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Page Four DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, WE Yorker Loved echoes Published by the Compredaily Publishing Co., Ins., dally exexept @umday, at m0 K Mtb St., New York City ¥. hone ALgonguin 4-796. Cable “DAIWORE.” Address and mail checks te the Daily Worker, #0 KE. 18th Bi, New York, MN. ¥. SUBSCRIPTION RATES: By mail everywhere: One year, $6; six months, $2.50; $ months, $2; 1 n excepting Borough of Manhattan and Bronx, New York City. Forel Canada: One year, $9; 6 months, $5;_3 months, $8 Hoover’s Defense of the Capitalist System 1 draws to < the presidential campaigt of system is x our last ponceies that ‘ our } and ‘many people ¢ economic of ocial providing security ¢ ch on Monday night he e of “this American has demonstrated its stem yet invented by tior ary fun In his Ma endeavored to make a blustering defer system of ours”, contending that it validity and its superiority over any s, son Square Garden speec the human mind.” He has the effrontery to say this on the eve of the Fifteenth Annivers of the successful es- tablishment of th st proletarian republic, the “land with- the Soviet Union, at a time when 15 out une 600,000 ar rk ‘system peculiar to the Ame: Is of Hoover’s American sys- tem? Al he tear-gas of Washing- ton, the Milwaukee, and other American are these the security of life claims to superiority afforded by this social order “builé to he'shis alleled in the whole history of the world”? distinction in the United States, the ambitious being able Hoover denies the ¢ ence ragging out the old gag about “the able and to rise constantly from the bottom to leadership.” Does he want us to believe that in an America where an Insull can steal hundreds of mil- lions of dollars and get away to a pleasant vacation in the Mediterranean until things blow over, where one-third of a Presidential Cabinet (of which Hoover was a member) is proved to have been involved in direct steals, but where workers fighting for a loaf of bread or demanding un- employment relief are railroaded to jail, where the Sacco-Vanzetti and the Scottsboro cases rival the worst examples of judicial corruption in history—that this America doe’ not distinguish between the exploiting and the exploited class? Class distinctions stare the exploited in the face and cannot be ignored even by a Hoover. Dividends and riotous liv- ing for the rich, poverty and starvation for the millions. This class dis- tinction cannot be wiped out by ballyhoo. During the false glamor of the “Coolidge boom,” many workers and farmers stiil listened to this plea of “rugged individualism,” but with de- clining faith. But today, when the brainy captains of American industry, with their political henchman Hoover, stand paralyzed face to face with the greatest economic crisis in the history of the country, and know no other remedy for the bankrupt capitalist order than wage-cuts and part- time for those who still have a job, and clubs and bullets for those with- out one, se millions of American Vv rs and farmers are losing faith in the God-sent blessings of “our” capitalist social order. a time when the chief agents of American capitalism feel their grip on the masses slipping becat of the actual breakdown of the barest economic essentials of capitalist production, in the Soviet Union every factory, every mine, every collective and state farm has a sign out: “More Help Wantet They are advancing irresistibly on the road to- wards a Soci t society, towards a standard of living for all that shall surpass anything yet seen upon this earth, towards a real classless s0- ciety, All this has been made possible by the resolute struggle of the workers and farmers of Russia under the leadership of the Communist Party for wresting tae ownership of the farms, factories, railroads, mines and banks from the capitalist and landlord class. At The American working class, joined by the impoverished farmers, will make it “their” country driving out the capitalists from their places of power. Then indeed will America begin to build a society with no class distinction. This is the stand of the Communist Party in the Elections. Vote Communist! Fight for the Freedom of Filipino Communists HE SUPREME COURT has rejected the appeal of 20 lead- ers of the Communist Party of the Philippine Islands and of other revolutionary organizations, against the sentences of jail and exile for a total of 13 years each. Our Filipino comrades are doomed to rot in jail, unless our power, added to the power of the toiling masses of the Philippine Islands, can save them. The jailing of our comrades in the Philippine Islands, a colony of United States imperialism, follows intensified revo- lutionary activity in the Islands. The increased strategic importance of the Philippine Islands, due to war prepara- tions by the United States Government in connection with the Far East, accounts for these savage sentences, and for this drive against the revolutionary workers’ organizations. The Communist Party, \the Filipino Proletarian Labor Congress. and the National Confederation of Peasants . * . DER the leadership of the Communist Party of the Philippine Islands, strikes have taken place. unemployed demonstrations and farmers” Since the January 2ist Plenum of the Central Committee of the Commu- nist Party of the Philippine Islands, The there has been an improvement in pning in July, covered its Mass work st recent farmers’ st the whole pro’ of Nueva Ec with than 1,000 tenant farmers participating in it—for a 30 pe tion of the usurious rate of interest on loans and for a fifty-fift expenses of planting and harvesting : The strike ended in a victory for the tenant farmers, most of their demands being granted. A report from Manila states: “During the strike, tremendous fighting enthusiasm prevailed among the strikers, and red flags with the sickle and hammer were displayed in many towns. The strike wave, which is still rising, has considerable prospects of developing into a nation-wide movement The Communist Party of the Pt ine Islands calls to us for sup- port in th truggle to free the T from the yoke of American imperi hat should be the answer of the lass of the United States? 1, An active nay for f the Filipino Communist leaders. Energetic support by t to the cam- jpaign conducted jointly by tt nd by the In- ternational Labor Defense s of California and Seattie, and ction 7 of 2. Real support te of workers and | inside of the United Farmers Lea ar Union t yrganizations, by othe t League of the United States in 3. Support to the Anti-Imperi: its work for immediate independence of the Philippine nds, and ex- posure of the Phlippino Independence Mission now in Washington, 4. Organization of the Filipino workers and farmers in the United States within the revolutionary mass organizations in the United States; struggle against discrimination directed against the Filipinos in the U. S. The Communist Party calls for support through concrete every-day activity, through concrete deeds—of the revolutionary movement in the Philippine Islands, in its struggle for betterment of the conditions of the workers and peasants of the Philippine Islands and for freedom from Yankee Imperialism. Let us carry out in practice our obligation toward the colonial masses in the Philippine Islands | PARTY LIFE | | “Reshuffling” |Forces in a Harlem Unit HE writers of this letter are two comrades who were transferred from Downtown to Section 4 (Har- lem). Before being assigned to any unit we were sent to attend a meet- ing of Unit 417, as visitors. No one in the unit had ever seen or heard of us before. When we went in at 8 o'clock no one was present excepting the unit organizer and the secretary. By 8:40 two more comrades had | come, so the meeting was opened, The keynote of this meeting was | “reshuffling of for ( mn 4 is reorganizing its membership). By 9:30 there were five people pres- ent. The organizer dismissed this shortcoming in thé unit work by saying: “Well, there is going to be a ‘reshuffling of forces.’” ASSIGNMENTS After the agenda had been duti- fully and perfunctorily gone through and communications and announcements read, work assign- ments were discussed. One unem- ployed comrade was the only one who seemed to be willing to do any work. The others were all “very busy” or had “a very important meeting” just at the time some im- portant assignment was to be car- ried out. Even the unit organizer had a very important meeting just at the time when the WHOLE UNIT was requested to participate in a mass demonstration. The sec- was “going to be very busy, | @O, as might be expected, they | © reached the conclusion that there was no use assigning any work because they had no forces, but, “there's going to be a reshuf- fling of forces.” A member spoke up and said that it didn’t mean anything when assignments were accepted by comrades because they never carried them out anyhow. The comrades seem to take the work and their promises ‘very lightly: pledging themselves to do certain work, ang then not feeling sufficiently responsible to carry it out. But—thé perfect alibi—‘re- shuffling. ...” This is one of the reasons for the extremely low level of the work in Harlem. This sort of repetitious discussion lasted more than an hour and a half. There was no interest dis- played by anyone, no enthusiasm, the meeting dragged itself along somehow with much irrelevant dis- cussion, This unit meets at a hall about eighteen blocks from their concen- tration point. No mention was | made of the territory, but when a comrade asked where the new cen- | ter was, someone said: “It’s right in_our territory.” By this casual reference we learned where their point of concentration was. A CONCENTRATION POINT ‘Their point of concentration was at West 145rd St. During the past three weeks a struggle has been going on in the heart of their ter- Titory at one of the most important points (or at least it should be) in Harlem, the 369th Regiment Ar- mory, where the segregated Negro National Guard has its headquar- ters. During the construction of an addition to this building, 30 build- | ing laborers were robbed by the contractor of large parts of their wages. Under the leadership of | the Trade Union Unity Council | these men have been carrying on a struggle for their money. Forces were needed for distribution of leaflets, picketing and for demon- strations, but none were forthcom- ing from this unit or from THE SECTION ITSELF, for that mat- ter. Despite the fact that articles appeared in the Daily Worker and in several Negro newspapers about it, not one mention was made of this struggle at the unit meeting. If this is the situattm generally | in the section, then ft will take more than “reshuffling” to cure the situation in Harlem, | Nanking Pretends To Stop Child Slavery Thru Fake Statute | In an attempt to combat the growth | of Communism throughout China and the popularity of the Chinese Soviet Republic among the masses, the Nanking government has an- nounced the “adoption of regulations | for the abolition of child slavery in China.” (The Nanking regime also | has laws on its statute books prohi- biting opium production and trading. It has not only refused to enforce these laws, but has recently legalized | the vicious traffic in the health de-j} | stroying drug, in its efforts to raise | money to finance its murderous wars | against the revolutionary workers land peasants of Central China, and for re-payment to the imperialists of loans advanced for this same purpose Child slavery exists in every pro- vince and town under Kuomintang | This is admitted by the imper- who help to maintain this slavery Hallett Abend, Far Eastern respondent of the New York mes reports in a@ dispatch to his |paper that these child slaves “are | paid nothing for their services, and when they reach maturity are not even permitted to arrange their own | marriages, Attractive young girls |are often sold to resorts, and those that are unattractive or incompetent may be sold as wives to peasants and | laborers.” As a result of the impoverishment | of the masses, many workers and peasants are forced to sell their chil- dren to the rich landowners and | bankers. Only in the Chinese Sov- jet districts have the children been |emancipated, along with the work- jers and peasants who now control |the governments in the Soviet dis- | tricts, ia VOTE COMMUNIST Against Imperialist War; for the defense of the Chinese people and | | of the Soviet Union, | “ly enough wher HATCHING THE NEXT PRESIDENT ESDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 1932 » By Burck Rail Workers Must Themselves Act Against New Wage-Cut ‘Wall Street Wants Another 20 P.C. Reduction; Must Build Fighting Groups in Lodges and Among Unorganized By PAUL BROWN REPARATIONS for another { sweeping wage cut for the one | million railroad workers still on the payrolls of the companies are well under way. The July 11 issue of Standard Trade and Securities, put out by Standard Statistics Co., dis- cussing railroads and railroad equip- ment, has this to say: “Railroad wage scale readjust- ment has lagged far behing that in other basic industries, yet, except by government interven- tion, it seems highly improbable that the railroads will be able to effect another cut. in the wages of organized employees prior to the expiration of the present agreement on February 1, 1933. “DEVELOPMENTS LOOKING TO SUCH INTERVENTION, and a FURTHER WAGE CUT OF, SAY, 20 PER CENT WOULD BE DISTINCTLY FAVORABLE.” Members of the 21 standard rail- way labor organizations, when the first 10 per cent cut was forced down their throats in January, 1932, were told that “the cut will be for only one year” and that “by taking this cut, we will be able to put back in the shops, yards and terminals a | substantial number of the half mil- lion unemployed railroad workers.” How reducing the purchasing power of one and half million workers by $225,000,000 would result in in- creased railroad car loadings was left for some magician to find out. But our trusting brothers trusted and took the cut, for a year. PART OF PLANNED CAMPAIGN The year ts buf over. now no longer vhe faintest, illusion in the minds of one railroader that the $225,000,000 will be returned. Nor do they have any hope that wage rates will go back to the 1931 scale. Not so the railroad executives and their banker stockholders, Nothing less than an additional 20 per cent will satisfy them, The article quoted above is ng accidental sug- gestion. It is part of.a carefully planged campaign. For example, the Financial Section of the New y American, July 11, quotes the Alexander Hamilton stitute’s Weekly Letter, which “foreshadows another wage cut of about 20 per cent, unless such reduction is modi- fied by increased efficiency.” This business weather-vane shows plain- the wind is blow- ing. Wage cuts, up to 20 per cent, are to insure the profits. of Wall Street. And for consolation: “Under any circumstances, wage rates will | not drop back to the 1911 level, even though freight rates are thus re- duced.” Because, “the railroads are now in a position to handle a much larger volume of traffic than in 1911, with the same number of men.” (Emphasis ours.) What are the Railroad Brother- hoods doing in the face of this im~ pending attack; in the face of the continuing layoffs and up,” which have already taken place since the February wage cut was accepted? What have they done to stop the wholesale cutting down of There ts. | “doubling | the working time of hundreds of thousands of railroad workers through “rotation of work,” forced vacations and the like? DO NOTHING FOR JOBLESS ‘They are fiddling while Rome is burning. Secure in their spacious offices, with guaranteed salaries of from $5,000 to $18,000 a year, they are amusing themselves by playing politics. First they propose to feed the unemployed by asking Presi- dent Hoover to declare a morator- ium of 25 years on European debts. ‘They ignore the debts of the un- employed in the. United States., They are silent about a dues mora=_ torium for the unemployed brother- hood members. They would hesi- tate to suggest a rent moratorium for railroad workers and their fam- ilies facing evictions. What they are interested in is “front page stuff” to show the members of the brotherhoods what big men their chiefs are: they can go to the White House; they can talk to the Presi- dent; they can discuss international finance! eee ‘THE next proposal is for a national pension for ‘the 65-year-old men, half of ‘the pension to be, paid by the men themselves. This bill was prepared as a concession to the staunch union members, the older men in the service, who are secure in their seniority, and who hold rights to the best paying jobs. It was at the same time an. attack -nsi the Railroad Employees Na- tional Pension ‘Association, which, in the past year had enrolled 250,000 members at $1 per. member and had introduced an old age pension bill of their own. The crying need of the hour is for unemployment insurance for a million laid-off rail- roaders, pensions at the expense of the government for all aged work- ers, and organization of all men in the industry to resist the wage cut attacks of the roads! But layoffs continue In spite of presidential visits and pension bills’ which gather mold in Senatorial committee rooms, Here is an issue which must be faced. ‘The unions are losing their membership. The unemployed cannot pay dues. The part time workers are dropping out of the lodges. One quarter of a million have been laid off in the past year. And layoffs continue from top to bottom. FAKE RELIEF SCHEME Will the railroad brother officials support the movement for unem- ployment. insurance. already en- dorsed by half a million members of the A. F. of L, and brotherhood lodges? No, they will not! Instead they eame out with another polit- ical scheme to fool the unemployed; to take the minds of the member- ship from the wage cut warnings of the financial journals, ore THIS time it !s a government loan to the unemployed: “the crea- tion of a Federal corporation to finance the purchase of necessities by unemployed heads of households to an not exceeding $500 each.” Let us examine this bill, In a few plain words, is it a plan to loan unemployed workers a maxi- mum of $500 a year, payable in commodities such as groceries, clothing, etc. Every worker who takes out such a loan has deducted from what he gets the interest pay- ments (from 1 to 4 per cent), and his future earnings are to be taxed 10 PER CENT per week until the Joan is completely repaid. In other words, the unemployed are to mort- gage their future earnings for the privilege of living on $500 a year, less interest. It, is a pretty schceme, worthy of “its sponsors,“but it should fool not one single worker, As a guarantee against unemployment it offers a Jess than starvation wage. As a guarantee against wage cuts, it offers another “yoluntary’ wage cut of 10 per cent, in addition to the 30 per cent (10 per cent in 1932 and 20 per cent more in 1933) which the Toads -are preparing to hand rail- road Jabor. And at this very time the Interstate Commerce Commis. sion publishes salaries of railroad presidents and thousands of minor officials tanging from $10,000 ‘to $135,00 a year. At this very time the government gives assistance to banks, other financial institutions and railroads “for weathering the emergency,” amounting to $1,054,- 814,486: from February 2 to June 30, 1932 ($213,882,923 to the railrads alone). WORKERS MUST TAKE OVER FIGHT Already half a year has gone by since the January wage cut agree ment. These six months have been frittered away by the brotherhood chiefs. We workers must ourselves take over the fight. It is high time to raise the demand in every lodge for a referendum of the membership in all future negotiations which involve wages and working conditions, It is high time to start building groups of reliable members in every lodge who will raise these issues in the lodges, who will support these issues in the face of the opposition of the present union officials. For the unemployed, the solution is not loans and the mortgaging of future wages. The solution is un- | employment insurance and exemp- tion of the unemployed from dues payments. o Se%~@ ORK in the lodges is, however, not enough. Less than half the railroad workers are members of unions. Groups of organized and unorganized workers must be built at the point of production: in the round houses, in the yards, shops and terminals, These groups must support the campaign for govern- ment unemployment insurance; must force adequate relief for the unemployed from town and city governments; must insist on the carrying out of all working rules and agreements; must be ore and determined to fight “Timely Topics” --- How Thomas Aids Capitalism “Capitalism Is Going Ultra- Nationalist,’ He Says in “New Leader” amination of his proposals with the full assurance that he speaks of- ficially for the Socialist Party. The first thing that an examina- tion of the Thomas thesi§ discloses is that it is international are The second fact disclosed is that it is composed of a number of alter- nating points—one to please: the capitalists, one for attracting work By BILL DUNNE «IN its systematic conduct of this counter-revolutionary pol- icy, social democracy operates on two flanks: the RIGHT wing of social democracy, avowedly coun- ter-revolutionary, is essential for negotiating and maintaining di- rect contact with the bour- ers. The third fact is that the geoisie; the left article is so constructed end wing is essential phrased as to appear very anti- for the ‘subtle capitalist. The fourth fact is that deception of the the Thomas program is purely cap- workers. While italist and differs only in very playing with minor details from the program of pacifist and at the so-called. “progressives” in the times even rev- House and Senate—Borah, LaFol- outionary lette, Norris, Wheeler ang phrases, “left figleaves of the twe big capil wing” social parties. pa democracy in LINES UP WITH % BOSS ANALYSIS To begin with it is necessary to expose the manner by which ‘Thomas in his introduction lines up with -the capitalist analysis of the present situation. He conceals the fact that the revolutionary struggle nist International, Page 21— | Of the masses against imperialist Workers Library Publishers. war is a decisive factor in postpon- Rete eae 2 x ing the outbreak of a new world war. Thomas puts the question.as if there was a general ‘and all in- clusive “positive desire” for war, ‘We quote: “Capitalism at this final end of its epoch has definitély gone nationalist, partly because na- tionalism is a convenient opiate to drug exploited workers. The very poverty of the world lessens the resistance to war, heightens the strife for markets, and cre- ates almost a positive desire for large scale war as a means of in- flating a sadly deflated domestic tice acts 2gainst the THOMAS workers, particularly in acute and critical situations, and fs there- fore the most dangerous faction in the secial democratic parties.” ——Program of the Commu- Norman ‘Thomas, Presidential candidate of the Socialist Party, lacks the knowledge of Marxism which makes for skill in perverting it in the interests of capitalism displayed by the theoreticians of the German _ social-c})>mocracy, especially by Bauer, Adler, etc., of the Austrian school. But Thomas does the best he can with his meager equipment, and his lack of equipment is made up in part by an ambitious energy to place the Socialist Party of Amer- ica in the forefront of the world economy.” (Our emphasis.) array of the parties of the Second Thomas’ approach to the ques- International engaged in warding | tion of imperialist war and the at- off the revolutionary assaults of | titude of the working to it, the working class upon capitalism | especially in this, the third year of the crisis, has nothing in eommon with fevolutionary Marxism. Who is i@ that has “an almost positive desire for a large scale war?” ete, ‘The working class? Has “the very poverty of the world” lessened the and diverting them into the harm- Jess channels of votes, prayers and hope for “planned society,” “gov- ernment ownership,” “nationaliza- tion,” “orderly revolution,” and other pleasant promises which mean only the maintenance of capital- | resistance to imperialist war on the ism at increasing cost to the work- | Part of the working class? ing class, poor farmers, doubly op- 2 Sa pressed Negro masses and colonial NLY a Socialist anxious to ex- Peoples. onerate the capitalist rulers as TAKES TASK SERIOUSLY sede a saible Peleg Stet as Norman Thomas takes seriously “eg? og his responsibility as leader of the | Petter. The European social-demo- crats know better. Let us quote a patie ges rd pigs cage recent statement by a dear friend 5 f Mr. Thomas, Benjamin C. Marsh trusted with governmental respon- & ie sibility by the capitalist class, but | of the Peoples’ Lobby, who has just turned from the Amsterdam the extremely favorable publicity sha 4 he receives from even. the Most’re- | World Congress Against War: actionary section of the capitalist “The most significant state- press makes him see the future ment made to me in Europe, through a rosy haze. however, during my six wteks’ He is trying very hard to com- | trip, was by a relatively conser- bine within himself the two wings vative labor leader in the British of the Socialist Party, ie. main- Labor Party that “every govern- tain a working-class following with ment in Europe as well as the ‘pacifist and at times even revolu- | British government fears a dec- tionary phrases” and at the same | Jaration of war would mean a time convince the capitalists and revolation at honw.” (Peoples their middle class er: that | Lobby Bulletin, September issae.) he is a statesman of the Te- “ quireq by the capitalist crisis. nee see eee ‘capitalism ee ek SI this is no new discovery. Lenin pointed this out in 1915 a& one of the outstanding contradictions of the imperialist. period—“the period of wars and revolutions.” But this is in no contradiction with the support of the imperialist League of Nations in. the Socialist Party platform and with #he latest pro- posals of Thomas—as we shall see. CONCRETE example of the above tactics is given in Thomas’ weekly column in the “New Leader,” official organ of the Socialist Party, for Oct. 15. In con- cluding his remarks he says: “In these paragraphs I have outlined the Socialist position,” We may proceed tHen to an ex- The Negro Masses Speak! “National Anthem” of Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association.) By CHARLES GAINES. I. Verse. j(A Parody of the Lift every voice and sing, ‘Till Communism rings Rings with the true Soviet liberty Let our revolting rise, high as the listening skies, Let ‘it =neqound loud as the rolling seas. I, Choras. . Sing’ song full of the strife that the dark past has teviyht us ‘Sing a song full of the hope Communism has brought us; Fating a Red! Red! sun of a new day begun, let us fight on till victory is won. TT. Verse, Stony the road we trod, Bitter oppression’s red, Felt. in the days, when bourgeois bosses lied, Yet with a steady beat, ‘Will not our weary feet, come to the place for which Comrades tried. TH. Chorus. We have come over a way perseverence has watered We ‘have come, treading our path, through the blood of the slaughtered. Out of the gloomy past, till now our working class ‘Waves the red gleam of our red flag at last. ray III, Verse. See i Boss of our youthful years, Boss of our futile fea vou who have fought slong om ‘You! mee imperialist might ~ Forced us into the fight, we shall foverse struggle for woyers rights. Tt. Chorus. © ‘So our feet stray from the places our boss, where we met you, So our hearts drunk in our faith in Communism forget you; Shadowed beneath Red. bands, Our red ranks bir < ‘True to man, true to the Soviet Land, ‘ Here is the story of how the ‘ Novel About the South | comes to the vl and new spring up mi by Myra Page Out Soon | spring up tke mt res “GATHERING , STORM,” @ revolu- ee ae eee : tionary novel by Myra Page, to lynches Uncle Ben, bapijo-p be brought out next week by In- | and sweeper; and finally, how the | ternational Publishers, moves with | struggle +t the ot @ swiftness that grips the reader. | brings the “bol-we-vils of radicale | ism” to the hills, uniting” agents has sounded the call of | wiite and Negro: workers in 8 be battle, One million and a half terly-fought strike, . railroad workers have it in their power to stop the wave of wage- “Gathering, Storm,” written in & Suiting that is sweeping the coun- | terse, forceful style achieves a tre- try; to win unemploy- | mendous mass effect Which» is ment insurance for the 15,000,000 iasey ney he ee y idle workers, United action is im- | country. Myra Page perative. The workers Hersh ts ab presentidec te weries must take the path toward # vic- | Union as correspondent {gr the no f 4 fA H