The Daily Worker Newspaper, December 12, 1932, Page 4

vage Four DAILY WORKER, | Daily,<Worker Published by the Comprodaily Publishing Co., Inc., daily except Sunday, at #@ E. E New York City, N. ¥. Telephone Algonquin 4-7956, Cable “DAIWORK.” Address and mail checks to the Daily Worker, 50 E. 13th St., New York, N. ¥. }— ahs S | SUBECRIPTION RATES: six months, $3.50; $ months, $2: } wonth, 7 New York City. Foreign and 3 months, &i mail everswhere: One year, 36 excepting Borongh of Manhattan and Bronx One year, 39 |} *» I It Canada, months, 35 Background of Imperial- ist Massacre Behind South American Wars wars now going on-in South America are being fought in the interests American and British imperialism whose agents and puppet governments for years have rob- of bed and butchered workers and peasants for profit, The record of Yankee imperialism is especially bloody. 1 comprise a long list of Peru Its murde acts of us suppressic ired wars between latest of which i ind Bolivia 2 ‘s South thousands of conquest which imperialism and mobilized and are slaughtering s a long record of massacr for 1928, United 32,000 workers Fruit C bani went out an 8-hou 3 better living on of the unior ernment of Olaya He: ment of Yankee imperial- instigation of the United E Co., called out the troops i; an unparaielled reign of le blood bath was car- 1500 men, women and chil- rikers. Martial law was dren were m Workers were a ted heir homes; women and children were violated. The wounded were thrown into graves with the dead and buried alive Class war flared up on a scale. The militant workers. in re- alietion, set fire to the property of the United Fruit Co. Miles of rail- road were destroyed; warehouses and telegraph lines disappeared in flames in Aracataca workers were mowed the hundreds. 120 work- ers were sentenced to long terms of i i, but because of the struggle conducted by the Colombian the International Red Aid, all of these are now at libert Even though the strike was crush remains. It is a great example to th world, and especially to the workers and pe and South American countries. its gr historic importance workers and peasants of the ants of the Caribbean 'ODAY this same government of Ol another blood-bath for the workers and peasants, a war against Peru. It is one more step in the preparations of Yankee imperialism for the new imperialist world war and the war of intervention against the Soviet Union. Herrera is feverishly preparing Down with Olaya Herrera, the tool of Yankee imperialism! Down with the South American imperialist wars! Support and join the Anti-Imperialist League. Help the American and South American workers fight against Yankee imperialism and the vars of its puppet governments waged in its interests and against those of the workers and peasants. Wall Street Appreciates Its Servants re New York Tribune and other capitalist papers pretend to be alarmed about the alleged departure of the American Fedetation of Labor leadership from its former stand against unemployment insurance. uch papers pretend to be afraid the “radicalism” of the bureaucratic machine of the A. F. of L. The Scripps-Howard newspaper chain (New York World-Telegram, etc.) and other liberal papers also talk about the change in policy of the bureaucracy and hail it as a great advance Joining in the chorus of praise is the socialist party organ, the “New Leader”. Thus the open Wall Street press. the liberal press and the socialist press pursue the same objective—to try to fool the starving workers and make them believe that the A. F. of L. leaders are honestly striv to obtain a system of unemployment insurance. All this is part of the despicable game of trying to sow among the ranks of the starving unemployed and illusions part-time workers, rying to disintegrate the fighting ranks of the workers who, in ever arger numb participate in the mass struggle for bread. The exch financial press, however, does not sing the same song as the pr ss of capitalism. It openly tells its readers that ng to fear from Bill Green and company; their good ants still grovel as low as ever, but they have to as- isguises in order to conceal their belly crawling before their capitalist masters. While the Tribune raves, the New York Journal of Commerce in its issue of December 6th calmly assures its readers that “prosper are dim on unemployment insurance” Then follows three paragraphs that should be remembered by every worker who wants to expose the perfidy of the A. F. of L. leadership in its unemployment ‘msurance gesture. Says the Joynal of Commerce: “Unemployment insurance is being talked about, but Is not expected to get anywhere in the immediate future either at the hands of Congress the various State Legislatures, although ap- | { proved by the American Federation of Labor at Cincinnati. “The recommendation is that for a period of ten unemployment workmen would be entitled to draw ling one-third or one-half of their ordinary wage. “As the Federation is not seeking federal legislation, in some States it would be necessary to bring about a change in the Con- stitution, as in Pennsylvania, a matter that would take several years to accomplish if the people were willing to have the pro- posals become law.” It is impossible for language to more plainly convey that the proposals adopted at the Cincinnati convention to help the capitalist class defeat unemployment insurance. There is only missing the working ¢ conclusion t the Cincinnati gesture had to be made in an effort to help the capitalist class disperse the growing might of the mass movement for unemployment insurance, which is now a veritable nightmare with them. The poison propaganda of the reptile press must be exposed and fought against so that thousands upon thousands of workers, farmers, ex-soldiers, students and all who are hard hit by the deepening economic crisis will understand that it is part of the capitalist drive against the toiling masses. The best way to combat this is to read and circulate the revolutionary press. The subscription campaign of the Daily Worker can become an effective aid to the organization of the struggles against hunger and for unemployment and social insurance, Combat the capital- ist press—open Wall Street, liberal and socialist—by popularizing the Daily Worker and its day to day exposures of the capitalists and their agents. weeks of sums equal- the thought re calculated Greet the Ninth Anniversary of the ‘Daily Worker!’ At a time of a rise of a new wave of revolutions and wars the approach of the Ninth Anniversary of the Daily Worker is of even more signifi- cance than heretofore, This event is to be celebrated by the publication of a special edition that the whole Daily staff is, striving to make the best we haye ever published. It will contain special features by leading revolu- tionary writers of the world; it will be a decument that every class con- cious work will want to keep. Greetings from works wice. The size of t ‘s and mass organizations should be sent in at ne anniversary edition will be largely determined by the support received NOW and until January 1st from supporters of the Daily. Blanks have been sent throughout the country on which to send trectings. Send them filled out and accompanied by check or money order to Daily Worker, 50 East 13th Strect, New York City, IN SOVIET CHINA SW YORK, MONDAY, DECEMBER 12, 1932 —By Burek: | The Fifth Anniversary of the . Heroic Canton Commune By R, DOONPI tad years ago on December 1 British, American, French and Japanese warships in the harbor of Canton opened fire on the Red City where the toiling masses had just set up their own government, a Soviet government—the first So- viet government in the whole co- lonial world. Bandit soldiers of the Kuomintang militarist Li Fu-ling launched -a~ savage attack under the protection of the gunfire from the imperialist warships. After the Canton Commune was thus drown- ed in blood, the capitalist press the world over heaved a sigh of relief and, with sadistic joy, congratu- lated the Kuomintang butchers for their “efficiency”. They naively thought it was all over; “the Bol- Shevist menace” was murdered out of existence and the gentlemen’ from V¥all Street and Lombard Street and others of their could do whatever they. wanted with the “sleeping giant” of the Far East. PEASANT REVOLTS BREAK OUT But hardly were the flames of revolt in China _ extinguished when peasant revolts broke out in many parts of South China and many village Soviets were set up. Despite unprecedented terror and suppression, the movement devel- oped with such persistence and steady progress that the Kuomin- tang goverument soon found its hands full. Five major military campaigns were launched against the Soviet forces but all ended with disastrous results for the Ku- omintang. Chiang Kai-shek was forced to carry on the anti-Red war within his own army, while Soviet power was becoming more and more consolidated and ever ready for further expansion. On the eve of the fifth anniversary of the Canton Commune, there are about 100,000,000 people living un- der Soviet rule with an All-China Central Soviet Government, six provincial Soviet governments, ten regional Soviet governments and over a hundred district Soviets. Cie, Sean S Soviet Cltina is no longer merely an aspiration but a real- ity. To one-fourth of the popula- tion of China, it is already a mat- ter of daily experience—an experi- ence of economic reconstruction and social upbuilding. A consider- able section of Soviet China lies in the flood area, and one of the major economic problems in this area, where hundreds of acres of good agricultural land was de- stroyed by flood last year, is re- clamation, The following account, by an eye-witness shows how suc- cessfully Soviet China solved the basic problem of agricultural pro- duction. He says: “In the Soviet flood area in western Hunait and Hupei reclamation is no more a problem. The Soviet government. distributed a part of the seeds, and 400 water buffaloes, The peasants collectively bought part of the necessary seeds and organized grain co-operatives. Buffalo sta- tions were established. The Soviet government set up factories for the manufacture of agricultural tools and implements. Whenever the Soviet territory é expands, land and implements are taken away from the landlords and extra implements are taken away from the rich peasants, so that the poor and middle peasants will have more land and implzrients to work with. As soon as. sufficient, seeds, implements and buffaloes are obtained, cultivation immedi- ately starts. Since land has been equally distributed, peasants assist- each other in the work of cultiva~ tion by organizing mutual-help detachments, and competitive groups. Thus, in the midst of starving ‘white famine territory, the peasants in this Soviet area reaped a Red harvest!” (Pacific Worker, Vol. 3, No. 15, Aug. 15, -1932.—Emphasis mine). ‘The secret of the quick recovery from the ravages of the flood in the Soviet territory lies in the fact that here the main obstacle to prog = ress in agricultural production has been removed by the agrarian revo- lution. Private property in land thas been abolished and the landlord class was swept off their seat of kind } One-Quarter of| Chinese Toilers 'Live Under Soviets) power. Land, which hitherto was an instrument of exploitation, has now become the common property of the toilers and as such are dis- tributed among the peasants for cultivation for the common good. | The tillers of the soil in Soviet China are freed from the exhorbit- ant rent which their brothers in the white territory are forced to pay. They are also relieved from the unbearable burden of taxation and forced labor which were imposed upon the peasants by the Kuomin- tang military chieftains. Through- out Soviet territory there is only one tax, a single progressive tax which puts the burden on the Shoulders of those who can bear it. In addition to these measures of emancipation, the Soviet govern- ment assisted the peasants. by pro- viding them with seeds, implements, and animal power. It also gives the peasants intelligent leadership in their daily labor and organizes collective undertakings such as re- pairing of dikes and establishment of cooperatives. In the Soviet ter- ritory in Western Hunan and Hu- pei, special bonds for the repair- ing of dikes and improvement of irrigation works were issued by the Soviet government which was large- ly subsaribed by merchants and rich peasants in the surrounding white territory. Over 90° consum- ers’ cooperatives nad 40 producers’ cooperatives (such as fishing, etc.), were organized under the leader- ship of the government. In view of these achievements, it is cer- | tainly not accidental that the pro- ductivity of Soviet agriculture has already gone far ahead of those in the White territory, Rn ea 4 'HE success in agricultural recon- struction in the flood’ area has definitely exposed the familiar tac- tics of the reformists and right wingers who alwayS face a revolu- tionary problem by conjuring up all kinds of imaginary difficulties for purposes of sabotage or‘ side- tracking the movement. The Chi- nese reformists and right wingers always claimed that the difficulties of land distribution in the Soviet Territory would be insurrmountable without a detailed survey first, A detailed survey under the cir- cumstances would necessarily mean a long delay in the solution of the key problem of the revolution at a moment of rapid revolutionary de- velopments when every minute counts, such a delay would mean a certain defeat for the revolution, but this is exactly what the re-or- ganizationists and right liquidators proposed this summer in the So- viet territory in western Hunan and Hupei. ENEMIES EXPOSED The peasants, under the leader- ship of the Communist Party of China, saw through this maneuver and resolutely exposed the enemies. They proceeded to distribute ‘the land village by village by simply pacing and dividing it into roughly equal shares in accordance with the number of agricultural workers, poor and middle peasants. A small merchant from this Soviet territory who has witnessed the distribution told a Hankow correspondent of the “Chinese Workers Correspond- pidly . . . the Auiumn harvest is unusually good” and that the land, being equally divided, “looked like a chess board from a nearby hill top.” (See Chinese Vanguard, No. 84, Dec. 1, 1932). So much space has been devoted to the discussion of agriculture be- cause Soviet power in China so far existed owly in rural districts. However, industrial reconstruction has also been started in many places. Coal and iron mines are opened and operated by the gov- ernment. Arsenals have been built in many cities. Scattered artisans are collectively organized in small factories and producers cooperatives. Practically in every important eco- nomic center there is a Soviet bank in operation. Small shopkeepers and traders are allowed full liberty to carry on their business provided they first register with the Soviet government. IT is of course much too early to expect Soviet China to launch such major plans of construction such as the electrification plan, but what they have already done is sufficient to show that Soviet China has not only achieved the stability of a going concern but that it has arleady brought about a real up- turn in the decaying agricultural economy of semi-feudal China. ‘Thus Soviet China has proved by ~ deeds that the program of the Com- munist Party afforils the only solu- tion to the basic problem of China’s millions. The imperialist powers , and their Kuomintang lackeys are quite aware of this fact. This is the reason why the repeated fail- ures in their anti-Communist cam- paigns have driven them to des- peration, Around 1,000,000 Kuo- mintang soldiers are now in con- centration in the most recent “cam- paigns to exterminate the Commu- nists.” On September 18, the an- niversary of Japanese occupation of Manchuria, the Kuomintang issued a manifesto which called upon the nation to “redouble its efforts to terminate the Communist-bandit menace.” ‘The China Press, the or- gan of Shanghai native bankers, headlined the manifesto: “Kuo- mintank Urges Redoubling of Anti- Red War to Fight Japan.” ‘This manifesto is not only a fresh declaration of war against Soviet China but it is also a challenge to the workers and peasants of the whole world. On the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the Canton Commune, let,us answer the chel- Jenge by redoubling our efforts in developing a mass campaign for the defense of the Chinese people and the Soviet Union, and in organizing concrete and substantial. assistance to the Chinese Red Army, ence” that “the division of land was done very smoothly and ra- Food Workers, Note! Vital Article Friday An article exposing the actiyi- ties of the corrupt bureaucrats of the Hotel and Restaurant Em. ployees and Beverage Dispensers International Alliance will appear in the Daily Worker on Friday, Dec, 16. Tt will deseribe in detail the racketeering activities of the misleaders, and present the im- mediate demands of the rank and file opposition. Food workers, es- pecially, are urged to look. for this article! Mario Lopez, Tampa Victim in Prison— His Family in Need! 'HE fight for a new trial for the fourteen’ militant workers ar- rested following a meeting in Tam- pa, Fla., on November 7th, 1931, goes on. Meanwhile these pris- oners are kept imprisoned in a manner resembling that of the Mid- dle Ages. Two of them have al- ready gone out of their minds. But take the case of Marie Lopez. He is now 21 years old and ts sen- tenced for a year (beginning Feb- ruary 1, 1932), and is at the Florida State Farm, Raiford, Fla, The work was so hard that he was unable to do it and for this was placed in the “sweat box” without food and with heavy chains on his feet. _ In the meantime his family of a mother and two unemployed sis- ters, all of whom were dependent on him when he worked as a ba- ker's helper, are starving and have- n't been’ able to pay the rent for months. The appeal for a new trial is being pushed but what are they to do while waiting? Only with your help will the International La- bor Defense be able to take care of them. Get the Prisoners’ Winter Relief coupons from the ILD. They are made up five, ten and twenty- five cent coupons, Buy them your- self and sell them to your friends. Send all contributions to the ILD, on llth St., New York City, Room ‘The Daily Worker i contemptuous treatment of ploture of these horribie con For three days he lived on the mushy fringes of the swamp, w north when night fell. There was water to be found n mule pens and once he stumbled cross a peanut farm and once he vallowed in luxury in a melon natch. His body was a mass of ores where flies and mosquitoes it him; and his. clothes, torn on al- 's moving znanimous amps, ny t hand, Lots o' water, > you feel like it “There's the He'p yo'se’f HE: thick door of the pine box was opened and he was thust in, The padlock snapped It was dark inside except for a small spdt of light entering a two by four inch air hole in the top. The box was too narrow to turn around in and he stood motionless, vambles and broken branch vere caked with dried slime < Ait thas GIS ne ee Cae scum of the pools. His face : pass rato aaa unt from the days of broken Sweat dribbled down his face and body. His tongue was di NEGRO SLAVERY Topay | & John L. Spivak’s Stirring Novel "GEORGIA NIGGER” sleep, thirst and hunger and fear, Ages oss ieee and his eyes mirrored a growing ? . : ‘ despair. I E was awakened by hounds bay- ing. In a terrified glance he saw Bill Twine’s huge form, a guard and two trusties holding dogs straining at their leashes, and the scared faces of a Negro and his family. The boy retreated into the swamp, stumbling in his haste. The sound of his flight brought wild shouts from the guard and fierce cries ‘from the hounds. The guard crashed after him, swearing lur- idly-as he sank in a pool, The un- leashed dogs leaped through the brush in a mad desire to reach him. The shotgun roared and snipped leaves and twigs from low branches. CAUGHT With a helpless little cry the boy stopped, shaking and trembling. The dogs leaped about his ragged, terrible figure with triumphant éries. The guard, dripping. with water and cursing furiously, reach- ed him and without a word struck him in the mouth. Bill Twint ap- peared, panting, his paunch sway- ing. “Got ‘im, eh?” ‘im out!” he called. “Carry He snapped handcuffs on the boy. “Ought to blow yo’ God damned 4 + nal oppression of the 2 and te the jon but, m order inte tree ‘ pel otherwise he would have pnt inte the EDITOR, The cook cried “Come an’ git hit!” The sweat box was opened in the morning. The boy fell out, uncon- scious, bloated, swollen. When he regained consciousness he was lying naked on a lower bunk in the cage. The handcuffs and stinking clothes had been taken: off and a blanket thrown over him. The door was open. It was broad daylight and the somnolent hush of the day was over Buzzard’s Roost. , A tin cup of water lay on the floor beside him-and he drank it, UNDER THE BL. ING SUN and left to Ve in the sun. haid off fo’ all this trouble,” he | py, swore. jected. The Negroes, with their cotton | white ruling clas opp 3 sacks hanging from their shoul- case and whole; ranchi: ders,’ stared sympathetically when | they came into the open field “So yo goin’ to dec’ grave, eh?” the warden said vi ously. “Put one over on me, eh? You an’ that smart lifer! Don’t like my gang, I guess. Well, that’s jes’ too bad. Yeah, too bad. We'll try to make yo’ stay with us a li'l mo’ pleasant from now on.” 'BENEZER was in the stockade. David saw him lying near the stocks in the blaze of sun, trussed up like a pig ready for slaughter. His head Jay loosely on: the red soil as though the neck had been and the system fre uthor of “Georg He heard Bill order to pour wa He became di mouth for Twine'’s muffled ter over Ebenezer. . He opened his The dried swamp filth and slime on his body and clothes di lved and ran down his chest ‘and legs. The striped suit clung to him. His wrists ex- panded from the heat, swelled, and the hand cbafed and ii ritated them. ad ached. A His mocquito entered through the a’r and fastened on his neck broken. His eyes were closed. His ite his spacmodic jerks to legs and arms, tied with ropes, oe whisked ead pointed to the sky, the whole head: body kept motionless by a pic thrust between the tied I'mbs. mouth was open. The veins in hi temples and arms stood out, swollen. And swarming over the face and arms and neck were my riads @f tiny red ants. s indistinet, ‘ a A young Negro prisoner on the Sem- inole County, Ga., chain gang hogtied with a pick thrust between his legs | Sometime in the afternoon he Bill Twine paused at Ebenezer’s | gout no loner vestrain the form and rolled him over with » | Songs of hie bowels and bladder | foot. and his excretions dribbled down “Let'm rest fo’ an hour,” he in- | his thighs. | structed the guard, “an’ re: | The humid, stifling air in the * | | again. We'll see how he lil free!” weat box filled with a sickening . Flies and mosquitoes, at- ‘While the guard removed the | any le aoe Serene pick from between bent legs and throane ane eis ale: © arms, the warden marched David A merciful blanket of uncon- to the sweat box. “You got a lot o’ dirt on you,” he growled. “Nothin’ like a good sweat to git it off you.” The terrified boy turned a } gard face to him. “Please, suh,” he pleaded, “kin I git a lil water, fus’?” “Sure.” The warden waved a Bt ts se‘eusness covered him. He awakened once by Eb- eneze! “Oh, ‘please, please, suh. I cain’ stan’ hit no mo’.” E heard the convict crews return and Bill Twine crying: “Come by me! Lemme smell you! Come by me! Lemme smell you!” ‘Negro Who Shot Foreman. RISKING DEATH OR TORTURE FORK FREEDOM—Cypresses overhanging swamps in Southern Georgia such as those to which David and Ebenezer escape. It is in these swamps, extending for miles aroynd, that chain gang prisoners attempt to shake the bloodhounds off their trail. Even if they succeed in this, freedom is not certain as often rs get lost and die or are bitten by poison snakes that infest | the (Copyright by John E. Svivak. anthor of “Georgia Nig- ger”) : ‘ mrt, The prisoner has already lost consciousness. is the torture to which Ebenezer Bassett in “Georgia Nigger” is sub- These barbarous chain gang tortures are part of the system ‘of sion of the Negro people just as are the Scottsboro ment of Negroes. struggle of Negro and white toilers can. put an end to these persecutions Only the united ich they spring. (Copyr'ght by John L. Spivak, his hands shaking. Ebenezer was across the nurrow ter staring pityingly at him. “Dey stretched mie,” ine said weakly, “Dey stretched me till I tol’ ‘em whey I lef’ you.” David did not answer. “I got spikes now.” He raised a foot to show the pointed, steel prongs. Sd David turned his face to the bars. BN the afternoon he was given’ a suit of stripes. A trusty helped him to the blacksmith shelter and pikes were again rivied around FF his ankles. Bill Twine snapped an ~ iron collar with a padlock and a five-foot chain around his neck and jerked the boy back to the cage. The loose end of the collar cha'n, long enough to reach the was locked to the criss-crossed tiny réd ants scurrying in all diree- tions and the shadow of the cross dark. on. the red: soil.* * THE END ieee ea. “The author closes his book on a note of hopelessness. But the lot of the Negro masses in the South is far from hopeless. More and more they are learning that there is a way out: that by uniting with their white brothers in organized strug- gle they can put an end to the whole 2m of white ruling class oppression together with the-chain gangs, slave farms, Scottsboro frame-ups, etc., that are part of it. s J. Louis Engdahl -The Fight! ere eee | (Thousands of New York works. ers are expected to attend the Engdah] Memorial meeting to be held on Dec. 18 at the Bronx Coliseum. The National Engdaht Memorial Committee announces ~ that eleven otner meetings in various cities of the U. S. have already been arranged, with ten- tative plans for memorials in- three cities on the Pacific Coast.) baer see By ISRAEL AMTER, OMRADE J, Louis Engdain, whose name is closely assocle ated with the fight for the Scottse boro Negro boys, was one of the most popular revolutionary figures, particularly in New York, Engdah} participated in all the big strations in New York, of the unemployed and against tere ror, Many a time he went to city » hall to fight for the demands of the unemployed. Ben’ For these activities he was viele ously hated by the bosses and. poe lice of New York who did not ‘hest= tate to attack him at every point, A man of courage, always ready to go to the masses—in the death of Comrade Engdahl the workers. of New York and of the country. have lost a fighter who will, Bs