The Daily Worker Newspaper, May 10, 1932, Page 4

13th St. addres: New Y d mail Kk City, N. ¥. O SAVWENeA By the Comprodaily Publishing Ca; ime, dally except Sanday, at 0 Hast Telephone ALgonquin 4-7956. Cable “DATWORK® all checks to the Daily Worker, 50 Bast 13th Street, New York. N. ¥, Daily Contre “Orbem oc y, Worker’ Porty US.A SUBSCRIPTION RATES: By mail everywhere: One year, $6; six months, $3; two months, $1; ef Manhattan and Bronx, New York City. Foreign: one year, CAPITALIST TERROR IN PHILADELPHIA By TOM HOLMES being cut down ployed mass¢ was in- Cour Evictions were where the workers amount of extra relief Committee, hunger ng, corrupt Vare- growing by successfully were organized was forced from leaps ani being resisted Ac e Lio; the wo. lass were being drawn into active struggle ast hunger and war. The bosses SAW THAT A UNITED WORKING-CLASS WAS DETERMINED TO FIGHT FOR THEIR RIGHTS TO FIGHT FOR THE RIGHT TO LIVE AND AGAINST THE STARVATION— LYNCHING — WAR PROGRAM OF THE | BOSSES. e first major step In the boss campaign of r was to frame up innocent Willie Brown, ar Old Negro boy, on & charg eof murder. All of the facts in the case undoubtedly prove Willie Brown innocent. From the beginning the police were looking for a Negro to frame up as can, be easiy seen from a statement made by a leading police official:—We (the police) do not know who committed the crime but we feel that IT WAS EITHER A DARK SKINNED WHITE MAN OR A LIGHT SKINNED NEGRO.” After making about 50 arrests of which 45 were of Negro workers, the bosses selected innocent Wil- lie Brown as a victim, The fact that a white man’s hair was found on the person of the dead girl, that the detectinve who arrested Willie Brown admitted that he “arrested him because he looked suspicious; I just played a hunch,” that the only evidence against Willie were “confessions,” extorted from him by brutal third degree methods and repudiated by Willie Brown after he was let out of “cold storage,” Willie Brown was railroaded to a death sentence. The police and boss papers used this case in order to create race riots and lynch spirit against the Negro masses, The “trial” was rushed through im a court filled. with race prejudice, without @ Negro on the jury. The vicious boss Judge Harry S. McDevitt told the jury to bring in a verdict of guilty. All this proves definitely that it is not only a case of an innocent Negro worker being framed up but also A COLD-BLOODED. DELIBERATE SCHEME OF THE BOSS CLASS TO CREATE RACE DIVISION AMONG THE WORKING-CLASS IN ORDER TO STOP THE GROWING UNITY OF THE WHITE AND | NEGRO WORKERS OF PHILADELPHIA. And not only this but IT WAS THE FIRST PRE- PARATORY STEP IN THE MOST VICIOUS CAMPAIGN OF TERROR THE WORKERS OF PHILADELPHIA HAS EVER FACED. In the feame-up of Willie Brown, the bosses were ably by their assistant hangmen, the traitorous misleaders, ‘The International Labor Defense as well as the @iher left-wing working-class organizations took the fight for Wille Brown as soon as the dheracter of the case became plain. The L L D. @zposed the case zo thoroughly and clearly to the drericers that the police department launched a fresh campeign of terror against the workers and especially against the International Labor Befense. Workers were arrested for speaking at tectings, distributing leaflets, attending meet- ings, walking along the streets, for being present i working-class offices, Is must be undertood that ¢he mass fight for Brown was linked up with the general a against boss’ terror and the necessity of fhe working-class to organize for better condi- ons and against the boss’ program of hunger. te lynch verdict in order to accomplish race division so as to prevent a joint struggle by Negro and white workers for unemployment insurance and relief, better conditions and higher wages in shops, against war and boss terror. The boss reaction to this exposure was an increased wave of terror in the form of raids, beatings, arrests, jailings, intimidation. Then the Philadelphia working-class began preparing for May Day linking up the Willie Brown Case, the Scottsboro Case, Tom Mooney ‘ase and Philadelphia boss’ terror with the necessity of white and Negro workers organizing to fight for better conditions.. Workers again were arrested wholesale for distributing leaflets. | Five workers were charged with “sedition” for possessing raffle books with the words “Trip to the SOVIET UNION” thereon, seven workers were charged with “inciting to riot” for having posters announcing the coming May Day dem- onstrations. The bosses, not satisfied with “merely” jailing hundreds of workers for distributing literature and jailing dozens of others on various framed- | up’ charges attempted to dampen by terror the enthusiasm of the workers for the May Day | Demonstration. They banned the demonstra- tions from taking place at City Hall.or Reyburn Plaza (just across from the City Hall). They | also denied the right of the workers to parade, | (Today in Philadelphia the police will not grant | | the workers the right to parade; the workers are brutally attacked in their fight for the streets). The police state openly that they would brutally | smash the attempt of the workers to parade and hinted that they would smash the “permitted” open air demonstrations. The workers answered this challenge of the police by increasing the May Day preparations, On April 30, the workers of Philadelphia gathered in two places: Fourth & Federal and Thirteenth & Thompson. They had announced beforehand they would march to City Hall from these two places. At Fourth and Federal there were 1,500 workers—at Thirteenth and Thomp- son about 4,000—at City Hall waiting for the arrival of the two demonstrations were about 20,000 workers. At the elose of the open air demonstrations the workers begun their march to City Hall. Immediately before the workers had taken a dozen steps hundreds of police together with thugs in worker's clothes attacked the parade and a fierce battle ensued in which dozens of workers were hurt and also 20 police- men and thugs. Twenty-six workers were ar- rested and charged with “assault and battery, inciting to riot, disorderly conduct, breach of peace, parading without a permit.” Six workers had their skulls split and two of them almost died that night. Even the capitalist papers had to admit that “never in the history of Philadel- phia has such bloodshed been spilled.” The same day (April 30th) many wotkérs wére arrested in other parts of the city;—Five for distributing leaflets—two for speaking at open air meetings. The cops also arrested the six- year old son of an L L. D. organizer, for dis- | tributing leaflets. ‘This “dangerous ¢riminal” was taken to the house of detention and jailed. The next morning the twenty-five workers (one of the twenty-six was @ thug arrested by mistake) were held for further hearing (May 15,) under @ total bail of $183,000 by the labor- hating, ex-Department of Justice Agent, O'Hara. This is the most excessive bail ever placed on any one in the history of the city. At the in- door protest meeting held on May Ist, at which 10,000 workers attended, it was pointed out that this was a direct challenge to the workers of Philadelphia, and our answer must be: increased organization. The terror against workers has not abated. To | the conttary only two days have passed since May Day and yet over a dozen workers have been arrested for trying to exercise the “right” of free speech and assemblage. The International Labor Defense calls upon the workers of Philadelphia to smash the bosses’ terror by building « tremendous mass defense movement, The Strike of the 700 Cassandra Miners * By 2 Worker Correspondent) y akg strike of the 700 coal miners in Cassandra has been in progress since January 18 under the local leadership of the United Mine Workers of America. The local leading the strike is one of the two locals in all Pennsylvania which had @ contract with the companies prior to the strike. The company had Jald off all the night shift. ‘One bundred and ten lost their jobs. The local jwas nob notified, The miners responded with a strike, As soon as the miners came out the company With the aid of the county authorities and the BPinehot State Police imported strike breakers. low the mine is operating with 350 strike- érs and is getting all the coal they need. At the very beginning of the strike the wrong orga of the local leaders was visible. Instead picketing the mine with masses of miners ‘women and children they threw out a pick~ ine of miners only and a loose one at that. UMWA Against Militant Policy. ‘The Nationa) Miners Union men attempted at Whe very beginning of the strike to assist the miners by calling on them to elect a rank and file strike committee and try to ad the strike to other mines. The local lead- who were holding a strong grip on the min- decided against this policy and told the fniners that the strike would be of short dura- and that the company would give up the very soon, The local secretary, Mr. Mc- bb, came out with a statement in the press , the strike was a UMWA strike and that NMU had nothing to do with it. Then James the district president, issued a statement. said that the strike was an outlaw strike that the UMWA had nothing to do with it. President Murray said the same thing. In- feed, it was no UMWA strike. It was a strike of he rank and file. Byery day there were more strikebreakers in- the output of coal. The local leaders of putting up a militant fight, instead trying to spread the strike, ran into Ebens- | “use their influence” om the company and settle | the strike, but they failed. Call In Socialists. By this time the local leaders became alatmed and to hold the miners under control they brought in the socialists. Socialists, who reeked with radical phrases, spoke to the miners and vised them to stay with their union. They told | them that they.would win and that they should vote the socialist ticket. N.M.U. men tried to speak to the ntiners and proposed to offer a plan on how te drive the scabs from the neighboring towns where the company had housed them. But the UMWA leaders refused to let the NMU men talk. Now there are 350 scabs working and produc- ing all the coal that the company wants The strikers’ hopes for victory are getting lower and lower. The UMWA leaders are more end more exposing themselves to the miners as their be- trayers. . Must Concretize Decisions of Convention. While the miners are showing a fighting spirit, the NMU in Central Pennsylvania is to be ctiti- cized for not putting into life the deci-~ sions of the last convention. Our union has many difficulties in our way, especially in the matter of finances, but with determination, harmony and discipline, particularly among the leading comrades in Central Penn., these difficulties would soon be overcome, On May 8 the section committee of the NMU will have a conference and we hope that the conference will clear up some of the misunder- standings among the comrades. We must spread the decisions of the NMU Convention FEEDS the miners before it is too. late, Workers and Working-Class Organiza- Protest the Park Sen. Protest Resolu- tions to Dr. Edw. G. Brust, Village tions, Melrose Massacre! I. L. D, exposed the scheme of the bosses to | | CAPITALISM SOLVES THE UNEMPLOYM ENT PROBLEM By BURCK Before the Conventions of Our Enemies Article 1 tésponse to the vicious anti-Soviet articles of David Shub in the New Leader (organ of the Sotialist Party of New York), there have been many attacks and criticisms of Shub in the New Leader. Norman Thomas, in “socialistic” indig- nation, criticizes Shub for not seeing the “good sides” of Socialism in the Soviet Union, and for emphasizing the “bad sides.” This is the hypo- critical position of Norman Thomas, who is against Socialism and the Soviet Union, but who recognizés that thé workers of the United States aré not to be blinded any longer. ‘Norman Thomas, as a friend of Dan and Abramovitch, the latter of whom visited this country and received funds directly from the Socialist Party for counter-revolutionary activity in the Soviet Union, is an enemy of the Soviet Union, and therefore any attempt to speak of “good sides” and “bad sides” of the Soviet Union is only in order to throw sand in the eyes of the workers. However, there are workers within the So- cialist Party who are friends and sympathizers of the Soviet Union, and who recognize the con- nection between the Socialism that is being built up in the Soviet Union, and the Socialism that these workers strive for in the United States. One writer in the New Leader says, “It is my belief that Socialism in the United States and elsewhere, will, in a large measure, rise or fall in proportion to the success or failure of So- cialism in the Soviet Union. . . . I believe that it is about time that the Socialist Party and the New Leader stop playing ostrich on the Russian question and adopt the policy to emphasize the past and future achievements of the Soviet gov- ernment.” This worker has not yet learned that the Socialist Party is a counter-revolutionary Party, and that Socialism in the U. S. can only ‘be established through the revolutionary struggles of the workers in the U. S., just as it was done in Russia, and is being organized by the Com- munists all over the world. Another writer, in proletarian anger at the Shub articles says: “After reading the article by David Shub, my first intention was to ask you to mail me no more copies of the paper. The whole capitalist class will play up and broadcast such information from such a source. Have you ever attempted to sift the source of this Cap- italism in the Party (the Socialist Party)? You will find it comes from those high in the Party councils, and long and intimately associated with the movement.” (Emphasis ours.) This worker is correct. The capitalists rejoice at such lies as are spread by the New Leader, the Jewish Daily Forward, and similar Socialist papers in this and other countries. The cap- italists have their agents in the working-class and carry on their destructive work through the Socialist Party leadership. This is the role of the Socialist Party. Workers who sincerely wish to support the revolutionary movement in this country; to in- troduce Socialism in this country; and who sees the close connection between the defense of the Soviet Union, the building of Socialism in the Soviet Union, and the revolutionary overthrow of capitalism in this country, must come to two conclusions: 1) The Socialist Party is not the medium through which the revolution is being carried on and will be effected. The Socialist Party is an enemy of the working-class revolu- tion. 2) The revolution in the United States can only be fought under the leadership of the work- ers’ revolutionary Party and that revolutionary Party is the Communist Party, Is it any wonder, therefore, that at the State Convention of the Socialist Party in New York, the major part of the time was taken up with discussion. on the Soviet Union. ‘The Soviet Union and Socialism in the Soviet Union are the touchstone by which one marks the revolutionist or the counter-revolutionist, depending upon whether one is a supporter of an enemy of the Soviet Union. The sincere worki tlass ele ments still in the Socialist Party, and who are supporting it, look to the Soviet Union, as do workers all over the world, Shub, Hillquit, Norman Thomas, McAllister President, Melrose Rath Mote Cpleman and the worker who have writien Jo t By I. AMTER the New Leader are five types of Socialists. Shub, an outspoken counter-reyoutionist, who does not mince words about his counter-revolu- tionism. Hillquit, the counter-revolutionary Jaw- yer for the white guard oil interests in the Soviet Union. Thomas, the palavéring minister, who agrees with Hillquit, but otily tells thé workers the “good sides.” McAllister Coleman, the so-called “militant” who believes that “The Russian dictatorship was a historically necessary instrument for the building of Socialism in Rus- Sia...... but at the same time we set ourselves firmly against di¢tatorship in this country as long as democratic (1!) means to the transition of The New Leader--Open Enemy of the USSR. @ socialistic society are available, and sincere nt to participate in the revolutionary We agree with these workers that it is time to “sift the source of the capitalist information and influences in he Socialist Party,’—this is the task of the Socialist Party members. The So- cialist Party is a party of capitalism—the third party, which serves the particular party to fool the workers of England, Germany; Japan and Spain, and as a force to mobilize the workers against the revolutionary moyement led by the Communist Party. 4. ee “THE ROAD.” 1931. $1.50. T= is a book, which, despite many painfully evident shortcomings, is a trail-blazer. THE ROAD traces the course of a young worker from a so-called “ordinary” existence to that of & class-conscious worker, member of the social- ist party (pre-war), left winger, and, finally, Communist Party member in the underground days just after the Palmer raids, The literary critics of the brass check variety will not like this book. To a man they will take it up gingerly, examine it at arm’s length, turn up their noses and shout in chorus: “Propa- ganda, not art!” And propaganda it is. Not always subtle propaganda—if subtlety be an ele- ment to be taken into consideration—but always propaganda for the oppressed masses and against the oppressor class. But it is propaganda of fact, documented like few novels have ever been. Tt is, actually, the first of its kind in the Eng- lish language—a contemporary, proletarian novel that displays a remarkable fidelity for revolu- tionary, that is to say, scientific, principle. The scene of the book is laid in the average American industrial town of Jamesport. Eu- gene Young, the young worker whose life we follow, comes in contact with a local socialist. He borrows many books from him and gets a class education from them. (He “learns” of the class struggle through books, it must be noted,) He joins the Jamesport local of the socialist. party and at about the same time meets his love, Vera, through a happy—and altogether too melodramatic—accident. Life really begins for both of them here with their common work in the socialist local. Here Marlen introduces to us the pre-war brand of the official American socialism, that haven of opportunists, political adventurers, middle- class pacifists, single-taxers, and what not. He brings out, particularly, the strong middle-class current that flowed through it and the parlia- mentary illusions that affected some working- class elements in it. There are certain types that one can recognize today, certain types that by, now have become social phenomena: Peter- ‘son, the social patriot, who leaves the Jamesport local of the socialist party at the entrance of the United States ‘.to the war, becomes a police agent and leads mobs against his former com- rades, Then there is Harris, the middle-class social-pacifist, who states at a meeting when the Jamesport Right and Left finally split: “... if I can’t get socialism by lawful means, by bafiot, I don’t want it at all. I'd rather see capitalism go on forever.” Among all these Eugene and Vera are flung. They fall victiins to the middle-class current that flowed through the socialist party from its fountain head, the Berger-Hillquit-Oneal-Spargo leadership. On the night of the 1912 elections they await the returns anxiously ... and are bitterly disappointed that socialism is not voted in. ‘The breaking down of their parliamentary illusions, the gathering spirit of international- ism, the slow consolidation of the left wing, the painful groping towards the Communist Party— all are graphically told. Somewheres along the way, Ducasse, the old Communard, tells the deathless tale of the Paris Commune... . November 7, 1917! A lightning Mash that tore \ Red Star Press. New York, Road” through the rolling blackness of the World War and revealed the beginning of a new historic era—the dictatorship of the proletariat and the beginning of the building of the socialist order. The revolutionary bolt lighted up the darkness of Jamesport and showed Eugene and Vera their path. Probably one of the best sections of the book is this where Eugene and a number of local revolutionary workers, some of whom had been left wingers in the socialist party, organize to defend the struggling young Soviet Republic. In the fierce days of 1918 and 1919, when the Russian proletariat and peasantry successfully defended the Soviet Union against the steel ring of bayonets that threatened to strangle the new- born workers’ republic in its own blood, Eugene and Vera organize to stop the transport of muni- tions to the interventionist armies. What must be the task of every class-conscfous worker in the war now upon us js clearly foreshadowed in the strike that Eugene and Vera organized among the longshoremen. Shortcomings. What has been said above is sufficient to characterize the book as a proletarian novel. But it would be an injustice to the workers for whom this book is intended and to the author if its shortcomiags were not discussed critically and sympathetically. Precisely because of the fact that THE ROAD is another weapon in the as yet tiny arsenal of English proletarian litera- ture must we point out the defects that blunt its class edge. Firstly, the book is not bone of the bone and flesh of the flesh of the American working class. Pretentiousness has cost the book dearly. The author too obviously has tried to write THE Ame:"van proletariat epic and like others who suffer cccacional delusions of grandeur, loses sight of reality, His hero, for instance, is no ordinary, practical American young worker, but is a sort of lecturer and dreamer, a “luftmensch.” Marlen’s craftsmanship is awkward. His handling of dialogue, for instance, is downright amateurish at times, his narrative stilted and his description not infrequently tedious. However, despite all these technical shortcom- ings—which Marlen, we hope, will overcome in time—the book must be regarded as a def%aite step forward for American proletarian literature. Marlen, the watchmaker, sees literature as a weapon and consciously subordinates form to content., The literary sophisticates may sniff. Let them! Workers, even though they criticize, will like THE ROAD, its class content, its class purpose, i Workers should criticize it. It seems to us that it would be a good idea to have a collec- tive discussion and criticism of this book at some workers’ clubs and at some of the John Reed Clubs. The suggestions made by workers for pruning the book, for cutting out much of the abstract editorializing and technical phrase- ology, should be catried out as soon as prac- thal. Last, but not least, the book should be made available in a paper-backed edition at a much lower cost than at. present. Finally, the none too gentle hint that Marlen gives the revolutionary intellectuals should be taken: et hehe Wo acc ses Agra were being mualered: in domonetrsidcme sit By JoReE | Three-Quarters of a Cent 4 Too Much ! The printed agenda or menu or program off the First Parish Church Presbyterian, Hudson, N. Y., for April 10th, is before us, and on the back thereof, we note the lament that only three-quarters of a cent of each “American dolw Jar” goes to the churches, ! On the inside, under the Statement of Faith,” the parishoners are asked to state that they will “work and pray for the promotion of dustice, the reign of peace among nations,” etc. t Well, anyone may pray for those things til} the crack of doom. But if they want to work for them, they'll have to leave the joss hous@ and, if a worker, join the Trade Union Unity League, participate in strikes against wage cuts, demonstrations for unemployment insurance, and—if they want “peace among nations,” hike down to the docks and persuade the longshore- men and sailors to refuse to transport anything in the line of munitions to Japan. Any chatter-box can say he wants peace, but not enough people are demonstrating it today on the waterfront. The churches get three-quare | ters of a cent too much. ard The Con 7 The economic cris. ‘tht considerable comnetition in the cop market. ‘£ pickings are not so good as they once were. Hence the in- leusuied rivalry of bootlegging gangs has been reflected in higher mortality rate on cops, whose interests are invariably tied up with one gang or the other—and maybe both. Thought of this when seeing that a reporter for a capitalist paper at Canton, Ohio, was shot. ‘That paper has been “waging a campaign against organized crime and the Canton police,” says the Associated Press of April 27. Probably on behalf of another gang which wants the police of their rival replaced by those of their own. In this case, of course, a reporter for the capitalist press, not a cop, was shot. But they’re much the same breed of oats very often. The chief of police, who has been attacked | by the paper, “took personal charge of the in- vestigation” of the shooting of the reported, That’s too nice! Just like our “own” Commis- sioner Mulrooney here in New York “investigat~ ing” himself. Some perfectly respectable resident of Long Beach, California, also got a lesson in police “ethics” recently, when he was arrested for “criminal syndicalism” for delivering a lecture on Communism, and whe released was kidnap= ped as he was going from the court, and given a bath in sump oil from the oil fields near by. When he complained to the police about the kidnapping—he was locked up again. The police were, of course, identical with the kidnappers. Every worker should realize that he and his class can expect nothing from the police but barbarities. That the police are the most im~ placable enemies of the working class, the special category of capitalist gunmen who will oppose the workers even when the vast majority of the people, including the sailors and soldiers, have gone over to the side of the workers in the struggle for power. And—by the way, have you noticed that al- though there is an epidemic of wage cuts and lay offs of city employes, school teachers and so on, the police is being strengthened and more money than ever given them? The Young Pio- neers might explain that to their teachers—and ask ’em how they like it. “The Communist” May Issue CONTENTS MAY DAY, 1932 JAPAN, AMERICA AND THE SOVIET UNION Extracts from the Speech of Earl Browder at the Plenum of the Central Committee, April 17, 1932 LESSONS OF THE STRIKE STRUGGLES IN THE U. S. A. Resolution of the E. C. C. 1. \ LENIN’S INSTRUCTIONS TO THE DELEGA- TION AT THE HAGUE CONFERENCE FOR A COMPLETE MOBILIZATION OF THE PARTY FOR REAL MASS WORK IN THE ELECTION CAMPAIGN Extracts from the Report of C. A. Hathaway on the Election Compaign, delivered at the 14th Plenum of the Central Committee | THE GROWTH OF THE PARTY IN THE STRUGGLE AGAINST CENTRISM AND SECTARIANISM By Alex Bittelman THE CANADIAN PARTY AND ITS STRUGGLE AGAINST ILLEGALITY Extracts from Speech of the Fraternal Delegate of the Canadian Communist Party to the Cen- tral Committee Plenum THE END OF THE THIRD YEAR OF CRISIS REVEALS FURTHER DEEPENING By Labor Research Association MARXISM AND THE NATIONAL PROBLEM (Continued) By J, Stalin ON THE THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS OF MARXISM-LENINISM (Concluded) By V. Adoratsky MARXIST STUDY COURSES on picket lines, were framed and imprisoned in capitalist bastilles, masses of unemployed starved . . . when the imperialists were pree paring a new world butchery, and, above all, an attack on the Soviet Union, these writers, by filling their novels and poems with sicken- ing pacifist hash, with hobo portraits of Amer- ican backwoods and descriptions of the life of venders and rakes of the East Side, did their ; share of the work of distracting the tollers’ | mind.” 1 Instead of criticizing the all too apparent de- fects of THE ROAD, many of our revolutionary intellectuals would benefit the movement more if they would emulate Marlen und sit down to | write a complete working-class novel, something | that could be given to the American working- class youth, a section of the working-class which is taking the road of struggle in incréasing number. More literature of this sort would be odie dir pi take THE ROAD, from this point of ce mg Vw