The Daily Worker Newspaper, February 27, 1933, Page 4

The Fiftieth Annie Karl Marx’s Im connection with the com- memoration of ihe 50th anniver sary of the death of Karl Marx which occurs on March 14, we publish materia! prep: Central Agiiprop De Party on the teachi We ask questions r made in the they desire 1 wil turther —Editorial Nc (Continued from article issue. in ‘Thurs deve lopm produced. KARL phers, they do noi c eipate a particular with, but all hur Gike them they MARX bring ir the kingdom of reasoi mal justice, but this they see it, aS trom earth, French philosoy Glaliem, Utopian and Scient Meanwhile the class which developed in th of the nineteenth ce the workers and t! demonstrated cc y t ciety is divided two ania mistic camps and that the worki class, in order emar Self from bourgeoisie efforts; tha tion, but a gle musi be workers Against the cap: ciety. The ceived their f tant political the Chartist mov workers of France mus’ le the their acquired political education in the uprising the during the ‘3 of 1848, in the workers in June, 1848. sequent coup revo Ss of id the sui | etat of Napoleon 3d To wage a successful struggle leading to the overthrow of capi- talism, the workin needed the equipment of theory —not the type of sm sented by the Utoy cialist theory base laws. This import Was made by on. scientifi contributior id Engels. AVING terialis: osophic method of tablished the basi Standing of the ment of humar terialistic interpre Marx and Engel: nist Mani: human s Series of throughout since the di: inve | the | th | the buildir develop fu tion into vument onsolidating proletarian revolu City, N. ¥ hecks to sblishing the Daily Co., Telephone ALgonquin 4. Worker, 50 E. Inc., daily except Sunday, at 50 ¥. . Cable “DALWORK 13th Bt, New York, N. X. ae ersary of Death anarchy only the seizu can come force 1 the FREDRICH ENGELS or ach. sfending and the n, Which is to own founda- unism where the 1 unit will have Comi ul proletarian 1917, of So- e out in historic of Marx and e further devel- oo a from ius Readers NEW WAGE CUT AND \KEPT SPEAKING DATES. TERROR IN TAMPA STATES MICHAEL GOLD} Dear omuariés ¢ Da a state- Worker” charges It is “now t which I Manufacturers and the authorities of 'T because we strugg tm these mome fighting 2 nev heen ordered by + and their yellow az that we shall not dic ung ur little Our imprisoned comrades in Rai ford and in the county jail ‘Tampa continue to be treated dangerous criminals; and et were recently arrested an imprisoned comrade Comrades Jim Nine, pez and Feliz Marrero Raiford (state penitent: J.-E. MacDonald and } are in the county jail at Tar Ismael Cruz, Jose Campers, Cabrera and many others been deported. Angel Cabrera i completed his term after having been in the “sweat box” for several ‘weeks on hard tack and water, Al- | though we tried to send him some | fruit and some books the guard: would not deliver it Tt is unnecessary to say that you comrades in the north should give tareful attention to the cases of all the Tampa prisoners since you know well what happens to u when we fall into the claws of mugts Uke dine. thoi, wre eq i the cheek oO he they Com s u ford that religious el hold church ser char answer past three 30 round , etc. I hese This ently least York Albi ick rT and her date 1 missed This was also comrade d to remind GOLD. Florida e the food given bad and so T learned while in Rai- ents would then have hat” with- om that ices ar to the to ex. omirade; Ip which ‘ ft fo Exploitation at the Hotel Commodore STATEMENT ‘TO THE PRESS workers in the modore Hotel in New ¥o K t n no longi ten conditions in silence mt to voice our gr’ through the press, and to organizing the workers inst these miserable conditions. On Jan. 31, 1933, a memorandum was sent to every department head. ‘This memorandum read, “From G. M. Burrell: There will be no over= time paid for extra work. Depart- ment heads must arrange the com- pletion of the net ry work to be done with their present staff. “It is also imperative that the payroll in point of numbers of em- ployees be kept down comparable to the House Count—this to par- group of fore, we ¥ ticularly apply to Saturday and Sund: Therefore, many em- ployees as possible should be put on @ five-day week basis and only paid for actual days they work.” * N the dining room depariments the five-day week is carried out as follows: Every worker gets one 1 day off. The second day off is n in haif di or rather in fractions of s. The worker comes in to work early in the morning, works 8 hours straig! ‘Then he is given a couple of hours off in the evening shift. And with this few hours off (after an 8-hour ing day), he is deducted a half day's wages. In this place, 8 hours is considered a half day’s work! TARE THE WORK” LOITATION For the workers in the dining room and room service depart- ments, the working hours consist of three shifts: breakfast, lunch and dinner. The management tells the employed workers to help the un- employed, that we must “share” to ing’ back prosperity, etc. The workers have to work two shifts in one department, then transferred into another department where they finish the day without being paid for one shift. This is hypocrisy, mockery, and exploitation in the name o: employed. This is the in: that “there will be no overtime paid for extra work. In a recent meeting of the partment heads, Assistant ager Burrell gave the foll lecture: “You have too many me de- Man- old in your departments. There will be no alibi. You have to have entirely different men and atmos- phere in your departments.” CONDEMN OLDER MEN TO STARVATION This means that the older men will be out of their jobs, facing starvation, and the management will employ young men who can speed up on the job. Naturally, more lay offs will take place. We are not against the young men working but we are against con- demning the older men to starva- tion and death “aN es 3 N Jan. 27, 1933, the Old Guard of the city of New York had a supper and ball. The management did not hire extra help, but they transferred those who were about finished working for the day from other departments, and compelled them to work at the supper and ball. These workers stayed on the job for 18% hours out of the 24 that day. They finished at 0 a.m. and were told that they must report to work again at 7:30 a.m the same morning. And the management, together with the department heads, have the audacity to speak about help- ing the unemployed. They are us- ing the unemployed to speed us up on the job. ‘We are supposed to get meals from the house. The meals are not fit for any living being. A few days ago they served us with stewed chicken to be served to the guests, but it was too rotten for the guests. So the management cut it into small pieces mixed with onions and stewed vegetables, and served it*to us. Some of us did not eat it. Others who did, became sick. These are some of the miserable conditions existing in one of the most famous hotels in this city. A Group of Workers of the Commodore. Editor's Note—This group of workers should get in touch with the Hotel and Restaurant Work- ers Section of the Food Workers Industrial Union, at 4 W. 18th St., where they can obtain assist- ance in organizing against these conditions, RICH POSSIBILITIES BUT ONLY MISERY | FRUITLAND PARK uld be one of the most beautiful rt of the land only emphasizes the | bankruptcy of capitalism. | grapefruit, Sunny and warm and fecund Jand. ‘We have immense crops of oranges, tangerine in this, the citrus belt of Florida, yet it is cheap- ~ | er to leave oranges rot on the ground than to ship them up north and west. A grower here shipped fifteen hun- | dred boxes of oranges through the | Citrus Exchange. One week later this 4 grower received a freight bill for thirty dollars. The fruit had brought no price at all. Fruit rotting here on the ground, workers starving in the cities. People here grow sullen and bitter. The forces of finance capital, the closely centralized forces of capi- talism centered within the cities are remote from us. We see only terrif! railroad rates, no markets, gradual impoverishment of the whole coun- | tryside. The illusions of rugged in- dividualism still with the majority | of the population, so instead of fight- ing the bosses’ government for relief, | people eke out a miserable existence Close. to the soil ale Fla. — This of the world. But it is capi- | n here also, and the richness } ) GETTING | By MAX BEDACHT Vi. HE forces which liquidated the German revolution of 1918 are now nearing a condition in which they themselves will be liquidated by a new revolution. In 1918 the forces of revolution were defeated; but they could not be destroyed. It was the histcric mission of cap- italism, the victor of 1918, to re- produce the vanquished revolution, | to be firlally vanauished by it. ‘The conscious element in this re- | vival the revolutionary forces in Germany was the Communist Party. Of course, the objective economic and political conditions did their share in this revival. We have already shown how the Ver- sailles treaty, how the bankruptcy of the German state, and how the consequent growth of the misery and oppression of the German masses reawakened the revolution- ary determination of these masses. The Social Democratic poison of 1918 could not paralyze it forever. Yet all the objective forces evuid only intensify the need of revolu- tion; they alone could not produce it. The actual making of the re- volution depends on conscious, on subjective forces. It depends on the actions, the initiative and the leadership of a revolutionary party. The only revolutionary party of the proletariat is the Communist Party, ABSENCE OF ©.P. IN 1918 AIDED BETRAYERS The betrayal of the German re- volution in 1918 by the social de~ mocrats was facilitated by the ab- sence of a Communist Party in Germany at that time. ‘The re- | volutionary left-wing in the Social | Democratic Party of Germary had to pay the penalty for its tolera~ tion toward revisionism and oppor- tunism. For decades the left submitted to the idea that unity of the So- cial Democratic Party from left to right was @ source of strength for it. It turned out to be a source of weakness. It paralyzed the re- volutionary wing. It bred a com- promising center. This center, with Karl Kausty at its head, was the cohesive force of this unity. But it was also the cause of the in- evitable debacle of Social Demo- cracy as @ revolutionary party. The revolutionary left took the phrases of the center seriously; they trust- ed it; the right wing, on the other hand, correctly interpreted the compromising acis of the center toward it as a guaranty of its po- litical friendship. That is why the center could maintain this unity. When the historic test came in August, 1914, the inevitable hap- pened; the center fell toward the right; the left remained a scat- } tered minority within, and had no organization outside the Social Democratic Party. As a result the German revolution of 1918 found elf without leadership HERE was the Spartakus Bund, of course; there were leaders, e the agitator Karl Liebknecht, ‘¢ the propagandist Rosa Luxem- burg, like the organizer Leo Yogi- | ches, and like the writer Franz Mehring—each of them an extra~ | ordinary force. But there was no | mass organization, | LACKED CENTRALIZED MASS ORGANIZATION The Spartakus Bund was formed under conditions of a military dic- tatorship. Under these conditions the Spartakus Bund remained’ an organization mostly of top leaders. ‘To be sure, each one of them (and there were an appreciable number of Spartacists throughout the country), was active in organizing around himself circles of workers; yet the Bund lacked actual cen- tralized mass organization. Their | leaders, Liebknecht, Luxemburg and Mehring were most of the time oners of the military dic- | tatorship. | Thus when the revolution came, the only possible le: ship for it | had a too weak. organizational con- tact with the masses. iA proletarian revolution as the highest form of masy action; orker’ Paty USA AROUND THE PACT! 2 OANESE WARE RIRUSM Such an all-comprising mass ac- tion can only develop under con- ditions of the most extensive in- itiative by the masses themselves. | Revolutionary life created from below, however, cannct create its own revolutionary science, its own | strategy and tactics. Only a re- | volutionary party can supply those. Even the most productive initiative of the masses cannot produce un- ity of action and of purpose of | the necessarily many units of these moving masses. SOCIAL DEMOCRATS | GAGGED SOVIETS IN 1918 As an instrument of such unity | the workers create for themselves the Soviets, the Workers’ Coun- cils, But in 1918 in Germany these councils were domihated not by a | revolutionary, but by a counter- | revolutionary party, the Soclal De- mocrats. And without sufficient organization the Spartacists could not challenge this leadership. It is evident that no matter how many millions of workers are in revolutionary ferment, the absence of a leading and coordinating force will make these masses the com- paratively helpless victims even of small, but systematically directed forces of counter-revolution. In 1918 the German proletariat had a revolutionary head in the Spartakus Bund, but this head lacked the necessary connection with the body of the working class; it did not have a system of nerves in the form of a Bolshevik party running through this body. ‘The next proletarian revolution in Germany will have a Bolshe- | vik Party to lead it. During the 14 years of counter-revolution the revolutionary workers of Germany have built for themselves what they lacked in 1918, a powerful Communist Party. 0, ee H Yea process of building this party was also the process of consci- ous struggle against dominant counter-revolution. The progress in the building of this revolution ary party can be best demonstra- ted with a few comparative figures. In the Reichstag elections of 1920 the Communist Party polled 585,454 votes, while the Social Democrats got 11,151,211 votes. In the elec- tions of 1924 the Communist Par- ty polled 2,800,000 votes, while the Social Democrats mustered 8,000,~ 000, In the Reichstag election last November the Communist Party polled 6,000,000 and the socialists 7,225,000 votes. The building of the Communist Party was a conscious preparation for the new revolution; the pre- paration of advanced workers through struggle; the preparation in struggle of new revolutionary | forces out of backward workers, FACTIONS WEEDED OUT In the course of these prepar- ations, inner weaknesses manifest ed themselves again and again in the Communist Party of Germany; the right opportunist Brandler- Thalheimer faction had to be weeded out. The left phrase. mongers, the Fisher-Maslow fac- tion had to be liquidated. Inner resistance had to be overcome against the difficult work in the reformist unions. Every one of these inner. struggles drove the party a big step forward; every one resulted in a better Bolshevik Party. This progressive bolshevi- zation was possible because of the international unity of the Com- munist movement; it was carried , through by the leadership of the Army of Unemployed Grows In Germany (By Inprecorr Cable) BERLIN, Feb. 26.—Official figures just issued show 4,047,000 unemployed up to the 15th of this month, repre- senting an increase of 33,000 com- pared with Jan. 31, but 80,000 less than February, 1232. Bub even the bourgeois press admits that the “army of the invisible unemployed” has considerably increased since last year. Consequently the “improve- SUBSCRIPTION RATES: By Mail everywhere: One year, $6; six months, $3.50; $ months, $2; 1 month, 758, -- excepting Borough of Manhattan and Bronx, By Bure’ German Communist Party Leads Revolutionary Fight Communist International. i Today the Communist Party cf Germany has about 400,000 mem- bers. It is rooted in the indus- tries. This is evidenced by the advances the Party can register in this year's factory council elec- tions. In the most important in- dustrial establishments the unity list of the Communists outdistances the Socialist lists. In the second largest chemical factory in Ger- many, Film Wolfen, Bitterfeld, the electiczis Feb. 1 gave the Com- munists 1.800 yotes and the So- cialists 950. In 1930 the Commun- ists got 1,200 votes and the So- cialists 2,000. There are now 4,000 workers in this factory. 3,400 of them voted. In 1930 the Social- ists got 62.5% of the votes and the Communists 37.5%. In 1933 the Socialists got 27%, while the Com- munists polled 52%. In its trade union work the Par- ty has made such progress that in several important national uni- ons only the open dictatorship of the Social Democratic Trade Union bureaucracy can prevent their con- quest by the Communists. UNITED FRONT POLICY AGAINST HITLERISM In the struggle against Hitierism the Communist Party of Germany has followed consistently an effec- tive united front policy. So effec- tive was this policy that Iately some membership meetings of the Social Democratic Party in pro- letarian centers virtually turned into trials of the leadership for treason, by a revolting, throweh as yet only partly conscious, member~ ship. This disaffection of Social Democratic workers became so alarming that the Social Democrat leaders began to welcome the help they got from their auxiliary for- ces, the renegades from Commun- ism, 6 erie H hue more the Social Democratic Party is disintegrating, the more do the Brandlerites and Trotsky- ites cry about a disintegration of the Communist Party. The more the Communist Party united front with the social democratic work- ers is cutting into the strength of Social Democracy, the more do the Brandlerites and the Trotsky- ites shout for a united front with the social democratic leaders. The more successful the tactics of the Communist Party become, the louder do the Brandlerites and the ‘Trotskyites shout for new tactics. The more open the Social Demo- cratic leaders betray the German proletariat, the more persistent. do the Brandlerites and Trotskyites palayer about that “other prolet- arian party,” the social democrats. The more effective the policies of the Communist Party break down the fences of the enemy, the busier do the Brandlerites and ‘Trotsky- ites become in trying to repair them. But Bolshevik tactics made the Communists the strongest single party in Berlin. Bolshevik tactics caused the inner disintegration of the Social Democratic Party. ‘The speeding up and completion of this process of disintegration, the sharpening of the Bolshevik tactics toward Social Democracy is at this hour the most important preparation for the coming revolu- tion. The pushing of the Social Democratic Party by Hitler into a Position of opposition to the gov- ernment will undoubtedly sharpen the language of the social demo- crats. They will try to regain with phrases that confidence of the workers which they have lost through their actions. But in this they cannot succeed. ‘The time has come when gestures without actions are no longer ac- cepted by the masses as action; they rather become proofs of un- willingness to act. That is why we are permitted to conclude that the disintegration of the Social Demo- cratic Party will not be materially arrested by present events; the de- velopment of # revolutionary situa-, tion ia Germany will proceed as fast in the next future as the de- velopment of the last few months dicated. New York City. Foreign and Canada: One year, $9; 6 months, $5; ? months, $3, THE FARMERS MEET STORY OF MILITANCY OF TOILERS ON THE LAND Me IXTY farm youths have come to the Conference. Husky, deter- mined young fellows, they supply much of the steam that makes the Conference hum. ‘Typical is Otto Frederickson of Arkansas. Otto ar- rives at the Conference late. Hugh Gore and he sold their sixshooters to get to Washington. They rode the freights. In West Virginia they were arrested and tried by a kanga- roo court for illegal train riding. Fine five dollars plus, court costs of three dollars eighty: two cents for each, They had nine dollars between the two of them. Otto made Hugh pay the fine and go on. He would stay and make a test case of it. He had to sleep with tubercular and syphilitic prisoners, some. of whom were beaten until they bled over the floor. He had to crush rock. At night he was locked in a cell block where there was for eighteen prisoners, but wheré they kept forty-two. He found out the sheriff was a rack~- eteer of the worst sort. ‘The sheriff runs his own bakery and soaks the town for feeding a prisoner eighty cents a day. Otto estimated the food didn’t cost more than five cents. This sheriff has built himself a forty thousand dol- lar mansion, one door of which alone costs five hundred. Known far and wide as a strikebreaker, he had once been attacked by a bunch of miners’ wives who had thrown pepper into his eyes. Otto tells the Conference his story to show the farmers it’s a class struggle they are in. He says he’s not the worse for his experience. The con- trary is true. He will write about it to the local and radical ‘press. It will help the movement. OTHER DELEGATES Such are some of the outstand- ing figures, most of them with spe- cial work at the Conference. What about the bulk of the farmers? They show their iron time and again, the iron without which no revolutionary machine can func~ tion. A Negro farmer and preacher from Michigan speaks out and saves the night session in Plaster- ers’ Hall from great confussion. One of the Camp Hill croppers faints in the middle of his talk on the terror. The Michigan farm- er cries, “His name will be mud when he crosses the line if he keeps on talking. He must stop.” The Conference sees its mistake and swiftly corrects it. During the very tense meeting at Pythian Hall, Geschwind of New Jersey denoun- ces the resolution on cancellation of mortgages. Soldier in the Phil- ippines, China, Spanish American War, Wits @ head like a bull thistle, Geschwind tells the Conference that a good friend of his has a mortgage on his farm. To cancel that mortgage would be stealing from his friend, a working man, Christensen agrees with him. Christensen tells how he has sold his radio and given up his radio to pay his debis. “We are honest. That's the way we are brought up.” Nothing that Taylor, Bloor, or Harris says can make Gesch- wind change his mind. It is then that a young farmer, not heard before, rises with a lifted hand. He explains that he is in the same position as Geschwind. “We don’t want to take away what doesn't belong to us.. When. we are starv~ ing what can we do? We look around. We try to find what we can do. We find we can’t pay even the smallest honest debts. It ain’t our fault. It’s because our common enemy is sucking every- thing out of us. The banker, milk By MOE BRAGIN company, and all the rest make it impossible for us to pay our friends what you call just-debts Then let my friend, who is also a working- man, and-your friend join us farm- ers, Let's all fight our enemy to~ gether so thal we can pay honest debis.” Geschwind blinks his tiny eyes. “I withdraw my objections,” he growls. And then at the end of the Conference, another inci- dent. Zaharoff, a Russian farmer, is called up to speak. Zaharo® tells how with a few dollars in his pocket, he tramped through snow and mud for two weeks in South Dakota, organizing for the Confer ence. Zaharoff hasn’t said a word before. He's just sat and listened, As Zaharoff stands on the plate form, he has a hard job explain« ing what he did. He's like a farme er with a handplow that kicks out of the furrow. Another would cut and cover. But Zaharoff pulls back the plow and tries to break again the tough sod. A true represent- ative of the Tarm masses, slow and blunt, in overalls, high cheek bones, his face like a hawk with spread wings, his the best blood that fills the muscle, the heart, and brain of every revolution WE BREAK NEW GROUNE What Zaharoft stumbling says shows how preparations for the Conference led to meetings in the most remote sections of the coun- try. Thirty-six farm organizations elected delegates. Many new ter= ritories were opened. New local farmers’ organizations were created. Many local struggles initiated. Such conservative organizations as the Farmers’ Union, the National Grange, and the National Holiday Association were penetrated. The Conference presents for the first time in the history of the country @ real successful united front of exploited farmers. In Washington the farmers go to school. The reports they make con- vince them that the problem they all have to tackle is fundamentaliy the same. It can be stated as “How can we hold on to our farms and earn a decent living?” As in a simple geometry problem, this statement comes first. The next step the drawing up of demands. ‘The demands are handed Congress. Perhaps our Government will help with the solution The demonstra- tion cames swiftly that the Gov- ernment intends doing nothing. The farmers, however, still have certain illusions left. Some like “Nebraska” Green belicve Free Silver will help. Others are not clear about the Frazier Bill, the Domestic Allotment Bill, and other measures advocated by Roosevelt and his friends. The Conference's next move, consequently, is. a thorough exposure of these meas- ures as designed to benefit bankers, insurance companies, rich farmers. Green gets up and announces he hae erred. Now the farmers see they can place no faith in the lead~ ership of the old farm organiza- tions, the government, and even those “progressive measures”, The solution of their big problem lies only in themselves, In Plasterer’s Hall they see a movie how in one country, Russia, the farmers have taken matters into their own hands and how much better they are far~ ing since their revolution. Can they fight alone? Like the Rus- sian farmers, they begin to realize that they are an important part of the working masses, and that only the combined thrusts of the full force of the working masses will shatter their yokes and make them masters of their own homes and fields. (To Be Continued.) Intellectuals Also Aid Comrades: Hollywood, California, How did you ever get the impression that the “intellectuals” and pro- fessionals of capitalist society are better off than other workers? We in: tellectuals deal in commodities that are easily dispensed with in times of economic crisis. Nevertheless, I’m enclosing a check for $2—more than I can afford—for your sustaining fund. Cordially, CONRAD SELLER. From “Friends and Sympathizers in, Chi Dear Comrade: Chicago” Enclosed find mcaaey order of six dollars ($6.00 tor the Daily Worker, which has been contributed by friends and sympathizers who eat at’ the German-American Restaurant at Lincoln and Center Sts., Chicago. Sent by the undersigned. Comradely yours, GEORGE BINDER. 75-Year Old Worker Sends 25 Cents Comrades: T send you 26 cents. February. I would have sent it earlier, but had ho time. know that the “Worker” is in danger. Newark, N. J. x I will be 75 years old on the 21st of Comradely yours, HENRY KRONER, Yugo-Slav Workers Club of Tacoma Aids Dear Comrades:— ‘Tacoma, Wash Enclosed you will find a money order for two dollers foom the Yuoo Slav Workers’ Club of ‘Tacoma, as a contribution to the Delly Worker fund.’ Comradely yours, JOWN TADEIRICH, ‘Treasurer. Seinaton Women Raise $11 at Concert Deat Comrades:— Scranton, Pa ‘The Women’s Culture Club of Scranton held a concert for the Daily Worker and the $11 we raised we are sending to you—from which $4.68 pays for the special issue, the rest as a donation. Sincerely yours, (Mrs.) R. J Six Language Societies Contribute $37.50 Dear Comrades: — E. St. Louis, Me Enclosed find a check for $30 as donation from Innguage societies, Armenian, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Spanish, Mexican and Bulgarian. Also another check for $7.15 from coliection on Tag ees tor Daily Worker campaign. —~