The Daily Worker Newspaper, January 30, 1933, Page 4

rage Four Fablished by the Comprodaily Publishing Ov., Inc Sth St., New York City, N. ¥. Telephone Algonquin 4-7956 i} Ad@ress and mail cherks to the Daily Worker, 50 B. 15th St daily except & Cable “DAIWORE.” New York, N.Y. CRIPTION One ¥ $6; six months, $3.50; S month: et Baubaliah Ghd Stour, Naw York One year, 39; 6 months, 35 The “Daily Worker ” Class Battles WO events recorded in today’s Daily Worker challenges the attention of our entire party: They are first, the defeat by the strikers and unem- ployed of the employer-inspired attack upon the Communist leaders of the Detroit auto workers strike, made by the bureaucrats of the Detroit Federation of Labor and Socialist Party leaders. The Communist leadership of the Auto Workers Union heads the mass struggle of the Detroit workers. $2. 1 month, Ths y. Foreige and 5 months, By mai! everyw excepting Cenada: Second, the Daily Worker today carries confirmation of the plans of the U. S. Steel Corporation to put over the third wage cut since 1931 under the plea of poverty. he steel industry in which the Com- Workers Industrial Union of the z part—as in the auto Mass struggles are munist Party and the S ‘Trade Union Unity Le: industry. oming in American workers are moving forward against the capitalist offen- sive. It is of the most vital in there no delay in estab- lishing the united front in the steel industry—in establishing on the very Dbreadest basis the fighting unity of employed and unemployed, of white and Negro. of native and foreign born, of the masses of unorganized workers, of members of the SMIWU, of members of the Amalgamated Association affiliated to the American Federation of Labor. be ‘The struggle of auto workers cannot fail to be a great inspira- tion to the steel work In this struggle thi see, in a close related industry, where the workers were almost entirely unorganized as they are*in steel, in an industry owned by the bi; ‘The Communist Party and the revolutionary est capitalist ns in action. A. F as is steel, Already the treachery of the leaders of the has, shown itself of L. organizations This same attempt to split the ranks of the workers for the benefit of the’ big employers and banks that has been made in Detroit will be made in the steel industry the moment the struggle develops further against wage cuts, starvation, unemployment relief and the hunger pro- gram of the steel magnates—as it will ‘The campaign of exposure, especially of the Muste wing of the A.A., of the A. F. of L. leadership and the Socialist Party, must at once be made ® major issue NOW in the steel industry. The extremely valuable ex- periences already gained in this respect in the Detroit strike must be given wide circulation among all sections of steel workers. ‘The closest relations should be set up and maintained between the Auto Workers Union and the Steel and Metal Workers Industrial Union since the resistance to the third wage cut (which quite possibly may be carried out .n a piecemeal basis at first and give great impetus to local struggle) may very well spread with great rapidity and involve directly tens and even hundreds of thousands of workers in both the steel and auto industries. ‘The Daily Worker must be made a main weapon in the struggle of the steel workers. It must be spread throughout the steel towns. The Daily Worker is the most important instrument of the Communist Party in guiding and unifying mass struggles -like those in the auto industry, in exposing the enemies of the working cla: and in stimulating and leading class battles like those that are developing in the steel industry. Strengthen the central organ of the Communist Party in these class battles. The Communist Way Out of | just what that grievance is and the Crisi SUS HE capitalist crisis in the United States is reaching new depths. Every day brings some new confirmation of this which confounds the various saviors and their schemes for pulling capitalism out of the crisis by its bootstraps. $ In spite of the hopes aroused by the Reconstruction Finance Cor- poration the week ending Jan. 28 recorded 46 bank failures. In the month of January there were 187 bank failures with total deposits of $123,000,000. This huge total sum shows that marly of the banks failing were no picayune propositions of countryside capitalists but big institutions. The R.F.C. policy from the very first, and one of the main reasons for its création, was to save the big banks and other financial institutions—to carry out further the process of shaking down the smaller capitalists. It is evident now, by the above figures, that the competition for sal- vation at the hands of the R.F.C. is very keen even among large bank- ing institutions. The scandal aroused by the R.F.C. loan of $90,000,000 to the Chicago bank of General Dawes a few days after he resigned from the R.F.C., and the scandal that is brewing over the recent loan of $80,~ 900,000 to the Bank of America in San Francisco, are evidences of the nature of the competitive struggle to be saved—a struggle which the deepening crisis sharpens swiftly. More and more do the failures and mergers concentrate finance capital in fewer and fewer hands and make more apparent to the masses who the real rulers are But the most significant fact in connection with the series of bank failures is that both in number of and in the amounts stolen by the failures from the depositors, January, 1933, was the worst month since January, 1932. In other words, after one whole year of experiment with the whole series of capitalist remedies for bank failures and the crisis itself, not only has the decline not been halted but if goes on at a faster pace. Thousands of workers, professional people, farmers, small business men and other middle class groups have lost their savings or have been ruined in the month of January alone. No matter what method the capitalist leaders try as a cure for the ¢risis the result is that the main burden is placed upon the masses of the population. The continued and progressive impoverishment of the toiling section of the population further restricts the available market and makes more difficult the restoration of “normal conditions.” Capitalism is declining. Every day adds huge numbers of recruits to the gigantic army of working people who are losing or have already lost all faith and hope in capitalism. More and more the rising mass struggles of employed and unem- ployed take on an anti-capitalist character. More and more do the struggles of the ruined farmers assume an anti-capitalist. character. It is in these struggles, with the Communist Party already in the torefront in many of them, that the revolutionary way out of the crisis is being carved. As this struggle grows the question of the overthrow of | capitalism and its government and the establishment of a Workers and Farmers Government will become something more than a mere slogan. Today, with the steady deepening ‘of the crisis, as marked by the Janu- ary bank failures as one example only, the revolutionary way out of the morass of capitalism, the Communist way, comes to have a direct con- nection with the lives of masses of American workers, white and Negro, with masses of American toiling farmers, Negro and white. Support the revolutionary program of the Communist Party—support its program of mass organization and struggle against the onslaughts of capitalism and its government upon the toiling masses! Join the revo-~ lutionary political party of the working class—the Communist Party! ‘Saved from the Chain Gang,” Jesse Srawford’s Own Story, on Wednesday ESSE CRAWFORD'S own story of how the International Labor De- fense defeated the move to extradite him from Lansing, Mich., to d@inish out a term on the Georgia chain gang will be published on this page in Wednesday's issue of the Daily Worker. In simple. language. this 19-year-old Negro hoy. tells the story of his life—the story of thousands of young Negro workers, and many young white workers, The narrative contains vivid descriptions of trame-ups and escapes—once from. a moving train while shackled—as well as a stirring account of conditions on the chain gang, Tt is to such hellish chain gangs as described by Crawford that Angelo Herndon, 19-year-old Negro organizer of the unemployed, has been sentenced to serve elghteen to twenty years « and the | DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, MONDAY, JANUARY 30, 1933 ‘EveryFactory Our Fortress’ Establish Intimate, Per- manent Contacts With the Workers. “The successful accomplishment of this task (winning the major- ity of the working class) requires that every Communist Party shall establish, extend and strengthen permanent and intimate contacts with the majority of the work- ers, wherever workers may be found.”—From the 12th Plenum Resolution, E. C. C. I. UP CONTACTS IN SHOP NOTHER case which concerns probably 3,500 workers. For years the workers in this depart- ment never worked on a punch time card system. Now the time card system is being established. It is possible to carry through an action in connection with this, through some organization to give leadership to this grieyance that exists in that department, and this could be developed to the point where, on a certain day, the work- ers would refuse to punch the time cards. You rer. -mber in the “Strike of the Dredging Fleet,” published in the “Daily,”. where workers started to work at 6 o'clock in the morn- ing and the comrade was able to develop such an agitation that they did not come to work until 7 o'clock in the morning. But this requires organization to a certain extent. But these small actions are of vital importance. Why? First, because they increase the morale of the workers. Second, they develop a unity among the work- ers. Third, it gives them a fight- ing spirit for organization, a feel- ing that they can actually win something. These small actions, if they are carried forward and won, will be able to win for us many future struggles. a yee ‘AKE, for instance, another ac- tion: A five-minute protest against certain conditions that ex- ist inside the mill. How to develop them? Through personal con- tact, individual agitation, small group meetings or social gatherings. Through the chess clubs, radio clubs, or’ checker game groups, or some kind of social gatherings, is- Sues can be raised and such ac- | tions developed. The workers are ready. The only thing they are looking for is someone to lead them. There is another thing about de- veloping a personal agitation. This is highly personal and specific. We can utilize such a method inside the mill when one comrade imme- diately seizes on a certain grievance. For instance, the time cards, or the mistreatment of 2 worker. Write out 10 copies on onion-skin paper, hhave on the bottom, “Please pass it on to the next fellow worker.” This would go around the depart- ment, in this manner developing an ideological unity on a certain grievance, a desire for action. In this way a number of workers can be involved tho the results might not be accomplished imme- diately. es 6 [UST a few more words on our section work. In the last couple of months, at least, it has been characterized by more serious and determined and more organized and concentrated effort to make a change. But far from enough. We have a plan of work on the ques- tion of financial support, on the question of assignments, the dis- tribution of forces, on the question of unemployment, on the develop- ment of inside actions, the develop- ment of contacts, the question of | the paper, keeping discipline inside | the units. The Section’ Commit- | tee has already reviewed this plan | of work. It has been discussed in- side the unit. However, to a great extent this plan has not been car- ried out because I was in jail for @ certain time. However, the plan of working is going to be brought up again, checked up, revised after the unit discussion and in this way we will be able to make a change. On the question of the Daily Worker: We are already beginning to make some movenient in this respect. Our shop nucleus is tak- ing steps to distribute the “Daily” inside the mill. Two! specific days were picked out whereby our mill workers will send correspondence to the Daily Worker and the distribu- tion will be made inside and out- side the mill. ° I THINK that in dealing with these seemingly small questions and experiences, my own opinion and the opinion of the comrades who helped me to prepare this re- port, is that we are really placing the work of this most important conference on the proper basis, on the basis that this will enable us to really set our teeth in several | central problems and arrive at | practical, | partment of id | \ i tangible results which will result in a definite and no- ticeable improvement—and that is what we are here for! eer) (In tomorrow's issue of the “Daily” we will publish the speech of the section organizer which deals with some of the weaknesses in the above report, as well as editorial comment on both speeches—Edi- torial note.) Phila. Workers Meet in Pappalas Defense PHILADELPHIA, Pa., Jan. 29.— Diamontis Pappalas, Greek worker framed and sent to jail by the De- Labor which is now holding him for-deportation, is being defended by the Greek Branch of the International Labor Defense. This branch will give an entertainment on Sunday, Jan. 29,.8 p. m. at.1036 Lo- cust Street, proceeds of which will be used to help the I. L. D., to fight the deportation of Pappalas, Sr | DEVELOPING, FOLLOWING) SAVE HUANG PING! i é eS JEROC CITY > fe ss VEHOL PROVINCE The Lessons of the Briggs Auto Strike-How It Was Organized By JOHN SCHMIES HE Briggs Auto Strike in the Vernor Highway plant and the victory of these workers in defeat- ing the 20 per cent wage-cut is of tremendous political significance. The strike in which 500 skilled workers were involved demonstrat- ed. the growing radicalization of not only the unskilled and semi- skilled, but also the skilled workers. The strike takes place in a period of rising militancy and determination for struggle in the auto industry. The skilled workers had suffered from considerable petty bourgeois illusions as a result of their former privileged position in the auto in- dustry and the previous influence of the American Federation of La- . The crisis has greatly under- ed the privileged status of these workers and during the organiza- tion and course of the strike itself, the skilled workers lost many of their illusions. Their experiences resulted in tremendous progress on the part of the skilled workers in their attitude to the semi-skilled and. unskilled.’ The experiences in this strike has taught us that the principles of industrial unionism as well as the unity of skilled and unskilled and the unity of employ- ed and unemployed is being appre- ciated much more than many of us realized. NEED FOR ORGANIZATION IN THE SHOP The Briggs strike has again de- moanstrated to the District leader- ship as well as to the lower sec- tions of the Party in our District the correctness of the Party line expressed in the 14th Plenum re- solution of the Party on the need of building elementary shop organ- izations. Such organizations deve- loped as a result of personal con- tacts, in calling together small groups of workers and in this way establishing committees of action. It has shown us that in the very course of building these groups and committees, the strike began to de- velop. In other words, the very fact that we began to develop a few groups and committees made it possible to convince the workers that a strike can be successful. se Phe 'HE Briggs strike further had tremendous significance in the struggle against the wage-cuts in other plants. The news flashed all over the city despite the fact that the capitalist newspapers conscious- ly ignored the strike. The City Edi- tor of the “Detroit News” stated to the representatives of the Strike Committee who asked that publi- city be given, “if we would print the news of this strike, it would agitate every single auto worker in the city of Detroit.” This and the fact that not a single line appeared in any capitalist newspapers shows, that the bosses and their press had an organized policy in this strike and demonstrates the tre- mendous value of the Daily Worker and the Michigan Worker in ac- quainting the workers with news of decisive importance which the capitalist press refuses to print. The general work, agitational, propaganda and organizational, during the period of the three days’ strike evoked tremendous support and created a desire for struggle on. the part of a large section of De- troit employed and unemployed workers, For example, on the sec- ond day of the strike, over 400 workers in the Murray Body plant came out during the noon-hour ex- pecting to hear the message of the being conducted. STRIKE ENDS IN VICTORY. The strike ended not only in de- feating the 20 per cent wage-cut in the Vernor Highway Plant, but also in forcing the same company to withdraw this wage-cut in the other three Detroit plants. Pur- thermore, the strike defeated a 10 per cent wage-cut which was an- nounced at the Hudson Motor Co., as a result of the influ-— ence of the Briggs strike and the — fear of similar action in the Hud- son Plant, the company was forced to withdraw the wagecut. HE workers throughout the city know that the strike was organ- ized by the Auto Workers Union, was properly conducted and cor- rectly ended by the Union. This ‘was a tremendous step forward in stopping the wave of wage-cuts in the auto industry. ‘The victory in the strike con- vinced large sections of auto work- ers that the Auto Workers Union understands their problems, is ca- pable of drawing them on strike, and is able to choose the decisive moment for settling this strike and winning a victory in an important auto shop—the first viciory won by auto workers since the crisis in the auto industry began. The conference called by the Union and the work following the conference by the Union and shop groups together with branches of the Unemployed Councils have as their central task the stopping of the wage-cutting drive and the building up of the struggle-for re- lief and unemployment insurance. UNITY OF EMPLOYED AND UNEMPLOYED. * The strike also demonstrates the importance of daily activity in the blocks and neighborhoods to build Unemployed Councils, and showed how this activity of the Unemploy- ed Council becomes a means of giving the workers additional con- fidence in their ability to win strikes. When the proposal was made tiy¢ the Unemployed Council be inyiied to elect a representative to the Strike Committee, it was en- thusiastically greeted by the strik- ers, inasmuch as practically all of them had either heard in one form or another, or seen, the Unemploy- ed Councils in their neighborhood in action. The result of the activ- ities of the Unemloyed Council was that a group of workers who were being hired by the City Employ- ment Bureau for the Briggs Plant refused to work and joined. the Strike. This also raised a new cen- ter of activity for the Unemployed Councils, and that is during pe- Letters from Our Readers LEAVENW’RTH PRISONER PRAISES DAILY WORKER Leavenworth, Kansas. Editor of Daily Worker, Dear Comrade: workers paper nor any foreign language psper, by order of our Warden, Fred Zerbst, but please | do not let» this hinder or prevent you from mailing the Daily Work- | ers to us, even if our official would notify you to discontinue the mail- ing; my subscription expires some time in April and when that runs out I will resubscribe through my relative and I will get it in spite of the ban; even if it will be torn to pieces I'll put it together and pass it-around until only shreds re- main. Every inmate who has seen it is crazy about the Daily Worker, so send all that you were mailing to prison svbscribers. go Comradely, (Signature omitted for obvious » weasons.) BIOGRAPHY OF NYGARD, COMMUNIST MAYOR, IN THE “NEW PIONEER” Esrectany written for the workers’ boys and girls of Amer- Mayor in the United States, tells the story of his early life, in the first chapter of the serial story appearing in the New Pioneer magazine, The story is written simply, and in a lively maner. The New Pio- the only haope that the aj ¥ ul I | i} i} riods of strike struggles to imme- diately acquaint the workers in the flop houses (from which the city | Officials attempted to recruit work- ers as strike breakers) with the fact that a strike is going on and calling on these unemployed work- ers to support the strike. This es- tablishes the unity between em- ployed and unemployed in the struggle. | HOW WAS THE STRIKE | | ORGANIZED? About two months ago, the Dis- trict leadership of the Party be- | gan to realize that not only were Since Dec. 25, 1932, we prisoners | are not permitted’ to receive any | we lagging behind in our key task | Which was ctressed in the 14th Ple- num resolution, but that we really have not yet seriously considered the task of shop work. As a result & discussion was initiated and car- tied through in the Party. Leading comrades were assigned to work | around particular shops. Sections and units were assgned to concen- tration points. The main concen- tration was centered on the Ford plant and the Briggs Mack Ave. Plant. We began to conduct agita- tion and propaganda work from the outside, while at the same time the District leading |comrades were assigned to establish personal con- nections with comrades and work- ers inside of the shop. As a result of this approach, which was not only emphasized in speech- es but actually carried out in prac- tice, we succeeded in establishing connections and in organizing groups in the Briggs Vernor High- way Plant. Prior to this beginning, @ walk-out took place among the semi-skilled and unskilled workers in a department in the Briggs Mack Avenue Plant. No movement developed out of this walk-out. The reasons were plain: no organiza- tion and no connection with the workers. This fact was an example of what happened when workers were not organized and was uti- lized to explain still further and to convince the comrades that the building of elementary groups and committees in the shop are of fun- damental revolutionary importance in developing a movement against, the already existing low wages and the cuming wage-cut, as well as the speed-up and other outstanding grievances. 'HE leadership in our most im- portant concentration points (Ford and Briggs) was strengthen- ed. We organized a new section in the territory where Briggs and a number of other auto plants were located in the east side of Detroit. The setting up of this Section Com- mittee was of great importance in the building up of this strike. Lead- ing comrades were assigned to the fraction of the Auto Workers Union, and the issues of the “Mi- chigan Worker” and continuous practical guidance on the part of the Party leadership, the definite orientation that the Party must must build the Auto Workers Union made it possible to organize this strike and lead it to success. Dur- ing the strike, the Party District leadership was in the midst of the strike and took part in every little detail connected with the strike. This orientation on the part of the leadership: was carried out con- selously.- This approach and the results gained trom carrying it into pract- ice completely demonstrated the correctness of the line of the Cen- tral Committee as expressed in the 14th Plenum resolution of the Par- ty, and the correctness of the reso- lution of the 12th Plenum of the Executive Committee of the Com- munist International. The Anti-War meetings which were held during these days were connected up with the preparations of this movement, as well as for the struggle for relief and Unem- ployment Insurance. i To sum up: we can state that the strike developed as a result of a definite change in the line and life of the Party District with a definite perspective of building the Auto Workers Conference on the basis of elected delegates of employed and unemployed auto workers in order to resist the general offensive of the auto bosses who are direct- ing the attack in the shops and through their control of the city it through an attack against the unemployed. * (To be Concluded. Tomorrow). 4 ““—=<"|NEXT STEPS IN THE HERNDON FIGHT By ANDREW OVERGAARD HE lily-white jury of the Fulton Superior Court in Atlanta, stir- red to vicious fury by the sadist appeal to prejudices of the southern. e markets, has sen~ tenced a young Negro worker, An- gelo Herndon, to serve 18 to 20 yea on the chain gang, which means nothing else but a living death, The crime for which he was sentenced is organizing the Negro and white workers to fight for bread for themselves and their families in the city of Atlanta. The prosecution, in pleading that Herndon be executed, stated “That the theory of Communism was on trial as well as Herndon.” (As- sociated Press dispatch, Atlanta, Jan. 18). A sixty-year old statute from the Civil War period is being used by the Southern slave-owners and their representatives to stifle the voice of the working class and op- pressed Negro people at the time of growing revolt against misery and starvation. Not only the sen- tence of Herndon but the coming trial of Ann Burlak, Secretary of the Textile Workers’ Union, Her- bert Newton, Negro leader of Chi- cago, and others, must be the signal of the most intense mass | resistance on the part of the en- tire American working class to save these workers from the vicious chain gang, which has been so well portray in the exposures . in Spivak’s “Georgia Nigger.” HE slogan of the Communist Party for self determination for the Negroes in the Black Belt (where they are in the majority) nomely, their right to gov mental authority over this entire ruled territory, instead of being | by a vicious dictatorship of white | landlords, bosses and gunmen, representing only a small percent- age of the population, figured largely in the trial.. This vicious sentence, which follows~ in the wake of the share-cropper blood- bath in Alabama, shows that try ruling class in the South, support~ ed by the Republican and Democ- ratic parties, and objectively aided by the leaders of the Socialist Party, are again demanding: their | pound of flesh on the altar of capitalism, and that the growing unity of the white and Negro toll- ing masses in the south as well’as in the north has thrown fear into the hearts of the ruling class. First, the burning of Sacco.and Vanzetti in the electric chair under the Republican Governor Fuller; secondly, the vicious death senten- ces of the Scottsboro Boys by Southern “Democratic justice;” thirdly, the continuous incarcera- tion of Tom Mooney behind prison bars by Democrats and Republicans aided by the labor misleaders; fourth, the killing of Negro share- croppers in Alabama for the right to live — and now this last sen- tence of a fighting leader of the working class must serve to mobil- ize the masses of workers in the factories in the revolutionary trade unions as well as the rank and file members of the A. F. of L, and Socialist Party into a mighty protest wave and mass demons- trations to smash the whole system. | of chain gangs in the South, and | establish the right of working- class organizations to exist also. in Atlanta and the state of Georgia, Every mass organization must im- mediately come to the assistance of the International Labor Defense in organizing this movement. Every organization should immediately adopt protest resolutions and bombard the Governor in the state of Georgia as well as the Hoover administration and Gov Roosevelt, the representative of the party responsible for the lynchin | and enslaving of the Negro in the South, | Only the working class, by its | mighty mass protest, will be able | to save the victims of this latest capitalist class justice. A Revolutionary Play--For a a While--By Elmer Rice “We, the People” Unmasks Capitalism and Then Ends With Liberal Whine By A. B. MAGIL 'T is not certain whether Ehner Rice started to write a revolu- tionary play in “We, the Pseple,” and then lost his nerve, or whether he is simply expressing the con- fusion of himself and a host of other intellectuals who are groping unsteadily leftward. Perhaps it’s a combination of the two, But one thing is certain: “We, the People,” now playing at the Empire Theatre, | New York, starts out as biting so- cial satire and an acute study of the radicalizing effects of the crisis | on a 100 per cent American worker, and ends as tedious liberal ser- monizing, pepped up with a sensa- | tional crime motif, all of it not only—to put it mildly—non-reyo- lutionary, but artistically false to the whole inner logie of the play. But for more than halt of the evening—what «a play! For the first time in history Broadway has seen the capitalist class undressed and revealed in all its naked ruth- lessness, its lust for profits and contempt for human life. Here they are in the flesh: demanding wage-cuts to protect dividends, talking war and defending im- perialist aggression (the plunder of Haiti), “consulting” with one of their chief agents in Congress and picking their puppet for President. Even the conflicts within the cap- italist class itself over questions of tactics are shown, one section urging an aggressive, open war pol- icy, the other trying to drown out the roar of the. war machine with peace talk. And all this is done not in the form of abstract social treatise or symbolic generalization, but through living characters knit together by a fine sense of dra- matic structure. You can _ solve your own crossword puzzle: if Drew and Applegate are a composite of Henry Ford, or the auto industry in general, then Senator Gregg is perhaps the double for Senator Couzens of Michigan, or is it the U.S, &enate as a whole? And that oily demagogue, Elbert Purdy, Pres- ident of State University, whom the auto kings pick to run as Presi- derit—a cross between Woodrow Wilson and Nicholas Murray But- Jer isn't such a bad guess. At any rate, in Purdy, Rice has created an unforgettable portrait, rich in so- cial satire. And whatever the par- ticular disguise, here you have American political life, 1932-33, stripped of all camouflage. ear vee IDE by side with this expose of the capitalists and their political flunkeys, Rice develops a sensitive study of a backward worker, a labor aristocrat, and his family. He shows the development of William Davis from foreman of the Apple- gate plant, a cocksure 100 per- center, with a car, a radio and a home (heavily mortgaged) of his own, to one of the millions of un- employed, leader of the demon- stration at the factory gate. And here are interwoven a number of moving secondary themes: ‘the story of William Davis’ daughter, Helen, and her sweetheart, Albert Collins (bookkeeper in Drew's plant), who can’t afford to get married and so are forced to start @ secret liaison; the tragic story of the Collins family, centering around Donald Collins, who has been shell- shocked and crippled psychologic- ally in the war; and the story of Allen Davis, William's son, who is forced to leaye college, and then gets sent to jail for stealing coal to keep the house warm. In the coiirse of these tales within tales the author introduces a number of additional political issues: the per- secution of Negroes and the for- eign-born, the expulsion of teach- ers from schools for radical activi. | ties, and the murder frame-up in | Ja struggles. Necessarily the play develops to- ward the theme of mass struggle, and here the trouble starts. As long as Rice deals with individu- als, he treads on firm ground; as soon as he tries to show masses in action, he stumbles and skids. More, he falsifies history. ‘The shooting up of the demonstration at the Applegate plant is based on the Ford Massacre. But Rice has castrated this great working-class struggle: he has stripped it of its organizing force, the Unemployed Councils and the Communist Party, and, instead, we have a group of workers who have managed to per- suade their ex-foreman, Davis, to serve as their spokesman and plead in christian humility with the boss who has thrown them out on the streets. The whole scene is not only politically utopian and reac- tionary, but has about as much life as a collection of semaphores, From this point on the play. be- gins to sag and goes from bad to worse, Allen Davis and his sweet- heart, Mary Klobutsko, who in the first part seem to have the making’ of sturdy ‘young revolutionists, be-° come. vague, sentimental anarchist ~ rebels; Hirschbein, the professor— who gets fired out of the univer- sity, is a similar type, with than a suspicion of the n¢ 3 the Rev. Thomas Williamson, who - in the early scenes is @ genial, but ineffectual old gent, is - at the end into a veritable “tril of the people”; and the murder. frame-up itself is divested of. all class content and becomes ly. a “dirty deal” to an innocent; dividual. : 4 One’ hesitates to attribute. such | distortions of the fundamental tm plications of the whole first as | of the play solely to the aut confusion or ignorance. . | Ce Re Toa eso ND it all ends with a “protest: | meeting,” against, a bacl Xs | of a-huge American flag, in a not the workers speak for | framed comrade, but his relatives. | and friends, with the pastor- pre- siding over all. Out of which all emerge: oe 1, A plea against persecution:of the foreign-born because those who came over on the Mayflower werd also immigrant foreigners. EROS 2. A plea for the life of a framed young worker because he is the’ sweetheart of one person, » the brother of another, the . former pupil of a third and the friend of several other worthy characters...» 3. A plea for “fair play”, for the’ workingman because the fs tion of Independence says all are born free and equal, Ee oy 4, A plea (implicit) barge 4 revolutionary way out of the because if enough “decent people”’ ties, but little understanding of the complexity of social forces that | drive hist onward—the “history of individuals, as well as of and classes—“We, the a long way, a way