The Daily Worker Newspaper, December 12, 1933, Page 3

Workers Schools Grow | in Cleveland, Boston Boston Courses Are) Doubled; Attendance Doubled Also 200 Students in New| Large School in Cleveland } | } BOSTON, Mass—The Workérs’| CLEVELAND, O.—More than 250 DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 12, 1933 Permanent Jobless Army Is Increas (Continued from Page 1) zelerated under the Roosevelt Deal.” In the early days of the “New Deal,” vhen the Black 36-hour bill was being | discussed, William Green testifying before a congressional committee said: “New| |“If by some miracle we could today | reaching the highest production levels of 1929, half of those now unemployed School of Boston has started its sec- ond season at its new and larger headquarters, 919 Washington St., with its student body more than doubled. Last year, during the two semesters, 150 students were regis- tered. This year there are already 160 students. ‘The number of courses given in the school has been increased from five to ten. The school library is being built up speedily. It will consist of books, magazines, pamphlets and a permanent file of the Daily Worker. Sixty per cent of the students in the school are under 30 years of age. workers, many of them now in the revolutionary movement, crowded the banquet tables Jast Sunday to cele- brate the opening of the Workers School of Cleveland, which has moved to new and larger quarters at 1524 Prospect Ave. They were entertained with a good meal and a fine program including singing, dancing, drama and cinema under the direction of the John Reed Club. The collection and sales netted over $150. This fine response more than carried over the $500 drive needed to start the school. These fine quarters are designed to would still be unemployed.” This is an indication of how rapidly the process of permanently eliminat-| ing workers has been going on. Green} by no means exaggerated conditions. One fact is constantly left out of consideration by the capitalists and their spokesmen. In the United States each year 2,000,000 children} reach the age when they must sell! their labor power to live. They be-| come workers without jobs. But they are not counted as unemployed } cause they never had a job. Of these alone, since the crisis, there are around 8,000,000 without work. Permanently Out of Work The slogan, “to make the Workers’; hold six class rooms, a library and School Boston a permanent insti- tution,” is being realized, and the registration for the next semester is expected to top 300. The schoo] is now conducting 2 weekly series of Sunday night Open Forums. The courses given in the school are: History of the American Labor Movement, Revolutionary Tra- ditions of the Negro People, Prin- ciples of Communism, Marxism, Or- ganizational Problems, Trade Union Strategy and Tactics, Revolutionary Journalism, Public Speaking, English for Workers, Workers’ Defense Tac- tics, Russian for Beginners. News Briefs | office. The rooms have movable par- titions making it possible to hold weekly forums for three hundred peo- ple. Twenty-six courses are offered to give students a well-rounded training in theory and tactics of the class struggle. Registration to date is about 200. The school is under the direction of A. Landy. Borders, Socialist, Expels Local for Fighting for Unity Chicago Outfit Brings | False Charges, Tries To Stifle Action TACOMA, Wasi., Dec, 11. — This city was completely inundated when; CHICAGO, Ill, Dec. 11—The Chi- the Puyallup River overflowed. Eleven |cego Workers Committee on Unem- were drowned and all telephone ad |ployment under the leadership of telegraph and telephone service was! Karl Borders, Socialist, has at their 11 Die in Floods in the State of Washington stopped. last house of delegates meeting ex- tt pelled Local 66. Liquor Can ! This is one of the locals that has by Mail WASHINGTON, D. C., Dec. 11-—It will be a criminal offense to ship liquor by mail to any point, the Post Office Department anounced today. Three Dancers Die in Maine . Fire HAMPDEN, Me., Dec. 11.—At least , three dancers were burned to death and many were injured in a fire which destroyed the Paradise dance ; hall here last night during a fierce blizzard Lindberghs Reach Manaos MANOS, Brazil, Dec. 11.—The Lind- | stood for the policy of united action, despite the fact that the leadership id this organization has continually {refused to engage in united front ac- | tivities, Expelled for Unity Fight In the letter delivered to the dele- |gates of Local 66 it is stated that they were expelled beause they have j Joi ed the Workers League of Am- fence, The representatives of that lo- | cal, through John Kasper, denied this | charge, they branded it as a deliber- | ate lie, and as an excuse to expel them on these charges, because the | workers will refuse to expel any local that stands on the platform of united | action. In a statement issued by Local 66, berghs landed here this morning from | addressed to all members of the Chi- Para, Brazil, a distance of 932 miles, \eago Workers Committee on Unem- completing the trip in 7 hours 32|ployment, they reiterate their posi- minutes. It is expec home be‘ore Christm: Window Cleaners Resist Sell-Out BOSTON, Dec, 11-—-One hundred and fifty window cleaners are solidly on strike here, having walked out on Dec. 1. Local * cleaner. At the general membership meeting ® few days ago, Caveny came to the strikers and asked them to send him on the strike committee to go to the State Arbitration Board. He told the vest of the committee not to mention his appointment. When he appeared before the board, he said nothing, 'The bosses offered three scales, 50, 60 and 85 cents. This scale was ‘in effect before the strike. Caveny argued for a sell-out of the strike, but was interrupted by the workers, The strikers rejected Caveny’s re- port and the bosses’ proposals. Tt ‘was decided to investigate his actions. He had to leave the hall to avoid being thrown out. The strikers are demanding 85 cents an hour. It was decided to continue mass picketing d they will be Union 86 of the window HRB Workers To Meet ‘The strike: was called by} \tion on the united front, denounce the accusation that they joined the Workers League, as false and in part state: “We condemn as a deliberate lie the statement of the Borders-Trojar leadership, that we have joined the Workers League, an organization which has done nothing to advance ‘the struggles of the unemployed, nor jhave we joined any other organiza- tion. This is only an excuse used to expel individuals and even whole locals, because they have been fight- jing for a united front policy.” Call for Social Insurance ‘They further appeal to all locals to protest against this act of expul- ‘sion and fight for their reinstatement. | They call upon all locals to endorse the policy of united action, despite the leadership, and send delegates to Cook County United Front Confer- ence, which will be held Dec. 16th at Mirror Hall, 1136 N, Western Ave. They conclude their statement with a jeall to action against the program of forced labor and for the Workers Un- ‘We can say now that the permanent unemployed army in of production may go, will remain be- tween 15,000,000 and 17,000,000, Fur- thermore, the entire working-class must face the perspective that a larger and larger number of its ranks permanently unemployed through er hours (with lower wages, of course), technological unemployment. Understanding these facts, we can | appreciate the warning sounded by Comrade Gussev in his article on “Tasks of the American Communist in Organizing the Struggle for Social In- surance.” Gussev said: “It is necessary, above all, to instil the most complete understanding into the whole Party that the cam- paign for social insurance, alongside and including the struggle against wage cuts with the shortened week (irrespective of whether such a short week is adopted) and the struggle for immediate aid for the unem- ployed, touches vitally, in addition to the anti-war campaign, the most | urgent and burning interests of the proletariat, and that this campaign at the present, is the chief link to be seized to tug the whole chain, that this campaign demands the mobili- zation of all party forces for the whole period of indefinite length, and that a planned unbroken, every-day persistent conduct of this campaign is necessary.” New Factors ‘What has happened in the United States since this was written? The N.R.A, and the C.W.A. have come into existence. These have more closely connected the struggle for unemployment insurance and re- lief with the struggle against war. The Roosevelt regime has mobilized all of its forces to struggle definitely against unemployment insurance. For example, on Dec. 8, Hariy M. Hopkins, director of the C.W.A., de- clared that the C.W.A. would become @ permanent feature of the Roosevelt regime as against. unemployment in- surance, “It might easily lead to a scheme,” he said, “of using civil works as a de- vice for permanently providing work on important public projects for the unemployed. The country is not go- ' ing te be kindly disposed to unem- ployment insurance in terms of men going to a window to get a dole.” Re-Employment and Unemployment The most exaggerated estimates of the Roosevelt regime is that through the N.R.A. the C.C.C. and the C.W.A., around 3,000,000 were employed, Even assuming this to be true (which it is not) it would barely account for the 2,000,000 youth added to the ranks of the unemployed during Roosevelt's regime, and does not take account of those fired during the same period be- cause of lowered production in some places, and speeding-up of machinery in individual plants. In short, the great bulk of the 17,000,000 unem- the United| States, no matter how high the level will be driven into the ranks of the | speed-up, improved machinery, short- | and through the general increase in| In that article Comrade | Roosevelt’ s “Angel” for the Jobless || 1] | | i ing at | They go further. Roosevelt and Johnson should adn there is no solution for unemployme’ under capitalism. “In the final o alysis,” they say, “public w 3 the civilian works program are stopgaps. They are substitutes for « dele.... “Much better if the Administration, Sica | instead of making rosy prophecies and | Page Three FOOD AND HOUSING FOR JOBLESS CONVENTION IS REFUSED BY ROOSEVELT Amter at White House, ing the present crisis, the stru for unemployment insurance lagged woefui The issue of the | minimum security of the whole ing class is not raised sharply enou in an organized way. N.R.A. Administrator, General Hugh 8. Johnson, one of Roosevelt’s chief lie slingers in the campaign against unemployment insurance. |ployed still remain without work. What is new for them is the definite announcement that for the few who j receive jobs, millions face the prospect of no relief and no unemployment insurance, Now with the failure of even this plan, we find Roosevelt. spokesmen re- | verting to talk of the 30-hour week. General Johnson in a recent speech | declared that the 30-hour week would |be necessary in order to take up | existing unemployment, This talk, like the promise of 6,000,- 000 jobs by last labor day, is a poor substitute for food for the unem- ployed. For example, the New York Herald Tribune, on December 10th, commented editorially on General Johnson's statement as follows: . “But coming after so much bally- hoo about re-employment of many millions, and about the miracles to be performed by the N.R.A., it sag- gests that General Johnson may be using this cloak to disguise the fail- ure of the industrial re-employment program to do all that had been hoped for it.” | i | | } Hunger Hearing Shows Up Relief Inadequacy NEW YORK.—Deliberate inade- quacy, the miserable relief method used by the Bureaus and thevresuit- ant suffering it enforces on the worker, were revealed at the Mass Hunger Hearing held last Thursday before 450 workers at the East Side Workers’ Club by the “expelled” Lo- cals 2 and 3 of the Workers’ Com- {mittee on Unemployment id the Downtown Unemployed Council. It was a processional of pain. Mrs. Kolokovsky, mother of nine children, told a story of the Home { Relief Bureau from the time she | pawned her last piece of jewelry, her marriage ring, and applied for relief. The relief was stopped a number of times, the amount lowered, then stopped altogether because she re- fused to send her son to the C.C.C. camps. Mrs. Schindler told how she one day after the relief had been stopped, because she had been dis- covered making 55 cents a day sell- ing ice cream. A neighbor brought in a herring and a loaf of bread and , Her husband has been jobless two l years. jemployment Insurance Bill. Meet Dee. 22 in Phila.| \for Jobless Insurance —_— } | PHILADELPHIA, Pa.—The United | Front Convention for Unemployment | \Insurance will be held here on Dec.! ,22 at the Garrick Hall, 507 S. Kighth (St. AL organizations should send | | delegates to the convention, | | Lou Frank, & young worker, was ar- \vested last Friday for leading a dele- gation to the Jackson Wilson School At Grand Opere House NEW YOR K—Frederick — I. i Daniels, cxecutive director of eased ipl ply Te the State Civil Works’ Ad~/cusation the principal had ministration, will be asked today to recognize the Emergency Home Re> Hef Employees Association. Mr. Dan# jels has agreed to confer with the Prise ace of the association, mass meeting of all home relief workers has been called for tomor- row evening at the Grand Opera House, 23rd St. and Eighth Ave., at 8 o'clock, when the delegation will repre on its meef Mfg with Mr. Dan- iels, Inasmuch as the State Temporary Emergency Relief Administration Mloyees’ Association has dlready accorded recognition by the ©. ‘TA, the Home Relief Workers will id the same right be accorded will insist on the right of ive bargaining on questioris per-' to wages, hours and working and that no, discrimina- or aa be waged against TS, Frank was that he was a “red.” ‘The Unemployed Council, with the help of Unit 101, of the Communist Party here, successfully resisted at~ tempts of the constable to evict three jobless families. LL.D. to Hold Canton Commune Celebration PHILADELPHIA, Pa.—The Phila- delphia District of the International ‘Labor Defense is holding a Canton ‘Commune Celebration tonight to com- memorate the valiant struggles of the Chinese workers and also to mobilize & more powerful struggle for the re- lease of the Scottsboro boys. William L, Patterson, National Sec- retary of the ILL.D, will be the main speaker at the meeting at the New Garrick Hall, 507 S, Eighth St. National Events ue" Sells Out Strike ‘WESTBROOK, Me.—aAfter dema- urging striking weavers to | abandon their strike, Frank H. Max~ eld, socialist candidate for governor in. 1916 and 1932, stated in a speech Strikers that “a Socialist lead- untiringly for the benefit of rking class.” 1D FROM JUGOSLAV CLUB BURGH, Pa.—The Jugoslav Canton Commune Celebration in Philadelphia PHILADELPHIA.—William L. Pat- terson, National Secretary of the I.L.D. will speak at the Canton Commune celebration tonight at the New Gar- rick Hall, 507 8, 8th St. ‘ Workers Club of East Pittsburgh, realizing that the Daily Worker must be saved so it can continue other boys in the camp, and hay- | ing them sign the petition, which | should then be presented to the commandant.) fight against capitalism, raised, for the $40,000 fund. The club to raise still more, The Po Against Wall Street; Exposed Roosevelt Farm Program By H. PURO The Farmers Second National Con- ference held in Chicago Nov, 15-18 was a great step forward compared to the First Farm Conference held in Washington, D. C., a year ago. Composition of the Delegates Instead of only 238 delegates trom 26 states as last year, this year the Conference was represented by 702 delegates from 36 states. Out of the total, 619 were directly elected by some 120,000 farmers participating in electoral meetings. The remaining 83 delegates were fraternal delegates from workers’ organizations and farmers organizers. There were 31 farm workers in the delegation, three of them coming directly from the re- cent cotton pickers’ strike in Calif- ornia; 15 Negro delegates from Ala- bama, Arkansas, and North and South Carolina; 30 women delegates and about 100 youth, 37 Delegates from the South Although the representation was not at all adequate for this important section, the very fact that there were 37 delegates from the Southern states shows to what extent the radical farm movement is penetrating the Southern farmers (both Negroand white), There were many more delegates elected from the South that could not come be- cause of the difficulties in making the Proper arrangements for transporta- tion and the lack of sufficient atten- bead due to a weak Party organiza- lon, The following Southern States were represented: The Buik of the Delegation from the Northwest That the most rapid and the deep- est radicalization is taking place in left her three children alone and hungry | the children made a party over it.| litical Signific Adopted Fighting Class Struggle Program eaced Abe Littman, who had been em- ployed on a city works job, sweeping parks, explained how long the $40.50 @ month lasted. Together with his wife and two children he lives in & three-room flat and pays $8 a month rent. After he paid the grocer $8.50, the butcher $3.50, paid for shoe re- pairing, gas and electricity, he had to borrow every week to keep going. He still owes two months’ rent. “Whose fault is it that you are un- employed?” Jack Anyon, prosecuting attorney of the Hunger Hearing, asked Lucas, who had been dispos- sessed three times with the Home Relief refusing aid, even after he in- jured his spine at a city works job. “It’s sure not miy fault,” Lucas re- sponded, “I worked 14 years on a job. I want to work right now. It’s a scheme of the rich to get the poor in one way or another.” Single workers, those who get re- lief from no souree-whatever, spoke of sleeping in the-subways on freight trains and in flophouses. One of them, Frank Pillo,-was-a youth who had attended college for three years. He emphasized the-need for a single workers’ organization; with the mili- tant Unemployed Cotiiicils. This shoWs-the deepness of ses at the Sdéme time it em- es that the.orientation is not pha yes placed properly.upon the poor | | and small farmers. The Class Struggle Program | unfulfillable promises in these mat-| | ters, would conservatively estimate | what actually can be done and frankly | admit that it cannot achieve the im-| | possible, If General Johnson's state- | | ment is correct, the country will have | Socialist Mayor of | Bridgeport Refuses Calls for Protest After Visit many millions of unemployed on its | hands for many years. .The sooner it | knows the probable truth about such! a condition, the better. Nothing is) gained by having it camouflaged.” Yet we must say, despite all these | admissions, despite the obvious fact | that very, very few have received | work, that the great mass of unem- ployed is as great as at any time dur- | gle Relief to Jobless McLevy, in Council, Refuses To Oppose Lynching Also | By BILL MASON | T, Conn,, Dec, 1} Benjamin To Speak in New York Wed. on Gallup Strike NEW YORK.—The demand of the National Committee of the Unemployed Councils that the government provide food and housing for the unemployed con- Socialist Mayor of | Bridgeport in passed the buck to| vention to take place in Washington, | the nation ernment at the first|D. C., on Jan. 13, has been categori- | open Common Council meeting of his| cally refused by the White House, Q nistration, and showed again! president Roosevelt's secretary, Mc- e intends to rely completely On Intyre, showed the disdain held by relief, He released the city |the Roosevelt administration for the ment from the responsibility of | unemployed when he even refused to providing for the 17,000 unemployed qjscuss the question with I. Amter, | workers, whose urgent need for food,' national secretary of the Unemployed | Comrade Gussev pointed out that | & | throughout the entire crisis this cam | paign has gone on by nd starts. |For the first three years, the Com- th |munist Party initiated, led and was the main force in the campaign for social insurance. Later reformist ele- ments entered the struggle, confus-~ fing the workers. But the Party was not able to organize the unemployed in unity with the employed, to over- come the confusion and demagogy | | | | Roosevelt Demagogy. Now the situation 1s still more com- Plicated by the Roosevelt demagogy and action. Roosevelt has been a skilful maneuverer for the bosses, in | addition to the reformist demagogy | that was let loose against the unem- | ployed. He has introduced forced la- | shelter and clothing is still ignored. Refuses to Oppose Lynching speech to the Common the first opén meeting of e Socialists came sted of the funds by unicipal re-~ ducing expenditures for relief. The federal program, he declared, has lessened the burden on the local gov- ernment. Fifteen hundred people, mostly workers, attended the Com~ mon Council meeting, held in the |the President, Mr. McIntyre, | | Councils. Amter called upon the secretary te pre- senting the demands for such ac- commodations to him. At first he | tried to pass the buck by referring to the Commfssioners of the District of Columbia, When faced with the fact that the responsibility rests with the federal government he was com- pelled to arrange # conference. “Who are you people anyway?” he asked. auditorium of the Central High| The government knows us very School. well,” Amter replied. “We have been In spite of cries from the audience | here twice before. We represent the bor. He has aroused great hopes) of “Read the resolution on lynching!” and illusions among many of the un~ | the Socialist officials ignored the employed, which all the capitalist | resolution submitted by the Inter- propaganda agencies have not failed | national Labor Defense, and Mayor to exploit to the full. At this very) wcLevy refused to go on record as period, our organization of the un~| being opposed to the vicious endorse- greatly lagged when we required the | the freedom of the Scottsboro boys, greatest firmness and persistency. | During a short recess a committee Then when the great strike strug-| protested to Fred Schwartzopf, ~ gles broke out, we lost sight of the | cialist city clerk, who replied, os if main, fundamental basis in the strug- , joking: “What are you in such a gle for unemployment insurance, unity | hurry about? The more Negroes that of employed and unemployed. We | are Saas me eee problem of did not sufficiently raise the demand | unemployment w: ES for unemployment insurance in the | Buried In Committee strike struggles, and where it was! nti the very last item on the or- raised it appeared in a mechanical | der of business, the words “working and purely propagandist form, class” were not so much as men- Now the CWA is creating some| tioned, Instead, ten minutes were confusion. We do not suffictently | wasted on the important problem of raise the demand for unemployment | whether a permit should be restored insurance against it, though Roose- jtoa local burlesque show, which had ce ue - yee h & ok been ea weeding es a ou y n: raise | voice, facing the audience, City Cler! the CWA against unemployment in-| Schwarzkopf presented numerous employed and employed in the strug- | ment of lynchings on the part of Gov-| glei for unemployment insurance has| ernor Rolph of California and for| surance. Besides the concrete de- petitions concerning streets and side- mands we raise against the CWA, | walks. such as jobs for all workers, guar- | Wi ;: ze < “| orkers in the audience left in dis- anteed 36 hour week and full weekly | pus} as their needs were consistently | wages, clothing, etc., out of all these struggles the major demand should be unemployment insurance. Party Tasks. ‘The Communist Parity began both | the propaganda and organization of | the struggle for unemployment in- | surance and relief. and is the only | Party fighting in the interest of all} workers and against the capitalist {way out of the crisis. But unless we more energetically take the lead in the struggle for unemployment in- surance, the Roosevelt regime will be able to advance its program of forc~ éng capitalism out of the crisis at the expense of ell workers, through low- : ehing their standard of living and | ridgeport workers are determined smashing still further the funds used | that these proposals shall be imme- for relief. The first major task to tely acted upon and that the anti- speed the struggle for unemployment | lynching resolution shall be read and insurance js to mobilize for the na-| adopted by the Common Council. tional unemployed convention to be | They are preparing to come in a held in Washington, D. C., January | bedy to the next meeting and insist 13, 14 and 15. ‘on being heard. presented. Finally, when the hall was almost empty, Schwarzkopf turned his back on the audience and in a low monotone read the proposals of the Unemployed Council of Bridge- port Cries of “louder!” forced the city clerk to ra’ his voice slightly. Im- mediately that Schwarzkopf finished reading Mayor McLevy banged the table with his gavel. “Referred to the Miscellaneous Committee,” he de- clared. This is the only committee of the Common Council which can consider the pressing needs of the ignored and no plan for relief was} | unemployed of this country and de- mand our right to petition the gov- ernment. We are that section which is least able to present their peti- tions because we are the unem- ployed. The government must as- ist us, otherwise the right to pe- tition guaranteed by the Constitu- tion is nothing but an empty word.” Refuses to Talk “Are you the same old crowd? Ton't you know that Roosevelt is raising heaven and earth to help the unemployed?” McIntyre blus- terec, The answer to McIntyre was | an emphatic NO. With that, waving his hand, and breaking off the con- “On your ference, McIntyre sald: way. brother.” This is the manner in which the U. S. government is trying f pre- vent the unemployed from present- ing their demands to the U. 8. gov- ernment. This is the answer of Roosevelt to all those who refuse to say “Amen” to the hunger poli- | cies that he is trying to put through under the N.R.A. and C.W.A. Demand Auditorium. ‘The unemployed workers wil] not accept this. The National Commit- | tee calls upon all working class or- | ganizations to send telegrams and jzesolutions to President Roosevelt demanding that the government | provide the auditorium for the Ne- tional Convention as well as food and lodging. Facilities are there. Send your resolution immediately The National Committee also wants to make note that the Mass | Meeting to greet Herbert Benja- niin, national organizer, which was |to be held Thursday night, has |been postponed to Wednesday, Dec. 13, at Webster Hall, 7:30 p.m., be- cause Comrade Benjamin arrived late in town, and was too fatigued |to speak on that evening. He has | just been released from jail in New Mexico and will recount at this meeting his experiences in New Mexico and the victorious strike of the miners in Gallup, led by the National Miners Union. ance of the Chicago Farm. Conference One of the \ standnig! sof. i 9} Qi shlevemenis of the Conference was) SUCCessful in Maintain that it adopted without a s le dis- senting yoice the following main de- mand: “We demand the canc lation of is shown by the fact that the bulk of| Having this type-of delegation, a the delegates came from those states. | large number of them having parti- The biggest single delegation came | cipated in many mass struggles, it from the State of Wisconsin, num- | was evident from the beginning that bering 142, The great mumber of |this Conference would not be satis- them came directly from the fierce | fled with anything less than a clear- strike battle in Central and Southern | cut class struggle program because Wisconsin, These delegates also rep- | the demands put forward were calling resented in the best sense the real|to struggle against- the exploitation united front of struggle. As a result|and dule of financial- capital. The of the correct united front activity of | main document, as also all the other our Party and the United Farmers| resolutions and actions of tie Con- League by going and organizing picket ference, are definitely of class strug- {been mobilized. But our Party is not | lines in the Wisconsin farm strike and in every way giving real lead- ership to the strike, a number o} delegates were elected from National Farmers Holiday Association locals, including county officials, from the Farmers Union, Milk Pool, etc. The largest delegations were from the following states: Wisconsin ....142)Alabama .. Minnesota .,,, 75|Nebraska. Michigan . South Dakota,. a |North Dakota |Pennsylvania + 41\New York . . 15\‘ndiana + 16 8: epre- sented by less than 10 delegates. If our Party District and Section Com- mittee were really active and helped | in the preparations for electing dele- gates, 1,000 delegates would easily have yet conscious of what should be done and what it can achieve with very little proper efforts. Two importans agrarian states, Kansas and Okla- homa, were not represented at the conference. The Social Composition of Delegates A preliminary study of the social composition of the delegates on the basis of the questionnaire that was submitted for the delegates, shows that while a majority of the delegates were poor tenants, small and middie farmers, there was also a considerable gle character, leading ‘towards the anti-capitalist idea, The main document of the Confer- ence, “Farmers’ Call to Action,” is composed of three sections: the first | describes the ruin and havoc thet has been brought about by the Wall | Street rule, both under Republican _and Demoeratic administrations, ruth- \lessly exposing Roosevelt's New Deal (crop destruction, refinancing and price-raising) as an éffort to help the bankers, insurance Companies, specu- lating and profiteering parasite food trusts and marketing companies, cap- italist controlled agricultural cooper- atives and the rich farmers, at the expense of the workers, poor and middle farmers, who-are being driven to further ruination and starvation. The document also exposes “pro- gressive” politicians, farmer-laborites, socialist and farmers misleaders, as agents of the bourgeoisie, who are using demagogic language, in order to hold the toiling farmers in the fur- ther enslavement of finance capital. The preamble of the “Call” calls all the toiling farmers to struggle to- gther in close alliance and solidarity with the workers, for their iminediate demands, The second secticn of the doctument contains sevea point demands. six be- ing general demands for all toiling farmers, and the seventh dealing i number of farmers who have large the Northwestern agricultural states facreages but who are deeply mort- DALAL mA APA LRN ANE AA Pad NAC hs itm specifically with the demands of the Negro farmers in the South. secured debts, mortga back rents, delinquent taxes, and seed and feed loans of the impoverished small and middle farmers.” This demand was adopted after a | thorough discussion, first separately by each state delegation, followed by @ general discussion. And that the) delegates took this demand very seri- | ously was shown in the discussion, | when many delegates pointed out that the Conference should not just pass but should seriously prepare to struggle for its realization. The third section of the program-| matic document outlines the methods | of struggle for the demands adopted, | emphasizing the united mass strug-| ; les of all toiling farmers; marches, demonstrations, refusal to pay taxes, interest, rents. carrying through “penny-sales,” farmers strikes, joint struggles with the workers, Unity With the Workers Unity with the workers was cmply | brought forward by numerous greet- | ings of fraternal delegates, and tele- | grams from the various workers’ or- ganizations. The most significant of these exchanges of fraternal greetings was when the Conference telegraphed greetings to the striking workers who with the help of the farmers had seized and occupied the packing house in Austin, Minn.; another was 2 greeting from the St. Paul, Minn., packing house workers, to whom the Conference pledged the support of the farmers. The high point of frat- ernization took. place in the big mass meeting prepared by the Chicago Trade Union Unity League and Un- employed Council tw which the farm- ers were invited as their guests. Unity of Negro and White Farmers Unity of Negro and white farmers was not only expressed with the great ovation in the reception of the Ala- bama delegation, but in the concrete actions of the Conference, by adopt- ing a special plank for Negro farmers, this demand, the adoption program and demandin for the Scottsboro boys Soviet Union and International Solida The achievements of farmers in the Soviet Union under the Workers and Farmers Government, and under col- lective farming, were popularized by a moving picture and lecture. An entire evening session was devoted to this, delegates having the full free- dom of asking questions and getting them answered. As a result, the Con- ference unanimously pledged to sup- port and defend the Soviet Union. high degree of international sol- vas expressed in adopting the mand for immediate freedom for Imann, Torgler, Dimitroff, and er Victins of the Hitler fascist ter- ror, The Significant Achievement for the Party One of the most significant things of the Conference, from the political point of view, wes that both old capi- talist parties and social fascist (farmer-labor and socialists) parties were exposed, and that the Commu- nist Party was able to bring itself forward as the revolutionary Party of the workers, the only Party that actively and whole-heartedly supports the struggles of the toiling farmers for their immediate demands, and finally under which banner workers and farmers will march to victory over the capitalist system of exploit- ation and oppression. Comrade Hath- away, for the Central Committee, presented the position of the Com- munist Party in a very able manner, both in his speech at the Conference and at the joint mass meeting. presentation of the position of our Party was very well received by the delegation and undoubtedly this will bear very good fruits and will be in- strumental in rallying much more support for the Communist Party in the freedom idar' di of a special Southern; ing Real United Front Among Various Farm Groups On All Questions the countryside in the next period Was United Front Character Maintained? Now, in vi weof the fact that th Conference adopted a class strugg) program, was dominated by worker. and farmers solidarity, unity of Negre and white, international class soli- darity, and the way capitalist parties were exposed and the Communist Party was brought forward, the ques- tion arises whether with all this it was possible to still maintain the united front character of the Con- ference? The answer is in the af- firmative. It és true, that in some points there were moments when the | enthusiasm of some of the speakers tended to carry them away from its united front aspects. The general line of the Conference, however, was correct in that it succeeded in formu- lating a class struggle program around the immediate needs of the great masses of toiling farmers and at the same time indicating the revolution-_ ary way out of the capitalist crisis. This task the Conference performed without narrowing down the united front character of the Conference. Of course, it is to be assumed that in & broad conference like this there were seme backward elements, who perhaps at the moment felt that the Confer- ence was “too red.” But the over- whelming majority of the delegates were strongly convinced and satisfied with the work of the Conference, ‘The task of the Party and the left wing organizations, the outstanding of which is the ited Farmers’ League, is now on the basis of the work and demands of the Confer- — ence, to mobilize hundreds of thou- The | Sands of toiling farmers into active struggles, and in the course of these struggles to build the Party, build the United Farmers’ League, build the “Farmers’ National Weekly” and a many times broader united front fighting movement among the Amer- ican farmers