The Daily Worker Newspaper, December 5, 1933, Page 6

Sunday, ty the Prieta WH Street, New York, = ( Able Ad@rens: “Debwoek,” New Yort, KK Baresu: Roc: 084 Mationel Feeep Bailes, , Washington, 5. 6. Sobsortption Rater More Menhstien snd Brony, 3 yeas, $000 Ticats, Pra} months, $2.00; 1 month, % esnte, Monhatter, Foreign and Cansde: 1 youn, GAO) G months, 96.00; § months $3.00. By Carriers Weekly, 18 conte; monthly, canta Bias cece TUBSDAY, DECEMBER 5, 1983 : An Open Naval Race ‘Y, Seerstary of the Navy Swanson made public the annual report of the Navy Department, « report | generally featured in the press as “a new American policy..of vast import.” Soripps-Howard foreign editor, smafmple, interprets this report as follows: “® “Briefly stated this policy is for the United States to stick to iis own front yard as nearly es gossible, reduce its political obligations across the geas to the minimum, cooperate wherever it can to promote world peace, but keep its powder dry.” % The only correct statement in this estimate ts America’s intention to “keep its powder dry.” In other Words, the Roosevelt administration publicly declares tts intention of being prepared for war. The central idea in Swanson’s declaration is this: “The time has come,” he declared, “when we an no longer afford to lead in disarmament by ex- ample. Other powers have not followed our example, with the result that the United States finds its Telative strength seriously impaired.” From this he concludes th one, battleship building program, costing $238,000,000 (mot including some recent additional appropriations from the public works fund), already being carried Simms, for | timate.” | Money, given as gifts and loans to bankers and cor} creased 6.7 per cent, and has increased 195.5 per cenfl tal number of men that is, with money ns” we get the term “estimates” that this put to work on given out to e “Estimated indir Ickes rations, has employed 1,810,093 men, a very liberal And we are not enlightened on how Ickes | arrived at this figure. One fact stands ont in Ickes statement. On November 28 only $438,118,960 remained available for allotment for qualified public works from the original $3,300,000,000 fund, says Ickes. The money which was to end unemployment is almost gone, gone to the corporations, gone for war purposes, and umem-~ ployment has increased, N LAUNCHING the N.R.A., Roosevelt guaranteed that its Public Works provisions would put 6,000,000 men to work and end unemployment. In a radio speech | attempting to justify the N.R.A., Roosevelt, a few weeks ago, said the N.R.A. (including the Public Works scheme) had put 4,000,000 men to work. Now the | Roosevelt administration, through Ickes, claims 3,000,000 men put to work. But Williom Green, president of the A. F. of L., one of the staunchest defenders of the wage cutting | N.R.A., was forced to admit last month that unem- dust at the present thirty- | through by the administration, is “entirely inadequate.” | ‘Be proposes to embark on a building program which | would involve the completion of 101 additional naval vessels before the end of 1986—within two years—to | establish what he terms “a treaty navy second to none.” “We can no longer afford to lead in disarmament by example,” says Swanson, and therefore, a building program immediately involving the construction of 133 battleships. = What is of “vast import” here? Only this: the United States Government openly shelves peece and disarmament talk as = cover for its struggle fer mili. tary. and naval orpremacy, ’ ‘ . e ee sion that the United States Government, until now, fas furthered “disarmament by example.” In reality at both the Geneva and London naval conferences the American delegates tried to strengthen America’s naval ‘position by disarming its imperialist rivals, in the first Place Great Britain and Japan. But the United States Bt no time has been willing to give up « single battle- “Ship unless its rivals gave up two. As a result, after every one of these “disarmament” conferences the “United States, as well as ths other powers, has en- ‘tered on a new building program. = .Now, Swanson acknowledges the inability of Amer- tan bargainers to make such two-to-one trades to their advantage at such conferences and publicly de- ‘elates the administration’s intention to enter openly “Wht a fierce naval race with Great Britain, Japan, ‘France and Itely, a race in which every capitalist mation will become involved. "What is the really significant point in the Navy Department repori—a naval race, openly declared. The | Wnited States enters this race with 133 battleships as Mis immediate program, = number that will be in- @eased as Japan and Great Britain make known their sounter-plans, )JAPAN has already given its reply. On Monday the Japanese Government announced appropriations for Rew naval vessels to cost $244,000,000. ‘Clearly, the naval race, more frenzied than ever before, is on! =. Does this mean, as William Simms says, that the UWhited States intends to “stick to its own front yard,” “fediuce its political obligations across the seas,” etc,, “= Decidedly noti This means the drawing closer @ WAR! It means precisely that the United States § NOT intend to “stick to its own front yard.” -Swanson’s navy building program is brought for- ward: of the sharper international antagon- Yams Between the imperialist powers. With the deep- ening crisis, the need of the imperialists for a re- _ Giyision of the world, for markets, for fields for capital tment, for contro! of raw material sources, grows "acute. These are accompanied by sharper po- Mantagonisms between themselves, between. the alist nations and the colonies, between the im- world and the Soviet Union —the Socialist That is why peace and disarmament chatter is d to the background, and they enter into a new one of OPEN preparations for war. * * * Places greater responsibilities on the workers’ ovement, on the Communist Party, on the revo- trade unions, on the anti-war bodies (par- m, recently formed in New York). ‘Of the Roosevelt administration, given out by mson, can be the means of arousing the masses, necessary to bring this program—133 battleships ‘cost of more than « billion dollars, while the go hungry and even starve—before the workers. meetings, resolutions, demonstrations should starting point. But out of this myst come a ‘Well organized anti-war movement, a movement the broadest sections of the population and ctly working class in program, capable and will- ) Wage ® determined struggle against imperialist EEE Ickes Uses Figures n @ maze of juggled figures and false claims. claims that 3,000,000 have been returned to work under the Public and Civil Works program. A glance at | figures proves that they have as much truth _ a8 the barker in @ side show of freaks. “okes’ figures include, first of all, 347.623 “of an | classes” employed in the Civilian Conservation Corps. The Roosevelt government giver these men $1 a day And Roosevelt's Secretary of the Interior boasts ‘these militarized camps as his solution to the of unemployment! skes claims that 745,713 men have been put to ‘on Federal projects under construction. We are told how these figures are arrived at. We know ‘nich of this work is war work, for the Army. and is saving the government plenty. ‘We are told that of these 745,713 men, 497,142 have piven “indirect” employment. We are not told this means. There is also “industrial employ- ‘Usted. Ickes also deals in “Cumulative per IANEON falsely exdesvore to convey the impres- | the American Committee Against War and | This pro- | | ployment is increasing. The decision of the N.R.A. to cut the operation hours of the cotton textile in- y 25 per cent, because of “beginning of a slack n,” is a strong indication of the fact that winter brought sharp increases in unemployment. Shel ess HE Civil and Public Works programs are glving some ~ work—but under what conditions. First, those put on this work are all taken off relief rolls. Second, the Civil works, like the C.C.C., is run on 8 Jim-Crow basis. Negroes in the South are getting no work. In New York even registration is Jim. Crowed, Negroes from all parts of the city being sent to Harlem, . Third, the minimum wage, promised by Roosevelt, has been disregarded. Skilled are put on unskilled work and wages. The minimum is whittled down to 35 cents an hour and less. The strike of Bear Mountain C.W.A. workers, who were charged $15 a month for transporta- tion, shows what is being done throughout the coun- try. Fourth, workers under the Civil Works sometimes work one day (as in Lynn, Mass.) and are then fired. The workers, at non union conditions, get no guaran- tees and no protection. Only $400,000,008 of the $3,300,000,000 Public Works fund has been set aside for Civil Works Program, The workers must demand on al! public and civil works’ jobs, the enforcement of the minimum wage, with abolition of wage differentials, the right to or- ganize on all such projects, and the recogniiton of the has | Job committee. The demand of j6b or relief for every worker must be put forward. Job committees should be linked up through delegates into a Relief Workers Council. ere Liberal Protectors of Fascism i Be fight against the activities of Nazi agents in this country has brought to the fore with great clarity the role and function of liberalism in this country. With remarkable eagerness, whole rafts of liberals who had been loud in their denunciation of Fascism, | have emerged as energetic defenders of the Nazis on the grounds of “free speech,” on the ground that the Nazis “ought to be given a chance to be heard”! ‘The most remarkable example of this “liberal” method of fighting the Nazis was the remark made by the well-known lWberal, Roger Baldwin, to the thousands of Boston workers and intellectuals who suc- cessfully demonstrated recently against the Nazi lec- ture of a Fascist professor under the auspices of two leading “liberal” rabbis! Baldwin deciared that he had turned down an offer to be the Chairman of an anti-Fascist meeting im New York in order to be able to come to Boston te defend the Nazi’s right to “free speech”! Baldwin and the liberals declare that they hate Great Britain can be expected to follow with Its bid. | Fascism. They affirm they are really fighting Fas- cism in the best way when they fight for the right to it’s “being heard.” But there is not » worker in this country who will not see that in the bitter struggle between the working class and the Fascists, the liberals are in between, defending the Fascists from the workers, Justifying their protection of the Fascists with their “free speech” talk, ‘The workers of this country fight against the Fascist agents and propagandists, and the liberals rush in to protect the Fascists from the workers! That is the reality of their “free speech” talk. To these liberals, the fight against Fascism is some kind of debate on certain kinds of “philosophies.” They forget that Fascism is already a reality in Germany, and a growing menace in the U. S., and that the workers can see what it means. They can see that it means the brutal murder and imprisonment of the most militant fighters against capitalist exploitation. Thye can see that it means the hideous frame-up of the Reichstag defendants, that it means the medieval execution of heroic German working class fighters, that it means the jailing and torture of Thaelmann, leader of the Communist Party. They can see that it means the pumping of vicious race hatred poison, the Plotting to inoculate revolutionaries with syphilis germs, the savage mutilation of revolutionary prisoners. And it is these Fascist murders and torturers that Baldwin wants to protect and encourage here with his “free speech” talk! ° e ie whols question of free speech cannot be separ- ated from these realities of the class struggle, The Communist Party fights for free speech and for demo- cratic civil rights for the working class, for all the op- pressed and exploited. Actually it is the only party that does so, The Communist Party believes in proletarian democracy, in democracy for all toilers, not. in the sham of bourgeois “democracy” that, behind such liberal phrases as “free speech,” conceals the military dictatorship of the capitalist ruling class. What do the liberals like Baldwin really do when they fight for “free speech” for the Nazis in this country? They are fighting to permit the Fascists to organize, to consolidate their influence and organiza- tion, to sink their roots here, to establish connections with the Ku Klux Klan, to spread their poison among the masses here. ‘To protect these Fascist organizers in this coun- try under the cloak of “free speech” is to become part of the Nazi propaganda, is to act as the buffer between the Fascists and the masses, to act as their wall of protection! To detend the “right” of the German Fascists to organize and propagandize here, Is not only to assist them, but it is to assist the development of American Fascism, One cannot fight Hitler, one cannot fight the menace of growing American Fascist reaction, and at. the same time fight for the protection of Hitler's agents here, ‘This is indisputable. Yet it should not be forgotten that it was pre- cisely with such talk of “free speech” and “democ- racy” that the Social-Fascist leaders of Germany Leshan the growth and accession to power of Hit- t The comrades tn Boston showed @ splendid ex- ample of how to fight Fascist-agents. Tt is this ex-" ample of the Boston comrades that must be followed everywhere. ‘ The fight against Fascism is also a fight against Ss liberal protectors. FAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 53, 1933 Communist Witnesses Turn Evidence Against Nazis | Challenge U. 8. Armed Intervention Demanded MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay, Dec. 4— American imperialist policies came in! for further attack today when the! Mexican and Cuban delegations to the Pan-American Conference raised the | question of a moratorium on South | American governmental debts to; American banks and against armed | intervention in Cuba and other coun- tries to enforce collection of these debts. | ‘The moratorium proposal was made | by Mexican Foreign Minister Manuel | | Puig Casauranc in a proposal during | the initial session of the steering com-~ | | mittee. ‘The Cuban delegation, labor- | ing under the pressure of the mass | revolutionary anti-imperialist move-/| ment in Cuba, demanded revision of | the Platt Amendment by which the/ United States legalized its interfer- | ence and atmed intervention in Cuban affairs. <* | A blow to United States domina-| tion of the Conference was struck by | @ proposal that the various South American countries be permitted to invite the “mother” countries—Spain and Portugal—to attend the con-| ference, Sree) 6 MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay, Dec. 3.—) The robber policy of U. S. imperialism | rose up today.tg confront the “peace” | and “goodwill* pretensions of the U. 8. delegation-to-the Pan-American Conference when the Haitian delega~ tion raised the issue of U. 8. financial control of Haiti-in a mild protest, d livered by Antoine Pierre Paul, “labor’ member of the Haitian delegation. | M. Paul, acting without the author- | ity of the delegation, but evitiently with its tacié. support, issued a state- ment a few hours before the official opening of the conference, in which he reviewed the past 15 years of U.S. military occupation and financial control of the Haitian Republic. The delegation is reported to have pre~ pared a resolution for the conference calling on the U.S. to “declare its intentions” to terminate all “extra-| territorial occupation, both financial cated that ib-will make only & mild that it will not withdraw from the conference if the resolution is voted down. Almost simultaneously with the is- suance of M. Paul's statement, Pres- ident Vincente. of Haiti sent Roose- velt’s message ‘congratulating him on his Latin-American policy, which has recently included. the dispatch . of warships against the revolutionary masses of Cuba and the tightening up of U. 8, control of Haiti. President Vincente, a notorious puppet of the National City Bank and other Wall Street interests, pleaded with Roose- velt to withdraw financial control of the republic. The U. 8. delegation, headed by Secretary Hull, is experiencing in- creasing difficulty in its attempt to bar the question of debts from: the agenda. It is similarly. attempting to prevent a discussion. of the’ Chaco war, in which the U. 8. is supporting Bolivia by loans atid war equipment. ‘The conference is to be opened of- ficially tonight by President Gabriel Terra of Uruguay. The palace in which it will convene is already sur- rounded by a cordon of troops agairist the anti-imperialist workers, who un- der the leadership of the Communist Party of Uruguay have held several protests against U. S. imperialism since the arrival of Secretary Hull. ites Sanit) ‘WASHINGTON, Dec. 3.—President Roosevelt, who, as Assistant Secretary of the Navy during President Wilson’s administration, scrapped the Haitian Constitution and re-wrote it to permit. American corporations to grab the lands of the Haitian peasants, today rejected the appeal of the Haitian delegate, M. Paul, for the withdraw- Finance Control at | Pan-American Meet | Moratorium, End of! | and military,” but has. already indi-| fight for its adoption by declaring | The Fascist Salute! original drawings of Burck’s cartoon: Helping the Daily Worker through bidding for the of $12, iS ~By Burek ' Cause Sensation in if fori Other bids, A.J.B., 50 cents; Binder (West Heights Workers Club), $1; A. Anderson, $1.50; Wm. Dr. Ginzburg wins yesterday's drawing with a bid | Breinler, $1. Total to date $398.34. Greater Armament, day. % This report revealed that “on June 30, 1933, the strength of the| National Guard stood at 185,925 of | all ranks’—used largely against | workers on strike, in demonstra- | tions, etc. “General- Leach reported,” the War Department release tated, | “that it was his purpose to con- tinue with present policies which have proven sound and proper for | the best interests of the National} Guard, and under which it has prospered.” | ‘The appropriations for the Na- | tional Guard for the fiscal year of 1933, the report stated, were $35,484,864. Two other significant ments of this jingo organization are disclosed in the report, develop- ments which have an ominous ring to those American workers and farmers who are struggling against evictions and for relief 29> they face the fifth severe winter of the crisis. These are: | () “The start in motorization of the National Guard had a decided impetus during the past fiscal year, and General Leach reports that sufficient new motor vehicles | were procured to equip 20 regi- ments of light field artillery. The old motor equipment, as a whole,/ is not in satisfactory condition, ac- cording to the Chief of the Na- tional Guard Bureau. He reported that every effort is being made with available funds to keep in maintenance much of this war- | develop- ing of U. 8. control over’the finances of Haiti. time equipment.” (2) “The Air Corps equipment of Increased ‘Activities WASHINGTON, Dec. 4.—War preparations on a bigger scale and in- | tensified continuation of the boss-terror in which the National Guard has been increasingly used during the past year are revealed in “Excerpts from the Annual Report of the Chief of the National Guard Bureau,” Major- General George E. Leach, a report released by the War Department yester- | National Guard Report Shows War, Terror Plans Appropriations for 1933 Were $35,484,864; Pian | the 19 squadrons of the. National | Guard indicates the progressive policy of General Leach, and has resulted in a definite and final change during the fiscal year 1933 which- revised. existing allocation of airplanes. ‘This “revision now- allo~ cates eight standard observation planes to each unit. ... ” Nanking Planes Hit: Four Fukien Towns _ SHANGHAI, “Dec. ince towns today, killing at least 20 persons. and injuring several scores, as hostilities between the Nanking government and the new Fukien secessionist regime were formally opened. Reports from Canton tell of the} | execution of several pro-Nanking of- ficers, as’ Canton prepared to join} | the Pukien-regime against the Nan-| Talk With Mussolini king forces. Fascist Gunmen Seize Spanish Labor Paper BARCELONA, Spain, Dec. 3.—Fas~ cist. gangsters entered @ printshop and after covering the workers with guns, seized the entire edition of 12,~ 000 copies of the Barcelona Anti- Fascist labor organ. : 4:—Nanking | \.planes bombarded four Fukien Prov- Propose Ruthless Gov't Attack on French Workers ‘National’ Government Plan Offered to Balance Budget PARIS, Dec. 4—Admission in bour- geois circles that Saturday’s victory for the new Chautemps Ministry is only @ reprieve from the death which threatens it in its attempt to balance the budget, is accompanied by a de- mand for a strong concentration Cabinet. to. carry. through ruthlessly the balance of the budget at the ex- pense of the toiling masses, whose resistance is daily rising to the pro- posals for further cuts in unemployed relief and reduction of the wages of the lower paid categories of civil em- | ployes, and new taxation. In this move for @ concentration government,’ the bourgeoisie are cheered -by the support ofthe So~ cialist’ parties for the. Chautemps Ministry as registered in the partici- pation of the Socialist deputies in the vote of confidence given the new ministry last Saturday in the Cham- ber of Deputies, in which the So- cialist leaders played their traditional role of paving the way for fascism. | ee Mon Siu Bs Litvinoff in Peace ROME, Dec. 4—Maxim Litvinoff, Soviet Commissar for Foreign Af- fairs, conferred for an hour today with Premier Benito Mussolini on the question of the Soviet peace prdpo- sals for disarmament or progressive arms’ reduction. Italy sigried a non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union on Sept. 2. Welles Intriguing Against U. S. Delegation Santa Clara Meeting Exposes Cuba Gov’t By HARRY GANNES HAVANA, Dec; 4.—A cordon of sol- diers was thrown around the Work- ers Center in Santa Clara, capital of the Province of Santa Clara, when the American Anti-Imperialist League delegation was scheduled to speak Nov. 30. Soldiers-with rifles ready were placed around our hotel to pre- vent us from going-to the hall. Coincident with this refusal to al- low the American workers and in- tellectuals delegation to express their solidarity withthe Cuban masses against Yankee imperialism, U. S. Ambassador Welles. was reaching an understanding with the Grau-Batista regime for a means of forming a government suitable to the Wall Street overlords of Cuba. As the Hayana daily “Ahora” said in its protest, the armed threat against our meeting was ordered by Welles. Workers, students and petty-bourgeois.sympathizers in the streets of Santa Clara voiced their protest against the decisions of the provisional miltary forces and the Grau regime... This action tears an- other fig leaf from the Grau re- gime’s professed “anti-imperialism.” The maneuvering against our del- egation and the virtual arrest of the delegation and refusal to permit it to continue to orlente.or held any fur- ther meetings goes a long way~to- wards exposing-the Grau regime, Under, sustiee RE TNT Cuba is onan aes martial law. This is su -to be. diracted against the A.B.C, counter-revolution ° o First-Hand Account of | ing ctass for tear they carry the revo- lution out as they began it. Because of martial law, our delega~ tion was required to obtain writiea permission from the government to tour the island. We visited Secretary of the Interior and War, Dr. Gauteras. He told us he was “against imper- ialism,” but they had the practical problem of governing. “We are not left, though,” he assured us. He put no obstacles in our way. In fact, he gave us flattering letters to all miltary officials en route. “Per- mit the bearers,” he wrote under his signature and offiical seal, “to tour the island freely and hold meetings with workers and anti-imperialist elements against Yankee imperial- ism.” Now who could say the Grau re- gime wasn't anti-imperialist? He did more. He said he would send tele- grams to the various stations to let Us pass, But meanwhile, the Grau-Batista- Gauteras regime (in which T am in- formed Gauteras is a sort of con- centrated brain trust) was maneuver- ing With Yankee imperialicm for rec- ognition, Grant Permission What followed is a good example of their empty demagogy. We held meetings—without announcement in several sugar centers. But our first public meeting was scheduled in Santa Clara. To make assurance doubly sure, we asked permission of the alesde, the Mayor. And it was granted by this official, a former lieutenant in the army. tate in the afternoon, after we enthusiasm over our presence. we were informed that the miltaty com- mandant wished to see us. We were who were working with Welles. In reality, it is directed against the work- informed the meeting would be pre~ learned that, theve was: the: greates:{.tion-of vented. The commandant is Ulisiceno Franco Granero—a Cuban edition of Goering, only he told us he was a socialist. At first, he refused per- mission for the gathering. Later he granted it on condition that the word Communism was not mentioned or that we should not tell the workers then and there to seize power, To give a touch of legality to his deci- sion, the commandant told us there was still in effect (after a dozen revo- lutions) an old Spanish law prohibit- ing such meetings as ours. Granero is an old friend of Ma- chado. He was sent to Santa Clara by Grau and Batista for two reasons. First the Havana popula- tion demanded his removal from the office of Chief of Police because he continued the depradations of the Machado regime, and. second, the workers and peasants of Santa Clara have put up some brilliant and successful struggles and a “strong hand” was needed there. Army Surrounds Meeting As the time for the meeting drew near, we were informed that the en- tire neighborhood for blocks around was in the hands of the army. Ma- chine guns had been set up to pre- vent the workers from forcing their way through. Our delegation pro- posed (since we had such an all- inclusive letter from Gauteras, writ- ten permission from the alcalde and verbal permission from the local big shot himself) that we make a test. We proposed we alone go to the hall and if ordered back we wouid protest and use it as a -“demonstra-. he..methods of the, Grau- Batista regime. The lécal revolution= ary leaders told us i would be ab- solutely inadvisable. “The workers are all around the district,” they said. | Hand of Wall Street Dominant in Present Cuba Regime “I is a custom here under illegal conditions that some such arrange- ment is a signal for a mass demon- ‘stration. If you go, the workers will follow you en mass, and there will be slaughter.” ‘We did not go. We decided to re- turn to Havana, and raise the sharp~ est protest. We had been informed by confidential sources that the di- recting hands against our meeting, against our tour and attempt to strengthen the bonds of solidarity be~- tween the American and Cuban toil- ing masses were in the U. 8. Em- bassy and the Cuban national palace. We had a letter permitting us to hold our meetings, but the commandant had a telegram preventing us from holding the meeting or continuing our trip. “Early next morning we decided to goon. We had held no meeting. It was agreed that these incidents would | jj increase and were a definite policy growing out of the W-lles-Grau ma- netvers. We drove to the first miltary out- . We handed the soldiers our letter with its clear and excellent Spanish from the Department of In- terior and War directing all soldiers | in to permit us to travel freely. ‘“Noth- ing doing,” or its Spanish equivalent, was the officer’s reply. He put us under detention, entered our car and politely ordered us to drive back. We were told to wait until a conference was held with the commandant—un- | doubtedly stalling for ae to inform Havana to be prepared for our pro- tests. Finally we were permitted to go op | Court by Exposing Extortion, Torture Reveal Storm Troops’ Torture; Forced:to Sign Papers” (Special to the Daily Worker.) AT GERMAN BORDER, |Dec. 4 (Via Zurich, Switzer land). — The Reichstag trial frame-up court witnessed its greatest setback and reversal | today when rank and file‘Com- munists, whom the Nazis had taken from concentration camps and pre- sented as witnesses for the state in the belief that they “would: testify against George Dimitroff, Ermst“Torg- ler, Blagoi Popoff, and Vassil ‘Taneff, turned on the prosecution and con- verted their testimony to the defense of the Communist Party. and the Communist defendants. Thess witnesses also - revealed that they had been forced. under brutal torture by Storm Troopers and threats of torture by the police, | to sign statements prepared by the Nazis at previous examinations. The fiftieth trial day opened with a continuation of the testimony of. these “former” Communists, who, the Nazis claimed, had stated at previous examinations that the Communist | Party had prepared an armed: upris- ing for early 1933. Witness -Jesse, however, testified openiy. “Our depositions were forced. The head of the police dictated our depo- sitions and if we afterwards——.” The presiding judge interrupted ir- ritably. “That’s enough chatter!” | Jesse immediately replied, “No, it’s | the truth!” | Causes Great Sensation. Jesse's testimony caused’ a great |sensation in the court roof. The presiding judge’s next. questions were |aimed solely at preventirig further | revelations on extorted evidence. The | Judge asked, “Did the police strike | you?” Jesse replied. -““Nop- but’ the | storm troopers had beaten us enough, |T had such a headache that I signed jeverything.” Jesse stated the police threatened them that if they didn’t give the desired evidence, they would |be sent to Duisburg. ‘The. presiding | judge asked, “What IS'in Duisburg?” |Jesse replied that the storm troop | division was stationed there. | Prosecutor Fears “Disgrace” | The public prosecutor intervened at | this point, attempting to avoid the [international disgrace which would |naturally follow the exposure of pub- \licly proved tortures inflicted by storm | troopers and extortion of eviderice. He | proposed to call to court the inquiry | magistrates and police officials whom | Jesse had accused. sade Dimitroff observed here that’ the | evidence had elready been proved ex- torted, at which the. presiding judge lost his temper and thundered, “Si- Hence!” Another rank and {fle witness, |Hieske, confirmed the extortion evi- |dence, as well as maltreatment and torture. | “The minutes at the previous in- | \quiry were dictated. I signed under sharpest threats.” The presiding judge | Shouted, “That's all nonsense!” | “No, it’s the truth!” Hieske teplied. | “We were forced to sign minutes wit~ jnessed by police and then to sign minutes written by the magistrate, but it is all untrue.” anes The presiding judge attempted re- | Deatedly to induce the witnesses to | withdraw today’s evidence, but failed. Dimitroff asked the judge to ques- | tion the witnesses if their group had regarded the Reichstag fire as a sig- nal for uprising, to.which the judge | teplied: “That's unimportant.” “Naturally, it’s important only if it’s against us,” Dimitroff sarcas- + tically retaliated. ‘ Dimitroff Scores Judge. ‘The next witness, Noske, also with- drew the evidence ‘he gave> at the previous examination. He_ declared that nobody, except Schmidt,. spoke of expl stations. In answer to question as to” where this Sat was, the presiding judge answered that the court did not kno i “It's remarkable that all the wit- nesses who know about the uprising are either not examined or absent!’ Dimitroff remarked Ne The court consultéd at ‘this point on the new situation caused” by the witnesses’ declaration that they had been forced by torture to make false depositions. ‘They decided that the officials responsible “for this’ would be called to court. The witness Scheerwald, ab present serving a sentence for an explosives offense, ‘stated that the upzising was expected on July 20,1932, when the Prussian government was deposed. - The presiding judge asked” if thi uprising had been. expected at. th time of the Reichstag fire,.Scheer- wald answered that the workérs were in readiness for an. alarm, but that no orders had been, giveni*for an uprising, Dimitroff” asked” him whether the Reichstag fire-had been a signal for insurrection, ‘Scheer- wald replied: “ Re ¥ “No, we were amazed at the fire,” Arms Only for Training Dimitroff asked whether enough arms had been in their possession to carry through an uprising.. .Scheer- wald’s reply was that weapons in their possession served only for train- ing. Pi Dimitvoff asked if the Communist, Party's main efforts at that time ee a economic struggle, The presiding judge misinterpr the questions and asked the ene te strikes in preparation for an upris« oh r Dimitroff asked if it Was ‘not a natural assumption. that workers “for silt=ttefense Febru: ae th no reason to suppyse at the sterm tropps intended to seize pow: Dimitroff's question as to whether the storm troops had weapons, not allowed as “irrelevant.” lad the Communist Party had prepared) l al } Frys