The Daily Worker Newspaper, August 9, 1932, Page 4

vAILY WORKER, N W_YORK, TUESDAY, AUGUST 9, 1932 Daily, 2Worker’ Centre! 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. Cable “DATWORK.” Address and mall checks to the Daily Worker, 50 E. 13th St., New York, N. ¥. SUBSCRIPTION RATES: By mail everywhere: One year, $6; six months, $3; two months, $1; exeepting Bereugh of Manhattan and Bronx, New York City. Foreign: one year, $8; nths, $4.50. The Result of Hoover’s Public Works Program 1 bad public works program announced by Hoover three years ago, is today shown to be a diabolic joke at the expense of the workers. ‘When that program was announced Hoover's agents hastened to cele- brate it as the most assuring sign of an early returning. prosperity. which ‘would shower its blessings upon several millions of toilers. At the conference of industrialists, financiers and “labor leaders” of the Green type, Hoover himself eulogized “his” program of public works as testifying to the government's power to fight the crisis and relieve the Workers from the scourge of unemployment. But three years ago was the time when Hoover embarked upon a program of rosy forecasts designated to keep the workers from fighting for employment insurance. The “return of prosperity in sixty social vu stock of the entire world m is to be seen from a report just issued, 1al program of state and municipal public t ten year: usive of Federal projects, called for works during the 1 excl the expenditure of b will ‘olve the expenditure of not This is disclosed by rT the American Society of projects for state and municipal pub amounting to a total of more than $: of funds” As a result of More than 2,000,000 toilers were added to the unemployed workers. Hoover reiterated, in creating the Reconstruction Finance Corpora- tion. that not only federal but even te municipal public works would be financed, Later he reversed his stand on the problem of the public works and said that the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, which had advanced millions to its president, General Dawes, in order to enable him to salvage his bank, could only finance “self-liquidating” projects or profit-yielding works. This is what remained of Hoover's pompous program of public works which according to all the capitalist apologists was to rid the workers of their misery. The Communist Party calls upon the workers to fight against Hoo- sham program of public works and to demand that not a cent be given to the bankers. The workers must fight for a real program of public works including buildings for housing workers and clearing out the horrible slums which are a severe indictment against capitalism. .. They must fight for public works which provide much needed social Services. But the fight around the demand that this program of public works be immediately started, musi be closely connected with the struggle for social and unemployment insurance at the expense of the government, and the bosses. More Proof of Hoover’s Planned Attack on Vets HAT the attack upon the veterans in Washington by the army was a planned action by the Hoover government as was charged by the Communist Party, is confirmed by “Affairs” a semi-official ‘Washington weekly review, in its issue of August 5, 1932. This paper states that: “They (the troops) had been held in readiness for sometime” and that “the night before (Wednesday, July 28th) at a White House con- ference the president considered calling them out.” “affairs” states further that “Glassford who had told the Commis- sioners that the police were able to keep order and advised against | calling out troops, further stated that he was informed that the troops | would cooperate with him but that instead they not only took over the | entire situation, but acted under orders, previously prepared, of which | hhe was in ignorance. He stated that it was late in the afternoon before he had discovered that the troops proposed to clear out all of the bonus camps, including the big one at Anacostia where he estimates 6,000 were | quartered with a number of women and children.” (emphasis ours, D. W.) | From these statements it is clear that the plan of the Hoover gov- ernment was to drive out the vets not only from the occupied treasury | buildings, but out of Washington as a whole and that Hoover used the police attack as the basis for his action, All talk on the part of Hoover that violence on the part of the veterans was responsible for his action are refuted by these statements. The government made the assault, the government police shot down the veterans, the government troops | entered Washington according to carefully laid plans in order to crush the fight for the bonus. These actions reveal not merely the brutality of Hoover, they un- mask the character of American.democracy, and show that the capitalist mask the character of American democracy, and show the capitalist government, including Congress, is a weapon’ of repression against the | working class and against all toilers. In the eyes of the capitalist class the workers and poor farmers and the toiling peoples are slaves and any Stirring on their part to break the chains of their slavery must be dealt with the sternest measures of violence. It is against this government and its brutal attack upon the working Masses that the workers must fight and vote against on election day. Vote Communist! ween $2,500,000,000 and $3.000,000,000, this year it more than: $800,000,000. ing the last twe months by infor: e that hundreds of c works im the forty-eight states, 10,000,000, were suspended for “lack the American Society of Civil Engineers charges the already swollen rolls of this, Letters from Our Readers Detroit, Mich. tions. At this moment we are seri-| By BUECE ‘Norman Thomas and the Negro Question An Answer to S. P. Arguments Against the Slogan of “Self-Determination for By EARL BROWDER RR. NORMAN THOMAS, Socialist Party candidate for president, has been concerning himself very diligently with that plank in the Communist election platform which demands “equal rights for the Ne- groes and self-determination for the Black Belt.” He has issued a | whole series of statements on this question in which he has put for- ward the following propositions: 1) That by raising this demand the Communist Party becomes res- ponsible for the race riots which may ensue. 2) Such a proposal is bad so- cialism and bad sense under cap- italism! 3) In one or two states at most Negroes are in a slight majority; they are one-tenth of the whole population of the U. S. 4) Negroes speak no language but English. 5) Negroes want nothing ex- cept the. rights white workers should want. 6) Self-determination would be meaningless except to solve the race problem by segregation. 7) Any attempts to secure self- determination would incite race wars. 8) There is no true parallel be- tween the position of the Negroes in the United Stataes and the sub- ject Negro peoples of Africa and elsewhere, To this list Mr. Thomas’ paper, the New Leader, adds a few more, such as, Negroes who go over to the Communists place themselves in a position to get killed to further an alien propaganda which purposely makes martyrs of them. And finally, that James W. Ford, Negro candidate of the Communist Party for vice president, is a “scamp,” member of a movement “largely composed of hooligans,” using “language of the scullery and the Daily Worker Editor: Dear comrade, for a long time I have been wondering why the Daily Worker never carries good proleta- tian fiction. When we consider the fact that the Daily Worker should have, and I believe can have, a much wider circulation among the working class of this country, we should also think of making our Daily as up-to- date as possible. ‘ There can be no doubt that good} fiction in the Daily would get the) highest appreciation not only of the men. comrades but especially from} the women comrades. Most of our} language papers have adopted this| policy. | There are quite a number of good) Russian and German proletarian fiction on hand which would last. for some time. It also makes it a bit easter for the comrades to intro- a the Dally Worker outside the Patty to the workers in order to get subscriptions. And when it is cor- rect that the Daily Worker needs subscriptions more badly than dona- tions, IT think the editorial board sh®uld, in spite of the difficulties, consider the above proposal. And after one story is finished the Daily} Worker should have this fiction on natid for sale if possible at a special price, or as a premium for a 12 months’ subscription. Let us atleast ‘try it, IP, Tt is not true that we need sub- jor the Chinese Soviets or any wxintions more badly 4 j 2 y= id “BRP dene. neigal revolutionary movement, jously in need of donations in order |to get the paper out of the acute | danger of suspension. We also need ‘The Daily Worker is searching for subscriptions. good proletarian fiction. It is one of the weaknesses of our intellectual writers that entirely insufficient fic- tion has been written about the very | dramatic and striking events of the | class struggle. But it. must be stated that not sufficient encouragement is given to them to do so, Out intellec- tuals, as well as proletarian writers, must assist in getting out proletarian | fiction. The Daily Worker will publish Russian and German fiction if we cannot get American fiction. Members of the John Reed Clubs, revolutionary intellectuals, worker correspondents, what about good proletarian fiction (short _ stories, especially) for the Daily Worker? S.L.P. PIE IN THE SKY (By a Worker Correspondent) SOUTH NORWALK, Conn.—The Socialist Labor Party speakers are active *here trying to tell the workers not to carry on a fight for unem- ployment insurance or against evic- tions. On speaker, Mike Olean, ad- mitted he wanted the workers to give up their struggles so they could starve more and 80 bring about the “revolution.” He admitted he did not want to help the Sovieit Union | stand < ethics of the brothel” and is fated to end up in “the dump heap.” WILL PROPOSITIONS STAND EXAMINATION? If strong language could make a strong case, thet of Mr. Thomas and the New Leader would certainly be invincible, But will any or all: of these propositions lamination? Let us take them one by one, Point 1—This is exactly the same | logic used by Judge Gary in 1886 in sentencing to be hanged, Par- sons, Spies, Engel and their com- rades, in the famous Haymarket riot case in Chicago. It is the theory of every ruling class ap- plied to rebellious slaves. It is the theory that» those who organize revolt are ‘guilty of the deaths of the oppressed peoples who are slaughtered by the imperialists. It is the same theory whereby Mr. Thomas exonerated Ramsey Mac- Donald from the guilt of slaugh- tering tens of thousands of Hindus and placed the responsibility upon the shoulders of the Hindus who should not have revolted, It is the same theory which charges the Communist Party with responsi- bility for the death of four workers at Ford’s plant on March 7th and exonerates Mr. Ford and his pri- ‘vate police, If the theory is/cor- rect, in all of these other gases, then Mr, ‘Thomag is cOre¢t in { ee, aa the Black Belt”... ah using it against the Communists in regard to the question of self- determination for the.Negroes. But in that case the miling class is always correct, so the whole ques- tion of Negro liberation goes by the board anyway. Point 2—Mr. Thomas thinks self-determination ts bad socialism. According to him, even under so- cialism the Negroes will fave no right to determine whether or not they wished to have their own governmental forms or to join with the whites. Under Mr. Thomas’ socialism this would be decided for them by the whites. This simply means that Mr. Thomas’ under- standing of socialism is that it is only another cover for continuing the same system of imperialist op- pression that exists today. Under true socialism by granting the Negroes the right themselves to determine their own destiny, it would probably be possible to avoid separation and establish the closest fraternal unity. As for Mr. Tho- mas’ opinion that self-determina- tion is bad sense under capitalism, this is only another way of saying he is opposed to all social changes except those brought about by convincing the kind white land- lords of the South. REGARDING PERCENTAGES Point 3—Mr. Thomas challenges the existence of any Negro ma- jority which could possibly exer- cise self-determination and em- phasizes that they constitute only one tenth of the whole population. Then Mr. Thomas must also be opposed to -self-determination for Ireland ‘because the Irish are less than 10 per cent of the population of the British Empire. He would have opposed self-determination for Finland under the Czar because the Finns were only a few per cent of the population of the Czar’s empire. And as a matter of fact, Mr. ‘Thomas is opposed to self-deter~ mination for India even. though it~, constitutes the majority of the vast population of the British Empire, unless “self-determination is simul- t’ neously the “determination” of ls friend, Ramsey MacDonald and the British capitalists, As for Mr. Thomas’ objection that in only one or two states of the South are the Negroes in the majority, we would ask him are, the existing state boundaries some- thing ordained by God? The Black’ Belt runs through eleven Southern. states and includes 397 counties forming a continuous area in which the Negroes are over 50 per cent of the population, a con- siderably larger area than many European countries, Point 4—Mr. Thomas thinks that because the Negroes speak the same language as their white mas- ters that this liquidates their claim to national rights. We can imagine King George making the same, argument with George Washington in 1716; or Dé, Thomas’ friend, Ramsey MacDonald, using it on the Trish, But as a matter of fact, | insofar as language is related to the existence of a national group- ing, it is not at all in the sense that Mr. Thomas uses it (which is the- sense of the ruling class), but only in the necessity that within the national group there shall be a common language, com- mon means of intercommunica- tion, and certainly the Negroes of America have that. MAJORITY OF NEGROES ARE TOILERS OF LAND Point 5—Mr. Thomas _ thinks that the Negroes should be satis- fied to merge their demands en- tirely with those of the white workers. But there are many rea- sons why this is not true. First and foremost of these is that the, majority of Negroes are not work- ers, but are tillers of the land, | most of whom are in a condition of peonage or semi-slavery. For them the most elementary civil rights are completely denied; for them even the bourgeois revolution has not yet occurred; they are living under feudal economic an® social forms carried over into the very heart of modern capitalism. Their basic problem is to secure Possession of the land on which they work and this is impossible except they have the decisive voice in the governmental institutions under which they live. Also the Negroes who are workers have special needs which the white workers do not feel in their own persons. The Negroes are op- pressed not only as workers but also as a specially oppressed na- tional group. To lump the Negroes’ demands together with the whites’, means to refuse the immediate struggle for the release of the Negro from his special oppression. Point 6—Mr. Thomas - thinks that selfdetermination is synono- mous with segregation and jim- crowism. But the facts are quite the contrary. Jim-crowism will | Never be broken down even in, the North se long as the vast majority of the Negro nation in the South is denied all control over its own fate. It is precisely the lack of selfdetermination of the Negroes in the Black Belt which is the basis of jim-crowism and lynch- ing ana all of the monstrous op- pression of the Negroes in America. So long as the small minority of tuling white landlords is able to determine the fate of millions of Negroes, just so long lynch law will continue, the disgrace of American society. » PACIFISTS OPPOSE | FIGHT! FOR RIGHTS Point 7—Mr, Thomas is afraid the demand for self-deicrmination will “incite race war.” Therefore, as a good pacifist, he would avoid the war at any cost. This is the same argument which Mr. Thomas’ close friend and colleague, Hey~ ‘wood Broun, put into another form. Mr. Broun said that because any stort to enforce the 14th and 15th jaméndments to the constitution would be resisted violently by the white ruling class in the South, therefore, he, Broun, was entirely opposed to trying to enforce the 14th and 15th amendments. Mr. Broun’s argument has exactly the same value as that of Mr Thomas. Point 8—Mr. Thomas is of the opinion that the Negroes of Africa are more entitled to exercise the right to .self-determination than are the Negroes in the United States. This point must has been raised purely for argument’s sake because Mr. Thomas, in common with the whole Second Interna- tional o* which he is a part, also denies the right of self-determina- tion to the natives of Africa. ‘As for the last two points, raised not by Mr. Thomas but by his close friend, Mr. O'Neal, we may be al- lowed to dismiss these as suffi- ciently characterized by the lan- guage in which they are couched. ‘They are the purest examples of vicious invectives replacing all log- ical arguments, THE §. P. Fy} IN PRACTICE Mr® Thomas’ party logically car- ries out the line of opposition to self determination for the Black Belt and denial of any special prob- Jems of the Negroes. In the South the Socialist Party is a jim-crow party. It not only refuses to nominate Negroes for any office, but it refuses to take them into the Party itself. In most places where Negroes are organized in the Sneialist Party they are in jim- crow branches. In the Socialist National Convention just held re- cently in Milwaukee there was the magnificent total of four Negro delegates credentialed of whom only one was present. These four delegates were not workers but Negro intellectuals, memberg @f the petty bourgeoisie. Finally must be noted the spe- cial role on the Negro question played in the Socialist Party by Mr. Heywood Broun. Mr. Broun made his notorious declaration against the enforcement of the 14th and 15th amendments to the constitu- tion, which are supposed to grant the rights of citizenship to Negroes in the South but which have never been enforced, At. that time Mr. ; Broun ‘was not a member of the Socialist Party, but this statement against Negro rights in the South seemed to especially equip Mr. Broun for membership in the So- cialist Party. Only a few weeks later, he was invited into the So- cialist Party and still a few weeks later, became the Socialist Party candidate for Congressman in New ‘York City. Such’ is the Soclalist Party in relation to the Negro. Such es- pecially is its outstanding leader, Mr. Thomas, who is quite correctly described by Comrade James W. Ford as ene who “justifies lynching by the white upper classes.” But Mr. Thomas’ particular brand of demagogy will find even less fertile soil among the Negro masses than among the white workers. ‘The national oppression of the Ne- goes is so sharp, their need for liberation is so pressing, that they cannot be put to sleep by Norman 4 By MYRA PAGE Our Correspondent in the Soviet Union. PART IV GROWING POWER OF THE SOVIETS The Podolsk Regional Soviet of Workers’ and Peasants’ Deputies de- cided that all employers must pay full wages to their laboring force for time lost during the days of reyolution. Since the Provisional government set up in Petrograd headed by Kerensky and backed by the capitalists, refused all support to the Soviet, the workers decided to tax themselves from their wages creating a fund to carry on the Soviet’s work, which was rapidly exending its control over produc- ion, and forcing employers to lis- ten to the workers’ demands. By the third week of March the eight hour day was enforced, with- out decrease in wages. All fac- tories organized their shop com- mitees, unions and militia. Feodor, who up to this time was still working in Moscow, now hoped to return to his home town and job at the Singer foundry. The factory committee insisted that Dixon re-employ him but Dixon refused. “Dixon and his kind still hhave the power,” Feodor pointed out to his fellows, “was it fcr this we made a revolution?” FROM FEBRUARY TO OCTOBER Every day the issue grew clearer. The conflict between the Provi- $:onal Government which sup- ported the capitalists, and the Soviets, organs of workers’ and peasants’ growing fpower, sharp- ened. The soldiers and toiling masses demands “End the War! Give us Peace, Liberty, Land and Bread.” But the Provisional Gov- ernment refused to heed them. In the ranks of the workers there were many confused, traitorous elements. Only in the Party, which in Po- dolsk had grewn from thirty-seven members in February to six hun- dred by October, did the masses find a clear lead. Feodor, who'd gotten work in a small Podolsk foundry, agitated with his com- rades for “All Power to the So- viets!” Away with the Provisional Government and capitalist rule!” Many who a few months earlier disagreed with the Bolsheviks now were ready to listen, and join in preparations for the second insur- rection. Andree, still at the front, told his hungry, desperate fellow- soldiers, “Support the Soviets and the Bolsheviks, that’s the one way to stop this bloody war.” RED PODOLSK The Former Singer Sewing Machine Plant Near Moscow enthusiasm and energy these youth possess! At their machines for six hours they have given their best labour, then to department meet- ings of young workers, to discuss their part in the fight to improve quality of output; to the club gym for physical culture, followed by showers, supper ina recently opened factory kitchen, nearby; back to the club for classes in political economy and current events, the 9 o'clock movie show, and now home for a round of sleep before be- ginning another day. Even while we sing Jack's thoughts are busy with tomorrow's affairs. Although barely 22, heavy responsibilities rest on his firm shoulders, placed there by his 1,800 comrade-youth of the Podolsk Ma- chine Factory who a year ago took him from his work bench and placed him as secretary of their “Comsomols”, Communist League of Youth. His mobile, sensitive face, topped by his: waving red hair, is quick to light as he discusses some political question or jokes with his pals. Everyone of the 12,000 workers at the plant know Jack, the youth's leader. “There's a young fellow who'll go far,” they say, “he’s all the makings.” And so he has. Re- gardless of age, I've seen few who could handle their organizational tasks and guide their fellows with @ more sure, sympathetic hand. How does 1t happen that he has learned the arj of true leadership, when still so young? His story, which we get out of him with some difficulty, for he’s not a lad to talk much about himself, explains a good deal of it. For Jack has tra- velled a long road in his brief two score and two years. ON THE ROAD. Born in the Ukraine, son of very religious and poverty stricken par- ents, all the training he received in his early days was from street gangs. The Czarist government didn’t bother with schools for workers’ kids, like Jack. “And my mother, poor ignorant woman that she was, could give us children lite tle,” he adds. “So what sort of un- derstanding of life did we naturally develop?” Not long before the war broke out, Jack's father set out for the land of magic, America. He would quickly save enough to send for his family, that was the plan. But the war put an end to this. The mother, weakened by hunger, fell a victim of typhus. ‘Then Jack, and his younger broth- er joined the ragged illiterate army of homeless waifs—bezprizorni. Jack, secretary of the Young Communist League of the Podolsk Machine Factory, conferring with his co-workers. When word came, in October, that the Petrograd and Moscw workers had taken power the Po- dolsk masses were quick to follow. According to plan, all public buildings and factories were seized by the workers’ militia, and the Soviet set to work establishing the new order and selecting its Com- missars to fill all responsible posts. Heavy tasks, they knew, were ahead. DIXON’S CLASS OUSTED At the same time the other fac- tories were taken over, the armed workers occupied the foundry, work-shops, and offices of the sewing machine factory, and the former Singer plant was declared the First Soviet State Sewing Ma- chine Factory to be owned and operated by the workers’ power. As for Dixon, he simply packed his bags and left for America, and there were few who regretted his hasty departure. eerie TT endless white snow glows with a bluish light, under the star-Jammeq sky. Our boots make fresh, crunching sounds as the six of us, arm in arm, singing, tramp along the the broad highway: “Workers, in our hands the power, Comrades in our strength rely, Ended is slavery forever— As freedom we labour and strive—” ‘We're on our way from a factory “How did we live?” Jack gives a * wry grin. “No different from the others. Beating our way on trains, begging, stealing. You know, living by our wits.”, The workers’ revolu- tion made no great difference, at once, in their mode of life. But ear= ly in 1919, Jack and his brother were rounded up by the Soviet government, along with hundreds of other waifs who had been made orphans, homeless, and set adrift by the war, and sent to one of the children’s towns, organized for their re-education. Jack, however, like many anoth- er, at first felt far from grateful. He preferred the road. Besides, he was suspicious of what it was all about. Step by step, however, he was won over. He learned to read and write, his natively quick mind began to reach out,—to gain, under sympathetic direction, a new grasp on the world about him, He joined in the boys’ games and self-governs merit, and in the school shop found many interesting things to do. As ~ @ member of the Pioneers, he be= came a leader among the other children, proving himself—“In the interests of the working class—‘Al-_ ways ready!’” After a few years, he was given the chance to attend a four year technical school, where he continued his general education, became skilled as a machinist, and graduated ‘from: the Pionecis to the Comsomels. Finishing his course in 1926, and receiving an urgent call from his father to join him in America, }