The Daily Worker Newspaper, February 3, 1934, Page 5

WAL minded as made ate Yrench imperialism by the laughtering and maiming of a w hundred thousand Amer- riding high, wide and handsome > wings of the blue eagle, as @ predatory bird whatever color y be painted. One day Dem- Republic- and Farmer- Laborites of the House of Repre- J sentatives unite it enthusiastic- tay authorizing § [70,000,000 worth cl destroyers, submarines, crui- sers, Plane car- Tiers, and Navy War planes. Th? next day, the Chairman of the House Military . Affairs Committees, not to be out- doubles the request of the War ent Gon: Staff and coms 2,000 Army airplanes. The generals, no doubt are kicking them- selves for not fequesting 2,000 planes —for flying service between here and the Far East. And s0.0n, and so on. ‘It will soon be too late to merely total the num- ber of billions being shovelled into war preparations or even the huge percentage of them going into the insatiable maw of the capitalists who own both the steel corporations that will make the death weapons and the foreign markets for whose defense the various destroyers, cruisers, and airplanes will be sent, The time is past for the adding machine. What is necessary now is for workers to know exactly why plans are being rapidly prepared for slaughtering them here and abroad and the nature of the arguments which are already being trotted out to convince them of the necessity for facing a blister- ing gas or for using thelr bodies to stop a furious bullet, “mperialist demagogy is the science of diverting workers’ thoughts into collaborationist channels, Imperial- ists do kesp vy with the trend of workers’ thoughts, especially those which are the result of even a slight Imowledge of conditions and the his- tory of the Soviet Union. That is one of the most important reasons why the imperialists and their uniformed lieutenants are clever enough not to depend en a transparent fiction like the “rape” of another little Belgium or the cosmic philanthropy of making the wor'd safe fore the threadbare) virtles of capitalist democracy. No. It won't be altruism next time. For the fathers of the Navy “second to none” and the breast-beating ex- ponents of “national defense” have adopted and adapted the “enlight- ened self interest” theory of capital- ism heretofore associated with Har- vqrd University's quite respectable momist, Thomes Nixan Carver. e chant, which will soon swell \to # roar, has begun. It isto be ‘our” markets in the Far East which ust be protests’, “cur trade lan: ‘which must be kept open by a few ,;wndred thousand tons of floating and flying armor — the worker, of course, understanding that only by fighting to protect “our trade lanes” and “our” markets (owned by the same capitalists who sweat and starve him at home) will he be able to pro- tect and insure his share, . y the mimeographed announcement of the Reserve Officers Association the Minited States, which tells of patridtic activities planned for tional Defense Week” by such organizations as the steel corpora- Seymeur Waldman UNION OF L STREET’S CAPITOL By SEYMOUR WALDMAN. JASHINGTON, Feb. 2.—The Capitol has never been so war- Former S. P. Candidate it is now, except in 1918, when the world was! democracy” and J. P. Morgan & Company was} sept from going to the wall as the fiscal agent of British and} 2 | tions’ Navy League, the reactionary | American Legion leadership, and the | United States Naval Reserve Officers | Association, we read: “Through the Chapters and Posts ie imperialists and jingoes|of the participating organizations, | | Speakers’ Bureaus have been organ- | ized to furnish speakers on National Defense before Civic, Fraternal and Patriotic Organizations as well as Educational Institutions, Essay con- tests are being sponsored among stu- dents at schools and colleges on such subjects as ‘Peace Time Activities of the Army,’ ‘The Economic Value of the Soldier, ‘A Navy Second -to | None,’ ‘Preparadness—A War “Pre- | Ventive,’ “The Navy and Our Trade Lanes,’ etc., with prizes and honor- able mentions to be awarded to the best, thereof.” . ue SUBTLE progression -—- from “Peace Time Activities of the Army,” to the real thing, “The Navy and Our Trade Lanes.” That's what you call propagandizing war-mind- edness. Even the $22,500 a year General John J. Pershing couldn't do better with his “National Defense” contribution, “Our history is replete with the contributions of the Army to our economic and national wel- fare.” And each day the War Depart- ment andthe National Recovery Ad. ministration move closer together. One day Colonel Robert H. Mont- gomery, secretary of the War Poli- cies Commission_and, former member of the War Department General Staff, steps into the picture (labelled as a nationally known accountant and lawyer) as Ohief of the Re- search and Plannizg Division of the N. R, A, Exactly a week later, Jesse I. Miller, former aide-de-camp to the late Major General Crowder, the Provost Marshal General and Judge Advocate General who super- vised the “Selective Draft,” is av- pointed Executive Direcuor of the strike-breaking National Labor Board. Obviously, the approaching strike wave is something which the Administration prefers a militarist to handle, especially one who had such valuable experience supervising “elections” as Miller did im the ca- pacity of United States “umpire of the presidential elections in Nica- ragua.” The adamant and brutal E. T. Weir of the Weirton Steal Cor- poration must be properly supported when the new “election” maneuvre fails. “The Board deemed the ap- pointment of an Executive Director advisable in view of the marked in- crease in the number of cases re- ferred to it by the Regional Labor Boards,” N, R, A. release number 2934 declared, At the same time, the government, through the facade of the Agricul- tural Adjustment Administration, feels sufficiently bold to drop the democratic mask 3 moment to ap- point John Franklin Carter, avowed fascist and co-writer of the program of the Socialist Party Continental Congress, as special advisor tical economy to the AAA, This Carter, aceording to the A.A.A, an- nouncement, “was previously em- ployed by the Department of State as Ecoriomic Advisor to the Division of Western European Affairs and has, for the last two years, been engaged in independent writing.” This “in- dependent writing,” for the most consisted in to part, trying to persuade young Wall Street plutecrats to form a fascist party with Carter as its ideologist, When all the guns are reared, suf- enough lsnes darkening the clouds, el le clour capitalism will come ae ne, nee sunlight openly Po! of fascism and ses. * Fight at U. M. W. A. Soviet Socictist Republics i 7% . Sou? BONDS ereat Payable Quarterly at Chase National Bank of New York vom OFFER -e0s Satety;Throughouiihe sixteenyears of its existence the U,8.8,R. has unfail- ingly met all its finaeial obligations, Gold Stability: the bonds ae ssued in denominations of 100 gold oubles, at a price ef par—i00 gold roubles—and accrued interest. (A gold ouble coniains 0.774234 grams of pure gold.) Principal and interest payments are based upon this fixed quantity of gold, payable in American currency at the prevailing rate of exchange. Obviously, this provision offers protec- ‘ion agatinet lossresulting from pdssible urther depreciation in the dollar, Markets the Sicie Bank of ihe 5. &, R, will repurchase these bonds demand of the holder at any time s{ter ane year from date of purchase, i par and geerued interest. The Teseriptive Cireular D-9 om request SOVIET AMERICAN SECURITIES CORP, 0 Brocd Street New York (O THE Visitors of Camp Nitgedaiget: Comrades : JOST of you still remember the JV joyiul winter sports * and ies during the Christmas yoeram is already arranged for inove days. Spend them with your friends and comrades in your Camp Nitgedaiget, ‘ Conventions Shows Need for Opposition (Continued from Page 4) in this fight for a new party, for a for unemployment insurance, to also become the pioneer for the Labor tions of national cfficials. The miners the fleld DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1934 | Disillusioned With | e S. P. After 15 Years; ‘Now ‘Daily’ Reader Hails “Daily,” ““World’s Best Labor Paper” | | NEW YORK, Feb. years of membership in the Soc! ist Party, that “there was something decidedly wrong with the party,” on the Socialist ticket in Maine writes to the Daily Worker, greet- the world,” Enclosing a contribution to the Daily Worker, Taylor declares that it was after a friend of his had given him a few copies of the Daily Worker that he was confirmed in his decision to leaye that Party. His full letter foliows: Dear Sirs: You will find enclosed $2. Please add to my account and send me three papers each day instead of two, as you have been doing in the past. Your Daily Worker is the best la- bor paper in the world. I was a Socialist for the last 15 years, and at times read the New York Call, the Guardian, and first the Appeal to Reason (that was not so bad), especially for a beginner, Then the last of it I read was the Milwaukee Leader for about a year prior to the last election, At the last election I was running for representative on the Socialist ticket. I run ten votes ahead of my ticket, and when I learned the So- cialist vote, I was downhearted. expected to see the Socialist Party poll about 5,000,000 votes; but to than Debs did in his great campaign 20 years before, just about broke my heart, and I began to think that something must be wrong with the Party. A friend of mine gave me a few Daily Workers and I sooo began to realize that something was decidedly wrong with the Socialist Party. Since then I have been 8 reader of the Daily Worker. Yours truly, H. 8. TAYLOR, Anson, Maine. Nazis Doom Three Workers to Death Admit Two Convicted Though Innocent HAMBURG, Jan, 19 (by mail) — Three young workers, Fischer, Dett- mer, and Helbig have been sentenced to death for taking part in a dem- onstration which was attacked by Nazis, one of whom was killed. The prosecution admitted that Dettmer and Helbig had nothing to do with the Nazi’s death, but the judge who passed sentence said, ‘Dettmer and Helbig were ‘prepared’ to commit the crime. Therefore they must be sentenced as accomplicss.” Nineteen others: arrested at the same time were sentenced to penal servitude totaling 130 years, H. S. Taylor, recently a candidate | ing it as the “best Iabor paper in a learn that they did not poll more} 2—Declaring | [OUR workers have written me a, that he finally discovered, after 15 Bs th . |for the letter expressing their Comm t Party. same time they hesitate to P: me to ad’ support At the join the se them mns of first re~ ar Comrade Hathaway: “ e aro four America workers 2 sympathies are entirely with | the ideats and policies of the Com- munist Party, who shamefacedly read your recent svlondid anoeals to workers to join the ranks of the Party. “We are holding on tooth and nail to an insecure, execrable capi- talist meal ticket, chiefly in the interes‘s of helpless depondents. are confident we speak for thousends in New York City, when we scy that we are itching to align ourselves with our fellow workirs in our common struggle, were it not for the fact that we work at | Jobs which are not unionized (ele- | vator men, doormen, etc.), and | would be immediately fired, were | it to leak out that we were inclined toward Communism. As it is, some of us are morked men, bocause, as you knew, Comrede Hathaway, a Commun’st is a Communist every hour of the day, the meantime, we go along buying our faverite Daily every day and rerdering financial help to the limit of our scant resources, “We would rreatly appreciate your perscnal advics at your con- venience, through the columns of the ‘Daily? and a sta‘ement of the Porty's attitude toward our species. “Toward a vas‘lv incveased cir- culation for the ‘Daily’! “Comradely yours “Four Workers.” | . HT AM glad to give these workers my |4 advice through the columns of the Daily Worker, as I know ‘full well that their problem is one which faces many hundreds of workers, More= over, I feel particularly comnetent to answer their questions understand- ingly: years ago I had to face the same problem myself! a And my advice, comrades, based on my own experience, ts simply this: Join the Communist Party! + But before presenting my reasons for this conclusion let me first sav a few words in reply to the last cuestion raised by these comrades: the attitude of the Partv to thers “whose sympathies are entirely with the ideals and policies of the Com- munist Party.” Today such workers number many thousands. ‘The Communist Party, comrades, values such workers very highly. They support and aid us in carrying through our class struzgle policies in hundreds of workers’ organiza- tions. They circulate our press pnd Nterature. Their financial sunport to our press js no small factor in keen- ing our press alive. In thousands ot ways their support is indispensable. Morover \their number constantly erows, reflecting the growing strength and influence of the Party to which they, by their support contribute. They are the reservoi~ from which the new members of the Party are | Daily” Editor Replies to Four Workers Asking Personal Advice Write They Are Ardent Supporters of the Party and Enthusiastic Readers of the Daily, and Tell of Their Reasons for Not Joining By C. A. BATHAWAY { C, A. HATHAWAY recruited. Yes, comrades, we place a@ high value on our sympathizers. We. appreciate their help. os Jee. Bot # point is soon reached when eyery sincere sympathizer answer for himself the Whet keeps me out of the Commu- nist Party—the organized, traincd | and dice!plined vanguard of the pro- | ‘otarian rovo'ut) ‘This is the ques- tion now squarely faced by friends, the “four workers.” They have two fears—the loss of | ‘heir jobs and responsibility for their | dependents! Both ave certainly seri- | ous problems, But do they “justify | rema‘ning outside the Communist | Party? | I once thought so, But then ba concluded that the very insecurity cf my job and the very responsibility | for my dependents were precisely the reasons why it was necessary to enter into the revolutionary working class | movement, in my case, first into the Socialist Party, and then, in 1919, | when the Party was formed, into | the Communist Party, I have never regretted that decision, \ | What is the other alternative, com- rades? You can attempt to hold on to your “insecure, execrable capitalist meal ticket, chiefly in the interests ef helpless dependents.” But what really happens? With the workers unorganized and passively trying to merely “hold on," that “capitalist | meal ticket” becomes more ineornre and the workers’ life becomes still mere unbearable. The cond! both the workers and their dents become worze, cof my | HE experiences of the past four and one-half years should be con- elusive. Millions of workers, the moct conse:vative and the most revo- lutionary alike, have beon thrown out of jobs. Part-tims work has become universal, Relief hes been held down fo starvation levels. Wages been reduced to a mere fractic-: of the wazes of “prosperity days.” The whole burden of the crivis has been Dlaced on the backs of the workers and their dependents, their wives and children. BILL GEBERT ‘The whole life of V. I, Lenin was devoted to building an orzanization of the workers for the purpose of overthrowing capitalism, to establ'*h the rule of the workers, and to build & classless, a socialist society, To achieve this aim Lenin, as nobody before him, clearly understood the teachings of Marx and Engels, that the working class is the only revolutionary class in the capitalist society which is cancble 0° achieving the aims, provided it is led by its conscious rolitical Party, the van- guard of the proletariat. In his very early years Lenin under- took the task to build such a Party in Russia, In the years 1893-94 Lenin undertook to organize groups of in- dustrial workers in the shops, based on factory organization, The workers whom Lenin began to organize had grievances, such as long hours, low wages, brutality of the foremen, fines; and on the basis of these grievances Lenin began to build a movement. He understood that this represents the entry of the workers upon the path of struggle leading from elementary de- mands to higher stages—toward the struggle for the abolition of capital- ism. It was his profound understand- ing of the historic role of the prolet- ariat which goye him unlimited faith in the revolutionary energy of the working closs. From the very beginning Lenin em~- Phasized the point that once the working class movement will enter the revolutionary path it will unquestion- ably be victorious. But Lenin, the more than that organization alone is not suffi- cient. “Without revolutionary théery,” he proclaimed, iid age tg Png Tevolutionary movement - voted much attention to theoretical incible power when the ideological unity of the principles of uniting it, is sustained by the material. unity of organizations, uniting millions of toilers into an army of the working class. Before this army, neither the rotten power of Russian Tsarism, nor decaying world capitalism, will be able to Understanding the Masses _ Lenin waged a relentless struggle against any deviations from Marxism. He saw in the slightest deviation from Marxism an influence of non-prole- tarian, enemy ideology and therefore he centered his attack upon the alien and enemy influences within the e ene Lenin Taught How to Lenin, Builder of Communist Part opel Observe the Life of the Masses Mensheviks, and Trotskyites. In his criticism and struggle against all these deviations, he was merciless to the point that many, who did not under- stand hi maccused him of being “sec- | tarian,” Lenin answered this charge, | declaring: “Tt is true, we are taking away from the influence of the bourgoisie, from the. wavering elements, the advanced workers, and just because of this we are uniting ourselves, our Party, with the life of the broadest masses of workers, and only such a movement which bases itself upon the toiling masses. led consciously by the proletariat, which traws hundreds, thousands and millions, which from slogans goes to actions, realizes the desires of the millions of workers,” ‘ . In this lies the secret of Lenin’s organizational ability and his under- standing of the masses, Lenin taught us how to observe the life of the masses in changing situations— to raise new slogans, disregarding the old which endanger the Party to the point of separating it from the mas- ses. In everey situation Lenin’s ob- jective was to rally the broadest mas- ses in struggle, While Lenin saw clearly the need of developing activity around the smallest grievances of the masses, he had constantly before him the main objective and the tasks of the prole- tariat, This sensitiveness to the rela- tions of immediate demands to the tain objective enabled him to raise the proper slogans in the situation that called for direct action, as was the case in the 1905 revolution, and finally in the revolution of 1917, Lenin polemized against all those who attempted to solve the social, economic, and political problems through any other means than the; organization of the masses. “The pro- letariat,” Lenin emphasized, “has no other way in the struggle for power except organization, The power of the working class lies in its organiza- tion. Without organization the prole- tariat is like nothing, Organized, it is everything.” ‘The Factory Our Fortress As to the role of the Party, Lenin stated: “The class consciousness of its vanguard manifests itself among other things, in its ability to organ- ize itself, By organizing itself it gains a single will and this single | | tivity among the petty-bourgeois sands, millions, becomes the will of the class.” The Communist Party, the party of Lenin, must thoroughly understand one of the principal bases of ‘is or- ganization, namely, the shop’ nucleus. “The Factories are our Fortresses,” Lenin declared, This teaching is not! yet fully understood in the ranks of our Party, We still do not organize our work in such a way that.we base ourselves in the shops, mines, and| mills; and in this lies our basic weak~ nesses, z The guide for the work of our Party 4s the Open Letter, which placed the question before us in the following manner: “If the Party intensifies its ac- | | | masses without at the same time \\and above all strengthening its basis in the big factories and arhong the most important sections of the . American working class, then ‘the donger arises that the Porty, having only weak contacts with the decisive section of American workers, will be driven away ‘from its proletarian base, and instead of leading the petty-bourgeois sentiments, illusions and petty-bourgeois methods of work.” : There arises, therefore, the question of developing cadres, of leaders from among the workers in the shops, mills, and mines. It was the workers in the metal industry and other industries in Russia who were the organizers and leaders of the successful revolution; today they are the builders of Social ism, To become a mass Party of the American proletariat, ours must be- come a Party primarily of the work-~ ers in the ic industries, By thus strengthening its base will the Party be able much more effec- tively to influence and lead in strug- gles in the toiling masses, the Negro people, the impoverished farmer, pro- fessionals, etc. The Communist Party can become the vanguard of the American work- ing class in the words of Lenin: “Firstly, by the class-conscious- ness of the proletarian vanguard and by its devotion to the Revolu- tion by its steadiness, spidit and self-sacrifice and heroism. Sec- ondly, by its ability to mix with the toiling macses, to become intimate and, to @ certain’ extent, if you will, to fuse itself with the proletarian masses Pema, but also with os non-proletarian toilers, Thirdly, . the soundness of the political ship, carried on by this vanguard, and by its correct political strategy end tactics, based on the idea that the workers by their own experience must convince themselves of the | class power, toward Soviets and So- have | >| where they can most effectively Moreover, the capitalist class, not content with the misery and suffer-} ing they've already brought to the| world, i= now embarking on a} course. loading to fascist terror against the masses and to a new| imperia: slaughter in which the workers will again be called upon to serve as cannon fodder, The close- ness of war is shown not only by the feverish army and navy buildii | program, but particularly by the “na- tional pteparedness week” now set | for Feb. 12 to 22. From our past ex- periences we know that “prepsred- | s" days and weeks are the fore-| runners of war. This drive toward h is the very center of the| 1t program, will be accomna- | nied by a speedier drive toward fas-| cism, Under such circumstances can any} worker be satisfied merely with} “holding on tooth and nail to an insecure, execrable capitalist meal | | ticket?” Is this really the coucse, comrades, which leads to the pro-| | | lool | tection of the interests of your} “helpless dependents’ | Pear aie IRANKLY,’ comrades, I think not! | Such is a very short-sighted out-| You and the Ii kK. It leads to a day by day un-| to greater suffering for your depen-| dents, Moreover, it makes the carry-| unions. Organization in the Commu-| nist Party. Struggle for improved conditions, Struggle for jobs. Strug-| gle against war and fascism, That is the only road which will establish | the security of your job and give| pretection to your dependents, That is the road over which the working class must travel toward working) cialism, | And remember, comrades, a work-| ing class which merely “holds on” and does not fight for the mainte- nance and improvement of its living standards could never even dream of | the seizure of power. It is in the day) to day struggles of the wersers tha: the army of proletarian revolution is organized, trained and disciplined. The vanguard of that army is ths Communist Party. | Soe GEC) OU say, comrades, “We work at| jobs which are not union‘aed and would be immediately fired were it to leak out that were inclined toward Communism.” Here you raise two problems. As to the first, I would advise you to get in touch with the leading com- rades of the Trade Union Unity League, 799 Broadway, New York City. They will be glad to discuss with you ways and means of setting up trade un‘on organization to protect yocr jobs, improve your conditions, and Win an improved existence for your dependents, Now the second problem, the dan- ger of being “immediately fired were it to-leak out that we were inclined toward Communism,” Here I am going to let you in on a hitle secret. Communists should al- ways work on the job, striving to win their fellow workers for their views, As you comrades correctly put it, “A Communist is a Communist every hour of the day.” But, comrades, there is another side to the! question: A Communist must learn to work carefully, par- ticulsrly on the job. We don’t want our comrades off the job, Weswant them on the job reach and convince the other work- ers. This means that, so far as the boss is concerned, we have to learn to work underground, illegally. We have to learn to reach the ears of the workers, without having our ac- tivities reach the ears ei the boss, Thousands of good Communist agitators and organizers are daily carrying on their activities, acting as a Communist every hour of the day, without losing their jobs. Prob- ably Communists, good active Com- munists, by working carefully, by or-! ganizing support around themselves, | have been more successful than the workers generally in “holding on tooth and nail to an insecure, exec- rable capitalist meal ticket” during the past four and one-half years of crisis. a Bae (O, comrades, joining the Commu- nist Party does not necessarily in~ crease the insecurity of your job. If you work well, organizing your fel- low workers, fighting collectively with them for improved conditions, it most frequently increases the secur- ity of your job. In all cases no job is really secure unless it is made secure by the organized power of the workers, by powerful trade unions accepting the revolutionary leader- shiv of ‘the Communist Party. Here, I particularly stress the im~- portance of the Communist Party, because trade unions without the basic Marxist-Leninist —_ teachings brought to them by conscious Com- Mmunist fighters, easily lose their bearings and degenerate into mere tools of the bosses, The understand- ing, the guidance, the leadership of the Communist Party is necessary in every workers’ organization. That is why under all circumstances it is necessary to build the Communist Party, as the revolutionary vanguard of the whole organized working class movement, as the leader of the toil- ing masses as a whole. I have stated my case. T know from my own experience that this advice is sound, I urge the “Four Workers,” and the hundreds like them, to join the Communist Paty. This course alone—the building of a powerful revolutionary working class movement—will stop the assaults of the capitalists, will bring us security, will bring us victory over our class which led to victory over Russian Cot and capitalism, when the grea’ Persecution was practiced, will also lead us to a Soviet America, class as represented by the Social - Revolutionaries, Economists, will of thousands, hundreds of thou- soundness of this political leader- ship, strategy and tactics.” Page Five Why Communism? Only When You Understand the Malady Can You Find the Proper Cure The following is the first chapter of the mphlet “WHY COMMU- Comrade M. J O'gin. “Daily” yeccived letters from workers who praised it highly. The janguage ef the pamphlet is simple and popular. The price is 10 cents, M. J. OLGIN rker, You have had a ur F mber of ye you mana ithful d to get worker Perhap: nev irked up a few dollars a . Perhaps you marricd ing. One nice morning you are told your services 2 no longer needed In thrown out they say. The em work for you. He he shuts his pl: | you remain gees toh: tr or abroad to have time. He does not care to think what will hapr And come to th are not a stranger to this fo mill er sh Xxou and the have built it. You and t you have creat: all the mac all the ray which is n power that puts motion into dead must | dermining of your living standards,| matter of every industrial undertak- question: | ing, You have much at stake in this es- ing out of Roosevelt's fascism andj tablishment—your whole life. It ts ; War program easier for the American} yours, more than the o ‘s. It is bourgeoisie. | part of your ve: elf, Only through organization and| A New Thouzht struggle, comrades, can this program| Suppose now, n you are’ told to be blocked. Organization in the trad2| go, you refuse to budge. Suppose Genius of the World Revolution Y. I. LENIN many of you get together and say that you are going to stay where you belong and continue working because this is the only source of your liv hood. Suppose you say you are going to produce for the benefit of yourself and others. This thought may be strange to you, Yet consider what would happen, i The owner, who has never worked and who does not know how to work, would call the police, Most probably the riot squad would appear. Perhaps the militia would be called out. There would be clubs and riot guns and tea® gas bombs galore. You would be clubbed and shot at and many of you imprisoned, tried and convicted—for the sole crime of wanting to contitue working at the machines and with the materials you and the like of you have produced. Has it ever occurred to you that such a state of affairs is wrong? z Take another example, You are a tenant. For ten or fifteen or twenty years you have been living in a house. You have paid your rent regularly. You have paid off your flat several times over, Your landlord smiled at you as long as you were a “good” tenant. But now you have lost your job. You have not paid your rent for several months. A sheriff comes. sidewalk. You are “evicted.” Yet you know perfectly well that it isn’t the landlor@ who built the house. you and others like you who have produced all the building material and who have actually constructed the house. Besides, you made the landlord rich hy your payment of rents, Suppose now, you refuse to quit the house. Suppose you band together with your fellow tenants and declare you are not going to permit anybody to drive you out into the street, You are a@ proud American; you will not allow anybody to turn you into a beg- gar. Again, you would be confronted with police clubs, courts and jail. Sirance But Truc Now there are some notions that have to be made clear before we pro- ceed. We said that the owner “has wever worked,’ You may disagree with this statement, Doesn't a fac- tory owner spend days and days in his office? Doesn't a banker keep of- fice hours? Doesn't he go to the coun+ try club and gdlf links to rest after his strenuous labors? The papers and the preachers and the professors tell you that the business man is “doing his share” in production, They even say that he is an indispensable part of the industria’ organism. This is one of those incorrect notions that are being inculcated in the minds of our people from childhood on, In “set, the sma'l husiness man may still do some work by himself: the grocer works behind the counter, the cob- bler works together with his few men. But the bigger the business, the less work remains for the actual owner. What does Morzan know about the operation of railroads and mines and restaurants he controls? What does Rockefeller know about work in a coal mine or an oil refining plant? Re- move Ford from the top of his pyra- mid and nobody will notice the loss. We Con Work Without Them Big business, large scale production .| duce nothing, They transfer Your furniture is thrown out on the| Th is} eers, ti ists, che s to actual oper: i yet, it is they w pduction c depriving be to close the ers of their sole ing a living. Those wh juce decide for those who ors and brokers, real es- ors and promoters—the ce anything ess although they ha pro- or s @ claim fruits of else's labor, “Bed Luck” Gag her question is that of “bad * You have been taught to think that when you are out of work it i: st your misfortune. “Business is bad,” “there is a depression,” they say @ ody is to blame.” You are giver to understand that economic power: are beyond human control. You are j told that a depression is something | Nike an earthquake, like s thunder- | storm, like an avalanche. And yet human ingenuity has learned how to control some of the most formidable rces of nature. The human mind harnessed electricity, which pro- the lightning. Human knowl- edge is accomplishing things which | look miraculous. The tropics and the | poles, the air and the bowels of the | earth are all coming under control of |man. Why should he not be able to control the production and distribu- | tion of goods that are vital for his | life? Isn’t the Soviet Union a living example that this can be achieved? Why should there be @ situation like | the one we suffer under in the U.S.A | at present where millions of able- | bodied workers, capable and willing | to work, are being consumed by idle- | ness and hunger, while excellent ma- | chines and mountains of raw material | are lying around unused? Is it so dif- | ficult efter all for human genius to organize a constant flow of goods which would satisfy everybody's needs | with nobody compelled te go without | food, clothing and shelter? Humanity | has learned to master the forces of nature. The progress of science is tremendous, New and ever newer in- ventions are made to aid human la- | bor. At the “Century of Progress Ex- | hibition” at Chicago, they showed cot- | ton-picking machines, each of which | does the work of 16 to 48 men, There | are excavators and ditch diggers that do the work of 20 or 30 men. Between 1922 and 1929 the productivity of American labor increased 100 per | cent. Why should the terrible crash }in 1929 have had to come? Why should we have had to suffer those long weary years of the most terrible crisis in the history of this country? Is It Natural To Starve? We cannot blame this plight of mil- lions on “natural forces.” There is nothing natural in such a situation. It is not natural that men should go hungry while the means to produce ood are close at hand. It is not na- tural that a government should order the destruction of three and half mil- lion bales of cotton by plowing under the year’s harvest on ten million acres of land in the South ths way it was done by the government of the U.S.A. while so many are badly dressed. It is not natural that there should be poverty in the midst of plenty. It is not natural that milk should be dumped into rivers while babies are starving, It is not natural that the most ingenious means of production and transportation should be rusting awey while those who produce them and can operate them are being wast- |ed away by starvation and disease. All this is most unnatural. It is in- sane. One word about the law. You have been taught to respect the law which appears in the shape of the police- man or the judge. You were taught that this is “justice.” Yet where is the justice of your being thrown out into the street for non-payment of rent? Where is the justice of your being dismissed ‘rom the mines after many years of work? When the owner ejects you forcibly from his premises, this is not called force; when you resist, they say you are using force and vio- lence. When the sheriff puts your be- longings on the sidewalks, that’s law. When you break the padlock and re- place your furniture in its old place, that’s unlawful. Why is it that vio- lence against the workers is law and resistance to violence is unlawful? “Protect.mg Private Property” One more instance, The workers declare a strike. They have been told | many times by many fine gentlemen | that there is a partnership between the owners and the workers, that they must co-operate for-the benefit of the industry. When partners dis- agree on a certain issue they fight out their dispute. Suppose you decide to fight it out by refusing to work You are entitled to do so under the law, You organize a picket line, You Say you are partners to this plant and you want to fight if out with your employers. The employers try tm bring in scabs. You refuse to admit the scabs into the plant. Immediately -police arrive. The law protects the Seabs and attacks the strikers. ‘There must be something wrong in a “law” that professes equality of employer and employee but at the same time uses all its power to op- press the latter in favor cf the for- mer. There must be a mozstrous lie in the statement that employer and employee are partners to the business and equal before the. State. We think it is urgent for the work- ers to look more deeply into these matters. Moreover, it is our deep conviction that workers who do not to the | concern themselves with these vita problems are doing grave harm tc of the modern type is conducted by all kinds of specialists with the aid Pesan Oe ee Jotn the sad co-operation of workers, Engin- themselves and their class. Only when you understand the malady can. you find the proper cure,