The Daily Worker Newspaper, February 16, 1933, Page 4

Page Four t.. New York City, N. ¥. Address hed by the Conprodaily Publishing Co., Inc., dally except Sunday, at 50 K. ‘Telephonc ALgonquin 4-2936, Cable “DATWORK.” and mail checks to the Daily Worker, 50 E. 13th St., New York, N. ESCAPE jrom the | GALLOWS| By membe: Siberi Central Coi now impr: Pavyak nd revolutic whom the everyw leader, uttered every wants who w 1 de and vays, No; are to Just zet new THE INSTRUCTIONS HE next day, armed necessary documents “Julia” had brought, I went along with “V's” old mother to the Pay- yak prison to visit her son. I must confe I labored under certain I entere 1 whic with the which i twenty id had been Smoothness, clang of every step I took I could not help t the slightest untow some. ur counter- hind their des! running back in som : 2 others away.- The visitors crowded to the side of the partition t Separated the office from the pris- relatives. mother presented her mit, which also included one re’ tive. y, suspecting nothing immediately went to fetch “V,” and a moment later he was standing in front of us on the opposite side of the partition. In a matter of fact, busin way, he explained why summoned me. “Ten persons sentenced to death are imprisoned in the Pavyak. They are to rema’n there until the sentence is ratified by Gov- ernor-General Skalon; then they will be taken to the Warsaw “ opposite side of the partition.” FELIX -e. And a moment later he wa KOHN for desire to movement e nationalist aims. the head of a fighting that “preferred the palaver rrorism to tion, acts of ypenly expres dL £ the labor zation and can de done,” “The tailors’ circle prepare the uniforms, the tin- ths will mak 2 badges for es with military | n the pseudo- snaall ‘om. 2 to do it ect, it will have on thi the men atenced to death | who defended ainst the ssacks and band Ps on- he pros: handed him - t a death sen- for him. He was dow time, brought to life, in order not to cheat the hang- man’s ne Some of them have been sentenced to death for killing s If the escape is successful, its of will greatly raise the spi he ma: ware of the difficulty hed to this exploit. hen under marti effect it des in case | rou will suc- “Oh, one about it Their excitement ind the whole t pa a word FIRST PLANS day I reported my rsation with ‘‘V” at the | meeting of the Central Committee. My report created no sensation. I spoke to the end without in- | terruption. However, when the gist 2 plot sank in, no one was re in detail It sounded | too fantastic to deserve any sezious | thought | that really ‘V’s’ idea?” en- | i “Yan” rather sedately and edulously. He was one of the most distinguished members of the Central Committee. Among all sroject found present “V's” inexpected and standing in fron of us on the | Citadel for execution. There is still time to save them, and the fact that they are to be taken to the pavilion of the Warsaw Ci- tadel provided an opportunity to effect their escape.” “Vv” was not the man to be ried away by wild schemes. 1 ine him too wi Nevertheless, what he said sounded so fantasti it did not seem worth while if serious thou But “Vv” calm line his plan. “The warden is get signed by Mayer, the Ch lice, notifying him that a, captain of gendarmes will call at the prison at a certain hour, accompanied by @ strong convoy to take the pris- oners away, and instructing him to have the prisoners and the prison van ready by that time. You wili have no difficulty in picking the right men for this venture; there is no dearth of energetic and es pecially of quick-witted m Party.” “There is nothin; plan,” he added calmly, tone of finality brooking no op position, as if guessing my thoughts. “No time is to be lost, however.” Cir continued ‘was so amazed by this proposal that words failed me. He also dropped into silence, but not for long. A keen psychologist, he knew how to stir me into activity and to rouse my determination to carry out this plan, come what may. *ILSUDSKI At that time our Party was torn into dissension—between the Marx- ists and the terrorist adventurers headed by Joseph Pilsudski—now dictator of Poland—who afterwards was expelled, from the Party to~ supporter in “Anna,” who attend that meeting. a member of the Cen- the sole reason ally declined to ation ey time She was the type of who could the m mplicated. work with viction t thing and the to execute mission en- It is not so fantastic a 2 declared placidly ‘Anna’s” opinion was ed by | everybody as the expression of her | consent to take part in this enter- | pris “We can at last try, I insisted, in response to the sceptical smiles of the other members of the Central Committee. It was a busy time, and we could il afford to waste any time, and it looks,” try,” right, said in.” “I propose to entrust this matter to “Boleslav” (which was my Party name at the time) and to “Anna,” and we'll supply them with the necessary funds.” “They shoulda report to us on all their dings from time to time,” added -—————._ another member of the Central Committee. “Anna, who always was mindful of everything, insisted that we be released from all other party work | until and the mission was fulfilled. This was not very much to their liking; hewever they reluctantly agreed, (LO BE CONTINUED, i oe | lished in the Daily Worker, Young STUDENTS IN Y.C. L. SCHOOL IN PROTEST E, the students of the Young Communist League District Training School protest against the failure of Comrades Charles Alex- ander, Gil Green, Clarence Hatha~ way, Simon and Rhymer to appear at lectures at which they were scheduled and promised to con duct, The lectures were to be key lectures in the training given at the school. Considering the im- portance of the Y. C. L. District Training School and the great sac- tifice it costs to run this school we believe that these actions show lack of responsibility on the part of these comrades and a gross un- derestimation on the part of the Party of the significance of the Young Communist League. | Not only did these comrades fail to appear, but they neglected to arrange for a substitute, thereby causing waste of valuable time and an important part of our training was lost. Especially in view of Comrade Stachel’s recent report to | the membership of this District of | the Young Communist League | from the Central Committee of the Communist Party stating that the Party passed a decision to help the Y. C. L. organizationally and ma- terial we demand that these comrades be severely censored and such measures as necessary be taken to insure against a repetition of such irresponsibility. We demand that this be i} pub- Worker and the “Y, C. L. Builder.” Students of the Young Communist League, District Training School. Daily, “They're pretty starved, General, but I guess they can stop a 42 bullet!” orker’ wt Perty USA. ~By Burck SUBSCRIPTION RATES: By Mail everywhere: One year, $6; six months, $3.50; 3 months, $2; 1 month, 76 | excepting Borough of Manhattan and Bro Canada: One year, $9; 6 months, nx, New York City. Foreign and 3 months, $3. |A Tribute on the 50th Anniversary 0; the Death of Karl Marx HE preface to the magazine edited by the Marx-Engels- Lenin Institute contains the fol lowing on the occasion of the ap- proaching 50th anniversary of the | death of Marx “Karl Marx, the genius, who laid the foundation for Communism, died 50 years ago, on March 14th, 1883. Only a half a century sep- arates us from that date. In the course of this half a century revo- lutionary Marxism gathered under its banners tens of millions of pro- letarians. Lenin, who continued the work of Marx, raised his revo- jutionary teachings to a new level. For the first time in history, the Bolsheviks, with Lenin at their helm have won and strengthened the dictatorship of the proletariat, which was scientifically formulated by Ma: Already the foundations of a so- cialist society are laid on the broad expanses of the former caaris empire. The Union of Socialis Soviet Republics is definitely set on the road to socialism. The Bol- sheviks of all countries are waging an heroic struggie for the victory of Communism the world over. They are waging this struggle un- der the leadership of Comrade Stalin, the best disciple of Marx and Lenin. The name of Frederick Engels is inseparably connected with that of Marx. Together they created the revolutionary theory of the strug of the proletariat. Hand im hand they fought impeacably over a period of decades for the cause of the working class against the “learned” servants of the bourgee oisie, against the petty bourgeois “socialists” and against the right and “left” opportunists. The foun- dations of the World Communist Party were Jaid by Marx and Engels, “Ancient legends”, wrote Lenin, “relate of various touching ex= amples of friendship. The Europ= ean proletariat can say that his science was created by two sclr entists and fighters, whose relations surpass the most touching ancient ' legends of human friendship. His (Engels’) love of the living Marz and his veneration of the memory of the deceased were boundless. This stern fighter and austere thinker had a deepi® loving soul.” ‘The death of Marx, therefore, was @ crushing blow to Engels. But he did not bend under the blow. He met it in a manner befitting a revolutionary, a comrade and a friend of the great Marx. After the death of Marx, Engels kept high the banner of International Communism and that banner never dropped from his hand.” From the R By CLARENCE HATHAWAY HAT is the first point that we | must emphasize in connection ! with the preparations for the Party convention? It is that we do not have a nice, quiet period in which | to carry through these prepara- tions. We are not in a position where we can enter into a period of quiet Party discussion and, at the end of a couple of months, quietly arrive at certain decisions. On the contrary! The preparations for the Party convention must be carried | through in a period of sharpest struggles led by the Party itself. If we look at developing events both within the United States and internationally, it is clear that the Party during this period, more so than ever before, must be on its | toes with regard to mass work. The rapid sharpening of the situation in Germany and in the Far East will undoubtedly place heavier tasks on the Party during coming weeks. MATURING STRUGGLES The sharper strike and unem- | ployed struggles are undoubiedly maturing rapidly all over the coun- try. The strikes in Detroit cannot be looked upon as something con- fined merely to Detroit. On the contrary, we can expect such strike struggles in the coal fields, in metal and in all sections of the couniry. ‘Then there are all of the other im- mediate struggles of the workers, | the farmers, the Negroes, etc., for which the Party is responsible. Our whole orientation therefore in the preparations for the Eighth Party Convention must be ap- proached in the light of these ma- turing struggles. So much for that! . . UT there are some other things that comrades must bear in mind. A number of things that probably none of you have consid~ ered as a whole. I speak of the very busy program the Party has out- lined for itself during the course of the next few weeks. Just a couple of examples. We have not only lo- cal unemployed struggles, but na- tional demonstrations of the un- employed on March 4. We have a whole series of cther events. There are the Ruthenberg Memorial meetings, the activities around Wo- men’s Day, the Marx Anniversary celebrations, the Paris Commune celebrations and the Scottsboro Day on the 18th. All of these com- ing in March are factors that must be given attention by the Party. But in addition to these: The Central Committee has decided to give the greatest support to the mass mobilization for the Mooney Conference in Chicago, This is a ational mobilization that involves bringing hundreds of delegates to Chicago from all sections of the country. And almost simultaneously with the Mooney conference prepa-~ rations must go the preparations for the national anti-war confer- ence called for the middle of May somewhere in the Middle West ‘There is also the national mobiliza- tion for May 1 CONVENTION DISCUSSION TO INCREASE MASS ACTIVITIES From this it is clear that there are more mass activities to be car- ried through in the period immedi- ately before us than the Party ever attempted in a similar period be- fore. Yet, in the same period, we must carry through the prepara- tions for our Eighth Party Con- vention. We can succeed with this multi plicity of tasks only if we approacli all of them in quite a different manner than in the past. We will fall down if we approach each as @ separate campaign by itself. We must realize that the only way these varied activities can be de- veloped is by strengthening the basic work of the Party in the fac- | tories, among the unemployed, etc. | We can develop these activities | not by @ formal discussion of the | results of this plenum, but enly by developing @ real discussion against sectarianism, against right opportu- nist and left tendencies, and for the line adopted here at the Pienum. ‘Lhe whole preparation for the Par- ty convention must be carried through in the spirit of a struggle | for the line of the Party, a struggle | Party for mass work, a struggle to overcome the sectarian resistance to the tactic of the united front and to overcome the right oppor- tunist tendencies which in the re- cent period have become more pro- nounced. In this way we can make the convention preparations the means of rallying the whole Party for the carrying through of the ac- tivities outlined briefly above. oS eons ‘HE preparations for the Party convention, therefore, will not be an added “burden” for the Par- | ty, buf an instrument which can be used by the Party to develop greater initiative among the mem- bership. It can become the means of releasing great energies now held in leash by sectarian theories | and practices. So we first stress this: the preparations for the Party convention must be brought to the Party members as a means of rallying all the strength of the Party for its increasing mass ac- tivities, Next, I think, we must note that the preparations for the Party con- vention give us the opportunity of greatly speeding up the change in the inner life of the Party. We have been talking for a long period of time about the unsatisfactory inner life of the units. The convention preparations, and the mobilization of the Party members through the convention discussions for the mass activities of the Party, can, if these preparations are properly carried through, become the medium for improving the life and work of the Party. You must bear this in mind as a central object. The organiza- tion department will send out final and complete instructions on the representation to the convention, INITIATIVE AND GUIDANCE We must remove all of the re- straining influences that make comrades hesitate to express their opinions about one thing or an- other for fear they will be taken to task by leading organs of the Party. We have to encourage every com- rade to come forward with his views and ideas on how to strengthen the work, on how to improve the inner life, etc. It is only by developing such a really Tree discussion, in which every comrade feels that he has a full right to express his every opinion, that we can really develop the ini- tiative of the workers in the Party and get from them the ideas that are necessary for further Party progress. ie bur we here in the Central Commit- tee can sit down and write a very correct resolution as to its main line. But when it comes to the concretization of this general line and its act application, we haye much to learn—yery much— from the workers. Our Party mem- bers can bring us hundreds of e: amples of errors which hamper our work. They can bring us things more pleasing to hear; such as sue- cesses achieved in the work and | how they were achieved. But they will bring us neither successes nor shortcomings if we do not create that atmosphere in the Party which will really encourage them to bring forward their ideas freely. FULL DISCUSSION TO HAMMER OUT PARTY LINE This should not lead comrades to believe that the discussion should be started and left to wander aim- lessly. There must be guidance given to the discussion by the leading comrades in the districts as well as from the center. All of us must really participate, make contributions, etc, so that out of this discussion a clear line may be adopted and hammered home in the Party. After the discussion is over we must not have a loose, anarchistic assortment of opinious. Quite the contrary! During the discussion one line—the line of the whole Party—must be hammered out, THESE two phases must be em- phasized—a full and open dis- cussion, and such guidanee to the discussion as will lead to the crys- tallization of one line, leading to the further bolshevization of our | Party. We must not stifle the dis- ovssion, We must not choke off The Eighth Convention of Communist Party of U.S. eport by Comrade Hathaway at the Sixteenth Plenum of the C. P. U.S. A. some rank and file comrade be- cause he does not formulate ev- ery question correctly. We must study his proposals and experi- ences, help him to understand the lessons of libs experiences, accept his good proposals and cast aside those that are bad, explaining to him why they are bad. If such an approach is developed I know that the discussion will lead to an im- provement in the work of the Party. While we provide for this months discussion in the units be- | fore the election takes place, this does not mean that the discussions | in the units or in the Party | are stopped at the moment | the delegate is elected. The dis- cussion in the unit can continue until the Party convention itself is held. CHANGE IN MANNER OF ELECTIONS Now, comrades, as to the manner of the elections. Here also a decisive change must be made in the man- ner in which elections are carried through. During the factional period in Party history we developed a method that persists long after the factional period has ended. In every section convention, and, for that matter, in the units, the lead- ing organs came to the unit meet- ings with a slate; they came to the section with a slate. They then used all of the pressure of the lead- ing organs to carry through the election of that slate. After the elections had taken place the Party comrades did not feel that they had really elected their choice to the committees and as delegates; they had merely ratified the slate handed down to them from above. The Central Committee em- phasizes that for this convention we want absolutely no slates. We do not want an election dominated by the District Committee or by the By JOSEPH NORTH (Editor. “Labor Defender”) EFORE an adequate fight can be organized against the ter- rorism of the ruling class, the facts of terror must be marshalled and broadcast. The individual worker must learn that the specific act of ruling class terror he has suffered trom, or has witnessed, is not isolated. He must learn that it is police courts, brutal sheriffs, labor- hating judges, etc., though these individuals are certainly not free from blame for the dirty work | they do. This he cannot learn from the capitalist press. For with the swift growth of the boss press, has sprung the institution of censorship, some- times open censorship, but gen- erally sly, insidious misrepresen- tation of facts. ‘The worker must learn for himself that hte capitalist press is not here to enlighten, but to befuddle, to obscure, to apologize for capitalism. A veritable war waged between the boss-forces and strikers in defense of their lives and demands, can be blurred over in a few lines | by the Associated Press, United Press and the various papers which they serve. Or it can be completely misrepresented or ignored. A splurge of official mass murder in the Black Belt, a frequent occur- rence in the lives of the Negro people, is recognized by the New York Times in an inside page story in one edition—and the next day the article completely is wiped off, the facts buried in oblivion. The liberal press, which views police brutality “with alarm” on Monday, may, on Tuesday, “wholeheartedly condemn” the “violence” of the strikers. HE International Labor Defense finds publicity—the presentation | of the fact to the working class the system that breeds the “justice” | he is accustomed to, not individual | | The “Daily Worker” As a Weapon in Labor Defense Section Committees. We want, just as in the discussion, a free election by the comrades from the units to the section conventions and from the section conventions to the District Conventions, without restraint whatsoever from the high committees, JERE again it is necessary to em- phasize the other the other side of the question, namely, that we do not want just a loose, uncon- trolled election. We do not want slates, but we want the discussion | in the Party to be carried through in such a way that the Party mem- bers themselves in the units will select as their delegates only those members who have proven their value to the Party by their estab- lished reliability, by their partic’pa- tion in mass work, ete. So, while we emphasize the need for control to prevent unreliable elements from being elected, this should not be a mechanical control exercised from the top. It must be a control that is aroused among the workers in the units through explaining to them the job of selecting respon- sible and tried delegates and func- tionaries, who can best help in improving the work and strength- ening the line of the Party. The election of the delegates, in the first place, and likewise the election of the unit bureaus, the election of the section organizer, the election of the section commit- tees, etc., must be a free election carried through by the Party com- rades themseives. ELECTIONS ON BASIS OF INNER PARTY DEMOCRACY ‘The comrades of the district committees particularly must bear in mind, that they never can carry through their policies in a section middie class—absolutely essential in defense struggle. Exposure is wssential to develop militant op- position. The I. L. D.’s publication, the “Labor Defender,” is as yet only a monthly organ, while the struggle proceeds at so swift a pace that the daily developments which arise, must obtain daily reflection in the press in order to carry on successful campaigns in defense of ch war prisoners and capitalist terror everywhere. The only medium the T, L. D. can completely rely on is the Daily Worker. Day in and day out, the official organ of the Communist Party has backed the defense struggles througn daily presenta- tion of the essential facts and by actual mobil'zation of to support the I. L. D. fight. The Daily Worser is the staunch- to save and win freedom for the Scottsboro boys and for the young Negro organizer, Angelo Herndon. It has cooperated in every possible manner in the fight for Mooney and Billings. The struggle for all Class war prisoners is not only reflected in the “Daily,” but is spurred on by the editorial policy. ak CORES of thousands more of workers must be reached by the defense movement. A considerable percentage of these are drawn for- ward by the increased agitational and organizational activities of the IL. D. But this is not sufficient. The press of the Communist Party must give every assistance to this task. And certainly the official organ, the Daily Worker, which has given the I. L. D. this support, must be strengthened and built to lend greater effectiveness to the defense struggles of the working class. The branch and affiliated mem- bership of the I. L. D. should give fullest campaign of the “Daily” and should do all in their power to save it from: being wiped ont. i against | | its readers | support to the financial | i | i | | mass work, on their ability to lead | tees ot est supporter of the I. L. D. fight | and establish the responsibility of the section leadership if that leadership has been forced on the section from the top. Because ey- ery member in the section will im- mediately disassociate himself from this leadership. Just as soon as you attempt to correct this leaders! or develop more drive in the w the members always hurl back the charge: “we did not choose this leadership, you gave this leader- ship to us. It is not our fault if they do not do their work.” We have had these experiences in New York and elsewhere. A district committee can only lead through a section leadership that has the support of the membership. Section organizers and section committees cannot live in a sec- tion only with the support of the top; they must have the support of the membership of the Party. They cannot live there on the basis of the strength of the Central Committee. They have to live on the basis of their own successful the Party I euch an atmosphere is created in the discussion and in the elec- tions, then, I think we can carry through an election on the basis of complete inner-Party democ- racy with the necessary control and selection exercised by the broad masses of the Party mem- bers. The Party comrades them- selves must be taught to advance those comrades who have proved their ‘reliability, their devotion to | the Party, their ability, etc., check- ing up on the background of these comrades and singling out the best comrades for unit and _ section functionaries and as delegates to the convention. This must be em- phasized very strongly in the prep- arations for the convention, SIZE OF COMMITTEES Another word on the election of the committees. There also grew up throughout the Party during the factional struggles, the ten- dency to pix up constantly larger committees. Committee meetings occupied the attention of so many of our comrades that practically the whole Party was engaged in constant inner-Party committee meetings. Comrades did not have time to enter into the mass work of the Party. This time we want to greatly re- duce the size of all of these com- mittees both in the sections and districts. We propose that in the ricts, the secretariat be abol- ished and that real leadership by the district bureaus be established. The responsibility between meet- ings of the bureau, must be placed in the hands of the district organ- izers with the other comrades— Agitprop directors, erg secretaries, ete. co-operating. ‘These. comrades consult each other on the question of policy. The district committees are to be reduced in size from the present 25 or 30 down to commit- a maximum of 17 or 19° comrades. The district bureau should haye a maximum of nine comrades, In the sections the committees are to be reduced to a maximum of 9 or 13 comrades. The bureaus of these bodies should also be stabilized on the basis of a maxi- mum of 5 comrades in the section and 9 comrades in the district so that we have small working bodies that can really carry out their tasks. COMPOSITION OF COMMITTEES, In the selection of comrades for these organs, we have, in the first place, to select comrades from the point of view of their ability to lead the Party. There should not be the mechanical setting up of committees on the theory that you have to have this or that category represented in the committee, etc. For example, we have developed a practice that every comrade in the District Office must be a member of the District Bureau. Very often the office functionaries are the do- tninant force on the district bureau, Comrades must once and for all tealize that it is not necessary that every functionary in the Party of- fice be a member of the district bureau. On the contrary we should draw in those comrades who really have a firm personal contact with the masses, the comrades who are directly engaged in the work among the masses of unemployed, among the masses in the big fac- tovies, in the leadership of the unions, etc., so that the district bureau and district committee be~ comes @ body that is politically capable of leading the work of the district. * 8 As to the drawing in of prole- tarian elements into these com- mittees. In each case an effort should be made to draw in prole- tarian elements from the factories, but we should guard against a mechanical proletarianization such as has been carried out by draw- ing people in merely because they happens to be proletarians, but who were able to contribute nothing to the work. This is not the kind of proletarianization that must be developed. We should draw in ac- tive, aggressive proletarian ele- ments who are in contact with the workers, who, through their work in the committees can be developed, who from the beginning can con- tribute to the development of this work. These are the main points that I want to stress. The question of the character of the discussion in the Party, the character of the election of delegates, the character of the committees that are to be set up and the manner in which these committees are to be elected. With such a policy it will be pos- sible for us to make the prepara- tions for the convention of the Party, the means of greatly im- proving the inner life of the Party. CHARACTER OF DISCUSSION. In this connection it is neces- sary to add another word to the character of the discussion. The discussion carried into the units should not be brought in in a formal manner, by bringing in the resolution of this plenum, by read- ing it to the comrades or by read- ing a whole series of excerpts, etc. We should get away from this formal anvroach to the discussiohs in the units, as mentioned by Com- rade Browder, by developing in the . units primarily a discussion that centers around the living experi- ences and problems of the units, sections, ete. In connection with the discussion of the living prob. lems of the workers by the com- yades who are themselves in con- tact with the workers, the section Jeadership must bring forward the resolution adopted by this plenum, the resolution of the district com- miittee, etc., in order to establish the main line in relation to the actual experiences of life. In. this. way all comrades will actually un- derstand what the discussion is all about, Ww" have to bear in mind that a big portion of our Party mem- bership has been in the Party only a very short period of time. ‘The first Party discussion that they will hear will take place now. They know little about the method of Party functioning. We must utilize these discussions also to raise the understanding of these new Party members as to the method of the functioning of the Party, the neaning of the discussion, and the convention as the closing point in the discussion for the whole com- ing period. Above all, this must be a period for the bringing \for- ward of hundreds of new forcee who have proven themselves in the mass work of the recent period. If such a methed is used, the discussion will be the means of hammering out the line of the Party and rallying all the forces of the Party for work, Tn conclusion I want to em; size that in all of this discussion and pre-convention activity, the main line must be the, developing of the initiative of the Party mem- bers and the rallying of the Party members for more effeetive’ mass’ workin the factories, among the uncmpioyed, in the struggle against war, in the fight for the immediate. needs of the masses. hae \|