lower, organizations right down to the last nucleus; the whole mem- bership of the Parties and of the Young ‘Comi- munist Leagues must be roused, mobilized and equipped with propagandist, srlesgrcs = organ zational material. The OPPORTUNIST upsteresitmiation of the war danger must be ruthlessly combated as one of: the most dangerous symptoms of opportunism. At the present moment, in the present. interna- tional situation, the ‘underestimation of the war danger is he expression‘of. thé influence ‘of the imperialist bourgeoisie and of soctal- fascism, greedy for intervention, upon the proletariat and upon the least steeled elements of bai Commu- nist Parties. In some backward or dbepirite troups of workers, in the rural districts in vatious’coun- tries, there exists the opinion that imperialist war, intervention, do not censtitute a great Ganger o the proletariat, as revesution will neces- sarily follow upon war, as in @&e event of war the bourgeoisie will have to arin the proletariat, as the Soviet Union and the Red Army are very strong.. This sham-radical, sham-revolutionary attitude leads to the same opportunist passivity, to the same opportunist underestimation of war and emanatés from the same anti-Bolsshevist sources. We have likewise to conduct a ruthless Bolshevist struggle. against this opinion. Before the first’ imperialist. war the IT. International issued the slogan that the imperialist war can and Will be prevented by the general strike. If the parties of the Il, International are still ‘fmpudent @ndugh to hold out to the masses the hopes of a general strike in the. distant future, the 4th of August, 1914, has shown what the Il. International means by the slogan of the general strike. In their- speeches at the “dis- armament” conference Vandervelde and Jouhaux threatened a general strike and revolution in the event of a new war. And the bourgeois diplomats | It is now the question of how to launch the SMASH THE SCOTTSBORO LYNCH VER DICT! — By BURCK and ministers applauded them. If now the So- , cialist Labor Party, the Brandlerists and Trotzky- ists advocate only “big actions,” this does not mean that they really wish to launch big actions, but that they do not want any actions at all. general strike. At the beginning of an imperial- ist war the general strike is not the weapon which the proletariat is able to use at once without preparation. ‘The Conference for the tight against imperial- ist war as well as every Communist Party raised | the question .of the concrete methods and forms of the fight against imperialist war and inter- vention, It is clear to every Communisy and every revo- lutionary worker that the. economic struggles which are now being conducted in Poland and Czechoslovakia have tremendous importance also for the fight against imperialist war. The enemy ds in our own country and the intensified applica- tion of all proletarian means of struggle against the class enemy, the organization, launching, accentuation and extension of economic struggles is of the greatest importance also for the fight against imperialist war. At meetings, demon- strations, strikes, in the protest actions of, the peasants against taxes, usury, forced sales, com- pulsory ‘labor, the action of suppressed ‘nations against their oppressors the closest connection must be established between the war question pressed in the slogans, speeches, appeals and and the concrete action, and this must be ex- demands. . But the idea that every economic struggle, every strike, every fighting action means already a fight against war is erroneous and is Toward Revolutionary Mass Work ( bound to result in severe opportunist mistakes. We must set ourselves the task to organize and j lead direct broad mass actions specially against the imperialist war. Special meetings, impromptu. meetings at factory gates, factory meetings, dem- onstrations on this question must be well. pre- pared and carried out. Special leaflets, pamph- lets, literaturs exclusively devoted to this ques- tion must be spread. All participators in the Conference were unan- imous that it is the most important task of the Communist Parties to hamper and prevent the production of munitions and war material and the transport of troops and war material. ‘ What were the ft¥hting means and methods during the first imperialist war and in the period of the first intervention? Protest gtrikes: sometimes even small protetst strikes for half an hour or an hour against the production of war material. These. protest strikes were then developed into the great mass strikes which, as for instance in Germany, Austria, Hun- gary, England, lasted for several days. Ca’ canny strikes were a populuar weapon of proletarian resistance to imperialist war. The railway work- ers of Erfurt, Stuttgart, etc., in the period of the first intervention war began their struggle by a work-to-rule strike, and by this means delayed the transport of munitions. These actions were developed right to the cpen prevention of. muni- tions transports for Poland. In Holland and other countries, cases occurred in which. shells destined for Poland proved to be unserviceable. In France and in other countries useless war material was intentionally preduced for Peland, and these actions developed into protest strikes DISC THE THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE FOR THE FIGHT AGAINST IMPERIALIST WAR against war production. These strikes were often linked up with economic demands of the workers in the given factories~InetDunkirk, Danzig, London, etc., in the year 1920, the dockworkers prevented the loading of war munitions. The stopping of the “Jolly George” with munitions destined for Poland, in spite of all the threats of the great significance forthe whole interven- tion policy of the British government. In Dun- | kirk, Danzig and London also the seamen | heroically joined the fight.for preventing the dispatch of the ships with munition cargoes, The Chinese crew of the “Laertes” in Rotterdam and of the “Proenix” in Hamburg have during the present war prevented the transport of munt- tions for Japan. | In the Committee of the Conference it was -| particularly pointed out that the tasks set by the Communist Parties can only be solved by the consistent and correct application of the united front tactics from below. The great tasks im- Posed upon us by the fight against the imperial- ist war cannot be mastered without the setting up of fighting organs on a broad united front basis. ‘The setting up of control committees, vigilance committees, fighting councils in all fac- tories, at the railway depots, in the ports, the co-ordination of the work of these organs, is the most urgent task of the moment. The systematic offensive fight against the Il. International of the war inciters, the most ruthless exposure of their acts and sophisms, in particular as regards this vital question of the working class, will enablé-us.to wrest the prole- tarians from the influence of the socialist leaders, ) USSION OF 14TH PLENUIL. Personal Responsibility in Factory Work (Excerpt ‘from Comrade Browder’s. Speech at the-14th Plenum. The section of his specch dealing with the war situation is printed in the May issue of the Communist.) Yee trouble with our factory work is that it is still according to the book. It is the. méc¢hani- cal attempt to carry through a certain: instruc- tion without seriously sitting down to exemine * the peculiar feature of each factory, the special | problems of this factory, and to work out how, in this “particular factory, mass work tan be done to arouse the workers for struggle for their immediate needs for the babe: Political ee gle of the working class. ‘We approacl: the factory as outsiders, without, | any particular interest in learning about the in- side. We have a certain set formula,a certain conception as to what is inside of a factory. And this set formula, conception, is applied to every factory, with the result that It doesn’t fit p NALS B Lenin on Simplicity in. Our Contact with the Masses “The Communist should penetrate inté the humblest taverns, should find the way into the unions, societtes, and chance gatherings of the common people, and talk with them, ro! learnedly, not tco much efter a parliament. +, fashion.” (From Left-Wing Communism), “The Communist me:rber must speak in par- Hament in such a wav us to b> understood by every workinai, peasant, was.crwoman, shep- erd; so that the Party may publish his speech- es and spread them to the most remote villages of the country.” —From the\ Second ©. I. Congress Resolu- tion on Parliamentarism, reprinted in full in the February, 1932, issue of the Communist). EDEN RE RS SPOR ASRS TR RRR TO } Coneretely the specific preblems of wook By EARL BROWDER. the reality of any factory. tory. And what is the re: cannot we become ir tory work? It’s not of whether one is worl: s shop or not. It's the qu2s!!.a of to, the problems, the pauleaaion af values. @ abproach the mse of I think that there is only one way that we will | overcome this most serious. we: leadership of our Party, this lack about what ts factory work, this lack o to discuss in our central conmictce of the factory, I think that there is oniy one way in which this can be overcome, and that is to give every single memiber of the centrai com- mittee and every single member of our district commitice the special responsibility for develep- ing the work in one particular factory. Each one of us must teke cone particular fectory in which we assume the personal responsibility for developing the work in that factory, and at the end of six months make a written report about that factory. And it’s nof necessary that we have any connections in that factory. In fact, TI think it would be well if a good many of us were especially designated to factories in which we have no connections whatever, because that will be the typical problem of our Party, At the present time the problem of the pene- tration of the factories where we are not now is left entirely to chance. And the (ypical prob- Jem of our Party is how to ge into.the factories where we are not. ‘This is the typical problem, Let’s look at the, figures of our regisiration, which show us that in large factories—which is the special problem of our Party—out of our 14,000 members, or rather in the registration of , .& little less,than 9,000 members, we had 94 mem- bers in large factories—less than one per cent ; of our members in large factories. Our problem CINYRATS- THE PL DisCUSSION” IN... THE Soop NUCLEI The’ discussion of the 14th Plenum resolutions | should be concentrated in the shop nuclei. The | comrades who are giving the report should utile the dscussion and experiences for writ- |\ing brief articles fo the Dally Worker. ‘Those Services, based on the discussions in the shop neclei, will ke of great help te bring betore the entire Party the conerete Propents facing us in shop work, We purticularly urge the membérs of use shop | nuclei to send articles to the Daily on the basis of the discussions-of the Plenum resolutions taking place in their-nuclei. Living Contagt with the Masses In 1920 the Russian Commnunisi Party sent a letter to the Parity organizations on the ques. tion of the contact of the Party members with aon-Party workers. The letter said: “Our problem is to strengihen the ties between the Communists and the non-Party masses at all cosis. This is the ofl¥/®ay "to put life into our Parvy groups which at tines become pas- sive. Oxe Who cannot rally scveral honest non- Party peopie arcund him-isnot a Communist, A Cormununisé should ci 9 daily contact | wich non-Party people, eit usar homes, and then in their daily life supe'y them with lit- erature, send non-Party workcrs into the trade unions, and assist. the non-Party workers to take responsible posts in the trade unions. ‘The Party must help the poner atty members to do it.” }