The Daily Worker Newspaper, August 2, 1933, Page 5

7] How to Recruit Readers Editcr Daily Worker: How best to recruit readers for | the Daily Worker. That has been | a question that has agitated me ever | since the Daily Worker was found- ed. The paper As constituted today has appeal for a limited number, and that of class-conscious workers who get the paper because they réal- ize the necessity of having an organ expressive of the revolutionary ideo- logy of the class struggle, which één clearly and concisely be expressed: by: the press. A paper to be really expressive’ of he revolutionary movement must not only cated to the advance guard of the workers, but must-be able ‘to function as an educator of the! masses, so that it. can be made easier for the revolutionary move- | ment to gain ‘fresh recruits, new forces, young blood, to stimulate the veterans of the movement: to greater offorts, Response brings encourage- ment. Much has been said ~and: written of the shortcomings of. -the workers press, but very little has been done to better it so that the np class conscious worker can look ward to it. That the matter is dif- ficult I do not doubt, but where there's a will there’s a way. So I wish to give my contribution of-sug- gestions in the hope that even I.can gather enough enthusiasm to urgent- ly wait for the next issue. I am not a Party member, but I have the movement at -heart, so here area few suggestions. © First: Why cannot the John Reed Club or some other group of intel- lectuals be used for the purpose: of educating and stimulating workers»to the writing of short stories from>the everyday struggles of the workers for daily publication? I feel that-<it could be possible to give a reward for every story submitted that is pubs lished. Second: The same group could also endeavor to get together a cartaon of the comics type. It does not necessarily have to be the work. of one individual, although it is” pre= ferable. For instance, one could give the idea, one could supply the words and another draw the pictures, Third: Why not a columnist for commentation on cutstdnding evenits, conibined with some of the old tinte “Jorge” criticism. Fourth: Instead of devoting too much space to scattered minor strug- gles which could be used to better advantege by local or trade papets, why not concentrate on news of broader interests? Fifth: More snappy editorials “in bold type, one column deep by tio wide? Sixth: How about a question and answer column in conjunction with an educational column? There are many of us who do not understand Communism. Education leads to or; ganization. Seventh: More story type news. of the Soviet Union, with photographs when possible. Eighth: Articles on the type of. Ew M. Wicks’ “Labor Racketeers,” and above all, language understandable by the average worker should be the tule and not the exception. Durmg this period of acute depression inthe eapitalistic countries and socialist successes in the Soviet Union, there is no reason why the Daily Worker should not have a daily circulation throughout the country second “to none. Make the paper wanted and you will not have to worry abot circulation. drives. And lastly: There also should “be” a rank and file standing organiza- tion, a Press Brigade, including nori= Party members. I would be inter" ested in such a group. As to the financial end, I recofti- mend a par capita tax on all revoli- tionary organizations to go towafd the proper functioning of Our Prest.’| Here's hoping for a better ana bigger Daily Worker without findh=") cial troubles, so that all efforts cotld be devoted to, bettering the Daily Worker. . G." ae “Division of Readers” Comrades: This is in reply to Comrade Bathe away’s appeal for communications from” the readers of the Daily Worker. Increasing the size of the paper isa step in the right direction. The ‘ifluence of the Daily will increasé.| be by day, due to the larger paper, | m more readers. Now that the Daily.| will be larger, hence it must also be. more attractive than before. That is, a widening of certain fields of topics, such as, sports, editorials and | student news. If we examine the readers of news- papers,,we will find a division. ot the, readers. For instance, some readers only read the sports factor, others school news, and those ins terested in the news of the day, Those. who are very interested in sports are the youth (working class youth), and their only interest is sports! ‘This we know the ruling ei=8s would always want the work- a Class youth to be crazy over atid to forget to struggle for the imme- diate needs, without which couldn't exist. Tt is up to us to show up thfs screen and to destroy it. To achieve this, we must devote some part of the Daily for a sport sec- Letters From Readers onthe 6 Page ‘Daily’ iostly on our effort to secure. “wé|olutionary romance, be a summary or small writings on sports of the day before and of to- day. Of course, our aim should be to get the sports-minded elements to only the workers can have. Also many lovers of sports could be in- fluenced in, joining the-Labor Sports Union to struggle for real amateur- ism: Furthermore, once a sports- lover sees the fake and corruption of bourgeois sports, then he will realize that this “capitalist system” based on corruption and filth’ is the cause deavor to eradicate such a system. | I’m sure this idea carried out will be a step in strengthening the power | of the Daily as well as the move- ment. T have a criticism to make in regard | to the printing of the Daily. Many | times typographical errors are made which result in distorting of news or placing benefits on wrong parties. ‘rection which stated that the wrong | union was given as the leader of that particular strike. is a serious matter and should be remedied. For instance if a worker | for the first time reads the Daily | and on that day there is an error let us say, about under whose lead- ership a strike is going.on. This worker putposely bought the Daily to hear what's being said and be- cause the Daily is the only paper | that willingly has news of the strike. Now the worker, knowing what union is leading the strike, reads in the Daily that some other union is lead- ing it. This immediately confuses the worker, who loses his faith as ‘te what and whose interest the paper is really fighting for. I hope in the future, as I have noticed so far, that steps have al- ready been taken to eradicate typo- graphical errors. Looking forward for a better and powerful Daily Worker and greater organization of the working class, I remain Comradely- yours, A. 8S. | We are overjoyed at the great im- yprovements in the “Daily” and its orthcoming appearance in six and eight pages. We find that more photographs and drawings are nheed- ed in our paper. They appeal to workers more than anything else. This can be seen by the enormous proletarian circulation the bourgeois tabloids have. the Soviet Union, Germany and Bri- tain, These countries hold especial interest for the American masses. Yours for a sixteen-page “Daily.” —F. F. P.S. Enclosed is a dollar for the “Daily” Fund. ‘ “Personality” in Writing Permit me to congratulate you on the wonderful freshness .of spirit you brought to the columns of the Daily Worker by your open letter (Comrade Hathaway's letter which appeared in the July 22 issue) which has trans- formed the paper from an imperson- al machine to a human enterprise. Readers of a paper like to feel that there is “personality” in it, not merely ideology. This “editorial” element (I do not use the word in the sense of what appears on an editorial page, but in the sense of the men and women on the editorial staff) show be carried on in the future to a greater degree. Another. matter I'd like to sug- gest is that the Daily Worker na~ tivize itself more, not only in mat- ters of strikes, campaigns and strug- gles carried on in the U.S.A., but in such material as American history, | geography, folk-lore, rivers, moun- tains, Indians, life in New Mexico. I believe that all of these things could be very well integrated within the class struggle in the U.S.A. and make the class struggle a more hum- anly American one. More specifically let’s take the story of the West, as it is known in the consciousness of millions of ee Americans, or the Mississippi, or | Bunker Hill, or the Rio Grande, or California, or the Hudson, or Shay’s Rares or the Pacific, or railroads, or “King Cotton,” or so many other points of immediate recognition to the. American association of ideas, Poems, or stories, or articles on these matters, of coyrse, the Marx- istéLeninist point of-View, would at- tract thousands of men and women, boys and girls in the hamlets of this country. And then there is the matter of Daily Worker commefit on “Balbo” incidents. Painting him in the melo- dramatic movie colors of an arch villain is not the correct approach to the American mind. Why don't ‘}you point out to the readers those factors about Balbo that make him ‘attractive to them—his dashingness, heroism, beard, gesture—and at the same time’the truth behind all these, which, if done effectively, would go a way in undermining the aver- age American reader's worship of ‘such characteristics in men who are leaders for the exploiting class? : In brief, my point is: The Daily Worker needs more of what they are recognizing in the U.S.6.R. — rev- olutionary personality writing, rev- revolutionary ‘sensation, revolutionary hero wor- ship, revolutionary reverence for man and place. The Trachtenberg ar- ticle on Mother Bloor is an example tion which should give details of the |.af bet I mean. previous sport activities and those to come. In other words, there should Comredely, fight for real amateur sports, which | '|.“Overjoyed On Improvement” | Dear Comrade Hathaway: Also, more news and pictures from | | The Steel and Metal Workers Union | ONLY for such athletics, and he will en-'| ‘ Not so long ago, I read about a cor- | This, I say, | | DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, MASS Steel and Mine Workers Need the ‘Daily’ | By JACK ; JOHNSTONE ORE than 15,000 workers in the Pittsburgh district have gone on strike in the past few weeks. Strikes are spreading with great rapidity, | most of them independent of either the A. F. of L. or of our own unions. In most cases the workers have struck against the expressed anti-!| strike policy of the A. F. of L. In instances like the 6,000 to 8,000 miners now on strike, and spreading in the Vesta and Frick mines, in open opposition to the policy of the United Mine Workers of America officials, who tried to keep the miners from striking. The present policy of the U. M. W. A. officials is to keep the strike from spreading, telling the miners not yet on strike that the miners are ystriking for aj good cause, but to wait until the coal code is adopted and everything will come out all right. The ‘workers are casting aside their fear and in the company union, stool-pigeon-infested steel plants are in motion by the tens of thousands. They feel the pinch of rising prices, though many have the illusion that the Industrial Recovery Act guar- antees them the right to organize, Independent unions are springing up alongside of the company unions. The, Amalgamated Association of Tiri, Steel and Iron Workers (known as the A. A.) is strengthening itself. has recruited over 600 employed | steel workers in the Pittsburgh dis- | trict within the past two or three days. They have, without a strike struggle, forced a 25 per cent wage increase in the American Bridge. Fifteen hundred» steel workers in historic Homestead compelled Secre- tary of Labor Perkins to read the Steel and Metal Workers Industrial Union wage code, which they en- dorsed, and demanded that the de- portation policy of the government be stopped, and that Borich, Kam- enovich and Jack Thomas be set free. This expresses the rising, tide of the workers, exe rising food and other prices . and increased evictions bring the) unemployed again militantly into the street fos struggle. Two hundred and fifty workers in-McKees Rocks defied the city and county police: to | evict a ‘worker, and gathered to- gether in a few moments after a mouth to mouth call. One thousand workers stormed the Pittsburgh City Council, o¢eupied the chamber, and told the city fathers that they wanted $100,000 immediately for shoes| and how to develop it into a mass | and that they must have $1.50 relief per head instead of 90 cents. They demanded endorsement of the Work- | ers Unemployment Insurance Bill. ‘We are not yet at the head of these rising movements. We are not | entirely outside of them, but we are lagging far behind. We cannot speak any more of the “moods” of the workers. We are lagging behind their actual struggles. The Open Letter and the tasks set by the Dis- trict at its i gph July 22 and 23 are bringing’ our Party in the right direction. If carried through it will place us at the head of these rising struggles, * E I want to deal with only one of the weakest phases of our work, and that is overcoming the poisonous propaganda of the capi- talist press, the isolation of our own press from these struggles: of the workers, and the necessity of the whole Party membersitp in the Pittsburgh district connecting our ‘press with the conditions and strug- gles, and, what is of equal impor- tance, connecting the workers with our press, with their press. We must work out concrete measures to in- crease the circulation of our press, the language press, the Mine Work- er, the Hunger Fighter, and espe- cially the Daily Worker. We_cannot carry out the line of the Open Letter or the tasks set by the district to be attained in the next six months, unless we recognize the importance of the Daily Worker, in all struggles, y For example, the new local leaders that are coming to the front in the steel mills around the Ambridge ter- ritory, the most advanced, are exact- ly those workers who haye been reading the Daily Worker, This is no accident. It {s very natural. However, there are only 500 or 600 Daily Workers circulated in the Pittsburgh District, and cer- tainly these 600 workers who are reading the Daily are much. better equipped to enter a strike with a struggle line than as if they had not read “ts Daily Worker, These ew circulation figures graphically express how we grossly underestimate the importance of the Daily, Worker as an agitator and . * organizer, ‘ AUGUST 2, 1933 CIRCULATION WILL INSURE A SIX-PAGE DALY WORKER “The new local lead the front in the steel the Daily Worker.” ers that are coming to mills around the Am- bridge territory, the most advanced, are ex- actly those workers who have been reading The Daily Worker can be, izer. The Daily Worker can be made the best agitator and organizer in some guarantees that we must roles. Certainly the Daily Worker | cannot talk the language of the) | more than 15,000 striking miners in the district, or give advice to the In response ‘to Comrade Foster's membership and the non-Party workers to build the Daily Worker of the American working class, a group of workers organized them- selves into a provisional committee with the purpose of building up a broad volunteer movement of Daily Worker Builders. We call upon Party and non-Party workers from factories, workingclass housewives and professionals and in- tellectuals to join us in our efforts and more powerful instrument in the hands of the exploited masses. Now more than ever, the workers and farmers need a newspaper mouthpiece Which truly fights for their interests, enlightens them and |leads them in their struggles. The Daily Worker is the fighting organ of the working class, partici- |pating in their every struggle. It TE The first meeting of the Volunteer Builders will be held Friday, August 4, 7:30 p.m., at the Workers Center, 50 East 13th Street, New York City, on the second floor. Comrades Earl |Browder and Jack Stachel, who have | joined the volunteers, will speak on | | the importance of the Daily Worker paper of the working class. All those who ‘are willing to join the Volun- | vited to come to this meeting. | RENNES is our duty to spread it, guide it) and sustain it. The Daily Worker Volunteer builders will have the following tasks: 1. To improve the Daily Worker through criticism and suggestions. 2. To draw in more workers from the mills, mines, factories and fdrms to report to the Daily Worker news of their daily struggles against the bosses and to advise the paper for further improvemont. 3. To spread the Daily Worker by it, getting it on newsstands, estab- |lishing routes of delivering the paper | to workers’ homes, selling the paper | before shop gates and workers’ halls. 4. To help sustain it by getting regular contributions, placing sus- taining boxes in workers’ homes and securing advertising, the following form of organization: 1, The Volunteer Builders is a non-dues-paying organization. 2. Every volunteer will remain a Worker, and the carrying out of his assigned duties, 3. Every volunteer member will Te- ceive a membership card and a but- ton, which will entitle him to certain membership privileges as . stated below. 4. The Volunteers will establish one main center-in every large city to be followed, as we grow, by sec- pledge befote it can assume these | A Plan for Voliintecr Group to Aid the “Daily” call and in line with the Open, Letter, which calls upon the Party | into a powerful weapon in the hands | to make the Daily Worker a better | teer Builders organization are in-| getting other workers to subscribe to / The Volunteer Builders will have | member of the organization only by | virtue of his activity for the Daily | 1,800 striking glass workers in Wash- made the best agitator and organ- | ington if ‘a Daily Worker committee | with the situation. SSS =a ,This can and must be done. No |Daily Worker was in evidence at the | }steel meeting in Homestead. ; 1 HE. Daily Worker can always talk |{,n general terms about the Indus- | | | tial Recovery Act, but it cannot speak familiarly about how the act operates in a mine, mill or neighbor- | ]}Hood unless we have a network of | | workers’ correspondents who will] | keep the Daily Worker in touch The quota set} | Daily Worker. Page Piva |The “Daily” Merits the Greatest Sacrifices By WILLIAM Z, FOSTER ITH the greatest enthusiasm, I greet the Daily Worker's new step in proposing to publish regularly a six-page edition daily and eight pages on Saturday. Nothing could be more welcome to the revolutionary workers, or to the entire working class, at this period of de- veloping mass strike struggles. This step merits the greatest sacrifices from the elass- conscious workers. The whole pack of labor-faking jackals, from.Green, Hillman, Frey, to the socialist leaders, are straining in their particular fashion, to aid the greatest offensive ever under- taken against the American working class under the indus- trial slavery program of Roosevelt. WORKERS READY FOR STRUGGLE EVER before have the workers been so deeply stirred, or so ready for struggle, especially in the basic industries— steel, auto, coal, rubber. Never before has it been so necessary to expose the crafty program of the reformists of every stripe. The new step of the Daily Worker, coming at precisely | this time, is of historic importance to every worker. I have followed the progress of the Daily Worker from | its very first issue. And I can say with all frankness. that the present step, in the face of the situation in the United | States today, is the most momentous yet undertaken by the YOUR SUPPORT NECESSARY O succeed in this big forward step, the support. of. every class-conscious worker is necessary. It will be wholly inadequate to enlarge the “Daily” to | improve its fighting qualities, to make it more readable to | wider sections of the American working class, if every reader | has not been organized in these sec- | | by the district of 500 new readers in} does not do his part. |tions. A committee has to be or- | the Pittsburgh district, but there are | ganized in these sections which will|mum of 150 of these new readers |be responsible for setting up work- ers’ correspondence,. sending news of the strike conditions, demands and mapping out a plan which will in- crease the circulation of the’ Daily | Worker there among the strikers. | Ss tional centers. - on the following cultural activities: 1 chorus, band. 2. Will organize a baseball and a soccer team as well as participate in| other sports. 8. A reading room to be opened in the Center, and circulating library. 4. Also entertainments, outings, | lectures, discussions and other events. | and Daily Worker unteer members at a reduced rate. 6, There will be no charge to vol-/ |unteer members for participating in the above cultural activities, and they | will pay only 50 per cent to all Daily | Worker affairs. 7. A course in workers’ correspon- dence will be organized for volunteer members free of charge. | The Volunteer Builders will devel- | op Shock Brigades. 8 | will produce the best results in the }above tasks and activities will be- come a Shock Brigader, and_ will receive, a special valuable button and } honorary. certificate. 2. The shock brigaders will receive | special privileges: (a)The shock brigader will receive first Cioice as delegate to the Soviet | | Unic (by, Will b> admii to all Daiiy Wo affairs. sl Will be entitled to a free three ecco in the Workers School. ©) Wi" receive a reduced rate in | the workers’ camps. 3, There should be an exchange of | press correspondence between shock brigaders of the United States and | shock brigaders of the Soviet Union. The Volunteer Builders will carry on their work on the basis of So- cialist competition. 1. Socialist competition between — | Various secuons of the city for the! | best results, with prizes to, winning | sections. | 2. Socialist competition between in- dividual volunteers shock-brigade groups. 3. Socialist competition between cities. free of charge and Party \ | better contact is established between the workers in the field and the Daily Worker “Center and that all correspondence received from the | field be answered either in the Daily or by the Volunteer Center, Having réad the above state- ment and agreeing with the need of building the Daily Worker into & mass workers’ paper, I volun- | ‘teer as a member of this organi-_ | | | zation, Mail or bring this coupon to the district Daily, Worker office, 35 East 12th Street. Send your suggestions in regard to building the above organization to Louis Fisher, care Daily Worker, 35 East 12th Street, New York City. FORM A DALY, “THE rang Work CLUB And Dougie POWER oF THe Paper, US 1:10, “ aie The Volunteer Builders will carry | Will organize a Daily Worker | brass 5. Tours to the U. 8. 8, R. for vol- | Every Volunteer Builder who| and between | t The Volunteer Center will see that Tone corner pasted on the face of the next six months, with a mini- to'be subscribers, is a modest quota. Pittsburgh is setting up a commit- teevf fifteen, under the leadership | | of, the district’ bureau, to plan a cir-| . | culation drive for the Daily in Pitts- burgh. In every section and unit) | territory similar if smaller commit- tees should be set up. Such a committee functioning in the strike zone now would strengthen these {strikes a hundredfold. The organiz- ling of workers’ correspondence and |district advisory committees of work- jers from the mine and mill who} j will assist the editorial staff in| improving the contents is a neces- sary step that must ‘be taken to/ place our party and the unions andj} the Daily Worker at the head of these developing strike struggles. Unless the Party and trade union leadership realize this, the tasks set will. not be accomplished. E MAY kick about the contents | of the paper, but we must also e responsible for the contents. The | letter of Comrade Hathaway to the readers of the Daily Worker, printed Jilly 22nd, lays down a basis for the | * * fyllest cooperation with the readers to make a better paper. This should be put into effect. To talk about building our Party itito a mass Party without taking | steps to build the Daily Worker | fnto a mass paper, is talking the | Ithfuage of the past, and not the | language of the Open Letter, not tlie ‘language of the district resolu- tion, Once our Party in the Pitts- burgh District, which is a hard- working Party, is shown that the building of the Daily Worker is not a special task of the Daily Worker agent, but the task of the whole Party, they will be able to draw in thousands of non-party workers. who will be willing to share this responsibility. This will | ‘be.a test of real leadership, Party | leadership, Communist leadership in the mass organizations. | | r | Cover All Issues | | A suggestion or two, Comrades. Try.and make the Daily Worker | cover ‘the main issues of the work- ini a Class completely. Many of us cannot afford two pap- ers. The way the Daily often ap- péars, it makes the reading of capi- | talist papers necessary, Don't skip} arcund, but bring out and clarify the: readers not in a stereotyped way but. in a more personal way with | what, is going on. Another suggestion, don't take for granted that all your readers are @l@ss conscious. Our units are try- itig to build up routes among who- Hever they can get to read the Daily. Some workers consent to try the for a week through curiosity. bThese workers do not always under- stand the Daily because they are | not ;prepared. Bring out a little more of Marx and why this system is crushing the working class. “fam enclosing a rider leaflet that I have gotten out for a Unit in Section 8. This leaflet is to have } the Dailies distributed on the routes. Incidentally, the item on the Boston Storé is a fact. I personally passed the store to find out its size. I would like criticism of the leaflet if it is incorrect. F. S. — Chicago, Ul. I know that many appeals for support and for increased efforts to push up the circulation of the Daily Worker, have been made repeatedly. And the readers of the Daily Worker have responded unstintingly. But now the appeal is made in a different situation, when the Party is penetrating, the basic industries, is entering into preparation for leadership of the gigantic strike struggles in the fortresses of the might- fest corporations. ’ ti AN OPENING WEDGE ee is not just a question of eprenitiey the Daily Worker to a wider number of readers, but making it the opening wedge for Communist propaganda, for spreading the program and tactics of the revolutionary trade unions to new tens of thou-~ sands who are ripe for struggle. The Daily Worker is the only paper in the eountry tear- ing the mask from the Roosevelt offensive, an offensive that is draped with the shrewdest, most demagogie curtain ever woven by the capitalist class in this country. The Daily Worker is the only paper correctly exposing the role of the Socialists and the A. F, of L. in the serviee of big capital. ° ® FROM DAY TO ‘DAY ‘O worker can fully understand the present program ot American capitalism without painstakingly following the Daily Worker from day to day. Every move of the Roosevelt regime brings, the workers closer to a new imperialist war and to a war against, the Soviet Union. Only the Daily Worker exposes these-‘war preparations and points to the Bolshevik way of fighting imperialist war by every-day revolutionary actions of the workers. Still more, the exchange of experience in the struggle, the formulation of the correct policies in the struggle, the understanding of the tactics of the revolutionary forces in } answering the Roosevelt offensive and leading the workers in fight against it, can,be earned best by following the. Daily Worker. | FOR MASS BROADCASTING But that is not enough. This information should not be our private treasure. It should not be restricted to the thou- sands of present readers of the Daily Worker. It should be broadcast in tens of thousands of copies to the workers strug- fling in the basie industries, seeking for experience, seeking for an answer to the tactics of the bosses and their reformist | lieutenants, And this becomes the task of the Daily Worker’s readers: The Central Committee of the Communist Party and the Daily Worker Staff are making the greatest sacrifices to take the new step of an enlarged and improved Daily Warker. But to stop there would defeat its purpose. The only guarantee that this will have its effect.in the present bitter class struggle and in the more intensive strug- gle soon to come, is that which the readers of the Daily’ Worker can give in spreading the Daily Worker as they never have before, no matter how great the effort has been in the past. ‘ ON FINANCES mi HE Daily Worker is not increasing its size nor going to greater expense to improve its contents because it*has the money on hand, nor because the finances are at the moment. assured, but only because it believes this step necessary in view of the sharpening struggles, and above all because it, counts on its readers and supporters to redouble their efforts. to raise finances and to spread the Daily Worker sufficiently~ tomake it self-supporting in its new venture, Conditions make imperative the increased size. “But” the - increased expenditures make it equally imperative that every reader of the Daily Worker makes added sacrifices to maintain this increase and, especially to see that the in- creased and improved Daily Worker reaches wider masses, and that these wider masses do their share in supporting ene Daily Worker in every way. bg Daily Worker must become a hundred-fold more Foe erful’ agitator, propagandist and organizer. That is up to all of us readers of the Daily Worker, _ August 14, the first day of the new step, should seé.not - only an enlarged and improved Daily Worker, but one that . grows by leaps and bounds, becomes the mass daily paper of the workers in the basi¢ industries, a powerful weapon in the counter-offensive of the American workers agi inst ie bitter Roosevelt “~*~ *