The Daily Worker Newspaper, June 27, 1932, Page 4

Page Four eee _— — DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, MONDAY, JUNE 27, 1932 Yorker Pea USA Dail Published by the Comprodaily Publishing Co., Inc., daily excxept Sunday, at 50 E. 18th St., New York City, N. ¥. Telephone ALgonquin 4-7956. Cable “DATWORK.” Address and mail checks to the Daily Worker, 50 E. 13th St., New York, N. ¥. SUBSCRIPTION By mail everywhere: One year, $6; six months, 83; Borough of Manhattan and Bronx, New York City, six months, $4.50. RATES: two months, $1 Foreign excepting one year, $8; Roosevelt--“Progressive” ISTORICALLY Democratic Party the party of the the parties distinguished themselves by their stand on the tariff which difference was basically of no social importance to the masses. Today these two parties of capitalism are as alike as two peas in a pod. The greater the likeness, the more urgent the necessity of maintaining the two party system resorting to the vilest demagogy and trying to rep- resent one or the other of the parties as “progressive,” as the party of the underdog.” the Republican Party is the party of big capital, the veholder. After the Civil War, American democracy, as Marx pointed out a long time ago, is the classic land of swindling and this applies even more to politics than to commerce. Today when the question of the very existence of capitalism has been raised by the bankruptcy of the profit system and the rise and obvious success of the system of socialism in*the USSR, the capitalists must seek to dress up one of its candidates for presidency as a “liberal.” And this is the strength of Franklin D. Roosevelt, tender for the democratic nomination for president. the leading con- What gives this New York Governor the right to strut about as a progressive? Even if we define the term in the vague, indefinite and in- i phrase chosen by Roosevelt himself as the “champion of the forgotten S) there is nothing in the entire record of this politician to earn even this meaningless title. As assistant secretary of the Navy in the Wilson administration, he was responsible for the invasion of Haiti by American marines, boasted that he wrote its slavish constitution, threatened Mexico - ith imperialist conquest, intensely supported Wilson’s war for the benefit of Wall Stréet, and barely escaped the teapot dome scandal from also breaking over his head. As governor of New York he has, together with his right hand man, the banker Lehman, through various “arbitration” schemes, teduced the needle trades workers to unparalleled sweat shop conditions, broken strikes, and denied the workers of New York State relief from the miseries of the crisis. Two million lean and hungry unemployed workers can point the finger of scorn at this self-styled “progressive” governor. Where then is his progressivism to be found? It is supposed to re- side in the name of “Roosevelt.” The older Theodore Roosevelt as presi- dent of the United States vigorously promoted American imperialism, swindled Panama away from the Latin Americans, expropriated the small business men and relentlessly sent the afmy to break up strikes in the interest of the trust magnates and bankers. All of which did not deter him in 1912 from posing as a liberal and reformer, when capitalism needed some one to deflect the masses away from the growing socialist movement of the time. Bearing in mind the usefulness of Roosevelt's action, the capitalist class has spread the myth that the name of Roosevelt is synonymous with progressive. It is upon this myth that the present governor stakes his claim. And should he obtain the nomination, he will like his namesake, blare forth his shallow “progressivism” to the highest Pitch. This is not the first example of its kind in history. We recall the cutting and brilliant phrase of Marx in describing the reappearance of events and personalities upon the stage of history—That they appear the first time as tragedy and the second as farce. If Lenin accurately designated the “original” Roosevelt as a charlatan, what else can we say of his distant cousin, Franklin D. Roosevelt, but that he is a pure and simple quack. ‘Planning” for Sick Capitalism § the curve of business crisis shoots downward, voices in the ranks of the capitalists demanding “planned economy” rise in pitch and in- ten The New York Times in its Sunday edition editorially tells of a new plan—“socialized capitalism’—put forward by a Mr. Milbank whom the ‘Times describes as a “lawyer, bank director, chairman of the board of a great industry and philanthropist”. “He sets forward,” says this capitalist newspaper, “the foundation principles on which to build an improved eco- nomic and social order.” Capitalism, says this industrialist, “makes the individual a predatory animal rather than a social being, while socialism in its extreme form (!) destroys some of the finest and useful qualities in the individual.” This banker would strike a compromise between the two and “humanize” capital. The Times hurries to remind us, however, that this Mr. Milbank does not mean “nationalization”, as for example, practiced in the Soviet Union. No, he is thinking rather of such innocent things as voluntary and public co-operation in programs for the promotion of health “and welfare of the children and for protection against the evil days of old age and unem- ployment.” This is the sum total of his “socialization” schemes. That capitalism makes the “individual a predatory animal” is no mean admission on the part of this banker. But it is no original discovery! Marx long ago pointed out that mankind has lived a semi-animal existence under all forms of society, but that capitalism has the distinction because of those “fine, useful qualities” which Mr, Milbank worships, of making the jungle ex- istence more pronounced, more cruel and the struggle for the means of existence on the part of the working class more inhuman. And what are those “fine and useful qualities”, which socialism will do away with? {IT is the profit greed, the motive for the accumulation of wealth at the ‘expense of the masses, the desire to outstrip the’ fellow-capitalist in the jrush for profits, the madness to build up fortunes and hold millions of workers under the iron heel of capitalist industry. But it is precisely because of this profit greed, the inherent nature of capitalism, that capitalism cannot plan. Capitalism is trapped by its own system. But it cannot find a way out by a fundamental reorganization. All its planning schemes are intended to hide the plunderous character of the system from the masses and are means to further the enslavement of the workers by further concentra- tion of industry. The capitalists rely upon wage slashes at home and the Tedivision of the world through war as a way out. The reorganization of society, real and fundamental will and can .be made only by the working class led by the Communist Party. Its way is {the overthrow of the capitalist system and the establishment of a system ‘of production for use. Such a system looms high for the American work- ers and farmers in the brilliant successes of planned economy in the Soviet Union. “LABOR LEADER AND PRESBYTERIAN” IGH praise and a keen, though quite accidental evaluation, has just come to Mr. A. J. Muste, head of the “Conference for Progressive Labor Action.” Muste, whose chief job is to help blunt the fighting edge of class struggle with meaningless “radical” phrases, is announced by the Church League for industrial Democracy to deliver a series of lectures on “The ‘Way out of the Economic Problem,” which opens soon in the groves of the Wellesley college, a “finishing school” for the flapper Baaiers of the rich, Says the folder announcing Muste’s lectures: “Dr. Muste, as a Preby- clergymen, is, as you see, particularly well equipped to handle the ect.” Of course, he is! Christianity is his strong point. Was it not the Same Rev. Muste who urged the desperate textile strikers in Marion, N. ©. to go on the picket line with hymn books to face the shower of bullets which crushed the lives out of six of the workers? ‘Yes, the Reverend, like his i ‘Thomas, is well to handle gaerrsniy NO PORK IN THIS BARREL! on some features of the Wagner and Garner Bills. Bruening government has resigned. In the 26 months during which the Bruening was in office, unemployment in Germany acording to official statistics, in- creased from 3,100,000 to 6,100,000; the number of unemployed in re- ceipt of unemployment benefit has been reduced from 68 to 26 per cent; rates of benefit have been reduced; the wages of employed workers have been reduced by 33 per cent; the average weekly wage of an industrial worker, taking into account the losses through unem- ployment and tax deductions, has declined from 42,20 marks to 22.45 marks, In the 26 moths of the Bruening government, millards of mark squeezed out of the starving masses were played into the hands of the big bankers, the heavy industrial- ists and the Prussian junkers in order to salvage their bankrupt undertakings and big estates. This is the social countenance of the policy of the Bruening government, this government of emergency de- crees and expropriation of the toilers in the interest of the cap- italists. Crisis and unemployment are driving German capitalism to a catastrophe; the burden of repara- tions bars any way out from the crisis by means of successful com- petition on the world market. The conferences in Lausanne, which allegedly is to solve the reparations question, will not and can not bring the solution which is necessary to the German bourgeoisie. New Robbery Drive ‘The German bourgeoisie still sees in the “high” wages of the workers and the “unbearable burden” of social expenditure as the cause of the extreme accentuation of the economic crisis. The Bruening gov- ernment supported by the social democracy, had not the necessary forces at its disposal in order to carry out a fresh open robber- campaign against the working class by means of the State apparatus. The Bruening government also did not possess the necessary authority among the leaders of the German bourgeoisie in order to represent the interest at the Lausanne Confer- ence, Hence it was compelled to resign and to give place to another government, which will attempt to solve the “accursed problems” of the German bourgeoisie with more brutal means. Bruening is replaced by his col- leagues of the Catholic Centre Party, the big landowner Franz von Papen, the biggest shareholder of “Germania,” who during the war was military attache in Washing- ton, The new government will be a government of heavy industry and of the junkers, with the closest co- operation of the Reichswehr gen- erals, who have in their hands all the means of terror for suppressing the resistance of the toilers. Fascist Base The government reminds us of the time of Wilhelm II, not only because it is composed of represen- tatives of the same classes which were in power before the November revolution, but also by reason of its comparison. It bases itself upon the million army of the followers of the national socialist fascist party; in addition to the Reichs- wehr and the police, in its fight against the masses it makes use of the fascist fighting organizations, yee - By BUECK “I am glad to see the adoption by the Senate and House. of the principle of generous relief to unemployment.”—Herbert Hoover's statement Government Fell Leading Article of Pravda, June 3, 1932 | the crisis of capitalism. mer ‘HE Bruening government, with the assistance of\ the socal de- mocracy, has prepared this na~ tional socialist basis for the Papen— Schleicher Government. The na- tional socialists are already in power in Brunswick, Hesse, Olden- burg, Anhalt and Mecklenburg; they play a decisive role in ‘the senates of the “free” towns of Bremen and Danzig; they are about to take over power-in Prus- sia and Wurtemberg. They are conducting negotiatons for enter- ing the Bavarian government. ‘Thus we perceive a peculiar re- lation of forces, resulting in the “non-party” Reichs government of the generals, junkers and indus- trialists being supportéd by the national socialist, provincial gov- ernments, which have at their dis- posal a tremendous fascist party and fighting apparatus. Betrayals Continue ‘There is not the least doubt that the social democracy will also “tolerate” the Papen—Schleicher government as the “lesser evil” against an eventual Hitler govern- ment as a “lawful” and constitu- tional government. The social de- mocrats are already now endeavor- ing to ‘prove that its policy of sup- port of Hindenburg’s candidate was correct, for Hindenburg has ensured the “lawful” and constitu- tional” character of the new gov- ernment. The character of the new government can be seen from Liberal Journalism By JULIUS DAVIDSON es Daily News of Washington, D. C., is a Scripps-Howard chain paper whose chief circulation bait is a liberal sympathy for the work- ers and expiring petty merchants. With the timidity characteristic of the petit bourgeois soul the world over, this newspaper fights slyly shy of any organized mass resist- ance which seriously threatens the’ foundations of the ruling tribe. ‘When such resistance manifests it~ Self, as in the last Communist anti- war demonstration before the Japa- nese embassy, the Daily News plainly betrays the inherently rot- ten spirit of its liberalism. The “News” Knew. LTHOUGH the “News” knew that the workers who participated in the anti-imperialist demonstration before the Japanese Embassy were unarmed, it nevertheless sought to prejudice its readers against them by reporting that: “The embassy was undamaged because the police intercepted the demonstrators before they reached the grounds.” Thus, the Washington gendarmes barbarous slugging of the demon- strators is subtly justified by the vile insinuation that the workers were bent not on disciplined, class consci- ous protest against imperialist but- chery in the Far East, but upon vio lence and bloodshed to the embassy and its occupants, Thus, those tradi- tional guardians of special privi- lege—the police—are made to ap- pear by these liberals of publicity as the disinterested defenders of life, liberty and property—precious capitalist life, liberty and property. “Be More Cautious.” 'HE “News” poses as the cham- pion of unpopular causes by shrewdly exploiting the confidence of the capital city’s thousands of government employees. This it achieved by masquerading a shal- low editorial support of their grow- ing resentment against the Hoover plutocracy’s repeated assaults upon their living standards. Its sympa- thetic lip-service to the oppressed runs true to form. The Wall Street government's relentless browbeating of federal workers into surrender- ing substantial slices of their pay first for the Red Cross, then for the Community Chest, and now the serious wage slgsh maneuvered by the Congressional bootleggers on Capitol Hill is softened by this Paper's vague and meaningless warnings not to grind too merci- lessly the faces of the poor. It ad- vises the billionaire’s government to be more cautious in its wage-cuts because such cuts may drive the workers to seek salvation in “the Russian Experiment.” An “experi- ment” which the News is doubt- Jess not over-anxious to see tried in this land. Perhaps because this “experiment” has so thoroughly li- quidated” the brand of Liberal Capitalism which the News rep- resents no less than its savage counterpact, the Hoover govern- ment. The spectacle of the Hunger Marchers surrounded by a veritable army of uniformed killers equipped with the most scientific death- dealing devices, together with the spectacle of the vicious and un- provoked beating-up of the anti- war demonstrators, left an impres- sion on tens of thousands of work-. ing-class onlookers indelibly unflat- tering to the forces of capitalist democracy. Police Agents of Capitalism. ‘HE proletarian bystanders have learned from these events the sinister class role of the police, And the News, whose artful ex- ploitation of the increasing distress and consequent restlessness of the toilers is the basis of its substan- tial circulation among them, is aware of the danger of this knowl- edge to the system on which it thrives. It therefore feels impelled to check the workers’ growing rec- ognition of the police as an unvar- nished instrument of capitalist op- pression. Accordingly, the bright strate- gists of this liberal organ of truth and light have inaugurated a con- test to encourage its readers to send in stories eulogizing the friendly humanity of the police. In this laudable endeavor to paint the bourgeois butchers of the poor in roseate colors, the News announces that it has the hearty co-operation of the Chief of Police, General Pel- ham D. Glassford.. The notorious chief of police who personally directed the slugging and jailing of the anti-war demonstrators, the same chief of police who warshalled the armed forces of capitalism who menaced the lives of the Hunger ehers and is now hounding’ the j The Situation in Germany--Why the Bruening the fact that General von Schlei- cher is one of its prominent mem- ers, through whom, as the “Bav- eriche Volkspartei Korrespondenz” of May 18 writes, public opinion in Germany and abroad is brought into connéction with those tenden- cies which intend, by means of the Reichswehr to exert an unconstitu- tional, impermissable pressure upon the political development in Ger- many, All these facts, as well as the participation of Hindenburg’s “con- fidants” (Meissner, Schacht etc.) in the setting up of the new govern- ment, show that this government will lead Germany ‘immediately to a fascist dictatorship, The toiling masses of Germany are faced with a government of open reaction, whose programme contains an unexampled enslave- ment of the toiling masses. The basis of the programme of the new government in regard to home politics will be the ruthless further offensive against the work- ing masses. It is clear already now that one of the first and most important measures of this govern- ment will be the abojition of un- employment insurance and the transference of the unemployed who still receive unemployment benefit, to poor law relief, which will however, not be guaranteed owing to the catastrophic financial situation of the municipalities. It is clear already now that one of the most important measures of this new government will be further wage reductions and the abolition of the co}lective agreements. It is precisely these inner-political meas- ures which induced the German bourgeoisie to discard at the pres- ent moment the direct support of the social democracy and the reformist trade unions, which could only give this support at the same time by risking the loss of their whole influence over the masses. ‘The German bourgeoisie has de- cided to replace deceit as the chief means of suppressing the resist- ance of the masses and maintaining its class rute, by terror as the chief means for achieving the same aims. ‘Whether the German bourgeoisie Will succeed in carrying out this plan and thus to find a way out of the crisis—this will depend on the German proletariat. Retormism Exposed The events of the last days and the taking over of office by the Papen-Schleicher government show to the wroking masses the shame- ful deceit of the social democratic party and of the reformist trade union bureaucracy. Under these conditions it is more than ever necessary to set up the united front of the Communist, social democra- tic, christian and unorganized workers for the fight against fas- cism and reaction, against wage cuts and the abolition of unemploy- ment beneit. IN foreign politics also the Papen- Schleicher government is con- fronted with complicated and dif- ficult tasks. The new German government has to go to Lausanne in order to fight there for Ger- many’s p’ace in the capitalist sun. Rumors are current according to which the nationalist circles of Germany are bargaining behind the scenes with big industrialist circles of France. The position of the French bourgeeisie, Close-Ups of Kalinin, Soviet President Peasants Find Him Always Ready to Listen to Complaints By MYRA PAGE, Our Correspondent in the Soviet Union, ENTER a long, simply fur- nished room, where a queue of about fifty people are waiting their turn to speak with the little man standing by his desk. As he talks quietly with each one, reading the letter or document they offer, his kindly, penetrating gaze is at work, seeing below. the surface of his fellow. “From behind his specks he can see everything,” a peasant confides. “He's a shrewd one, but with a big heart—our Kalinin.” We begin speaking with those in line, “Why have you come?” Peas- ants they are, bearded, heavy-set. Many are carrying sacks or baskets. Dark blue and brown shawls are fitted neatly about the women’s heads. All but a few have dis- carded the old hcme-made leggings and straw sandals for leather shoes or high-top boots—one sure mark of the village's slow but certain climbing to the city’s level. Why They Come. In answer to our question, a lad of twenty tells shamefacedly that he’s been expelled ffrom the work- ers’ technical school for being ab- sent from class too often, and fall- ing behind in his studies. The truth was, several times he got drunk, and ignored the student commit- tee‘s warnings. Now he is sorry, and hopes that since his father was a peasant Red partisan during the Civil War days, Kalinen might aid him in getting, another chance. Next to him stands a peasant woman who will demand that she and her husband be allowed to re- turn to their village. A year ago, they had been called up by their village soviet (council) for refusing to pay the grain tax, and working against the newly organized collec- tivé farm. The peasants’ had de- cided to banish them as bad ele- ments from the village for three years. Now, {having heard that things are going well there, the couple want to go back, join thé collective, and do their full part. She's been working at housework in Moscow and her husband as an unskilled laborer. Wants to Join Collective ‘We speak with several more peas~ ants whose stories run likewise. One old fellow, his eyes watering, tells us how he wouldn't join the collective when it first organized, believing what the local priest and rich kulak had whispered around the village. Now that his eyes have been opened and he wants to join. some of the collective members don’t want to let him in. He feels certain that Kalinin will straighten it out. There's ‘an old engineer who wants Kalinin’s <dvice on some personal matters, and a former peasant who has located a job in a Moscow factory provided he finds a toom. Maybe Kalinin can- help him. He is referred to the Housing Commission, and so it goes. After the last one is heard, and his request met or referred to spe- cial government committees for further handling, Michael Kalinin is free to talk with us. We follow his brisk step up the stairs to his its armaments. No pro-Frenchism of one of the other German foli- tican can induce the French bourgeoisie to abandon its pol-.y in regard to Poland. The Versailles system cannot be abolished by any negotiations in Lausanne, Geneva or Paris. Nationalist Sentiment The new German government will also have to take into account that nationalist sentiment which has driven many millions of petty bourgeois in the towns, peasants and even individual workers into Hitler's camp. These millions voted at. the Presidential and Prussian elections not so much for Hitler as against France and Poland. German nationalist sentiment is being daily outraged by attacks upon the right of self-determina- tion of the German people on various sectors of the German frontiers. The Foreign Committee of the Reichstag has been already compelled to adopt sharp resolu- tions against Poland and Lithuania on account of Memel and Danzig. All this shows that the attempts to arrive at an understanding with France will be futile, that the na- tionalist government will only bring about a further accentuation of all the foreign political antagonisms of Germany, before all its anta- gonism to Poland and France. ‘The formation of the government of “national concentration” is not @ symptom of strength but of weakness of capitalist Germany. It means a shrinking of the social basis of the Reichs government which today is compelled to em- ploy sharper weapons for the sup- pression of the toiling masses. Germany was, is and remains a centre of revolutionary ferment in Europe. The Communist Party of Germany, the only organizer of the toiling masses against the fas- cist terror, cleariy recognizes its tremendous responsiility at the present moment aid is tndertak- ing a regrouping of its forces on the basis of the united front with the social democratic workers for @ successful fight to win the ma- jority of the working class, for the fight against the fascist dictator- ship, for the right for the prole- office. Like the room below, it is simply furnished, with work-desk, | book-shelves, maps, charts and a! drawing of Lenin. In Kalinin’s Work Room “The men and women who come | here,” he tells us, “come to demand of their own class. There's no feel- ing of humbling themselves—it’s their right and they know it. They're not coming to any ‘great man,’ but one of themselves. For merly, when we still had unemploye ment, they came ‘Theirs was a temporary difficulty, which our developing socialist so- ciety has entirely abolished. Meane while they could rely upon not starving, because of our govern ment’s system of social insurance. Nevertheless, there were hardships —it’s good those days are past . Now the main problems they bring are personal ones, as you have seen. Social problems, such as housing and insurance, are handled else- where. “The peasants coming here serves more than one purpose. It corrects any individual injustice that may have occurred, and it helps us here in the government to keep in close touch with local developments. For example, I notice complaints of a certain kind from one region. Evi- dently there’s an inefficient or bu- reaucratic person there in the col- lective farm or soviet. So we send a member of the Central Control Commission to aid the locality in correcting the conditions.” Kalinin passes a newspaper. “The vilegers write hundreds of letters each month to this, their peasant’s paper, which has five million circulation. All the questions and complaints they send in, {besides being an- swered, are carefully analyzed, and charts prepared, so that the Party and government can feel the pulse of our masses, know their desires and problems in each region. That's how we work.” For awhile he puffs energetically on his cigarette, fixing on the three of us, representatives of the work- ers’ press from Germany, England and the United States, that same kindly, penetrating gaze. “So you're writing about the Soviet Union for workers abroad? One thing, don’t describe this as a land of milk and honey. To build cocialism is not easy. Your workers must know that, for they have the same task ahead of them. Nevrtheless, the mood of our toiling masses is better here than anywhere. They know for what they struggle. They fecl confident of what lies ahead. Sharptst Self-Critic'sm “Because our press makes a policy of publishing the sharpest self- criticism, and the~ masses’ com- plaints of shortcomings in our work, the bourgeois press abroad says this means that the population here is not satisfied with the Soviet power. That is not true. Our workers know they are making criticism of their @wn class and of course mis- takes are made. But they know that we are trying together to go on a new, independent road. Our difficulties and our shortcomings and victories we-share in common. “I have such an impression that ninety-nine and nine-tenths of the population are not sorry about the Soviet Power.” Again that quick grin. Perhaps oge-tenth of one per cent are dissatisfied. “You'll always find such people. I remem- ber when I was a small boy that some older peasants would say, ‘It was better when we were serfs.’ Later the conversation turns to developments in the village, under the Second FiveYear Plan. Kalinin uses his local village as an example. Enthusiastically he pointed out to us on the map, some hundred miles north of Moscow, in the Tver dis- trict. Every year or oftener he makes trips there, to visit with his mother and village friends. “I can see in my village how the peasants’ whole outlook and manner of living is changing since they’ve organized their collective farm,” he says. “In the old d-ys, every peasant was in darkness—dying. Now he has the chance to develop, going the same road as the factory worker. In my village, for instance, we have our members of the national govern ment, one is chairman of the Party’s district organization com~- mittee, three are commanders in the Red Army, two are managers of cooperative stores, two others have become managers of collective farms in other villages. That’s how it is. Closer to Communism “The collectivized peasant of to- day is no longer the same man as yesterday. 4 person who plows with a horse on his small plot, for him~ self alone, is far different from our modern farm workers who works a tractor on # jointly run farm. This collective farm worker has | learned to put the interest of the collective beyond all else. Maybe he hasn't learned yet to think much beyond this, But under the Second Five Year Plan you will see how our ‘collective farmer will stretch his outlook still further, coming close to the level of his city broth- ers in loyalty to Communism and Now it was Michacl Kalinin’s turn to question us about the situa- tion in our home countries. Before our leaving, the President. of the first Workers’ and Peasants’ Government asks, “Please give my oe asking work.| , the cause of the international pro-’ is a