The Daily Worker Newspaper, March 15, 1934, Page 6

Page Six DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, THURSDAY, MARCH 135, 1934 Daily SHWTRAL ORGAN ConmeNIST 1.5.A. (SECTION OF COMMMENIST INTERMATIONNED | “America’s Onty Working Class Daily Newspaper” FOUNDED 1924 | PUBLISHED DAILY, EXCEPT SUNDAY, BY THE | COMPRODAILY PUBLISHING CO., INC., 50 E. 13th Street, New York, N. ¥. | Telephone: ALgonquin 4-7954. Cable Address: “Daiwork,” New Y N. ¥. Washington Bureau: Room 954, National Press Building, | ington, D.C. | ath Wells St., Room 708, Chicago, Hl Subscription Rates: | Manhattan and Bronx), 1 year, $6.00 $2.00. onth, 0. ts Bronx, and Canada: 1 $5.00; 3 months, $3.00. Weekly, 18 cents; monthly, 75 cents. except $3.50; 3 foreign year, 39.00; THURSDAY, MARCH 15, 1934 Otto Bauer--Savior of Austrian Capitalism leader, spoke to cle reprinted in rom the Jewish Socialist ian Soc yesterda Forward He spoke to the capitalist the working class. To the bou oisie, he explained and apologized that he did his best to bind the hands of the Aus- trian proletariat to restrain them from taking the road of resistance to the advance of Austrian Fas- cism. To the bourgeoisie, he spoke as one who seeks to justify his usefulness to a master. But to the workers he spoke as he has always spoken—as the representative of bourgeois ideology in the ranks of the working cla as the Social- Fascist traitor, cunning, treacherous, skillful in limitless distortions of revolutionary Marxism in der to justify his betrayals of the revolutionary uggles of the proletariat. ruling class and to Bauer paints a picture of himself that will be- come the prototype of Social-Fascist treachery. But his seeming candor, in which he merely exhibits himself as a faithful servant to the ruling class, is the mask for concealing the fact that he still strives to inject the hideous virus of his Social- Fascist poison into the ranks of the revolutionary proletariat. Bauer still is the leading propagator of the cen- tral thesis of world Social-Fascism—that Fascism can be defeated through the peaceful path of bour- geois democracy. His entire article is pervaded with the denial of the revolutionary way out of the | crisis, This revolutionary way out is impossible, he , because of the “superior” forces of capital- ism. What then is the way he offers? It is the road again of the “lesser evil” and the path of bour- geois democracy. But the policy of the “lesser evil” dooms the | working class to yield to the steady advance of Fas- cism, and to yield the very bourgeois democracy Social-Fascism defends! The net result of Bauer's way out of the crisis is a policy of submission to Fascist reaction in the name of “democracy,” and a full acceptance of the capitalist way out of the crisis, masked by Marxist phraseology. He gives lip service in radical phrases to the heroism of the Austrian proletariat. But then he home his real poison: “No one doubted,” he declares in his article, “that the military forces of the government were much stronger than the power of the workers and that the workers could not succeed in struggle against the government.” This is the counter-revolutionary lesson that Norman Thomas also draws from the uprising in Austria. He too in the New Leader (Feb. 24) finds that the lesson of Austria is that it is hopeless for the working class to attempt to overthrow capital- ism through revolutionary means. This is the in- ternational role of Social-Fascism—to infect the | working class with this poison, to get it to accept the capitalist way out of the crisis as a “lesser evil.” (HAT counter-revolutionary lesson does Bauer draw here from the struggles of the Austrian Proletariat? Bauer, after listing an unparalleled series of betrayals that trapped the Austrian work- ing class, draws the lesson that the revolutionary struggles of the Austrian proletariat were “sacri- fices for liberty and democracy,” but were doomed to failure as revolutionary attempts to overthrow the yoke of capitalist wage slavery. The poison of Bauer's article on the Austrian uprising is that it draws a perspective of per- manent counter-revolution, of the permanence of the yoke of wage slavery, of the hopelessness and futility of the proletarian attempts to overthrow the capitalist system and capitalist state power. It is with this poison of defeatism, with the Social- Fascist poison of submission to the “superior force of the government” that Bauer now hopes to con- tinue his counter-revolutionary service to the bour- geoisie. “It is not their fault that the struggle ended so tragically for them for the time being,” Bauer declares, Where then does the fault lie? And it is his | answer given above that contains the heart of his treachery, the desperate, venal attempt to mask the 15-year historic path by which Austrian Social- Fascism paved the way for Austrian Fascism and made its victory, not only possible, but inevitable. Bauer's answer is that the defeat was inevitably due to the overpowering force of the capitalist government. The truth is the contrary. The truth which Bauer's article strives to conceal is that the defeat Was due not to the inherent weakness of the Aus- trian proletariat, but to the presence of Social- Fascism at the leadership of this proletariat. The workers lost in Austria because the bourgeoisie was too strong, says Bauer. The brutal historic actuality is that the Austrian proletariat lost and the bourgeoisie won because the bourgeoisie had its agents in the ranks of the leadership of the workers’ party. The Austrian proletariat was not weak. It was its leadership that stripped it of its power and led it into the trap of the enemy. * * * HAT was the real situation in Austria? Were the workers weak? Was the government strong? Was the proletarian resistance to Fascism futile? ‘Was the victory of Fascism impossible to prevent? Let one fact be indelibly clear—that in Austria the majority of the working class was not only ready, but eager for battle against capitalist-Fas- cist reaction. Bauer’s own statement reveals that for the past year. the Austrian proletariat was restrained from taking the offensive only through the most desperate attempts of its leaders. The Austrian proletariat was the best organized in Eu- Tope, with powerful trade unions, with more than 65 per cent of the votes in Vienna, the country’s capital, with powerful organizations in the factories and social bodies. It was a proletariat that has been through the fires of revolution, that burned down in its rage the Municipal Palace of Justice in 1927, It was a proletariat class conscious, and with the terrible example of Germany to learn from. More than that, it was a proletariat that prac- tically had power in the palm of its hands when it had the Austrian bourgeoisie trembling for its exis- tence after the revolution of 1010. i was a proletariat that had arms in its hands, ready to strike out for Socialism. And it was driven steadily backward without being able to offer effec- tive resistance, was disarmed by the Austrian bour- geoisie, who marched back to power after facing the menace of imminent proletarian revolution. Why? How did it happen? K is upon Austrian Social Democracy that the full historic blame must rest. And that is what Bauer is trying to hide. . . . ROM the day in 1919 that Bauer dissuaded the Austrian proletariat from smashing the institu- tion of capitalist private property, that he persuaded them from smashing the bourgeois state power and setting up an Austrian Soviet Government, and got them to leave every basis of capitalist rule prac- tically untouched—it was from this day that the rise of Fascist counter-revolution in Austria was inevitable. Let us recall the words of Bauer boast- ing how he alone was able to save the bourgeoisie from the revolutionary fury of the Austrian working class: “No bourgeois government,” Bauer tells us in his book on the Austrian Revolution, “could have coped with such a task... It would have been disarmed by the distrust and contempt of the masses. It would have been overthrown in eight days by street uprising and disarmed by its own soldiers... Only the Social-Democrats could have safely handled such a difficult situation because they enjoyed the confidence of the masses...” And Otto Bauer and the Social-Fascist leaders did indeed “handle the situation”—for the capitalist class. They prevented a proletarian revolution and the setting up of a Soviet Austria. That was the first step in the Social-Fascist paving of the way for the victory of Austrian Fascism. Then for 15 years, Austrian Social-Fascism led the working class in a steady retreat before the return of the counter-revolution. The Austrian ruling class slowly regathered its strength. With the breaking out of the crisis in 1929, the advance of the counter-revolution was swift. But even then the Austrian working class could have smashed the Austrian bourgeoisie—if it had had a revolutionary leadership, not a treacherous Social-Fascist leadership. But instead of fighting the rise of Fascism, Otto Bauer sounded the retreat before it, and helped to strengthen it, while he was crippling the fighting power of the working class. The Communist Party of Austria called for a united front, for general strike again and again. A year ago a general strike would have been successful. Even Bauer has been forced to admit that in a recent statement. Why did he refuse to call it? Why did he spurn the offers of the Com- munist Party? Why did he prefer to “negotiate” with Dollfuss for “a government by decree?” Let the workers of the world give their judgement on these questions. It was because Bauer feared one thing more than death or torture—striking a blow against the advance of Austrian Fascism under Doll- fuss. * . . HHROUGHOUT 1933: the Austrian proletariat still had tremendous power in the factories. The workers were burning with eagerness for struggle, for strike. They still had a powerful weapon in their armed Republican Guards, the Schutzbund. Above all they had powerful allies in the interna- tional proletariat, in the working class of the Soviet Union, in the working class of Czechoslovakia, Hun- gary, etc., of the whole world who, even before the uprising showed in France, for example, readiness to go out in mass political strike at the given signal. The Austrian workers could have dealt smashing blows against Austrian Fascism, could have driven not only Austrian, but world fascism back in retreat. But they were doomed to defeat by a Socialist leadership unutterably foul with treachery and ser- vility to capitalism. In agony and bewilderment, the Austrian proletariat day by day watched every one of its weapons taken from it while its leader- ship was “negotiating” with the head of Austrian Fascism, Dollfuss, and urging it to “submit pa- tiently to a search for arms.” They saw the Schutz- bund dissolved, They saw a government by decrees instituted. They saw all the united front appeals of the Communist Party for strike unheeded and spurned by the Socialist leadership. They were called to retreat step by step. The situation was rotten ripe for revolutionary attack. The workers waited eagerly for the call to attack. But the lead- ers always-cried, “Wait, wait, till tomorrow,” while Fascism prepared itself for the final brutal offensive, getting stronger every day through the fatal in- action of the working class, paralyzed by its leader- ship. ps And when the blow fell, even then the Social- Fascist leadership broke the ranks of the heroic Austrian revolutionary fighters, gave them no leader- ship, no guidance, no revolutionary objectives, but left them to the mercy of the Fascist massacre. Bauer himself, in words that brand Social-Fascism forever as the hideous accomplice of of Fascist massacre, declares in his article: - “When the struggle broke forth, if the leader- Ship of the Party had agreed to this, then the fight would have been better organized and the broad masses would have better understood it.” “If the Party leadership had agreed” — here breathes the full horror of Social-Fascist treachery. Here is the deadly admission that it was the masses alone who took the road of struggle against Fas- cism over the heads of their leaders. But above all here is the ghastly admission that the terrible slaughter of hastily organized workers, disarmed and lacking in vital communications, and isolated from the broad masses, rests upon the Otto Bauers and his Social-Fascist traitors. * * * T is why the Austrian proletariat lost its first open battle with Fascism. It was betrayed from within—betrayed by the agents of the ruling class, the Social-Fascist leadership. The majority of the working class, powerfully organized and eager for battle—but hamstrung and numbed by a treacherous Social-Fascist leadership. That is the picture of the Austrian uprising and the victory of Fascism. * * * bes A profound contradiction runs through Social- Democracy,” declared. the statement of the Austrian Communist Party, issued immediately af- ter the uprising, “a contradiction between the policy of the leaders and the will of the masses.” This was the historic weakness of the Austrian working class, the weakness that trapped it, after it had victory in its hands. “A revolutionary victory never comes by itself,” Stalin recently told the 17th Party Congress of the U.S.S.R.” It has to be prepared and won. Only a strong revolutionary proletarian party can prepare for and win victory.” This is what was lacking in the Austrian situation. This is what could have guaranteed victory to the Austrian proletariat. The heroic uprising of the Austrian proletariat is, to paraphrase Lenin, the “dress rehearsal” of the Austrian October. The Austrian proletariat in the February uprising took the road to the revolution- ary seizure of power. It is beginning to talk in the language of Bolshevism. This is the guarantee of its victory. Its path must be the path sounded by the Austrian Communists, “From the February uprising to the Austrian Red Bolshevist October!” | | '‘Heimwehr Seeks | Paris Commune Celebration to Aid Austrian Workers Complete Control | Of Austrian State. Italy Shipping Arms to} Hungary, Say Balkan Newspapers | VIENNA, Mar. 14—The Heimwehr| chiefs are meeting in special session | here today to draft plans to concen- | trate still more state power in their hands. Although Chancellor Dol- fuss is energetically carrying out the fascization of the state, he also rep-| resents elements of the Austrian| Tuling class who are in rivalry with) the Heimwehr chiefs for the divi- sion of the spoils. This meeting was preceded by the arrest by Heimwehr forces of a large number of leaders of the Up- per Austrian Farmers Party, and| the seizing of their headquarters and | newspaper. One of those arrested is Alois Bachinger, nephew of Franz | Bachinger, head of the party, whom Dolfuss is reported to have been considering for Minister of the In- terior, a portfolio which he formerly | Czechoslovakian held. The Heimwehr, headed by Vice- Chancellor Fey, and Prince von Starhemberg, is demanding that the whole state organization be reorga- nized and put under its control, as the Nazis in Germany and the fas- cists in Italy have seized complete control of the state apparatus. VIENNA, Mar. 14—While Chan- cellor Dolfuss of Austria and Pre- mier Goemboes of Hungary are in Rome discussing with Mussolini his plan for organizing a Danubian bloc | under his leadership, Yugoslav and newspapers nounce another instance of large- scale smuggling of Italian arms to Hungary through Austria. Two carloads of gas masks, 26 heavy field guns, two carloads of howitzers, and a large quantity ‘of other war material has been shipped, under heavy Heimwehr guard. US, Fascist Union’ ‘Has Newark Office Program Calls for Fight Against Communism NEWARK, N. J., March 14.—The } “U. S. A. Union of Fascists” has opened its national headquarters at 116 Hunterdon St. here. Gaetano Asone, 297 Camden St., is in charge, and describes himself as state field commander. He was an Italian fascist before coming to America. He said there is no na- tional commander, but claimed a membership of 500,000. A printed program of the organ- ization calls for “winning power for fascism” by an organization of “American citizens who believe in God and the American flag.” Its chief plank is to fight Communism. The uniform features an American flag sewn on the shirt. Widespread Strikes Continue in Spain MADRID, March 14.—While the Lerroux government is carrying out the sharpest repressive measures, the many strikes of Spanish work- ers are being extended. More than 100,000 workers remain out in Mad- rid, and widespread strikes are re- ported from Barcelona, and from Alicante and Zaragosa provinces. an-| “THERE’S YOUR CHAMP!” PceNn. SOHNSON by Burck | (Special to the Daily Worker) ' Following up their triumphs one af- ter another, the Chinese Red Armies |now are advancing toward Nan- ‘chang, the capital of Kiangsi prov- ince, in two directions from the | west. They have also inflicted heavy losses on Chiang Kai-shek’s troops in east Kiangsi. The Red Army under Comrade Kung Ho Tsung, which took Sisan, |a town near Nanchang, which was ‘levelled to the ground by Chiang’s bombers, has withdrawn to Feng- shin, 30 miles from Nanchang, and \is waiting~for the first opportune | moment to strike. Cooperating with | Kung’s army, the Red fighters un- from the southwest, crossed the Kan River with Nanchang as the main objective. Both of these armies workifig together captured Kao-an, less than 33 miles from Nanchang, on Feb. 4. At the same time, the |Red Partisans in Suichon (west Kiangsi) have been extraordinarily active, threatening Kiukiang at times. They captured numerous rifles and firearms of other des- criptions from the White troops and local militia. Chiang Defeated in East Kiangsi In east Kiangsi, the White bandits and the Red fighters besieged each other in a severe hand-to-hand fight. For fear of dropping bombs on his own troops, Chiang decided not to use any bombing planes. The result was that Chiang suffered a sweeping defeat. He was not able to gather his beaten troops for three weeks, | i SHANGHAI, Feb. 8 (By Mail).—} |der Comrade Shao Keh, advanced | Chinese Red p Beas Advancing on Capital Of Kiangsi, Defeat, Disarm Nanking Forces; | Seize $3,000,000, Win Over Enemy Soldiers Chiang then prepared to employ 50 bombers to annihilate the Red troops defending the city of Lichuan (east Kiangsi). Anticipating such brutalities, the Red troops evacua- ted the city in time and safely en- trenched at the villages near by. In the shower of bombs thrown from Chiang’s planes, thousands of de- fenseless people perished. Seize $3,000,000 Incidentally, Chiang not only supplies the Red Armies with rifles, he also presents to them time and again handsome, not unsubstantial presents of cash, rice and medical supplies. He had ordered $2,000,000 in cash, a large quantity of rice and imported medical supplies to be transported by 3,000 Teh-chien-tui (those carrying loads on their backs) from Foochow to other fronts. The entire lot was cap- tured by the Red Armies operating in the neighborhood. The rice so seized was destroyed, owing to the impossibility of shipping it away at the moment. The hard cash, ammunitions, medicines, etc., were moved away promptly. As to the 3,000 Teh-chien-tui, they were only too glad to join the Red Army. This heroic action of the Red Army created a sensation among Chiang’s men at the front. Four days later, the same Chiang transported his money ($1,000,000), medical supplies, etc. in the same manner. They were again seized by the Red Army, together with another 3,000 Teh- chien-tui, who asked for permis- |sion to join the Red Army. Crack Regiment Disarmed In Shaoshi, not far from Lichuan, | Chiang’s 88th Division beat a swift | retreat in the face of the advancing |Red Army, which disarmed one regi- ment of the same division (another division of Chiang’s crack troops). The White bandits of Chiang line the routes from Nanchang to Foo- chow and from there to Nanchen or Lichuan, all on the lookout. Yet, curiously enough, the red bands of five or ten succeed in burning five |to ten military transport buses or trucks every day. Drivers who live in Nanchang are fleeing in increas- ing numbers. As ordered by Chiang, all drivers who are unsuccessful in driving their trucks to the destina- tions are shot immediately. Re- cently, 600 recruits hired by Chiang | went over to the Red Army at a point seven miles from Nanchang, while they were enroute to Foochow. Nanking Loses Its Soldiers Continuous reinforcements of 300 to 600 soldiers arrive at Nanchang daily. These soldiers either come over to the Red Army or flee from the White bandits, or more fre- quently are disarmed by the Red Army. A monster camp has been prepared to house these soldiers. Deserters were arrested and sent back for detention. Some go tothe front under compulsion, others work for the construction of airdromes without pay. Wounded and con- valescent soldiers are forced to la- bor under inhuman conditions. Serious fighting is going on along the Nanchang-Lichuan, Lichuan- Lo-an, Ki-an and Kisui fronts. Seventeen divisions of the White bandits are participating in these fights. The south and north of Kiangsi remain quiet. © IN. Y., Chicago, Cleveland Call Mass Meetings All Funds Go to Vietims of Dollfuss-Heimwehr Fascist Terror CHICAGO.—A Paris Commune Memorial meeting, at which funds will be raised for the relief of vic- tims of Austrian fascism, will be held here in People’s Auditorium, 2457 W. Chicago Ave., March 17, at 8 p.m., under the auspices of the International Labor Defense. Cleveland Meet for Austrian Aid CLEVELAND, Ohio.—Funds for the defense and relief of victims of Austrian fascism will be raised by the International Labor Defense at a Paris Commune celebration, at 3 o'clock Sunday afternoon, March 18, it was announced today. The celebration, to be held in Ukrainian Labor Temple, 1051 Auburn Ave., will be the opening of a recruiting drive for new members in Cleveland and throughout the’ state of Obio, by the ILD. Z N. ¥. Commune Celebration NEW YORK.—All funds collected at the Paris Commune celebration here at New Star Casino, March 18, will be devoted to the defense and relief of the victims of Austrian fascism, it was announeed by the New York district of the Inter- national Labor Defense. Speakers at the meeting will in- clude Mrs. Ada Wright, mother of two of the Scottsboro boys; Anna Schultz, former secretary of Ernst Torgler and widow of John Scheer, German workers’ leader murdered last January by Hitler's murder gangs; Leo Gallagher, I.L.D. attor- ney, active in the Mooney case, who has just returned from Germany, where he participated in the defense of George Dimitroff, and from Can- ada, where he participated in the defense of A. E. Smith, national secretary of the Canadian Labor De- fense League, acquitted on a charge of sedition; and Lawrence Emery, former Imperial Valley prisoner, now national educational director of the LL.D. Japan’s Big War Budget Adopted Meets Challenge of U.S. in Vinson Bill TOKIO, March 14.—The record- breaking Japanese budget of $612,- 000,000, containing the largest war- preparations appropriations ever made by Japan, was passed by the House of Peers today. | TOKIO, March 14—The most powerful light cruiser afloat was launched yesterday at Kure with great ceremonies. It is the Mogami, first of a series of six 8,500-ton cruisers carrying 15 six-inch guns, eight five-inch anti- aircraft guns, six machine guns and 12 torpedo tubes. They are de- signed for a speed of 33 knots, and cost 41,000,000 yen each. NEW YORK.—The United States is now building four 10,000-ton cruisers which will match the Jap- anese Mogami type of warship in speed and armament. They are be- ing built under the NIRA special allotment of $238,000,000 for naval construction, in addition to the half billion Vinson Bill naval program. Communist International Began Fight for World Couenciun SET ITSELF TASK OF REACHING MAR By ROBERT MINOR Ir. Neale by a ring of steel, the bayonets of the allied im- perialists, the Communist Interna- tional was born—the “Revolutionary Child” of the October Revolution and the heir to three-quarters of a century of revolutionary culture— the legitimate descendant of the) International Workingmen’s Asso- ciation. “The Third International suc- ceeded to the fruits of the work of the Second International, threw overboard its opportunist, social- chauvinist, bourgeois and petty- bourgeois ballast and made a be- ginning with the realization of the Dictatorship of the Prole- tariat.”—Lenin. Identifying the fruits of the Rus- sian October Revolution inseparably with the attainments of the inter- national revolutionary movement, Lenin said: “The universal historical im- portance of the Third, Commu- nist International consists in the fact that it has begun to realize the greatest of Marx’s slogans, the slogan which summarized the age- Jong development of socialism and the workers’ movement. the slogan which is expressed in the concep- tion of the dictatorship of the proletariat... . A new era in world history has begun. Humanity is throwing off the last form of slavery: capitalist wage slavery.” The First Congress first congress of the Commu- nist International, March 1919, overcame the hesitancy of some of its constituents in regard to the im- mediate founding of the Interna- tional and laid down the basic ideas distinguishing the Third from the Second International, defining the real content of bourgeois democracy, defining the historical significance of proletarian dictatorship. Hardly had the Congress closed with the singing of the International by the fifty delegates from 19 countries, representing only eleven socialist parties and groups, than the stern- est duties of international nature © ’S GOAL, WORLD DICTATORSHIP OF PROLETARIAT {fell upon its shoulders. Foreign | troops were on the soil of the Soviet | Republic—the Gallifets of the Rus- sian bourgeoisie and landlords, sup- ported by a whole series of armed interventions of the Bismarcks of Allied imperialism, were knocking at the gates of this “continuation of the Paris Commune!” Kaledin, Kol- chak, Wrangel.The blody militar- ists of the old ruling classes, with savagery unrivalled in all history, stormed the gates of the Revolu- tion. (And do we understand that this, also, is a part of the history of the formation of the Communist International?) The armies of Yudenich marched on a starving Petrograd with enormous supplies from the left-over stores of several imperialist armies, brought by Yu- denich to equip the expected pop- ular masses, but really to be cap- tured and used to equip the new Red Army. The Polish War, com- manded by French general staff of- ficers, plunged at the heart of the Red Commune. And during all of this medley of a thousand turmoils the foundation of the Communist Parties of the principal capitalist countries of the world proceeded! The Ledebours and Haases of Germany, the Longuets of France, the Turatis of Italy, and the Hill- quits of America struggled to main- tain their position in control of masses of socialist workers. In the effort to stem the tide of the revo- lutionary International, the Two- and-a-half International was found- ed at Vienna, and Morris Hillquit, James Oneal and Abraham Cahan, while frantically expelling tens of thousands of revolutionary workers to retain control, played the farce of “resolving” to join the Commu- nist International “if” satisfactory “conditions” could be “negotiated!” The Socialist Party of the United States, despite the corruption of DOORN, Holland, Mar. 14.—Kai- ser Wilhelm II of Germany, once the immensely wealthy imperial ruler of the land which today is run by Hitler fascists, has been hard hit by the depression. Just how “poor” the Kaiser is, is not known. But his agents say that he has “less than one-tenth of his fortune of $175,000,000” which the Social Democrats of Germany al- lowed him to take out of the coun- try with him in 1918. In fact, so terrible are his finan- cial troubles that he is even con- sidering returning to Nazi Germany to replenish the family coffers. Safely protected by an eight-foot barbed wire fence and a huge thick hedge, the Kaiser remained hidden in his estate and refused to see any- one. In 1926 the Reich “compromised” Pity the Poor Kaiser, Has Only A Few Million, Land, Palaces with the Hohenzollerns and allowed the ex-Kaiser to take 15,000,000 marks in cash and keep title to 165,- 000 acres of the most valuable forest land and a number of palatial pal- aces in Germany which he still owns. This action was acceded to by the German Socialist leaders, while the Communist Party bitterly fought it and forced a nation-wide referendum on the question of ex- propriation of all the imperial pos- sessions. * It is reported that agents of the Kaiser have been making many vis- its into Germany recently and re- turning with as much money as the government allows to be taken out of the country. Russia also had a Czar once, named Nicholas II. But “hard times” will never hit him. It hit him once, in 1917. opportunism of its bureaucracy in general, was aflame with ardor for the revolution and the new Inter- national. The flash of revolutionary fire that had taken old Gene Debs into the fight against war with his declaration as “a Bolshevik” and had carried him to prison and to- ward the extinction of his life, had flamed throughout the whole of the Jabor movement. But Debs, old and broken physically, and always a victim of that extremely limited knowledge of theory that was typ- ical of his generation of Socialist in America, was not destined to play a part in the formation of the revolutionary party. ‘The Young Left Leaders in the S.P. The brightest genius of the new leadership that was to build the rev- olutionary party of Ameriea was the young leader of the Ohio Socialist Party, Charles E. Ruthenberg—al- ready in the thick of mass struggles against war, and for the claiming of the Socialist Party for the revo- lutionary International. The men who are now leaders of the Com- munist Party, Earl Browder, its present general secretary, and others, were then for the most part the younger leaders of the left groupings of the Socialist Party scattered throughout the country. Most of them saw terms in prison, or indictments and prosecution. The genius of John Reed became a pil- lar of fire, soon to be extinguished by death. In September 1919, the Commu- nist Party, section of the Commu- nist. International, came into ex- istence at Chicago. Through the handicap of social democratic heri- tages, including the traditional party structure built of “language federations,” and hampered by sec- tarian unripeness, the moyement at. first took form as two separate communist parties adhering to the Communist International—an im- pediment which was overcome only after long struggle and the aid of the Communist International. In the summer of 1920, while the revolutionary wave rode high in Europe and the socialist proletariat everywhere was strongly pulled to- ward the Soviet Republic, the sec- ond Congress of the Communist In- ternational was held in Moscow with 218 delegates from 37 countries. Centrist leaders, sick with the fear of losing their followers and hence their careers, crowded to the door of the International, clamoring for “negotiations,” pointing out the “ne- cessity” of “reservations” to meet the “peculiar” situation in their own “civilized” countries (where the bourgeoisie is not quite so bad as in other countries). At the second Congress of the Communist Inter- national were set up the barriers to prevent th swamping of the new International with the centrist sew- age. The Twenty-One Conditions of Admission The Twenty-one Conditions for admission to the Communist Inter- national were adopted. The main and the sharpest fire was directed against the opportunist centrists. Criticism was directed against the infantile “leftist” conceptions which were hampering the movement. But the revolutionary anarcho-syndical- ist elements of workers sympathiz- ing with and recognizing the dic-. tatorship of the proletariat, were given a friendly reception, together with the most patient efforts to overcome their petty-bourgeois mis- conceptions. The Congress worked out tl Constitution of the Comtiunist Parties and formulated their tasks. “For the Communist Parties the task of the moment now consists not in accelerating the Revolution, but in strengthening the prepara- tion of the proletariat,” said the Congress. The concept of the dic- tatorship of the proletariat was made clear for the revolutionary proletariat whose ideology had been stultified by a whole generation of the opportunism of the Second In- ternational. The agrarian program Wes worked out, with the introduc- tion of the proletariat to the Lenin- ist conception of the revolutionary alliance of the proletariat and the peasantry. ’ (To Be Continued) ~~ | TEN sg PR TTR EARS SAID REEL OTE III a