The Daily Worker Newspaper, May 18, 1932, Page 4

( Published by the Comprodaily Publishing Co, ine, daily except New York Cit, Page Four 18th St. N. ¥: Telephone ALgonquin ¢-7956. nday, at 50 East Cable “DATWORK." ‘Address and mail all checks to the Daily Worker, 50 East 18th Street, New York, N. ¥. Fe BBL. 2HON RAL Foreign: one year, 3: By mail everywhere: One year, $6; six months, $3; two moliths, $1; ezcepting Boroughs of Manbsttan and Bronx, New York City. siz months, $4.50, SMASH THE UGLY HEAD OF WHITE CHAUVINISM By LEON PLATT city « progr Thi ty wa ment willingness to fi ses our ther w race oppression While through our struggle for Negro rights many Negro joined the Party, at the same ce of white chauvinism and the ally « out the revolutionary movemen d to believe that be roves that thi Party. ~ Howev { Negro workers joining and together with ity of our y due to the is) declining. decline .in the lie Brown of our are Party | Willie Brown was framed-up on a charge 1 the case of Wil iar to the reade: press of killing and attacking a white child, Dorothy The frame-up is evident, if we only ex- amine the mere proceedings of the trial. He was found “guilty” on the basis of a forced “con- fession” after undergoing a third degree, by a Lutz. hand-picked te jury, under conditions a, incited by the police depart- men ate’s attorney, under the general direction of the well-known strike-breaker, Judge McDevitt. The State did not even possess lled circumstantial evidence that is us- ually introduced in frame-up cases, especially where Negroes are involved. As a matter of fact, in the hands of the murdered child, was found the hair of a white man, and the ring which was found near the child’s body, doesn’t it V ie Brown. The | question for us now to ask is how is it in the face of such evident frame-up, ar opinions expressed in the Party and of militant working class organizations, at “the Party must not arouse the masses to ht f he release of Willie Brown and should not even concern itself with the case? _Why who consider themselves revolutionary ay “We should fight for Negro rights, freedom of the Scottsboro boys, but not the freedom of Willie Brown’? It’ts be- e to fight for Willie Brown means to come the do some workers for the for into collision with the entire Philadelphia city administration—the courts, the ward politicians and the Philadelphia police department. It threaten the influence of the Republican- machine among the Negro masses. This Iso explains why the police permitted Scotts- boro meetings, but attacked Willie Brown meet- ings, why the police permitted the display of Toward a Decisive Turn in Party Work THE COMMUN . Published monthly by the Communist Party of the United States of | America, P. O. Box 148, Station D, New York City. Subscription $2 a year; 20 cents a copy. worker who. wants to clearly under- mendous tasks that face the working class of the United States and the only way in which a successful fight can be carried on against the attempt of the imperialists to find a capi- talist way out of the crisis the April and May numbers of THE COMMUNIST are indispen- sable. ‘The April number should be in the hands of every. Communist and every sympathizer and class-conscious worker, if only for the purpose of studying the resolution for the Plenum of the Central Committee of the Party, entitled “The Tasks of the Communist Party in the United States of America.” It is unquestionably one of the best contributions ever made toward the revolutionary task of mobilizing the decisive masses of the working class for the struggle against the capitalist offensive and the im- perialist war conspiracies of the ruling Class. In that document are recorded a number of achievements of the Party during the past period (between the 13th and 14th plenums). But the central point of the document is a critical ana~ lysis of the shortcomings of our work and the emphasis on the necessity of a radical turn that will overcome our isolation from the masses in industry. Included in the resolution are exact characterization of the capitalist offensive, the war preparations, and of the instruments used by the capitalist class to carry out its attacks against the working class. In this connection the sec- tions dealing with socialist party treachery, the demagogy of the Musteites and their Lovestone and Cannon aides, is particularly timely because it is in just such a critical period that these ele- ments are utilized by the capitalist class in their despicable work of trying to fool the radicalized workers and to divide our ranks so an effective struggle cannot be waged against the hunger and war program of the Wall Street government. Every act of these imperialist agents among the working class proves the correctness of the state- ment in the resolution that they must be fought “ as the main enemy in the struggle for the succesful mobilization of the masses in the fight against’ the bourgeois offensive and the war danger.” To achieve a decisive turn, to overcome a con- dition in which we appear before the masses as a “party for the workers, but not a party of the workers”, there must be a fundamental change in our work, especially that of the lower organi- zations. “The main basis of the work and the development of the lower Party organizations is the work in the factories.” Great stress is laid upon work in the revolutionary trade unions, jn- Side the A. F. of L. unions, in the extension of the fight for unemployment and social insurance. A special section is devoted to the election cam- paign which insists that the main slogan must be the demand for unemployment and social in- surance at the expense of the state and em- As against the capitalist way out of the crisis, the Plenum document demands that we concrete~ ly unmask every act of the imperialist bandits and their lackeys and popularize the revolu- tionary way out. It is impossible, even by going far beyond the boundaries of a review, to enumerate the points brought out in such a document. It is something that must be carefully studied as a guide to ac- tion. oe ae There are a number of other valuable con- tributions in the April number. Of special sig- nificance is the first installment of “Marxism and the National Problem” by Joseph Stalin. The first article deals with the drift of the world toward another imperialist war. There is also a contribution to the national liberation struggle of the Negroes and the fight against white chauvinism, being extracts from a report to a meeting of students by Earl Browder. John Steuben has an article on shop politics and or. ganization, which deals with the organization: problems of developing action against the cap- italist offensive. “The Role of Finance Capital in the Present Crisis” is dealt with by, Harry Gannes. ‘The May numbér publishes the résolution of the Executive Committee of the Communist In- ternational drawing valuable lessons from the recent strike struggles in the United States. This resolution, the same as the resolution pub- lished in the April number, must become the property of every member of the Party and should be studied by every active non-Party worker in the unions, in the relitf and defense organizations. When we refer to a document becoming property of workers, we do not mean the simple act of owning it; we mean it must be read time and again and carefully studied so that its contents becomes a part of the equip- ment of workers active in the struggle. Extracts from Comrade Browder'’s speech at the plenum of the Central Committee entitled “Japan, America and the Soviet Union”, bring out sharply the necessity for the most careful and painstaking analysis of the forces plot- ting and carrying out imperialist war and cor- rect certain errors that appeared in connection with the events in the Far East. Extracts from Comrade Hathaway’s report on the election campaign at the plenum should be carefully read in connection with the main plenum resolution. There are also excerpts from the speech of the fraternal delegate of the Ca- nadian Party dealing with the outlawing of the Party by the Canadian capitalist government. ‘There are a number of other valuable con- tributions in the May number. Of special sig- nificance in combating pacifism and empty bom- bast of the phrase mongers, is the publication of. Lenin’s instructions to the Bolshevik ‘dele~ gates to the Hague conference in 1922. The second installment, of Stalin’s “National Question” and also the final installment “On the ‘Theoretical Foundations of Marxism-Leninism” by A. Adoratsky, are in the May number. ‘These two numbers of THE COMMUNIST will heip: to raise the theoretical level of the Party membership and it is the duty of all responsible functionaries to see that they are in the hands of every Party member and the widest possible circle of workers who support our Party. HM. Ww, signs calling for the freedom of the Scottsboro boys, but prohibited all signs calling for the release of Willie Brown. A more energetic fight for the freedom of Willie Brown would sharpen the class struggle in Philadelphia, and those who refuse to carry on this fight are not only helping the police to send Brown to the electric chair, but are gener- ally deserting the, struggle of the working people against frame-ups and race oppression. ‘When such comrades were criticized in this light, they strongly resented it and pointed to their activities for Negro rights in connection with Scottsboro, Orphan Jones, etc. However, these comrades forget the fact that the strug- gle for the freedom for Willie Brown is under- mining and conflicting with the very founda- tion of the capitalist class rule here in this city. The fight for the freedom of Willie Brown is the real test for one to show his revolutionary courage in face of all these difficulties and to expose this frame-up and.convince these whtie “workers, Still influenced by’ capitalist ideology, of this. Therefore, when in some of the Jewish work- ers organizations in Philadelphia there are opin- ions that Willie Brown is a murderer and we should not fight for his release; when in the Italian branch of the ILD, the Party fraction fights against the Party policy of defending Willie Brown, this shows not only a betrayal of the class struggle by people who call them- selves revolutionaries and Communists, but it also shows the existence of white chauvinism in our ranks and how successful the capitalist class is in corrupting the labor movement with its capitalist ideology. White Chauvinism Is Deep-Rooted ‘The case of Willie Brown brorgnt out the white cha»vinism existing in our movement in its ugliest form. But it is not only, limited to this case. It exists in all spheres of Party life. For example: The Children’s Schools of the International Workers Order. These schools aim to give Jew- ish workers children a working class ideotsgy. This is done on the basis +f acquainting these worters’ chiléren with ail th: siruggles cf the workers. After a period of five years existence of these schools, after ail the struggles we have gone through the last few years, after the Scotts- boro case, the Orphan Jones case, and the Wil- lie Brown case, in the yearly magazine of these schools which evaluates the work of these schools as well as the problems of the workers and their children, there is not a word said about race oppression and the word NEGRO is not even mentioned. WHY? Some try to ex- plain this away as a mere technical oversight— @ printer’s mistake. Others want to place the blame upon individuals. But NO! It arises from the capitalist ideology with which the rul- ing class wants to corrupt the workers’ move- ment. When white chauvinism {is thoroughly exposed, it will expose with it, a whole chain of Pos bourgeois practices that exists in our Other Concrete Case Here is another case: Section 13 of the Com- munist Party in Philadelphia called a Willie Brown defense meeting in the headquarters of the Russian’ Workers Club. As the crowd began to gather, two Negro workers came in, When the police asked one of the house committee of the Russian Club if they want the Negroes pre- sent, he said, “No” and the Negroes were ejected without the Party member who was present, and the other workers who sympathize with the Party, even coming to the defense of these Ne- gro workrs. A third case: In one Party unit in Phila- delphia, with a number of Negro workers in it, tHe attendance of the Negro comrades began to decline. Some white comrades immediately developed the idea that Negro workers are not sincere as Communists, that they are lazy and “will not come to meetings in rainy weather.” This is a grave insult to our Party in which we have excellent and most courageous Negro com- rades fighting for the Party and its program day in and day out. This in itself is the most brazen act of white chauvinism, because after some investigation it was found that the reason why some of the Negro comrades do not attend unit meetings is because the landlord of the Party headquarters insulted them and they did not feel like coming. The white comrades, fail- ing to see that and fight against it, actually protected the white chauvinist landlord. And -the Negro comrades not seeing the white com- rades to be much concerned with this, and to protest this race discrimination, began to lose interest in the Party. Many more examples can be brought to illus- trate the existence of white chauvinism. But what are we going to do about it? So far we really did not fight white chauvinism. It is our duty to begin to fight it now. HOW? Not through a mere admission of sins and by lip service, but through struggle for Negro rights, NOT ONLY IN SCOTTSBORO, BUT ALSO IN phage soe ‘This struggle for Negro rights in Philadelphia is mainly the fight FOR THE FREEDOM OF WILLIE BROWN. tcumaaindienineleanbinasentianscaimnemanaa nena ANAT sis. Fa RAN AR Sidelights on the Siberian “Adventure” of 1919 By HARRY RAYMOND “The mutinous spirit displayed by the American soldiers in the Archangel sector was efinitely attributed today by General March, Chief of Staff, to Bolshevist agents operating in Northern Russia. “The questions put to the officers by the men who refused to go to the front were the same as those formulated in literature dis- tributed by Bolshevist propagandists.” (New York Herald, April 13, 1919) General March, down in Washington, was worried. The whole U. S. general staff was blood. Mr. Woodrow Wilson, who had Geclared “unofficial” war on the workers’ revo- Yution in Russia, was worrled too. He said, “Something must be done.” The plans and tchemes of the American bankers, businessmen and owners of steel mills had gone topsy-turvy. ‘The chief of staff, seated behind a big pol- {shed desk in the office of the War Department building, was talking to a grovp of newspaper- men. “The War Department has no specific in- formation concerning the Bolshevist origin of the mutinous spirit displayed in the Archangel district,”, he said. “The dispatch mentions given tp the Bolshevist propaganda Feo | a very anxious to get it. This is a very striking thing. I have had long experience in the army and I do not recall ever having seen American soldiers who did not want to get into a fight. ‘They always said ‘Lead me to it’, and they went. It is a very important thing. We want to get hold of this Bolshevist pamphlet and find out just what they are up to.” Meanwhile,.away up north, beneath the north- ern lights, in the Archangel and Murmansk dis- tricts, the American soldiers were rapidly learn- ing just what the Bolsheviki were, “up to”. Along the highway to Petrograd, near a five-house vil- lage called Kadish, Bolshevik speakers were tell- ing the doughboys of the new freedom that the Russian workers had gained and were calling onthe Americans across no man’s land to stop the senseless fighting. ‘The lines in the Kadish sector were separated by a seventy-five yard stream, over which was a wooden bridge. No one wished to destroy the bridge. Almost nightly at this point their oc- curred a strange entertainment. A red orator | would speak to the Yankees across no man’s land. When the speech was in Russian it was translated by one of the Americans, Often the, speeches were in English. Once the Red soldiers held @ vaudeville show, s va agin godine gn ‘The Red ole. Doodle" om am pecordion | and invited the Americans to come over and join them. ‘There were occasions when a Bolshevik com- would take an interpreter and go iddle of the bridge. The three would he cold and argue. They would talk about the health of the prisoners and con/li- tions of the troops and before they would bid each other adieu the Red commander would hand the American officer a package of iitera- ture to be handed to the soldiers. Indeed, this was against all rules of warfare, but the Amerjcan officers generally speaking did not object. There was a need of paper, and then it gave the troops something to read. So “the Bolshevik literature was distributed freely among the soldiers. Tt was in this sector that the Bolsheviki put up huge banners which blazoned forth the fact that the workers of Germany and France had made peace and urged the American workers to come and do likewise. The American soldiers frankly admitted that they did not know why they were in Siberia after the war with Ger- _™any was finished. And, of course, detachments’ to go to the front and fight: 'HE recent struggles and mass mobilization in Detroit, which followed a period of dangerous decline of activities, serve as a special illustra- tion of the correctness of the Central Commit- tee Plenum Resolution. Following the Ford Massacre, the Party suc- ceeded in mobilizing tens of thousands of work- ers over a period of several weeks. For weeks all available halls were filled to overflowing with protest and memorial meetings. From fac- tories and neighborhoods, thé workers poured in angry thousands to view the bodies of the four murdered workers. Seventy thousand marched in the mighty funeral procession on March 12. Again, on April 6th, over fifteen thousand par- ticipated in the anti-war demonstrations, and on May Day, from early in the morning until late at night, over fifty thousand took part in the marches, demonstrations and meetings. These vast demonstrative mobilizations confirm the growing radicalization of the workers and their readiness to struggle under Party leader- ship when correct slogans are raised and ade- quate preparations made. Lack of Solid Contact. However, a closer analysis of these activities reveals that these masses of workers are not Solidly connected with our movement on the basis of their daily needs and grievances. After each demonstration and mass meeting, the Party lost contact with these workers. In spite of the fact that over fifty Party units are scattered over the territory of Detroit, that about fifteen unemployed branches hold regular meetings in different neighborhoods, that in a dozen major factories there are shop nuclei or union groups, our Party has no solid contact with the masses of workers who voluntarily dem- onstrated their readiness to fight under our lead- ership. At a functionaries meeting a question was put to our active comrades on what was the reaction of the workers to the Ford Massacre. The an- swers to this question revealed that the majority of our comrades have discussed the question with only few non-Party workers, that these discussions were quite accidental and most of the information on the workers’ opinions were overheard in street cars, meetings, street corners and a few in the shops. When such a major issue as the Ford Mas- sacre reveals the absence of contacts with the workers, it is clear that we can’t determine the workers’ grievances and moods on their daily problems and needs, and consequently we are unable to lead them in the local struggles which are indispensable if our Party is “To come ‘be- fore the masses as their vanguard in the strug- gles against the offensive of the bourgeoisie.” Contact By Leaflets. ‘The Party boasted of having issued nearly a million leaflets in the course of the last two months in Detroit. While this is a substantial achievement, it is also an illustration that we have to rely on the leaflets for the mobiliza- tions and that these leaflets were our main con- tact with the workers. Our shop nuclei in Fords, Dodges, Hudsons, Briggs, etc., could not assure us that one hundred or five hundred of a thou- sand workers from their factories would be in following statement for the press: “The War Department is not disposed to re- gard the situation on the Archangel front as dangerous because of Bolshevist propaganda. Since the reports of the mutiny were received the cruisers Galveston and Chester have ar- rived in Murmansk bringing two companies of railway engineers and Brigadier General W. P. Richardson, who is to assume command of the American forces. The announcement by the | War Department that the American troops will be withdrawn by next June will probably have the effect of allaying the resentment of those who are kept there while the organizations in France and the United States are being de- mobilized.” The statement was issued in the month of April. Two months later the troops were with= drawn. ‘American imperialism was Birald, Ca Ry Toward Revolutionary Mass Work ( = ——— “ By BURCB aes <5 By R. BAKER. The Plenum Pamphlet The resolutions of the 14th Plenum of the Party are printed in a pamphlet called “Toward Revolutionary Mass Work.” In addition to the 14th Plenum resolutions, the same pamphlet carries the last Central Com- mittee resolution on unemployment which was adopted in October 1931. The unemploy- ment resolution is re-printed because of great importance as a guide for our activities among the unemployed. ‘The main 14th Plenum reso- lution makes special reference to the October unemployment resolution. The same pamphlet also carries the 11th C. I, Plenum resolution on our struggle against imperialist war, The price of the. Plenum pamphlet is ten cents. We urge all the districts to immedi- ately send in orders for this pamphlet. Every. member of the Party should have a copy of this pamphlet and study it. | In a report from the Minnesota District on their District Plenum we read: “The short- comings of the Plenum as we sce it are that many comrades have not read and thoroughly understood the importance of the 14th Plenum resolution.” What the Minnesota comrades say about not reading thoroughly the resolu- tion also holds good for many districts in the country. The resolution must be read, it must be studied. DISCUSSION OF THE 14TH PLENUM The Meaning of Personal Contact with Workers our demonstration, our street units could not estimate how many workers from their neigh- borhood would participate, the Unemployed Council could only speak for their active mem- bers and our mass organizations could not guar- antee for their membership. During this same period, eleven thousand un- employed, working several days a week for tim city, to earn their relief of $2 to 6 per week, had their pay checks held up for nearly a week. It was several days before this came to our at- tention. Again we discovered that our contacts with the relief workers were insignificant. Again we relied on the leaflets. The workers responded to our leaflets well and before the demonstra- tion which we called materialized, Mayor Murphy “found” enough money to pay the relief wages. Not only did these 11,000 relief workers live and work in the territories where our units and coun- cils operated, but many Unemployed Council members and Party members were relief work~ ers and were affected. This incident again il- lustrates our lack of personal contact with the workers and our reliance on leaflets. While our leaflet resulted in securing the back pay of the workers, we failed to set up committees at the scores of tool-sheds where these workers gather daily and to involve them in the struggle for their wages and further demads. At the present time, sixteen thousand families who are receiving 15c worth of groceries daily from the city welfare department are being trans- fered to soup kitchens which Mr. Murphy christ- ened “cafeterias” and which will result in cut- ting down relief to 9c per day. ’ Add to this, at least 200,000 families who re- ceived no relief at all and whose conditions are desperate and we see that the Party has not even made substantial acquaintance with the prob- Jems the workers face daily. Struggles in the Shop. Even more serious is our isolation in the fac- tories where unbelievable wage cuts are in effect and where daily the conditions of workers be- come intolerable. The general agitation of the Party and its demonstrations have had a pro- found effect on the workers in the factories. As |. we establish the first contacts we meet an un- expected response to our slogans. We hear of struggles organized by*the workers without our ease ay In one factory, the workers tore ,, & slot machine-for soap and scien iad it ances. Strike discussions are going on in many factories. As information of grievances and fighting moods, in the factories’, reach us it becomes clearer daily that we are not equipped to lead these struggles. Our territorial units “concen- trate” on a factory where a struggle takes place but the information of the struggle reaches us accidentally through some non-Party channels. The shop workers read our leaflets and at- tend our mass meetings and demonstrations, they cheer and applaud the program of strug- gle, but they don’t see the Party as a factor in their shop leading and organizing their day to day struggles. We urge the factory workers to support the struggle against war, but the only form we have given the Anti-War struggle is the general demonstration or parade. We have not learned how to make even the small inner factory struggle for a piece of soap as part of the "Anti-War movement. All these illustrations confirm the estimate of the Plenum that our Party appears “as the Par- ty for the workers and not of the workers.” The Plenum resolution applies with equal force to all phases of Party life and work in the De- troit District. The resolution gives a clear and sober analysis of the weaknesses of our work and shatters the tendencies at self-satisfaction that arise from temporary and partial succttses in some phases of our work. ‘The Central Committee Resolution sternly raises the demand for mass work in the pre- sent period of momentary danger of attack on the Soviet Unioz. Lenin of ® ctrtain occasion said, “Serious po- litics begin not among thousands but among mil- lions.” The present gauge of our influence must be among the millions if we are to be a reat factor in the titanie problems facing the work- ing class today. The Plenum points out that the road to the millions “consists in develop- ing the mass struggle of the workers, the work- ing women and the young workers on tite basis of their immediate economic and political necds, as they arise from their life and work and con- flicts with the employers, ‘reformist -bureaucrats, the state, etc.”. To know these needs, to un- derstand the conflicts, to vrganize and lead the workers, we must first of all establish, maintain and broaden our personal contact with the work- ers, know their lives, reactions, and moods and know how to guide their moods into channels of struggle. To Build An Iron Wall of Defense Around the Soviet Union. A new world war becomes an immediate danger. The greatest and most urgent, task of the whole world proletariat and the toil- ing masses, above all, the American prole- tariat, is to wage a most intensive, wide- spread, devoted ‘and courageous struggle against the new imperialist war and in de- fense of the Chinese people, and to build an iron wall of defense around the Soviet Union. The central task of the C.P.U.S.A. is to strug- gle against the new imperialist war and above all to work most devotedly and courageously to mobilize the working class in defense of the Soviet Union. The struggle against Am- erican imperialism, its war preparations and intervention plans must be the center of the every day wrk of the Party among the mas- ses; in the factories, trade unions, in strikes, among the unemployed, Negroes, youth and women. Only by the ability to rally and or- ganize the masses to struggle for their im- mediate demands and :gainst the war dan- ger, as the most outstanding menaee for the working class, can the Party come masses, and must come before tnem, a sihelr revolutionary vanguard—the most conscious, most devoted land best orgunized elements among them. From the 14th Plenum Resolution reprinted fm full tn the April issue of The Communist. he 4