The Daily Worker Newspaper, July 13, 1932, Page 4

SORE SARC ORR RIDE epee DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, JULY 13, 1932 rker’ Porty US.A. Published by the Comprodaily Publishing Co., Inc., daily exexept Sunday, at 50 E, 13th St., New York City, N. ¥. Telephone ALgonquin 4-7956. Cal ATWORK.” Address and mall ehecks to the Daily Worker, 50 E. 13th St., New York, N. Ys SUBSCRIPTION RATES: By mail everywhere: One year, $6; months, $3; Borough of Manhattan and Bronx, New York City. six months, $4.50. A New Period of Unem- ployed Struggle HE unemployed demonstrations in St. Louis last Friday and again on Monday marked the beginning of a new upward swing in the struggle of the starving millions of America for bread. Workers everywhere must eriously study these two demonstrations and apply the lessons which they give to their own struggles in their city and neighborhood vO two months, $1; excepting Foreign: one year, $8; On Friday, 5,000 workers marched to the city hall on the call of the Unemployed Councils, marching in six big columns from different parts of the city, meeting before the city hall with a mass of workers estimated at more than 15,000, who came in small groups. The immediate cause of the deinonstrations was the closing of all relief stations in St. Louis, e starvation more than 8,000 families who had The demor ion elected a committee to the mayor and his staff a t of eight demands. Threatened by the presence of 15,000 determined workers, the mayor refused to see the rommittee and tried to persuade them to send in only three representatives to a small private conference. But under pressure of the demonstration he w ally forced to receive the committee of twelve. 1g upon relief At first the mayor refused to consider their demands, but when the committee demanded that the mayor go and report to the 15,000 workers outside, he changed his mind and in the presence of the committee issued orders granting three of their eight demands. These were (1.) Immediate re-opening of the relief stations and issuing grocery orders to the 8,000 cut off the list in the last ten days. (2.) Immediate release of the eight workers sentenced to jail for struggle against the evictions of unemployed. (3.) Immediate distribution of seven thousand sacks of flour held by the Farm Board in St. Louis. These three demands were granted after three hours of negotiations during which the mass of workers refused to move from the city hall steps until the demands were granted. After the mayor had issued his orders, 2,000 workers marched from the demonstration to the central relief station where the grocery orders were issued without the previously required red-tape. The relief stations were forced to keep 2pen and give out relief to all who came. Th mayor had refused the other five demands on the grounds that they could only be acted on officially by the City Council which was not in session. He invited the committee to return on Monday to be present when their other demands were considered. The Unemployed Councils called upon the workers to be present again Monday in full force to support the other five demands. But on Monday the city authorities had already organized actions to try to smash the mass movement. When tie delegation arrived at the city hall instead of being admitted to the Council meeting it was locked up. Fifteen thous- and workers were standing on the city hall steps for three hours under the scorching sun, demanding an answer to their demands upon the city and the release of their delegation. When it became clear that the 15,000 workers would not abandon their delegates and their demands, the police began firing from the third floor of the city hall into the crowd seriously wounding four workers, supplementing the guy-fire with gas bombs. The workers replied by seizing the gas bombs thrown among them and throwing them back among the police, as well as with a shower of stones which smashed the city hall windows. The masses stood their ground for two hours under the police attack. It is clear that if the workers of St. Louis had quietly accepted the decisions of the city officials that nothing whatever would have been done to save them and their families from starvation, The first big mass move- ment immediately brought food for the starving. The Unemployed Council began to grow by leaps and bounds, new hope and a new energy sprang up among the broad starving masses of St. Louis. For the first time in the history of St. Louis this broad mass movement comprised ‘Negro and white workers in almost equal numbers fighting shoulder to shoulder. The attempt of the city authorities to smash this mass movement by bloodshed and terror wil not be successful. Already the workers. are showing the determination to protect themselves from these attacks. Already the workers show that they not only have a will but the ability to stand up against the attempts to disperse them by force. The unemployed masses in the United States are everywhere suffer- ing from the same misery and starvation which forced the St. Louis workers into action. It is this‘same mass starvation which is the soil from which arose the heroic movement of the ex-soldiers to Washington. There is a direct connection between the struggles of the ex-soldiers in St. Louis and vicinty to seize transportation in their march to Washington, ‘with mass ruggle of the unemployed around the St. Louis city Tywhere ‘oughout the country the starving masses are begin- ning more militantly. to fight for bread It is the special duty of every class conscious worker organization to turn all energies toward giving this mass movement or- ganizaton and leadership. Everywhere the unemployed committees and Councils must become the all-embracing mass organization of these workers. Everywhere the demands of the workers must be concretely formulated and presented directly to the government authorities and their local bodies with the mass support of the workers expressed on the streets, in the neighborhoods and before the city and state buildings. The movement of the unemployed locally for the most burning demands must be closely linked up in mutual solidarity with the struggle of the ex- soldiers for the bonus, and with the fight for jobless insurance. ‘The new wave of struggle of the unemployed is now beginning. It must set as its goal, and must really achieve, relief and insurance from the intolerable conditions which are destroying the very lives of millions of men, women and children. This mass struggle is the foundation for the Communist National Election Campaign which gives the highest ex- pression to the struggle of the starving millions against hunger and war. Letters from Our Readers Answer This Sham With Mass Anti-War Demonstrations August Ist! | and workers’ Editor, Daily Worker:— bn Friday, June 24th, there appeared & letter from a worker who desired to know the difference between the Bovialist and Communist Parties. Tt should be remembered by the work that the Communist antipathy the socialist is based not only eon his daily actions, but also to platform. ; When the platform of the Socialist Party of America was published, I tompared it with the platform of the fascist party of Japan (The Japan| Blate Socialist Party). I was not the least surprised to find that | ey coincided almost exactly, the ly appreciable differences relating purely local problems. The same of platform was advocated by MacDonald of Great Britain, before achieved power. If the leaders of the socialist move- it were to attain power in the ited States, what reason have we expect @ different course of events took place in Britain under Mac id? Consider the matter of confiscation. use of his affection to the dear pitalist, towards whom most of his timent is directed, the socialist Yelieves in buying the industries from the capitalists. ‘The natural question arises of burse—what are we going to use for Sd teal sAlanenclan wir> > raise the money would be by taxa- tion. (The issuance of bonds would merely prolong the process, as the bonds would have to be redeemed by taxation anyway.) But all taxes are confiscatory. When we are taxed ten dollars, say, on our income, we are not given any choice in the mat- ter. We are told “Hand over ten bucks or go to jail.” It follows then, that if the industries were to be paid |for, the entire value of the industries | would have to be confiscated from the workers, who must directly or indirectly pay all taxes. As all the capital of the country, | factories, etc., represented unpaid wages, they are originally confiscated from the workers by the capitalist class, and for the ingenious socialist to suggest that the value of the in- dustries should again be confiscated from the workers is to add insult to injury. If the taxation were directed solely against the capitalist class (which is an utter impossibility) and the money used to buy the industries from the capitalist class, this would simply be an indirect, foolish way of confiscating the industries anyway. T have examined at length merely this one item, but the same lack of correct reasoning and common sense pervades the whole socialist. phil« GENEVA.—The Dominican Republic formally proposed today that the disarmament conference recommend that all countries agree to prohibit the manufacture of warlike toys—News item on July 11th, m — av fly The Little Mussolini of Pittsburgh The Daily Worker calls atten- tion to this article written by the organizer of the Pittsburgh district of the Communist Party. The Pittsburgh workers have stood the first attacks of this fascist organization. We urge all workers to be on the alert in regard to the activities of this movement and to learn the les- sons already drawn in this arti- cle in order to effectively combat this vicious enemy organization. We ask the workers to keep the Daily Worker informed in regard t6 all manifestations of the Cot movement so that we may be able to furnish weapons to the workers for a resolute fight to crush this enemy. By CARL PRICE. Father Cox, the Catholic priest and candidate for President on the Jobless Liberty ticket, has now made clear his ambition to become the Mussolini of the United States, and has openly declared that his Blue Shirts are to be modeled after the Mussolini and Hitler fascists in Italy and Germany. Of course, in the building of the National Fascist organization Cox will spend the greatest efforts in those places where the workers are hardest hit by the crisis. Extent of Cox’s Organization Already the Cox movement has begun to assume national scope. Cox has united with W. H. (“Coin”) Harvey, who is handling the West- ern front of the Jobless Liberty Party and who will undoubtedly be the candidate for Vice-President. Father Cox expects one million del- egates to his national convention in St. Louis. The Blue Shirts claim to have more than five thousand units throughout t he country. The placing of the Jobless Liberty Party on the ballot is going forward in many states, with state tickets in @ number of important stgtes. In Indiana, Ward B. Heiner is the Jobless Liberty candidate for Gov- ernor of Indiana, and Dr. C. S. ‘Wykoff is the c andidate f or U. S. Senator in the same state. Judge R. A. Crossman is chairman of the state committee in Montana, where a state convention of the Jobless Liberty Party has already been held and a full ticket nominated for the state elections. Idaho held its state convention on June 24 and put up a complete slate of Jobless Liberty candidates. In Michigan, a full slate has been put up. Dr. Ball is the chairman of the national committee in charge of the cam- paign. In New Mexico, Green B. Patterson is the candidate for Gov- ernor of the Jobless Liberty Party. In New Jersey, a Jobless Liberty Party has been organized with G. G. Hancock at its head, and steps are being taken to get the party on the ballot. The Reverend H. Oscar Stevens is the Jobless Liberty candidate for Governor in South Dakota, where a state ticket has been put up and also county tickets. In Ohio a state ticket has been put up and also county tickets. In Ohio a state committee has been organized, with Julius Knopp as chairman, In Minnesota C. J. Osseith of Kasson is running for Congressman on the Jobless Liberty ticket and a unit of the party has been organ- ized in Sarasota,’ Florida, In Fort Worth, Texas, George W. Arm- strong is. proposed as the Texas WRITIR Reee te eT f 4 4 candidate for Governor. In Salt Lake City, Utah; L. E, Elggren is the organization. Dr. y can- *Father Cox’s Blue Shirts Modeled After Italian® and German Fascists didate for Governor of Kansas. Burr McKintosh is campaigning for the Jobless Liberty Party in Cali- fornia, where a state committee hhas been set up. A state committee has also been set up in the state of Washington. This is the information which is printed in the “Father Cox’s Blue Shirt News,” the weekly 12-page newspaper of the Cox organization. The alliance of Cox and Harvey gives the organization a national character and amalgamates the western Liberty Party with the Job- less Party of Father Cox. The “Liberty Bell” becomes the official organ of the Jobless Liberty Party in the West. Arrangements have already been made for the running of excursion trains from all points of the country to the St. Louis con- vention on August 17. Underestimation by Our Party The Pittsburgh District in its agi- tational work and in its unemployed. work and work for the election campaign has not sufficiently ; Studied or exposed before the work- | ers the Cox movement. This can also be said of the’ Party nationally. | The main speeches of the Party: leaders in the Chicago Nominating Convention did not say a single word about the Cox movement nor did the platform of the Party, Even at this date the treatment of the Cox movement in the Daily Worker is entirely inadequate. In the Daily Worker of this week, on a page giving the characterizations of the parties, party by party, no mention was made of the Cox movement. It is now time for the distries end the Party nationally, in entering the final stage of the Election Cam- paign to study the movement deep- ly and in all phases of its work to carry out a concrete exposure of the Cox movement. Program of Father Cox. The fascist character of the movement has come more into the open in recent weeks. Cox's state- ments in Europe—that his Blue Shirts are modeled after the Italian and German fascists, has opened the eyes of many workers and the significance of this statement must be fully explained. It is significant that Father Cox does not admit foreign-born workers to his organi- zation unless they are naturalized citizens and his literature states that in order to become a member of the Father Cox Blue Shirts — “he or she must be a citizen of the United States of America, pledge allegiance to the American flag”, While the Cox movement has enlisted many honest workers who do not understand where Cox is leading them, a number of his officers and most active Blue Shirts are recruited from the gangsters, speakeasy frequenters and profes- sional gun-men. The true purpose of the Cox movement is seen in the activities of this element, in at- tacks on the Communist Party Election meetings in the City of Pittsburgh, Several meetings of the Communist Party were broken up by the Cox Blue Shirts in past weeks. The struggle for the right to hold meetings at the corner. of Boggs and Buhl continues. The Communist Party last week by or- ganizing a militant defgnse corp succeeded jn driving away the Blue Shirts who had come in trucks and prowled the neighborhood for sev- eral hours and stationed cars around the Party. office-looking for. { Father Cox again showed his hand in doing the dirty work of the bosses in the struggle of the Terminal miners against the wage- cut in the Library Section. In this section the U.M.W.A., headed by Fagan, McCracken and Hyman has just caused the company to fire and blacklist over one hundred of the militant miners in the Term- inal No. 8 Mine in Coverdale, In the meeting of the U.M.W.A., where Fagan spoke and attempted to put over the third wage-cut this year, he introduced one of the leading Blue Shirts to speak and it was on- ly on seeing the militant mood of the miners at this meeting that forced Fagan to withdraw this Blue Shirt from the platform and hastily adjourn this meeting, It must be recalled, that in an interview, which some two or three months ago was printed on the back page of the Daily Worker, Father Cox, speaking to an Eastern writer, openly stated the purpose of his organization when he stated that the boss class has a great deal to thank him for in the Pittsburgh District, because he has prevented revolutionary action organiza- tion of the workers, has prevented large numbers of workers from following the Communist leader- ship and has by his activity kept these workers loyal to the present system. Cox is one of the best agents in aiding the bosses’ government in their preparations. for war, sound- ing the note at all times of—“pa- triotism” and loyalty to the “coun- try”, following out the same policy he followed in the march to Wash- ington where he insisted that the unemployed and starving hunger and bonus marchers kneel at’ the gtave of the unknown soldier and recite allegiance to the American flag. Cox has stated in many ar- ticles in the Pittsburgh newspap- ers, the fact that his organization is directed against the Communists and their program, directed against the activities of the Unemployed Council, opposed to Unemployment Insurance, opposed to the militant struggle lead by the Unemployed Council for Unemployment ‘Relief from the city government and state government at Harrisburg. Father Cox is endorsed:and sup- ported by the American ‘Legion, such organizations as the Boards of Trade, Chambers of Commerce, Independent Merchants Association and Retail and Wholesale Merch- ants Association, (10 BE CONTINUED.) DUTY OF FRACTIONS IN TRADE UNIONS By A, PETERSON ‘HAT the Communist Party is the highest form of the working- class organization, that the prob- lem of bringing the Party cam- paigns to the broad masses of the workers is the duty of every Party member and especially those Party members who are in close contact with workers and are leaders in mass organizations; this is sup- posed to be self-evident for all Party members. It is surely to be expected that a shop nucleus meeting is to have on the order of the day the prob- Jems in the shop, the building of grievance, shop committees and the militant unions, same is true about a fraction meeting in our Trade Union Unity League or opposition groups in the A. F. of L.. unions. But who of us Party members would consider it proper when a shop nucleus meeting would neglect to have on the order of the day the Party campaigns? And yet in our trade union fraction meetings we seldom have room on the order of the day for the Party campaigns. The Communist Party of the United States of America has on the order of the day as the major activities to mobilize the workers for the ; 1, Fight for Unemployment and Social Insurance at the expense of the employers and the government. 2. Against imperialist war and the four other points o nthe Com- munist Election Campaign Pro- gram. Is not the Party fraction in the sponsible to mobilize the workers trade unions the body that is/re-, in the respective trades against war, for Unemployment and Social Insurance, etc., for our Communist Election Campaign? Surely, Is it not alarming enough when Party members at a fraction meeting are protesting why they should bother with such questions as the building - ef anti-war committees, unemploy- ment insurance, when they hear the same stuff in the units? “We come here to discuss trade prob- lems!”—they protested. Let us ask these comrades: “Who is better qualified to discuss, for instance, how to bring the ‘Com- munist election campaign or’ how to build anti-war committees in an A. F .of L, local union, the com- rades who are in these local unions or Your unit in the ‘section of the Party you belong?” : Do we have to remind our Part members in the trade union work that our militant revolutionary unions and opposition groups are to be built and developed on the basis of class struggle as against class collaboration, and is it there- fore not of great importance that we Party members, especially, shall make all possible contributions to develop the class-consciousness especially of those workers who are coming closer to. our leadership? Are we doing it? Not to a great extent. Our T.U.U.L, bulletins are proof of this. Tt is clear for all left-wingers that the Party is the driving force that made possible the existence and growth o fall the Trade Union Unity League unions and opposi- tion left-wing groups. The build- ing of the Party and the improy- ing of the Party apparatus are surely of utmost importance, some- thing surely to be on the mind of _ leading members of the Communist Party. “ All these reflect in the fact that we have no anti-war committees in the A. F. of L. local unions, that our own comrades do not have any idea of how to bring the Commu- nist election campaign in the local unions. In many cas2s it’ simply appears as if our leading comrades in the trade union work are be- coming “pure and simple trade unionist,” and we are faced with the problem of “Who is to bring the Party campaign .to’ the. work- ers in the trade unions?” —_~ By BURCEK | |Days with Lenin BY MAXIM GORKY | Installment Four Yesterday's installment de- seribed Lenin’s speech at the Russian social-democratic party held in London in 1903. Gorky told vividly of Lenin’s manner while speaking, and those per- sonal characteristics which en- deared him to those with whom he worked. ae ewe A Meeting in Paris ‘When he said good-bye to me in London he promised to come to Capri for a rest. But before he had made up his mind to come, I saw him in Paris in a two-roomed stu- dent's flat (it was a student's flat only in size, not in the cleanliness and order that reigned there). Nadeja Constantinovna had gone out after giving us tea and we re- mained alone together. “Znanie” had just gone to pieces, and I had come to discuss with V. lyitch the organizing of a new publish- ing house which would embrace as far as possible all our literary peo- ple. I proposed for the editorial office abroad, V. Vorovsky and someone else, and in Russia V. A. Dyesnitsky would represent them. I thought that a series of books should be published on the history of the literatures of the West and on Russian literature, books on the history of civilization which would provide the workers with a mine of information for purposes of self- education and propaganda. But Viadimir Tlyitch quashed the plan by pointing to the censorship and the difficulty of organizing the peo- ple. The majority of the comrades ‘were occupied with practical Party work—they had no time for writ- ing. But his chief, and for me, most conclusive argument was ap- proximately as follows: There is no time for writing thick books, a thick book would be read only by the intelligentsia, who are quite evidently giving up socialism for liberalism and it is not for us to turn them from the path they have chosen. Newspapers and brochures are what we need. It would be a good thing to renew the “Znanie” library, but it would be impossible in Russia because of the censorship, a ship of its will or power. His words had agitated him. He sat down and wiping the sweat cold tea and asked unexpectedly: “What was that affair of yours in America® I know from the news- papers what it was about, but how did it end?” I briefly related my adventures.* I have never met a man who could laugh so infece tiously as Lenin. It was strange to see such a stern realist, a man who saw so well, and felt so deeply the inevitability of great social catastrophes, irreconciJeable, re-= lentless in his hatred towards the capitalist world, laughing like a child, till the tears came, till he choked with laughter. To laugh like that one must have the sound- from his forehead drank a little f est and healthiest of minds. “Oh, you are a—humorist!” he said through his laughter. “I would never have thought that anything could be so funny.” Wiping his eyes, he was at once serious, and said with his kind, soft smile: “It’s a good thing that you can meet failure with humor. Humor is a splendid, - healthy quality. And really life is as funny as it is sad, just as much.” We agreed that I should visit him in a day’s time, but the weather was bad and I began spitting a good deal of blood in the evening and left the next day. Lenin, Gorky In Italy ‘The next time we metrafter Paris was in Capri. I had a very strange impression at that time—as though V. Tlyitch were twice in Capri and in two sharply different moods. Once Ilyitch, when I met him at the wharf, immediately declared to me resolutely: “I know A, M. that you are always hoping that it will be possible to reconcile me with the Machists* although I warned you of the futility of it in a letter. So don’t make any attempts.” I tried to explain to him on the way to my lodgings and afterwards, that he was not absolutely right. I never have had, nor have I now, any inte=tion of reconciling oppos- ing philcsophies which, by the way, I do not understand very well. In ' | Ce GORKY (RIGHT) WITH JOSEPH STALIN, SECRETARY OF THE and here because of transport—we have to throw scores of huncizds of thousands of pamphlets into the masses, it would be impossible to convey such @ heap illegally. Let us wait for a publishing house till better times. Predicts War! With his invariably striking vivid- ness and clarity, he began to talk about the Duma and the Cadets who, he said, are “ashamed to be Octobrists” and have only one way open to them, the road to the right. ‘Then he brought forward a series of arguments for the imminence of war and “probably not of one, but of a whole series of wars’; a prophecy which was speedily ful- filled in the Balkans. He got up and with characteristic gesture, putting his thumbs in his waistcoat armholes, paced slowly up.and down the little room, screwing up his bright eyes: “War is coming. It is inevitable. The capitalist world has reached the stage of putrescent fer- mentation, People are already be- ginning to poison themselves with the drugs of chauvinism and na- tionalism. I think we shall yet see .@ general European war. The proletariat? The proletariat will hardly be able to find in itself the strength to avert the carnage. How could it be done? A general strike of workers all over Europe? They are not yet sufficiently organized or class-conscious' for that. Such a strike would -be the signal: for a civil war but we, as practical politi- cians cannot count on that.” \He paused, scraping the soles of his shoe on the floor, then said gloom~- ily, “The proletariat of course ‘will suffer terribly. Such must be its fate for some time yet. But its ene- Mies will weaken each other, that also is inevitable.” Coming up to me he said forcibly but not loudly, as if in amazement, “No, but think of it, Why should people who are hi pay a dreadfully heavy price for this, but in the.end they will gain. It is the will of history.” He often COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE SOVIET UN}ON addition I had been mistrustful of all philosophies from my youth, and the cause of this mistrust had always been the contradiction be- tween philosophy and my personal “subjective” experience. For me the world had only just begun, it was in the process of becoming, but philosophy gave it a slap on the head and put to it the entirely misplaced and irrelevant question, “Whither are you going? Wheres fore are you going? Why—do you think?” Some philosophr. give the simple, stern commax%, “Stop!” In addition, I was aware that phil- osophy, like a woman, can be very plain, even hideous, but dressed up so skilfully and convincingly that she can be taken for a beauty. This made V. Ilyitch laugh. “Well, that’s making’a joke of it,” he said, “That the world is only beginning, is in process of becoming—well, think it over seriously. You will come from that point to the place where you ought to have come long ago.” Then I told him that in my eyes A, A, Bogdanov, A. Lunachar- sky and V. A. Bazarov were ime portant people, highly educated and all round, and had no equals in the Party. “Granted. Well, what follows?” “I consider them to be people aiming finally at the same thing, and if profoundly undere stood and realized, the unity of their aim should wipe out and an- nihilate _ philosophical contradic \ tions.” “That means that the hope of reconciliation is still alive after all? It is quite useless,” he said, “put it out of your head, as com- — pletely as possible, I advise you as a friend. Plekhanov, according to you, has the same aim as well, and I, between ourselves, consider that “he has quite another aim, al- though he is a materialist and not a metaphysician.” mh Our ‘conversation ended here There ‘is no need, I think, to mene tion that I have not reproduced it in exactly the original words. But. T amv quite sure of the accuracy the ideas. ‘s *At the time the latest attempt —