The Daily Worker Newspaper, June 22, 1932, Page 4

‘age Four DAILY WORKER, NEW, YORK, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 22, 1932 Yorker Dota US.A. daily exexept Sunday, at 50 E, Cable “DAIWORK.” , New York, N. ¥. Dail Published by the Comprodaily Publishing Co., Inc. lath St., New York City, N. ¥. Telephone ALgonquin 4~ Address and mail checks to the Daily Worker, 50 E. 13 SUBSCRIPTION RATES: By mail everywhere: One year, $6; six months, $8 Borough of Manhattan and Bronx, New York City. six months, $4.50. two months, $1; excepting Foreign: one year, $8; Demagogic Threats or Organized Mass Action all kinds of supporters of the Wesncs to the capitalist class by system has become a daily event. Not a day passes but some char- latan ters an alarming cry that fearful things will happen if the relief to the working-class. These “advisors” © propose nothing concrete and in close to the program of tHe all the utterances about the the kers from real reyolu- order to secure any make sure ey make they The real purpose etc., is to distract Ss perks the workers must adopt in substa nt from their present misery. The + marchers in Washington are not without their char- latans. The leaders of the ex-servicemen declared soon after the defeat of the bonus bill in the Senate that revenge would be taken at the polls mplied that a third party would be formed. This was very deliberately said to quiet the outraged masses of ex-servicemen and to turn them away from any effective actions of mass protest and struggle. Believing that this was accomplished the reactionary leaders rushed forward the following day to re: ure the capitalists that no third party was intended and that only a policy of supporting good politicians and defeating bad ones would be resorted to. in Novem Third ty talk on the part of the police imposed leaders could erve only to make the ex-servicemen playthings in the hands of at be capitalist politicians for inner political sage l and at worst is intended to co’ noolldate the ex-servicemen into a fascist organization against the rest of the working class. The working class veterans in Washington must understand that the policy of reliance upon capitalist politicans and abstention from’ mass actions caused the defeat of the bill in the Senate. Had the ex-service- men used their full power and employed the militancy which existed in s, they would have compelled the capitalists to think twice before they defeated the measure. The ex-servicemen secured the paltry “food and shelter only because they held the threat of mass action over the heads of the government and the local police. The folded arm policy, delibetaretly carried through by Waters and the other henchmen of the Hoover government, availed them nothing. The profit greedy capitalist class hes nothing to fear from id‘le threats made by their puppets, nor from any policy which relies upon the capitalists to voluntarily supply the needs of the masses. The capitalists understand only the language of ‘organized power. In such actions as the seizure of public buildings by the veterans in order to secure some semblance of shelter, their organized action com- pelling the police to let down the drawbridge leading to the Capitol grounds, the massing of thousands of veterans around the Capitol, is the path to be found to successful struggle for the bonus and for relief to the unemployed. But this policy must be more consciously organized, which can be realized only when a fighting leadership is elected which | works on a program of struggle against the capitalist enemies and con- sciously works in alliance with the employed and unemployed workers throughout the country. This policy must be pursued in Washington and in the further struggle for the bonus and unemployment insurance. This policy should find expression in the election campaign by the worker ex-servicemen voting for the party of militant struggle, the party of the working-class——the Communist Party. Capitalist Science Dis- covers the Way Out sa last a real plan for solying the problem of unemployment has been announced. But this time it does not come from Hoover who has finally learned the futility of predicting the return of prosperity every | sixty days. This plan is “scientific” and the credit for it goes to the best brains with which the country is blessed. What is this plan? It is to sterilize 18,000,000 people and prevent reproduction so that only those “fit to survive” will populate our universe. And in this way, our “surplus Population” of undesirable unemployed citizens will disappear. ‘This plan was seriously discussed at the summer session of the Am- erican Association for the Advancement of Science and put forward by none less than the learned men of the Human Betterment (!) Founda- tion of Pasadena, California. Less scientific people than professors are proposing other ways of destroying the millions of unemployed, as for example, straight out starvation, or imperialist war. But the professors of the Human Betterment Foundation have found a device which operates, they say, in accord with the “law of self preservation.” Monstrous as this proposal may seem, there is nothing surprising in it. If the capitalist. owners of industry can with impunity destroy mil- lions of dollars worth of food, clothing and shelter which the masses need in order to preserve their profits, why should not their ideologists propose the mutilation and killing off of workers in the name of the law of self preservation, Like master, like servant. Science in the hands of the capitalist class has become as reactinoary as the system as a whole and a dying system can only give rise to such decadent and putrid notions. That is why another professor, this time of psychology, Edward L. Thorndike of Columbia University could come forward at this gathering and take the liberty of giving a ‘psychological’ explanation of capital. Capital, he says, “is largely an expression of per- sonality.” Meaning, of course, that the captains of American industry who have shown such great wisdom during this crisis have risen to power not by exploitation, fraud and speculation, but through the expression of their god given personality. Of course, Professor Thorndike did not mention such brilliant personalities as the swindler Kreuger, or such great successes as the recent bankrupt Insull. Sterilize the unemployed, bow low to the kings of capital! This is the massage of the learned men of capitalist science. But the reports at this session of the American Association for the Advancement of Science also admitted that “the economic burden is tremendous and steadily growing worse.” What they failed to say, however, was that the toiling masses who bear the burden of the crisis are awakening and with contempt and dis- gust, turning away from these capitalist priests who call themselves scien- tists and who reveal ever more clearly their real function in present day society, namely, to keep the masses enslaved to the ractionary profit systm. Gangsterism and the Police w= every shooting of a gangster the police make a loud outery that gangsterism must be wiped out. The latest is caused by the killing of Vance Higgins, a beer racketeer who was put on the spot by compet- ing gangsters in the struggle for the monopoly of the beer market. The scribbler Brisbane in the New York American gives a brief his- tory of this Higgins who he says “was arrested for assault in 1915 and put on probation for one year, arrested again for felonious assault in 1916 and again put on probation; arrested in 1926 for robbery and as- sault and discharged, etc., etc, But this philistine whose great art as a “popular” writer consists in relating a number of half truths of a liberal sort without drawing the necessary conclusions as to capitalist society, fails to point out that Higgins and other gangsters are protected by the police, work. hand in hand with them and that gangsterism has become as inevitable and necessary a part of capitalism as are giin thugs employed in. strikes, pinkertons and other ugly tools of capitalist, oppres-_ sion from whom so many of the racketeering kind of gangsters are re- cruited. Thy wel whole cloth of capitalism) is shot thru and thru with graft, cor- and gangsterism. The fight against the latier can be made only iach ra ae THE INQUISITION — 1932 TheStruggle Against Starvation in Knox- ville, Tenn. By H. S. (Conclusion) 'HE workers of Knoxville, unemployed and em- ployed, as has been shown in the first article, are starving, and they are starving fast. Mayor John T. O'Connor, members of the City Council, Central Labor Union leaders, City Manager Bass, the rich taxpayers, and American Legion functionariés are worried. They are wor- ried for fear the workers may not starve quietly. Occasionally they get quite disturbed, when the Unemployed Council committees break in on them, demanding relief, or when, as the other day, an unemployed worker shouted at their dig- nified City Council meeting: “I’ve got four chil- dren to take care of. I’m not going to let them starve. You men wouldn’t want me to go into your house and take something, would you? This is 4 demand that you appropriate some- thing for us to eat, or we'll take it!” The Siamese Twins. ‘With all these labor pains, the fespectable, rich gentlemen of Knoxville have given birth to Siamese Twins. With this, they hope to prevent such outbreaks. Half of the twins is a campaign against or- ganization, aimed at the “reds.” Workers re- port that in their churches they are warned against Unemployed Council organizers, saying they “will only take into the organization work~- ers who don’t believe in God.” In spite of the local papers playing up.the Pope’s denunciation of Communism, other churches warn that “all the organizers are Catholics.” A. F. of L, Treachery. The papers, which formerly used to print oc- casional statements and reports, now for the most part refuse to print any statements or re- port any unemployed activities. Plans for a consolidation of forces to conduct the starvation and suppression campaign against the workers have just been made by the legislative commit- tee of the Central Labor Union. A conference will be called by this committee, of editors, city councilmen, the mayor, city manager, represen- tatives of churches, president of the Chamber of Commerce, and heads of charity agencies. No workers. In the past week, a fascist organiza- tion, the Knoxville County Property Owners’ Association, war formed, which talks vaguely about “unrest” and “the reds,” and whose avowed purpose is to “protect property.” According to the poetic chairman: “It is but a local expres- sion of @ universal sentiment—a balanced, har- monious social-economic order, with abundance for all.” In March, fearing the growing organized strength of the Knoxville workers, an ordinance was passed by the City Council against holding any meeting,’ parade or demonstration without a permit. Central Labor officials voted for it. “United Reaction. The other half of the Siamese Twins is dema- gogy. Open meetings are called by the mayor, where, according to the press, “everyone in the audience will be given a chance to express their views on how they think the unemployment prob- Jem should be handled. Everyone is given a chance to speak except workers and committees of, the Unemployed Council, who are heckled, shouted at and thrown out by the well-dressed citizens and Legion members. At these meetings, the city councilmen, the American Legion heads, the Property Owners’ Association and the Central Labor Union heads fall on each others necks in an orgy of con- gratulation. At the last meeting, Paul Ailor, president of the Central Labor Union, stated: “I express thanks on behalf of labor for the efforts of Mayor O'Connor and the City Council in their endeavor to help the unemployed.” A proposal by the Central Labor Union, asking for federal aid, was unanimously passed at the last Council meeting. Paul Aymon, president, and Will Cheek, secretary of the State Federa- tion of Labor, spoke in favor of federal relief, but temporary, not permanent relief. “Labor wants no dole, Labor wants only a chance to work.” Socialist Party Joins Chorus. : ‘The city councilmen, practically all of whom are in the. coal business, lumber business, are contractors or own ‘stores, fall .all over them- selves, slobbering; “No one in Knoxville will go haha Ra Ns Socialist Party speakers have begun to add their shrill piping to the chorus. ‘Thousands of workers in Knoxville are star- ving. And they are starving fast. They want omrenk.-anthe hour: for their «3 " ; F 3 Corruption in the A. F. of L. and By BURCK the Government By J. STACHEL IN recent months the courts have become the scene where much of the corruption and Czar- istic method in the A.F.L. unions was brought to light. Part of the capitalist press particularly the Scripps-Howard press, devoted much space to this question. The specific unions involved were the International Union of Operating Engineers, the Motion Picture Operators, the Electrical Workers Union, the Iron. Workers and Sheet and Metal Workers Union. In the latter we saw how the Labor Department through Secretary Doak took a direct hand against the protesting groups and for the ruling clique, What is the meaning of all this? Why all the noise about corruption in the AF.L. unions? Is it not generally known for many years that there has existed the greatest corruption in the AF.L, unions? That millions of dollars are being pock- eted by the leaders out’ of the treasuries filled from the dues and taxation of the membership? Why all the excitement about the Czaristic and autocratic rule of the bureaucrats? Why the noise about the sudden discovery that the labor leaders are allied with the bosses in every way, against the workers and’ for this work receive direct bribes, business partnerships, etc.? Have not these facts been known for a long time? Has not this whole system of corruption, graft, racketeering and arbitrary rule, the suppression of the rights of the membership become the very cornerstone of the policy of the A: unions? Are the capitalist courts, the capitalist press, the capitalists and their government interested in protecting the interests of the rank and file membership of the A.F.L.? Hammer's Decision. In order to answer some of the above ques- tions, in order to understand the real aim of all these exposures and investigations, in order to grasp the menace to, the workers that lies be- hind it, it is worth while examining the recent decision of Supreme Court Justice Ernest E. L. Hammer against the officers of Local 125 of the International Union of Operating Engineers. In this decision Justice e Hammer states: “Weakened by internal ‘dissentions, the result of well defined notions of official oppression, the union and its members may become...a ready prey of those pseudo labor groups who in times of distress are keenly active in attempts to lead the workers away from those safe moorings recognized in the expression of the ideals of union men by the leaders past and present of the American Federation of Labor.” In these few words Justice Hammer has made much quite clear. It is the fear that “pseudo labor groups”, meaning of course the red trade unions, and the red oppositions in the AF.L, unions, will in the present situation of “dis- tress” which means unemployment, wage cuts, ete., be able to develop the struggle of the work- ers against the attacks of the bosses and thus “lead the workers away from those ,safe moor- ings (class collaboration—J.S.)” which are the polieies of Greem, Woll & Co. The capitalists, therefore, feel it quite urgent through these in- vestigations to accomplish the following tasks: “Cleansing” the Unions. 1—To remove from office some of the most outstanding and. already exposed grafters and racketeers, who in their zeal to personally profit in their business as union leaders, followed very loyally the traditions of all good business men and tried to make as much profit as they could, and who have already pocketed plenty, but who are already so exposed that they become a men- ace to the capitalists in further maintaining the class collaboration policy in these unions against the interests of the membership. 2—To lay the precedent for the courts to step in and make decisions against the rank and file wherever the workers overthrow their corrupt work; they want cash, not groceries; they want free rent and water; they want a minimum of $4 and $5 a week relief, depending on size of family, and they want unemployment and social insurance, . ‘The Demands of Workers. They want the heads of the Associated Chari- ties kicked out, and a committee of workers to handle relief, They propose a petition signed by hundreds of workers, to be presented to the City Council, demanding their removal and giv- ing the demands of the unemployed. workers. Workers are beginning to sce the need for or- ganization and the need for fighting for their demands, Thousands of Knoxville workers are starving. But they don’t need to, They are determined they-won't, xy \ aT RE ! leaders and adopt the class struggle policy. 3—To strengthen the illusion among’ the work- ers that the AFL. is an organization that repre- sents the interests of the workers. 4—To move the Greens and Wolls to greater consciousness" and to the adoption of more vig4 ilant methods in the struggle against the revo- lutionary trade unions and:to prevent the. devel-. opment of the Trade Union Unity League. It is‘ worthy of mentioning that about’ four years ago it was the same Scripps-Howard press that began a campaign calling upon the A-F.L. leadership to stop sitting in their swivel chairs and go down and organize the workers in the South. That was at the time when the National Textile Workers Union offiliated to the oe was leading the strike -in Gastonia. » Like “Cleansing” ‘Tammany. The campaigns t6 “cléainse” the unions is not divorced froma the campaign to “cleanse” the state apparatus. ‘The stepping in’of the govern- ment against some: of the outstanding grafters in the unions is part of the same policy that is now directed against Mayor James Walker. Both are part of one policy to strengthen the hold of finance capital on the state apparatus. So that it can be more reliable as.an instrument against the masses in the present period of crisis. This campaign in the unions taking place, at the same time as for example the campaign against cer- tain “excesses” of ‘Tammany shows the efforts of the government.to- make the A.F.L. unions part of the state apparatus, It is a part of the growing fascization of: the state. The revolutionary’ movement and all militant workers must’ sée in these’investigations a di- rect attack against them. We must expose these attacks before the masses of the workers. Such an exposure must go-hand in hand with the struggle against all, remnants of sectarianism with regard to the work of wining the masses organized: in the A.F.L, unions.’ We must under- take a broad activity inside the A.F.L. unions for the class struggle policies of the revolution- ary trade union movement Build genuine rank and file oppositions on the basis of a broad united front on. the’ most immediate burning issues, unemployment relief and insurance, against wage--cuts, against. terror, against im- perialist war, etc. and on the basis of such a struggle develop an offensive against. the. be- trayals of labor bureaucrats,.fight for the rights of the membership, expose the’ graft ‘and corrup- tion in the unions, the high salariesof the offi- cials, side by side with the starvation of the rank and file of the membership. Workers Shall Clean the A.F.L. Unions, Yeg, there must be some housecleaning in the i unions. The bosses and the government re carrying through a “cleaning”’ to convert the unions into more reliable instruments of finance capital, to carry through the attacks on the workers The rank and file workers must or- ganize to clean out the bureaucrats and to de- velop the struggle against the bosses and their government and for the interests of..the mem- bership. “Veterans, Close Ranks!” (A Pamphlet for the Fighting Veterans) 600 copies of a.new pamphlet sell like hot-cakes at an Ex-Servicemen’s Demonstra- tion in New York, and there is not a sufficient supply on hand to fill the demand, it shows what a long-felt need is being filled by “Veter- ans, Close Ranks,” the new 5-cent pamphlet is- sued by the Workers’ Ex-Servicemen’s League. The pamphlet itself is the statement of the Workers’ Ex-Servicemen’s League to the Ways and Means Committes of the Hous¢ of Repre- sentatives in Washington. It is the -working- class argument favoring the Ammediate cash, payment of the bonus. This pamphlet states the clear working:atabs position, without any promise to the special in- terests of, the. rich governing classes, on the bonus fight. It tells how the money can be raised to meet the payment of the bonus, at the expénse of th rich, It gives the principles of organization of the Workers’ Ex-! Serviedmen’ a -League, and. directions..on..how to organize. pos: vof this fighting working-class veterans’ organ- ization. ‘The 32-page pamphlet can’ be peedtinl for 5 cents from Workers Library. Publishers, P.O. ‘Box 148, Station: D, NewlYork-city, TOWARD REVOLUTIONARY MASS WORK (DISCUSSION OF THE 14TH PLENUM) Some Opportunistic At- |). titudes in Shop Work By LENA DAVIS 'HE composition of the delegates to the District Convention of our Party showed very clearly that. while we accept theoretically the decisions of the 14th Plenum of the Party in connection with turning our face to the shops and mass work, that practically we are lax in putting these decisions into effect. This clearly has been seen from the fact that the {ndustries that we are supposed to be concentrating upon, especially marine, metal and trans- port, had the smallest number of delegates, [and that, as a whole, comrades active in unions or mass organizations were not delegates to the District Convention. This, in spite of the fact that in the direc- tives that went out in preparation for. the Convention, we specified ex- actly the type of comYades that should have been elected to the District and to the Section Com- mittees, Is this an accident, or is it due to a certain attitude that prevails? Let me give a few concrete exam- ples of what happened at the Sec- tion 1 Convention prior to the elec- tion of delegates to the District Convention. Solid Contacts With Masses At this Convention, I brought forward the decisions of the 14th Plenum of the Party, where it stated, “We must develop a solid, personal contact with the worker. Comrades who work in shops or mass organizations are certainly the ones best fitted to develop this per- sonal contact wtih the workers,” I stated. In’ many instances, this statement was interpreted in a | formal manner, and comrades who are office workers took it in a per- sonal light, and in the spirit that there is no room at all for people like themselves in the ranks of our Party. This, of course, is an abso- lutely incorrect. approach to the whole-problem, and shows a lack of understanding. of the central task of our Party. What were some of the opinions expressed at the Sec- tion 1 Convention? Here are some of the points that I consider of major importance. One comrade stated, “hig is old stuff. We have said it a year and 2 years ago.”. Another comrade said the. following, “What is the dif-, ference who is on the Unit Buro, shop:.workers or office workers? ‘The trouble with our work is main- ly that we have no definite tasks. If we had definite tasks, then the work would be. done. Only then will the Party be able to get out of this hopeleSs, chaotic situation.” A third comrade stated, “In Russia it was not the workers in the shops, but people like Burshkovskala who developed and led the struggles of the workers.” :. A Party of the Masses ‘These statements very clearly show that there is a lack of faith among many Party members (espe- cially the old Party members) in the ability of the workers to pre- pare, lead and develop struggles. It shows very clearly that these comrades do not understand the decisions of our Plenum, and do not grasp the central point of the Plenum resolution, and that is that from a Party for the masse" we must become a Party of the Macses. In my opinion it shows that we must begin to carry on the work in the shop, not as a separate iso- lated group from the workers in making demands for them with- out consulting them, but together | struggles. with them, and in this way develop the struggles to higher points, The second point that one of the comrades raised, “What dif- ference does it make who is on the Unit Buro?” shows farther that the comrade does not understand the decisions of the 14th Plenum of oyt Party when it states that “we must develop a solid, personal contact with the workers,” and who can best. develop such contact with the workers if not the workers theme _selves—comrades, who on the basis of the struggles in the factory and in the shops are able to speak the language of the workers, and who | are able to mobilize the workers for the struggles that the Party is lead- ing? Our Party Plenum, when it spoke of mass work, did not simply make statements in the abstract. It gave us @ definite line that we must de- velop this personal contact with the workers on the basis of their grievances, and thus develop their In my opinion, the com- rade who made the above state- ment showed very clearly that she did not as yet develop a worker's | ideology, that she must try very hard to begin to understand the basic task of our Party. And cer- tainly, no worker woyld state that our Party is “in a hopeless, chaotic | situation” but would rather discuss the basic tasks and weaknesses of our Party, and make concrete pte- posals on how to overcome thes2 weaknesses in order to mobilize the whole Party for mass struggles. And certainly the third comrade, when she took a counter-revolu- tionary like Brushkoyskaya, who since the Russian revolytion has become an open enemy of the pro- letariat of the Soviet Union and of the proletariat through@ut the world, and put her forth as one who led and prepared the struggles of the workers, shows, first, that the comrade has not yet learned to distingyish between _ intellectuals | who develop a proletarian ideology j and become a real asset to the struggles of the working class, and intellectuals who remain alien to the needs, desires and struggles of the workers, It also showed a defi- nite lack of faith in, the ability of. the Party to mobilize the workers for struggles in the United States. Begin Campaign of Clarification ‘These points which were evident in the Convention in Section 1 are not isolated examples of how some of our Party comrades look at the decisions of the Party Plénum. It is quite clear that as a result of the District Convention, we must begin a@ very sharp ideological campaign in the ranks of the Party to clarify the decisions of the Party Plenum and District Convention in the light of the basic task facing our Party; a sharp struggle against such unhealthy tendenciés as those expressed in Section 1 and other Sections prior to the District Con- vention. ‘The only way our District will be able to make the tyrn towards mass work required of us by the Central Committee Plenum resolu- tion will be in a struggle against , open or hidden opposition to the basic work of our Party and to mobilize the whole Party member- ship on the basis of the daily prob- lems facing the workers in the shops, in the unemployed work and mass organizations, and to develop and lead struggles, and in that way go forward towards building up a mass Party in our District. FIRST ELECTION PAMPH- LET OFF THE PRESS Communist Election Platform, 1c. The Fight for Bread, by Earl Browder, 2c. W hates first two of a series of pam- phlets especially published for the Communist election campaign are off the press. The first has al- ready been well popularized through the’ press, through the discussions on the draft conducted by the workers and through the national and the various state nominating conventions and ratification con- ventions already held. In pamphlet form it is a neat sixteen-page one- cent publication, giving the entire Platform of the Communist Party, altered in line with suggestions workers sent in and amendments offered at the national nominating convention in Chicago, Good paer and good print help to make this simply written political document still easier to read for the worker. “The Fight for Bread” is the key- ‘note speech of Comrade Browder at the national nominating conven- tion, It gives the situation of the workers throughout the country at present; who is responsible for the misery; the revolutionary solution for the workers; the agents of the bosses among the workers in the form of the Socialist Party and other demagogues; the role of the Communist Party as the leader in the fight for unemployment insur- ance, against wage-cuts, as the leader of thé Negro masses; against Sis..| war, defense.of the Soviet Union, against capitalist terror; for the ex- Ploited: farmers; and it describes the perspective of a Soviet Govern- aa Jie toes eae eee pamphlets will soon be off the press—the two acceptance speeches of the two candidates and Comrade Hathaway's speech nominating Comrade Ford for Vice-President, { The following are the pamphlets which should be concentrated upon at present at all election meetings: 1. Election program of the Com- ~~ munist Party, 1 cent. 2. The Fight for Bread, Earl Browder’s Convention \Gpeach, 1 cent. The Acceptance Speeches of the Two Candidates, 2 cents. Graft and Gangsters, by Harry Gannes, 10 cents. Why Unemployment © ance (A. F. of L. Rank and File), 3 cents, The Soviet Union Stands for Peace, by M. Litvinov, 1 cents They Shall Not Die (Scotte- boro in Pictures), 2 cents. . War in @hina, by Ray Stews art, 10 cents, Noon-Hour Talk on the Com munist Party, 2 cents, 3. 4. 5. CLDL HAS RAPID GROWTH TORONTO.—The national office ot, the Canadian Labor Defense | reports the formation of branches in important areas and the! creating of a new. district. in | Saskatchewan area. Canadian work. ers are responding to the attack « the Bennett regime upon the mili- tant workers by, joining the CLDL over. growing .numbers. - . . VOTE COMMUNIST FOR: [ « tual ita tee the Nesnte ab Be 4 ie |