The Daily Worker Newspaper, March 18, 1933, Page 4

ublished by the Comprodaily Publishing Co. New York wiy Page }: 13th st City Address and mail BUILD THE HI PARIS COMMUN By F. BROWN and P. ¥ apes ea E ; armed force ie a : t anc ment of rents, society. I ned the great hea banner of the Com- of the world of all F in saving the So concluded Karl Marx more 0 years ago ir ne! Dublic officials, nis memorable a exalting the pmendot the same wages of the Commune e » second, the put the bourgeoisie to e of the test” and ked 1e State, the abolition tional reacher 2 payment for religious government ued and all church It is alread: that the F ed national property. revolutio r Or fifth of April, when the celebrates e I 1e Versailles Government precursors of the the Communards that had he basis of the the decree was is- yreat strug’ f taking of hostages (a] New comm Was not exeduted). On etarian. Communard m: the 137th Battalion nal Guard brought the » the public square and amid the ac- On the 12th to pull down evolutionary pro- c cted of cannon conquered Sa symbol-of chau- April 16 the Column pulled down amid the Parisian toilers Abolish Night Work for Bakers That same day dered the compilat; the Commune or- n. of statistics of closed by their ' plans for the 1 of these industries to be united in the ive of produc- April saw the work for the bakers. it was decided to pawnshops, which were the Commune as private yminates fo lhe world tk complete emanct owners ransform: int cpoper union of the Kyents Historic The mons us, Dureaucrati tnilitary organization with i plicated State machine, tt chauvinism of Napoleon aiming at the left bord Rhine, was in ed in Sedan defined by Napoleon’s army was beaten, part] offices of exploitation of the workers. made prisoner, another part ished Thus after the eighth of March the at Metz, Bismarck the charact r of this revolutionary movement manifested itself The Commune was the di- of the Empire. “The of the Paris pro- leading towar was | of nonarchistia chauvinis Junker, ordered the Prussian to march on Paris. At this mo: arly but ¢) stituted Prepare for Attack of Reece : In the Cot ® we find the first 2 ent of a workers’ gover aay orkers’ government, not all the decrees and de- this new government were The Commune was only g. The major atten- to defense against the Vv the mean toilers took National Guard, Frightened by The national frightened, not time had obtained oners from the in. preparation kk upon the es of Paris ion for the murderous of the proletariat which had ourage to take power, basis of the return of the he enem. between the proletariat in On the thi Started to deal w Seon the st ernment and tt came to a clash d_ the On the of October the workers’ batta prisoners from the German camps, tatked the City Hall and made some| the Versailles government little by of the government members pris gained dominance over the broke of proletarian Paris. off negotiations toward of the Archbishop of id other hostages of the Com- the old revolutionist leader, o had twice been elected Commune, but was kept a r by the counter-reyolution. Through the tallions of petty rested succeeded che Thiers, one of ures in hist tice with the sians were g wall of the even the ar Counter-revolution Breaks in » continuous and bitter bat- ed by he enormous artil- the mans did no triumph. The with the oc fortresses aro dare ss of Van Ves, com- east to the wall and ak it because f Proletariat In Arnis € daslded * Bealdes So Paris remaine unded f 1e Germans allowed the troops 131 days, The P: rema T » pass through from the orth and we: In hard struggles the fighters of the Commune were forced to retreat |from Bell le and Menil Montant. stationary at their pla’ not dari to go one step forward, so much ‘was evoked in them by the proletar in’ arms, ready to fight in a diffe way than the regular armies The battle continued in the suburbs. Napoleon. It became fiercer and fi r. The Thiers understood tha Communards, weakened by depriva- ariat in danger 2¢ classes 4 tion losse and > defer ne continued s inch by hborhood to the t to street, from while under the con- attack agaiast the s tional Guard aiming tillery, which had ing the siege on subscription. But anid Paris, indign imYnsurrection, ready to def the N Id the rricade barri to barricad massacred letting rather than es be Bene 1 de Occu ig the 3eiky Fb Pcie ee ax barat ndreds and thousands, the work 50 jt can le W ie of Patis fell under the bullets of een ety conag pourgeo!s |! the mitrailles (forerunners of the govel moc machine gun) The bour- quarters to Ve Regular Army On the twenty-sixth of M: deputies of the Commune were| tr elected. The National Guard trans- ferred its power into the hands of the| The mass deportation decree by the mew government. On the twenty-| war courts, the Wall of the Feder- ith the Commune was proclaimed,| ated in the Cemetery of “Pere La- to the acclaim of t population. | chaise,” where the last massacre en With this date the history of the > took place, is a witness to the alities of which the ruling class | 48 capable when the proletariat raises jie head and tries to emancipate it- self from the capitalist yoke. Abolished only would not forgive and wanted destruction of the class that ad the courage to free itself the yoke of the rulers. The slaughter continued for days. the rch the} had t Commune starts, the history of a new based itsel form of government that on the exploited masse: letariat in arms. On March 30th the Marx on the Paris Commune “When the Parls Commune took the management of the revolu- fion in its own hands; when plain working men for the first time dared to infringe upon the Governmenia privilege of their ‘natural superiors.’ and, under circumstances of une pled culty performed their work medestly, conscientiously ne 1 vert ed it at salaries the highest of which bare mounted to fifth of what cording to high scientific authority the minimum required for a secretary to a certain metropolitan school board of rage at the sight of the Red Flag. tie Labor, floating over the Hoiel de vie the old world writhed in convulsions the Republic of nam Macs in oe aie Civil War in France,” j il the decision class rule] ailles Government, | and chil-| retiring | Telephone Algonquin 4-7958, hecks te the Daily Worker, 50 E, 13th 81 | | | | ine., daily except Sunday, at 50 5 Cable “DATWORK.” New York, N. ¥ MASS UNITED FRONT TOFR .BLSORIPTION BATES: ( my Mail everywhere: One * t F, $6; slz months, $3.50; 8 months, $2; 1 momen, WM, excepting Borough of Manhattan and Bronx, New York City. One year, $9; 6 EE THAELMANN, ALL NAZIS VICTIMS Foreign and MILITANT TOILERS IN TORTURE BARRACKS 1,500 Communists, Tortured Almost to Death in One Barrack; Thaelmann, Térgler Remain in Danger of Shooting American Workers Should Organize Mass Protest Drive; Flood German Embassy With Wires Demanding Stop to Terror (Euro; MOSCOW, March 17 (By The text of the letter was cabled to “Prayda” by its London correspondent, follows: Nazi Torture Barracks Fascist storm troops and other Hitler followers are ar- resting Communists in. their homes and on the streets. They take them to the National Socialist barracks, with the object of subject- ing them to tortures, as Vr, re- to me. They are torturing Com- ee in these barracks, flogging them and breaking their fingers with the object of getting names and ad- dresses of other Communist workers. About 1,500 Communists, tortured almost to death, are lying in the Na- tional Socialist’ barracks in Hede- man Street. One Communist was taken from his home at 11 a. m. last Sunday and brought to the bar- HERITAGE OF THE PARIS COMMUNE Lessons Drawn by Lenin from Momentous Eyent that brought Power for First Time in By VY. I. LENIN. HY do the proletariat, not only in France but throughout the entire world, honor the workers of the Paris Commune as their fore- runners? What was the heritage of the Commune? This was an event unprecedented in history. Up to that time power had customarily been _—in | the hands of the landlords and capitalists, i. e,, in the hands of their trusted agents who made up the so-called government. After | the revolution of March 18, when ‘| the Thiers Government fled fr Paris with its troops, its police and its officials, the people remained | masters of the situation and power passed into the hands of the pro- letariat. But in modern sceiety, enslaved economically by capital, the pro- letariat cannot dominate politically unless it breaks the chains which fetter it to capital. This is why the movement of the Commune inevit- ably had to take on a Socialist coloring, i. e., to begin striving for the overthrow of the power of the bourgeoisie, the power of capital, to destroy the very foundations of | the present social order. | ANY ELEMENTS MOVEMENT At first this movement was ex~ tremely indefinite and confused. It was joined by patriots who hoped that the Commune would renew the war with the Germans and bring it to a successful conclusion. It was supported by the small shopkeepers who were threatened with ruin unless there was a postponement of payments on debts and rent (the Government did not want to give them such a postponement but the Commune gave it). Finally, it had, at first, the sympathy of the bour- geois republicans, who feared that the reactionary National Assembly (the “backwoodsmen,” landlords) would restore the mon- ignorant | archy. But the chief role in this move~- ment was of course played by the workers (especially the artisans of Paris), among whom Socialist prop~ aganda had been energetically car- ried on during the last years of the Second Empire and many of whom even belonged to the First Inter- national. ONLY THE WORKERS REMAINED LOYAL Only the workers remained loyal to the Commune to the end. The bourgeois republicans and the petty- bourgeoisle soon broke away from it, the former afraid of the revolu- tionary Socialist proletarian char- acter of the movement, and the others dropping out when they saw that it was doomed to inevitable defeat. Only the French proletariat supported their Government fear- lessly and untiringly, they alone fought and died for it, for the cause of the emancipation of the working class, for a better future for all toilers, Deserted by their allies of yester- day and supported by no one, the Commune was doomed to inevitable defeat. The entire bourgeoisie of France, all the landlords, the stock- brokers, the factory owners, all the great and small robbers, all the ex ploiters, combined against it, This bourgeois coalition, sup- ported by Bismarck (who released @ hundred thousand French soldiers who had been taken prisoner, to put down revolutionary Paris), suc- ceeded in rousing the backward peasants and the petty bourgeoisie of the provinces against the pro- letariat of Paris, and in surrounding half of Paris with a ring of steel (the other half was held by the German army). In some of the France (Marseilles, Lyons, St. Eti- enne, Dijon, ete.) the workers also attempted to seize power, to pro- claim the Commune, and come to the help of Paris, but these attempts soon failed. Paris, which had first valved the flag of proletarian revolt, History into Hands of Proletariat was left to its own urces and doomed to certain destruction. NO WORKERS’ PARTY For the victory of the volution, two conditions are social re- odui ness of the proletariat. But in 1871 neither of these conditions was present. French capitalism w till only slightly developed, and France was at that time mainly a country or petty-bourgeoisie (artisans, pea- sants, shopkeepers, etc.). On the other hand party. The w in the mass w untrained, did ing class, which, red and But the thing which \the Commune lacked was the time to think out and undertake the ful- filment of its programme. It hardly had time to start working, when the Versailles government, supported by the entire bourgeoisie, opened military operations against Paris. The Commune had to think t of all of defense. Right up to the very end, May 21-28, it had no time to think seriously of anything else, REPLACED STANDING ARMY BY THE ARMED PEOPLE In spite of such unfavorable con- ditions, in spite of the brevity of its existence, the Commune found time to carry out Some measures which sufficiently characterize its real significance and aims. The Commune replaced the standing army, that blind weapon in the hands of the ruling classes, by the armed people. Tt proclaimed the separation of church from State, abolished the State support of religious bodies (i. e., State salaries. for priests), gave popular education a purely secular character, and in this way struck a severe blow at the gen- darmes in priestly robes. In the purely social sphere, the Commune could do very little, but this little nevertheless clearly shows its character as a popular, workers’ Government. Night work in bakeries was forbidden, the sys- tem of fines, this system of legalized robbery of the workers, was abol- ished. Finally, the famous decree was issued according to which all factories, works and workshops which had been abandoned or stopped by their owners, were to be handed over to associations of workers in order to resume pro- duction. And, as if to emphasize its char- acter as a truly democratic pro- letarian Government, the Commune decreed that the salaries of all ranks in the administration and the gov- ernment. should not exceed the pormal wages of a worker, and in no case should exceed 6,000 francs per year. A DEADLY MENACE TO THE EXPLOITERS All these measures showed with sufficient clearness that the Com- mune was a deadly menace to the old world, founded on slavery and exploitation. Therefore bourgeois society could not sleep peacefully so long as the Red Flag of the pro- letariat waved over the Paris City Hall. When at last the organized force of the Government had managed to defeat the poorly organized forces of the revolution, the Bonapartist generals who had been beaten by the Germans and who were brave only when fighting their defeated countrymen, these French Rennen- kampfs and Meller-Sakomelskys, organized such a slaughter as Paris had never known. About 30,000 Parisians were killed by the ferocious soldiery, about 45,000 were arrested and many of these were afterwards executed, thousands were imprisoned or exil- ed. In all, Paris lost about 100,000 of its sons, in@luding the best workers of all trades. The bourgeoisie were satisfied. “Now we have finished with So- cialism for a long time,” said their leader, the bloodthirsty dwarf, Thiers, after the blood-bath which he and his generals had arranged for the proletariat of Paris. A NEW GENERATION PICKS UP THE FLAG But these bourgeois crows cawed in vain. Six years after the sup- pression of theeCommune, when many of its fighters were still pin- ing in prison or in exile, a new workers’ movement rose in France. A new Socialist generation, en- riched by the experience of their predecessors and no whit discour- aged by their defeat, picked up the flag which had dropped from the hands of the fighters of the Commune and bore it boldly and | confidently forward, with cries of: | “Long live the social revolution! | Long live the Commune!” And a few years after that, the new workers’ party and the agita- tion raised -by it throughout the eountry, compelled the ruling class- es to release the imprisoned Com- munards, who were still in the hands of the government. FOUGHT FOR FREEDOM. OF TOTLERS The memory of the fighters of the Commune is not only honored by the workers of France but by the proletariat of the whole world, for the Commune did not fight for any local or narrow national aim, but for the freedom of toiling human- ity, of all the downtrodden and oppressed. As the foremost fighter for the social revolution, the Commune has won sympathy wherever there is a proletariat struggling and suffering. ‘The picture of its life and death, the sight of a workers’ government which seized the capital of the world and kept it in his hands for “over two months, the spectacle of the heroic struggle of the prole- tariat and its sufferings after de- feat—all this has raised the spirit of millions of workers, aroused their hopes and attracted their sym- pathies to the side of socialism. ‘The thunder of the cannon in Paris awakened the most backward strate of the proletariat from deep slum- ber, and everywhere gave impetus to the growth of revolutionary So- cialist propaganda. ‘This is why the cause of the Commune did not die. It lives to the present day in every one of us, ‘The cause of the Commune Is the cause of the social revolution, the cause of the complete political and economic emancipation of the toilers. It is the cause of the pro- letariat of the whole world. And im this sense it {s immortal. =(Rabochaya Gaseta, Ne -A-5; Apel 28 (16), L912), By N. BUCHWALD ypean Correspondent of the Daily Worker) Radiogram).— Wholesale arrests and hideous torture of Com- munist workers in Germany are reported in a letter from Berlin published conspicuously by the Manchester Guardian, which mentions that the author of the letter is fully reliable. racks in Hedeman Street. There he found many others arrested in other sections of the city, They were all undressed and had been forced to Tun a gauntlet of Nazi clubs and bay- onets until they fell. This Commun- ist worker is now in the hospital in terrible agony as a result of torture inflicted by the fascists. The fascist storm troops broke into the home of a certain Dr. Asher and subjected him and his wife to viola- tions. Asher died as a result of his injuries. His wife is very ill. Almost all Communist workers in Spandau, near Berlin, have been ar- rested and taken to the barracks to be tortured. One woman Commun- ist stated that she had been taken out of bed and brought to the bar- racks, where she was flogged and then thrown unconscious into a c lar. When she regained conscious ness she noticed she was not alone but surrounded by others who were in a dying condition. Some of the workers were permit~ ted to leave after the torture. Others have disappeared and will never see the light of day again. The condition of the jailed lead- ers of the Communist Party, Ernst Thaelmann and Torgler, head of the Communist Reichsiag fraction has not yet been disclosed. The other day word seeped through the censorship that they are in danger of being shot by the Nazis at any moment. Wire your protest to the German Embassy, Wash., D. C,, at onde? Details of the wave of white terror sweeping ovy Germany are begin- ning to filter through the iron-clad Nazi censorship and appear in the European press. The “Prager Tageblatt” tells of four Berlin women whose husbands were seized by Hitler storm troopers but were not received in any prison or hospital. They have disappeared without a trace. Prominent Professor Dismissed. One of the most prominent profes- sors of law in Germany, Prof. Julius Gumbel, has been dismissed from the faculty of the University of Heidel- berg for his pacifist views and be- cause of his race. Hundreds of prominent intellectu- als have been arrested, with their fate as yes unknown. Among them are Karl von Ossietzky, editor of the “Weltbuehne,” Lehmann-Russbueldt, author of “War for Profits” and chairman of the German section of the League for the Rights of Man, the noted poet Erich Muehsam, Hans von Zwehl, writer, and Dr. von Wan- ner, head of the Foreign Institute of Stuttgart, who was beaten over the head by Nazi troopers. Warn of Pogroms. A searet Nazi murder group has published the following warning re- produced in the Warsaw “Nasz Prze- glad”: “If a single hair on the heads of the members of the Nationalist Cabt- net is harmed, it will be the signal for a general massacre of all Jews, which will not cease until not a single Jew is left alive.” (Signed) Murder Commission of the European Jew Hunters. Numerous intellectuals, scientists, editors, and writers have left Ger- many to avoid being attacked by Nazi hordes, among them Thomas Mann, Nobel Prize: winner, Heinrich’-Mann, his brother, also a noted writer, Erich Maria Remarque, author of “All Quiet on the Western Front,” Arnold Nazis Introducing Cultural Barbarism in Germany Zweig, author of the “Case of Ser- geant Grischa,” Helmut von Gerlach, noted pacifist, Alfred Kerr, famous dramatic critic of the “Berliner Tage~ blatt, Theodor Wolff, editor of tie “Berliner Tageblatt,” Professor Georg Bernhard, editor of the liberal “Vos- siche Zeitung,’ and Emil Ludwig, noted biographer. Darkest Cultural Barbarism. The Nazis are plunging Germany into the darkest cultural barbarism, reminiscent of the Middle Ages, Bruno Walier, world-famous conduc tor, who has just returned from a season with the New York Philhar- monic Orchestra, has been prevented from conducting the Leipzig Gew- andhaus orchestra and now the Bere lin police have forbidden his concert with the Berlin Philharmonic on the grounds that it might disturb the public peace.” General Paul von Schoenaich, noted pacifist, who was a famous army commander during the World War, has been arrested in Schleswig Holstein. Firing Noted Artists. ‘The new Nazi director of the Ber- lin State Theatre, Dr. Ulbrich, began his activity by firing 17 of the 4% members of the theatre's compat among them some of the most fam- ous actors and actresses in Ger- many, such as Albert Florath, Hans Otto, Wolfgang Heinz, Maria Schan- da, Mathilde Sussin, and Trude Moos. Fritz Busch, noted conductor of the Dresden Opera, has been forced to resign, while Juergen Fehling, famous stage director has been dismissed from the staff of the Berlin Muni- cipal Opera, These are the first fruits of the “cultural renaissance” of Hitler's Third Reich. Blackest reaction in every intellectual and artistic field. ‘The list could be prolonged almost indefinitely but these facts give some idea of what Nazi Fascism means to Germany’s cultural life. Swiss Workers Pull Down Nazis Flag BASLE, March 17.—The workers of Basle, infuriated at the hoisting of a swastika Nazi flag over the Baden railway station, demonstrated in the city, streets... Three hundred police repeatedly charged the demonstra-|| tors, arresting one hundy) and twen- ty, including National Councillor Ar- nold and other Communist leaders. The police then occupied and closed the People’s House, the headquarters of the trade unions. This marks the first mass protest of workers in Western Europe against the spread of fascism throughout Eu- rope and in sympathy with the Ger- man working class, 15 KILLED IN SHIP BLAST COLOMBO, Ceylon, March 17.— Fifteen persons were killed Tuesday when an explosion sank the Norweg- ian steamer, Hinnoy, 300 miles from here. Thirteen survivors, five of them seriously injured, were picked up by the Japanese ship, Naples Maru. Paris Commune Flag Mounted in Moscow; Anniversary Today The red flag that floated over the last barricade of the Paris Commune, in Belleville, still mounts guard over the body of Lenin in the impressive mauso- Moscow. it was brought to Moscow in 1924, during the Fifth Congress of the Communist International, by one of the last survivors of the Com- mune, who presented it to the Russian workers and peasants as worthy custodian of the glorious the Commune. the Commune. AUSTRIA POLICE CHIEF RESIGNS Dollfus Dictatorship in New Difficulties VIENNA; March 17—The Dolifuss dictatorship which is paving the way for fascism is facing increasing diffi- culties in its attempt to carry thru the bourgeois offensive against the working class. Brandl, president of the State Police, resigned yesterday as the result of a disagreement with the Christian Socialist Party and rep- resentatives of the Heimwehr fascist troops in the Cabinet over the mob- ilization of 6,000 armed Henmwebr men in the capital. The troops, which entered the capital from the provinces, were suddenly demobilized last night. Socialist Militia Disbanded The Tyrolese Schutzbund, the So- Cialist’militia, was disbanded yester« day by order of the Tyrol Goyern- ment. Similar steps are expected in other provinces tomorrow. The So-, cialist. leaders continue to sabotage the fight against the bourgeois dic~ tatorship and the fascists while work~ ing class newspapers are being daily suppressed and new attacks caswied out on workers’ organizations, —— ANTI-WAR DEMONSTRATION IN COMMONS LONDON, March 17.~Shouting “Ther no money for the jobless, but plenty for war preparations!” two young men and a girl were today thrown out of the House of Com mons after they had scattered hun- dreds of leaflets protesting against bad appropriation of funds for war, fi “wrx NAT] FIENDS FLOG, BREAK FINGERS OF —