The Daily Worker Newspaper, May 17, 1932, Page 4

\ Page F » ®& Rudlished by the Comprodaily Publishing-Ce,, inc, dally except Bungay, at $0 East. _ SUBSCRIPTION RATES: i‘ ge Four 13th St, New York City. N. Y. Telephone ALzonguin 4-7986, Cable “DATWORK: be anaft-eve: here: One 6; six month: 35. 1; Ty Boroughs v © Address and mail sll checks to the Daily Worker, 60 East 18th Street, New York, N.Y.” pobre cngi Bron; Naw ee city. Seah He eae nen — ———— — —————e THE WAR MOVE OF THE U.S. SENATE AGAINST THE SOVIET UNION By M. J. WACHMAN. NDER the cloak of a revenue bi is being made in the U. S. Senate to impose an embargo upon one of the ma oviet im- ports into this country. The planned emba on Soviet c is manufactured so closely that it leaves little doubt of its real intent as a war the U.S.S.R. disgraceful” log-rolling an attempt and trading be- The tween the various predatory groups for increased duties on many essential commodities with a view of pilfering the consumer has reached pro- portions that even the capitalist press is com- pelled to denounce as dishonest. But among all these impositions there is an import levy which hag Little to do either with revenue or with tariff but which is in reality but a disguised attack upon the Soviet Union Tie bill as introduced by the Senate Commit- tee on Finance ostensibly is only one of a group seeking high tariff protection under the pre- tense of balancing the budget. It imposes an import duty of 10 cents on every 100 pounds of imported coal, anthracite and coke, or $2.24 per gross ton. On closer consideration, the import duty on coal cannot possibly be intended and is not intended to increase the price of imported coal by $2.24 ped ton. It so happens that in respect of coal it would be rather inconvenient for the Wall Street interests to attempt to rob the New England consumers of our coal of $2.24 per ton, the simple reason being that the United States exports about fifteen times as much coal as it imports. According to official statistics of the Depart- ment of Commerce the total U. S. exports of coal, anthracite and coke, amounted to over 13 million gross tons, while the total imports were Jess than 835,000 gross tons. There is very good reason to believe that the imposition of any duty on imported coal will result in retaliation by the affected countries and that those countries on their part will impose a similar duty upon coal imported by them from the United States. The fina: 1 and business interests controlling the ¢dat industry in this country stand to lose about fifteen times as much on such a procedure as inat. which they. may possibly gain as a result of the imposition of a duty on the slight coal imports of this country. The import duty on coal is therefore planned in a manner to make it apply against one coun- try oily.’ It'is merely a subterfuge to secure an embargo on Soviet coal and this embargo is be- ing souzit definitely as a war move apparently closely linked with the events in the Far East. The Anthracite institute has been in the front ranks of the various war mongers against the Sotiet Union. This institute did not stop before the grossest misrepresentations and naked lies in order to cultivate war psychology against the Saviet Union. During the last two years it con- tinuously spread poisonous propaganda against the Soviet Union. ‘This institute has been making statements that the very, existence of the American anthracite industry is threatened by the import of Soviet coal. It -has maintained that Soviet coal is dumped in this country at ridiculous prices, that forced labor is being employed in its production, | and so on endlessly, never ceasing to reiterate the same lies that were disproved over and over again by unchallengeable evidence derived from governmental politicians and even from publica- tions of the anthracite industry itself. All these charges were repeatedly made the subject of official investigations of the Treasury Department; they were sifted again and again and they have always been found to consist of a tissue of lies that will not stand the light of any investigation. Only recently Mr. Seymour Lowman stated that the total imports of Russian anthracite into this country “was about equal to one day's production of the anthracite coal fields in Pennsylvania.” Furthermore, he also had.to admit that the “Russian anthracite is an especially high grade imported only into New England and gets a higher price than American cal” (quoted from an interview by Mr. Lowman in th? Baltimore Sun of April 9, 1932). So it is really not the competition of the Rus- sian coal that bothers the promoters of the im- port tax. Because of its high quality, Soviet coal is selling in this country at a price of about $1 higher than that of a similar kind of Ameri- can coal. There is no competition involved. The hypocritical claim of desiring to protect the American workers comes with very poor grace when it is considereq that the import of Soviet coal amounts only to about one-third of 1 per “cent of the domestic production. Besides, as al- ready mentioned, the faw is so worded that it applics only to Soviet coal. Barring the import of the 217,000 tons of coal coming from the Soviet Union will merely result in replacing those imports by coal from countries which are not subjected to the tax. | as asking whether t is important to note that the Anthracite Institute itself publicly stated that its only in- tention is to injure the Soviet Union. General Disque, the executive director of the institute, pub! ated that they have “no intention to injure Canada” and that they requested “the Senate Committee to so word the bill that coal from Canada and the British Isles should not be taxed” (quoted from the New. York Herald ‘Tribune, April 28, 1932). It must be remembered that two-thirds of all the coal imports of the United States come from Canada and Great Britain, whose coal is not to be subjected to the import duty. In the New York Times of May 14, General Disque is quoted “you prefer to give employ- to Chinese and Russians” rather than Presumably the General mentions ina merely to provide some camouflage for real intention of pushing war preparations against Russia. Or is it because General Disque unwittingly betrayed the real intent of this move to encourage Japan in its war against China and its war preparations against the Soviet Union? For it must be remembered that not a single tons of coal is being imported to this country from China nor is there any likelihood of its being imported. A few tons of coal (not over 900 tons) have been imported last year from French Indo China, so the only intention of this import duty is to injure the U.S.SR., to impose an embargo upon its coal as a move in the war campaign against the Soviet Union. It is well to remember that Assistant Secretary of State Castle recently declared that a trade boy- cott is a first step towards war. The workers of this country, whom Wall Street is seeking to inveigle in a war against Russia under the pretext of protecting labor, must know a few elementary and important facts. The Soviet Upion purchases in this country about eight times as much as it sells here. Last year this country exported to the Soviet Union, according to official statistics from the Depart- ment of Commerce, goods to the amount of 103 million dollars. During the same year it im- ment Americans. fe} | ported from the Soviet Union only 13 million dollars worth. It does not demand any proof that imposing an embargo upon imports from the Soviet Union is bound to discourage Soviet purchases in’ this country. There is the pre- cedent of Canada. Canada imposed an embargo on some imports from the Soviet Union and as a result lost all ‘of its trade to the Soviet Union. We have seen that according to the estimate of the Treasury Department the stopping of the imports of Soviet coal would not supply even one day’s work to the miners in the anthracite region. But the jeopardizing of the exports to the Soviet Union will cost thousands of Américan workers their jobs. The United States Department of Commerce recently estimated that 1,400,000 workers are employéd directly by the industries working for the export trade of this country and that another 1,400,000 workers are employed in- directly in connection with the export trade. Since 4.3 per cent of the total exports. of. this country went in 1931 to the Soviet Union, no less than 60,000 workers were thus directly em- ployed in the shops and factories manufacturing exports for the U.SS.R. and about another 60,000 workers were employed indirectly in con- nection with Soviet trade. Hence, according to the estimate of the Department of Commerce, over 100,000 working-class families of this coun- try depend for their living upon maintaining the Soviet American trade. Far from being intended to supply employment to American workers. The only possible effect of this war measure against the Soviet Union would be to deprive tens of thousands of American workers of em- ployment and throw them into the ranks of the many millions of unemployed, The sinister features of this embargo move against Soviet coal is that it is timed with the feverish preparations of Japan to invade the Soviet frontiers. The New York Times of May 14 reports that: “It has been estimated that Japan’s forces at all times . . . in Manchuria total nearly 100,000. In addition the Manchoukuo sol- diers officered by Japanese number about 85,000 and there are 119,000 Marrhoukuo ‘lo- cal police’ under Japanese domination.” Japan has concentrated immense armies on the Soviet frontier. The imminence of a war attack by Japan on the Soviet Union is ad- mitted by the bourgeois press and their com- petent militant observers. It is under these conditions that the Senate is urged to put an embargo on Soviet coal. The Finance Com- mittee of the Senate has already put its seal of approval on it. The U. S. workers being dragged into war against the Soviet Union. The working class must be warned and must mob- ilize against these war machinations of Amer- ican imperialism, How the Illinois Miners Can Defeat the Wage Cut By BILL GEBERT HE Illinois coal operators on April 1 declared @ lockout against the miners in Illinois, closing the mines and throwing out of work about 40,000 part-time employed miners, which, together with unemployed miners previously thrown out of jobs, is over 65,000 miners, and their families in the coal fields of Illinois are actually starving. There is no relief given to the miners in any adequate form. From time to time some local union hands out “bean or- ders”—the Red Cross gives from time to time a sack of flour and this is about all the relief that 65,000 miners with their families receive at the present time. The lockout of the Illinois miners is agreed upon by the officialdom of the U. M. W. A, headed by John Walker, acepting the lockout, the officials didn't do a thing to organize the miners to turn the lockout into a strike. They went into the other direction, dividing the miners by permitting some small mines to work on the basis of the old wage scale, permitting the coal operators to fill their orders and therefore per- mitting them to continue their lockout The clear position of the U. M. W. A. was ex- pressed by John Walker in a speech at a mass meeting in West Frankfort, Ilinois, in which he declared: “Lord knows how it is going to come out,” referring to the lockout of the miners. And, while this is the attitude towards the coal a ae John Walker, Lewis, Edmundson and | atrugele ag against the growing rank and file move- ment against wage-cuts, In this respect they are very active in attempting to prevent the miners from turning the lockout into a strike and defeat the wage-cut. “The Ilinois Miner,” official organ of the UM.W.A., District No. 12, Illinois, carries with friendly remarks the resolution adopted by the American. Legion of Illinois, which calls for. the setting up of an arbitration board which is to approach the question of wage-cuts in the “spirit of compromise.” The American Legion proposes the arbitration board cut the wages and that “the board of arbitration should be com- posed of parties outside of either organization (meaning miners and operators) and among its members should be prominent professors of economics, judges and businessmen.” In short, the American Legion proclaims its readiness to help the coal operators to put over the wage-cut by an arbitration board and the officialdom of the U. M. W. A. endorses this by printing this resolution {n the “Illinois Miner” with friendly remarks towards the contents of the resolution which is headed: “Legion urges miners and coal operators to settle by conference.” Against this plan of breaking the resistance of the miners, against wage-cuts, the miners must mobilize the maximum of their energy to defeat it under the demands of turning the lockout: into a strike, by electing strike commit- beers loved woton ad ere er ee aa are bun, wecking exztine to cary op | the elogep and demand ta detest the wascent | tyrasl Streti e Workers, free Edith Berkman from the clutches of this beast! Toward Revolutionary Mass Work ( By BURCRK DISCUSSION OF THE 14TH PLENUM. Guidance in Shop Work---Thru Personal Contact preparing for the District Convention, the District Buro has correctly decided upon a number of meetings with comrades involved in various phases of mass work, in order to discuss with them, in line with the decisions of the 14th Plenum of the Party, the causes for our weak- nesses, and. isolation from the decisive sections of the workers in the U. S. These meetings have helped us to draw in hundreds of comrades into the pre-convention preparation and discussion of our District, for the improvement of our work. These meetings have once again shown the correctness of the resolution of the Central Committee, especially as applied to our District. I want to touch a few points dealing with shop work, in this article, in order to show clearly what our basic weaknesses are, and what we must do in order to overcome them, In the meeting that we held with comrades in shop nuclei, and those working in large shops, comrade after comrade got up and showed the Possibilities of work inside the factory. At the same time proved that while a nucleus exists, that while a shop paper is being issued, never- theless, our unit -is isolated from the workers inside the shop. Why is this so? It is due to the fact that we have very little experience in shop work, and that the experience we do have we do and for adequate relief for the unemployed miners and minimum days work for the miners. This is the central task confronting the minres of Illinois. While this is the central task of the miners of Illinois, the miners must fully recognize that they can win these demands only when they will defeat the machinations of the Walker, Lewis, Ed- mundson and others who are doing their utmost. to prevent the miners from developing struggles. In Franklin County, the key coal-producing county of Illinois, the miners are on the move at the present. Mass meetings are taking place at which thousands of miners are attending. And the sentiment and spirit of these meetings is reflected in the above stated demands. This movement as yet is under the leadership of all kinds of fakers. Edmundson, it is true, is losing some influence among the miners. Neverthe- less, as yet, he has quite a support among some sections of the miners. He is making speeches, claiming that the Communist Party has a mili- tant membership, but the leadership of the Party is “no good.” He follows the line of his political advisor, the coynter-revolutionary Trotskyite, Jerry Allard, who has allied himself with the American Legion and Walker machine, who does his share to put over the wage-cut. Now Allard is put by Walker on the payroll as head of the relief committee. The miners can be sure that as long as Jerry Allard will be head of the relief committee it will be a committee of starvation for the miners, Pat Ansboury, former member of the Illinois District Board of the U.M.W.A., is trying to get some influence over the miners by making rad- ical and even revolutionary speeches and speaks about the united front of all the miners. The miners of Tlinois would like to know where Pat Ansboury stands on the questions: (1) Of turn- ing the present lockout into a strike and elect- ing strike committees? (2) Where Mr. Ansboury stands on the resolution of the American Legion? (3). Where Mr. Ansboury stands on individual contracts? (4) Where Mr. Ansboury stands on immediate relief for unemployed miners? (5) ‘Where Mr. Ansboury stands on the question of John Walker and John Lewis? (6) Where Mr. on social and unemployed insurance at the ex~ pense of the bosses and the government? ‘These *are vital problems confronting the min- ers, -And Pat Ansboury, although he generally gives lip service to some of these questions, does not raise a finger to do anything for these prob- lems. No one can sit on the side of the fence of the American Legion and the coal operators and be with the miners, who are on the other side of the fence. Therefore, Mr. Ansboury, are By LENA DAVIS ¥ To check up on people, to check up on the carrying out of the work— IN THIS—and again—in this lies the key to all of our activities, of our en- tire practice —(Lenin) not popularize enough, and we reach a certain point in the work where wé do not know what next to do. For instance, a comrade in a large textile shop involving 4,000 workers stated: “You will have to help us and tell us how to organize; what to do, because a few years ago we had a T.U.U.L. group there that was broken up, and we must approach the workers in a manner that they will understand us and will respond to the demands that we put forth.” ‘What are some other reasons? In the first place, in many instances, our com- rades are only in one department of the fac- tory, and the work of the unit is carried on in such a manner, that we do not broaden our ac- tivity, and we do not penetrate other depart- ments in the factory. Secondly, our comrades fail to discuss with the workers at the bench\the issues that arise and the points which the work- ers may be interested in to carry on the struggle. We make our demands, not with the workers, but more in a spirit of “for the workers”. There- fore, in many instances, we put up demands that the workers are not ready to fight for. We have not as yet learned how to even be- gin to develop semi-legal methods of work in the factories, and in many cases, even our own comrades are opposed to factory work, not so much because they are opposed to the line of the Party, but rather because we have failed to show them how to carry on the work, and at the same time to maintain their jobs. The ex- periences that we have had in our District in some of the important shops should prove con- clusively that leading comrades should be as- signed for full time work to one or another fac- tory. In addition to that, the District Committee must review the situation in the particular fac- tories as often as possible in order to prepare the next step for the mobilization of the workers in order to see that the shop nuclei, or the union groups that may exist, should not enter a stage of stagnancy, but have before them activities to which the workers will respond. Our district will not be able to make the turn unless we take seriously this question of shop work, and go out of the District Convention with the consciousness in the minds of every comrade that this work is the basic work of our Party, and that our activities must be centered around this work, When we speak of guidance, it should not be a guidance in the sense of paper instruction, because every factory has different problems, different tasks, Our guidance should be through personal contact, through personal help, and in that way we will be able to solve the many is- sues that arise in the various shops and mobilize the workers around our shop -uclei for struggle. In one word, to really make the shop nucleus the real leader of the workers inside the factories. Mass Literature--Mass Approach By ROBERT FRANKLIN | looking upon the work in our coming election campaign, one of the biggest tendencies that we have tc be aware of, as is pointed out in Comrade Hathaway's article in “The Commu- nist”, is that of sectarianism. How can this be tied up with literature work? Our comrades have the habit and tendency gathering their forces to defeat the wage-cut and for immediate relief, These questions will have to be answered. Otherwise the miners of Tlinois will have to fight against Ansboury as one of the worst demagogues. The miners can- not depend on Ansboury. They must build their own movement, their own struggle against the ones who are against the demands of the miners, which is, in short, defeat of the wage-cut and for immediate rélief for unemployed miners. The outstanding task confronting the opposi- tion movement in Illinois is to unite their ranks on the program of struggle, and this cannot be done by flirting around with Ansboury or other semi-progressive elements, but by organizing their own leadership for struggles. The present lockout of the miners must be turned into a strike and the strike can be won if the strike movement will be put into motion, The miners in Franklin County are on the move. It is very necessary to consolidate this movement and give it militant leadership. These are the problems of the miners of Illinois. The miners in Illinois can learn much from the struggles of the miners in Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia and Ken- tucky, led by the National Miners’ Union, and also of the struggles of the miners in the an- thracite coal fields, led by Maloney, where they met defeat, because of the leadership of Maloney. It is against such elements as Maloney, Ed- mundson, that the miners must open fire for the purpose of winning, the miners in struggle for their own immediate needs.: The unity of the miners in the struggle in Tilinois and In- diana and other fields is essential. This unity can be established only on the basis of struggle against Lewis, Walker, Edmundson and Ans- boury, on the basis of united rank and file against the coal operators and their best allies, the Walkers, Lewises and Edmundsons. Forward to the struggle of the miners to de- feat the wage-cuts and for immediate relief for he a ee fhe snemplored were, of believing that literature is the sole property of the Party members and nobody else. One of the means that we have to get out of our sec- tarian position is that of mass distribution of literature, of the reaching of outside workers with our messages. Of course, this is a very gen- eral and broad statement to make. Now, how are we going to bring this down to the individual Party member in his everyday life and work? We understand that our best contact is that of personal contact—solid personal contact with individual workers. When we work next to a worker in a shop, or, when we belong to the same union as the worker does, or in the’ same mass organizations, or we live next door to him, the best way in which to sum up our arguments and our discussions is by leaving with him a pam- phiet on that given topic that we are discussing with him. This pamphlet in concrete terms, in a much more capable manner than most of us could, finally gives the written words, the writ- ten summation of our arguments; and we must not underestimate the tendency of the average worker to believe in the printed word. This leav- ing of the pamphlets with the individual worker; the asking him the next time we meet him how he liked it; the discussion of the pamphlet with him, makes for a more solid personal contact than before. This is what we believe the Plenum Resolution meant by Werner contact with the workers, When we come in contact with workers who have received a wage cut; with workers who have had their relief cut down or denied alto- gether; when we come in contact with workers who are working on the stagger system, or who are unemployed altogether; when we come in contact with workers who are ex-servicemen,— whatever the struggle of these individual work- ers, whatever their immediate problem with re- lation to their bosses——we have the literature which will clarify them on baa S Cece! in this capitalist system. - ‘The question’ of” eunptojanant 1s on every worker's mind. The fear of unémployment is in every’ worker's heart. What ‘better than that of distributing hundreds of thousands of pamphlets dealing with the unemployment question, deal- ing with unemployment insurance, dealing with eo “Onur” Noble Cops A reader sends us a clipping of the Spokane, Washington “Press,” containing an account of the trial and conviction of Tom Lambert, a local cop, on a charge of “carnal knowledge” of his 14-year old daughter. Our reader, we think, draws a bit too heavy on his imagination in try- ing to find social significance in this more or less common abnormality, Another clipping of more social meaning is that sent us by Comrade T. M. of San Fran- cisco, from thé local “News,” relating that Po- lice Captain John J. O'Meara was pleasantly “surprised” when it was made public that Tes- sie Wall, notorious “queen” of prostitutes in Frisco’s old Barbary Coast, had died, leaving him a $50,000 estate, consisting of flat buildings. “I was Tessie’s advisor in many of her troub- Jes,” the Police Captain “explained.” “Her will was probably her way of saying ‘thank you’ for the little favors I performed.” Oh, how in- nocent are these cops of Frisco! Or New York! Or Chicago! Or—anywhere! Only, it happened that another cop, Sergeant Rhodes, only last February drew a $2,000 legacy from Harry Muller, a “king” of the underworld, and known “fixer* for prostitutes and gamblers, Of course, the Chief of Police “investigated” the affair, and (no doubt having some “connec= tions” himself) dismissed the inquiry by saying that the cop and the crook were “close friends before Rhodes entered the department.” Compare this rather brazen friendship of cops with the underworld, to the “friendship” the same cops show toward strikers, then recall how Hoover came out with public praise far the police when his own appointed Wichcrstaggp. Commission reported that police everywhers were brutal and lawless. eo Cae we This Is So Simple That we wonder the cartoonist Goldberg “Never thought of that...” For months the capitalist papers have been shouting cries of alarm at proposals in Congress supposed, somewhat fictitiously, to tax the rich higher on incomes, “The rich would put their money into tax free bonds!” is the “warning” sounded by every cap- italist editor. As if that were subject to no solution. Our suggestion is to TAX THE TAX-FREE BONDS! That's simple, isn’t it? ey See Idaho Potatoes 4 From the Boise (Idaho) “Capital News” we learn that Idaho is getting famous for other things than big spuds. There is being organ- ized there a Farmer Taxpayers’ League, and a gent named General Martin is making dema- gogic speeches to the farmers about what ought to be done. This “General” was attorney general of the state when Bill Haywood was kidnaped from Colorado and the state of Idaho, with Senator Borah as prosecuting attorney in the Haywood case, tried to hang Haywood, Moyer and Petti- bone, three leaders of the Western Federation | of Miners, on a framed up murder charge. Mar- tin at that time was not interested in reducing farmers’ taxes by dismissing the costly attempt to carry out the murder of labor leaders for the benefit of the Mine Owners’ Association. But now he is all hot for reduction of taxes. | So is Borah. But by firing alot of school teach ers and—take note—abolishing mine inspection. We advise Idaho farmers not to fall for the demagogs who talk for general tax reductions, | but to themselves fight for abolition of taxes on small capital farmers, and increased taxes on all big capitalists, rich farmers, railroad corp- orations and other exploiters. war upon the Soviet Union; we constantly re- mind them that in 1914-1918 millions of work- ers were crippled, maimed and killed. How about the distribution of our literature dealing with war? Isn’t it reasonable to believe that our pamphlets showing the war in China, the peace proposals of the Soviet Union, the only country that wants peace, etc., will have a tremendous effect upon the workers reading this for the first time? In all our campaigns, and in all our material, we must again emphasize that our work will be haphazard and distant unless we bring that close, firm personal contact between the workers and ourselves. The Party members must forget that they are in a little choser kingdom, off by themselves, watching and directing the mass of workers off in the distance. All in all, we see that the immediate tasks of the Party can be made easier through the proper organizational distribution of literature. This work can be made much easier for the Party as a whole if every individual comrade realizes the position he is in—that of an individual organ- izer; that, with the distribution of literature he becomes an individual Party orgenizer; that with the proper distribution of literature he leaves with the worker the final summation of the whole controversy in this system. If we want to make the coming election cam- paign a success; if we want to turn the signae tures that we received into Communist votes, we must understand that this can only be done by the leaving of literature with this worker. Bee cause in our attempts to get this worker's signae ture, our arguments may have been hasty and hurried, and may have been incomplete because our main desire was to get the signature. The piece of literature left may be just the necessary thing to turn this signature into a Communist vote, or even a member of a revolutionary ore ganization or the Communist Party, Every Party member to sell no less than one pamphlet a day—every literature seller a Party organizer! Let us speak in terms of hundreds of thousands and millions of pamphlets. Raise the flood of discontent with a flood of literature! . . . NOTICE TO ALL DISTRICT ORGANIZATIONS The May Day issue of The Communist has been sold out in the first printing, A limited reprint is now being ordered. efier which the type will be destroyed, Considering the urgent need of the May issue of The Communist in popularizing the decisions of the Central Com- mittee Plenum, all districts are urged to wire ~~ “* 4 QD Dd Al 2 el