The Daily Worker Newspaper, June 14, 1932, Page 4

| Publisnea by the Cumpruaaily rublisting Ce, inc, daily except sunday, at 60 Hast ae -BSURIPLIUN HALES: Page Four 48th St, New York City, N. Y. Telephone ALgonquin 4-7956. Cable “DAIWORK.” By mail everywhere: One year, $6; six months, §3; two months, 31; excepace ORS ‘Address and mall all checks to the Daily Worker, 60 Hast 13th Street, New York, N. ¥. of Manhattan and Bronx, New York City. Forsign: one year, $8: six montha §: < = = a a = —==== : By BARD ! A N INTER \ TE \ \ is \ K TH COMRA DE THE CHICAGO CIRCUS ... sisicsuvawstl sess lene, Sa” Oa aa STALIN BY EMIL LUDWIG The Daily Worker publishes below the text of an interview by Emil Ludwig with Comrade J. Stalin. Emil Ludwig is a German author and biographer. Space does not permit us to run the interview in one issue. to you that much obliged eceive me. In th ears I have ominent histor e people rather well, but I ]-econom: nditions, -You are too modes Ludwig Stalin— wig—No. that is s which the Kremlin I n to you aw some tf . and the first question which is: Do you admit a parallel e and Peter the Gr ? Do yourself a carrier-on of his work? in the least. Historical parallels “Peter -But the Great accompli e de’ pment of his count rm culture into Russia n—Certain Peter the Great did much ion of the class of landlords and nt of the growing merchal eate and strengthen a jlords and traders. 1e landlord c! to the growing ‘class of rengthening of the national es took place at the cost of 7, who were thrice skinned. a follower enin and lower worthy of him. I ion of quite a dif- This task e building of some sort of national e strengthening of a socialist—which international—state. Every t state strengthens the whole inter- ‘orking class. If every step of my elevation of the working class and strengthening of the socialist state of that has not been directed to strengthen and improve the situation of the working class—then sn't work. n and Peter the Great, the latt the sea, while Lenin was a whole ves 2 drop in ie—Marxism denies the prominent role ndividuals in history. Do you not see a con- tradiction between the materialist conception of THE SITUATION IN THE FULL-FASHIONED HOSIERY INDUSTRY strength- | history and the fact that you none the less recognize the prominent role of historic person- ages? Stalin—No, there is no contradiction here. Marxism does not at all deny the prominent role of individuals or that individuals make history.* In Marx's “The Poverty of Philosophy” and other | Works you can find it stated that people make history. But of course they do not make history. as any fancy takes them, or whatever comes into con- | thefr heads: Every new generation meets certain conditions, which already exist in a definite form when that generation is born, And great men are worth something only in so far as they are able to understand those conditions, to understand how to change them. J. STALIN If they do not understand those conditions and think to change them as occurs to their fancy, then those people become Don Quixotes, So Marx never set person’ dver against condi- tions. It is people who make history, but-only in-‘so far as they understand -the conditions which are set before them and thus understand how to change them. Thus at least'‘we Russian Bolsheviks understand Marx. And we've studiéd him more than a: decade, Ludwig—Thirty years ago when I studied at the university, many German professors, who considered themselves advocates of the material- ist theory of history, told .us that Marxism denies the role of heroic personages in history. Stalin—This was Marxism of the boulevards. Marxism never denied the role of heroes. On the contrary, it recognizes their role as impor- tant, under the conditions which I have stated, Ludwig—At the table where we sit there are sixteen chairs. They say abroad, on the one hand, that the U. S. S. R. is a land ruled by collegiums, and, on the other, that everything is decided by an individual. Now which is it? Stalin—No, it can't be decided by an individ- ual. Individual decisions are always—or nearly always—one-sided. In every collegium, in every collective group, are people with whose views one must reckon, and also people who may give incorrect ideas. From the experience of three revolutions we know that of 100 decisions, not tested and corrected collectively, 90 will be one- sided. In our directing organ, the Central Committee of our Party, which leads all our government and Party organizations, there are about seventy members. Among them are our best industrial- ists, our best cooperators, our best distributors, our best military men, our best. propagandists, our best agitators, our best experts on state farms, in collective farms, on individual peasant farming, on the nationalities in the Soviet Union and national policies. In this eAreopagus (a collective deciding body) is concentrated the wisdom of our Party. Each has the opportunity to correct his individal ideas [and proposals; each has the chance to bring forward his experi- ence. If this were not so, if decisions were taken by an individual, we would make serious mistakes in our work. But since each one has the chance to correct the mistakes of the separate individ- uals, and, since we take account of these cor- rections, our decisions come out more or less | correctly. | (Tomorrow the interview continues with Ludwig’s question “Why is your government so severe and merciless in its fight with its foes?”) By ERNEST KORNFELD 5 hee famous National (wagé-cutting) ment of 1931-32 between the American Fed- eration of Full Fashioned Hosiery Workers and the Full Fashioned Hosiery Manufacturers of America, Inc., which brought the workers of that industry a slash of 30-45 per cent, has been in operation nine months, and it is time now to evaluate and analyze the situation and make out @ program of activity. The drastic reduction in wages, of which the 30-45 per cent cut was only one of several, has brought the hosiery worker, who used to be the best paid worker, into a state of insecurity, de- privation, yes, even starvatibn. The main ex- cuse for the cut of 35-40 per cent was that the st stabilize the industry, that the union ive the big open-shop concerns like the Berkshire in Reading, the Apex in Philadelphia, Julius Kayser C.o and Golden Belt out of busi- ness, that manufacturers must be brought into a posttion where they could successfully com- pete with the open-shop manufacturers. The Socialist Party leadership of the American Federation of Full Fashioned Hosiery Workers heralded the signing of this agreement as “a new era in industrial relationship in the U.S.A.,” and said that this agreement would inaugurate an “organized” economy in the full-fashioned hostery industry, and would “do away with un- employment, competition and all the other evils of a sick industry.” Force Wage-Cut Agreement. Despite the heroic struggle of the rank and file and a six weeks’ strike in the New York, New Jersey, New England and Middle West Districts, the officials and their machine forced the work- ers to accept the National (wage-cut) Agreement. After a short revival and intensified cut- throat competition, the hosiery industry finds itself now in the worst crisis in its history. In the Hosiery Worker of May 6 (Vol. X, No, 24) the following is stated: “It is probable that within the next few days the number of idle machines will reach the highest figure in many years. President Alex- ander McKeown of the Philadelphia Branch states that a preliminary survey of the unem- ployment situation in his district would indicate that not more than 15 per cent of the union members are working a normal week at the present moment.” “Probably an additional 10 or 15 per cent of the Philadelphia membership is working part-time,” President McKeown says. ‘All these developments were foretold by a few penis and file delegates, opposed to the machine, Tare MINE Fen oa You Cepmines ene prior to the signing of the National Agreement at the last convention and at the mass mect- ings before the vote on the agreement was taken. Startling Admissions. In a speech delivered by Mr. John W. Edel- man, Researeh Director of the American Fed-, ration of Pull Fashioned Hosiery Workers, bey | ,fove the Nuzitaal Conference of social work. ope | Agrée- | admissions. Here a spokesman, of the machine admits that some of my predictions at the last convention, which at that timé Were ridiculed by the “Socialist,” President Rieve, as ‘“Matxian theories conflicting with real life,’ were correct. Edalman says: “If you will recall the recent nistory of the Hosiery Workers’ Union you will find the case of a labor organization that not only brought its wage scale down to the level of the non- union section of the industry, but was willing fo make the most drastic sort of adaptation, EVEN THOSE IT KNEW WERE FUTILE (emphasis mine—E.K.) to aid its employers to compete successfully.” This is the most pertinent and brazen adver- tisement of our union as a yellow company union. After declaring that the agreement has brought more uniformity, that means more and general unemployment, Mr. Edelman goes on to “There is also the further consideration, what would have happened had the union not taken the cut. It is fairly certain that a size- able group of union employers would have dis- appeared from the industry altogether, and the non-union employers* would have been able to have cornered just that-much more of the trade. The union probably saved itself from extinction by, saving its employer's, Whether this feat of life-saving can be accomplished without a moral exertion on the part’ of the union, so great as to cause destruction of the morale of the organiza- tions, is still to be determined. You must per- ceive the dilemma of the union which seeks to promote solidarity of the working class find- ing itself forced to fight the non-union workers as well as the non-union manufacturers, and the non-union workman, always very. prompt in achieving what I suppose this group would call @ ‘rationalization,’ was not at all backward in _ Literature for Foster and Ford Meetings : It has bee decided that at the election cam- paign meetings, certain literature shall be’ speci- fied for each of these meetnigs. This is done in order to do away with the practice of having old out-of-date literature brought to meetings: just to try to get rid of them. It is also foundito be much better to concentrate on a few ‘painphlets, than to bring in a great army. Therefore we puglish the list of pamphlets to be sold at the meetings. This list will be modified from time to time in order to adapt it to the special cma- paigns that will take place during and as part of the general electric campaign. Until further notice the following pamphlets are to be used at the Foster and Ford meetngs, in addition to Fosters Book—Toward Sovet America—and in addition to the periodicals: 1, Election Program of the Communist Party steeeeccececcsoeeaces 16 2, The Fight for Bread, Earl Browder’s Convention Speech ................60 le 3. The Acceptance Speeches of the Two 4, Graft and Gangsters, by H. Gannes ...10c 5. Why Unemployment’ Insurance (A, F. of I, Rank and File) .....5........5 see Se 6 The Soviet Union Stands for Peace by M. Litvinoy . A Ie 7. They Shalt Die Scottsboro in ‘Pie- tures) re say, not 8. War in China, iv Ray ‘wiowast eee Oe 9. Noon-Honr Talk on the Communist Party vs qgeescccssisiescacgpapnadeoees ME And one or two pa: “the -com= rades clnong, baring a loa! bearin. poral | econonty under capitalism. The Socialists among pointing out to us the anomaly of the union position.” Here we have a frank admission that, the “So- cial Experiment” of Rieve, Secretary-Treasurer Smith and McKeown and company has weak- ened the morale and fighting spirit of the union and has created such animosity among the thou- sands and thousands of non-union workers that it has become much more difficult to win them for struggle against intolerable conditions in the hosiery industry. There is one more point I think that must be-discussed at this time, the question of. planned the leaders of the A-F.F.F.H.W. (and the major- ity of them are members of the Socialist Party) excused their forcing the wage-cut agreement on the hosiery workers by claiming that this was introducing a “planned economy” into a chaotic industry, and on many occasions demagogically cited the Soviet Union as an example for their experiment. But Edelman must admit: “Economic planning hhas somehow been lost by the wayside and all that remains is a. queer fatalistic waiting for a non-run style to produce another boom and still another bigger and better slump.” And further along: “We shall, I hope, all of us come to realize, as the Full Fashioncd Hosiery Workers have come to realize, through experi- mentation, with all the best and most improved plans and theories for making a cut-throat economic system operate without shedding too much blood, that what is needed is a much more honest and realistic sort of system, wherein’ it will be generally understood that society as a whole has to have the say as to hbw any indus- try shall conduct {tself, either in regards to its plans in the future or its conduct in the ‘pres- ent.” Confesses But Does No Penance. This revelation and these admissions are very interesting and important, but those who be- lieve that the present bankrupt leadrship wit clear the stage and make room for an aggresive rank and file leadership, underestimate the greed of the machine. It is true that there have been considerable desertions, some machine men leaving the union for superintendent jrbs, polit- ical jobs, starting mills of their own snd various other reasons. Others, secing the forthcoming debacle, lining up with the Mus‘eites, who go under the name of progressive nosiery makers, and through all kinds of mane’.vers try to launch th wrath 0% the workers int, safe channels, For the following convertion, which will con- vene in Philadelphia eariy in July, the Hociery Workers must elect rark and file delegates who will honestly and umompromisingly fight in the plage get aka sleigh: dl ayo of wage-cuts desighed as noble experiments, but to lead them ‘in the struggle for decent. living “conditions and to victory meek ait SSION OF Toward Revolutionary Mass Work (tie ‘sia ‘pcencm SURRENDERING TO PACIFISM ‘HE central task of our Young Communist League is the struggle against imperialist war which has already started and for the defense of the Chinese masses and the Soviet Union. This task is categorically laid down for us both by the resolution of the Central Committee plenum of the Party and that of the YCI; and if we are to carry on this struggle correctly and thereby mobilize masses of youth behind us, our past mistakes must be brought sharply to the fore and thoroughly and politically analysed. “The Young Communist Leagiie has failéd to understand the significance of the war in the Far East as the beginning of the imperialist world war and the direct preparation for inter- vention against the U. S. 8. R, On the con- trary the League and the “Young Worker” have made serious errors in creating a united front from above in the struggle against war (New York) and the NEC has not sufficiently exposed and fought against this.” Thus the YCI char- acterizes the struggle against war in New York— a-united front from above and not from below. This united front from above is not an acci- dent, but flows from a right opportunist con- ception held by our district leadership as a whole on “what the minimum program” of the united front in the struggle against war should be. Some of the Opportunist Errors In the preparations for the New York united front conference (Jan. 3, 1932), in the conference call, and at the conference itself we failed to raise sharply or at all the question of the de- fense of the Sovet Union. This was not an oversight, but a policy. Our leading comrades believed that we should not be able to rally the youth around this slogan because the youth were pacifist and because they did not under- stand the role of a proletarian dictatorship. in relation to imperialist war. We believed that the; young workers did not know the difference be- tween the Proletarian Dictatorship in the Sovict Unon and the Fascist Dictatorship in Italy; that they looked upon both dictatorships from the point of view of terror and stifling “democracy.” We thought that raising thé question of defense of the Soviet Union should therefore be left out of the unted front program so.as not to drive away certain elements from the conference. Isolated from the Young Worker It is necessary. to. point out‘here that--our leadership at.this time was not-connected Wil any particular section of the working youth. Not one member of our district buro was res- ponsible for work down below at some particular factory or with some group of young workers. We were completely isloated from the young workers and we did not feel, did not know at all what they thought about the war. As a result, we completely underestimated their radi-~ calization; we did not see that theverisis was” seriously undermining their illusions | about “democracy”; -we did not’ understand that “it~ (the crisis) is also destroying the specal illusions which have for a long time been injected in the We Repeat Our Suggetion | ‘The other day we asked the comrades to. sendin questions asked by workers whom. they approached to sign the petitions to place our Presidential candidates on the”ballot. We hope that the comrades will flood the Daily with such questions. What is of special importance is that polit- ical discussions should be developed in the units-on the b asis of the experiences of the comrades in ccnnection with the clection campaign. i The comrades in the unils should take the initiative in developing such diser The | District end Section commitiees showd en- courage and orsanize such ¢ HONS, The unit must become the contre for devel- oping genuine mass work. Political dis¢us- sions ot. the basis of concrete tasks in devel- oping personal contacts with the masses, on the basis of leading mass struggles, will put aeageos be moe yi ee Saar te unit meetings. By WILLIAM ALBERTSTON youth by means of literature, schools, churches, various bourgeois youth organizatins, regarding the opportunities for every young worker in the U. S. A., the possibility for every young man to become a captalist to rise from office boy to president ,etc. (LCI resolution). Because of this undersestimation of the radi- calization of the working youth( due to our complete isloation) and our inability to under- stand the smashing effects of the crisis on them, we eliminated the defense of the Soviet Unon from our united front program. From this basic right opportunist conception naturally flowed further opportunist mistakes. Instead of bringing the struggle against war to the rank and file of our opponents, the YCL membership began to approach the leadership (Hudson Guild, Harlem YPSL’s, Pilgrim Laun- dry, Bronx “Y,” etc.). Our biggest shortcoming was the failure to obtain shop, union, and unem- ployed delegations to the conference although we had a few shop and “Y” participants whom we lost immediately after the conference. The whole conference and its results (almost com- plete liquidation) definitely shows that we had no orieritation to the shops, to the young work- ers, employed and unemployed. Booklets on Various Aspects of Negro Struggles ‘HE LIFE AND STRUGGLES OF NEGRO TOILERS, by George Padmore, issued by. the “International Trade “Union Committee of Negro Workers EIGHT WHO LIE THE DEATH HOUSE, by Paul Peters, issued by the National Committee for the Defense of Political PPisoniers <5. ec 1s es eeioies s geese Se ge coe Re THE AMERICAN NEGRO, by J. S. Allen, In- ternational Pamphlets No. 18 .. 0c. THEY SHALL NOT DIE (Scoitsboro in Pic- tures), issued’ by the League of Struggle fer Negro Rights « RACE HATRED ON PRIAL—The: Trial of sagt Yokinen for White ‘Chany: nism. wees oo ‘Comrade ee has written the first com- prehensive account of the struggles of the Negro nation throughout the world, recounting their conditions of labor and their revolutionary move- ments in Africa,:in America, in the American and other impétialistcolonies—whereeyer the Negroes are being exploited. He does not forget the “black soldiers of imperialism, and analyses the revolutionary potentialities of bas mene ce bi triply exploited workers. ~ Two very popular, very agitational Soroniiats are now available on the Scotsboro Case. The first one to appear—“They Shall Not D’e’—is familiar to all-as-the “Scottsboro in Pictures” ‘pamphlet. ‘This ts in great demand anda second: printing had to be made. The other, which has’ just. appeared, “Eight Who Lie in the Death House,” is the writer’s own account of his visit to the boys, a narrative account of the incidents that led up to the world-wide protest demanding the release of these innocent children, and an analysis of the forces behind this frame-up oe young working-class boys, The American Negro gives the condition “ot the Negro ‘farmer and worker in America—the conditions underlying the Scottsboro case and all the other cases of lynching, whtther legal or extra-legal. Race Ha'red Cn 1 is the ‘Bost pamphlet we have for combating while chauyinicm in ibe ranks ef the werking-clacs. Auz Yokinen, a member of the Communist Party, is put on trial by the Party on a charge of white chau- yinism, The defense and prosecution speeches and the verdict are all contained in this pam- | Samsun, how 4 aivides te Sickie aes en chauvinism, how it divides the working-class and “how it must be combatted. cae a AS ky | struggles in the U. 8, A.” The Crime of Abandoning the Struggle for the Defense of the Soviet Union We also found it quite difficult to carry on an effective struggle against the pacifists. ‘The pacificists naturally had adopted a more “left” position than they had before. We did not see that by eliminating the question @f the defense of the Soviet Union from of program that in reality we had adopted a pacifist position; that we had been instrumental in pushing into the background that one basic question which would show to the young workers that we had a re volutionary program of struggle against war whereas the pacfists were anti-war” in words only and not in action. Opportunist mistakes, unless checked, develop into an opportunist line. Our next step was to try to build an organization which would carry on the struggle against war, the Ant-War Youth League. This organization was to have both groups affiliations and individual members (liberals, pacifists, etc.) Under the conditions this, of course, meant the complete hiding of the face of the YCL as the only youth organi- zation with a revolutionary program of struggle against war. The YCL, of course, would carry through independent anti-war actions, but would work in this A. W. Y. L. as a fraction seeing to it that this organization carried on struggle against war. The above right opportunist mistakes made in. New York and repeated to some extent, by the Chicago Y. C. L. show: 1. Lack of political education of the Leninist teachings or war and decisiveness in sections of cur leadership. 2. Complete is@lation of our leadership from any basic sections of the proletarian youth, 3. An underestimation of the immediate of war and of the radicalization of the working youth, 4. No understanding as to what is-meant by the united front from below and how to apply this in our practical work. 5. Feilure to grasp that the main danger of war is an imperialis tattack on the Sovet Union. Opportunist underestimation of the influence of the Soviet Uncn on the starving millions in the capitalist countries, Comintern and Party Reso- lutiont—Cuides to Action _and Self-Criticism At the New York District Convention the E. C. C. I. resolution on the lessons of strike struggles in the United States was hardly re- ferred to. Undoubtedly the discussion of some of the comrades on strike ‘struggles reflected the good influence of the above- Mentioned © strike” ‘resolution. Others could have benefited a great deal “by reading and studying the strike’ resolution, § The statement of the 14th Plenum on pop- vlarizing the resolutions of the Plenum calls for “particularly popularizing the resolution of the E. C. C. I. on the lessons of strike So far the dis- cussion in the Daily carried hardly any ar- ticles relating strike experiences in tue light of the Plenum strike resolution We repeat our request to the comrades to send in arti- cles on strike and shop experiences. In connection with: the discussion in prep- aration for the District Conventions, the strike resolution must become an integral ‘part of all our Plenum discussions, We hope the other Districts will not reseat the abcve- the New York mevitored shorteoming of District Convention. of Ag | Gorinted ia tho ms “Toward Revolutionary Mass Work”). comrade can afford to miss reading the June issue of the Communist, containing the ar- ticles of Comrade Kuusinen,’ Foster and - Stachel, dealing with strike | ‘shop. work and, general trade union. full ti oR RE RANT,