The Daily Worker Newspaper, July 20, 1932, Page 4

DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, JULY. 20, 1932.» Porty U.S.A Published by the Comprodaily Publishing Co., Inc., 13th St., New York City, N. ¥. Telephone ALgonquin 4-7956. Cable “DAIWORK. Address and mail checks to the Daily Worker, 50 E daily xept Sunday, at 50 E. 18th St., New York, N. SUBSCRIPTION RATES By mail everywhere: One year, $6; six months, Borough of Manhattan and Bronx, New York City six months, $4.50. two months, $1; excepting Foreign: one year, $8; The Third Degree TWENTY-YEAR old youth, Hy gang of police in the Nassau cow increasing number of victims of the t that the third degree is cuting attorneys, the cap I believe that the torturing of hel; are isolated events, a “per dealing with “lawlessness in la twenty-eight of the tures upon prisoners t dungeon-builder o: out of such “exp the elimination of cert to more effectively cove The third degree there have been campaig ¢ause it is a component part Its increasing used toda: used against the toiling masses t the decaying capitalist ssytem. is no new The third degree is a class fact that atrocities committed investigations is proof of the deter its class character. For example the St. Louis police sl one of the 48 workers arrested in cor onstrations, until he was driven to and whitewashed this cold-blooded was beaten to death by @ country, An ring up of the fact he courts, the prose= i the police would have us the jails of this country e powers. TS ion of the Wickersham report, * which showed that in s country the police inflicted tor- se the envy of Torquemada, the 1. Investigations arising rpose of fooling the public; police officials are calculated of ¥ For decades goes on be= pitalist democracy. e many weapons excesses of violence veapon against the toiling masses, The never become th ject of official naticn of the ruli s to conceal ed and tortured Thomas Breezly, ection with the unemployment dem- cide. The police have hushed up class murder. In Tampa, Florida, class war prisoners were subjected to the torture of the “sweat box”— that precious symbol of American democracy. The Third Degree, which is used against the whole working class is ‘applied with special ferocity to Negro wor ers, both in the North and the South. Consider the case of Yuel Lee (Orphan Jones) who was tortured by Maryland police who reported that they had obtained a “confession” of the murder of Jones’ white employer and his family. Another mon- struous example of this terror against Negroes was the shooting in @ Bir- mingham jail of Willie Peterson, f by a white lawyer, Dent Williams, v ed-up Neg: ile the pr worker and ex-soldier, joner was being subjected to the third degree by the sheriff, police and the family of the Ku-Kluxer, Wiliams. It is this capitalist democracy that maintains the third degree as a weapon against workers that the So ‘The socialists too will add their v excesses.” up of the ghast: babble about “ ly face of American ‘political freedom.” of the police. means at hand the te: Every act of alist Party calls “political freedom.” s to the deceptive talk about “police In this way they will make their contributions to the covering democracy, so they may continue to against the ression must be fought. ig to maintain every right, while resisting with every drive of a ruling class trying by terror to bol- ster up its tottering structure, we mobilize the masses for: the decisive struggle against capitalism—t ‘volutionary overthrow of the car workers and farmers ta ally smashed. Reflections of Mr. Pickens In a syndicated article recently struggle that must culminate in the re- ¢ power and the establishment of a Only then will the weapon of the third at it supports be fin- released by William Pickens, Field Secretary for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People under the feature head “Reflections,” the tactics of mass defense which checking the execution of the lynch se: Mr. Pickens claims tt vicious Scottsboro frame ‘Negroes has resulted been stirred up in Alaba known facts of this case— ing Day to attract the lynch verdicts was erected by that the band was er which this Negro is an expression of pression of the Negroes. The ing act in a long series of oppre that have gone over into the camp + the activities of Commur the court was @emanding death for the boys, that the t a crowd to ution of mw he whole system of brutal and hideous nat a new attack is made on mental in thus far ainst the Scottsboro boys. in exposing the ational oppression of the icial sentiment that has ‘ounded by a howling mob is were deliberately set for cottsboro, that the first of id a brass band celebration, 1 bosses. nguage to describe avoidable prejudice) but nal op- dental Scottsboro lynch verdicts are but a crown- ve acts. Who but Negro misleaders of the enemy would dare to conceal the fact that Negroes are day in and day out treated like outcasts, denied the most elementary rights, fleeced and robbed’ at every turn, and held down in the bondage of a lynch system. Were this case some mere miscarriage of justice, were it a simple mistake of a “fair and democratic system” one might discuss the question of the technical ways to rectify the error. But the Scottsboro Case arises because the Negro masses are virtual slaves—because from the standpoint of the capitalist system “Niggers” have no rights that the white master 4s bound to respect, because the Negro masses have for centuries been in the grip of the wildest reaction. And for that reason the policy of the N.A.A.C.P. to place confidence and trust in the normal workings of cap- italist justice is nothing but downright treachery. Nothing but the fist thrust into the face of the capitalist lynchers will force them to release their deadly grip. Pickens not only betrays the ideology of a servant of the white ral- ing class in attacking the major weapon to be used for the freedom of the Scottsboro boys. He virtually denies the existence of the whole hide- ous system of lynch oppression. He conceals facts that are written in the blood of the Negro masses, the special oppression of the Negro masses. And thus to the criminal sabotage of the defense of the Scottsboro boys Pickens adds the additional crime of betraying the liberation struggle of the Negro People. The mass fight has been rewarded by the partial vic- tories gained thus far, Negro and white masses will not be deflected from their course by the bourgeois reflections of Mr. Pickens. “more ly toward their goal—to a They will strike powerful mass movement to free the Scottsboro boys and to destroy the shackles of capitalist bondage. ‘Work Among Negroes in Brighton Beach Dear Editor: For the last two years the work among the Negro masses is one of the ‘main activities of the Party units in ‘Brighton Beach. There are quite a umber of Negro workers in that ter- After strenous work in which only » @ few comrades participated we suc- in organizing the Frederick i branch of the L.S.N.R, with ‘members. On July 1, the branch arranged its ft annual dance in the Brighton jent. ’ Letters from Our Readers Al other workers’ organizations knew about the affair, and tickets were distributed among them all. But none of them showed up. Only four or five comrades of unit 11, including’ the L.6.N.R. organizer came. (Unit 11 has 22 members), From the: other units only one comrades showed up. The 45 Negro workers who came to the affair felt that they were iso- lated even in the Communist move- ment. Only the presence of a few Pioneers and Y. C. L. members saved the affair from being a total failure. ‘This affair should serve as a warn- ing to all comrades of the three un- its that they must from now on pay more attention to the important ac- tivities among the Negro masses in “ez, All the three units were not- Brighton Beach. {4 and were supposed to be pres-| —Edith Hunter, Agit-Prop. Unit 11. BOYCOTT THE OLYMPICS By BURCK “LOS ANGELES—Spurred on by enthusiastic welcomes staged by other nations, the Japanese brought their final contingent of Olympic games athletes into the Olympic Village today with fitting ceremonies.”— News Item. The labor athletes wil lanswer in Chicago July 28, 29 and 30th at the International Workers Athletic Meet, “Out of Their Own Mouths” By MICHAEL GOLD. MILWAUKEE, Wis.—History says that whenever socialists have been in office, they have done nothing to help the workers; in fact, they have gone to the contrary extreme, and have sided with the bosses, This is easy to understand if one visits a ‘socialist’ city like Milwaukee, Tt has long been the pride of the American Socialist Party, their “miracle city,” their model of pro- gress, Milwaukee has been hit by the crisis, like the rest of the country. According to a capitalist sheet there, Milwaukee has over 108,000 people living on county relief, out of a population of 725,263—in other words, one out of every seven lives on charity. “Relief” in Milwaukee. And what is the relief paid in this socialist city? It is $2.62 per family every two weeks, not in cash, but in food; a sum much less than paid in many a capitalist city. Dan Hoan, socialist Mayor of Milwaukee, dresses roughly and informally, and his manners are those of an easy-going machinist. But he has been a lawyer for many years, and now he receives a sal- ary of $13,500 a year. I called on him recently in his office in the city hall of Milwaukee, and asked him a few questions. “Can't you do better for the un- employed than pay them $131 a week per family? Aren’t some capitalist towns doing better than that? Oughtn’t the workers ex- pect more of a socialist administra- tion? Aren't the socialists élected on a platform of big promises to the working class?” I asked. My question did not stump or embarrass the $13,500 socialist may- or, Dietician for Wormy Fou. “Yes,” he answered, “I wish we could do more, but even with our limited resources we believe we have established the best system of relief in America. For we buy the food in wholesale quantities; there is no graft, it all gets to the un- employed. What is more, we have recently hired a dietician, who had made a scientific study of the cheapest and most nourishing foods. Our unemployed get a bal- anced diet that will preserve their health; they are not fed starches as in other cities.” Various charges have been made that the food is actually wormy at times, but I did not dampen the Mayor's fine glow of humanitarian- ism and science. He receives $13,500 @ year, and he believes that $1.31 a week can feed an American family; that is, if a dietician overseers the feeding, and it is someone else's family. Likened to Hoover. Mayor Hoan has other humani- tarian ideas. He is planning to put his city employees on a 6-hour day, and is agitating for this plan as @ universal cure for the depres- sion. The Milwaukee Journal, a capitalist sheet, praised Hoan for this idea, in the following words which need no comment: “Clearly this is what President Hoover is proposing in his plan for the reduction of pay for fed- eral employees. It is a wage cut and we can forsee a real contro- versy in the ranks of labor on this point, But socialist mayor and conservative republican president come to the same expedient.” Tt is high taxes for the capitalists that worrles Mayor Hoan the most, and Asks Some Pointed Questions For years the socialists have boast- ed. of Milwaukee's low tax rate and sound financial conditions. Their hearts are really in the task of running a “clean, graftless, honest business administration.” Against Jobless Insurance. Mayor Hoan is as much obsessed with a horror of unemployment in- surance as is J. P. Morgan, W. R. Hearst, Herbert Hoover or any other rugged American individual- ist who doesn’t want his ill-gotten millions taxed to help the poor. But Milwaukee, despite all the boasting, is bankrupt now, and must borrow from the bankers to carry on, Rather than increase unem- ployed relief, Mayor Hoan is work- ing out plans to cut it cut alto- gether. He is offering as substi- tute the forced labor plan that is so popular today among capitalists. “TI. am against any payment of relief,” said the Mayor, “because it is nothing but a dole, and demor- alizes the workers.” (Doesn't $13,500 a year als) demoralize a socialist mayor?) “What I would like to do is make jobs for the workers and keep up their morale.” Forced Labor in “Model City.” Recently this forced labor plan has gone through, it has been re- ported, and workers are earning something like $1 for an eight- hour day, thus cutting the wages of other workers still having jobs. If Hoan’s forced labor plan is fol- lowed universally the whole nation will soon be working at $1 a day, or starving to death—for there will be no “dole.” On March 6, 1930, at the begin- ning of the great unemployment movement, there was a demonstra- tion of the unemployed in Milwau- kee. In France and Germany such marchers were led by Communist mayors i their cities. But in Mil- waukee the police clubbed the marchers cruelly. They arrested 63 workers, including nine children. Fred Basset, a leader, was sent. to jail for a year, and others got shorter terms. The Communist Party headquarters were raided in real fascist style. Desks, chairs, tables were smashed and thrown out of the windows, records de- stroyed.” “Got What They Were Looking For!” “I was against the clubbing,” said the mayor about this, “yet the Communists got what they were looking for. For months they had been provoking the police, The raids and beating were due to the pent-up anger of the police. It is a fine police force, but the Commu- nists provoked them.” “Yes,” said a reporter from the Jewish Daily Forward, who was present during the interview, “I myself have seen it. I was pre- sent at one outdoor meeting once The workers of the world are rallying to the Scottsboro boys, and demanding “They Shall Not Die.” The fight against terror is one of the basic demands of the Com- munist Party election program. Read and spread “hey Shall Not | Die,” ‘the story of ScottSboro in pictures, 2 cents, Beautiful Ohio? HIO is wonderful country, but under the present system it lies like a corpse in the claws of those carrion crows, the capitalists. The flat fields which raise fine truck, grain, fruit and dairy prod- ucts are as good as shriveled breasts to the hundreds of thou- sands of unemployed workers throughout the state. Boats are rotting at the piers of Lake Erie. Hundreds of freight trains are empty in their intricate web of rail- road tracks. Farmers are seldo many better off. than the jobless in the cities. Go out on the country roads, Milk will not get them at the best more than three cents a quart. Off the main roads, the farmhouses are un- painted shacks. You can se echil- dren, knee-high to grasshoppers, ticking all day under the fierce sun with hoes too heavy for them to handle. Near Trilby, in northern Ohio, children work in the green- houses for five cents an hour. Farmhands, however, can not even get*a job for board, Eggs sell for eleven cents a dozen. Truck is dirt cheap. In Toledo, where the farm- ers sell much of their produce in the Civic Auditorium, prices are away down. The unorganized farmers are helpless before the hucksters and racketeers. Conditions in the cities are un- bearable. One out of three of the population are dependent on public charities. Toledo offers the job- less six cents slop for seven to four- teen hours of grueling work. The slop consists of beans and prunes hard as leather. In Cleveland thé Associated Charities keeps a way- farer's lodge in the backyard of the American Legion building. You are’ fed soup three times a day, stuff the worst kind of belly wash. The men are handled like sheep 4 x about to be dipped against bugs. Thehospital is full. All day long the men mill about, dragging their swollen legs and feet. Their faces seemed to have turned to ashes. The legsennaires rush about in their helmets and fine uniforms, lugging flags and bayonets. Mass terrorization is in full blast. In Millersburg two brothers were found guilty of stealing a refriger- ator and selling it for $3. The judge ordered them to be given 20 lashes at the whipping post in the public park. Two whips were broken before a “blacksnake” (a woven leather whip) could be found to do the work without breaking. In Toledo demonstrations under the leadership of the Communist Party and the Young Communist League take place frequently. At a Hooverville in Cleveland a Negro watched the American Legion men after their poorly attended parade rushing around like cockroaches. “Getting ready for another war?” asked a white worker. “If it’s war, it ain’t going to be across the sea,” said the big, strong Negro. “We ain’t got nothing against the fel- lows across the sea. Appears to me like it’s going to be a war right here. And I got a notion against who, too. I got a good strong no- tion and suspicion.” He looked at his hands, two tough oak knots, and then at the legionyaires as if sizing them up. Such is the feeling of the oppressed. Bitter hatred against war. Of course these fel- lows will be gotten if war breaks out. But they want to fight. ‘The proletariat, black and white, is seething from below. Study the 14th Plenum Resolutions, Get a copy of the new Pamphlet, “Toward Revolutionary Mass Work” ¢Michael Gold Interviews Mayor of ‘Model City’s when the Communist speaker pointed at a cop, and yelled, kill him! Take your guns and kill him. Another time I saw Communists take a cop, a fine handsome mar- ried man who is liked by every- body, and threw him in a fountain! And these lies of a cheap scrib- bler and the lies of a police captain were enough. to justify our Socialist mayor that the Com- munists and unemployed deserved to be clubbed, manhandled and jailed! In socialist Milwaukee there is a nominal “free speech” in the pub- lic parks, as there is in Chicago, New York and other cities, tem- porarily. But nobody can talk for five seconds in front of a factory gate without being arrested. Mayor Hoan had a ready explanation for this: it violated the traffic and health ordinances! Spread Anti- Soviet Lies Im socialist Milwaukee the lead- ing socialist paper, the “Milwaukee Leader,” prints daily lics against the Soviet Union. Tis viciousness is unbounded, and is really worse than that of the worst Czarist or American patrioteer. It says that the Soviet Union is not building Socialism, but “is a bloody and violent tyranny that should be de- stroyed.” On every page of the Milwaukee Leader, also, there are two or three large engravings of the American flag. Not even the Capitalist sheets of Milwaukee go in for such fren- zied flag-waving, but the socialist, paper does, 1,200 Evictions a Month In socialist Milwaukee there are something like 1,200 evictions a month — all under the benevolent eye of the Socialist Sheriff, Al Ben- son, the hero who rushed to buy hi scops riot guns, even though the , appropriations had not been made for these guns. In socialist Milwaukee one-fourth of all the able-bodied workers wander the streets idly, with empty bellies and fear-stricken hearts. Homeless men sleep in the parks. And old women, children, husky war veterans, fathers and grand- fathers line up with little toy carts every two weeks at the relief sta~ tions and get some $2.50 worth of “scientific” food for their families. In socialist Milwaukee the mayor prides himself on the marvellous sewer system and on the ‘low taxes factory owners pay. He also is proud of cops who beat up the un- employed. In socialist Milwaukee the forced labor system, so highly regarded by Hoover and Morgan, is being put into effect. Yes, this is Socialism, Socfalism as practized by Ramsay McDonald, Noske, Scheidemann. It misleads the workers, by making every kind of social promise, then fulfilling not one. It holds back the work- ers from effective protest and or- ganization. It is a blind alley, a delusion, through wich thousands gt workers must grope before they awake to their full consciousness and power. I would recommend to every honest worker who still has a weak- ness for socialist promises to visit Milwaukee and study the system there. Let him, especially, go there hungry and looking for a job, and see what appens to him. Let him speak at a factory gate, and be taught at the end of a cop's big club the real meaning of the “Socialism” of Hillquit and Thomas. ! (Installment Nine) Would it be impossible to form an- automatic connection between the mounting of the barrel and the in- dications of the mechanism?” He asked how far the dangerous space extendéd, and something else. The inventor and the generals gave .eager explanations, and next day the former said to me, “I had told my generals that you were coming with a comrade, but I didn’t say who the comrade was. They didn’t recognize Ilyitch and _ probably would never have imagined that he could appear without a great deal of ceremony or a bodyguard. They asked me, “Is he a technical engi- neer or a professor? What? Lenin? What a surprise! How is it pos- sible? How does he know so much about these things we’re concerned with? He asked those questions like a technologist. What mystifi- cation!” Apparently they didn’t really be- lieve that it was Lenin. On the way from the C, A. D, Lenin kept chuckling, and talking about the be mistaken in a man! I knew that he was an honest old comrade, but qui n’a pas invehte la poudre! But that seems to be precisely in his line. Good fellow! But didn’t the generals go for me when I ex- pressed my doubts as to the prac- tical value of the apparatus? And I did it on purpose, wanted to know what they thought of the ingenious contrivance.” ~He shook with laugh- ter, then asked, “Tell me, has I. any more inventions to his credit? Well, he oughtn’t to work at anything else. Ah, if only we could give all these technical engineers ideal con- ditions for their work! In twenty- five years Russia would be the fore- most country of the world.” Yes, he often praised the com- rades in my hearing, even those Vv. I. LENIN with whom he was not personally in sympathy. Lenin knew how to give what was due to their energy. I was very surprised at his high appreciation of L. D. Trotsky’s or- ganizing abilities. V. Ilyitch noticed my surprise. Yes, I know there are lying rumors about my attitude to him. But what is, is, and what isn't, isn’t—that I know also, He was able at any rate to organize the military experts.” After a pause he added in a lower tone, and rather sadly, “And yet he isn’t one of us. With us, but not of us. He is ambitious. There is something of Lassalle in him, something which isn’t good.” These words “with us but not of us” he used twice fm my hearing, the second time abo": an- other prominent man, who died soon after V. Iyitch himself. V. Tiyitch understood people very well, as was natural. Once when I went into his study, I found there a man who was backing to the door and bowing at the same time to V. Tlyitch, and V. I. continued his writing without raising his eyes. “Do you know him?” he asked, pointing toward the door. I said I had come into contact with him twice—over the “Universal Litera- ture” business. “Well?” “An ig- norant, uncultured person,.I should say.” “H’m, h’m, a certain toady and probably a scoundrel. “But this is the first time I have seen him, and I may be mistaken.” V. Tlyitch was not mistaken. Sev- eral months later this man justified Lenin’s description to the full. He thought a lot about people on ac- count of his concern because, as he said, “Our apparatus is very un- equal. Since October many ele- ments have crept in. Your pious and beloved intelligentsia are to blame for that—that in the result of their mean sabotage.” He said this to me when we were walking in Gorky. I began speaking about _Alexinsky, I don’t, remember why, probably he was up to one of his dirty tricks at the time. “You can picture it to yourself. At our first meeting I had a feeling of physical repulsion to him. I couldn't con- quer it. No one has ever given me such a feeling before. We had to do some work together: I had to use every method to keep myself in check—it was very awkward, I felt—I simply cannot stand this degenerate.” Then shrugging his shoulders in amazement, he said: “But I never saw through that scoundrel Malinovsky. That was a very mysterious affair, Malinov- sky.” Strict Teacher To me he was a strict teacher, and devoted friend. “You are an enigmatical person,” he said to me jokingly. “In literature you seem to be a good realist—and in your attitude to people, a romanticist. Days with Lenin BY MAXIM GORKY inventor. “See how easily you can | think will come of it?” Are all people victims of history, for you? We know history, and; we say to the victims, “Overturn| the altars! Break down the temples! Down with the godsi” And you want to convince me that! the militant party of the working! class is bound first of all to make ~ the intelligentsia comfortable.” I may be mistaken, but it seems to me that V. Ilyitch liked talking, to me. He almost. always sug- gested, “Come and see me—ring up, we will meet.” Once he said: “It’s curious to talk to you. You have a varied and wide circle of | impressions.” He would ask about the attitude of the intelligentsia, he was especially interested in the scientists. At that time I was working with N,. B. Chalatov on the “Committee for improving the | conditions of the scientists.” Ce Sa Proletarian Literature He was interested in the prole- tarian literature. “What do you I said that I expected a great deal, but considered it necessary to organize a “Litvuz” (institute for the study of literature), with chairs of phil- ology, foreign languages—Western and Oriental, of folklore, of the history of universal literature, and of Russian literature separately. “H’m, h’m,” he said screwing up his eyes, and chuckling. “Very wide and very dazzling! I am not against its being wide—but if it is to be dazzling—eh? We haven't professors of our own for these sub- jects, and the bourgeois professors will teach such a sort of history. No I don't think we must set about that yet. We must wait for three or five years.” Then, he would complain, “Have absolutely no time for reading!” He ‘frequently and with strong em- phasis referred to the value of Demyan Bedny’s work for propa- ganda, but added: “It is some- what crude. He follows the reader whereas he ought to be a little way ahead.” , He mistrusted Mayakovsky, and was even rather irritated by him. “He shouts, invents some sort of distorted words, and doesn’t get anywhe-e in my opinion—and be- sides is incomprehensible. It is all disconnected, difficult to read. He is talented? Very talented even? H'm, h’m. We shall see. But doesn’t it seem to you that people are writing a lot of poetry now? ‘There are whole pages of it in the newspapers and volumes of it ap- pear every day.” I remarked that it was natural for youth {6 be at- tracted to poetry at such a time, and that in my opinion it is easier to write mediocre verse than good prose, and poetry takes less time. In addition we have many good teachers of the art of versifying, “I don’t believe it’s easier to write vers@ than prose. I can’t imagine it. I couldn’t write two lines of poetry if you flayed me alive.” Then he frowned. “We must spread among the masses all the old reve MAXIM GORKY olutionary literature—all that we have here and in Eurgped* RR a Old Russia— From Afar He was a Russian who lived for. a long time away from his native land, and had examined it atten- tively—from afar it appears brighter and more beautiful. He estimated acurately its potential forces, and the exceptional talents of its people, which ~-feebly ex- pressed as yet, unawakened by a history monotonous and oppressive, yet gleamed everywhere like golden stars against the sombre back- ground of the fantastic life of Rus- sia, Vladimir Lenin, profoundly and greatly a man of this world, is dead, His ceath is a grievous blow to the hearts of these who knew him, greivous indeed. But the darkness of death only emphasizes the more strongly to the world his great importance as the leader of the working class of the world. And if the dark cloud of hatred, of lies and calumny, were even denser than it is, it would matter not at all. There is no force which can put out the torch which Lenin raised aloft in the stifling dark- ness of a mad world. And no other man has well de- served the eternal remembrance of the world. Viadimir Lenin is dead, But the inheritors of his thought and will are alive. They live and carry on a work which is more victorious than any other in the history of mankind. (THE END.)