The Daily Worker Newspaper, March 5, 1934, Page 4

oer Fe Four Without a decisive turn Party to work among the young workers, a success Against the attacks of class, against fascism, th Preparations ior war tablishment of a rev em government—S: Possible. Any talk Majority of the workir revolution without work among young workers, The present under glect of daily sy the young work remnant Party, acc.nst yentir.. declares “. The 8th Convent # all leading bodies and Central Committee, to est control in the ca tasks laid down in The 8th Convention derestimation or neglect o is incompatible with the c: MM leading positions in nist Party. of " of ie work amc a reform esp Vi indelibly left their m amd mind of the generation of w ing class youth. workers have be industry, while 1 i ome out of school on Selves unwanted Market. From young people under 24 years of ag afte unemployed today, a large portion of whom have never = 4 ked ‘The Hoover administration, and ment, with th of L, and the Soc demagosically talked of se youth back to t in practice facilities, which h 4 Wholesale closin: = throwing of hund More youth into the army o! ployed. ] At the same tim lions of u ved by Wages, increase worsen nu of Roosevelt reds of thou. 4 of fueminst child tat or, sands of young in industry, N.R.A, has worsened conditions of youth Five to six miilion youth jobless DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, MONDAY, MARCH 5, 1934 pro- | tion. The preparations duction, the desire ap labor, has also resulted in marked increase in the percentage Girls are being and boy | brutal expl certificates were the majority, 52 per a constant decline e of youth employed in the basic industries with the ex- However, in the } Past yean proportion of young workers in these industries has grown | considerably, due to the special dis- criminatory features of the N.R.A. | codes which make much more profit- ‘able the exploitation of youth labor. ‘The Roosevelt government has not ved but, worsened the conditions of the {oiling youth. I codes, it hes legalized the discrimination of young workers and exempted large numbers of them from even the low wage provisions. As @ result of this the youth suffer first from the tremendous rise in Prices due to inflation. Through Ahese codes the government has also thrown thousands of children out of Swork with no provisions made for their upkeep. The Roosevelt govern- ment has created forced labor camps @t 2 dollar a day wage for 350,000 imemployed youth and has herded thousands of homeless youth into transient forced labor camps at the Coolie wage of 90 cents a week. Eyen worse are the conditions of the Negro youth, of whom from 80 to 85 per cent are jobless. Under Di sthe Roosevelt administration, even Thus, in every sense of the word, whole generation of America. Youth are growing to maturity ¥ Ho prospects of jobs or future. Drive from pillar to post, refused relief, - millions of youth have been forced % leave home to become migrant waifs, taking food and shelter as best they can get it. Those working are 4 constantly haunted with the possi- vs . bility of unemployment, are speeded- up, are placed on the most monoto mous jobs, with no prospect of ev: improving their 1s. Even thos youth of petty- -bourgeois parentage stati Through the'} jmore than previously, the Negro | youth are discriminated against in ing work or relief; Jim-Crowed a iscriminated against in school; | terrorized and lynched. | ‘The farm youth also faces condi- ae as bad as those of their prole- n brothérs and sisters in the es. The arbitrary government cut- ting of sowed acreage, plus the grow- ing disproportion, due to monopoly control, between the low prices re- ceived for farm produce and the high prices paid for industrial commodi- ties, has created conditions in which the farm youth can find no place for themselves. They are forced more and more to leave their farms and homes trying to get jobs in the cities, to no avail. At the same time those who remain behind must help carry the burdens of mortgages, taxation, foreclosures—and among the share- croppers in the South, a growing in- debtedness and peonage. Youth have no future under capitalism TN itcte 3 find themselves being} into the rariks |of the unemployed proletarian youth | The present young generation isin the main a product of crisis conditions, is truly a genération which brutally feels the degeneration and decay of capitalist society. Only the success- ful struggle for a new social order —for a revolutionary workers’ gov- ernment, will liberate the younger generation in America from starva- tion, mi: war and unemployment e | will bring peace, happiness and the | er reatest opportunity for every young man, woman and child in the United States. | Mititancy Grows edeneriid Youth | ‘Realizing more and more that only aes against the offensive of the . le can give them the pros- of a better life, the young work- duting the period of the crisis more and more militant, They Aetively participated in all the eco- and political struggles of the Masses. The radicalization of itself tremendous strike wave of 1933, te Spontaneous wave of strikes ‘actions in the 0.0.C. camps, and their participation in the unem- struggles, especially the state d haticnal hunger marches. ae Re process of radicalization also other strata of the youth. nds of young farmers weré into the battle-front of the masses. The young Negro ers played an important must be clear that although the ig Workers are among the most it in all struggles, due to the ; that they are a post-war gener- Which did not live through the and experiences of the last } and have in the main up fecently, never come in cor }. the policies and ages of these misleaders. It us, the revolutionary move- to conduct special activity the. youth and through the for their demands, teach Social-fascists try mislead young workers into new federal unions. In this manner, the radicalization of thousar of these young workers | were utilized by the Social-fascists part im the struggles of the Negro people of the Black Belt. In the past two years there has also emerged a revolutionary student movement under the leadership of the working class, The growing political consciousness of the toiling youth can especially be seen by their active participation in the anti-war movement as illustrated by the U. &. Congress Against War and the numerous anti-war confer- ences and demonstrations. But this radicalization among the young workers is still of an uneven character and as yet of a low poli- tical level. This was expressed es- pecially in such strikes as the mining and textile strikes, where the youth were. most active and militant, but where the majority still had confi- dence in the N.R.A. and in the a. F. of L, leadership. | who are their friends and their ene- mies, Because we did not do this in mining, textile, and other indus- tries, the A. F. of L. was able to | increase, its influence and organiza- srength among the young and recruited thousands of in their attempt to divert the mili- tancy of the young workers into re- formist channels. The growing radicalization of the young generation has increased the 5 and Karl Liebknecht, organizer and leader of the first international social- youth movement, murdered in 1919 by of the Social-democratic government, Ebert, Noske, Sheidemann. Prussian officers under orders the youth, has frightened the whole ruling class into intensifying the struggles for the masses of youth. The aim of the bourgeoisie is to divert the discontent of the young * Draft Resolution Proposed for 8th Convention of C. P., U. S. A. The resolution printed on this page is a draft resolution of the Political Buro of the Central Committee, Communist Party, U. S. A, to be submitted to the 8th National Con- vention on the tasks of the Party in winning the working youth. This resolution, together with the resolu- tion of the Central Committee published some time ago, form the basis for the pre-conven- tion discussion throughout the Party. All Party and Y. C. L. units should discuss the above resolution in the light of their tasks in masses. We especially invite Party and League members and all workers, young and old, to write to the pre-convention columns of the Daily Worker their criticisms and opinion of the resolution printed today. On the basis of the discussion throughout the ranks of the Party on this resolution, Comrade Hathaway, member of Central Com- mittee Communist Party and Editor of the Daily Worker, will make a special report to the 8th National Convention of the Party on its tasks in winning the generation of work- leading the daily struggles of the working ing class youth. | generation into reactionary channels so as to help it solve its\crisis at the expense of the masses through fas- cism and war. The New Deal administration, in its drive to war and fascism, includes jas @ central plank the, militarization | and fascization of the young gener- |ation., Already 350,000 youth have been placed in conservation forced labor camps under army control and modeled after the Hitler youth camps. Transient camps have been created for. homeless youth. The government plans to include in its forced labor system no less than a million youth by the end of 1934. These youth the government is training, not only for a new war, but as fascist shock troops against the revolutionary working class, New Deal militarizes youth | sides the open military and ced labor system, we find more and more of the hep ibrn Play Sed mass organizations, (“Y’s,” 4H Clubs, | A.A.U,, Christian Endeavor, etc.) be- ing united under government control. The Amateur Athletic Uniorl is be- coming more and more part of the war machine. The Settlement Houses and Community Centers have all been centralized under city and state control. The importance of these organizations in influencing the growing generation can be under- stood when we realize that the ma- jority of young workers in the United States are directly or indirectly con- nected with these organizations. Since the crisis, mahy of these or- ganizations have changed their methods of work in accordance with the mood of the youth. They, take @ More “critical” approach, use ex- tensive demagogy, and often pretend to befriend the young workers in their struggles for better conditions. The reasop why the masses of young workers during the period of the crisis were not won away from the influence of the bourgeoisie and its social-fascist agents in the work- ing class, is that we, the revolution- ary movement, have had a narrow departmental approach towards the youth and fafled to realize their de- cisive importance in the class struggle. It must be understood that without winning the young workers in the factories for our policy, it is impos- sible to destroy the influence of the Social-fascists, especially the A. F. of L. Without winning the youth, it is impossible to defeat the wave of chauvinist terror and lynching of the Negro masses, and to successfully, under the leadership of the working class, conduct the struggle. for the liberation of the Negto people. With- out winning the youth to fight against fascism and+ war, it is im- bs ible to defeat the growing fasci- zation of the young generation (C.C.C. camps, Transient Camps, R.O.T.C., N.G., ¥.M.C.A., etc.) Without winning the youth, it is impossible when war starts, to turn it into Civil War. Who fails to understand this de- cisive role of the youth in the class struggle, fails to see what is neces- sary for the successful economic and political struggles of the working class and for the ultimate victory of the proletarian revolution. The 8th Convention emphasizes that there are still remnants of reformist ideology in our ranks which underestimates the importance and role of the youth. The convention emphasizes the neces- sity of conducting a sharp struggle against the methods of working from hand to mouth without perspective The Y.M.C.A’s and Y.W.C.A’s have consciously tried to influence the youth in the factories, setting up in- dustrial relations departments, hold- ing discussions on unionism, etc., all with the aim of furthering class col- laboration. This role is more and more being played by the Settlement House and Community Center movement, which involves more youth in its activities than any other form of organiza- tion, This movement has such strength because it offers the youth a variety of activities at low fees, and covers all of its work with a liberal cloak. At the same time there is taking Place a development of open fascist organizations among the youth, (Sil- ver Shirts, Young America). These organizations are attempting to arouse the bitterest chauvinist incite- ment among the masses against the Negro people, and aping the Hitler anti-semitic propaganda. Party has not realized importance of youth or goal, which hifiders our Party from real Communist work among the young generation, wages; against the . life-destroying speed-up; against working at hazard- ous occupations; against night work; for equal pay for equal work; for a six-hour day at full pay for young workers under 18; for vocational training at full pay, ete.; c) without hesitation bring forth new young ele- ments, especially young girls, into the leadership of the unions and fight for the right of youth to hold the highest positions; d) work for the creation of youth committees and youth sec- tions in all local unions. These shall help draw the young workers into general union activity, get them to attend local meetings, formulate their own demands, etc.; ¢) organize cul- tural and sport activity. | Must lead economic struggles of youth ‘The Party must determinedly turn the Y.C.L. towards participation and leadership of the economic struggles of the young workers, especially the strike struggles. All ¥.C.L. members who are eligible for membership in trade unions must join and work in these unions (A. F. of L., Independent and T.U.U.L.) In the reformist unions the Y.C.L, mut mobilize the young workers behind their demands into revolutionary oppositions, Youth work must also be started in company unions, especially in steel. The Party must in all of its work help the League to carry through a policy of concentration at the most important industries and factories. To accom- plish this the Party districts are in- structed to select key factories in which there are Party units, where the Party must with the cooperation of the League tindertake to build Y.C.L, units in the shortest possible time. The Convention instructs the Central Committee to check up and control the carrying through of this task. Work Among Unemployed Is Weak 2—The Convention points out to the Party fraction in the unemploy- ment movement and to the Y. ©. L., the extreme weakness of our work among the young unemployed. The Communist workers must: (a) be in the forefront of the struggle of the young workers for relief and insur- ance: (b) fight every act of discrimi- nation of young unemployed and single workers; (c) organize the young unemployed into the unemployment councils and assemblies and boldly draw them into leadership; (d) create youth committees of the young un- Joe York, Young Communist League organizer, murdered by the gun thugs of Henry Ford during a march of Ford workers in Dearborn on March 8, 1932. | Taske of the Party in work among youth The first task of the Party and the revolutionary organizations is to get connected with the broad masses of young workers and to help organize them to struggle for their immediate needs, In order to fight against bourgeois ideology and for the political and economic demands of the youth, it is necessary to mobilize ideologically and organizationally the Party and all revolutionary organizations of the working class for work among the young generation. Without in any way weakening the special respon- sibility of the League and its lead- ership, the Party as a whole and every Party member must carry on systematic daily work among the youth. This is connected with the task of building the Y.C.L. into the main instrument of the Party in its work among the youth. In the period since the last convention, the Y.O.L. has grown and become strengthened both organizationally and ideologically, on the basis of the struggle for the line of the Party and Y.C.L., against right opportunism, the tnain danger, and against sectarianism, which in the past had exceptionally strong roots in the Y.CL. The League leadership has been strengthened politically and ideologically. This does not, how- ever, change the main fact that the Y¥.CL. still remains a small organi- zation, not connected with the basic masses of young workers. ‘The task of the Party is to prepate the League for leadership of the working class youth in the impending decisive class battles. The Party must guarantee that the League within the shortest possible time becomes @ mass organization, larger in size than the Party, in every sense the Closest co-worker of the Party in the struggle for the majority of the work- ing class, | Urgent Tasks 1—The Convention expresses its dissatisfaction with the work of the Party fractions in the trade unions for neglecting the work of winning the young workers. All. Communist workers in trade unions, (A. F. of L., revolutionary and independent), must vities of the Social-fascists among be in the forefront to organize the young workers for the revolutionary class struggle. The Communist work- ets must: a) lead the fight against all discrimination of young workers, such as, seniority rights; proposals of A. F. of L. to fire all youth under 18; discrimination of apprentices and learners; high initiation and dues fees, ett.; b) fight for the special de- mands of the youth; for higher 4 employed to be instruments of the youth in formulating their special de- mands and organizing special youth actions; (e) organize sport and cul- tural activities and young unemployed clubs as additional forms of work among the unemployed youth. Develop United Front Against Forced Lal System 3—The Patty and League must guarantee the development of a mass struggle against the forced’ labor sys- tem which has as its aim to militarize and fascisize the millions of unem- ployed youth. Although work has been conducted in the C. C. C. camps during the past year, the Convention declares that the hundreds of strikes and actions that took place are only indicative of the mass upsurge among these youth and the possibilities of developing a mass movement in these camps. In the work in these camps it is necessary: (a) to develop the broadest united front struggles around the specific grievances of the boys; (b) to connect these up with the whole nature of the camps, demand- ing the immediate ousting of army officers, the right of the boys to run the camps by their own elected com- mittees, against all military drill, eto.; (c) to establish Y. C. L. nuclei and Y. C. L. papers in these camps. Win Youth ih Mass Organization. 4—The Party, together with the League, must start mass work in the youth organizations controlled by the bourgeoisie, especially the Settlement Houses and industrial “Y's.” Party and League members should work in these organizations to win the youth for the program of class struggles, and to set up in these organizations Y. C. L. nuclei. The Communists in these organizations must conduct a strug- gle for the right of the young work- ets to elect their own leadership, for- mulate their own program, etc. The Party considers the work in these or- ganizations as one of the central tasks of the Party and Y. C. L. in fighting the influence of nationalism, chauvin- ism, and patriotism among the young workers. Build United Front Against War and Fascism 5—The Party and League must guarantee an immediate improvement of the anti-militarist and anti-war activity. The Party must guide the ¥. C. L. in reacting to every political question Connected with.the growing war preparations and the militariza- tion of the young generation: (a) Special activity must be conducted in struggling against the military sys- tem (R. O. T. C., O. M. T. C.,, Na- tional Guard, etc); (b) a broad united front movement of youth must _ be built around the Amercican League Against War and Fascism. Broad City and State conferences of youth against war and fascism must be or- ganized and anti-war committees set up in shops, ports, neighborhoods, and mass organizations; (c) the Party must expose the demagogic promises of the fascists, especially be on. examples of Germany and ‘Italy, where the young workers receive hun- ger, starvation, terror as their lot; (d) in the struggle against war and fascism the Y. ©. L. must expose the betraying “ole of the Social-fascists in Germany and Austria in paying the way for fascism, and the bank- ruptcy and disintegration of the So- Cialis. youth International. We must win the youth in the Y. P. 8. L. and under Socialist influence for our pol- icy of united front struggle around the daily economic and political de- mands of the young workers. We must, by exposing the policies of the Socialist leadership in the U. S., in- crease the recruiting of these youth into the Y. C. L.; (e) the peace policy of the Soviet Union and its achieve- ments in developing a healthy young generation must be explained to the youth of the U.S. The youth must be mobilized and organized for the defense of the U. S. S. R. as the main stronghold of the world revolution; <f) special attention must be paid to winning the girls in industry. These will play an important role in war- time production and must be trained as cadres to take the place of male bento drawn into the military ma- chine , Intensify Struggle for Negro Rights 6—The Party should together with the Y. C. L, mobilize the masses of youth against all chauvirist incite- ment and for the struggle for Negro Tight; (a) the League must become a force in helping the Party to build a mass liberation movement and help to build the L. 8. N. R.; (by The Party must guarantee leadership for @ more energetic struggle against all remnants of white chauvinism in the ¥.,C. L. Through the struggle against chauvinism and for the fights of the Negro people, it must and combat the growing activity of the Negro reformists among the youth; (c) the League must in a Bol- shevik manner fight against the wave of chauvinism which is sweeping the country and expressing itself in the increased lynchings of Negro youth. It must win the white young workers to be in the forefront of the ees for Negro rights, defending Negro youth against lynch mobs even with their own lives; (d) the League must strengthen its work in the Black Belt of the South and among the Negro proletarian youth especially in the steel mills of Birmingham. It must place in the forefront of all its work the slogan of the right of self-deter- mination for the Black Belt. , Work Among Farm Youth 7—In the agrarian regions the Party and League must win the farm youth for the struggle against evic- tions, foreclosures, etc. le fight- ing against taxation of impoverished farmers, we must at the same time demand incteased taxation of rich farmers, industrialists and bankers, in order to once again open the mass or rural schools, improve roads, etc. The Party and Lei against the bat. all fascist organizations (Silver —e-7, | Winning of Working Class Youth Is Task of the Whole Party Shirts) and their ideology, by aiming to unite farm and city youth in one common struggle against monopoly capital. In the United Farmers’ League, Holiday Association, and other farmers’ organizations, the | Communists shall work to establish | youth sections. Build L. 8. U. and Other Mass Organizations 8—The 8th Convention notes that the Communists working in the mass organizations have not yet mobilized these organizations for building mass youth sections as transmission belts to the Y. C. L. These youth sections must be used to work within the cul- tural and sport organizations con- trolled by the bourgeoisie. The lan- guage organizations must be used to counteract the special national fascist groups among the youth of various nationalities (Ukrainian, Italian, Ger- man, Polish, etc.). The task of Com- munists working in trade unions and mass organizations must be to build the Labor Sports Union into a mass organization. Press Must Work to Win Youth 9—The Party press and the Com- munists working on all revolutionary papers must utilize these in reaching the young generation. The weak- nesses of the Party in its work among the youth are especially refiected in the Party press, and especially the Daily Worker, which does not yet per- meate all of its work with a struggle for the young generation. (a) The Convention instructs the Daily Work- er to organize special young worker correspondents, to mobilize through its columns for special youth campaigns, and to speak to the young generation of the need for their fighting for a Soviet America. (b) Every Party lan- guage paper (including the Freiheit) must have a regular English supple- ment for young workers. (¢) Party members working on the Revolution- ary Trade Union Press must imme- Harry Simms, youth organizer of the National Miners Union and Young Communist League member, shot down in cold blood by a com- pany gun-man on February 13, 1932, during the strike of the Kentucky miners. diately be responsible for establishing youth sections of these papers. (d) Youth sections must also appear in all Party shop and neighborhood papers. At the same time the Pariy must issue special popular pamphlets and literature for the youth, Marxist- Leninist literature must reach the widest masses of youth. More revolu- tionary novels and short stories espe- cially based on American life must be issued for the youth, Have Neglected Work Among Children 10—The Party and revolutionary or- ganizations have greatly neglected the work of winning the proletarian chil< dren. For this reason the revolution- ary children’s movement today has only about 12,000 children organized in its ranks. (a) The children’s move- ment must be given guidance and leadership by the Communists in all workers’ organizations and must be built into a mass children’s movement. (o) The Party must fight against the campaign of the government, Socialist Party and A. F. of L. to throw youth and children out of industry with no provisions made, for their mainten- ance. The Party , fights for: “Voca- tional training for’ all youth between 14 and 16, full pay and under trade union supervision. State main- tenance for all child laborers under. 14 who are now employed at no le» than $3 per week. (c) The-Comn} | nists in every workers club, ev trade union local, e' ¥ assembly, must take patronage over at least one children’s group which it. leads and builds. (qd) Parents’ Councils must be organized on a school basis to support the children’s movement and mobilize the working- class parents for free food and cloth- ing for children of unemployed and striking workers, against fire-trap schools, crowded schools, jingoistie teachings and patriotic and militar tic activities of the Boy Scouts anc rl Scouts, etc. (e) The “New Pio-F * must be built into a mass organ for workers’ children. Make “Young Worker” a Mass Paper 11—The Party emphasizes the tm- portance of building the “Young Worker” into a mass organ of the toiling youth. The slight improve- ments in the “Young Worker” in the past months, its growth in circula- tion, are only indications of the pos- sibilities for transforming this paper into a most important agitator, os- ganizer and propagandist of the Y. C. L, among the youth. Raise Political Level of the Y¥. €. b. 12—The carrying brough of the above tasks, the preparations: of the League for the impending decisive class battles, all raise sharply the need for immediately elevating’ the political level of the League and its leadership. The Party must guide the development of systematic Marxist- Leninist education in the Tanks of the Y. C. L. and pay Close. attention. especially to. the development and training of leading youth cadres. Party leading comrades should con- duct classes of League funetionaries and must through other . practical measures raise the ideological level of the whole League. Of greatest im- portance must be the institution of a system of new members classes in the Y. C. L. which will guarantee the educatio’. and training of every new young worker who enters its rank in the priniciples of. Communism. .To- day, when all the class enemies of the Party are intensifying their ac- tivity among the youth, Marxist- Leninist education assumes prime im- portance in the Bolshevisation of the ¥. C. L. and its leadership, Party Must Guide’ ¥. ©, bh. 13—To build the'League as a mass organization it is necessary that ali Party organs from the Central Com- mittee to the unit give close political guidance to the Y. C. L. and feel di- rectly responsible for solving the problems of mass work among the youth. This is to be accomplished byt (a) Every Party Committee (C. C., D. C., Section Committee, Unit Buro), should assign one of its developed, ex~, perienced, responsible members fo: work with the corresponding -Y. C. L body as his major Patty task. (bi, By assigning from all distriets some of the younger elements of-the Party, especially those involved in masse work, for work in the ¥.C.L. It is necessary to conduct an idealogical campaign in the ranks of the Party to get all youth under 23 yéars of age to work as a member of the Y. OC. L. In many districts there are more young workers of League age in the Party than in the Y, C. L. In New, York the registration shows 1, young workers under 24 in the Party, while the whole Y. C. lL. in New Yor! City has only 1,300 members. (c) It necessary to strengthen the Party eore in the League by getting all the active functionaries of the ¥. CO. L, to become members of the Party, with work in the Y, C, L. as their Party task. At present only 2 or 3 per cent of the Y. C. L, are Party members. In connection with this it is necessary to reject the policy of many districts of the Party in taking forces from the Y. ©, L. for other Party work. The Party must strengthen the cadres working among the youth both pol tically and organizationally, | Win youth for struggle for Soviet America We must show all the youth that our whole program of partial de- mands is connected with the struggle for @ revolutionary workers’ govern- ment, for a Soviet America. We must. popularize the achievements of the iy Union and show the youth that the only way out for them, We Wemee combat and expose the bour- geois theories among the youth which aim at instilling illusions and false copes in the myth “nation.” We must contrast the horrible conditions of the youth in the capitalist world with their improved life and freedom in the land of Soviets. We must show them that only Soviet Power can give jobs for all, open the institution of learning for the youth, solve the na- tional question, draw the youth into political life, and tap the creative energy and initiative of the whole generation. We must show the youth that we alone, the Communists, have @ program for them, have a way out. ‘The world closely approaches a new vound of teyolutions and wars. The revolutionary upsurge is rising among the working class and its youth, The danger of fascism and war grow daily. The question of winning the working class youth becomes of decisive ime portance. The work among the youth must become an integral part of all of the work of the’ Party in its strug- gle fot the majority of the oe class. wb j acinar