The Daily Worker Newspaper, August 5, 1932, Page 4

+ Be DAILX Woinsnk, NeW YORK, bRIDAY, AUGULT 5, 1952 Dail Yorker Central Party U.S.A. Published by the Comprodaily Publishing Co., Inc., daily excxept Sunday, at 50 E. 13th St., New York City, N. ¥. Telephone ALgonquin 4-7956, Cable “DAIWURK.” Address and mail checks to the Daily Worker, 50 E. 13th St., New York, N. ¥. SUBSCRIPTION RATES: By mail everywhere: One year, $6; six months, $3; Borough of Manhattan and Bronx, New York City. six months, $4.50. two month: Foreign: $1; excepting e year, $8; Smash the Cuban Terror ‘HE murderous Machado Government is now outdoing itself, in its brutal attacks on the masses of Cuba. The Daily Worker has called atten- tion from time to time to examples of terror and brutality against the workers’ and peasants’ organizations. These examples have been mount- ing, as the Machado Government became more tied up with American Imperialism’s war campaign in the Far East. In an effort to stop the preparations for the August. First Anti-War Demonstration, the police shot. up a demonstration held on Monday, July 25, with over 200 workers. present. As the workers gathered, the police opened fire. Many workers were arrested and many wounded (how many we do not know). But we do know that one of those who participated, Rafael Rodriguez Pool, was found in the outskirts of Havana, dying, with five bullet wounds on his face and body. Another worker, a foreigner, was also found dead near the same place the same day. The ferocity of the police was aimed to stop the anti-war campaign of the Cuban workers and peasants, to stop their heroic struggle aganist American Imperialism, which controls the Machado Government. In the Jast two weeks, four dead bodies were found floating in the sea. This recalls the finding of the bodies of two revolutionary workers, Claudio Brouzon and Noske Yalob, in the bellies of sharks, a few years ago, after they had mysteriously disappeared from jail. Four peasants were found hung from trees in the province of Santa Clara. The killing by terrorists of the hated Calvo, the chief of the’ Cuban secret police, has resulted in the present exceptional wave of persecution and murder. On July 26, the police invaded the home of a revolutionary worker, Armando Averhoff Grau, and have held him incommunicado since. In ac- cordance with Machado’s usual practices, it is quite possible that Grau has been murdered and his body is now floating in Havana Harbor. This we do not know. We must demand to know where he is. We must demand that his lawyer be permitted to visit him. We should do every- thing possible to save the lives of Grau and the other hundreds of political prisoners now on the Isle of Pines or in the other hideous prisons. Every organization that is opposed to American Imperialism should raise its voice to save the lives of Grau and the other political prisoners. The police of Havana have openly boasted that they would do away with Grau. We must act immediately. Send a resolution of protest to Pres- ident Machado, Havana, Cuba; and to Secretary of State Stimson, Wash- ington, D. C, Raise this issue at your meetings. Arrange open air meet- ings. Wherever possible, arrange demonstrations in front of Cuban Con- sulates. By. defending the active working class fighters, we are helping the struggles of the Cuban masses for improvement of their conditions and against imperialist war. We are aiding the fight against our own masters. It’ is our duty to the colonial masses, groaning under the iron heel of Yankee Imperialism. Let us fulfill our duty! Manufactured Optimism WAVE of fraudulent optimism is being tssued to lull the workers into believing, on the eve of the presidential election, that a turn toward economic “recovery” is in the making. A slightly increased activity in the stock market is thus celebrated as opening the “upward march.” Knowing how little attention is paid to his forecasts, Hoover does not dare to say that “prosperity” will return “in sixty days.” But Republican officials close to the “great engineer” are already busy tabulating the stock market’s activity to build on it a Spanish castle which might be offered to the workers before the presi- dential election. That this is not 2 Communist “whispering campaign” but the truth, is admitted even by some financial observers. The Annalist states quite frankly: “Many Wall Street observers believe that a vigorous attempt will be made to advance the security market and to bring about some... recovery “before the election.” The Annalist writes for the bankers and not for the workers. It does not deny therefore that: “An advance of this character would, of course, contain a large manipulative element and, regardless of the out- come of the election, would probably be followed by a severe relapse be- ginning in November or December.” This financial journal of course presents the relapse of economic activity as problematical, but there is no doubt that the Spanish Castle being built on the advance of a pegged stock market will soon be shat- tered under the crushing blows of the continuously deepening economic crisis. A fact that not even the capitalist economists can deny is that the economic situation “does not justify the suddenly increased activity of the stock and bond market.” All the economic facts “mirror a rather gloomy situation,” states a bankers’ journal. “Ford automobile production, as the Iron Age reports the situation, is expected to be much lower next month, and the prospects for much enlarged production in the Autumn and early winter are at present not good, writes the Annalist. The index of electric production is not any better. For the country as a whole, production of electricity during the week ended on July 23 was 13.1 per cent less than in the corresponding week of last year. Building activity, as reported by the F. V. Dodge Corporation, is lower than it was in the first six months of the year. Estimated transportation activity for the next three months is declining. But what is far more important, the estimated transportation of “capital goods,” raw materials and other goods needed for industrial production, declines even more rapidly than the transportation of manufactured goods end agricultural products. The Annalist itself finds therefore no other reason for the advance of the stock market, than the “realization that previous forecasts im- plied a sharper deepening of the crisis.” It is really difficult to see that ‘ny real change has taken place during the past four weeks in the gen- eral sutiation outside of the market itself,” concludes The Annalist, And what change occurred in the stock market to justify its récently increased activity? A manipulative element was introduced in the market which, on the other side, was seized upon by speculators whose activity is thus responsible for a large part of the advance. The workers must not let themselves be fooled by the artificial op- timism being spread regarding the economic situation. The crisis con- tinues to grow deeper and deeper. And the capitalists who received bil- lions from the Government of President Hoover, who refuses the pay- ment of the bonus to the veterans and gives them and the workers fight- ing for relief bullets instead of bread, know this very well. ‘They intensify their offensive against the standard of living of the workers. They demand more wage reductions on the top of those already enforced upon the workers with the aid of Hoover and William Green. ‘They prepare for imperialist war against China and the Soviet Union. ‘War against the American workers—this is the capitalist way out of the crisis. The workers must intensify their struggle against any reduction of ‘wages. They must demand unemployment insurance at the expense of the government, The struggle against imperialist war and for the de- fense of China and the Soviet Union must draw ever larger numbers of toilers. ‘The answer of the workers to the capitalist bluff about the “economic recovery,” must be the rallying of hundreds of thousands around the Communist Party and its standard-bearers. “Mr J. Louis Engdahl: Mr. Engdahl. It gives me such great consolation to sit in this lone- some cell and express my apprecia- tion to all the comrades of Germany. for the good work they are doing of us poor innocent ones, and to say it makes me feel polly to know that it is being more peoples interested in the case than ever. And I also hope to see the day come when I can be free and enjoy life as I should, and have the opportunity to meet all the comrades and shake hands with them all, and thank them all for what they have did for me. Yours very truly, Oxle Powell. A Scottsboro Boy | Writes to the LL.D. NEW YORK, Aug. 3.—From the death house in Kilby Prison, Ala- bams, Ozie Powell, one of the seven Negro boys framed on = charge of Yapein the now world famous Scotts- boro case, has written to J. Louis Enedahl for the I. L. D. now touring Europe with Mrs. Ada Wright mother of two of the other six boys, bo rouse international protest in re- tard to the case. By BURCE On the British Cousins of the Muste By L. MARTIN (Special Correspondent of the Daily | Worker) LONDON, July. 22.—The man- euvers of the: American Musteites’ big brother, the Independent La- bor Party, were exposed by Harry Pollitt, British Communist leader, in a special interview with the cor- respondent of the American Daily Worker. At the same time Com- rade Pollitt gave a rapid outline of other recent British develop- ments, which suggest many com- parisons with American conditions. He sent a message of international solidiarity to the American work- ers, referring particularly to the interest taken here in the Scotts- boro case. Pollitt, who is a member of the secretariat of the Communist Par- ty of Great Britain, is a boiler- maker by trade. Active in the la- bor movement since the age of 16, he has a rich background of work- ing class experience altho still in his early forties. He has been prominent as a militant trade un- jonist for many years and was ac- tive in the British Socialist Party until the Communist Party was formed. Physically vigorous, ment- ally alert and a most forceful speaker, Pollitt typifies the leader- ship which the Communist move- ment in many countries is develop- ing from the ranks of the working class. Workers Get Wise To Labor Party “There is a widespread disillu- sionment among the workers to- day with the Labor Party,” Pollitt saidi, “due to their experience with two Labor governments and the general strike. The last Labor government directly started the present offensive against the work- ers’ conditions. It was responsible for the passage of the Anomalies Act, under which large numbers of unemployed workers were cut off from the unemployment insurance benefit lists. It accepted the prin- ciple of testing the workers’ in- come before paying benefits and appointed the commission that re- commended the infamous Means Test. The last Labor government also appointed the Economy Com- mission that recommended cutting Misleaders of Labor |An Interview With Harry Pollitt, Leader of | the British Communist Party In Message to U.S. Workers, Pollitt Hails the Scottsboro Fight, Urges Anti-War Drive unemployment benefits by 10 per cent and cutting the wages of civil servants, teachers, police and sold- jers and sailors. “The Labor: Party is Majesty’s Loyal constitution has been tightened year after year, since 1922, until it is now a politicial organization which allows no criticism of the line of the party.” (In earlier days the Labor Party was a comparat- ively loose federation of trade un- ions, cooperatives and workers’ po- litical parties and was often held up as a model of the next step necessary in the United States). Asked whether the smashing de- feat of the Labor Party in the last elections had led to a, swing to the left to regain the favor of the dis- illusioned workers, Pollitt replied that on the contrary, the Labor Party leaders had shown in recent developments a definite turn still further to the right, The leaders of the Trades Union Congress, on the other hand, he said, were us- ing more demagogie “leftist” phra- ses than before. They claimed credit for forcing out the Labor government before it could expose itself too openly by its offensive against the workers. Communist Strength Grows The widespread disillusionment with the Labor Party has resulted in a considerable increase in strength and prestige for the Com- munist Party, the only organiza- tion which clearly predicted the traitorous role of the Labor Party. But Comrade Pollitt is by no means satisfied with the progress made. Some 3,000 new members were taken into the Communist Party following the fall of the Labor gov- ernment, and the membership is now roughly given at 9,000. Cir- culation of the British Daily Work- er was doubled, but the full gains have not been retained. It now now ‘His Opposition’. } Its | circulates from 16,000 to 20,000 copies daily (as compared with 10,000 before) and reaches a cir- culation of from 33,000: to 40,000 for its Saturday editions, Unem- ployed demonstrations, organized by the National Unemployed Work- ers’ Movement, have also increased in numbers and militancy of late. “But: unfortunately we have not yet reached the wide masses of dis- illusioned workers,” said Comrade Pollitt. “Most of them are still uncertain where to turn, Their disillusionment with the Labor Party finds expression in the thought, ‘Whom then can we trust?’ “Our chief means of reaching them is thru the united front tac- tic based on concrete situations and related to the general slogans of our movement.” Referring to the way British trade union leaders come to Am- erican, Federation of Labor con- ventions and make speeches which sound frightfully “radical” to the Amerivan bureaucrats, your cor- respondent asked Comrade Pollitt whether there is really so much difference between American and British trade union leaders, “Many Of our trade union leaders spe- Cialize in left phrases and are ex- Perienced demagogues,” he said, “but in actual practice they carry thru the policy of wage cuts, just as do the leaders of the A. F. of L.” Muste-I. L. P. Play Same Role Asked whether he saw a parallel between the American Musteites and the British LL.P., Pollitt said that “objectively they play the same role.” But he emphasized the much bigger role played by the LLP., its long traditions and its position of leadership in interna- tional ‘centrism’. Recalling how A, J. Muste and followers in the American Confer- ence for Progressive Labor Action admire the IL.P. and¢the striking similarity of the recent tactics of the two groups, both seeking to divert the workers from the Com- munist movement, this. writer ques- tioned Pollitt in some detail as to the IL.P. and its present maneu- vers in regard to disaffiliation from the Labor Party, The membership of the LLP. is probably about 15,000, according to Pollitt. While its leadership is petty bourgeois, it also has a con- siderable working clas sfollowing. Its activities, however, are chiefly on the parliamentary field and it has no great influence in the trade unions, he pointed out. Recently the Communist Party lw@ made some inroads into the ranks of the IL.P., and many of the latter's members have joined the ©. P. “By disaffiliating from the La- bor Party, as they expect to do at the Bradford conference,” Pollitt said, “the Maxton group in con- trol of the ILP seeks a means of coming forward with the pretense that it is an independent politi- cal group fighting for revolutionary socialism, “The move is designed to pre- vent the leftward-moving- workers from joining the Communist Par- ty. It is in line with the tactics pursued in 1921 in the formation of the two-and-a-half Internation- al to check the increasing influ- ence of the Third International.” Pollitt predicted that just as the 2% International’ led its followers back into the fold ofthe Second International, so the ILP will even- tually lead those workers who it has kept from Communism by its deceitful maneuvers back into the Labor Party at the first suitable opportunity, For United Front) Action Comrade Pollitt pointed out that the British Communists are not in- terested in any false and unprin- cipled unity with the leaders of the ILP, such as the latter are seeking i nconnection with their present maneuvers, Nor will they make any unpirncipled» organizational blocs, “But we are interested,” he said, “in building up united front The Red Singer Sewing Machine Plant With this issue we begin a series of articles on the Red Singer Sew- ing Plant located at Podolsk--Red Podelsk. This series has been written by our Moscow correspond- ent with a view of giving an in- timate, personal account of the ad- vance of the Soviet proletariat, the life in the factory, home life and to answer many questions of Sov- iet life, which the American work- er wants to know. Readers are urged to address questions arising out of these series to the Daily Worker. We will forward them to worker correspondents at Red Po- dolsk to answer.” Spread this series among your shop mates and thus build up a stronger defense for the U.S.S.R. 6, igs By MYRA PAGE Our Correspondent in the Soviet Union. BOUT an hour and a half’s jour- ney from Moscow, in a small city by the name of Podolsk, there is a factory which makes sewing machines. Before the 1917 revolu- tion this plant was owned and op- erated by the American capitalist, Singer. Today it is owned, like all Soviet workshops, by the working class and run by those who man its machines, What have been the results of this change? Has production in- creased or fallen off? Is the prod- uct of an inferior or better grade? Can the workers produce their own directors and engineering force? In other words, has the working class proven itself capable of manage- ment? Then, what of living and working conditions? Are the work- ers better off and happier than in the old days? than those em- ployed by Singer in~the United States? What chance do their youth get for education and train- ing? What are their interests and ambitions? What future is before them? How do teachers, doctors and white collar workers live? And what about community and family life, and the news position of women? How do people spend their free time? What activities does the local Soviet government carry on, who runs it, and ‘how do the people look upon it? What role does the Communist Party play? In general, how does Red Podolsk | compare with the and differ from| any town’in the United States? Soviet Life—Day by Day It was these questions, as well as many others put by American work- ers about the Soviet Union, that took me to Podolsk. For several weeks I have been living in this young socialist city, sharing daily experiences in the factory, union, Party, club and homes; making friends, and exchanging ideas on subjects ranging anywhere from the technique of ski-ing to lowering of production costs and increasing la- bor's skill and output, new stand- ards of conduct. What innumerable questions they ask about America! They are as eager to learn more about life in the States as you on the other side of the water are to find out about things here. | So come You'll be taken in by Jack, Olea! | Andree and young Paul, as one them, go with them to their wor! and meetings, drink many a glasg’ of tea around the friendly samo-) var, and altogether get acquainted) i at first hand, with your factory) and home-town in the Soviet) Union. And what we find in Po= dolsk is typical of what’s going on throughout this vast land. with me to Podolsict} | First Impressions i Across miles of snow-clad fields, past tiny stations with their clus! tering villages and peasants, bulky) in their sheep-skin coats, and bes! fore the morning paper is entirely; read, we're at our stop. ; We mount to cross the bridge that runs above the tracks, and so get our first view of the town. In the distance, beyond the stretch of, white house-tops which glisten in! the sun, we can see powerful bri¢k; structures whose smoke-stacks ar puffing vigorous, dark clouds int the pale yellow sky. On the fare left is our sewing machine factory,” while somé distance beyond it the new workers’ -town is springing up. Swinging around, we identify the cement, metal and car-repairing Shops, and the new bread factory of \this industrial center which has grown in the last eight years from a town of twenty-four to sixty thousand population and expects to add another twenty thousand during 1932. Rather different, the sights of these humming factories, from the slack-time, still factory whistles, that darken the lices of millions today in the United States. We pass a large club, topped by the radio which has begun broad= casting a talk on hygiene. Its white walls carry req banners: “All out to the factory elections!” “Check up on Union work and shop committees.’” Another three blocks and we come on the factory. Its massive build- ings stretch three blocks long and again as deep. Before the gates there are no lines waiting to get work. Going to the entrance, we apply for admission. | Now we're inside, we'll head straight for the foundries where the old cronies, Feodir Trefanov and Andree Boudnikov have been working for over two decades, They will show us the new and old plants, anq tell us their stories and what it was like, when Singer's man, Dixon, ran the works. | (The second, number in this se= reis on “Red Podolsk” will appear tomorrow). 4 A Worker In the Red Sewing Singer Machine Plant New Workers Club In Red Podolsk powers, Most striking in this connection is the intensification of the antagonism between Brit- ish and American imperialism, reflected in the recent political events, such as the Hoover note to the Geneva conference, and its challenge to the line of British imperialism, and in the bloc cre- ated at the Lausanne conference by MacDonald as a challenge to American imperialism. “The British and American workers must work in the closest bounds of international class so!- idarity against the governments of their own countries, And we British workers will never be drawn into any actions that are aimed against the American working class. “The recent visit of Comrade Mrs. Wright, mother of two of the Scottsboro boys, has aroused a deep interest throughout the working class movement and has done much to bind the British and American closer to- gether. ; “purpose of fighting against the caps “Long live the unity of the American and British workers!” action of all the workers for the italist offensive. And we are maX- ing the most sincere efforts to get the Tank and file of the ILP to fight side by side with us in the common struggle on concrete is= sues.” oeeg The campaign in Britain for the Scottsboro Negro boys who face a Jégal lynching in Alabama, Pollitt described as “one of the biggést campaigns we have ever had.” He called the mass meetigs held here for the Scottsboro boys “an absoe Jute revelation,” saying that such huge meetings on an issue arising in another country were never bee fore known in Great Britain. ©) Mossage to U. §. Workers i! Comrade Pollitt closed the ine terview with the following message to American workers: i “The world economic crisis is. rapid sate,